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The paper is concerned with what Albert Breton, in his theory of competitive federalism has called vertical competition, that is, competition between governments situated at different levels. However its setting is government systems that are unitary rather than federal and structured around three or four levels of government rather than the two often implicitly assumed. The paper tries to show that these characteristics may offer a partial solution to what is perhaps the major problem raised by vertical competition, that is, how winners in a vertical contest get protected against retaliation by the losers when the latter can change the rules (which are not constitutionally entrenched). In federations, the problem typically arises in the context of the relationship between the intermediate (provincial or state) level and the local one. In unitary systems, the relationship affected is the one between the central government and the intermediate level, whereas the competitive relationship between the intermediate and the local levels may find some protection as an effect of the central government playing the role of a monitor. As is illustrated by the decentralization experience in France, a lively vertical competition at the bottom, between several subcentral tiers of government, may ensue.

The paper is concerned with what Albert Breton, in his theory of competitive federalism has called vertical competition, that is, competition between governments situated at different levels. However its setting is government systems that are unitary rather than federal and structured around three or four levels of government rather than the two often implicitly assumed. The paper tries to show that these characteristics may offer a partial solution to what is perhaps the major problem raised by vertical competition, that is, how winners in a vertical contest get protected against retaliation by the losers when the latter can change the rules (which are not constitutionally entrenched). In federations, the problem typically arises in the context of the relationship between the intermediate (provincial or state) level and the local one. In unitary systems, the relationship affected is the one between the central government and the intermediate level, whereas the competitive relationship between the intermediate and the local levels may find some protection as an effect of the central government playing the role of a monitor. As is illustrated by the decentralization experience in France, a lively vertical competition at the bottom, between several subcentral tiers of government, may ensue.

We live in times of increasing dynamism in the natural, social and business environments; with such dynamism comes fear, uncertainty and doubt. As a result the discipline of risk management is in the ascendancy. In a recent influential report the UK's Royal Society called for research into the role that organization design plays in risk management. Defines a theoretical framework that is being used to investigate a part of that relationship: the link between risk management strategy and organizational behaviour. Organizations are identified with either a proactive or a reactive approach to risk management. The research issue is whether the "choice" of approach is dependent on organization structure or is it independent? Does structure determine the approach or does the approach determine the structure? What other factors play a role? The critical factor of risk perception in managers and its impact on implementation strategy is considered. The types of risk strategy an organization follows and its structure are defined using various measures of distinct factors. By establishing the nature and cause of relationships between the measures and factors, the relationship between organizational approaches to risk and organization structure may be identified. Describes a method for evaluating this relationship.

Contrary to what is usually implied by work on the relationship between political opportunity structures and social movements, political institutions are not a general setting offering or denying formal access and political opportunities to every challenge, but rather favor certain types of movements and constrain others. This process of institutional selectivity depends on the relationship between the structure of a given political institution and the movement type and defines social movements as pro-institutional, counter-institutional, or neutral. Accordingly, variation in the movements' action repertoire and degree of success can be observed. Yet, political institutions leave the door open to different interpretations by social actors so that a framing struggle takes place; at stake is the fit between movement demands and the structure of political institutions. The argument is developed through the example of federalism and its impact on two types of movements—namely, regionalist and squatters' movements—and illustrated by discussing their fate in France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Empirical data suggest that institutional selectivity is to be taken into account to reach a better understanding of the relationship between social movements and their political context.

Contrary to what is usually implied by work on the relationship between political opportunity structures and social movements, political institutions are not a general setting offering or denying formal access and political opportunities to every challenge, but rather favor certain types of movements and constrain others. This process of institutional selectivity depends on the relationship between the structure of a given political institution and the movement type and defines social movements as pro-institutional, counter- institutional, or neutral. Accordingly, variation in the movements' action repertoire and degree of success can be observed. Yet, political institutions leave the door open to different interpretations by social actors so that a framing struggle takes place; at stake is the fit between movement demands and the structure of political institutions. The argument is developed through the example of federalism and its impact on two types of movements-namely, regionalist and squatters' movements-and illustrated by discussing their fate in France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Empirical data suggest that institutional selectivity is to be taken into account to reach a better understanding of the relationship between social movements and their political context.

