European Union Decision Making: the Role of Sub-national Authorities

This article assesses how and to what extent sub-national authorities (SNAs) are represented in EU decision making. In particular, we compare the European goals and strategies of British sub-national authorities with those of their counterparts in Germany. Our central argument is that SNAs starting from very different positions face many of the same challenges and problems, even if their domestic constitutional positions remain the most important determinant of their influence at the EU level. Influence in EU decision making derives largely from effective coalition building, both with other like-minded actors but also, inevitably in the case of sub-national authorities, with central governments. Our case study highlights the enormous diversity of relationships between central governments and 'their' SNAs across the Union. It thus encourages scepticism about the feasibility of a 'Europe of the Regions'.     

Congressional Response to Mandate Elections

Elections from time to time are widely believed to carry a mandate, to express a message about changed policy preferences of the electorate. Whatever the accuracy of such beliefs—a matter about which we are skeptical—perceptions of a mandate should affect the behavior of actors in government. Politicians lack the scholarly luxury of waiting for careful analyses. They must act in the months following elections. We postulate that many will act as if the mandate perceptions were true, veering away from their normal voting patterns. This is driven by election results and interpretations that undermine old calculations about what voters want. As the flow of information gradually changes these perceptions, and the election becomes more distant, members of Congress return to their normal position. We first ask, how would members observe an emerging consensus of mandate? And then we model the duration of the change in behavior in an event‐history framework. That permits a depiction of important movements of the median member and, from this, inferences about policy impact.     

The feasibility of external blind DNA proficiency testing. II. Experience with actual blind tests

The background and goals of a national study to determine the feasibility of blind proficiency testing in U.S. forensic DNA laboratories are discussed. Part of the project involved designing and executing a series of fifteen blind proficiency tests. Execution included biological specimen donor recruitment and case evidence manufacturing. Simulated cases were submitted to DNA laboratories by law enforcement agencies and in some cases by other forensic-science laboratories. Replicate-manufactured evidence was submitted to reference laboratories to simulate the workings of a larger-scale program. Ten tests were straightforward, and essentially tested analytical ability. Five tests involved selecting on the basis of case facts appropriate bloodstains for typing from a bloodstain pattern. We describe in detail our experience in designing and conducting these blind proficiency test trials, and relate those experiences to the overall issue of blind proficiency testing as a quality-assurance tool in forensic DNA laboratories. In this feasibility test series, one blind test was detected by a laboratory, a second one was shown to the lab by law enforcement, and a third was never completed because of lapses in communication. Turnaround times were relatively fast in the independent/commercial labs and relatively slow in the larger public laboratories. Two cross-state case-to-case CODIS "hits" were "planted" among the first series of ten blind tests. One pair was detected. One member of the second pair went to a lab that was not CODIS-ready.     

Forcible rape,poverty, and economic inequality in U.S. metropolitan communities

In this paper we review and extend a recent analysis of the structural determinants of forcible rape by Smith and Bennett (1985) that builds upon the theoretical works of Blau and Blau (1982) and Schwendinger and Schwendinger (1983). They find that poverty, but not racial economic inequality, is a major contributor to the rape problem. Our replication and extension of their study question these findings and point to serious theoretical and methodological limitations of their analysis. Correcting for these difficulties, we find support for Blau and Blau's argument that high rates of metropolitan rape are an apparent cost of general and racial economic inequality (two forms of relative deprivation) but not poverty (absolute deprivation). The analysis strongly suggests that the rape problem is not beyond the reach of general and racial economic reform.     

Free radical production from controlled low-energy fires: toxicity considerations

Most fire departments respond within the first 5 min of notification of a fire. If fire victims are found at that stage by the firefighters, then incapacitation or death has occurred during the initial low-energy phase where smoke is being produced. Studies have shown that during this initial low-energy phase of the fire, gases commonly thought responsible for incapacitation or death are frequently not present in concentrations adequate to cause this result. In the current study free radicals, measured by electron spin resonance spectroscopy, were trapped in concentrations that we consider incapacitating, thus providing an explanation for "incapacitation without cause." This finding points the way to the design of more efficient temporary protective equipment for those who are in a high fire hazard environment, such as airline passengers, and suggests the idea of establishing a thermodynamic marker for the relative toxicity of building materials.