bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cryptosporidium and Dairy Cattle in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed: A Quantitative Risk Assessment
Authors: Starkey Simon R. , White Maurice E. , Mohammed Hussni O.
Published: August 2010

We carried out a study to estimate the public health risk posed by dairy cattle located in New York City's Catskill/Delaware watershed, as measured by daily C. parvum‐like oocyst loading. A Monte Carlo simulation model that takes into account the nature of the dairy cattle population within the target area, age‐specific incidence/prevalence rates, as well as differential fecal production and oocyst‐shedding intensity rates was used to address the objectives. Additionally, the model was designed to distinguish between zoonotic and nonzoonotic species/genotypes of Cryptosporidium. Total estimated daily C. parvum‐like oocyst shedding across all age/production categories was estimated at 4.15 × 1010. The zoonotic C. parvum comprised 93.5% of this load. It was estimated that preweaned calves produce 99.5% of the total daily C. parvum ocyst burden. The recently described nonzoonotic C. bovis was estimated to have a daily load of 2.2 × 109 oocysts across all age/production strata. C. parvum deer‐like genotype was estimated to have a total daily load of 1.3 × 109 oocysts. The results of this study support earlier assertions that strategies aimed at reducing the cryptosporidial risk posed by dairy cattle to public health will be most efficacious if aimed at preweaned calves.
Estimation of Benchmark Dose as the Threshold Amount of Alcohol Consumption for Blood Pressure in Japanese Workers
Authors: Suwazono Yasushi , Sakata Kouichi , Oishi Mitsuhiro , Okubo Yasushi , Dochi Mirei , Kobayashi Etsuko , Kido Teruhiko , Nogawa Koji
Published: August 2010

In order to determine the threshold amount of alcohol consumption for blood pressure, we calculated the benchmark dose (BMD) of alcohol consumption and its 95% lower confidence interval (BMDL) in Japanese workers. The subjects consisted of 4,383 males and 387 females in a Japanese steel company. The target variables were systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures. The effects of other potential covariates such as age and body mass index were adjusted by including these covariates in the multiple linear regression models. In male workers, BMD/BMDL for alcohol consumption (g/week) at which the probability of an adverse response was estimated to increase by 5% relative to no alcohol consumption, were 396/315 (systolic blood pressure), 321/265 (diastolic blood pressure), and 326/269 (mean arterial pressures). These values were based on significant regression coefficients of alcohol consumption. In female workers, BMD/BMDL for alcohol consumption based on insignificant regression coefficients were 693/134 (systolic blood pressure), 199/90 (diastolic blood pressure), and 267/77 (mean arterial pressure). Therefore, BMDs/BMDLs in males were more informative than those in females as there was no significant relationship between alcohol and blood pressure in females. The threshold amount of alcohol consumption determined in this study provides valuable information for preventing alcohol‐induced hypertension.
CSP Deposition to the Alveolar Region of the Lung: Implications of Cigarette Design
Authors: Gower Stephanie , Hammond David
Published: August 2010

Ventilated cigarettes were designed to reduce the levels of smoke under machine testing conditions; however, smokers alter their smoking pattern to compensate for the reduction in yields. A relative shift in incidence of lung cancer from the more central lung airways to the alveolar region has also been associated with ventilated cigarette use. Validated mathematical models indicate that particle deposition patterns in the lung depend on particle size and inhalation behavior, including inhalation volume, flow rate, and breath‐hold time. This article finds that most mathematical models underpredict total cigarette smoke particulate (CSP) deposition in the lung, likely because they do not account for coagulation, hygroscopicity, and cloud dynamics, which may increase the effective particle diameter of CSP reaching the lung tissue. The models that include these processes indicate that puff volume would be unlikely to affect particle deposition in the lung, but puff time, inhalation depth, breath‐hold time, and exhalation time may affect total deposition. Most compensation appears to occur through a combination of increased puff volume and puff flow, with possible increases in inhalation depth and breath‐hold time. The complex interaction between the extent of cigarette ventilation, which can affect puffing/inhalation behavior, CSP concentration, and CSP size with CSP dose to the alveolar versus more central lung airways is described. Deposition efficiency in the alveoli could plausibly be increased through compensation, but it is still unclear whether compensation could sufficiently alter patterns of CSP deposition in the lung to elicit a shift in lung cancer sites.
Intervening Effects of Knowledge, Morality, Trust, and Benefits on Support for Animal and Plant Biotechnology Applications
Authors: Knight Andrew
Published: August 2010

