The evaluation of climate policy: theory and emerging practice in Europe

Climate policy is a relatively young and dynamic area of public policy making. However, its development has attracted far more attention than the results it delivers in practice, which of course are the concern of policy evaluators. This article attempts to provide the first systematic cataloging of the emerging patterns of policy evaluation undertaken in different parts of the European Union. Theories of policy evaluation suggest that these evaluation practices should acknowledge the inherent complexity of climate policy making, be reflexive by questioning official policy goals, and be participatory. A meta-analysis of 259 climate policy evaluations suggests that current practice engages with some but not all of these issues. This article concludes by analyzing the implications of this finding for those in the academic and practitioner community who are keen to understand the extent to which climate policy evaluation is delivering on its promises.     

Empower,not impose!—Preventing academic procrastination

ABSTRACT

In the frame of the goal setting process between supervisor and student while writing a thesis, it is hypothesized that mutually set goals (participation) and writing down the results of the meeting (recording) can prevent procrastination and increase engagement of the student. With a questionnaire relating to the latest written thesis (n?=?97, academic sample), the effects of goal setting characteristics (recording, participation) and task characteristics (ambiguity, control) on engagement and procrastination were examined. Results of a multiple mediation model indicate that recording indirectly influences engagement and procrastination through its effect on ambiguity. Moreover, participation indirectly influences engagement through its effect on control. It is concluded that goal setting characteristics and task characteristics can affect student’s procrastination. Thus, the present research provides criteria for how supervisors can prevent students from procrastinating.     

Reconstruction of a real car-pedestrian-accident. Part I: Generating an individual digital topographic image of the victim

The aim of forensic biomechanics is the reconstruction of traumatic events based on the pathological findings in the victim's morphology, the accident traces and the car damages. The use of forensic documentation tools (e.g. Streifenlichttopometrie) enables 3-dimensional and proportional accurate documentation of the victim's body, of its injuries and of the car damages with submillimeter precision. The generated topographic image serves as input for a multi-body system model of the victim. It allows further to determine exactly the contact points between car and victim for a computer simulated dynamical reconstruction of the impact situation. In the case of an accident involving a car and a pedestrian the generation and application of computer aided 3-dimensional reconstruction models are shown.     

Protest Voting in Austria, Denmark, and Norway

The article, in part, aims to provide a framework for analysis of the concept of ‘protest voting’. It addresses two empirical questions by use of this framework. First, which parties benefit from protest voting? Second, what are the main objects of political protest which these voters direct their grievances at? Do they protest against the political system, the political elites, or merely certain policies? The empirical analysis, which is based on data from Austria, Denmark, and Norway, suggests that parties that are in opposition, and that have no immediate chance of gaining a government position, are the ones that benefit from protest voting. Political elites are the most common objects of political protest in these countries.     

Sharia and control over territory: conflicts between 'settlers' and 'indigenes' in Nigeria

Introducing Islamic laws is a means of setting up claims overterritory in which the will of Muslims reigns supreme. Thishas led to violent conflicts, especially in parts of the MiddleBelt of Nigeria, where Muslim ‘settlers’ from thenorth, most of them Hausa and Fulani, have clashed with indigenousethnic groups which are largely Christian and ‘traditionalist’.The call for Sharia is popular among the migrants, as it providesthem with a divine mission: they have to assume supremacy overthe local non-Muslim population in order to shape public institutionsaccording to what they see as the will of God. The ‘indigenes’,however, have little interest in a religious confrontation.As ‘sons of the soil’, they want to defend theirancestral land against ‘foreign tribes’; they thereforeemphasize ethnic, not religious, antagonisms.     

Does Power Sector Deregulation Promote or Discourage Renewable Energy Policy? Evidence from the States, 1991–2012

Both within the United States and across the world, power sector deregulation has changed the environment in which governments formulate renewable energy policy. Utilizing data from U.S. states for the 1991–2012 period, this article shows that there is no difference in the adoption of new renewable energy policy in states that have and have not already gone through power sector deregulation. However, the evidence also shows that governments formulate renewable energy policy as part of a legislative package for power sector deregulation in a dynamic we call issue linkage. While power sector deregulation is neither an impediment nor an impetus to renewable energy policy, the strategic challenge of passing deregulatory legislation requires concessions to constituencies that prefer renewables. For policy makers, the results are important because they indicate that deeper reforms in electricity generation are consistent with more ambitious renewable energy policy.     

Rapid GC–MS confirmation of amphetamines in urine by extractive acylation

Amphetamine and related derivatives are widely abused central- and psychostimulants. Detection of certain derivatives, such as methcathinone, by commonly available immunoassay screening techniques is insufficient. Multi-analyte confirmations for amphetamine type stimulants are therefore required, but traditional gas chromatography–mass spectrometry methods necessitate lengthy analytical procedures with prolonged sample turn-around times. A validated rapid GC–MS assay for urinary confirmation of amphetamine, methamphetamine, methcathinone, ephedrine, norephedrine, methylenedioxyamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, methylenedioxyethylamphetamine and N-methyl-1-(3,4 methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-butanamine is reported. The method entailed in situ derivatization of urine specimens by extractive acylation with pentafluoropropionic anhydride, followed by rapid chromatography on a microbore capillary column. Analytes were separated in less than 3 min and quantified simultaneously by selected-ion monitoring using stable isotope substituted internal standards. The total instrument cycle-time was 6 min per sample. The limits of detection were between 1.5 ng/mL and 6.25 ng/mL for the various analytes. Intermediate precision and accuracy were in the range of 6.3–13.8% and 90.5–107.3% for the respective analytes at the lower limit of quantitation, and between 5.8–12.6% and 95.4–103.1% for the high control. Long-term storage of methcathinone positive specimens at ?20 °C proved insufficient stability of this analyte. The proposed assay is precise and accurate for confirmation of amphetamine and derivatives in urine. The complementary approach of extractive-derivatization and fast GC–MS analysis is especially applicable in routine clinical settings where reduced sample turn-around times are required. Further investigation of cathinone as a possible metabolite of methcathinone is warranted, based on results from analyzed authentic urine samples.