Budgeting Rights: The Case of Jail Litigation

Judicial decisions are one element in the erosion of local government budgetary discretion. For example, litigation concerning constitutional rights forces local government officials to allocate resources toward the rights-based population. While rights-based allocation decisions may narrow the budgetary discretion of public officials, some managers may, paradoxically, be "better-off"—defined as the ability to protect and defend their budgets — when discretion is reduced. This thesis is tested through a case study of jail overcrowding litigation in a county government.     

State Lotteries for Public Revenue

Lotteries, the state fiscal gimmick of the eighties, operate in jurisdictions encompassing substantially more than half the nation's population and enjoy considerable public acceptance. The revenue they generate is small, rarely more than two percent of state general revenue, it is subject to major year-to-year swings, and it is very expensive to generate, particularly when vendor commissions are recognized as part of cost. Furthermore, lotteries bear a high implicit excise tax rate and, because of the pattern of play across income classes, appears to worsen the overall equity of the revenue system. Their economic impact appears to be that of an internal transfer, although states with major lottery equipment suppliers have most to gain, particularly if they do not operate their own lottery. Lotteries are not destined to become mainstays of government finance, although their spread is likely, even with the fiscal questions they raise.     

Sudden death in an infant resulting from torsion of the uterine adnexa

A 2-month-old infant girl died suddenly as a result of torsion of the uterine adnexa. The infant was found unresponsive in bed and was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival at a hospital. There were no antecedent signs of illness. At autopsy, the right ovary and right fallopian tube were twisted and were dark purple, swollen, and necrotic. The right ovary was enlarged by a follicle cyst 4 cm in diameter, which likely precipitated the torsion. The mechanism of death was unclear but may have resulted from the release of cytokines produced in response to necrotic adnexal tissue. Fatal uterine adnexal torsion has been reported rarely in infants; in all those cases there were antecedent symptoms. Torsion of the uterine adnexa should be included in the differential diagnosis of sudden death in infancy.     

Utilizing the urinary 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio to determine ethanol origin in civil aviation accident victims

Specimens from fatal aviation accident victims are submitted to the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute for toxicological analysis. During toxicological evaluations, ethanol analysis is performed on all cases. Care must be taken when interpreting a positive ethanol result due to the potential for postmortem ethanol formation. Several indicators of postmortem ethanol formation exist; however, none are completely reliable. The consumption of ethanol has been shown to alter the concentration of two major serotonin metabolites, 5-hydroxytryptophol (5-HTOL) and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA). While the 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio is normally very low, previous studies using living subjects have demonstrated that the urinary 5-HTOL/5-HIAA ratio is significantly elevated for 11-19 h after acute ethanol ingestion. Recently, our laboratory developed and validated an analytical method for the simultaneous determination of both 5-HTOL and 5-HIAA in forensic urine samples using a simple liquid/liquid extraction and LC/MS/MS and LC/MS/MS/MS. In this previous work a 15 pmol/nmol serotonin metabolite ratio cutoff was established in postmortem urine, below which it could be conclusively determined that no recent antemortem ethanol consumption had occurred. In the current study this newly validated analytical method was applied to five ethanol-positive aviation fatalities where the origin of the ethanol present could not previously be conclusively determined. In four of the five cases examined the detected ethanol was demonstrated to be present due to postmortem microbial formation, and not consumption, even though some indication of ethanol consumption may have been present.     

STR genotyping and mtDNA sequencing of latent fingerprint on paper

A systematic study was conducted to investigate whether DNA can be successfully extracted from latent fingerprints deposited on ordinary paper and analysed using short tandem repeat profiling and mitochondrial DNA sequencing. In order to evaluate the performance of latent fingerprint analysis in a criminal case, experiments with varying conditions were carried out to improve our understanding of low copy number (LCN) DNA typing. After optimising the extraction methods to achieve increased sensitivity, the examination of touched paper can routinely yield the STR profile of the individual who has touched it. A fingerprint can therefore be considered as a potential source of DNA for genetic identification. Nevertheless, the findings of our "after enhancement experiment" (using chemically or physically pre-treated fingerprints), and our "mixture experiment" (using fingerprints from three to four people on the same sheet of paper) help to define the limitations of the low copy number PCR technique in forensic casework.     

The Political Fate of Market Reform in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe

Why did political leaders adopt drastic, costly neoliberal policies in a number of countries, but not in others? Why did these painful measures elicit popular support in some nations, while triggering rejection and protest elsewhere? To complement extant explanations for these puzzling developments, the article draws on the core finding of prospect theory, a psychological theory of decision making under risk: people tend toward bold, risky choices when facing prospects of losses, but opt for caution when anticipating gains. Accordingly, leaders enact and citizens support drastic reforms only when they face deep crises, such as hyperinflation. This argument yields predictions about the different stages of the reform process, which the article assesses through a wide-ranging examination of reform politics in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Boolean analysis corroborates most of the predictions derived from prospect theory, but also suggests the importance of economic andpolitical-institutional context factors.     

Gesellschaftsordnungen und öffentliche Kommunikation Forschungsbericht

Dieser Forschungsbericht stellt die bald 10jährige interdisziplinäre Forschungslinie “Krise und sozialer Wandel. Untersuchung von Me-dienereignissen in der Schweiz” vor. Das erkenntnisleitende Interesse bezieht sich auf den Versuch, den sozialen Wandel moderner Gesellschaften durch die systematische Erfassung öffentlicher politischer Kommunikation zu erschliessen. Zu diesem Zweck werden quantitative und qualitative Methoden der Inhaltsanalyse von massenmedialen Quellen erarbeitet und weiterentwickelt. Dieser Forschungsbericht vermittelt einen Einblick in die theoretische Perspektive, die Methodo-logie, die Datensätze und einen Ausblick auf gegenwärtige und künfti-ge Forschungsfragen.     

Basic education clusters in Cambodia: looking at the future while learning from the past

School clusters have been adopted as an education policy by most Asian countries since the 1960s. In Cambodia, primary schools have been organised in clusters since 1993. Clusters were considered a mechanism for quality improvements of education and a way to facilitate sharing and interaction between schools. Primary school clusters have been partially successful. Today there is a growing interest among Cambodian policymakers for integrating primary schools (Grades 1–6) and lower secondary schools (Grades 7–9). This article provides a policy suggestion by arguing for extending the cluster mechanism to these integrated basic education schools with all grades from 1 to 9.     

COIN flips: American international relations and counter-insurgency

The essay examines the recent rehabilitation of counter-insurgency doctrine, especially as conducted by third party interveners. The advent of the refurbished US (United States) Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency field manual, a volume with scholarly self-presentation, is the focal point. This essay is concerned with the dubious bases of the doctrinal justifications driving recent US interventions. The Vietnam War turns out to be the crucial case for American scholars and policy-makers who have construed the history of counter-insurgency there as an unacknowledged success, which today has become the standard account in American International relations scholarship. The essay is a critical examination of this development and of its implications.