Data from a regional Southwest telephone survey in the United States (N= 432) were used to examine the intervening effects of knowledge, morality, trust, and benefits on support for animal and plant biotechnology applications. Results showed that perceptions of agricultural biotechnologies varied by the two applications—animals and plants. Respondents reported higher opposition to the genetic modification of animals, which is consistent with prior research. Results also indicated that morality and perceived benefits directly affected support for both animal and plant applications, but trust and knowledge only had indirect effects. Morality and perceived benefits accounted for most of the variance explained among the intervening variables. The effects of trust were mediated through perceived benefits. The effects of knowledge on support were mediated primarily through trust. The influence of sociodemographic and consumer behavior variables varied by application. Results lend support to several theoretical notions. First, the significance of perceived benefits supports that there is an inverse relationship between benefits and risks. Second, moral objections may outweigh perceived benefits for specific applications, and the genetic modification of animals is deemed to be more morally unacceptable than the genetic modification of plants. These findings demonstrate the need to understand more thoroughly the moral and ethical issues surrounding novel technologies. Third, this research supports the claim that trust is not a powerful predictor of perceptions of technological products, which is contrary to most risk perception research.
Engaging Expert Peers in the Development of Risk Assessments
Authors: Patterson Jacqueline , (Bette) Meek M. E. , Strawson Joan E. , Liteplo Robert G.
Published: August 2010

The participation of external technical experts in the development of risk assessment documents and methodologies has expanded and evolved in recent years. Many government agencies and authoritative organizations have experts peer review important works to evaluate the scientific and technical defensibility and judge the strength of the assumptions and conclusions (OMB, 2004; IPCS, 2005; IARC, 2006; Health Canada, 2007; U.S. EPA, 2006). Expert advice has been solicited in other forms of peer involvement, including peer consultation in, for example, the U.S. EPA's Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP). This article discusses how the principles and practices of peer review can be extended to other types of peer involvement activities (i.e., peer input and peer consultation) to develop high‐quality risk assessment work products. A comprehensive process for incorporating peer input, peer consultation, and peer review into risk assessment science is outlined. Four key principles for peer involvement—independence, inclusion of appropriate experts, transparency, and a robust scientific process—are discussed. Recent examples of peer involvement in the development of Health Canada's Priority Substances and Domestic Substance List (DSL) programs under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) serve to highlight the concepts.
Introduction
Authors: Jurkiewicz Carole L.
Published: August 2010

Hurricane Katrina presents us with a rare, catastrophic opportunity to gain insight into crisis management and almost the entire field of public administration. The enormously destructive impact of this natural event on human life and organization has the potential for helping us understand what worked in the face of nature’s almost incomprehensible force, and how our ways of living together and governing our collective life need to change. As the articles in this special issue of  PAR reveal, Katrina called into question our ethics, the allocation of our resources, the ability of government at all levels to meet a great challenge, our capacity to maintain or restore the delivery of basic public services, as well as the roles of law enforcement, the military, medical systems, and other emergency response organizations. Katrina put us to a harsh and unyielding test about how prepared we are to deal with the extremes that human society must be able to face and overcome. She revealed our fragility as well as our strength, our perfidy as well as our honor. Katrina illuminated the depth of human caring and cooperation, and the darker side of our nature also.

—Terry L. Cooper, University of Southern California

There is a lot to be learned about the impact of Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, Public Works Management and Policy and Economic Development Quarterly jointly published focus issues on the impact of Katrina. The former focused on the impact on infrastructure and subsequent policy decisions. The latter concentrated on the economic impacts of large natural disasters. This issue of PAR adds to this work by covering the bases of administrative responsibility, local government response, and the impact on the victims of the disaster. Although all these articles deal with a specific situation, they all draw broader implications which can be used either by managers on the front lines in similar circumstances or by academics as they try to integrate these theoretical lessons learned into their scholarly work. This is “must” reading for everyone.

—Claire L. Felbinger, American University
The Failure of the New Orleans Levee System Following Hurricane Katrina and the Pathway Forward
Authors: Van Heerden Ivor Ll.
Published: August 2010

Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a fast‐moving Category 3 storm. Thereafter, 85 percent of Greater New Orleans was flooded, 1,500 lives were lost, and approximately 100,000 were left homeless. New Orleans’ hurricane protection system failed catastrophically, leaving miles of levees without protection from waves. With global warming accelerating, smarter planning is needed for many coastal cities and communities. Surge defenses that make full use of natural and man‐made components need to be augmented with sustainable development and retreat from low‐lying coastal regions. Coastal restoration is the key to the future habitation of southeast Louisiana, together with an east–west levee/surge protection system across the mid‐coast. This latter system must be complimented and protected by aggressive coastal wetland and barrier island restoration.
“So Poor and So Black”: Hurricane Katrina, Public Administration, and the Issue of Race
Authors: Stivers Camilla
Published: August 2010

Does racism ever shape the way public administrators make decisions? The story of Hurricane Katrina is an opportunity to consider this neglected question. Discriminatory government policies and processes over decades ensured that African Americans were disproportionately harmed by the storm and its aftermath. In contrast to the literature on bureaucratic discretion, when the crisis came, administrators at all levels chose to take refuge in regulations rather than act creatively to save lives and reduce misery. Images of desperate black New Orleanians juxtaposed with massive government failures raise, even for skeptical observers, issues of race and racism that must no longer be ignored. The essay urges that we explore the extent to which “masked” racism affects the practice of public administration.

