Bletchley Park and the RAF Y Service: Some Recollections

The RAF Y Service and the German Air Section at Bletchley Park collaborated in producing a great deal of intelligence about GAF (German Air Force) operations in World War II. However, two errors in pre-war planning reduced this output. The first error was the decision that the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) should be responsible solely for cryptography, the interpretation of Sigint to be the task of the Intelligence recipients. The second was the general assumption that the information obtainable from intercepting the low-grade codes and plain language used in the control of Air operations would only be of intelligence interest while the operations were in progress. After-the-event study of these communications by the German Air Section produced unique information needed by the RAF Commands. The Air Ministry took an unduly long time to agree that this information should be provided to them.     

The Day the World Changed: A Pomo Primer

This paper begins with a famous comment by Virginia Wolfe about the world changing ??on or about December, 1910?? when, she argued, modernist thought became dominant and changed human relations. My paper suggests that postmodernism begins in the Sixties, offers a definition of postmodernism taken from the French scholar, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and contrasts modernism with postmodernism. It offers an analysis of Disneyland as a postmodern entertainment and concludes with a discussion of whether postmodernism is now passé and has been succeeded by something else??namely post-postmodernism.     

Effects of proportionate‐share impact fees

Abstract

When it comes to paying for the significant costs of growth, local governments throughout the United States are usually the first line of financing. Yet because of a variety of factors, existing tax, fee, and inter jurisdictional transfer revenues may not be sufficient. Many hundreds (if not thousands) of communities rely in part on proportionate‐share impact fees to provide facilities concurrent with the effects of growth.

Impact fees have numerous detractors, many of whom worry about their effect on affordable housing, economic development, and development patterns. A disparate literature has emerged addressing each of these concerns. This article synthesizes current knowledge about the market effects of proportionate‐share impact fees and finds that for the most part, they facilitate development in several important ways. Policy implications and guidance for future research are presented as well.     

Rural rental housing preservation: The FmHA experience∗

Abstract

This paper summarizes the history of the prepayment issue for the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) Title V Rural Rental Housing Programs and outlines the provisions of the 1987 and 1989 housing acts and FmHA implementation. Several ongoing studies are noted. Replication of the FmHA experience is deemed premature, pending results from regulation revisions and completion of the study. The author notes that the early experience provides some guidance relevant to the cost of preserving assisted housing and protection afforded low‐income tenants. The preliminary conclusions are that (1) the use of incentives is more economical than constructing replacement units, although not necessarily the least costly alternative, (2) FmHA regulations implement the law inadequately, and (3) agency staff are not uniformly or effectively implementing the regulations.     

International Cooperation in Global Satellite Climate Monitoring

A lack of consensus on the requirements for adequate monitoring of climate change by satellites makes it difficult to identify gaps in the collection of climate-relevant data and prevents national policy makers from taking into account global climate monitoring needs when planning the development of future satellites. Multiple international organizations undertake efforts to identify the high-level/system-level and technical requirements of such a system, and each of these efforts reveals gaps in global climate monitoring capabilities. These efforts require further coordination to achieve global consensus on the highest-priority monitoring needs. With regard to high-level requirements, this will require organizations to align and coordinate their efforts, considering both the most important types of measurements and the most efficient physical architecture for collection. Efforts at identifying detailed technical requirements for climate monitoring are duplicative and need to be consolidated. Coordination at the system level and consolidation at the technical level should be followed by prioritizing climate monitoring needs, allowing policy makers to invest in satellite systems that will realize the greatest contribution to global climate monitoring.     

漫长的多中心之旅

本文讨论了我的个人经历、我们之中与印第安纳大学政治理论与政策分析研究所相关的许多人的努力,即研究在不同背景下,制度是如何影响行动和后果的。首先,我回顾了我作为年轻学子的经历和我的早期职业生涯,旨在激励那些面对难题的人们。然后,我讨论了我们的制度分析和我们对于都市治理和公共池塘资源的研究,这些研究帮助我逐步发展了分析复杂制度的较为一般的框架。这一框架已经能够使我们发掘和分析制度结构、行为和后果,做出和检验内在一致的预测,并且建立更好的理论。最后,我就未来学术发展方向,与大家分享了一些看法。     

The mismatch between the in-country determinants of technology transfer,and the scope of technology transfer initiatives under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Despite decades of international political emphasis, little is known about the in-country determinants of technology transfer for climate change mitigation. We draw upon the conclusions of a series of standardised, official governmental statements of technology priorities, coupled with questionnaire-based data collection, to shed light on the nature of those determinants. We find that there is a disconnect between what developing country governments perceive as the key enablers of, and barriers to, technology transfer, and what bilateral and multilateral technology transfer programmes can offer, given budgetary constraints and the logic of development aid spending. We show that the well-established notion of making climate change mitigation actions an integral part of sound development plans is especially relevant for technology transfer. We offer pointers as to how this might be done in practice, in the context of the ‘technology action plans’ developed as part of the United Nations-sponsored technology needs assessment process.     

Income tax policy and charitable giving

Many studies over the past 20 years have looked at the response of charitable donations to tax incentives—the tax price elasticity of giving. Generally, authors have assumed this elasticity is constant across all types of giving. Using the 2001 Panel Study of Income Dynamics data on charitable giving, this paper estimates the tax price elasticity across six nonprofit subsectors, finding substantial variation. These results suggest that the fiscal effectiveness of tax deductibility depends on the type of donation involved. This has implications for both public policy and nonprofit management. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Assessing facial approximation accuracy: how do resemblance ratings of disparate faces compare to recognition tests?

In the past, the accuracy of facial approximations has been assessed by resemblance ratings (i.e., the comparison of a facial approximation directly to a target individual) and recognition tests (e.g., the comparison of a facial approximation to a photo array of faces including foils and a target individual). Recently, several research studies have indicated that recognition tests hold major strengths in contrast to resemblance ratings. However, resemblance ratings remain popularly employed and/or are given weighting when judging facial approximations, thus indicating that no consensus has been reached. This study aims to further investigate the matter by comparing the results of resemblance ratings and recognition tests for two facial approximations which clearly differed in their morphological appearance. One facial approximation was constructed by an experienced practitioner privy to the appearance of the target individual (practitioner had direct access to an antemortem frontal photograph during face construction), while the other facial approximation was constructed by a novice under blind conditions. Both facial approximations, whilst clearly morphologically different, were given similar resemblance scores even though recognition test results produced vastly different results. One facial approximation was correctly recognized almost without exception while the other was not correctly recognized above chance rates. These results suggest that resemblance ratings are insensitive measures of the accuracy of facial approximations and lend further weight to the use of recognition tests in facial approximation assessment.     

Hypnotic interrogation,pretrial preparation,and witness testimony during direct and cross-examination

Subjects who witnessed a videotaped shooting were interrogated immediately after viewing the film and again several days later. Before their second interrogation half of the subjects received hypnotic suggestions for enhanced recognition. Hypnotic and nonhypnotic subjects failed to differ in the accuracy with which they identified a mugshot of the offender, but hypnotic subjects placed more confidence in their misidentifications than did nonhypnotic subjects. In a third session, subjects who had identified a mugshot returned to be examined and cross-examined in a mock courtroom setting. Before direct examination, half the subjects underwent pretrial preparation aimed at building confidence. When coupled with pretrial preparation, hypnotic interrogation led subjects to express relatively high certainty in their mugshot identification while testifying. Nevertheless, hypnotic interrogation did not deter witnesses from disavowing their testimony (i.e., breaking down) during cross-examination. In contrast, pretrial preparation induced substantial resistance to breakdown during cross-examination. Implications are discussed.This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the first author.