The Entomopathogenic Bacterial Endosymbionts Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus: Convergent Lifestyles from Divergent Genomes

Members of the genus Xenorhabdus are entomopathogenic bacteria that associate with nematodes. The nematode-bacteria pair infects and kills insects, with both partners contributing to insect pathogenesis and the bacteria providing nutrition to the nematode from available insect-derived nutrients. The nematode provides the bacteria with protection from predators, access to nutrients, and a mechanism of dispersal. Members of the bacterial genus Photorhabdus also associate with nematodes to kill insects, and both genera of bacteria provide similar services to their different nematode hosts through unique physiological and metabolic mechanisms. We posited that these differences would be reflected in their respective genomes. To test this, we sequenced to completion the genomes of Xenorhabdus nematophila ATCC 19061 and Xenorhabdus bovienii SS-2004. As expected, both Xenorhabdus genomes encode many anti-insecticidal compounds, commensurate with their entomopathogenic lifestyle. Despite the similarities in lifestyle between Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus bacteria, a comparative analysis of the Xenorhabdus, Photorhabdus luminescens, and P. asymbiotica genomes suggests genomic divergence. These findings indicate that evolutionary changes shaped by symbiotic interactions can follow different routes to achieve similar end points

Felony Murder and Capital Punishment: an Examination of the Deterrence Question

A proper test of the deterrent effect of the death penalty must consider capital homicides. However, the criterion variable in most investigations has been total homicides—most of which bear no legal or theoretical relationship to capital punishment. To address this fundamental data problem, this investigation used Federal Bureau of Investigation data for 1976–1987 to examine the relationship between capital punishment and felony murder, the most common type of capital homicide. We conducted time series analyses of monthly felony murder rates, the frequency of executions, and the amount and type of television coverage of executions over the period. The analyses revealed occasional departures (for vehicle theft and narcotics killings) from the null hypotheses. However, on balance, and in line with the vast majority of capital punishment studies, this investigation found no consistent evidence that executions and the television coverage they receive are associated significantly with rates for total, index, or different types of felony murder

The Privatization and Civilianization of Policing

This essay examines recent shifts toward privatization and civilianization in policing. It focuses on the nature and dimensions of the shifts, their precedents and causes, their advantages and dangers, and B their effects on five critical dimensions of policing: effectiveness, cost, equity, choice, and legitimacy. These shifts, which have occurred over just 30 years or so, are contrasted with the centuries-long evolution of public policing and reliance on sworn officers to protect public safety that culminated in the 1960s. Following a review of historical precedents that shaped the bound- aries between public and private security resources and between sworn and civilian alternatives, the essay examines a variety of prospective policies and reforms in both the public and private domains aimed at minimizing the potentially harmful aspects of privatization and civilianization: improving private security service through licensing and bonding of agents and agencies; reducing problems associated with public monopolization of policing through improved accountability systems and accreditation; improving procedures for screening, training, and managing civilian specialists; making more effective use of civil remedies for harms in both the public and private sectors; and finding ways to clarify roles and improve coordination among the public, private, and civilian components of policing. The essay concludes with a look to the likely future of privatization and civilianization, including an identification of critical issues related to cur- rent trends and an examination of directions that appear most promising for improving service in both the public and private domains of policing.</p

What Happens After Arrest? A Court Perspective of Police Operations in the District of Columbia

Description to be added</p

DECISION ANALYSIS AND MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

A paper presented at the 41st National Meeting of the Operations Research Society of America New Orleans, Louisiana April 27, 1972</p