Citizen Advisory Committees and Environmental Policy: What We Know, What's Left to Discover

Citizen Advisory Committees (CACs) are being used in increasing numbers to provide public input into environmental policy and management decisions. While there is a large body of literature consisting of guidelines for establishing and running CACs, the body of literature of empirical evaluations of CACs is markedly smaller. Fourteen empirical studies of CACs involved in environmental policy decisions (spanning the period from 1976 to 1994) are reviewed here, including case studies, large-scale surveys, and consultant reports. For each study consideration is given to the methods of study, the issues considered by the CACs, the organizations advised, the definitions of success used in the study, and the suggested factors contributing to the success, or lack of success, experienced by the CACs. The review shows that the influence of CACs on policy outcomes have varied from case to case, with some accomplishing little and others having significant policy impacts. The increased use of CACs by government and industry presents an excellent opportunity for academics and practitioners to strengthen their understanding of the internal processes and capabilities of CACs through comparative evaluation research.     

Competitive structure and fiscal policy

Using new measures to compare both the 48 states and 52 upstate New York counties, this research reformulates V. O. Key's hypothesis that noncompetitive systems benefit upper socioeconomic groups while competitive systems favor the lower classes. In designing these tests, we returned to Key's original conceptualization, which, contrary to the subsequent research that claimed to test his hypothesis, did not separate and oppose the political and economic sectors. In line with Key's formulation, we find that competitive political structure goes hand in hand with competitive economic structure and together they determine an array of fiscal policies that are different from those of noncompetitive political-economic systems. This return to the original sense of the hypothesis resolves many of the puzzling findings that have been generated in the last several decades. Democratic party affiliation and urban differentiation also affected revenues and expenditures. These same characteristics were previously shown to affect poverty and social pathology. That they now affect public policy for dealing with these problems means that those caught in the web of poverty are in double jeopardy.     

Limit expressions for the risk of james-stein estimators

Limit expressions (as the dimension p ← ∞ ) are derived for the relative risk of the James-Stein estimator and its positive-part version. The limit is simple to evaluate, and gives the amount of improvement in risk that is possible. The technique used is to bound the risk, both above and below. with bounds that converge to the same limit. For the James-Stein estimator these bounds are simple to calculate, and are quite accurate even for moderate dimensions.     

A note on the population of seventeenth century London

A least-squares analysis of the various estimates of the population of London during the seventeenth century discloses the probable degree of error in the work of William Petty and other early demographers. A new “average” population is calculated and the regression equation given which best satisfies the contemporary estimates.     

Micro Ruptures and Repairs in the Beginning Phase of Cross-Cultural Psychotherapy

The article discusses misunderstandings and misattunements that occur in the beginning phase of cross-cultural psychotherapy. Sources of micro ruptures are outlined, including client maladaptive patterns, therapist misunderstandings, cross-cultural misunderstandings due to cultural variations, and asymmetrical power relations involving the impact of prior experiences or current therapy practices. Multiple clinical vignettes illustrate the rupture/repair process, drawing on Safran and Muran’s (2000) list of direct and indirect techniques.     

Race and Loss of Privilege: African American/White Differences in the Determinants of Job Layoffs From Upper-Tier Occupations

Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics supports predictions from the minority vulnerability thesis concerning the determinants of job layoffs among African Americans and Whites who work in upper-middle-class occupations. Specifically, after controlling for seniority, layoffs for African Americans are relatively unstructured by traditional stratification-based causal factors, namely, background socioeconomic status, human-capital credentials, and job/labor market characteristics. Analyses also indicate that racial differences in the determinants of layoffs are more pronounced in nonservice-based than service-based firms in the private sector and in the private sector relative to the public sector.     

Biomechanics of the heel-raise exercise

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether increases in internal (muscular) demand would be proportional to increases in the external demand during heel-raise exercise. Seven male (mean age 74.9 +/- 4.8 years) and 9 female (mean age 74.4 +/- 5.1 years) older adults performed both double-leg heel raises and single-leg heel raises under 3 loading conditions (no external resistance and +5% and +10% of each participant's body weight). Kinematic and kinetic dependent variables were calculated using standard inverse-dynamics techniques. The results suggest that although the single-heel raise led to increases in peak net joint moments, power, and mechanical-energy expenditure (MEE), it did so at the expense of range of motion and angular velocity. In addition, increasing the external resistance by 5% of participants' body weight did not elicit significant changes in either the power or the MEE of the ankle joint. These effects should be considered when prescribing these exercises to older adults.