The Impartial Administration of Justice is the Foundation of Liberty.

 —Inscription on the Orleans Parish Courthouse

You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals … so many of these people … are so poor and they are so black.

 —Wolf Blitzer, CNN, September 1, 2005
Louisiana’s Ethical Culture and Its Effect on the Administrative Failures Following Katrina
Authors: Jurkiewicz Carole L.
Published: August 2010

Louisiana’s history of colorful politics and corruption in government is legendary, and within Louisiana, it is something celebrated—or at least warmly embraced—as part of the cultural richness of the state. An oft‐repeated phrase is that Louisiana is no more corrupt than any place else, it’s just that Louisianans are proud of it. Though such sentiment is certainly not true of everyone in Louisiana, it is a quality that permeates discussions of federal financial assistance to the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and helps explain the widespread misuse of assistance funds. Yet beyond concern for the loss of dollars are the very real and tragic consequences for the citizens who were most affected by Hurricane Katrina—who have received but a trickle of the flood of money that has poured into the state. For these people, who remain without adequate shelter, resources, educational opportunities, health care, and support networks, the recovery progress has remained basically unchanged over the last two years. An overview of the ethical culture of Louisiana and reflections on how that culture contributed to and exacerbated administrative failure in the wake of Katrina is presented here.
The “Big Questions” of Katrina and the 2005 Great Flood of New Orleans
Authors: Cigler Beverly A.
Published: August 2010

The “big questions” associated with Hurricane Katrina and the great flood of New Orleans lie at the intersection of the natural and human‐shaped environments. The interactions dominating the intersection of the two environments are found in the social‐political‐economic system, culture and history, intergovernmental relations, and law. The big questions are not whether specific individuals were to blame for the destruction of lives and property, and they do not begin with the slow and inadequate intergovernmental response to the disaster. Instead, the big questions involve the roles of individuals, governments, and private markets in creating so‐called natural disasters; whether government, through its lead role in the emergency management system, is incompetent, or whether capability and performance in protecting life and property have been eroded through a long‐term “hollowing out” process; and whether Katrina’s lessons will be learned or merely noted.
Introduction
Authors: Jurkiewicz Carole L.
Published: August 2010

Katrina was more than a disaster. Like other national catastrophes of the past three decades, it reflects our collective failure to come to grips with the need for governance systems that can deal with the multiple, diverse, and conflicting expectations imposed on the public sector. What we have here is another example of the modern tragedy of accountability.

—Mel Dubnick, University of New Hampshire

As the profession of emergency management in the United States today considers, in conjunction with FEMA’s National Emergency Center, the critical competencies to its becoming a true profession, this special issue of PAR gives those competencies relevance. We are learning from experience that responses to natural as well as intentional and technical catastrophes require progressive planning and an assurance that the highest possible degree of unity of effort among all levels of government and all elements of the community is operational so as to manage risk effectively.

In order to do so, public managers as well as federal, state and local agencies need to be flexible and armed with collaborative and coordinated knowledge‐based approaches that are also comprehensive. To do so is no easy feat. It requires leadership and may truly represent the redefinition of public administration competencies in our intergovernmental system due to the interrelatedness of technical, economic and fiscal issues to effective or ineffective disaster response whether that be from terrorism, nuclear proliferation, natural disasters, or the spread of infectious diseases.

That may be why the U.S. Government Accountability Office identified security threats as the first of seven key themes in its Forces That Will Shape America’s Future: Themes from GAO’s Strategic Plan 2007–2012, released in April of this year. In fact, this series of articles may represent the beginning of what the GAO calls for: a need to better assess how well governmental entities are performing and whether they are achieving the desired results through a comprehensive review of federal programs and policies that analyzes whether or not they are meeting their objectives based upon outcome‐based goals which have been developed using stakeholder and state, local governmental guidance.

