Directly Elected Mayors: A Tonic for Local Governance or Old Wine in New Bottles?

The introduction of directly elected mayors into the landscape of English local politics has the potential to change the dynamics of local political leadership and the relationship between citizens and local government. The paper explores whether the conditions exist locally for such potential to be realised. It focuses on the reaction to the mayoral experiment of both mayors and the councillors that sit on mayoral authorities, as it is the reactions of the latter, as well as the actions of the former, that indicate the success or failure of mayoral governance. The paper also assesses the way in which political parties and party groups have accommodated the mayoral experiment and changed or maintained patterns of political behaviour and organisation.     

地缘政治理论研究的新篇章——读陆俊元《地缘政治的本质与规律》有感

在当今学界，地缘政治可谓是一个热门话题，各种论说让人应接不暇，但深层的学理探究似乎远不能胜任地缘政治理论建设的客观需要。因此，当我读到时事出版社以“专家纵论”专题推出的陆俊元教授的专著《地缘政治的本质与规律》一书时，即深深地为其丰富的理论含量、积极的创新和精湛的阐论所吸引。全书立意新颖，逻辑严谨，述论有据。从地缘政治的根本性质、内在规律，到地缘政治的形态与结构，作者对地缘政治涉及的重大理论问题进行了积极而审慎的思考与探索。全书主线突出，前后环环相扣，读来引人人胜。书中关于地缘政治的界定、对地缘政治规律的分析以及对地缘政治研究方法的创新等重要篇章，可圈可点之处颇多。     

发展数控实训培养创新人才

数控实训是学生进行工程实践的主要途径，培养创新型应用人才是数控人才教学培养目标的选择。只有合理安排课程设置、确培养目标，增强实训基地软硬件，提高识字能力，完善安全管理制度；才能培养出符合社会需要的创新型人才。     

PRESTIGE OF JOURNALS IN CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The prestige of professional journals is an important element in the academic world because of the relationship of journal prestige to the careers of individuals and to the reputations of academic institutions. This study investigates the system of journal prestige in the field of criminology and criminal justice, using the ratings of professional journals obtained from a sample of respondents who are members of professional associations in criminology and criminal justice. The results show that there is a relatively high degree of agreement about the relative prestige of journals in the field, despite the fact that criminology and criminal justice is a multidisciplinary field involving professionals from a wide variety of occupational settings.     

Benefit plan limitations after the Americans with Disabilities Act

Virtually all company welfare benefit plans contain one or more disability-specific benefit limitations. The Americans with Disabilities Act casts doubt on the lawfulness of these limitations. The legislative history of the ADA is confusing, and the EEOC's failure to offer meaningful guidance on this issue further clouds the situation. Based on the Supreme Court's prior interpretation of language similar to that used in the ADA, we believe all disability-specific limitations adopted prior to the ADA are entitled to a "safe harbor"; disability-specific limitations adopted after Congress passed the ADA are still lawful unless the limitations are intentionally used to discriminate in a nonbenefit aspect of employment.     

辛硫磷对大鼠肝细胞凋亡的影响

通过给大鼠肝细胞培养液中加入辛硫磷(染毒终浓度分别为3、10、30、100和300 μmol/L)染毒,于12、24 h后用流式细胞仪分别测定细胞凋亡率、细胞死亡率和细胞内活性氧(ROS)水平,并在扫描电镜和荧光显微镜下观察细胞凋亡情况,研究了辛硫磷对原代培养大鼠肝细胞凋亡的影响.结果显示,辛硫磷具有明显的细胞毒性,在3～100 μmol/L范围内随着染毒剂量的增大和染毒时间的延长,细胞死亡率、凋亡率和ROS水平显著升高,且发生了明显的细胞凋亡的形态学变化;但300 μmol/L辛硫磷培养24 h,肝细胞凋亡率和ROS水平下降,死亡率升高.表明辛硫磷对肝细胞有直接的毒性作用,并通过产生ROS诱导了肝细胞凋亡.     

The Institute for Fiscal Studies Report: English Council Funding: What’s Happened and What’s Next?

The article reviews the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfFS) report, English Council Funding: What’s Happened and What’s Next. The article provides an overview of the main themes and findings of the report which examines the consequences of a sustained period of austerity for English local government and the impact of austerity on certain key council services. The article explores what the report has to say about the way councils have responded to reductions in government funding and the strategies they have developed to protect certain frontline services. The article reviews the suggestions made in the IfFS report for changing English local government funding and finds that they reflect a form of centralist thinking which lacks a radical edge when it comes to reform.