bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Governors on Veto Override Attempts: A Test of Pivotal Politics
Authors: WILKINS VICKY M. , YOUNG GARRY
Published: March 2010

Abstract Using the “switcher” analysis developed by Krehbiel (1998), we examine the ability of Missouri governors to sway legislators on veto override attempts. Our initial results closely mirror Krehbiel's finding that the chief executive successfully achieves influence at and around the veto pivot, but these results change once we take into account the political party of the legislators. Governors are far more likely to influence legislators from their own party, regardless of legislator ideology. Our study provides a rare systematic analysis of gubernatorial influence in the legislative arena, while also contributing to the current debate over preference‐based versus partisan‐based theories of legislatures.
The Economic Sources of Congressional Approval
Authors: RUDOLPH THOMAS J.
Published: March 2010

Abstract Models of congressional approval have, in both theory and specification, often imitated models of presidential approval. Through their modeling decisions, researchers have implicitly assumed that the economic determinants of presidential and congressional approval are identical. Such assumptions have discouraged other researchers from testing competing hypotheses about the economic determinants of congressional approval. Using aggregate‐level time‐series analysis, this study investigates the question of whether or not the economic determinants of approval vary by the target of political judgment. I find that presidential approval is driven largely by sociotropic prospections, a result consistent with previous research. In contrast, I find the public relies most heavily upon egocentric retrospections when judging the U.S. Congress.
Institutional Change, Party Discipline, and the House Democratic Caucus, 1911–19
Authors: GREEN MATTHEW N.
Published: March 2010

Abstract The House Democratic Caucus of 1911 to 1919 is a largely understudied institution in the literature on congressional party government, despite the claims of many scholars that the caucus functioned as a significant instrument of party government by binding legislators' floor votes. An analysis of roll‐call votes, new data from the caucus journal, and contemporary accounts from the period indicate that these claims are largely exaggerated, although the caucus did, on occasion, improve floor discipline within the party. I find that intraparty homogeneity on crosscutting issues was related to caucus success. In addition, I argue that the adoption and use of the binding caucus can best be understood from the “multiple goals” viewpoint of congressional politics. These findings have important implications for understanding the development of party‐based institutions in Congress.
The Politics of the Difficult: Congress, Public Opinion, and Early Cold War Aid and Trade Policies
Authors: BAILEY MICHAEL A.
Published: March 2010

Many foreign policies central to American cold war efforts were politically difficult. Understanding the politics behind these policies is important for understanding the capacity of democracies to implement difficult but strategically important policies. I argue that we must recognize the important role of public opinion. When the public is unified, popular preferences permeate and dominate the entire political system. For the case of the early cold war, I present quantitative evidence that public attitudes about national security influenced Senate voting on security aid and trade issues. My tests employ previously unused opinion data and take advantage of methodological advances in the analysis of panel data.
Position Taking and Cosponsorship in the U.S. House
Authors: KOGER GREGORY
Published: March 2010

Bill cosponsorship has become an important part of the legislative and electoral process in the modern House of Representatives. Using interviews with congressional members and staff, I explain the role of cosponsorship as a signal to agenda setters and a form of position taking for constituents. Regression analysis confirms that cosponsoring varies with a member's electoral circumstances, institutional position, and state size, but generally members have adapted slowly to the introduction of cosponsorship to the rules and practice of the House.
The Inefficient Secret Revisited: The Legislative Input and Output of Brazilian Deputies
Authors: NETO OCTAVIO AMORIM , SANTOS FABIANO
Published: March 2010

Shugart and Carey (1992) posit that presidential democracies in which legislators have a parochial focus of representation are electorally inefficient because voters are not offered highly identifiable choices over national policies. Such systems are driven by an inefficient secret, which is essentially a nonpartisan representation of the policy process. To check the propositions of the inefficient secret model (ISM), this article investigates the aggregation level, effect, and subject of Brazilian deputies' legislative input and output. Our empirical analysis indicates that, although some ISM‐related factors drive legislative output, there is partisanship in deputies' legislative input. This result means that the ISM underestimates the prospects for programmatic parties (especially in opposition) to emerge within systems where the electoral and constitutional rules encourage particularism.
Military Base Closures and the 1996 Congressional Elections
Authors: ROCCA MICHAEL S.
Published: March 2010

This article examines the extent to which changes in distributional benefits influence congressional election outcomes. Although conventional wisdom holds that a direct link exists between distributional benefits and electoral outcomes (Mayhew 1974b), recent evidence suggests that this link only exists under certain circumstances (Stein and Bickers 1994). In this article, I use 1995 military base closures to test the nature of the relationship. Contrary to recent research on the politics of pork barreling, my findings indicate support for a direct relationship between major base realignments and closures and House electoral outcomes. Specifically, major realignments and closures significantly decreased first‐year Democrats' vote margins in the 1996 House elections.
The Limits of Senatorial Courtesy
Authors: BINDER SARAH A. , MALTZMAN FORREST
Published: March 2010

