In Hong Kong, even though the Bill of Rights Ordinance (the localized version of ICCPR), Sex Discrimination Ordinance and a series of legal reforms were enacted and introduced respectively in 1991 and 1994, gender discrimination in legal discourse still persists. Chinese customary law, which only recognises the male's right to build small houses in the New Territories, remains an exceptio…
This investigation shows that mentorship loyalty is an ambivalent source of tension in the relationship. Data from in-depth interviews show that the mentoring attachment that is rooted in a protective, devoted, affectionate side of loyalty can also compel conformity, suppress dissent, and curb professional growth. The ambivalence stirred up by loyalty issues manifests itself in the nuts a…
In this paper we investigate how information surrogates might be useful in exploratory search and what information it is useful for a surrogate to contain. By comparing assessments based on artificially created information surrogates, we investigate the effect of the source of information, the quality of an information source and the date of information upon the assessment process. We als…
Categorized overviews of web search results are a promising way to support user exploration, understanding, and discovery. These search interfaces combine a metadata-based overview with the list of search results to enable a rich form of interaction. A study of 24 sophisticated users carrying out complex tasks suggests how searchers may adapt their search tactics when using categorized ov…
Black alder is a scattered, widespread and short-lived species that thrives in low-lying damp and riparian places. It has a use in flood control, stabilization of riverbanks and in functioning of the river ecosystems. To thrive, precipitation must exceed 1500 mm if access to groundwater is not possible. Alders are unusual among European trees in that they fix nitrogen. To regenerate naturally, …
Understanding how interactions among ungulate populations and their environmental dynamics play out across scales of time and space is a principal obstacle to managing ungulates in western North America. Morphological similarity, forage-base homogeneity and increasing animal density each enhance the likelihood of competitive interactions among sympatric populations. Competition is an interspeci…
Two seed lots of mazzard cherry (Prunus avium L.) seeds in stones with a 10–11 per cent moisture content (fresh weight basis) were stored in sealed containers at –3°C for 15 or 20 years. The seed lot stored for 20 years were stratified either in or without a substrate. Those stored for 15 years were stratified in a substrate. All seeds were kept at 25/3/25/3°C (2 + 2 + 2 + 14 weeks) or 3/25/3/2…
This paper presents a methodology that combines airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data with medium-resolution optical Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite imagery to predict stand canopy height in a study area in Aberfoyle, southern Scotland. Canopy height is an important forest variable that can provide information relating to forest structure, Yield Class, standing biomass and the…
Heterobasidion annosum causes serious root disease in conifers: pines are generally killed but other species, such as Sitka spruce, are more susceptible to decay. In the mid-twentieth century, much of the expanding forest estate in Britain was disease free, but as thinning increased in plantations established over the preceding 30 years, it was expected that stump infection would increase; this…
This essay examines the remarkable careers of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom, exploring polycentricity and human management of common property resources from the "no-name fields" of public administration in the late 1950s, through the metropolitan public service industries and public choice approach to democratic administration in the 1960s and 1970s and the institutional analysis of common pool res…
For nearly half a century, Allen Schick's works have explored and analyzed central issues in the role of budgets in modern government. In 2009, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published Evolutions in Budgetary Practice: Allen Schick and the OECD Senior Budget Officials, a selection of his work, together with new chapters. The book traces developments in budget practic…
How do nongovernmental (NGO), international (IO), and military organizations cope with their dependencies and address their perceptual and real differences in order to coordinate their field operations? This question is addressed through the creation of a matrix grouping civilian (NGOs and IOs) and military operations into four general types: peacekeeping; disaster relief; complex humanitarian …
How diversified are small town revenues? Revenue diversification is analyzed among towns governed by town meetings. Using previously developed diversification measures, the findings confirm that these localities draw from less diverse revenue streams than other state and local governments. The reasons for these variations include differences in home rule status as well as tax and expenditure li…
Local governments play a key role in emergency management by developing the necessary policies and concrete procedures for responding effectively to community emergencies and their aftermath. However, because emergency measures in most jurisdictions are rarely, if ever, activated, public managers find it difficult to evaluate and assess the quality of existing emergency management programs. Dra…
Personal interactions between clients and street-level bureaucrats are significant in explaining why street-level bureaucrats behave as they do. Not all bureaucracies that apply program rules to individuals, however, engage face-to-face with their clientele. As more intake procedures are automated, such "one-on-one" encounters decrease. The author generates and tests hypotheses about frontline …
What influences the degree to which city councils support reinventing government (REGO)? Controlling for environmental factors that are likely to shape council policy adoption as well as the tenure of the chief administrator, the findings of this study underscore that the type of representation system is most consistently related to opposition to REGO. In addition, the economic health of the ci…
Local governments increasingly confront policy problems that span the boundaries of individual political jurisdictions. Institutional theories of local governance and intergovernmental relations emphasize the importance of networks for fostering service cooperation among local governments. Yet empirical research fails to examine systematically the effects of social networks on interlocal servic…
Like most public managers nowadays, local emergency managers operate within complex, uncertain environments. Rapid changes in the scope and severity of the issues increase the extent of intergovernmental collaboration necessary to address such challenges. Using a large data set of county emergency management agency directors, variations in intergovernmental collaboration reflect influences from…
Public administration values the relationship between theory and practice. Regrettably, theory and practice are regarded more often than not as separate purviews of two different groups—academics and practitioners—resulting in a perceived gap between the two. The doctorate of public administration program at the University of Southern California's Washington Public Affairs Center sought to span…
While a growing body of research argues for increased attention to ethics within public administration, scholars diverge on how to conceptualize the character of public ethics. Likewise, empirical evidence regarding the role that ethics plays in the quality of service delivery is rare. The author argues that the concept of a public ethics of care is useful for public administration in welfare s…