Ian D. Clark

Optical scattering properties of terrestrial varnished basalts compared with rocks and soils at the Viking Lander sites

Basalt flows at the Pisgah Volcanic Field, California, are mantled by aeolian silt-sized deposits. The bright mantle is overlain by a dense pavement of basalt cobbles smoothed by aeolian abrasion and coated with glossy dark gray and red desert varnishes. In contrast, the two Viking landing sites on Mars lack desert pavements, and rocks have glossy surfaces that in some cases are brighter than soils. To pursue further the scattering characteristics of varnished basalt cobbles for comparison to Mars rocks, laboratory measurements of bidirectional reflectance (0.69 μm center wavelength) were made as a function of incidence and emission angle along the principal plane for varnished and fresh basalt surfaces. The reflectance data, fit with a scattering model that includes specular reflections from rough surfaces and volume penetration and reflection, show that the red varnished surfaces have higher single scattering albedoes and higher surface roughness values than the dark gray varnished surfaces (0.56 and 0.42; 21° and 17°, respectively). Fresh cut surfaces have lowest values (0.40 and 6°). Results are consistent with observations made from thin sections for these surfaces and with field observations that show dark gray varnished surfaces are smoothed by exposure to wind abrasion. Dark red varnished surfaces tend to be rougher because they are embedded in the aeolian mantle and develop in a protected environment. Application of the model to atmospherically corrected, radiometrically calibrated Viking Lander images (0.60 to 0.74 μm) shows that many rocks are smoother and have single scattering albedoes higher than soils (9° versus 27°; 0.71 versus 0.63, respectively). Results are consistent with a model in which rocks at the surface of Mars become smoothed by aeolian abrasion and coated with atmospheric dust. Lack of desert pavement on Mars is probably associated with a scarcity of cobbles and a lack of soil forming processes. Similar bright, smooth coatings are expected at other locations on Mars, including the Pathfinder Ares Vallis site.

Legitimacy in International or World Society

This chapter contributes to the debate about legitimacy of governance arrangements beyond the nation state. Traditionally conceived, this issue has been thought to be about how legitimacy (as understood and practised within the territorial state) is to be re-invented to take account of global governance arrangements. This chapter suggests that we cannot get directly from legitimacy ‘within’ the state to legitimacy ‘beyond’ the state in one simple move. There is an additional layer of complexity to be negotiated, as the terrain beyond the state is itself contested in legitimacy terms. For purposes of this chapter, I refer to this as a contestation between the norms of international society and those of world society. This enables us to address the key issue of which norms are pertinent in addressing the legitimacy claims made in the context of global governance.

Particle Formation during Water-Vapor Photolysis.

Micrometer-sized particles have been produced by the photolysis of water vapor at wavelengths between 1500 and 1700 angstroms. Although the composition of the particles was not determined, the rate of particle production is consistent with the efficient conversion of water photolysis products to particulate matter. Such a process may be of importance in planetary atmospheres.

Should the IMF Become More Adaptive

This paper addresses the question: Should the International Monetary Fund be making an even greater effort to adapt its objectives, priorities, rules, instruments, procedures, and resources to take account of changes in the global economic environment and in the needs of its members? It reviews the changes in the economic and geopolitical environment most relevant to the Fund and the ways the institution has adapted to date. It identifies the general factors that tend to inhibit adaptation in international institutions, and some of the specific factors that can facilitate adaptation in the case of the Fund. It concludes that the Fund should, indeed, be making even greater efforts to adapt, but that efforts in this regard should take account of the identified factors.

Making reform stick: Political acumen as an element of political capacity for policy change and innovation

Abstract Political acumen as an element of policy capacity involves feasibly and successfully steering policies through organizations and systems. “Normal” policy-making makes no great demands in this regard, and so this paper focuses instead on deep policy reforms that typically engender resistance among organizations and stakeholders. Our approach assumes that the nature of these types of changes is paradigmatic and non-Pareto optimal (imposing losses), and take place within policy systems having reasonable degrees of feedback that require policy reformers to negotiate and adjust their reform agenda. We offer a model of political acumen in dealing with deep policy reform that has 10 characteristics, collected under three sub-categories: (1) the nature of the policy problem, (2) the policy response, and (3) policy skills or capacity. Based on this model, we assess the advice on policy reform in the literature and from the OECD and the World Bank — organizations both deeply engaged in governance reform agendas. Basic tools for policy managers are compensating losers, spreading losses over time, grand parenting, and insulating decision-makers, while elected leaders need to develop mandates for change, build coalitions, and engage in heresthetics. At the highest level, political acumen involves the strategic capacity to manage and implement significant policy change.

Teaching public policy: Global convergence or difference?

To the extent the policy outcomes depend on policy capacity, an important ingredient in that capacity is the training of public servants, and in particular through MPP and MPA programs. As the introduction to this journal issue dedicated to that theme, this article reviews debates about the content and convergence of such programs around the world. The appropriate nature and quality of that content has been the object of attention of accreditation schemes and best practice research, and in the spread of programs internationally. A framework for understanding that spread or diffusion is presented which highlights the interaction of national context, international dynamics, and institutional isomorphism. The articles in this issue clearly show that there has indeed been diffusion, but only modest convergence or programmatic isomorphism. At the same time, there is a persistent sense of an emergent epistemic community and practices in the field, suggesting that the next stage of research should focus on international networks in the field, and the connection between programs, practice, and capacity.

The MPA/MPP in the Anglo-democracies: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Abstract Should one expect convergence among MPA/MPP programs around the world, and in particularly among programs in the “Anglo-sphere” or among the Anglo-democracies, defined here as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For reasons of shared history and language, one might expect convergence, but there are counter-arguments as well that note, for example, the rich diversity among American programs alone. The paper analyzes 99 programs drawn from among these countries to find an answer. The analysis is wider in scope and more granular than anything that has been done to date, with data that allow comparisons of: (1) subject matter emphasis between policy and management, (2) the amount of required quantitative content, and (3) program length (number of standardized courses required to graduate). After illustrating a standardized metric of comparison we show that the convergence hypothesis cannot be sustained. Our conclusion entertains several conjectures about why this might be the case.