SOUTH AUSTRALIA

In many ways 1979 will be seen as a watershed in South Australian political and public administrative affairs, rivalling the end of the Playford era in 1965. The Dunstan years were to be exchanged for a hard-headed, sound economic management approach to government, according to his Labor successor, Mr Des Corcoran. However, as a result of an election called some eighteen months prematurely, a new Liberal government took office within six months of Mr Dunstan's resignation, emphasizing "small government" and a return to the "free enterprise system".     

Gender Patterns of Research and Licensing Activity of Science and Engineering Faculty

In this paper we extend our earlier work on science and engineering faculty disclosure and licensing activity to examine a characteristic of faculty ignored in our earlier work – the gender of faculty in our database of over 4500 faculty at 11 major universities. Not surprisingly, women comprise only 8.55% of the faculty in our sample. They are most represented in the biological sciences and the women in the sample are more likely to be younger faculty. The most striking result from highlighting women in the sample is that women are less likely to disclose inventions than men despite the fact that there are no significant differences in publication patterns. While disclosure activity varies by gender, we find that the disclosure activity of women and men converges over the period of our sample.JEL Classification: J16, L3, O3Financial support was provided by National Science Foundation (SES 0094573), the Alan and Mildred Peterson Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.     

Neck injuries caused by automatic two-point seat belts: an analysis of four cases

Although seat belts significantly reduce the extent and severity of injuries sustained by motor vehicle occupants, seat belts are known to be associated with chest and abdominal trauma. Less commonly understood are severe neck injuries caused by the use of two-point automatic shoulder harnesses without concurrent use of a manual lap belt. Such injuries may include cervical spine fractures, craniocervical dislocations and rarely decapitation. Recognizing patterned injuries caused by seat belts and the ability to correlate autopsy findings with the circumstances surrounding the death will allow for correct interpretation of seat-belt related trauma. The four cases described detail fatal neck injuries as a result of improper seat belt use in which an automatic two-point shoulder harness was used without a manual lap restraint. In two of the cases, the victims were decapitated.     

Who riots? An empirical examination of the “new urban black” versus the social marginality hypotheses

Much of the research on the socioeconomic characteristics of rioters has centered around the question of whether rioters were the dispossessed fringes of the black community who rioted for fun and profit or the more upwardly mobile segments of the black community who used civil violence as a means of political influence. This study presents evidence that willingness to participate in civil violence is fairly evenly distributed across income, educational, and occupational strata, thereby disconfirming the social marginality hypothesis. However, militancy involves nonviolent protest as well as civil violence. In order to explore the complexities of this concept, the authors use discriminant function analysis to demonstrate that, while violence propensity is related to age but not socioeconomic status, the willingness to participate in nonviolent protests is associated with higher socioeconomic status. A tentative explanation of this pattern of relationships is offered, with the more politically motivated militancy of higher status groups being linked to their desire to eliminate various forms of racial discrimination.     

Police use of force against drug suspects: Understanding the legal need for policy development

When confronted by the police, drug suspects sometimes attempt to destroy evidence by orally ingesting the contraband in their possession. Police officers have limited time to react before this evidence is destroyed. These conditions raise the question of exactly how much force officers may employ lawfully to prevent the imminent destruction of evidence. If an officer overreacts and uses more force than reasonably necessary to retrieve the drugs, the evidence may be ruled as inadmissible at trial. Furthermore, the application of excessive force may expose the officer and the agency to claims of civil liability for injury or damages. Given the myriad of legal questions arising within this unique context, this paper reviews relevant federal and state case law to assess the legality of various levels of force when resolving such situations. Law enforcement agencies need to develop appropriate policy statements to guide officer behavior during these types of field encounters.     

Science and Policy in International Environmental Agreements: Lessons from the European experience on Transboundary Air Pollution

Science and policy come together in the use of computer models for International Environmental Agreements (IEAs). We study a successful case in using Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) in defining the long-range transboundary air pollution policies in Europe. In the light of the history of the LRTAP Convention of the UN-ECE, we consider the special circumstances which led to the success of the RAINS model that was employed. We find that the collaborative, self-aware and evolutionary character of the institutional framework built among the LRTAP Convention, IIASA and the EU facilitated the successful adoption of RAINS. We also show how the limits of computer models, fully recognised in this case by producers and users, leave issues of uncertainty, distribution and ethics unresolved. When facing international negotiations, several coalitions might emerge. An analysis of the situtation is done in terms of First-Comers and Late-Comers in Environmental policy, the first group undertaking the initiative to formulate international policies on issues that are of concern to themselves and for which they have acquired technologies, models and know-how, while the second group is just following international policy and most often viewing it as a constraint. This is discussed in the example of the Spanish participation in the negotiations about sulphur emissions in the buildup to the Oslo Protocol. The adoption of the precautionary principle is often being used as a way to handle uncertainty when facing urgent policy responsibilities for environmental issues.