—Christine Springer, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Business “Not” as Usual: The National Incident Management System, Federalism, and Leadership
Authors: Lester William , Krejci Daniel
Published: August 2010

Federal, state, and local governments did not work well together to provide an effective response to Hurricane Katrina. Some of this failure can be attributed to the power struggle between the federal and state governments. The National Incident Management System (NIMS) was designed to foster collaboration among governments and their departments and agencies. However, this system largely failed. To overcome this failure, many have proposed centralizing disaster response in the federal government. Centralized control would damage the basic federal structure of our government as the national government appeals to the ever‐present dangers of terrorism and natural disaster to gain permanent primacy in the relationship. The current federal system actually can work better than centralization if leadership and organizational transformation are stressed. The National Incident Management System has many elements in place that can make the federal system of disaster response work if the proper stress on organizational transformation and leadership is applied.

If we ignore the systemic issues and simply replace people or re‐assign responsibilities, we may simply fail again in the not too distant future with a different cast of characters.

John R. Harrald, director of the Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management,

   George Washington University

U.S. House Committee on Government Reform hearing, September 15, 2005
Reaching for the Philosopher’s Stone: Contingent Coordination and the Military’s Response to Hurricane Katrina
Authors: Morris John C. , Morris Elizabeth D , Jones Dale M
Published: August 2010

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in August 2005, it immediately overwhelmed the abilities of local and state emergency management officials to respond to the ensuing disaster. Although the U.S. Coast Guard and some military units were on scene shortly after the passage of the storm, there seemed to be interminable delays before the military forces began to arrive in numbers to both provide humanitarian relief and secure the affected areas. This article analyzes the response of the National Guard, active‐duty military, and Coast Guard forces through the lens of coordination. We find evidence of the successful use of both traditional hierarchical and network‐based coordination; we also find support for Donald Kettl’s idea of “contingent coordination.”
EMAC, Katrina, and the Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi
Authors: Waugh William L.
Published: August 2010

State and local governments along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts were overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina and lacked the capacity to function without outside assistance. Mutual aid agreements are common among communities and provide essential surge capacity when catastrophes strike. The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) is just such a mechanism for sharing resources. How well or how poorly governors use EMAC depends on their familiarity with the system and how prepared their state and local agencies are to integrate EMAC personnel and other resources. Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana was less familiar with EMAC than was Governor Haley Barbour in Mississippi and had less assistance in using the system. State and local officials in Louisiana were also less familiar with mutual assistance compacts than their counterparts in Mississippi. The integration of EMAC assets into state and local operations was easier in Mississippi because officials had set up an area command to coordinate operations.
Managing Disasters: The Role of Local Government
Authors: Col Jeanne‐Marie
Published: August 2010

In major disasters, local communities are often on their own for several hours or days. Local governments can play a key role in taking the initiative to protect their citizens. This essay compares the experience of New Orleans before, during, and after the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina with the performance of Qinglong County, China, during the Tangshan earthquake of 1976. Qinglong County exemplifies local government taking initiative in risk assessment, decision making, operations, information sharing, and communications.
Learning from the Katrina Crisis: A Global and International Perspective with Implications for Future Crisis Management
Authors: Farazmand Ali
Published: August 2010

The study of crisis and emergency management—or mismanagement—during Hurricane Katrina will continue to proliferate in the near future. This article presents a global and international perspective on Katrina as a case of “grand failure” in crisis and emergency management, with lessons and implications for future crisis management. Benefiting from empirical data collected from international interviews, the essay presents a theoretical analysis of emergency governance and crisis management, discusses a detailed global perspective on Katrina crisis management as “management and leadership crisis,” offers a number of key lessons learned from Katrina, and draws policy and administrative recommendations for future crisis and emergency management through a theory of “surprise management” that is adaptive, collaborative, and citizen engaging and draws on chaos and complexity theories to cope with hyper‐uncertainties and unknowns.
Crisis Management in Hindsight: Cognition, Communication, Coordination, and Control
Authors: Comfort Louise K.
Published: August 2010

This article argues that cognition is central to performance in emergency management. Cognition is defined as the capacity to recognize the degree of emerging risk to which a community is exposed and to act on that information. Using the case of Hurricane Katrina to illustrate the collapse of the standard model of emergency management without a clear focus on the role of cognition, the author reframes the concept of intergovernmental crisis management as a complex, adaptive system. That is, the system needs to adjust and adapt its performance to fit the demands of an ever‐changing physical, engineered, and social environment. The terms of cognition, communication, coordination, and control are redefined in ways that fit the reality of practice in extreme events. A reframed intergovernmental crisis management system may be conceived as a dynamic interorganizational system that is characterized by four primary decision points: (1) detection of risk, (2) recognition and interpretation of risk for the immediate context, (3) communication of risk to multiple organizations in a wider region, and (4) self‐organization and mobilization of a collective, community response system to reduce risk and respond to danger.
Power and Cognitive Accuracy in Local Emergency Management Networks
Authors: Choi Sang Ok , Kim Bok‐Tae
Published: August 2010

