Primacy Implementation of Environmental Policy in the U.S. States

Environmental regulation is frequently implemented through asystem that allows states to choose whether to assume primaryauthority, or "primacy," for implementation and enforcement.This study looks at what causes states to assume this authorityin two important areas of environmental policy: air and waterpollution. It finds that in each policy area, primacy assumptionis unrelated to the "greenness" of state environmental policygenerally and negatively related to indicators of policy innovationwithin that area. Rather than being driven by commitment tothe environment, primacy assumption appears to be driven predominatelyby other factors, which differ substantially across the airand water policy arenas. These findings call into question thewidely held view that primacy assumption is an indicator ofstate environmentalism and indicate that a more nuanced viewof what causes states to assume primacy is necessary to fullyunderstand the dynamics of intergovernmental policy implementation.     

Healthcare organizations and the Internet: impact on federal tax exemption

Tax-exempt healthcare organizations have turned to the Internet as a powerful tool in communicating with the public, medical staff, and patients. Activities as diverse as providing links to the Web sites of other organizations, selling goods and services, soliciting contributions, and hosting forums on the Internet raise unresolved questions concerning the impact of Internet use on such organizations' tax-exempt status. The Internal Revenue Service has provided no guidance to date regarding the manner in which a nonprofit organizations' use of the Internet may affect its tax-exempt status or subject it to federal income tax on some sources of funds. This article suggests analytical approaches for applying existing law in the Internet context and identifies areas that are ripe for additional guidance.     

Curriculum Development for Public Sector Financial Management

Inadequate curriculum materials frequently impede the teaching of public sector financial management to graduate and mid-career students. The Curriculum Development Project at the School of Public Affairs of the University of Maryland has produced a draft curriculum that emphasizes the use of microcomputers and associated analytical skills in integrating topics in finance, accounting and budgeting.     

Intimate partner violence and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in women: what we know and need to know

This article presents a review of knowledge regarding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women experiencing intimate partner violence. Knowledge related to the prevalence and predictors of PTSD in battered women, the association between PTSD and physical health, and the emerging science regarding PTSD and physiological and immune parameters is addressed. Primary recommendations for future research includes the need for longitudinal and intervention research that incorporates a range of psychosocial and physiologic health outcomes.     

Mixed fatal poisoning caused by taking L-methadone and chloral hydrate

A 42-year-old female drug user who was enrolled in a methadone maintenance program was found dead in her apartment. Cause of death was an intoxication with chloral hydrate and L-methadone. Trichloroethanol (TCE), the primary metabolite of chloral hydrate, was quantified by solid phase microextraction (SPME) and GC/MS in heartblood (27 micrograms/ml) and urine (338 micrograms/ml). D- and L-methadone were differentiated by chiral HPLC, which showed that only L-methadone had been taken. The quantitation of L-methadone and its metabolite EDDP was carried out by GC/MS from heartblood (1300 ng/ml and 86 ng/ml, respectively), urine (5239 ng/ml and 4960 ng/ml, respectively) and gastric contents (159 ng/ml and 122 ng/ml, respectively). The concentrations of both--trichloroethanol and methadone--were in toxic ranges.     

Pension coverage among private wage and salary workers: preliminary findings from the 1988 survey of employee benefits

Based on data for private wage and salary workers in May 1988, this article examined pension coverage under two types of employer-sponsored pension plans. Some of the factors associated with employer-financed pension coverage were also examined, and comparisons were made to findings on pension coverage of full-time workers in 1972, 1979, and 1983. "Covered" workers were defined as those actually participating in a pension plan. Among all private sector employees studied, 34 percent were covered by a "basic" pension plan (most of which, presumably, were defined benefit plans), and 14 percent were covered by a pretax retirement savings plan--a subtype of defined contribution plan. With 7 percent of the respondents covered by both types of plans, the total coverage rate under employer-sponsored plans was 41 percent. Twelve percent of the respondents reported that they had contributed to an IRA in 1987. The reported IRA usage was somewhat higher among those already covered by a pension plan than among noncovered workers. Six percent of the respondents were not covered by an employer-sponsored plan but were contributing to an IRA, yielding a total of 47 percent who were participating in either an employer-sponsored or an individual retirement plan. While it was assumed--as in previous studies--that all "basic" coverage was being funded by employers, only four-fifths of those in pretax retirement savings plans reported that employers were also contributing to these plans. The remainder of the analysis was restricted to coverage under employer-financed plans, and it was further restricted to full-time workers. A total of 46 percent of these workers were covered under employer-financed pension plans--33 percent covered only by a basic plan, 7 percent covered only by a pretax plan, and 6 percent dually covered. Among men, the coverage rate was 49 percent, compared with 43 percent among women. Several individual and job-related characteristics were found to be associated with employer-financed pension coverage among full-time employees. Coverage rates were quite low among workers under age 25, but were substantially higher among those aged 35-59. Pension coverage was also low among those with less than 5 years of employment on the job, but relatively high among those with 5 years or more of job tenure. Coverage rate differences by race were not substantial. Whites reported a coverage rate of 47 percent, compared with 42 percent among blacks and 45 percent among other races.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Doing business in Yabaolu Market,Beijing: (inter-)ethnic entrepreneurship,trust and friendship between Caucasian and Chinese traders

ABSTRACT

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in China and Georgia, this article traces the origins and describes current practices of post-Soviet tourist trading in Yabaolu Market in Beijing. While traders from across the Caucasus visit Yabaolu, my focus is on Georgian traders who today perceive themselves as biznesmeny. Focusing on a typical trade visit, the article explores the role of ethnic and kinship ties in the organization of this trade. It questions the notion of ethnic entrepreneurship and the idea that ethnic cooperation itself may serve a basis of trust and underpin traders’ activities. Instead, the article illustrates how enduring transnational linkages are built on other forms of reliability and reputation. These are framed in the lexicon of friendship, as well as kinship and pseudo-kinship vocabulary, and facilitate commercial transactions between traders of different ethnic, social and religious backgrounds in an environment where state regulation and legal law enforcement are almost absent.