Ambivalence in Intergroup Evaluation: The Role of Fairness Norm

We conducted two studies to examine the role of the social norm of fairness on cognitive (beliefs and judgments) and affective (emotions and feelings) ambivalence in an intergroup context of evaluation. As predicted, we found that ambivalence toward the ingroup is constantly higher in the cognitive dimension than in the affective dimension. Instead, cognitive and affective ambivalence toward the outgroup are generally similar but when the outgroup is highly protected by the fairness norm (i.e., the elderly), cognitive ambivalence is considerably lower than affective ambivalence. These findings provide evidence that (1) cognitive ambivalence is more controlled by the fairness norm than affective ambivalence, and that (2) it holds an adaptive function, changing in accordance with the demands of the normative context.

Regulatory novelty after financial crises: Evidence from international banking and securities standards, 1975–2016

Financial crises are often presented as triggers for important innovations in international regulation of financial markets, but existing evidence for this claim primarily derive from the analyses of individual initiatives, assessed against noncomparable benchmarks. In order to provide systematic evidence of financial crises' impact on international financial regulatory change, this paper develops a novel text-as-data approach to measure regulatory novelty. We use this approach to analyze the full population of international banking and securities standards between 1975 and 2016. Contrary to theoretical expectations, our empirical findings indicate rules designed by international banking and securities regulators following financial crises are on average as likely to build on existing international regulations as those designed before a crisis. We also find that international banking rules published after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis are an important exception.     

Private and public authority interactions and the functional quality of sustainability governance: Lessons from conservation and development initiatives in Tanzania

The changing shape of sustainability governance has been a key academic and policy concern in the past two decades, as part of a wider debate on the interactions between public and private authority in governing the economy, society, and the environment. In this article, we contribute to these debates by examining how these interactions operate locally and across jurisdictions in three conservation and development initiatives in Tanzania and what impact they have on the functional quality of sustainability governance. We find that clear division of responsibilities, coupled with material incentives for communities and equal and transparent distribution of benefits, are key positive contributors to functional quality. These factors underpin the complementary interactions (collaborative at the local level; institutional layering across jurisdictions) that are needed to successfully negotiate and implement the compromises needed to balance conservation and development goals. We also find that competitive dynamics are harmful to functional quality, especially those taking the form of local institutional duplication and of dominance by central government across jurisdictions. These tend to appear especially when sustainability initiatives involve multiple stakeholders with wide discrepancies in resources, interests, and power, which leads to compromises determined in a top-down manner.     

Beta-tryptase and quantitative mast-cell increase in a sudden infant death following hexavalent immunization

The association between sudden infant death syndrome and immunization is frequently discussed. Serious adverse events following vaccination have generally been defined as those adverse events that result in permanent disability, hospitalization or prolongation of hospitalization, life threatening illness, congenital anomaly or death. They are generally referred to the inherent properties of the vaccine (vaccine reaction) or some error in the immunization process (programme error). The event could also be totally unrelated but only temporally linked to immunization (coincidental event). A fatal case of a 3-month-old female infant, who died within 24 h of vaccination with hexavalent vaccine is presented. Clinical data, post-mortem findings (acute pulmonary oedema, acute pulmonary emphysema), quali-quantitative data collected from immunohistochemical staining (degranulating mast cells) and laboratory analysis with a high level of beta-tryptase in serum, 43.3 microg/l, allows us to conclude that acute respiratory failure likely due to post hexavalent immunization-related shock was the cause of death.     

The Right to Gender Recognition before the Colombian Constitutional Court: A Queer and Travesti Theory Analysis

This article discusses the case-law on gender recognition of the Colombian Constitutional Court. It argues that the Court, paying attention to queer and trans theory and to the demands of trans activists, has interpreted mainstream constitutional rights in such a way that trans people can have their self-defined identities recognised. The article criticises the limitations of this case-law, which still does not explicitly include non-binary and gender fluid people. On the other hand, it highlights that the Court's doctrine has the potential to challenge both the gender binary and the very category of ‘sex’ or ‘gender’ in the law.     

Individual Behavior as a Defense in the “War on Cyberterror”: A System Dynamics Approach

ABSTRACT

The problem of cyberterrorism, despite its contested nature, is an important area of research. Scholars agree that the most dangerous targets for such attacks are critical infrastructure and organizations that are vital to society due to their interconnectedness to the modern world and their increasing reliance on the cyber domain for their operations. Thus, their security and protection against cyberterrorism is of elevated importance. Given the lack of documented cases of cyberterrorism, the purpose of this article is to simulate the threat of a terrorist act on a critical infrastructure, using a computer virus and to investigate how the individual behavior of employees affects security.     

Exploring the Relationship between Operational and Financial Indicators: The Case of Water and Sewer Utilities

ABSTRACT

There is debate in the literature on whether or not general management principles are applicable to the study and practice of public administration. This research responds by exploring how local officials manage the performance of public services with private good characteristics, where general management principles could be embraced for service delivery. The relationship between operational and financial indicators is explored within the functional areas of water and sewer, with the hypothesis that operational outcomes impact financial outcomes similar to private enterprises. Because the findings do not support this hypothesis, the authors conclude that general management principles may not be applicable to all forms of administration given that public cannot be removed from the management of public services even with private good characteristics.