Regulatory Appraisal: A Neglected Opportunity for Law and Economics

Governments are increasingly using cost-benefit analysis to appraise regulatory proposals. In this paper, the author reviews recent practice in the USA and UK. Drawing particularly on examples of analysis undertaken by the British Health and Safety Executive, he argues that a technique originally adopted to assess the merits of public projects is, as yet, insufficiently sensitive to some of the problematic aspects of the interaction between legal instruments and human behaviour. These aspects are the focus of much law-and-economics analysis and the value of regulatory appraisal would be enhanced by an increased input of such analysis.     

听证程序实效性问题研究——以环境影响评价制度为视角

在环境行政领域,环境影响评价法首次以法律形式规定听证程序.自圆明园湖底防渗工程听证程序后,环境影响评价听证程序逐渐被适用.但由于听证程序立法本身缺陷等原因,其未能发挥应有的程序作用.因此,改革环境听证程序、重新设计听证当事人的地位及权利成为扩大环境行政公众参与的方式之一.     

Calculating Point of Origin of Blood Spatter Using Laser Scanning Technology

The point of origin of an impact pattern is important in establishing the chain of events in a bloodletting incident. In this study, the accuracy and reproducibility of the point of origin estimation using the FARO Scene software with the FARO Focus^3D laser scanner was determined. Five impact patterns were created for each of three combinations of distances from the floor (z) and the front wall (x). Fifteen spatters were created using a custom impact rig, scanned using the laser scanner, photographed using a DSLR camera, and processed using the Scene software. Overall results gave a SD = 3.49 cm (p < 0.0001) in the x‐direction, SD = 1.14 cm (p = 0.9291) in the y‐direction, and SD = 9.08 cm (p < 0.0115) in the z‐direction. The technique performs within literature ranges of accepted accuracy and reproducibility and is comparable to results reported for other virtual stringing software.     

Injuries of the Head from Backface Deformation of Ballistic Protective Helmets Under Ballistic Impact

Modern ballistic helmets defeat penetrating bullets by energy transfer from the projectile to the helmet, producing helmet deformation. This deformation may cause severe injuries without completely perforating the helmet, termed “behind armor blunt trauma” (BABT). As helmets become lighter, the likelihood of larger helmet backface deformation under ballistic impact increases. To characterize the potential for BABT, seven postmortem human head/neck specimens wearing a ballistic protective helmet were exposed to nonperforating impact, using a 9 mm, full metal jacket, 124 grain bullet with velocities of 400–460 m/s. An increasing trend of injury severity was observed, ranging from simple linear fractures to combinations of linear and depressed fractures. Overall, the ability to identify skull fractures resulting from BABT can be used in forensic investigations. Our results demonstrate a high risk of skull fracture due to BABT and necessitate the prevention of BABT as a design factor in future generations of protective gear.     

A Biomechanical Evaluation of Skull–Brain Surrogates to Blunt High‐Rate Impacts to Postmortem Human Subjects

The field of forensic injury biomechanics is an emerging field. Biomechanically validated tools may assist interdisciplinary teams of investigators in assessing mechanisms of blunt head trauma resulting in skull fractures. The objective of this study is to assess the biofidelity of spherical, frangible skull–brain (SB) surrogates. Blunt impacts were conducted at 20 m/s, using an instrumented 103 g rigid impactor, to the temporo‐parietal region of four defleshed cephalic postmortem human subjects (PMHS). Force–deformation response, fracture tolerance, and fracture patterns were recorded for comparison to spherical skull–brain surrogates. Three brain substitutes were assessed: 10% gelatin, lead shot with Styrofoam and water. Force–deformation response of the skull–brain surrogates was similar to defleshed PMHS up to the point of fracture; however, none of the surrogates fractured at tolerance levels comparable to the PMHS. Fracture patterns of the skull–brain surrogates were linear and radiating, while PMHS fractures were all depressed, comminuted.     