Der vorliegende Text gibt eine differenzierte Analyse des Lome-Prozesses von seinen Anfängen 1975 bis zu den jüngsten Lome-Verhandlungen. Die leitende Fragestellung zielt auf eine Einschätzung der Zukunftsperspektive der Lome-Verträge. Vor dem Hintergrund des wachsenden Interesses der EU an wirtschaftlichen Beziehungen zu Osteuropa ist ein abnehmendes Interesse der EU an den AKP-Staaten zu verzeichnen. Dennoch hält der Autor ein völliges Auslaufen des Lome-Prozesses für wenig wahrscheinlich. (DÜI-Spl)

The distribution of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) and the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) within the Prairie-Torrens Creek Alluvials province of the Desert Upland region of north-western Queensland was examined. The optimum habitat for each species as indicated by the occurrence of faecal pellet groups was found to be that associated with creek-lines. However, other land types were also used by each species to varying degrees. The relationship between various habitat variables and pellet group counts was investigated using Multiple regression and a Generalised linear model. Proximity to creek-bed, total basal area of trees, species richness and Acacia basal area (negative) best explained the occurrence of koalas. Proximity to creek-bed, Acacia basal area (negative), total basal area of trees, and available water (negative) best explained the occurrence of brushtail possums. In contrast to studies of arboreal species in the moist-south-eastern forests of Australia no relationship was found between foliar nutrient concentrations and the occurrence of koalas or brushtail possums. However, a significant relationship was found between leaf water concentration and the occurrence of koalas. It is suggested that water availability is the paramount factor defining preferred arboreal habitat in arid and semi-arid woodlands.

The bilateral relationship with Japan now dominates American thinking on the benefits and costs of foreign trade. Japan has become the model of all things modem and efficient, the standard against which the United States measures its own economy and finds itself wanting. But Japan is also firmly established as the villain in the industrial adjustment woes that have plagued the United States in recent years; most Americans remain unaware that Japan has encountered many of the same difficulties in reducing excess capacity, often in the same industries. Such paradoxes typify the intense and stormy relationship between the world's economic superpowers. As the world economic system is increasingly interdependent and increasingly vulnerable; it is also increasingly multipolar and less hegemonic. It is not easy to find the best global economic system to reduce that vulnerability. This thesis attempts to span at least partially a cultural gap as broad as the Pacific Ocean. My approach has been to synthesize the two countries' different perceptions of bilateral relationship in a number of different social science fields. I hope that this approach will fill a gap in international economic relations literature as well as contribute to a better communications process between Japan and the United States.

Although it has long been recognised that industrial conflict embraces both strikes and other `unorganised' forms of conflict, such as absenteeism, there has been remarkably little empirical analysis of unorganised conflict per se or the relationship between organised and unorganised conflict. This is a reflection, in part, of a dearth of readily available empirical data, but more importantly the problem of establishing that forms of unorganised conflict such as absenteeism are in fact an expression of conflict for particular occupational groups or a particular workplace. This is less of a problem for Britain's registered dockers who, in persistently organising (unofficial) strikes and absenting themselves from work, challenged the process of industrial rationalisation throughout the post-war period. But the purpose and meanings attached to absenteeism changed markedly over time, as did the relationship between strikes and absenteeism. The nature and administration of the employment relationship under casual and permanent work regimes had a profound effect on the absence culture of the docks, as did technological change in the late 1960s and 1970s. Detailed analysis of the post-war period illustrates that industrial conflict on the docks can only be understood in relation to the effect of casual and permanent work regimes on both organised and unorganised conflict.

The relationship between transportation and urbanization at the national scale is revisited by focusing upon the role that air passenger transportation has played in the post‐war evolution of the U.S. urban system. Theory suggests that major transportation innovations have exhibited profound and prolonged interdependencies with patterns of growth in national or regional urban systems. As the most recent major intercity transportation innovation, it should be expected that utilization of air transportation should bear some relationship to patterns of growth in urban places.This paper documents this relationship by using FAA and U.S. Census data to correlate volumes of air passenger flows per capita with changes in population and employment for the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. The expectation that higher volumes of air passenger flow per capita exhibit a positive correlation with both previous and subsequent growth is confirmed by the analysis. More detailed examination of both high and low air passenger index cities suggests functional and regional consistencies with the central hypothesis. The implications of these results for air transportation and airport planning include at least some justification for increased attention to provision of air service and adequate airport infrastructure as well as reiteration of the importance of air transportation in economic development.

The relationship between urbanism & nontraditionalism predicted in Claude S. Fischer's theory of subcultural urbanism ("Urbanism as a Way of Life: A Review and an Agenda," Sociological Method & Research 1972, 1, 187-242) is empirically studied using data from the 1986 US General Social Survey (GSS) of 1,309 respondents. A positive urbanism-nontraditionalism relationship is generally confirmed. However, places of intermediate urbanism, particularly the suburbs, display the highest levels of nontraditionalism; this frequently nonlinear pattern is not predicted by Fischer's theory. Fischer's characterization of suburbs as relatively conventional is questioned. In Urbanism and Nontraditional Opinion: Another Look at the Data, Thomas C. Wilson (Gannon U, Erie, Pa) offers an alternative interpretation of the GSS findings, suggesting that population size is positively correlated with greater nontraditionalism. Wilson also equates the urban character of suburbs & central cities. It is concluded that Fischer's subcultural theory is validated by the data. In Reply to Wilson: Type of Place Matters Too, Alba (State U of New York, Albany) & Jang suggest that Wilson overemphasized the role of the size variable; they also comment on Wilson's definition of size, & reiterate the claim that the urbanism-tolerance relationship in the US is changing due to changes in population distribution. 2 Tables, 27 References. I. Shagrir

Architectural legibility is the degree to which the designed features of the environment aid people in creating an effective mental image, or "cognitive map" of the spatial relationships within a building, and the subsequent ease of wayfinding within the environment. However, little research has attempted to operationalize legibility by examining the relationship between objective measures of the physical environment, the cognitive map, and observational measures of wayfinding performance. This article empirically assesses the effects of one environmental variable, topological floor plan complexity, on the cognitive mapping and wayfinding performance of 63 participants within three building settings. The study finds that this objective measure of floor plan complexity significantly influences cognitive mapping and observed wayfinding. Given these results, a conceptual model of one aspect of architectural legibility was developed and empirically tested. Path analysis was used to assess the relationship between topological plan configuration, four convergent measures of the cognitive map, and observational measures of human wayfinding performance. Analysis of these data provide support for the conceptual model. The model suggests that the complexity of topological plan configuration influences legibility. The evidence also indicates that the relationship between plan configuration and wayfinding is mediated by the accuracy of the cognitive map.

Background. Anger is of great interest to health professionals due to its relationship with disease outcomes. However, male samples have been used in most studies examining linkages between anger and health indicators. In this exploratory study, anger symptoms and their cognitive and environmental correlates were examined in a sample of 87 women in middle adulthood. Methods. This descriptive-correlational study involved secondary analyses of data obtained in the third phase of a longitudinal study of health in middle adulthood. Data were collected with a battery of well-established self-report instruments. Descriptive statistics, t tests, and correlational and regression analysis were used. Results. Significant correlates of anger symptoms included lower optimism, external health locus of control, higher frequency and severity of daily hassles, lower functional social support, and loss of important relationship(s) during the past year. Greater body mass index, inadequate sleep, lack of exercise, drinking, and use of over-the-counter drugs were also associated with anger symptomatology. Discussion. Findings regarding the relationship of daily stress and anger were consistent with the Framingham Study. Contrary to expectations, women who reported more anger symptoms were not suppressors of their anger but directed it outward.