Using network power bases and cognitive accuracy concepts, this study examines two local emergency management network changes. The authors review five power bases—structural‐based, resource‐based, actor‐based, cognitive‐based, and political‐based power—to explore the perceived power of network actors. Three research propositions are proposed with respect to the relationship between the network power bases and the cognitive accuracy of network participants. The authors find that political‐based power is strongly correlated with perceived power. The article concludes with future research questions and directions for advancing current scholarship on emergency management networks.
Can Administrative Measures Resolve a Political Conflict?
Authors: Teich Albert H.
Published: August 2010

The current controversy over the politicization of science by the Bush administration is, by definition, a political controversy. As such, it must be addressed by political measures as well as the administrative strategies that Dr. Lambright suggests. The administration’s actions go beyond the bounds of “business as usual” and reflect the interests of its powerful constituencies, as well as the unease of many citizens with some scientific and technological advances. Scientists need to engage these citizens and take their concerns into account in order to build trust between the scientific community and the public, as well as to impede unscrupulous politicians from distorting scientific information to suit their purposes.
The Politics–Administration Dichotomy in U.S. Historical Context
Authors: Rosenbloom David
Published: August 2010

This article distinguishes the competing interpretations of the politics–administration dichotomy, noting that as, originally framed, it was intended to detach partisan politics and patronage from sound public management. Waldo, the author suggests, concerned himself with the later, more expansive conception of the dichotomy, which included the process of policy making.
The Forgotten Regional Organizations: Creating Capacity for Economic Development
Authors: Hall Jeremy L.
Published: August 2010

Government capacity helps explain variance in public sector organizations’ performance, and measuring capacity helps identify deficiencies that may be addressed in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these organizations. This study examines the capacity of regional economic development districts to leverage federal grant funds in the counties they serve, controlling for additional sources of potential capacity and demand for federal grants. A decade of data reflecting federal grant funding to counties in one state was compiled from the Federal Awards Data System and analyzed using pooled cross‐sectional time‐series analysis with panel‐corrected standard errors. The results indicate that regional economic development districts demonstrate varied but significant capacity to leverage federal grant funds in the counties they serve. The results suggest that similarity in the purpose and structure of regional economic development districts within a state are not enough; we need to better understand the resources within the organization and the mission that determines how those resources are applied.
Beyond the Contract: The Scope and Nature of Informal Government–Nonprofit Partnerships
Authors: Gazley Beth
Published: August 2010

Privatization research lacks an understanding of the scope and nature of informal service delivery relationships between nonprofits and local government. This article reports on a study of local service delivery partnerships in Georgia using survey and interview data. In addition to assessing the frequency of noncontractual partnerships, this study builds on B. Guy Peters’s definition of public–private partnerships to delineate the control–formality dimensions of these partnerships more clearly. The agency theory notion that a trade‐off occurs between formality and control is also tested. The findings show that most public–private partnerships involving nonprofits are led by government agencies, and they are only weakly collaborative in the sense of shared authority or resources. Often, community norms substitute for formal service agreements. The study concludes with suggestions for further research regarding trust and behavioral norms in public–private partnerships.
The State and International Development Management: Shifting Tides, Changing Boundaries, and Future Directions
Authors: Brinkerhoff Derick W.
Published: August 2010

Today’s global concerns with poverty, instability, and terrorism link international development and security in unprecedented ways and assemble new actors in the foreign policy arena. The lessons of past experience need to better inform current policy and practice. The evolution of thinking on the role of the state, the citizen, and international development management provides clues regarding what works and what research questions remain to be answered. Institutional barriers to cooperation and shared learning need to be overcome, along with tendencies to revert to earlier, simplistic management approaches to solving international development problems.
Federal Government Reform: Lessons from Clinton’s “Reinventing Government” and Bush’s “Management Agenda” Initiatives
Authors: Breul Jonathan D. , Kamensky John M.
Published: August 2010

Newly elected presidents oftentimes set out to reform the executive branch. This has been the norm for more than 100 years, and indications are that the next president will follow this pattern. The authors have had firsthand experience over the past 15 years with White House–led government reform efforts. They provide their insights on President Bill Clinton’s reinventing government initiative and President George W. Bush’s management agenda efforts. Based on their experience, they offer lessons to the next president’s team on what they might do to get a reform effort started successfully and how to get reform initiatives implemented and sustained.
Transitions in Defense Management Reform: A Review of the Government Accountability Office’s Chief Management Officer Recommendation and Comments for the New Administration
Authors: Candreva Philip J. , Brook Douglas A.
Published: August 2010