Because of senatorial courtesy, scholars typically assume that presidents defer to home state senators from their party when selecting judges for the federal courts. We challenge this view, arguing that presidents face structural incentives that encourage them to consult broadly with senators across the partisan and ideological spectrums in choosing nominees. Using new data on the fate of judicial vacancies on the federal district courts between 1947 and 1998, we show how institutional and political forces increase interested senators' leverage in choosing federal judges. Senatorial courtesy, we conclude, has its limits, given presidents' incentives to consult with institutionally empowered senators in selecting nominees.
Multicountry Studies of Latin American Legislatures: A Review Article
Authors: CRISP BRIAN F. , BOTERO FELIPE
Published: March 2010

Electoral Laws and the Survival of Presidential Democracies. By Mark P. Jones. (South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995. Pp. 246).

Legislative Politics in Latin America. Edited by Scott Morgenstern and Benito Nacif. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. 503).

Partidos Políticos de América Latina: Centroamérica, Mexico, y República Dominicana. By Manuel Alcántara Sáez and Flavia Friedenberg. (Salamanca, Spain: Biblioteca de América, 2001. Pp. 776).

Partidos Políticos de América Latina: Cono Sur. By Manuel Alcántara Sáez and Flavia Friedenberg. (Salamanca, Spain: Biblioteca de América, 2001. Pp. 628).

Partidos Políticos de América Latina: Paises Andinos. By Manuel Alcántara Sáez and Flavia Friedenberg. (Salamanca, Spain: Biblioteca de América, 2001. Pp. 680).

Patterns of Legislative Politics: Roll Call Voting in Latin America and the U.S. By Scott Morgenstern. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. 224).1

Politicians and Economic Reform in New Democracies. By Kent Eaton. (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002. Pp. 351).1

Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America. Edited by Scott Mainwaring and Matthew Soberg Shugart. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Pp. 493).

Term Limits and Legislative Representation. By John M. Carey. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp. 216).
Party Caucuses and Coordination: Assessing Caucus Activity and Party Effects
Authors: FORGETTE RICHARD
Published: March 2010

Party caucuses are increasingly important to members' allocation of time. This article reports findings from new data on the minutes, frequency, timing, and attendance of House party caucus meetings. I argue that the party caucuses increasingly affect political and policy information flows to members. This growing party coordination has resulted in a greater bonding and shared strategic information among rank‐and‐file copartisans.

This research also contributes to the party effects literature. Earlier research on congressional partisanship has used roll‐call data to measure both member preferences and party effects. I investigate whether or not members' attendance at party caucus meetings immediately prior to key congressional votes imposes partisan cohesion beyond members' preferences. The results indicate that party coordination contributes to greater congressional party unity on key floor votes at both the bill and member level controlling for members' ideological preferences. This party coordination effect occurs even during a period of high intraparty preference homogeneity.
Preferences, Partisanship, and Whip Activity in the U.S. House of Representatives
Authors: BURDEN BARRY C. , FRISBY TAMMY M.
Published: March 2010

Using Democratic whip counts from the 92d House, we compare representatives' stated intentions to their actual roll‐call votes to detect evidence of party pressure. After arguing that this strategy understates real party influence, we nonetheless point to evidence of member conversion by party leaders. On 16 bills analyzed, two‐thirds of the switches between the count and the vote occur in the direction favored by party leaders. We examine one bill in depth, showing how the efforts of party leaders were consequential to the outcome. The pattern of movement on this bill, along with data from the larger set of bills, provides evidence that leaders act strategically, targeting the members whose persuasion requires the fewest resources.
Communicating to the Courts and Beyond: Why Members of Congress Participate as Amici Curiae
Authors: SOLBERG RORIE L. SPILL , HEBERLIG ERIC S.
Published: March 2010

Members of Congress engage in discretionary behaviors, such as making speeches and cosponsoring bills, which are generally motivated by either electoral needs or policy preferences. We examine a discretionary behavior that engages the judicial branch in the conversation: the participation of members of Congress as amici curiae before the Supreme Court. Amicus curiae briefs provide members of Congress with a direct avenue of communication with the judiciary, and this characteristic suggests that cosigning would be a method of creating good public policy. Using data from the 1980–97 terms of the Supreme Court, however, we find that members of Congress cosign onto amicus curiae briefs as a means of “taking stances,” akin to cosponsoring a bill. The action allows the member to speak indirectly to an audience beyond these governmental institutions. Evidence shows that ideological extremism and committee jurisdiction promote participation as amicus curiae.
Presidential Support in the Russian State Duma
Authors: REMINGTON THOMAS F.
Published: March 2010

