Red or Expert? The Anglo–Soviet Exchange of Ambassadors in 1929

Throughout the 1920s, distrust and contention marked Anglo–Soviet relations, culminating in the diplomatic break in 1927. In 1929, the incoming Labour government successfully pursued its objective of re-establishing diplomatic relations with Moscow, but the follow-up in terms of ambassadorial appointments was far from routine for either side. This analysis shows that internal pressures complicated decisions about whether to appoint career diplomats or choose political figures. Resisting both claims from enthusiastically hopeful Labour backbenchers and criticisms from the left wing media, the British foreign secretary, Arthur Henderson, chose a Russian-speaking career diplomat. On the Soviet side, the first choice was a controversial politician, but then replaced by a financial expert, albeit one tainted as a defeated political opponent of Josef Stalin. Whilst both ambassadors could be considered “professionals,” neither was able to have a deep impact on the relationship, which remained troubled.     

The Social and Productive Impacts of Zambia's Child Grant

Accumulated evidence from dozens of cash transfer (CT) programs across the world suggests that there are few interventions that can match the range of impacts and cost‐effectiveness of a small, predictable monetary transfer to poor families in developing countries. However, individual published impact assessments typically focus on only one program and one outcome. This article presents two‐year impacts of the Zambian Government's Child Grant, an unconditional CT to families with children under age 5, across a wide range of domains including consumption, productive activity, and women and children's outcomes, making this one of the first studies to assess both protective and productive impacts of a national unconditional CT program. We show strong impacts on consumption, food security, savings, and productive activity. However, impacts in areas such as child nutritional status and schooling depend on initial conditions of the household, suggesting that cash alone is not enough to solve all constraints faced by these poor, rural households. Nevertheless, the apparent transformative effects of this program suggest that unconditional transfers in very poor settings can contribute to both protection and development outcomes.     

Decentralization as a Post‐Conflict Stabilization Tool: The Case of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone's experience with decentralization as a post‐conflict stabilization tool highlights both the value of making and keeping a promise to empower citizens through local government and the importance of fully implementing that promise over a longer time horizon. The emergence of the country from civil conflict into peace and stability is one of the greatest success stories of post‐conflict stabilization. Although the nation has enjoyed over a decade of peace (and peaceful transitions from party to party), many of the conditions that laid the groundwork for conflict remain, especially in rural areas, due to the partial implementation of the decentralization framework. Based on a post‐conflict perspective, we review the re‐emergence of local governments in Sierra Leone following the civil war, the institutional and legal framework within which they exist, and some of the remaining challenges the nation faces. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organisational reputation and impact on employee attitude: A case study of MTN Ghana limited and Vodafon Ghana Limited

The impact organisational reputation has on employee attitude is very crucial to the fortunes of any organisation, and employees are the fuel that runs the engine of the organisation, and it is believed that their attitude towards the organisation creates a positive performance for the organisation. This study, therefore, sought to determine organisational reputation and the impact on employee attitude by determining the contribution of employee in achieving the reputation of the organisation. The type of research design was a survey, and it relied on secondary information such as reviewing available literature and primary data through the dissemination of questionnaires. The findings suggests that employees contribute earnestly and effectively to organisations reputation, and this creates an enabling environment for creativity and growth, as employees see themselves as stakeholders who play part in the achievement of organisations reputation to the market. It was also revealed that when employees are taken for granted, they become dissatisfied and apathetic, which is likely to adversely affect organisational performance and goes a long way to drag the image of the organisation into the mud. It is recommended that employees' feelings are sought on matters that affect their lives and work, and they should work under conducive and healthy environments as this would give employees the feeling that their employers are concerned about their wellbeing, and this builds a positive attitude to work within employees who in turn work to achieve the goals of their organisation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Methanol Detected in a Subdural Hematoma as an Embalming Artifact

Analysis of subdural hematomata has been used to suggest antemortem drug concentrations, with the assumption that materials within the hematoma are less subject to metabolism or degradation during any survival period and postmortem interval. We report the case of an 87‐year‐old woman whose death had not been reported to the coroner's office until postembalming. Autopsy revealed a traumatic brain injury with subdural hematoma causing a mass effect. Testing of the clot indicated a methanol concentration of 51.8 mg%. No additional analyses were detected. These findings suggest that methanol can be present in a postmortem hematoma sample, yet not represent a poisoning. Our findings also suggest that while the interior of hematomata do not necessarily represent completely “protected space” from postmortem diffusion of some blood constituents, such diffusion is not facile, and analysis may still provide useful indications of antemortem drugs present, if not actual concentrations.     