The Government Accountability Office believes the answer to the U.S. Defense Department’s persistent management problems is to be found in the creation of a new position, chief management officer, to oversee defense business transformation. The recommendation for this position is reviewed and used to raise questions and spur inquiry in the areas of evidence‐based reform, the relationship between policy and administration, auditor overreach, and sustaining reforms through transition. The latter portion is expanded in this time of transition, and recommendations are made to the new administration to develop a management agenda, to the defense career executives to facilitate the transition, and to the next comptroller general to consider how the Government Accountability Office’s varied roles produce outputs that align with the desired outcomes in both the policy and administration domains.
Assessing NASA’s Safety Culture: The Limits and Possibilities of High‐Reliability Theory
Authors: Boin Arjen , Schulman Paul
Published: August 2010

After the demise of the space shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board sharply criticized NASA’s safety culture. Adopting the high‐reliability organization as a benchmark, the board concluded that NASA did not possess the organizational characteristics that could have prevented this disaster. Furthermore, the board determined that high‐reliability theory is “extremely useful in describing the culture that should exist in the human spaceflight organization.” In this article, we argue that this conclusion is based on a misreading and misapplication of high‐reliability research. We conclude that in its human spaceflight programs, NASA has never been, nor could it be, a high‐reliability organization. We propose an alternative framework to assess reliability and safety in what we refer to as reliability‐seeking organizations.
State and Local Governance Fifteen Years Later: Enduring and New Challenges
Authors: Thompson Frank J.
Published: August 2010

This article draws on the contributions to this issue and related evidence to assay the extent to which the states and larger local governments have moved in directions endorsed by the Winter Commission in 1993. The commission’s recommendations targeted (1) the political context of state and local governance, with a particular focus on executive leadership, campaign finance reform, and citizen engagement; (2) the specifics of public administration, with primary emphasis on empowering managers through internal deregulation and bolstering human resource capacity; and (3) the nature of the relationship between the national government and the states in a key policy arena. Significant changes in the fabric of state and local governance have occurred in each of these three areas over the last 15 years. Many of these modifications are consonant with the thrust of the Winter Commission report, but the evidence also points to the limits of state and local reform. Further reform initiatives should be built on systematic efforts to advance knowledge concerning the origins, nature, and outcomes of the array of institutions and processes present at the state and local levels.
Continuity and Change in Executive Leadership: Insights from the Perspectives of State Administrators
Authors: Burke Brendan F. , Cho Chung‐Lae , Wright Deil S.
Published: August 2010

Executive leadership in state government is examined at two levels, both from the perspectives of the heads of state administrative agencies responding to mail question surveys in 1994, 1998, and 2004. At one level, the status and strength of the governor in controlling and leading the executive branch are assessed. At the second (agency) level, state executives (and their agencies) are assessed on four criteria that are connected, directly or indirectly, with the aims of the Winter Commission: leadership, responsiveness, reforms (at the agency level), and performance (through contracting). State administration generally reflects a balance between continuity and change, with more of the former at the gubernatorial (and legislative) level, and more of the latter at the state agency level.
Personnel Reform in the States: A Look at Progress Fifteen Years after the Winter Commission
Authors: Nigro Lloyd G. , Kellough J. Edward
Published: August 2010

Trends in states’ civil service reforms since the Winter Commission’s report was published in 1993 are described and evaluated in the context of its recommendations. The authors argue that the commission’s reform agenda relies on a public service bargain that requires public employees, elected officials, and other stakeholders to respect, trust, and support each other’s efforts to serve the public interest. Its recommendations for modernizing state and local personnel systems are discussed and related to the “reinvention” and New Public Management initiatives of the past 20 years. Many of these ideas have been adopted by state governments, but there is no single reform model that has been followed across the states. Some states, such as Georgia and Florida, have engaged in radical reforms that include replacing traditional merit systems with at‐will employment models. The general pattern involves decentralization, deregulation, and limitation of employee protections. While many of the management‐oriented changes advocated by the Winter Commission are staples of states’ civil service reforms, its emphasis on a “trust and lead” strategy based on public service values, partnership, and leadership in the public interest has not received much attention. In general, objective evaluations of states’ reforms are needed to determine whether their purposes are being achieved.
The Evolution and Continuing Challenges of E‐Governance
Authors: Dawes Sharon S.
Published: August 2010