Recent comparative research on presidential systems has analyzed the ways in which presidents build majorities for their legislative agendas. Through an analysis of roll‐call votes from the 2000‐03 Russian State Duma on a set of issues reflecting President Putin's legislative agenda, I examine the impact of parliamentary party affiliation, policy preferences, issue type, and electoral mandate type on structuring floor support for the president. I also assess the implications of a mixed electoral system for building legislative coalitions in multiparty legislatures. Further, my findings shed light on Putin's recent reforms of the Duma's rules and procedures and the country's electoral system.
Balancing Power: Committee System Autonomy and Legislative Organization
Authors: MARTORANO NANCY
Published: March 2010

The most recent explanations for the existence of committee systems in legislative chambers have posited that committees are the agents of one of three very different principal actors: (1) individual members (distributive theory), (2) the full chamber (informational theory), or (3) the major political party (partisan theory). In addition to defining and operationalizing the concept of institutional committee system autonomy, I put forth and test several hypotheses linking these three explanations to committee system autonomy. In the end, the results show empirical support for the informational theory over the distributive and partisan theories.
Judicial Procedures as Instruments of Political Control: Congress's Strategic Use of Citizen Suits
Authors: SMITH JOSEPH L.
Published: March 2010

Citizen suit provisions, which give proregulatory interests access to the federal courts, can be used by Congress to increase the courts' role in regulatory policy. I analyze 284 environmental regulation bills reported favorably out of committee and show that committee support for citizen suits is a function of the committee's policy goals and the political context in which the bills are generated. These findings indicate that Congress deliberately uses judicial procedures as instruments of political control and that scholars examining judicial policymaking must include legislative goals in the list of explanatory factors.
Size, Power, and Electoral Systems: Exogenous Determinants of Legislative Procedural Choice
Authors: TAYLOR ANDREW J.
Published: March 2010

I tested hypotheses about the relationship between exogenous institutions and legislative procedural choice using a unique cross‐sectional approach and a dataset gleaned from 55 legislative bodies from around the world. I focused on three entrenched characteristics of legislative bodies that we have theoretical reason to think will shape procedures: size, the relative power of the chamber, and the method by which its members are selected. Relatively small and powerful bodies generally have decentralized procedures. To a lesser extent, we can say the same of chambers that have electoral systems that incentivize the personal vote.
Legislative Effectiveness and Legislative Careers
Authors: MIQUEL GERARD PADRÓ I , SNYDER JAMES M.
Published: March 2010

We studied an underutilized source of data on legislative effectiveness and exploited its panel structure to uncover several interesting patterns. We found that effectiveness rises sharply with tenure, at least for the first few terms, even when we control for legislators' institutional positions, party affiliation, and other factors. Effectiveness never declines with tenure, even out to nine terms. The increase in effectiveness is not simply due to electoral attrition and selective retirement, but to learning‐by‐doing. We also found evidence that a significant amount of “positive sorting” occurs in the legislature, with highly talented legislators moving more quickly into positions of responsibility and power. Finally, effectiveness has a positive impact on incumbents' electoral success and on the probability of legislators moving to higher office. These findings have important implications for arguments about term limits, the incumbency advantage, and seniority rule.
Television and the Incumbency Advantage in U.S. Elections
Authors: ANSOLABEHERE STEPHEN , SNOWBERG ERIK C. , SNYDER JAMES M.
Published: March 2010

We use the structure of media markets within states and across state boundaries to study the relationship between television and electoral competition. In particular, we compare incumbent vote margins in media markets where content originates in the same state as media consumers versus vote margins where content originates out of state. This contrast provides a clear test of whether or not television coverage correlates with the incumbency advantage. We study U.S. Senate and state gubernatorial races from the 1950s through the 1990s and find that the effect of TV is small, directionally indeterminate, and statistically insignificant.
Legislative Professionalism and Influence on State Agencies: The Effects of Resources and Careerism
Authors: WOODS NEAL D. , BARANOWSKI MICHAEL
Published: March 2010

Legislative professionalization typically involves two concomitant processes: increasing institutional resources and increasing careerism among state legislators. These processes, we argue, entail different effects for legislative influence on state administrative agencies. Greater legislative resources serve to increase legislative influence, but greater political careerism among state legislators serves to decrease it. Because these two processes are normally intertwined within the process of legislative professionalization, the net effect of professionalism is uncertain, although our analysis suggests that the negative effect of careerism may outweigh the positive effect of institutional resources. These results have significant implications for the democratic responsiveness of executive branch agencies.
The “Golden Age” Senate And Floor Debate in the Antebellum Congress
Authors: WIRLS DANIEL
Published: March 2010

An image of an antebellum “golden age” of Senate debate and deliberation has passed virtually unblemished from one generation of historians and political analysts to the next. In what ways, if any, is the image of a more deliberative Senate evident in the realities of antebellum House and Senate debates? In this article, I present a series of case studies to examine elements of the quantity and quality of floor debate in each chamber. By providing comparative evidence about House and Senate debate during the antebellum period, I offer an assessment and critique of the bicameral implications of the largely untested “golden age” understanding of the Senate and join other recent efforts to reassess the nature of the early Senate and its relation to the House. My results show the conventional wisdom to be an oversimplification, at least in its implications about the scope and depth of House debates. The House debated as long, and arguably as well, as the Senate on the signal issues of the day.
The Statistical Analysis Of Roll‐Call Data: A Cautionary Tale
Authors: ROBERTS JASON M.
Published: March 2010

