When Mayors Matter: Estimating the Impact of Mayoral Partisanship on City Policy

U.S. cities are limited in their ability to set policy. Can these constraints mute the impact of mayors’ partisanship on policy outcomes? We hypothesize that mayoral partisanship will more strongly affect outcomes in policy areas where there is less shared authority between local, state, and federal governments. To test this hypothesis, we create a novel dataset combining U.S. mayoral election returns from 1990 to 2006 with city fiscal data. Using regression discontinuity design, we find that cities that elect a Democratic mayor spend a smaller share of their budget on public safety, a policy area where local discretion is high, than otherwise similar cities that elect a Republican or an Independent. We find no differences on tax policy, social policy, and other areas that are characterized by significant overlapping authority. These results suggest that models of national policymaking are only partially applicable to U.S. cities. They also have implications for political accountability: mayors may not be able to influence the full range of policies that are nominally local responsibilities.     

New peasant family forms in rural china

This article explores the responses of peasant households in China to the quite new and radical demands made on their resources as a result of the various recent rural economic reforms. Each of the reforms has far‐reaching implications for the form and content of rural social institutions. This article attempts, as far as is presently possible, to identify current changes in size, structure and activity of domestic and kin groups, and to analyse the new socio‐economic relations within and between households. It argues that in order to mobilise and maximise their labour and other resources to arrange for the production, consumption and welfare of household members, close kin and neighbouring peasant households have combined to give rise to a new family form, the aggregate family. This study analyses the factors leading to its formation, identifies the characteristics of this new family form and examines its relations both within and beyond the village.     

Seeing a crisis through colored glasses: How partisan media leads to attribution of crisis responsibility and government trust

This study uses a real national crisis, South Korea's 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, to examine how publics exposed to partisan media perceive the attribution of crisis responsibility and government trust differently. The study also investigates the mediating role of the attribution of crisis responsibility on the relationship between partisan media and government trust. The results demonstrate that citizens' partisan selective exposure influence their polarized perceptions of crisis responsibility and their trust in government. The attribution of crisis responsibility partially mediated the effects of partisan media on government trust. This study suggests the importance for government public relations to understand partisan media users so that public relations managers can engage and communicate effectively with all citizens during a national crisis.     

Networking for climate change: agency in the context of renewable energy governance in India

Climate change has disastrous impacts in the developing world and confronts countries like India with immense challenges. The dilemma of addressing these challenges encourages the appearance of new modes of agency. However, the extent to which new agents are able to address these challenges depends on several factors. The aim of this article is to examine these factors and how they affect the ways in which climate change-related challenges to development are tackled in the case of the Indian wind energy sector. By firstly examining the attributes and capabilities of the different actors and secondly applying a stakeholder network analysis, the article identifies different characteristics that support the effective and efficient deployment of wind energy in one Indian state and hinder it in another.     

The PMMA epidemic in Norway: comparison of fatal and non-fatal intoxications

During a 6 month period (July 2010-January 2011) we observed 12 fatal intoxications and 22 non-fatal cases related to the drug paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA) in Norway (4.8 mill inhabitants). This toxic designer drug, also known as "Death", is occasionally found in street drugs offered as "ecstasy" or "amphetamine". The present study aimed to evaluate the cause of death, and to compare the PMMA blood concentrations in fatal and non-fatal cases. Methods for identification and quantification of PMMA are presented. The median age of fatalities was 30 years (range 15-50) with 67% males; in non-fatal cases 27 years (20-47) with 86% males. In the 12 fatalities, the median PMMA blood concentration was 1.92 mg/L (range 0.17-3.30), which is in the reported lethal range of 0.6-3.1 mg/L in peripheral blood and 1.2-15.8 mg/L in heart blood. In the 22 non-fatal cases, the median PMMA concentration was 0.07 mg/L (range 0.01-0.65). Poly-drug use was frequent both in fatal and non-fatal cases. The PMA concentrations ranging from 0.00 to 0.26 mg/L in both groups likely represented a PMMA metabolite. Three fatalities were attributed to PMMA only, six to PMMA and other psychostimulant drugs, and three to PMMA and CNS depressant drugs, with median PMMA concentrations of 3.05 mg/L (range 1.58-3.30), 2.56 (1.52-3.23) and 0.52 mg/L (0.17-1.24), respectively. Eight victims were found dead, while death was witnessed in four cases, with symptoms of acute respiratory distress, hyperthermia, cardiac arrest, convulsions, sudden collapse and/or multiple organ failure. In summary, all fatalities attributed to PMMA had high PMMA blood concentrations compared to non-fatal cases. Our sample size was too small to evaluate a possible impact of poly-drug use. A public warning is warranted against use and overdose with illegal "ecstasy" or "speed" drugs.     

Sharing the Fruit of Labor: Flexible Application of Justice Principles in an Ultimatum Game with Joint-Production

Individuals often need to negotiate how to distribute jointly produced goods—equally (e.g., 50:50) or equitably (e.g., proportionally to their contributions). We examined whether people have stable preferences, or whether they switch between equality and equity in different situations. Pairs of anonymous participants first produced a common pie, and then distributed it in an ultimatum game. Results suggest that individuals apply different justice principles depending on their contribution. When they produced less than 50%, proposers divided the pie equally. However, when they produced more than 50%, their offers fell between equality and equity. Responders’ ratings of fairness and satisfaction varied similarly; with low production, equality was preferred, whereas with high production, equity was preferred. Nevertheless, equal and equitable offers were generally accepted, and only outright unfair offers were rejected. This suggests that individuals are relatively flexible about which justice principle should be applied, but punish proposers whose offers violate both principles.     

Fixation of cells for analysis by laser microdissection--comparative studies in forensic trace material

This paper is focused on the preparation of samples for laser microdissection (LM) in forensic casework. In forensic genetics, it is essential to preserve and separate cellular traces during sample preparation, as they are usually gathered in very small amounts and are often contaminated with undesired cells. This is made possible by laser microdissection, a technique developed to cut cells or tissue of a certain type from a microscopical specimen by UV laser and catapult them directly into a PCR reactor. This method minimizes the risk of getting inconclusive, mixed DNA profiles due to contamination by foreign DNA and also supplies information about the cellular origin of a DNA profile. A method for optimized fixation and staining of spermatozoa for laser microdissection was established. Four different fixation methods combined with two staining methods were tested on two different microscope slides. Moreover, the effect of a blocker pen to contain the specimen on the slide was investigated.     

Literatur

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