E‐governance comprises the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support public services, government administration, democratic processes, and relationships among citizens, civil society, the private sector, and the state. Developed over more than two decades of technology innovation and policy response, the evolution of e‐governance is examined in terms of five interrelated objectives: a policy framework, enhanced public services, high‐quality and cost‐effective government operations, citizen engagement in democratic processes, and administrative and institutional reform. This summary assessment of e‐governance in U.S. states and local governments shows that the greatest investment and progress have been made in enhanced public services and improved government operations. Policy development has moved forward on several fronts, but new policy issues continually add to an increasingly complex set of concerns. The least progress appears to have occurred in enhancing democracy and exploring the implications of e‐governance for administrative and institutional reform. ICT‐enabled governance will continue to evolve for the foreseeable future providing a dynamic environment for ongoing learning and action.
The Challenge of Strengthening Nonprofits and Civil Society
Authors: Smith Steven Rathgeb
Published: August 2010

The Winter Commission Report was centrally concerned with improving the performance of state and local governments. Since the issuance of the commission’s report in 1993, the delivery of services by state and local government has been substantially changed by the growing role of nonprofit organizations in providing public services and representing citizen interests. As a result, state and local governments and nonprofit agencies are faced with complex governance challenges. The central argument of this paper is that despite the dramatic changes in the relationship between government and nonprofit organizations in recent years, the key tenets of the Winter Commission report—the need for improved training and education, greater transparency and accountability, more emphasis on performance, and improved citizen engagement—remain deeply relevant in improving the governance of the public services in an increasingly complex policy process and service delivery system at the state and local levels.
Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Challenges in Managing Philanthropic Support for Public Services
Authors: Brecher Charles , Wise Oliver
Published: August 2010

Collaborations between nonprofit and public sector organizations have become an increasingly important phenomenon in state and local public service delivery since the publication of the Winter Commission report in 1993. This article focuses on one of the less studied types of public–nonprofit collaborations, those in which philanthropic support from nonprofit organizations supplements the resources and activities of public agencies. Drawing on the case of “nonprofit‐as‐supplement collaborations” that support park services in New York City, this article documents the benefits and drawbacks associated with such collaborations. While they can provide increased resources and encourage management innovations, they also can lead to inequities in the availability and quality of services, the preponderance of particularistic goals over the broader public interest, and the politicization of previously bureaucratic decision making. The authors offer two strategies for public managers to realize more effectively the benefits yet mitigate the shortcomings of these collaborations.
Learning from the States? Federalism and National Health Policy
Authors: Weissert Carol S. , Scheller Daniel
Published: August 2010

In its 1993 report, the Winter Commission gave direction to the federal government in the area of health policy and Medicaid: lead, follow, or get out of the way. This article examines how the federal government responded to that advice, specifically asking what has happened in the allocation of responsibility in health policies between 1993 and 2006. In short, unlike the suggestion that there be a better‐defined direction in federal–state policy assignments in health, the ensuing years have resulted in more of the same. The authors examine what has happened, particularly focusing on vertical diffusion—where the states have acted first—and on the role of policy learning in federal decision making. They find little recognition of policy learning in recent federal health laws—even in areas in which state experience was extensive. The federal government is leading in some health policies—but it is leading without learning.
Mega‐Disasters and Federalism
Authors: Landy Marc
Published: August 2010

Measured in dollar terms, Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster in American history. Mega‐disaster response recovery and mitigation put federalism to an especially difficult test because they require speed, efficiency, decisiveness, and effective coordination. This essay focuses on the response to and recovery from Katrina in order to probe the implications of mega‐disasters for federalism. It understands federalism as being composed of four dimensions: the three levels of government and the civic realm. It tests key defenses of federalism against civic and government performance during Katrina. It offers examples of successes and failures involving all four dimensions and provides specific recommendations for improving mega‐disaster mitigation, response, and recovery while maintaining an appropriate constitutional balance among the three levels of government and between the civilian government and the military.
Use of an Intracardiac Electrogram Eliminates the Need for a Surface ECG during Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillator Follow‐Up
Authors: MICHAEL KEVIN A. , PETERSON BRETT J. , YUE ARTHUR M. , WILSON RYAN D. , WANG LI , OUSDIGIAN KEVIN , WILKOFF BRUCE , STERNS LAURENCE , MORGAN JOHN M. ,   for the Worldwide EMPIRIC investigators
Published: August 2010

Background:

A surface electrocardiogram (SECG) for pacing threshold measurements during routine implantable cardioverter‐defibrillator (ICD) follow‐up can be cumbersome. This study evaluated the use of an intrathoracic far‐field electrogram (EGM) derived between the Can and superior vena cava (SVC) electrode—the Leadless electrocardiogram (LLECG), in dual chamber ICDs in performing pacing threshold tests.

Methods:

The LLECG was evaluated prospectively during atrial and ventricular pacing threshold testing as a substudy of the Comparison of Empiric to Physician‐Tailored Programming of Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillators trial (EMPIRIC) in which dual chamber ICDs were implanted in 888 patients. Threshold tests were conducted at 1 volt by decrementing the pulse width. Follow‐up at three months compared pacing thresholds measured using LLECG with those using Lead I of the surface ECG (SECG). The timesaving afforded by LLECG was assessed by a questionnaire.