Previously Unreported Complication of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Suture Rupture Resulting in Patient's Death

Traditionally, the manner of death in most hospital autopsy cases is natural, in which death is due to the natural course of disease or reasonably anticipated outcomes of medical interventions. Some cases fall into a potential gray zone between natural and accident, including rare or unanticipated outcomes of medical interventions. We present a case of a patient postcoronary artery bypass graft. Autopsy revealed the proximal anastomosis of the aorta‐to‐first‐diagonal‐coronary‐artery‐to‐second‐obtuse‐marginal‐artery graft was detached from the aorta. A broken suture was present at the disconnected anastomosis, with intact knots but was broken along its length. In‐hospital mortality rates of CABG range from 1% to 3%, with several autopsy studies identifying surgical complications as the cause of death in one‐third of perioperative deaths. No publications were found that described suture rupture as directly relating to the cause of death. This case report describes a previously unreported complication of coronary artery bypass grafting.     

Do Schools Cause Crime in Neighborhoods? Evidence from the Opening of Schools in Philadelphia

Objectives

To assess the impact of schools on crime in neighborhoods.

Methods

We utilize data of charter and public schools in Philadelphia to estimate the effect of school openings on neighborhood crime patterns between 1998 and 2010. We estimate the change in crime in areas surrounding schools before and after their opening compared to areas where schools were always open with Poisson regression models. We also estimate changes in crime in census tracts as schools are added compared to census tracts that never had schools. Finally, we compare estimates from Poisson regression models to those derived from permutation tests where schools are randomly assigned different opening dates.

Results

We find no evidence that school openings increase crime relative to locations where schools were always open or never had schools. The models generally produce null effects, though there is some evidence for a reduction in property crimes for public school openings and a reduction in violent crimes for charter school openings within certain distances. Estimates at the census tract level show that changes in the number of schools are not associated with any changes in crime relative to tracts with no schools.

Conclusions

Contrary to a large theoretical and empirical literature, the results suggest that school locations play a minimal role in neighborhood crime production in Philadelphia. Future research should investigate specific contexts and mechanisms, such as land-use characteristics and travel patterns to schools, which may interact with specific school settings in ways that are related to crime production.

     

Dispositional Mindfulness Moderates the Relationship Between Occupational Stressors and Perceived Stress Among Law Enforcement Personnel

Law enforcement personnel (LEPs) experience occupational stressors that can result in poor health outcomes and have a negative impact on the communities they serve. Dispositional mindfulness, or receptive awareness and attention to present moment experience, has been shown to negatively predict perceived stress and to moderate the relationship between stressors and negative stress-related outcomes. The current study is an investigation of the moderating role of specific facets of dispositional mindfulness (i.e., nonreactivity, nonjudging, and acting with awareness) in the relationship between occupational stressors and perceived stress in a sample of LEPs. As hypothesized, nonreactivity significantly moderated the relationship between operational stressors and perceived stress, such that LEPs low in nonreactivity exhibited a significant relationship between stressors and perceived stress, whereas those high in nonreactivity did not. Nonjudging also moderated the relationship between organizational stressors and perceived stress; however, unexpectedly, LEPs high in nonjudging evidenced a significant relationship between stressors and perceived stress, whereas those low in nonjudging did not. Potential implications of these findings for LEP stress reduction interventions are discussed.     

Follow the leader: testing a deductive approach for studying parliamentary party leadership roles

Parliamentary party group leaders (PPG leaders) are crucial – yet understudied – actors in modern representative democracies. Inspired by the literature on parliamentary roles, we test a deductive approach in order to explore the attitudes and behaviours of PPG leaders. Given their common duties, such as monitoring group members and securing party cohesion, we expect that PPG leaders across several countries would exhibit a common pattern that distinguishes them from other MPs. However, neither a common, nor a distinguished pattern of attitudes and behaviour is confirmed by our results based on Partirep MP Survey data. This, together with other theoretical difficulties, points us to the need to study PPG leaders’ roles by using in-depth single-country studies.     

SARSCOV-19 amidst corruption: Does the civil society matter? – An empirical study

The pandemic outbreak has dealt consequences on global engagements and structures. With the ongoing search for pandemic-mitigating measures and the excesses (notably corruption) erupted in its wake, concerns have been raised about the decline in public trust, transparency and satisfaction – particularly in Ghana. This situation has spurred multilevel governance discussions regarding pandemic management. Ensuingly characterising policy makers' propositions in this regard is the civil society's salience as a control valve to governance deficits like corruption. Therefore, transcending the anecdotal claims on civil society's efficacy, this study takes a state-society perspective to probe its relevance in fostering trust, transparency and satisfaction, relative to corruption-stricken pandemic governance. The current study engages the general systems theory as a conceptual lens. The structural equation modelling technique was used in analysing data (n = 519) gathered through the questionnaire survey approach. Though results of data analysis affirmed the negative effects of corruption on trust, transparency and satisfaction, the civil society received affirmation as an enhancer of trust, transparency and satisfaction. In view of these study findings, implications and future research suggestions are delimited.