Roll‐call voting and congressional procedures are two of the most heavily studied aspects of the U.S. Congress. To date, little work has focused on the effect of procedures on the composition of the roll‐call record. This article takes a step in this direction by demonstrating the effect of chamber rules and institutional constraints on House and Senate roll‐call data, as well as on the inferences that scholars have drawn from the roll‐call record. More specifically, I focus on recent efforts to measure party effects and ideological alignments, and I demonstrate that the composition of the roll‐call record can affect these measures.
Political Parties and the Representativeness Of Legislative Committees
Authors: SCHAFFNER BRIAN F.
Published: March 2010

What role do parties play in determining which interests committees represent? In this article, I compare committee organization and representativeness in Nebraska's nonpartisan legislature with those in the partisan senates of Kansas and Iowa. I demonstrate that when parties do not organize legislative conflict, committees are less representative of the full chamber. I argue, however, that committee representativeness does not necessarily result from parties actively working to create representative committees. Rather, when legislative conflict has a definitive partisan structure and the committees are always controlled by the majority party, representative committees will result as a simple by‐product of the partisan structure and organization.
The Iraq War, Partisanship, and Candidate Attributes: Variation in Partisan Swing in the 2006 U.S. House Elections
Authors: GROSE CHRISTIAN R. , OPPENHEIMER BRUCE I.
Published: March 2010

Although partisan swing is often assumed to be uniform across congressional districts, our analysis of the 2006 House elections demonstrates that systematic variation exists. In addition to incumbency status, partisanship, spending, and scandal, variation in the local salience of national issues across districts affects vote shifts in these districts. Notably, partisan swing in Republican districts proved highly sensitive to the number of Iraq war deaths from that district and, to a lesser degree, to the roll‐call vote of Republican House members on the war resolution. These findings have implications for theories of anticipatory representation, retrospective voting, and electoral accountability.
Vote Switchers and Party Influence In the U.S. House
Authors: YOUNG GARRY , WILKINS VICKY
Published: March 2010

Party‐centered theories of Congress often rely on the critical assumption that some majority party members vote against their preferences when granting their leadership procedural powers, such as closed rules. Such an assumption renders these approaches ad hoc, and thus theoretically dubious, unless firm support for the assumption can be found.

Firm support is elusive largely because it is difficult to separate party and preference effects. In this article, we produce a simple but critical test of the party persuasion assumption that largely avoids these measurement problems. Specifically, we use a “switcher analysis” (Krehbiel 1998) to compare votes on final passage of the legislation with the votes on the closed rule. Our analysis of all closed rule‐final passage vote pairs for the 104th–108th Congresses reveals vote patterns that cannot exist absent significant party effects.
Primary Elections and Candidate Ideology: Out of Step with the Primary Electorate?
Authors: BRADY DAVID W. , HAN HAHRIE , POPE JEREMY C.
Published: March 2010

This article draws on a new dataset of House primary‐ and general‐election outcomes (1956–98) to examine the relationship between primary elections and candidate ideology. We show that, like presidential candidates, congressional candidates face a strategic‐positioning dilemma: should they align themselves with their general‐ or primary‐election constituencies? Relative to general‐election voters, primary voters favor more ideologically extreme candidates. We show that congressional candidates handle the dilemma by positioning themselves closer to the primary electorate. This article thus supports the idea that primaries pull candidates away from median district preferences.
Cohort Effects and the Incumbency Advantage
Authors: MCGHEE ERIC
Published: March 2010

The literature on the incumbency advantage in U.S. House elections has focused mostly on political variables, such as competition and incumbent resources. For this article, I identify an important sociological variable: a cohort effect that separates older generations from younger ones. Younger generations have been more likely to vote for incumbents, and the difference has endured over time, even as the political environment itself has changed and become more partisan. Moreover, the results hold even when one controls for partisan identification and general time‐period effects. The incumbency advantage may be a broader and more‐enduring part of American politics than has previously been recognized.
Agenda Power in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 1988–2000
Authors: COX GARY W. , HELLER WILLIAM B. , MCCUBBINS MATHEW D.
Published: March 2010

We present strong evidence that governing coalitions in Italy exercise significant negative agenda powers. First, governing parties have a roll rate that is nearly 0, and their roll rate is lower than opposition parties' roll rates, which average about 20% on all final‐passage votes. Second, after one controls for distance from the floor median, opposition parties have higher roll rates than government parties. These results strongly suggest that governing parties in Italy are able to control the legislative agenda to their benefit. We also document significantly higher opposition roll rates on decree‐conversion bills and budget bills than on ordinary bills—results consistent with our theoretical analysis of the differing procedures used in each case.
Seen but Not Heard: Committee Visibility and Institutional Change in the Senate National Security Committees, 1947–2006
Authors: FOWLER LINDA L. , LAW R. BRIAN
Published: March 2010

