Chief executive officers and voluntary environmental performance: Costa Rica's certification for sustainable tourism

This study evaluates whether the education, environmental expertise, and nationality of firms' chief executive officers (CEOs) are associated with greater participation and environmental performance in a voluntary environmental program implemented in a developing nation. Specifically, we collected data from the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) program, a voluntary initiative aimed at promoting beyond-compliance environmental performance by hotels operating in Costa Rica. Our findings suggest that CEOs' level of formal education and environmental expertise appear to be significantly associated with higher corporate participation in voluntary programs and also with higher beyond-compliance environmental performance ratings. Contrary to conventional expectations, CEOs from industrialized countries (as opposed to developing countries) do not appear to show a statistically significant association with participation in the CST program and with higher beyond-compliance environmental performance.     

Is Russia a militocracy? Conceptual issues and extant findings regarding elite militarization

The dominant paradigm for understanding contemporary Russia holds that Vladimir Putin's tenure in office has been accompanied by a massive influx of former KGB and military personnel – so-called “siloviki” – into positions of power and authority throughout the polity and economy. Claims of extensive elite militarization, however, are largely based on the analyses of only one research program and, moreover, the validity of the estimates produced by that research program is open to question on numerous grounds. In this article, we review existing research on elite militarization in Russia; discuss a series of conceptual and empirical issues that need to be resolved if valid and meaningful estimation of military–security representation is to be achieved; introduce new findings; and evaluate the totality of existing evidence regarding whether the Russian state under Putin deserves to be labeled a militocracy. We find that the most straightforward reading of existing data indicates that the percentage of siloviki in the political elite during Putin's first two terms as president was approximately half of that which has been widely reported in both scholarship and the media, and also declined during the Medvedev presidency. In addition, our analysis of a broader cross section of the elite estimates military–security representation during the Putin presidency to have been lower still. Overall, existing data paint a less alarming picture of the depths to which siloviki have penetrated the corridors of power since 2000 than has been commonly portrayed and thereby cast doubt on Russia's status as an “FSB state.” On the other hand, past trends also provide some basis for expecting that the numbers of siloviki will once again rise during Putin's current presidential term.     

The Impact of Timing of Exposure to Violence on Violent Behavior in a High Poverty Sample of Inner City African American Youth

A growing body of research has linked exposure to violence to violent behavior, but few studies have examined the impact of the timing of exposure to violence on violent behavior among inner city, minority youth. Theoretical insights derived from developmental psychology and psychopathology (DPP) and Agnew’s general strain theory (GST) give contrasting accounts of whether exposure to violence has a short term or long term impact on violent behavior. Five waves of data collected from African American youth living in twelve high poverty inner city neighborhoods was used to examine how the timing of exposure to violence over a four year time period impacts year five violent behavior. Multivariate results support GST’s contention that more proximal exposure to violence has a larger impact on violent behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for adolescent development in high poverty settings are discussed.

Worldwide policy trends in agricultural extension: Part II

This second of a two-part article on global policy trends in agricultural extension deals with complexity. Policy differs enormously from country to country. The author believes that, rather than producing confusion and frustration in the field, the great variety of methodologies, institutional frameworks, and program priorities provides a rich field of ideas for study and practice. The major position in the article is that extension must be dealt with as part of a total agricultural-development process rather than an isolated subsystem for transferring technology to farmers.     

基于高阶空间精度格式和嵌套网格对旋翼尾迹捕捉的改进

发展了一种基于高阶迎风格式和嵌套网格捕捉直升机悬停旋翼涡尾迹的方法.无粘通量采用Roe Reimann求解器,使用改进的5阶加权基本无振荡(WENO)格式对交界面左右状态进行高阶插值,并与MUSCL插值进行比较.为便于捕捉尾迹和实施周期性边界条件,计算采用结构嵌套网格,其中高质量的旋翼网格完全嵌套于背景网格中.当解达到近似收敛后在桨尖涡分布区域对背景网格进行加密,如此经过3次得到优化的背景网格.考虑到WENO格式插值的特点,提出了搜索3层洞边界和人工外边界的方法以便插值的直接进行.用该方法对一跨音速和一亚音速悬停旋翼粘性流场进行了数值计算.数值结果表明:所发展方法对涡尾迹具有很高的捕捉能力;与MUSCL格式相比,WENO格式具有较低的数值耗散.     

Term Limits,Campaign Contributions,and the Distribution of Power in State Legislatures

Using campaign contributions to legislators as an indicator of member influence, we explore the impact of term limits on the distribution of power within state legislatures. Specifically, we perform a cross‐state comparison of the relative influence of party caucus leaders, committee chairs, and rank‐and‐file legislators before and after term limits. The results indicate that term limits diffuse power in state legislatures, both by decreasing average contributions to incumbents and by reducing the power of party caucus leaders relative to other members. The change in contribution levels across legislators in different chambers implies a shift in power to the upper chamber in states with term limits. Thus, the impact of term limits may be attenuated in a bicameral system.     

中国共产党与中国特色社会主义事业总体布局

摘要：中国特色社会主义事业总体布局大体经历了四个发展阶段：前期探索阶段、初步形成阶段、完善与充实阶段和重大推进阶段。这是中国共产党在领导人民建设中国特色社会主义的探索实践中不断深化认识的结果,反映出我们党是一个实事求是、与时俱进、开拓创新的马克思主义政党,这必将坚定我们在其领导下实现中华民族伟大复兴的信心。