New Governance and Industry Culture

New governance scholarship argues that a blend of public and private regulation is playing an increasing role in influencing firm behavior. Despite its burgeoning growth, new governance scholarship is critiqued as lacking practical examples. This Article begins to fill that void by conducting a new institutional economics analysis of forest sustainability certifications, an example of new governance. This Article analyzes the features of the domestic forest industry to trace why new governance emerged within it and has persisted for over seventy years. The industrial characteristics that contribute to this longstanding new governance regime include strong norms within the industry, a resource-type that favors user-developed rules, and robust competition among private actors to regulate the industry. These findings suggest that new governance may emerge as a regulatory tool to address environmental problems in other industries that possess similar characteristics. The Article also sheds light into the broader discussion of how to measure the “success” of new governance regimes. It identifies stakeholder involvement relative to the democratic process and displacement of other regulatory tools as two key considerations in evaluating new governance approaches

New Governance and Industry Culture

New governance scholarship argues that a blend of public and private regulation is playing an increasing role in influencing firm behavior. Despite its burgeoning growth, new governance scholarship is critiqued as lacking practical examples. This Article begins to fill that void by conducting a new institutional economics analysis of forest sustainability certifications, an example of new governance. This Article analyzes the features of the domestic forest industry to trace why new governance emerged within it and has persisted for over seventy years. The industrial characteristics that contribute to this longstanding new governance regime include strong norms within the industry, a resource-type that favors user-developed rules, and robust competition among private actors to regulate the industry. These findings suggest that new governance may emerge as a regulatory tool to address environmental problems in other industries that possess similar characteristics. The Article also sheds light into the broader discussion of how to measure the “success” of new governance regimes. It identifies stakeholder involvement relative to the democratic process and displacement of other regulatory tools as two key considerations in evaluating new governance approaches

Introduction and Table of Contents

Message from President Kirk Schulz and Vice President for Research Karen Burg; and Table of Contents for the winter/spring 2015 issu

Agency Coordination of Private Action: The Role of Relational Contracting

This Article explores the previously overlooked role of relational contracting in forming and maintaining public-private partnerships. Relational contracting generally describes firms using formal but legally non-binding agreements to collaborate on shared objectives. Why do parties invest in forming elaborate contracts that they do not—and cannot—enforce in court? Contract theory suggests that the very act of contracting is relationship-building; it generates commitment, trust, cooperation, a win-win philosophy, and strengthened communication. Writing down goals and intentions allows parties to clarify expectations while maintaining flexibility for unforeseen conditions. This Article demonstrates that agencies also use relational contracting— creating unenforceable written agreements to build relationships with external actors. To shed light on agencies’ use of relational contracting, this Article provides a novel review of the recovery planning process required by the Endangered Species Act. A surprising finding emerges: private groups are providing crucial resources and logistical support to prevent the extinction of endangered species. Tribes, states, nongovernmental organizations, and sportsmen’s groups are providing necessary resources to further agency action. By orchestrating private action through recovery planning documents, the agency can garner the resources necessary to undertake species translocations, which it could not unilaterally facilitate. Although the plans are not judicially enforceable, they nevertheless play a coordinating and commitment-generating role in facilitating private actors to engage in recovery efforts. This example highlights the broader trend of relational contracting building and formalizing relationships between agency and non-agency actors. Environmental impact statements, forest management plans, and recovery plans for endangered species are all examples of such “relational contracts” governing inter-agency and private-public collaborations. Viewed in this light, seemingly prosaic planning documents are, in fact, a crucial component in facilitating many agency collaborations. Descriptively, this account adds institutional detail to literatures on new governance and public-private partnerships. Normatively, it raises questions about whether the benefits of contracting offsets the potential distributional inequities and mechanisms to shroud government actions created by the practice

Introduction and Table of Contents

Message from President Kirk Schulz and Vice President for Research Karen Burg; Kansas State University Perspectives and Table of Contents for the Fall 2015 issu

Eutergesundheitsstatus von Milchkühen unterschiedlicher Rassen in der Frühlaktation

Milchkühe unterliegen in den ersten Wochen nach der Abkalbung, dem Zeitraum höchster Stoffwechselbelastung, einem besonderen Erkrankungsrisiko. Die Regelun¬gen des ökologischen Landbaus fordern die Wahl geeigneter standort¬angepasster Rassen, klare Empfehlungen existieren aber bisher nicht. Ziel der Untersuchung war ein Monitoring des Infektionsstatus von Tieren der Rasse Deutsche Holstein-Schwarzbunt (DH) und Deutschen Rotbunten im Doppelnutzungstyp (Rbt) unter gleichen Management¬bedingungen in den ersten 5 Wochen nach der Abkalbung. Weiterhin wurde untersucht, ob sich der Infektionsstatus von DH bei variierenden Management¬bedingungen unterschied. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine höhere Infektionsrate für die Rbt. Die vorherrschenden Mastitiserreger in beiden Herden und bei beiden Rassen waren koagulase-negative Staphylokokken und die Hauptspezies S. chromogenes. Unter gleichen Managementbedingungen waren DH eutergesünder als Rbt

Choice of electronic v/s printed documents by southern Chilean dental students.

In recent decades, the use of digital texts has replaced printed documents. This has generated changes in the way texts are presented and diffused as well as the students’ choice and the way of reading materials related to medicine. While some reports have evaluated the use of digital compared to print formats, there is no evidence about dental students’ preferences. The objective of this study is to determine preferences among dental students from six universities in the south of Chile for using printed versus electronic documents. A descriptive study based on a survey which was conducted among dental students in May and June, 2013, was designed. The proposed survey was adapted for collecting general student data and preferences for using electronic or traditional printed documents. Six schools and a total of 1,022 students, with an average age of 21.4 years, participated. A 93.3% of them reported using both types of documents.  However, a 59.7% preferred printed documents. Only a 9.3% read documents directly from an electronic device. Students overwhelmingly preferred using printed documents than the electronic type. It is imperative to investigate the impact of new learning technologies in Chilean dental education.Keywords: Dentistry, dental education, electronic devices, e-learning, learning technologies.Uso de documentos electrónicos v/s impresos por estudiantes de odontología del sur de Chile.El uso de textos en formato digital ha reemplazado en las últimas décadas el uso de documentos impresos, generando cambios en la disposición y difusión de éstos como también en la elección de los estudiantes y la forma de lectura de materias relacionadas con la medicina. Si bien existen reportes que valoran el uso de formato digital en comparación a textos impresos, no existe evidencia de las preferencias en estudiantes de Odontología. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar la preferencia de uso de documentos en formato impreso versus electrónico en estudiantes de odontología de seis universidades del sur de Chile. Se diseñó un estudio descriptivo basado en una encuesta aplicada a estudiantes de Odontología entre mayo y junio del año 2013. Se adaptó la encuesta propuesta para ello, recolectando datos generales del estudiante, preferencia de uso de documentos electrónicos y documentos tradicionales impresos. Participaron seis escuelas, con un total de 1.022 estudiantes con un promedio de edad de 21.4 años. El 93.3% declara usar ambos tipos de documentos, sin embargo, el 59.7% prefieren el uso de documentos impresos versus documentos electrónicos. Sólo el 9.3% lee directamente los documentos desde un dispositivo electrónico. Los estudiantes prefieren mayoritariamente el uso de documentos impresos por sobre los de tipo electrónicos. Es perentorio investigar el impacto de nuevas tecnologías de aprendizaje en la educación odontológica chilena.Palabras clave: Odontología, educación dental, dispositivos electrónicos, e-learning, tecnologías del aprendizaje

Bovine Endometrial Epithelial Cells Scale Their Pro-inflammatory Response In vitro to Pathogenic Trueperella pyogenes Isolated from the Bovine Uterus in a Strain-Specific Manner

Among different bacteria colonizing the bovine uterus, Trueperella pyogenes is found to be associated with clinical endometritis (CE). The ability of cows to defend against T. pyogenes infections depends on the virulence of invading bacteria and on the host's innate immunity. Therefore, to gain insights into bacterial factors contributing to the interplay of this host pathogen, two strains of T. pyogenes were included in this study: one strain (TP2) was isolated from the uterus of a postpartum dairy cow developing CE and a second strain (TP5) was isolated from a uterus of a healthy cow. The two strains were compared in terms of their metabolic fingerprints, growth rate, virulence gene transcription, and effect on bovine endometrial epithelial cells in vitro. In addition, the effect of the presence of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) on the response of endometrial epithelial cells was evaluated. TP2, the strain isolated from the diseased cow, showed a higher growth rate, expressed more virulence factors (cbpA, nanH, fimE, and fimG), and elicited a higher mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory factors (PTGS2, CXCL3, and IL8) in bovine endometrial epithelial cells compared with TP5, the strain isolated from the healthy cow. The presence of PBMCs amplified the mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory factors (PTGS2, CXCL3, IL1A, IL6, and IL8) in bovine endometrial epithelial cells co-cultured with live TP2 compared with untreated cells, especially as early as after 4 h. In conclusion, particular strain characteristics of T. pyogenes were found to be important for the development of CE. Furthermore, immune cells attracted to the site of infection might also play an important role in up-regulation of the pro-inflammatory response in the bovine uterus and thus significantly contribute to the host-pathogen interaction