Scholars have neglected the effect of the press on political institutions in favor of media influences on campaigns or on voters' trust and information about government. This article examines senators' committee preferences in response to declining media coverage of Congress, focusing on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees from 1947 to 2006. The research relies on new, continuous measures of committee desirability and a unique dataset of congressional press coverage. Although both committees' visibility and attractiveness have declined dramatically over 60 years, statistical analyses indicate that change in internal rules and external events are the most important influences on senators' investment in committee careers.
The Strategy of the Story: Media Monitoring Legislative Activity
Authors: FOGARTY BRIAN J.
Published: March 2010

To what degree do the news media provide voters with the information needed to hold House members accountable for their actions in Congress? Previous studies have simply debated whether or not local news media cover politicians' actions, but this article considers the news media as a strategic actor when covering House members. I developed a set of theoretical expectations about the conditions under which local news media would be more or less likely to monitor the actions of members of Congress outside of election seasons. I tested these expectations using an extensive content analysis of local newspapers in both descriptive and multivariate settings. I find that local news media are strategic in their coverage of local members of Congress. Local newspapers invest more resources to cover out‐of‐step members than they do to follow members with policy preferences congruent with the district's. In addition, coverage of out‐of‐step members tends to be less positive than coverage of in‐step members.
Strategic Voting in Multi‐Office Elections
Authors: PERESS MICHAEL
Published: March 2010

What are the incentives for voters to vote strategically when legislative policy outcomes are constrained by a system of checks and balances? The policy‐balancing theory supposes that moderate voters split their tickets because such splitting is the only way these voters can achieve moderate policy outcomes. I show that a different type of strategic voting, policy stacking, is characteristic of legislatures that endow the majority party with only limited institutional powers. Focusing on voting for the president and House of Representatives in the United States reveals that a substantial proportion of voters engage in policy‐stacking behavior, but very few engage in policy‐balancing behavior.
The Contribution of Comparative Research to Measuring the Policy Preferences of Legislators
Authors: LOEWENBERG GERHARD
Published: March 2010

Comparative legislative research has contributed to an examination of the validity of roll‐call votes as measures of legislators' policy preferences. It has prompted an awareness of the influence of legislative structure on the composition of the voting record. Comparative research on members' ideal points has confronted the problems of selection effects, abstentions, the influence of the agenda setter, and the effect of party strategy. It has encouraged the search for alternate measures of members' preferences, including members' speech, cosponsorship, survey responses, and party manifestos. In the non‐American setting, ideal points have been regarded as group‐level, as well as individual‐level, variables. The game‐theoretic approach to the study of legislatures has led to the formulation of hypotheses relating legislative structure to members' ideal points.
Who Blinks First? Legislative Patience and Bargaining with Governors
Authors: KOUSSER THAD , PHILLIPS JUSTIN H.
Published: March 2010

When legislators and governors clash over the size of American state government, what strategic factors determine who wins? Efforts to address this question have traditionally relied upon setter models borrowed from the congressional literature and have predicted legislative dominance. We offer an alternative simplification of state budget negotiations that follows the “staring match” logic captured by divide‐the‐dollar games. Our model predicts that governors will often be powerful but that professional legislatures can stand up to the executives when long legislative sessions give them the patience to endure a protracted battle over the size of the budget. In this article, we present our analysis of an original dataset comprising gubernatorial budget proposals and legislative enactments in the states from 1989 through 2004. The results indicate strong empirical support for our predictions.
Congressional Frequent Flyers: Demand‐ and Supply‐Side Explanations for Privately Sponsored Travel
Authors: ROSENSON BETH A.
Published: March 2010

Privately sponsored congressional travel raises questions about the influence of interest groups on lawmakers and about legislative behavior. I used multiple regression to explain variation in congressional travel, looking at 15,825 trips, both domestic and overseas, taken by House and Senate members and their staff between 2001 and 2004. I found that both supply‐side and demand‐side factors influence congressional travel. Electoral vulnerability corresponds with reduced trip‐taking, and institutional power is associated with greater trip‐taking, although not to the extent that rent‐seeking theory might predict. Members' racial or ethnic minority status also corresponds with greater trip‐taking in the House. Pending retirement also influences trip‐taking, but in the opposite direction from what some “shirking” theories would predict.
The Effect of the Size of Voting Blocs on Incumbents' Roll‐Call Voting and the Asymmetric Polarization of Congress
Authors: BUTLER DANIEL M.
Published: March 2010

