Marked fatgraph complexes and surface automorphisms

Combinatorial aspects of the Torelli-Johnson-Morita theory of surface automorphisms are extended to certain subgroups of the mapping class groups. These subgroups are defined relative to a specified homomorphism from the fundamental group of the surface onto an arbitrary group $K$. For $K$ abelian, there is a combinatorial theory akin to the classical case, for example, providing an explicit cocycle representing the first Johnson homomophism with target $\Lambda ^3 K$. Furthermore, the Earle class with coefficients in $K$ is represented by an explicit cocyle

Comment from the Editors

This is the first issue of the third volume of the International Public Management Network e-publication The International Public Management Review (IPMR). IPMR is published twice per year on the IPMR website at www.ipmr.net. Volume 1, Number 1 appeared in December 2000 as a double issue to inaugurate the series. Volume 2, Issues 1 was published in March 2001 and Issues 2 appeared in November 2001. Back issues are available at www.ipmr.net

Comment from the editors

The articles in this issue are intended to be of interest to both academics and practitioners. The first piece presents the views of four internationally recognized public management scholars, Steven Kelman, Fred Thompson, L. R. Jones, and Kuno Schedler, on how the PM may be defined and understood as an emergent discipline. Their dialogue took place on the International Public Management list server in October 2003 and is reproduced here with only minor editorial changes. The second work in this issue by Clay Wescott explores how decentralization supports the policy commitments made by the Viet Nam government to increase citizen participation and accountability, and to reduce poverty and regional disparities. The article includes a review of basic definitions of decentralization to place this case study into an international context, a brief look at the unique historical context of Viet Nam, a comparison of policy intention versus implementation reality, an analysis of the impact of decentralization, and a concluding section on remaining challenges

Comment from the Editors

The articles in this issue are intended to be of interest to both academics and practitioners

Arc-like distribution of high CO(J=3-2)/CO(J=1-0) ratio gas surrounding the central star cluster of the supergiant HII region NGC 604

We report the discovery of a high CO(J=3-2)/CO(J=1-0) ratio gas with an arc-like distribution (``high-ratio gas arc'') surrounding the central star cluster of the supergiant HII region NGC 604 in the nearby spiral galaxy M 33, based on multi-J CO observations of a 5' $\times$ 5' region of NGC 604 conducted using the ASTE 10-m and NRO 45-m telescopes. The discovered ``high-ratio gas arc'' extends to the south-east to north-west direction with a size of $\sim$ 200 pc. The western part of the high-ratio gas arc closely coincides well with the shells of the HII regions traced by H$\alpha$ and radio continuum peaks. The CO(J=3-2)/CO(J=1-0) ratio, R_{3-2/1-0}, ranges between 0.3 and 1.2 in the observed region, and the R_{3-2/1-0} values of the high-ratio gas arc are around or higher than unity, indicating very warm (T_kin > 60 K) and dense (n(H_2) > 10^{3-4} cm^{-3}) conditions of the high-ratio gas arc. We suggest that the dense gas formation and second-generation star formation occur in the surrounding gas compressed by the stellar wind and/or supernova of the first-generation stars of NGC 604, i.e., the central star cluster of NGC 604.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres