Governance, performance, and chronic capacity stress in public policy systems

Public policy systems often betray signs of capacity stress. Supply factors seem to lag behind demand, and as a result these systems sustain what appears to be chronically sub-optimal performance neither completely excelling nor completely failing in what they do. How should we interpret these syndromes? Although competing theoretical explanations can shed partial light, potential ‘blind spots’ between them mean that they are not able to capture capacity stress in its entirety. In this paper I introduce the concept of ‘chronic capacity stress’ (CCS) as a holistic governance-style approach. I show how capacity stress is closely associated with four interrelated factors: 1) misalignment between policy goals and the external environment; 2) cultures of coping and adaptation; 3) direct and benign resistance to change; and 4) sustained obsolescence and inefficiency. The CCS heuristic provides a useful way of understanding dialectical dynamics of stress and equilibrium in UK policy systems

An overview of electromagnetic interference problems in spacecraft

Electromagnetic Interference Workshop held at JPL /Feb., 1968/ permitted an exchange of information on electromagnetic interference problems encountered in aerospace programs. The experiences related at this workshop dealt primarily with Surveyor, Lunar Orbiter, OGO, ATS, and Mariner unmanned programs

Can Clarke square the circle of reforming criminal justice while also cutting costs by a quarter, by getting 20,000 people out of jail?.

In a major speech that has already furrowed brows amongst the Tory right wing, Ken Clarke set out proposals for wide-ranging criminal justice reform. Simon Bastow listened to his speech and sets it against the overall picture of pressures on the Ministry of Justice, where 25 per cent cuts might come, and the future of the prisons system especially.

Mariner Mars spacecraft magnetic contamination Status report

Magnetic field intensity measurements for Mariner spacecraft component

Prison: the facts…the values…and the grey areas of management discretion

Last week the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) and Bromley Trust released an innovative new ‘app’ for anyone interested in keeping an eye on the ever-persistent operational pressures on the UK prison system. ‘Prison: the facts’ is downloadable free through i-Tunes, and transforms the excellent Bromley Briefings for a digital-era audience. Getting more ‘facts’ about prison life out into the open is clearly a vital public service, says Simon Bastow, but it assumes that there is consensus about what the facts actually are

The development of magmatism along the Cameroon Volcanic Line: Evidence from teleseismic receiver functions

[1] The Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) in West Africa is a chain of Cenozoic volcanism with no clear age progression. The reasons for its existence are unclear, and the nature of its magmatic plumbing system is poorly understood. Specifically, whether or not the CVL crust presently contains melt and/or mafic intrusions, as is often observed at hot spots and rifts elsewhere, is presently unknown. To address this issue, we present a receiver function study of crustal structure using earthquakes recorded by the Cameroon Broadband Seismic Experiment. In regions of the CVL unaffected by Cretaceous extension associated with the breakup of Gondwana (e.g., the Garoua rift), Vp/Vs ratios are markedly low (network average ?1.74) compared to hot spots elsewhere, providing no evidence for either melt or cooled mafic crustal intrusions due to CVL magmatism. The character of P-to-S conversions from beneath the CVL also indicates that lower-crustal intrusions (often termed underplate) are not present beneath the region. Our observations thus corroborate earlier petrological studies that show CVL alkaline magmas fractionate in the mantle, not the crust, prior to eruption. Hypotheses for the formation of the CVL should not include markedly elevated upper-mantle potential temperatures, or large volumes of partial melt, both of which can explain observations at hot spots and rifts worldwide. The protracted, yet sporadic, development of small-volume alkali melts beneath the CVL may instead be explained better by lower melt volume mechanisms such as shear zone reactivation or lithospheric delamination

Curtailing the market for private prisons: schism or blip?

The reputation of the privately managed prison sector in the UK has taken a beating in recent years. Does this spell the end for the ‘whole prison’ contracting era, asks Dr. Simon Bastow

Lockup quotas in U.S. prisons are not necessarily a tax on low crime, and may actually help maximise value for money for taxpayers

Last Thursday’s post on this blog (and research report) by In the Public Interest (ITPI) shows how U.S. private prison operators have negotiated ‘lockup quotas’ to protect their business against reductions in the prison population. It raises important questions, writes Simon Bastow, about how governments should manage such reductions and the dynamics of entrenched private-sector interests. But to say, as the authors do, that lockup quotas constitute a ‘tax on low crime’ seems like one ideological extrapolation too far. Click here to view a Google Hangout video related to this article

From bench to bountiful harvests : a road map for the next decade of Arabidopsis research

In the face of an increasing world population and climate instability, the demands for food and fuel will continue to rise. Plant science will be crucial to help meet these exponentially increasing requirements for food and fuel supplies. Fundamental plant research will play a major role in providing key advances in our understanding of basic plant processes that can then flow into practical advances through knowledge sharing and collaborations. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has played a major role in our understanding of plant biology, and the Arabidopsis community has developed many tools and resources to continue building on this knowledge. Drawing from previous experience of internationally coordinated projects, The international Arabidopsis community, represented by the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC), has drawn up a road map for the next decade of Arabidopsis research to inform scientists and decision makers on the future foci of Arabidopsis research within the wider plant science landscape. This article provides a summary of the MASC road map