The Politics of Parliamentary Strengthening

Parliament's International Development Committee made a powerful case this year that DFID should put more money into parliamentary strengthening in developing countries. Arguing that parliaments were central to tackling corruption, improving economic development and building stable political settlements, they recommended that parliaments should be at the ‘heart of DFID's governance work’. The report, though, also touched on wider issues of how DFID commissions and monitors its political programmes, suggesting fundamental changes to both. DFID recognises these challenges, and offered either full or partial agreement with most of the recommendations. The challenge that remains, though, is moving from the rhetoric of ‘engaging with politics’ to a much improved form of political and parliamentary programming.     

Squaring the Virtuous Circle: Exploring the Potential of the ‘Five Cs’

During his May 2014 visit to Australia Pascal Lamy, former Director General of the World Trade Organization, urged ‘public institutions, civil society, and global businesses’ to forge ‘creative coalitions’ for the purpose of engaging constructively and positively with the complex problems standing in the way of achieving social and economic sustainability. Lamy's visit was but the first of several occasions during 2014 in which intense public discussion erupted about the need for government, business, and civil society to pool their capacities in boundary‐spanning efforts to address complex policy problems. This article investigates whether the public discussion portends a heightened policy focus on the ‘five Cs’: co‐production, co‐design, corporate social responsibility, collective impact, and Lamy's creative coalitions.     

Types of knowledge utilization of regulatory impact assessments: Evidence from Swiss policymaking

Ex ante policy appraisals, such as Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs), are promoted because they are expected to inform decisionmakers and, thus, to lead to better quality regulation. Such instrumental use is not the only possible use of RIAs. Ex ante policy appraisal can affect the policy process in various ways. However, a consolidated theory on the conditions for utilization of RIAs in the policy process has yet to be developed. In order to explore these conditions, we analyze three case studies of Swiss decisionmaking processes and apply concepts from knowledge utilization literature. In conclusion, we find that policy arenas matter more than the institutional context and design of RIA procedures. In line with previous literature, political use seems to be a prevalent type of utilization. Yet we find that, under specific conditions, RIAs also provide a basis for the optimization of policy designs (instrumental use), help improve interagency relations (policy‐process use), and may change how a policy issue is understood (conceptual use).     

Bargaining Through Arguing: An Empirical Analysis Based on Speech Act Theory

In a recent debate in political science, the terms "bargaining and arguing" have been construed as semantic opposites. The present article rejects this dichotomy and offers a new theoretical approach to clarify the logical and pragmatic relationship of bargaining and arguing as modes of the resolution of conflicts through communication. On the basis of speech act theory, a method for the empirical analysis of bargaining and arguing is developed and demonstrated with an example of conflict resolution by mediation. Four conclusions can be drawn. First, in empirical processes of communicative conflict resolution, in almost all cases both arguing and bargaining will be present. Second, only in the rare cases of pure conflicts over solely facts or values will arguing appear. Third, within the context of an interest conflict, arguing is not an alternative to bargaining, but a means for bargaining. Fourth, although bargaining and arguing have the potential to resolve certain types of conflicts, their success is difficult to predict and cannot be taken for granted.     

Sudden Unexpected Death due to Chiari Type I Malformation in a Road Accident Case

This case concerns a sudden death of a patient with Chiari I malformation. A 17‐year‐old female was seen unconscious then fell off a motorbike during the vehicle acceleration. The girl was confirmed dead on the way to hospital, being previously asymptomatic and with a clean medical record. Autopsy findings showed an extremely extra‐long cerebellar tonsillar herniation in the left side and unexplained multiple small cavities in cerebral hemispheres. Microscopic findings revealed loss and abnormal migration of the Purkinje cells, as well as capillary congestion in the herniated tonsil. The cause and mechanisms of this sudden death are considered as the cardiopulmonary dysfunction and arrest resulted from compression of the medulla and cervical cord, which was induced by both the positional insult and minor head trauma. In addition, this study stresses the importance of cervical cord examination in the case of unexpected sudden death following road accidents.