An evaluation of matching unknown writing inks with the United States International Ink Library

Utilizing a database of standards for forensic casework is a valuable resource. Undoubtedly, as more standards (and corresponding information about the specimens) are collected, there is a greater certainty of identification when a questioned and a known item cannot be distinguished after a series of analyses. The United States Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service National Forensic Laboratory jointly maintain the largest known forensic collection of writing inks in the world, which is comprised of over 8500 ink standards collected worldwide, dating back to the 1920s. This study was conducted to evaluate the reliability of matching arbitrarily purchased pens with known inks from a database. One hundred pens were randomly obtained from a variety of sources and their respective ink compositions were compared with standards. Eighty-five of the inks were determined to be suitable for comparison utilizing optical examinations and thin-layer chromatography. Three of the inks did not match any of the specimens on record; one of these inks was similar to an ink from an identical brand of pen that was in the database, but had a modified formulation.     

CROSS-SUBSIDY ANALYSIS WITH MORE THAN TWO SERVICES

Thirty years have passed since the publication of "Cross-Subsidization:Pricing in Public Enterprises." The article rigorously definedcross-subsidization and is now a standard citation of regulatorsand scholars addressing the pricing of regulated multiproductfirms. The incremental cost test and the stand-alone cost test,however, have often been misunderstood and misapplied. Thisarticle answers the most common questions that have arisen inthe application of these tests for cross-subsidization and correctsthe most common errors that have been committed in their application.     

Beyond Dyads: Regional Democratic Strength’s Influence on Dyadic Conflict

Over the history of modern international relations research, we have moved from systemic and regional studies to empirical explorations of dyadic interactions. However, our statistical models have put the details of dyadic interactions under a microscope at the expense of ignoring the relevant regional context that these dyads interact in. This development has been in part due to computational limitations, but do we really believe that decision makers interact with one another while ignoring the regional power balance and the wishes of regional powers? In this article, I take a look at the well-researched relationship between democracy and peace by using a multilevel approach to dyadic interactions and the regions they are embedded in. The findings suggest that when the regional power balance favors democracies, it influences conflict between dyads, especially mixed dyads, by increasing the costs of aggression by autocracies and establishing regional norms of cooperation and compromise.     

Determinants of Automobile PAC Contributions to House Incumbents: Own Versus Rival Effects

This paper examines PAC contributions by the Big ThreeU.S. automakers and Japanese auto dealers to Houseincumbents. A regression model is estimated where PACcontributions are a function of a firm's own ties toan incumbent's district (as measured by firmemployment) and those of rivals. For the Big Three,own and U.S. rival effects are positive. Further, theresults do not indicate the presence of a free-ridereffect. Employment by a foreign subsidiary has no neteffect on U.S. contributions. For the Japanesedealers, Japanese plant employment has a positiveimpact on contributions, and that of the Big Three anegative.     

Incentives and their dynamics in public sector performance management systems

We use the principal‐agent model as a focal theoretical frame for synthesizing what we know, both theoretically and empirically, about the design and dynamics of the implementation of performance management systems in the public sector. In this context, we review the growing body of evidence about how performance measurement and incentive systems function in practice and how individuals and organizations respond and adapt to them over time, drawing primarily on examples from performance measurement systems in public education and social welfare programs. We also describe a dynamic framework for performance measurement systems that takes into account strategic behavior of individuals over time, learning about production functions and individual responses, accountability pressures, and the use of information about the relationship of measured performance to value added. Implications are discussed and recommendations derived for improving public sector performance measurement systems. © 2010 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Examining the nexus between situational factors and job performance through the mediating role of work engagement and self-efficacy

The situational perspectives theory of job performance is a fundamental aspect of organizational and managerial psychology. Consequently, there is growing interest in conducting additional research to assess situational factors and job performance through the theoretical frameworks of social learning and social exchange theories, which are seldom applied in these domains. The data has been collected from 365 employees working in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). It was found that supervisor support stimulates job performance. It is also deduced that self-efficacy mediates the relationship while work engagement does not mediate the relationship between supervisor support and job performance. The situational perspectives theory of job performance provides a supportive framework for the development of PTCL employees. This work should be of interest in the area of situational factors and performance improvement. This study is one of the very few studies conducted to empirically assess the influence of situational factor on performance through the mediating role of work engagement and self-efficacy.