Types of budgeting and budgeting problems in aclerican cities

This research investigates the types of budgeting formats used in over 200 United States cities and provides information about the budgetary problems facing American cities. The perception of budgeting problems differs significantly among cities with different types of budgeting. Cities using line-item budgeting are more likely to view the problems as more severe than do the cities using reform budgeting. The problems are the least severe in cities using planning, programming budgeting.     

Institutional development,the world bank,and India's new agricultural extension programme

The new World Bank‐sponsored and funded Training and Visit system of agricultural extension represents a major attempt by the Bank to promote institutional development. The very considerable investment has in fact resulted in little change or improvement in the quality of extension. The reasons lie in failure to analyse the cause of the weakness of the previous extension systems, inherent defects of the Training and Visit system, and the way in which it has been introduced into India. These failures in turn can be explained by the interests and the politics underlying the programme.     

Neoliberal globalisation and the triple crisis of 'modernisation' in Africa: Zimbabwe,the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa

Neoliberal globalisation has renewed and accelerated the triple crisis of capitalist modernisation in Africa. Primitive accumulation, nation-state formation and democratisation remain uncompleted tasks. Neoliberal globalisation simultaneously encourages these trends yet makes them difficult to resolve, given its anti-statism, its exclusionary version of democracy, and the violence inherent in the emergence of private property rights out of pre-capitalist modes of production that have been mediated by colonial and postcolonial institutions and the dynamics of the Cold War. The elements of the modernisation triad are inextricably intertwined, yet in varying social contexts take on unique patterns. To highlight each element in the triple crisis of 'modernisation', this article separates and 'applies' them to three 'southern' African countries. The notion of primitive accumulation is the theoretical lens through which the Zimbabwean crisis is viewed. The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is analysed through the prism of nation-state construction. South Africa, the most 'developed' (albeit particularly unevenly 'developed') society under study here will be examined through the framework of 'democratisation'.     

Ambiguous Institutions: Traditional Governance and Local Democracy in Rural South India

In India, ‘customary village councils’ are generally believed to be disappearing vestiges of a pre-democratic, hierarchical socio-political order. However, while remaining informal and maintaining a low public profile, in Karnataka state they are actively taking on new roles, adapting to the democratic, competitive political environment, becoming more representative and pluralist, and providing a wide range of services that are highly valued by the populations they serve. The relationship of customary village councils to the formal, elected local councils (Grama Panchayats) – and to electoral democracy generally – is more synergistic and complementary than competitive.     

The Campaign Disconnect: Media Coverage of the 2000 South Carolina Presidential Primary

Campaigns are an interactive process in which candidates, outside groups, the media, and voters communicate with each other to create an information environment that allows the various participants to construct meaning and form an understanding of the candidates and the campaign. Presidential primaries add a layer of complexity to this process as candidates and the press deal with both local and national audiences. In this article, we analyze the campaign communications in the 2000 Republican presidential primary in South Carolina—including candidate ads, mailings, and phone calls; local and national newspaper coverage; and network television coverage. We find that there was a disconnect as news media often focused on events and issues that diverged from the messages of the candidates' campaigns. In addition, we find substantial differences between local and national media coverage of the primary resulting from their distinct audiences and the reporters' own understanding of the local context that created significantly different information environments for voters in the state and those out of the state. We consider the implications of these findings for how voters and journalists understand the candidates as well as the challenges presidential candidates face in simultaneously campaigning locally and nationally.     

Potential Use of Hydrocarbons for Aging Lucilia sericata Blowfly Larvae to Establish the Postmortem Interval

Previous studies on Diptera have shown the potential for the use of cuticular hydrocarbons' analysis in the determination of larval age and hence the postmortem interval (PMI) for an associated cadaver. In this work, hydrocarbon compounds, extracted daily until pupation from the cuticle of the blowfly Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae), have been analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The results show distinguishing features within the hydrocarbon profile over the period of the larvae life cycle, with significant chemical changes occurring from the younger larvae to the postfeeding larvae. Further interpretation of the chromatograms using principal component analysis revealed a strong correlation between the magnitudes of particular principal components and time. This outcome suggests that, under the conditions of this study, the cuticular hydrocarbons evolve in a systematic fashion with time, thus supporting the potential for GC–MS analysis as a tool for establishing PMI where such a species is present.     

Occult Adrenocortical Carcinoma and Unexpected Early Childhood Death

A four‐year‐old previously well boy collapsed unexpectedly and was taken immediately to hospital, where he developed seizures and cardiogenic shock with lethal, rapidly progressing multi‐organ failure. At autopsy, the height was >90th percentile and there were indications of early virilization. Internally, a friable tumor of the left adrenal gland was identified that had invaded the left renal vein and inferior vena cava. Histology revealed typical features of an adrenocortical carcinoma with aggregated trabeculae of cells containing abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm and large pleomorphic nuclei. There was strong positive cytoplasmic staining for inhibin; mitochondria were shown on electron microscopy to contain prominent electron‐dense granules. Death was due to massive pulmonary tumor embolism. Although adrenocortical carcinomas are very rare and are more commonly found in adults, the current case demonstrates that they may also occur in childhood and be responsible for unexpected death by the very unusual mechanism of tumor embolism.     

From walls to membranes: fortress polis and the governance of urban public space in 21st century Britain

Drawing on the work of Paul Virilio, this paper addresses changes in the architectural and legal topography of the urban landscape through an examination of regulatory patterns, which increasingly intensify governance through, and as, ‘control’. Such regulation is ambivalent in that it cuts across many traditionally discrete regimes of power melding them into new forms with new effects; as a consequence it is no longer sufficient to think in terms of such distinctions as private/public, civil/criminal, and so on. This paper argues that a concern with patterns of enclosure and privatisation in our urban centres must now be placed within the context of changes in architectural practice and technology, which the authors term ‘open architecture’, and the embedding of governance through partnership, which give particular emphasis to the use of dematerialised and diffused modes of control. The paper utilises Virilio’s history and image of the fortress, which he tracks from a material form to a dematerialised form, to envisage these developments and to provide the foundation for an understanding of the importance of the development of practices of surveillance into, what the authors term, ‘total registration’ as a feature and function of governance through ‘control’.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)--standardised investigations and classification: recommendations

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) still accounts for considerable numbers of unexpected infant deaths in many countries. While numerous theories have been advanced to explain these events, it is increasingly clear that this group of infant deaths results from the complex interaction of a variety of heritable and idiosyncratic endogenous factors interacting with exogenous factors. This has been elegantly summarised in the "three hit" or "triple risk" model. Contradictions and lack of consistencies in the literature have arisen from diverse autopsy approaches, variable applications of diagnostic criteria and inconsistent use of definitions. An approach to sudden infant death is outlined with discussion of appropriate tissue sampling, ancillary investigations and the use of controls in research projects. Standardisation of infant death investigations with the application of uniform definitions and protocols will ensure optimal investigation of individual cases and enable international comparisons of trends.