公共服务跨界合作:碎片化服务的整合

现代社会日益动态化、多元化和异质化的公共需求迫切要求政府部门不断创新公共服务供给机制以提高服务品质和回应性。公共服务的跨界合作通过部门间协同构建多样化服务供给框架,将碎片化的服务整合到连续统一体之中;通过权力共享构建竞争性公共服务供给网络,优化社会资源配置效率;通过动态的公共服务传输机制寻求和扩大公共服务供给的公平性和可及性。北京市信息化城市管理系统的成功案例佐证了这种以完备的框架结构、共享的组织关系和弹性的传输机制为核心的公共服务跨界合作是公共服务供给的有效备选机制之一。     

政府层级管理体制改革的实践与思考

改革开放以来,我国进行了政府层级管理体制改革,方式多种多样,如行政建制调整,扩权强县(镇)与省直管县,设置开放城市、开发区与经济特区,作为国家战略的区域规划及其各类试验区等。中心是减少管理层级,提高行政效率。目前要进一步加大改革力度,注意改革的关联性、系统性、连贯性,加大利益统筹协调的力度,把区域、局部的改革上升为整体改革,地方各级也要在率先试验方面积极拓展体制创新的空间。     

董事会:公立高校治理结构的改革

在高等教育体制改革背景下,我国公立高校董事会逐渐发展起来。然而其角色定位至今仍存在争议。从国外经验和我国实际出发,公立高校董事会应定位于决策机构。为此,应当从树立高校董事的非营利观念、改革高校董事的选任机制、建立高校董事的退出机制等方面入手,不断改善公立高校董事会的内部环境,推动高校法人治理结构的完善。     

澳大利亚政府绩效评价实践的最新进展

澳大利亚政府绩效评价工作开展较早,发展至今积累了大量的有益经验。现行的评价体系结构宏大,内涵丰富,真正有效地促进了澳大利亚政府公共服务的质量提升。本文介绍了由澳大利亚公共服务委员会以及生产力委员会主导的政府绩效评价模式,总结其特点并对我国政府绩效评价的发展提出了建议。     

Parental influences on deviant behavior in early adolescence: A logistic response analysis of age- and gender-differentiated effects

We used data from a 601-family longitudinal study to estimate the separate and combined effects of three risk factors—parental psychiatric disorders (principally depression and substance abuse), supportive parent-child communications, and household income—on the development of deviant behavior in boys and girls aged 11–14. Using logistic response models, we concluded that having fewer than two supportive parents generally increases the risk of deviant behavior, but more so for boys than for girls. This effect is amplified when one or more parent(s) has a chronic mental disorder, but thecombination of fewer than two supportive parentsand one psychiatrically impaired parent has a particularly marked effect on girls. Moreover, older children's behavior is affected more dramatically by parental mental disorders, especially among girls; 13 to 14-year-old girls with both parental risk factors are virtually as deviant as male agemates with both risks. Each one of these effects is present regardless of family income level; however, net of these risks, household income is negatively associated with deviant behavior—a 10% increase in income is associated with a 1.3% decrease in adolescent deviance.     

Velocity necessary for a BB to penetrate the eye: an experimental study using pig eyes

PURPOSE: To determine the V-50 threshold velocity needed for a steel BB to penetrate the eye of a 230-pound pig. METHOD: BBs were shot at a distance of 10 feet into the corneas of pig eyes with a pump-action BB gun. RESULTS: The V-50 velocity for corneal penetration and serious disruption of the eye was found to be 246 ft/sec. CONCLUSION: Due to the nearly identical size and anatomy of the human eye to the pig eyes used in this study, it is felt that 246 ft/sec is a reasonable approximation of the velocity needed to penetrate the human eye.     

Forensic value of 14 novel STRs on the human Y chromosome

We identified and characterized 14 novel short-tandem-repeats (STRs) on the Y chromosome and typed them in two samples, a globally diverse panel of 73 cell lines, and 148 individuals from a European-American population. These Y-STRs include eight tetranucleotide repeats (DYS449, DYS453, DYS454, DYS455, DYS456, DYS458, DYS459, and DYS464), five pentanucleotide repeats (DYS446, DYS447, DYS450, DYS452, and DYS463), and one hexanucleotide repeat (DYS448). Sequence data were obtained to designate a repeat number nomenclature. The gene diversities of an additional 22 Y-STRs, including the most commonly used in forensic databases, were directly compared in the cell line DNAs. Six of the 10 most polymorphic markers include the newly identified Y-STRs. Furthermore, these novel Y-STRs greatly improved the resolution of paternal lineages, above the level obtained with commonly used Y-STRs, in the European-American population.     

The Political Science of Democratic Transition in Eastern Europe

Political science is presented with an unprecedented case of democratic transition in Eastern Europe with a set of societies that are said to have been atomized by party state organs and without the other formal preconditions for transition to liberal democracy. The article surveys current writings and theories on transition to see whether they fit the East European cases. The stress in the literature on the primacy of endogenous factors, the role of entrepreneurial capitalism and the leading role of elites in facilitating a transition to democracy is of little value in the Eastern European context where exogenous factors, the absence of capitalism and the role of the masses were crucial in the downfall ofcornmunism. The prospects for the survival of democracy are discussed in the light of the way the new regimes were inaugurated.