Results:

The median threshold difference between LLECG and SECG measurements for both atrial (0.00 ms, P = 0.90) and ventricular (0.00 ms, P = 0.34) threshold tests were not significant. Ninety percent of atrial and ventricular threshold differences were bounded by ± 0.10 ms and –0.10 to +0.04 ms, respectively. We found that 99% of atrial and ventricular thresholds tests at six and 12 months attempted using LLECG were successfully completed. The questionnaire indicated that 65% of healthcare professionals found LLECG to afford at least some timesaving during device follow‐ups.

Conclusion:

Routine follow‐up can be performed reliably and expeditiously in dual chamber Medtronic (Minneapolis, MN, USA) ICDs using LLECG alone, resulting in overall timesaving.
Correlation Between QTc Interval and Clinical Severity of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Depends on the QTc Formula Used
Authors: COLKESEN A. YUCEL , SEN ORHAN , GIRAY SEMIH , ACIL TAYFUN , OZIN BULENT , MUDERRISOGLU HALDUN
Published: August 2010

Objectives:

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) frequently prolongs QT interval in the acute phase. The purpose of our study is to investigate whether the correlation between electrocardiographic corrected QT interval and the clinical severity of SAH depends on QTc formula used.

Methods:

We retrospectively studied 52 consecutive subjects with nontraumatic SAH (extravasation of blood into the spaces covering the central nervous system that are filled with cerebrospinal fluid) who were admitted within the first day of SAH. QT intervals were measured on a standard 12‐lead electrocardiography and corrected by Bazett and Hodges formulae. All patients were evaluated according to clinical condition on admission by Hunt‐Hess grades. The patients were grouped in two different categories according to QT interval corrected by Bazett and Hodges and scored by Hunt‐Hess (HH) grades.

Results:

Mean age of the study patients was 54 ± 12 years and of those 31 (60%) were female. Mean values of heart rate and RR interval were 82 ± 21 bpm and 777 ± 163 msec, respectively. The mean QTc interval by Bazett and Hodges were 456 ± 59 msec and 438 ± 48 msec, respectively (P < 0.001). Twenty‐three patients according to Bazett and fifteen according to Hodges had prolonged QTc. Correlation analyses showed relation between HH and QTc and prolonged QTc by Bazett (r = 0.278, P = 0.04 and r = 0.314, P = 0.024; respectively). There was no correlation between HH and QTc and prolonged QTc by Hodges (r = 0.204, P = 0.14 and r = 0.115, P = 0.41; respectively).

Conclusions:

In our study, correlation between QTc interval and clinical severity of SAH depended on the QTc formula used.
Does the Age Affect the Fluoroscopy‐Guided Transseptal Puncture in Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation?
Authors: HU YU‐FENG , TAI CHING‐TAI , LIN YENN‐JIANG , CHANG SHIH‐LIN , LO LI‐WEI , WONGCHAROEN WANWARANG , UDYAVAR AMEYA R. , TUAN TA‐CHUAN , CHEN SHIH‐ANN
Published: August 2010

Background:

The anatomical differences with age may raise difficulty in determining the proper positioning of the transseptal puncture site in the therapeutic left heart catheterization. This study investigated whether age affects the fluoroscopy‐guided transseptal puncture in the catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Methods and Results:

Fifty patients (52 ± 12 years, 35 men) who underwent ablation for paroxysmal/persistent atrial fibrillation were included. The patients were divided into two groups according to their age (cut‐point 50 y/o): young group (n = 20) and old group (n = 30). In the 30° right anterior oblique view (RAO), the width between the transseptal puncture site and coronary sinus ostium (H N‐CSO) was longer in old‐age group (14.4 ± 9.4 vs 10.9 ± 10.4 mm, P = 0.034). In the 60° left anterior oblique view (LAO) view, the angle of the direction of the transseptal needle (N‐angle) was less in the old‐age group (56.0 ± 10.0° vs 58.4 ± 9.8°, P = 0.041). The ratio of the transseptal puncture site‐coronary sinus ostium (CSO) distance over the distance between the superior vena cava‐right atrial junction and CSO (VN‐CSO/VJ‐CSO) was significantly higher in the old‐age group (0.73 ± 0.12 vs 0.63 ± 0.2, P = 0.009).

Conclusion:

The transseptal puncture site in the RAO view moved higher and more posterior and the transseptal puncture angle in the LAO view decreased with age. These findings highlight the influence of age on the atrial anatomy and transseptal puncture site.