Apportionment and the boundary commission for England

Political apportionment is the allocation of an integer number of seats to each of a number of subunits into which a legislature is divided. This paper introduces the theoretical issues, and then applies the theory to the apportionment of parliamentary seats in the United Kingdom. It shows that the outcome is defective by comparison with desirable and achievable standards, and that the defects lead to predictable biases of representation in favour of certain parts of the country. The defects have arisen partly through manipulation for party advantage, but largely because of a failure of all concerned to understand the theory of apportionment.     

Natural Disasters and the Size of Nations

What is the relationship between natural disasters and country size? Is an increasing likelihood of environmental shocks linked to political integration or secessionism? We argue that natural disasters are associated with a decline in country size. This relationship arises because costs generated by disasters are higher for citizens located farther away from the political center of a country, and costs are amplified as disasters affect a larger area in a country, which in turn makes it less desirable for citizens in remote regions to remain part of a larger country. Our empirical results show that greater risks of environmental shocks are indeed associated with smaller countries, as well as smaller administrative units.     

Implementing robotics technology: A case study in organizational learning

A visionary manager will occasionally encounter a “wave-of-the-future” technology that can change the manufacturing process. Since such technologies are relatively unknown to others in the organization, its implementation can make or break its success. New Process Gear (NPG) plant, a division of New Venture Gear, Inc., has experienced this scenario with its robotics installation. This field study examines several robotics installations at NPG, starting with the earliest installation and proceeding through its latest installation of a complete robotics system. Through this experience, five areas emerged as necessary for successful new technology adoption: opportunity identification, high-quality equipment, supplier competence, training, and teamwork. By examining the robotics implementation process through various installations over time, several important lessons can be gleaned about new technology implementation that may be applicable to other technology applications.     

From “Junkies” to “Soccer Moms”: Newspaper Representations of Overdose, 1988–2014

In the United States, opioid-related mortality has tripled since 2000, leading the Centers for Disease Control to declare a national overdose epidemic in 2016. With overdose an increasing area of mainstream political and popular concern, some commentators have suggested that sympathetic attention has followed changes in the profile of opioid users, as rates of heroin initiation have doubled among white Americans and women. Yet no studies have examined how media framings of overdose have shifted alongside the epidemic’s demographic contours. Focusing upon southwestern Pennsylvania, this study uses qualitative analysis of news items surrounding three surges in heroin overdose deaths in 1988, 2006, and 2014. 178 items reporting on such overdose outbreaks were selected for thematic coding, with attention directed toward opioid user representations, “drug problem” characterizations, and suggested solutions. Results reveal a transformation in the depiction of overdose sufferers over time, with stories increasingly centered around “unexpected” opioid users, whose habits are made legible through biomedical discourses of addiction; such portraits are used to argue the impropriety of punitive responses to drug misuse. At the same time, the role of criminal justice institutions in addressing overdose is not dismissed, but relocated in recent coverage, with the intensified prosecution of drug dealers offered by many.     

Adolescents’ Identity Formation: Linking the Narrative and the Dual-Cycle Approach

The narrative and dual-cycle approach conceptualize and operationalize adolescents’ identity formation in different ways. While the narrative approach focuses on the construction of an autobiographical life story, the dual-cycle approach focuses on the formation of identity commitments. Although these approaches have different emphases, they are conceptually complementary. Yet, their empirical links and distinctions have only scarcely been investigated. Empirical knowledge on these links in adolescence and across time has been especially lacking. In the present research, it was therefore examined whether key characteristics of adolescents’ narration (autobiographical reasoning and agency) were concurrently and prospectively related to engagement in the dual-cycle processes of commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration. The findings from a cross-sectional sample of 1,580 Dutch adolescents (M_age?=?14.7 years, 56% female) demonstrated that autobiographical reasoning was significantly positively associated with the commitment and more adaptive exploration processes (i.e., in breadth and in depth). In addition, agency was significantly positively associated with the commitment processes and exploration in depth. Yet, these associations between the narrative characteristics and dual-cycle processes were only weak. Subsequently, the findings from a two-year longitudinal subsample (n?=?242, M_age?=?14.7 years, 62% female) indicated that on average commitment strength remained stable but exploration increased across middle adolescence. A stronger increase in identification with commitment and adaptive exploration (i.e., in breadth and in depth) was predicted by a higher degree of agency in adolescents’ narratives. Overall, these findings indicate that both approaches to identity formation are associated, but the small size of these associations suggests that they predominantly capture unique aspects of identity formation. Both approaches could thus complement and inform each other.

     

The Regulation of Xenotransplantation in the United Kingdom After UKXIRA: Legal and Ethical Issues

Xenotransplantation - the transfer of living tissue between species - has long been heralded as a potential solution to the severe organ shortage crisis experienced by the United Kingdom and other 'developed' nations. However, the significant risks which accompany this biotechnology led the United Kingdom to adopt a cautious approach to its regulation, with the establishment of a non-departmental public body - UKXIRA - to oversee the development of this technology on a national basis. In December 2006 UKXIRA was quietly disbanded and replaced with revised guidance, which entrusts the regulation of xenotransplantation largely to research ethics committees. In this article we seek to problematize this new regulatory framework, arguing that specialist expertise and national oversight are necessary components of an adequate regulatory framework for a biotechnology which poses new orders of risk, challenges the adequacy of traditional understandings of autonomy and consent, and raises significant animal welfare concerns. We argue for a more considered and holistic approach, based on adequate consultation, to regulating biotechnological developments in the United Kingdom.     

Comparative Journal Ratings: A Survey Report

The expert survey and bibliometric methods of assessing the quality of work in political science are complementary. This project builds on previous surveys of academic political science journals conducted among US political scientists. The current wave extends the survey to political scientists in Canada and the UK. Preliminary results suggest both similarities and differences across the three countries. These results matter for policy debate in any country that is considering channelling flows of funds to universities in proportion to the quality of their research, and in helping to supply objective evidence about the research quality of work submitted by candidates for academic appointments and promotions.