Candidates face a trade‐off in the general election between taking a more‐moderate position that appeals to swing voters and a more‐extreme position that appeals to voters in the party's base. The threat of abstention by voters in the party's base if their candidate takes a position too moderate for them moves candidates to take more‐extreme positions. I discuss hypotheses regarding how this trade‐off affects candidate positioning and describe my tests of those hypotheses using data on House members in the 107th Congress and Senate members for the period 1982–2004. I then present data on how the distribution of voters in the electorate has changed over the past three decades and discuss how, in light of my empirical findings, these changes might explain the observed pattern of asymmetric polarization in Congress in recent decades.
Why Information? Choosing Committee Informativeness in U.S. State Legislatures
Authors: BATTISTA JAMES COLEMAN
Published: March 2010

Using a new dataset drawn from American state legislatures, I modeled the informativeness of legislative committees as a choice over institutions. I found higher informativeness to be associated with better preparedness for information transfer, morepartisan chambers, and higher demand for information combined with greater incentives to control committee assignments. These associations shed light on congressional committee informativeness. A simple model of committee informativeness can predict the informativeness of the U.S. House's committees.
Comparing NOMINATE and IDEAL: Points of Difference and Monte Carlo Tests
Authors: CARROLL ROYCE , LEWIS JEFFREY B. , LO JAMES , POOLE KEITH T. , ROSENTHAL HOWARD
Published: March 2010

Empirical models of spatial voting allow us to infer legislators' locations in an abstract policy or ideological space using their roll‐call votes. Over the past 25 years, these models have provided new insights about the U.S. Congress, and legislative behavior more generally. There are now a number of alternative models, estimators, and software packages that researchers can use to recover latent issue or ideological spaces from voting data. These different tools usually produce substantively similar estimates, but important differences also arise. We investigated the sources of observed differences between two leading methods, NOMINATE and IDEAL. Using data from the 1994 to 1997 Supreme Court and the 109th Senate, we determined that while some observed differences in the estimates produced by each model stem from fundamental differences in the models' underlying behavioral assumptions, others arise from arbitrary differences in implementation. Our Monte Carlo experiments revealed that neither model has a clear advantage over the other in the recovery of legislator locations or roll‐call midpoints in either large or small legislatures.
Legislators and Administrators: Complex Relationships Complicated by Term Limits
Authors: SARBAUGH‐THOMPSON MARJORIE , STRATE JOHN , LEROUX KELLY , ELLING RICHARD C. , THOMPSON LYKE , ELDER CHARLES D.
Published: March 2010

State legislators' relationships with administrators have received scant attention in the literature despite the importance of these relationships for delivery of public services. We explored whether or not the legislator‐administrator relationship in one professional state legislature resembles Congress's oversight of federal agencies. We also assessed whether or not term limits changed this relationship. Our findings indicate that monitoring state agencies was a low priority for this legislature, and it dropped even lower after term limits were implemented. More specifically, we found some institutional roles to be associated with legislators placing a higher priority on monitoring, especially before term limits, whereas some individual motives were associated with a lower priority, especially after term limits. Legislators exhibited more confusion about the process of monitoring after term limits.
Redistricting, Responsiveness, and Issue Attention
Authors: HAYES MATTHEW , HIBBING MATTHEW V. , SULKIN TRACY
Published: March 2010

We explored the extent to which legislators respond to redistricting‐induced demographic shifts in their constituencies. Our analyses focused on the behavior of members of the House of Representatives who served in the terms preceding and following the redistricting that took place in the early 2000s (namely, the 107th and 108th Congresses). We investigated how demographic shifts relate to the content of legislators' subsequent agendas (the legislation that members introduce and cosponsor) and the nature of members' voting patterns (their interest group voting scores). Our results indicate that responsiveness is widespread, but important variation exists in the patterns for agenda activities and roll‐call voting.
Delegation Dilemmas: Coalition Size, Electoral Risk, and Regulatory Governance in New Democracies
Authors: MELO MARCUS ANDRÉ , PEREIRA CARLOS , WERNECK HEITOR
Published: March 2010

This article addresses the determinants of regulatory agency design in multiparty‐coalition governments. Previous research has mainly focused on U.S. institutions, producing context‐specific findings. We found electoral uncertainty, government turnover, and coalition size to be key factors explaining the bureaucratic autonomy of 31 state regulatory agencies recently created at the subnational level in Brazil. The legislative support that chief executives enjoy only acquires explanatory power when it is interacted with government turnover. Because Brazilian governors have great ability to build oversized majority coalitions, coalition strength influences the governor's strategy when the governor faces credible threats from rival elite groups.
Ruptured Uterus in Primiparous Women
Authors: Alam IP , Afroz H
Published: March 2010

