Confucius Meets Weber or “Managerialism Takes All”? Comparing Civil Servant Values in China and the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

This article assesses the validity of normative claims on how civil servant values in East Asian and Western European administrations differ. By triangulating quantitative and qualitative survey data from a sample of Chinese (n = 508) and Dutch (n = 238) civil servants, we aim to answer two main research questions: “How and why do ideal-type and real-life rankings of civil servant values differ between Chinese and Dutch civil servants?” and “Do differences reflect administrative traditions of both countries?” Our findings demonstrate that similarities exceed differences between value rankings. Surprisingly, ideal-type value rankings are more similar than real-life rankings, with only a few idiosyncratic differences reflecting administrative traditions. Chinese civil servants perceive institutional and systemic factors as reasons for incongruence between ideal-type and real-life rankings, whereas Dutch civil servants emphasize meso-level factors such as organizational public management reforms. We theorize on our results and we provide suggestions for future research.     

How Valid Is Negotiation Research Based on Student Sample Groups? New Insights into a Long‐Standing Controversy

Although a considerable amount of research has examined the impact of experience on negotiation behavior and performance, we still know very little about the usefulness of student samples in negotiation research because most studies have compared the performance of inexperienced students with those who had received some kind of extensive negotiation training or with experienced professional negotiators(s). Against this background, we investigate whether the results obtained from trained student samples are generally similar to those of professional negotiators. Generally, our data confirm our hypotheses that students with some negotiation training and experience perform better than untrained student negotiators and that they are not significantly outperformed by professional negotiators. From this, we conclude that many questions in the field of negotiation research can be effectively tested by using trained students as experimental subjects.     

The Time Has Come for a Treaty to Ban Weapons in Space

An arms race in space among the major powers would be immensely dangerous,destabilizing,and expensive.Russia,which has a long history in space technology dating back to Sputnik in 1957,does not have the resources or the political will to sustain such a race today.But China and the United States do.     

An analytical evaluation of eight on-site oral fluid drug screening devices using laboratory confirmation results from oral fluid

A decaying cadaver emits volatile organic compounds that are used by necrophilous and necrophagous insects in order to find their brood substrate. Although volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are released by carcasses have been identified, little is known about the specific compounds that are used by these insects while searching for a brood substrate. Therefore, we have investigated the chemical ecology involved in the attraction of the necrophagous hide beetle Dermestes maculatus, which feeds as an adult and larva upon decomposing carcasses. Our aims have been to identify the responsible compounds in the odours of the carcass that are important for the attraction of the beetles. Furthermore, we have studied sex- and age-related differences in beetle attraction and tested whether the hide beetle can distinguish between various stages of decomposition by means of the emitted odours. Headspace collection of volatiles released from piglet carcasses (bloated stage, post-bloating stage, advanced decay and dry remains), coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and bioassays were conducted to identify the volatiles responsible for the attraction of the beetles. Freshly emerged male beetles were attracted by the odour of piglets in the post-bloating stage (9 days after death; T(mean) = 27 °C) and the EAD-active compound benzyl butyrate. Statistical analysis revealed a higher relative proportion of benzyl butyrate in the odour bouquet of the post-bloating stage in comparison with the other stages. We therefore conclude that this compound plays an important role in the attraction of hide beetles to carcass odour. This underlines the potential use of D. maculatus for the estimation of the post mortem interval. The decomposition stage at which the female beetles are attracted to the odour of a cadaver remains unknown, as does the nature of this attraction. Pheromones (sexual or aggregation pheromones) might play an essential role correlated with their attraction to carrion and consequently with their attraction to the substrate for mating and ovipositioning.     

The Animal: A Subject of Law? A Reflection on Aspects of the Austrian and German Juridical Systems

In recent years there has been a marked increase in interest in animal welfare issues worldwide. This subject often evokes extreme points of view, and can be both intellectually challenging and emotionally dividing. It is undeniably a field where substantial progress has taken place, with a multitude of countries worldwide implementing their own animal welfare and protection laws. However, calls continue to be voiced for more extensive and courageous measures to be taken concerning both the content and the enforcement of animal welfare legislation. To highlight a variety of these promising and noteworthy ideas this article outlines and examines some selected and qualified aspects of a potential juridical approach to the subject by consulting the legal systems of Austria and Germany under this particular premise. The aim will be to ascertain the extent to which animals have been granted consideration and protection, for instance in spheres of Constitutional or Civil Law. What options exist to safeguard an animal by a legally founded and secured position, and on which rank in the legal system could such provisions possibly be established? Ideally, a complete legal network on all possible levels of the legal system should be developed, ensuring a comprehensive and an all-embracing protection of the individual animal.     

Protective Factors at School: Reciprocal Effects Among Adolescents’ Perceptions of the School Environment,Engagement in Learning,and Hope

Although some research suggests that schools can be a source of protective factors for students, the processes by which school environments impact students’ behavior, performance and adjustment over time are not clear. Guided by both self-determination theory and hope theory, this article evaluated reciprocal effects among adolescent perceptions of the school environment, engagement in learning, hope, and academic achievement. Using a sample of 423 students (M age 15.72 years; 46.7% female; 77.6% white; 30.9% eligible for FRPL) from five small secondary schools in the upper Midwest, students’ perceptions of the school environment were linked to engagement in learning, which, in turn, was linked to change in academic achievement and hope over the span of 1 year. Evidence was found for reciprocal links between earlier levels of engagement and hope and later perceptions of the environment. These results suggest that the school environment represents a potential leverage point for educational reform, and interventions that target students’ perceptions of autonomy, teacher/peer support, and goal orientation may be able to promote engagement, hope, and academic achievement. In addition, such changes may create a positive feedback loop in which change in academic performance and adjustment accelerate over time.     

Risk adjustment and risk equalization: what needs to be done?

In this paper, we first deal with the rationale of risk adjustment and risk equalization in health insurance markets. Then we discuss the state of the art concerning the application of risk adjustment and risk equalization in practice. Finally, we focus on: What needs to be done?     

Conceptions of liberty during the Dutch revolt 1555–1590

Traditionally considered as selfish usurpers of the nation's will on the eve of the Revolution, members of the Ancien Régime parlements resorted to a falsely pre-revolutionary language has long convinced historians in their interpretations. Beyond the semantics associated with the remonstrance – a genre that is suggested here –, this paper wishes to re-insert the parliamentary dialectics against these arbitrary orders of the years 1787–88 into a broader socio-cultural field. Our aim is to show that what was at stake when dealing with the ‘sealed’ letters hinged around power and contestation within the public opinion expressed through various speeches in the Paris and provincial parliaments. The unanimous questioning of these lettres de cachet obviously concealed numerous differences and often illustrated confusion between the pre-revolutionary intentions, as expressed in leaflets, and the parliamentary speeches strongly intent on defending identity privileges. The parlements were, however, the driving force of the campaign against lettres de cachet and thus introduced the French people to what we can call rather a grammar of resistance. If they were the object of general denunciation right from the calling of the Etats généraux in July 1788 as if they had betrayed the Nation, this was because the French people were at the same time experiencing events that suddenly altered their identity along with their contesting of absolutism.