Principles of Mental Health Systems Change

Policy development is of little moment if those policies are never implemented. In this article a governor who had considerable success in implementing major changes in the mental health delivery system of his state suggests seven principles of successful policy implementation. The relevance, general utility, and applicability of these principles should be of interest to those political scientists who study issues related to policy implementation.     

Zooarchaeology of the Middle Stone Age in Magubike Rockshelter,Iringa Region,Tanzania

African Archaeological Review - The analysis of the faunal remains from Middle Stone Age deposits of Magubike rockshelter was undertaken to contribute to the modern human behavior debate....     

The Tension Between Policy Science and Politics: Addressing Cancer Incidence and Environmental Contamination in Michigan

The Internet and related innovations in information and communications technologies now enable individuals and groups from across a state to easily access and analyze data on public health and environmental contamination. In Michigan, will this improve the policy attention given to rural, as well as urban and suburban, areas of the state? Will better‐informed citizen voices result in policy decisions that take longer‐term considerations into account and are more representative of the interests of all areas of the state? This article suggests not. The recent adoption of lifetime legislative term limits in Michigan and the complexity of and public misunderstandings about the research process and data analysis likely will make legislative work on environmental policy more difficult and contentious.     

Pollen analysis of a soil sample associated with a Greek cult statue as a guide to provenance

A Classical Greek cult statue of a Goddess, “Aphrodite”, currently on display in the J. Paul Getty Museum has recently been reclaimed by the Italian government. The statue is thought to have been sculpted between 425 and 400 B.C. in southern Italy or Sicily, but its provenance is obscure. Soil incorporated into the true right arm socket of the acrolithic statue at the time of burial was pollen analyzed to provide information on its geographic origin. Since palynomorphs are often not well preserved in soils, a preliminary study was undertaken to investigate preservation and abundance of palynomorphs to determine the potential benefits of undertaking further analyses. Although concentration was low, the soil contained sufficient pollen and spores to determine the environment in the vicinity of the burial site of the statue. The landscape had been cleared of natural arboreal vegetation and intensively cultivated. Juglans regia and cereals were cultivated, and pastoralism may have been practiced. A specific geographic location could not be inferred without comparative soil analyses.