Ruptured uterus is rare in developed country, but unfortunately it is common in a developing country like Bangladesh. It is one of the major obstetric emergencies. Rupture of unscarred uterus is uncommon event. Majority of the patients are multigravidae and in primipara it extremely rare. But in a tertiary referral hospital it is sometime seen. Four cases of ruptured uterus in primiparous patients are described. These patients were admitted as emergency cases in obstetrics and gynaecology department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital during the period 2000 -2001. These are due to injudicious use of oxytocin, obstructed labour due to hydrocephalus, cephalopelvic disproportion due to maternal kyphoscoliosis and road traffic accident in third trimester of pregnancy. DOI: 10.3329/jbcps.v28i1.4643 J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2010; 28: 45-48
Yellow Nail Syndrome- A Case Report
Authors: Chowdhury NH , Selim S , Yasmin R , Rowshan AHM , Rahman MR
Published: March 2010

Yellow nail syndrome (YNS) is a rare disorder characterized by chronic/recurrent rhinosinusitis, pleural effusion, bronchiectasis, lymphedema and dystrophic yellow nails. The classic triad of lymphedema, slow growing yellow nails, and pleural effusion, described by Emerson, is seen in only one third of patients. Here we report a case of yellow nail syndrome presented with cough, worsening symptom of breathlessness, leg edema and nail changes, waxing and waning for about 17 years.Key words: Yellow nail; lymphedema; pleural effusion; maxillary sinusitis. DOI: 10.3329/jbcps.v28i1.4645 J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2010; 28: 49-52
Comparative Study of the Dissociative Ionization of 1,1,1 Trichloroethane Using Nanosecond and Femtosecond Laser Pulses
Authors: Du Plessis Anton , Strydom Christien , Botha Lourens
Published: March 2010

Changes in the laser induced molecular dissociation of 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCE) were studied using a range of intensities and standard laser wavelengths with nanosecond and femtosecond pulse durations. TCE contains C-H, C-C and C-Cl bonds and selective bond breakage of one or more of these bonds is of scientific interest. Using laser ionization time of flight mass spectrometry, it was found that considerable variation of fragment ion peak heights as well as changes in relative peak ratios is possible by varying the laser intensity (by attenuation), wavelength and pulse duration using standard laser sources. The nanosecond laser dissociation seems to occur via C-Cl bond breakage, with significant fragmentation and only a few large mass ion peaks observed. In contrast, femtosecond laser dissociative ionization results in many large mass ion peaks. Evidence is found for various competing dissociation and ionization pathways. Variation of the nanosecond laser intensity does not change the fragmentation pattern, while at high femtosecond intensities large changes are observed in relative ion peak sizes. The total ionization yield and fragmentation ratios are presented for a range of wavelengths and intensities, and compared to the changes observed due to a linear chirp variation.
5-[(3,5-Dimethyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methylene]-1,3-diethyl-2-thioxodihydropyrimidine-4,6(1H,5H)-dione
Authors: Asiri Abdullah Mohamed , Khan Salman A.
Published: March 2010

The title compound, 5-[(3,5-dimethyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methylene]-1,3-diethyl-2-thioxodihydropyrimidine-4,6(1H,5H)-dione, has been synthesized by condensation of 1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid and 3,5-dimethyl-1-phenylpyrazole-4-carbaldehyde in ethanol in the presence of pyridine. The structure of this new compound was confirmed by elemental analysis, IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and EI-MS spectral analysis.
5,5'-(1,4-Phenylenedimethylylidene)bis(1,3-diethyl-2-thioxodihydropyrimidine-4,6(1H,5H)-dione)
Authors: Asiri Abdullah Mohamed , Khan Salman A.
Published: March 2010

A novel compound, 5,5'-(1,4-phenylenedimethylylidene)bis(1,3-diethyl-2-thioxodihydropyrimidine-4,6(1H,5H)-dione) (3) has been synthesized by condensation of 1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid and terephthalaldehyde in anhydrous ethanol in the presence of pyridine. The structure of this compound was established by elemental analysis, IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and EI-MS spectral analysis.
Enhanced Reactivity of [Hydroxy(tosyloxy)iodo]benzene in Fluoroalcohol Media. Efficient Direct Synthesis of Thienyl(aryl)iodonium Salts
Authors: Ito Motoki , Ogawa Chieko , Yamaoka Nobutaka , Fujioka Hiromichi , Dohi Toshifumi , Kita Yasuyuki
Published: March 2010

In this manuscript, we report clear evidence for the generation of aromatic cation radicals produced by using [hydroxy(tosyloxy)iodo]benzene (HTIB) in fluoroalcohol solvents such as 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP). The single-electron-transfer (SET) oxidation ability of HTIB to give cation radicals was first established by ESR and UV measurements. The reaction was broadly applied to various thiophenes, and unique thienyliodonium salts were directly synthesized by this method in excellent yields without the production of any harmful byproducts.
Snow Cover Monitoring Using MODIS Data in Liaoning Province, Northeastern China
Authors: Zhang Yuanzhi , Yan Su , Lu Yu
Published: March 2010

