The Effectiveness of Administrative Reform in New Democracies

Practitioners and scholars of postcommunist politics disagree on the accomplishments of administrative reforms in new Eastern European democracies. The transformation of the public sector after 1989 has aimed to consolidate the democratic process and enhance economic development. Skeptics, however, argue that administrative reforms face serious challenges in the context of economic liberalization, insufficient capacity for modernization, and cultural legacies of the past. The authors judge reform effectiveness by testing the impact of civil service reform on government transparency and foreign direct investment. The results of the empirical analysis confirm that once reform is adopted, administrations become more effective at reducing corruption and attracting investment. Despite the delays and difficulties of implementation, the adoption of reform is important in and of itself, and countries can expect positive results sooner than skeptics predict.     

Growing Stem Cells: The Impact of Federal Funding Policy on the U.S. Scientific Frontier

This paper articulates a citation‐based approach to science policy evaluation and employs that approach to investigate the impact of the United States’ 2001 policy regarding the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. We evaluate the impact of the policy on the level of U.S. hESC research, the U.S. position at the knowledge frontier, and the strategic response of U.S. scientists. Consistent with recent research on the science of science and innovation policy, we employ a difference‐in‐differences approach using bibliometric data with the aim of analyzing the causal impact of the policy on cumulative research. Our estimates suggest that in the aftermath of the 2001 policy, U.S. production of hESC research lagged 35 to 40 percent behind anticipated levels. However, this relative decline was largely concentrated in the years 2001 to 2003 and ameliorated over time. The rebound in U.S. hESC research after 2003 was driven by contributions by researchers at elite U.S. institutions and U.S. researchers who collaborated with international partners. The results suggest that scientists respond strategically to research funding restrictions and that modest science policy shifts can have a significant influence on the within‐country composition of research and the pattern of global research collaboration.     

Cross‐Border Shopping and State Use Tax Liabilities: Evidence from eBay Transactions

Online commerce presents consumers with a convenient way of shopping outside of their local jurisdiction, and this online purchase decision is capable of affecting in significant ways the sales and use tax collections of state governments. However, the actual revenue impact has proven difficult to estimate. There is considerable work that examines the revenue impact of seller compliance with sales taxes. However, there is little work on buyer compliance with use taxes. In this paper, we investigate the potential impact of cross‐border shopping on state use tax liabilities of buyers, using data from the largest online consumer‐to‐consumer and business‐to‐consumer marketplace, eBay.com . We collect our own data on actual cross‐border shopping transactions from eBay, focusing upon a “representative” commodity classification and a “typical” day; these data consist of nearly 21,000 eBay listings generated by roughly 7,000 individual sellers with over 9,000 buyers. These data allow us to examine the extent of actual, not estimated, cross‐border shopping by buyers, and the subsequent potential impact of this cross‐border shopping on state use tax liabilities. Our results indicate that cross‐border shopping is highly prevalent on eBay, with out‐of‐state purchases accounting for on average 94 percent of the volume of a state's purchase transactions. Even so, given the limited volume of eBay‐based transactions relative to total sales transactions, the likely impact of cross‐border transactions on state use tax revenue streams is quite low, at least at present, typically less than one percent of actual state sales tax revenues.     

STAR METRICS and the Science of Science Policy

STAR METRICS is a data platform that is being voluntarily and collaboratively developed by U.S. federal science agencies and research institutions to describe investments in science and their results. It initially emerged as a result of reporting requirements associated with the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; it has developed in response to a recognized need to begin to systematically document federal investments in science and their immediate and long‐term results. The eventual goal is to draw information from existing data on scientific and economic activities as well as from research institutions' and federal science agencies' systems to provide data that can be used for a more scientific analysis of science investments and their outcomes.     

Determination of an effective housekeeping gene for the quantification of mRNA for forensic applications

The potential application of mRNA for the identification of biological fluids using molecular techniques has been a recent development in forensic serology. Constitutively expressed housekeeping genes can assess the amount of mRNA recovered from a sample, establish its suitability for downstream applications, and provide a reference point to corroborate the identity of the fluid. qPCR was utilized to compare the expression levels of housekeeping genes from forensic-like body fluid stains to establish the most appropriate assessment of human mRNA quantity prior to profiling. Although variability was observed between fluids and individuals, results indicated that beta-2 microglobulin exhibited the highest expression for all body fluids examined and across donors. A one-way analysis of variance was performed for housekeeping gene variability between donors (at the α, 0.05, significance level), and the results indicated significant differences for semen, vaginal secretions, and menstrual blood.     

Forensic medical diagnostics of chronic narcotic intoxication based on the morphological findings

The objective of the present work was to develop the forensic medical criteria for chronic narcotic intoxication based on the results of morphological studies. The internal organs from 179 cadavers were available for the examination following death from acute poisoning with narcotic substances or as a result of chronic narcotic intoxication. The studies were carried out with the use of routine histological staining techniques and an immunohistological method. The data obtained provided a basis for the development of criteria to be employed in forensic medical diagnostics of acute poisoning with narcotic drugs and chronic narcotic intoxication. These criteria include ischemia of cerebral neurons, pulmonary emphysema with the formation of foreign body-type granulomas and fibrin/erythrocyte thrombi, morphological signs of ventricular fibrillation, the picture of bacterial endocarditis, follicular hyperplasia of the lymphoid organs, chronic portal hepatitis, and nodular degeneration of the adrenal cortex associated with its atrophy.     

Forensic medical estimation of gunshot fractures of the flat bones

The principal characteristics of the investigations into the mechanisms of gunshot injuries are considered. The general and peculiar features of gunshot fractures and the pathological processes underlying them are discussed. The theory of bullet impact effect put forward by the Russian surgeons in the late XIXth century is verified. The explanation is proposed for the physical nature of direct and side impacts and the phenomenon of a temporary oscillating cavity from the standpoint of the theory of bullet impact effect. The new forensic medical criteria for the gunshot origin of an injury have been developed that allow the gunshot distance and the geometric characteristics of the bullet to be determined. A methodological basis for the determination of the long-range gunshot distance has been created. The results of the present study may be of interest for criminal lawyers and military specialists.     

Determination of the human age based on the characteristics of the bone tissue

The principal characteristics of the investigations concerning estimation of the human age are presented. The new high-precision methods for the microosteometric determination of the biological age of man have been developed. The methodological basis for the application of microosteomeric data to the computer-assisted analysis of the images has been created. Taken together, the results of the present study guarantee the high accuracy of the measurements, save labour time, and expand the possibilities for the documentation and control of the experts' work.