Encryption and the first amendment

Recently, only secret government agencies were concerned about cryptography. It now is an important matter for many individuals and businesses who use the Internet. That has led to an intense effort on the part of several governmental agencies to control cryptography. This article provides an explanation of the evolution of cryptography, a synopsis of the evolving cryptography debate, an examination of the different interests represented within the debate and a framework for analyzing the First Amendment issues that are involved. The paper applies the framework to the Clinton administration's initiatives and finds them unconstitutional.     

Child molestation and psychopathy: a taxometric analysis

ABSTRACT

Prior taxometric research on child molesters and general sex offenders has produced inconsistent and contradictory results. There are theoretical, practical, and policy reasons, however, to assume that a psychopathy taxon may exist in sex offenders and that a taxometric study might shed light on this issue. The mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC), maximum covariance (MAXCOV), and latent-mode factor analysis (L-Mode) taxometric procedures were employed in three overlapping samples: 188 sex offenders with non-relative child victims, 555 sex offenders with non-relative child or adolescent victims or child incest victims, and a mixed sample of 1404 sex offenders. The taxometric analyses revealed evidence of continuous latent structure in all three samples. These results suggest that psychopathy in sex offenders, child molesters in particular, is organised quantitatively (continuous) rather than qualitatively (categorical).     

Are the Policy Preferences of Relatively Poor Citizens Under-represented in the Swiss Parliament?

The principle of equal political representation can be undermined by differences in economic resources among citizens. Poor citizens are likely to hold policy preferences that differ from those of richer citizens. At the same time, their lack of resources can have as a consequence that these preferences are not taken into consideration by their representatives. Focusing on the case of the Swiss Parliament and using survey data on the opinions of citizens and MPs in the 2007–11 legislature, this study investigates whether the income of citizens systematically affects the proximity of their policy preferences with the stances of their representatives. It demonstrates that on economic issues MPs hold preferences that are generally less in favour of the state's intervention in the economy than the median citizen and that relatively poor citizens are less well represented as compared with citizens with high incomes. This remains true when taking into account only the opinions of the most knowledgeable citizens among these groups as well as when the focus is only on those who turned out to vote.     

EU–Korea relations in a changing world project: main results and recommendations

The paper provides an overview of the most important results of a project on EU–Korea economic and regulatory relations funded by the European Commission. The paper first outlines the emergence and development of EU–Korea relations. In the second part, the paper presents the main findings clustered in three thematic areas. A first thematic area focuses on a discussion of the EU–Korea Free Trade Agreement. The second cluster analyzes EU–Korea cooperation on regulatory policies with a main focus on cooperation in the policy areas of security (arms trade and control), chemical regulation, environmental regulation, education, development cooperation and industrial policy. The third part focuses on EU–Korea cooperation concerning regional and international issues. In the third part, the paper presents the main recommendations which were formulated on the basis of the project.     

Federalism and Decentralization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Five Patterns of Evolution

Abstract

The 1990s were marked by democratic reforms throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. This went in tandem with decentralization reforms which either created or strengthened subnational levels of government. More than twenty years later it seems everywhere to the south of the Sahara there is a gap between the institutional/constitutional blueprints introducing the reforms and the facts on the ground. Understanding and explaining this gap in the workings of federalism and decentralization is important to both theorists and practitioners. This article proposes five benchmarks in order to map out the evolutionary patterns of the last two decades: a) symmetrical recentralization; b) differentiated performance; c) legitimizing traditional authority structures and indigenous conflict resolution; d) politicization of local conflicts over land, water, and other natural resources; and e) federal extinction.     

Moral development and recidivism: a meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of 19 studies (N = 15,992 offenders) showed a significant inverse relation between more mature moral development and recidivism. Moderator analyses revealed a larger effect size for moral cognition (r = .20) than for moral emotion (r = .11). Effect sizes for production measures (r = .57) were much larger than for recognition measures (r = .16) and unstructured (clinical) judgment (r = .10). Larger effect sizes were found for female delinquents (r = .32) than for male delinquents (r = .21). Only small differences in effect sizes were found between juvenile delinquents (r = .10) and adult delinquents (r = .16). Finally, self-report measures of recidivism revealed much larger effect sizes (r = .32) than official reports of recidivism (r = .09). The discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical meaning of the magnitude of the effect size for the relation between moral development and recidivism.     

Teacher career paths,teacher quality,and persistence in the classroom: Are public schools keeping their best?

In this paper we examine the mobility of early‐career teachers of varying quality, measured using value‐added estimates of teacher performance. Unlike previous studies that have examined these issues, we focus on the variation in these effects across the effectiveness distribution. We find that, on average, more effective teachers tend to stay in their initial schools and in the teaching profession. But there also appears to be heterogeneity in mobility behavior across the performance distribution and evidence that teacher mobility is affected by student demographics and achievement levels. © 2010 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

National innovation systems and the globalization of nanotechnology innovation

While there has been much emphasis over the last decade on the science of nanotechnology and on the implications and risks of potential applications, it is now timely to increase attention to the emerging dynamics of nanotechnology commercialization. This paper examines, from a global perspective, where and how corporations are entering into nanotechnology innovation. The paper tests the proposition that a significant shift has occurred in recent years in the orientation of corporate nanotechnology activities—from research discovery to patented applications. It also examines the extent to which the character and structure of corporate nanotechnology activity by country initially reflects national innovation system characteristics and prior public research funding inputs in the stage when discovery is most emphasized. The results indicate that national innovation systems characteristics are significant factors in the commercialization shift of nanotechnology and highlight the importance of innovation system policy factors. We also observe the influence of cross-border international invention linkages, suggesting that national innovation policies also need to be open and international in orientation.