This paper presents the results of snow cover monitoring studies in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, using MODIS data. Snow cover plays an important role in both the regional water balance and soil moisture properties during the early spring in northeastern China. In addition, heavy snowfalls commonly trigger hazards such as flooding, caused by rapid snow melt, or crop failure, resulting from fluctuations in soil temperature associated with changes in the snow cover. The latter is a function of both regional, or global, climatic changes, as well as fluctuations in the albedo resulting from variations in the Snow Covered Area (SCA). These impacts are crucial to human activities, especially to those living in middle-latitude areas such as Liaoning Province. Thus, SCA monitoring is currently an important tool in studies of global climate change, particularly because satellite remote sensing data provide timely and efficient snow cover information for large areas. In this study, MODIS L1B data, MODIS Daily Snow Products (MOD10A1) and MODIS 8-day Snow Products (MOD10A2) were used to monitor the SCA of Liaoning Province over the winter months of November–April, 2006–2008. The effects of cloud masking and forest masking on the snow monitoring results were also assessed. The results show that the SCA percentage derived from MODIS L1B data is relatively consistent, but slightly higher than that obtained from MODIS Snow Products. In situ data from 25 snow stations were used to assess the accuracy of snow cover monitoring from the SCA compared to the results from MODIS Snow Products. The studies found that the SCA results were more reliable than MODIS Snow Products in the study area.
Temporal Objects—Design, Change and Sustainability
Authors: Walker Stuart
Published: March 2010

In this paper, design for change is explored as a means of contributing to socio-economic equity while minimising environmental damage. To create a material culture capable of accommodating technological progress and aesthetic development while also adhering to the principles of sustainability, it becomes important to recognise the potential role of design for change. This theme is explored here by considering design within an integrated strategy that includes mass- and local-scale manufacturing, service provision and re-manufacture. General design objectives are developed that provide a basis for generating ‘critical design’ concepts. Engagement in the process of designing requires a transmutation from generalisations to specific design decisions. This process enriches our understandings of design for change and the concepts presented here articulate the ideas via form, function, materials and aesthetics. In doing so, they provide tangible expressions of the strategic implications. These ‘temporal objects’, which in this case rely on a relatively stable technology, highlight the importance of localisation and more distributed forms of innovation. In addition, they clarify the designer’s role in developing useful things that are capable of being continually transformed through time, with continuous use of technological components and changing aesthetic components that, through creative employment of materials, have virtually no detrimental environmental impacts.
Improved Monte Carlo 1D inversion of vertical electrical sounding and time‐domain electromagnetic data
Authors: Piatti Claudio , Boiero Daniele , Godio Alberto , Socco Laura Valentina
Published: March 2010

This work deals with a robust and reliable global search inversion tool for vertical electrical sounding (VES) and time‐domain electromagnetic (TDEM) data, able to take into account the data quality and the dimensionality of the problem. The approach is an importance sampling method that exploits a scale property of the solution to move the random population of models closer to the solution. We obtain a more efficient sampling of the model parameter space with respect to a pure Monte Carlo method. The application of the scale properties overcomes some of the problems encountered when using optimization methods (e.g., simulated annealing), which are based on transition probability rules barely related to the specific problem or that require tuning of control parameters or training procedures (e.g., neural networks). Furthermore, the scale properties reduce the bias related to the initial definition of the boundaries of the model parameter space. A statistical test that accounts for the data uncertainties and the degrees of freedom of the problem is adopted to draw inference on the results. Synthetic and field data show that the algorithm is able to concentrate the sampling in high probability density zones of the model parameter space and to supply a reliable picture of the non‐uniqueness and equivalence problems.
‘Free Line Sensing’, a new method for soil moisture measurements using high‐voltage power lines
Authors: Königer F. , Schmitt G. , Schuhmann R. , Kottmeier C.
Published: March 2010

Large area integrated soil moisture measurement results are often required for meteorological studies as well as for geological, agricultural and natural disaster research. Commonly used sensors measure the soil moisture locally and exhibit a strong spatial variability due to the heterogeneity of most land surfaces.

The new ‘Free Line Sensing’ technology uses existing high‐voltage power lines to detect variations in soil moisture below the lines. The electromagnetic field of an additional radio‐frequency signal in the range of 50–500 kHz on the line is influenced by changes in the electric properties of the soil, e.g., after rainfall. This has been simulated using high‐frequency software, the result being that variations of electrical conductivity or dielectric coefficient of the soil will lead to a measurable effect with power line sections extending over several kilometres.

Measurements have been conducted on a 13 km long high‐voltage power line. The resulting signal is evaluated with respect to amplitude and phase. Measurement data demonstrate the capability of the ‘Free Line Sensor’ to monitor the integrated soil moisture of the Earth’s surface and near subsurface over the area covered by the power line. The resulting signal of the ‘Free Line Sensor’ strongly responds to precipitation events and the following drying of the soil. Comparison with soil moisture data obtained from gravimetric drying of soil samples reveals a good agreement.