Celebrity-led development organisations: the legitimating function of elite engagement

The past decade has seen a frontier open up in international development engagement with the entrance of new actors such as celebrity-led organisations. We explore how such organisations earn legitimacy with a focus on Madonna’s Raising Malawi and Ben Affleck’s Eastern Congo Initiative. The study draws from organisational materials, interviews, mainstream news coverage, and the texts of the celebrities themselves to investigate the construction of authenticity, credibility, and accountability. We find these organisations earn legitimacy and flourish rapidly amid supportive elite networks for funding, endorsements, and expertise. We argue that the ways in which celebrity-led organisations establish themselves as legitimate development actors illustrate broader dynamics of the machinery of development.     

Searching for new markers of endogenous steroid administration in athletes: "looking outside the metabolic box"

A simple means of detecting the abuse of steroids that also occur naturally is a problem facing doping control laboratories. Specific markers are required to allow the detection of the administration of these steroids. These markers are commonly measured using a set of data obtained from the screening of samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Doping control laboratories further need to confirm identified abuse using techniques such as gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). An interesting urinary species was found while following the pharmacokinetics and changes to the steroid profile from single and multiple oral doses of the International Olympic Committee/World Anti Doping Agency (IOC/WADA) prohibited substance, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). The urine samples collected from the administration studies were subject to GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS steroid analysis following cleanup by solid phase extraction techniques. A useful urinary product of DHEA administration was detected in the urine samples from each of the administration studies and was identified by GC-MS experiments to be 3alpha,5-cyclo-5alpha-androstan-6beta-ol-17-one (3alpha,5-cyclo). This compound occurs naturally but the concentrations of 3alpha,5-cyclo were elevated following both the single DHEA administration (up to 385 ng/mL) and multiple DHEA administrations (up to 1240 ng/mL), in relation to those observed prior to these administrations (70 and 80 ng/mL, respectively). A reference distribution of urine samples collected from elite athletes (n = 632) enabled the natural concentration range of 3alpha,5-cyclo to be established (0-280 ng/mL), with a mean concentration of 22 ng/mL. Based on this an upper 3alpha,5-cyclo concentration limit of 140 ng/mL is proposed as a GC-MS screening marker of DHEA abuse in athletes. GC-C-IRMS analysis revealed significant 13C depletion of 3alpha,5-cyclo following DHEA administration. In the single administration study, the delta13C value of 3alpha,5-cyclo changed from -24.3 per thousand to a minimum value of -31.1 per thousand at 9 h post-administration, before returning to its original value after 48 h. The multiple administration study had a minimum delta13C 3alpha,5-cyclo of -33.9 per thousand during the administration phase in contrast to the initial value of -24.2 per thousand. Preliminary studies have shown 3alpha,5-cyclo to most likely be produced from DHEA sulfate found at high levels in urine. The complementary use of GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS to identify new markers of steroid abuse and the application of screening criteria incorporating such markers could also be adapted by doping control laboratories to detect metabolites of androstenedione, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone abuse.     

Ethics Goes Global: The OECD Council Recommendation on Improving Ethical Conduct in the Public Sector

On 23 April 1998 the Council of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development issued the Recommendation on Improving Ethical Conduct in the Public Sector. It is the result of more than three years research, analysis and cooperation between OECD member countries, and, as a statement from the highest level of the organisation, it represents a consensus of all of its 29 members on an issue of global public concern. This article is a speculative analysis of a new international development that may have implications for local public management practice. The purpose of this article is to unearth some of the theoretical assumptions on which the recommendation relies and to consider the implications they might have for its implementation and effectiveness.     

The patentability of human beings: the effect of a proposed exclusion in the Patents Act 1953

The author critically examines the debate over whether "human beings" ought to be patentable. The article outlines the choices between excluding just the patenting of whole organisms or parts of organisms. After considering New Zealand, Canadian, and European Union Patent law, the author concludes that at very least New Zealand must statutorily prevent the patenting of whole organisms.     

Early Adolescent Social and Overt Aggression: Examining the Roles of Social Anxiety and Maternal Psychological Control

This study examined the factors contributing to the self-reported use of social and overt aggression among 745 10–14-year-old European American and Latino adolescents. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that dispositional social evaluative anxiety was uniquely positively associated with boys’ and girls’ social aggression and negatively associated with boys’ overt aggression. Maternal psychological control was positively associated with overt aggression for all boys, but with social aggression only for Latino boys. Although maternal psychological control also was associated with girls’ use of overt aggression, this effect was stronger among older than among younger females. The relationship between maternal psychological control and girls’ social aggression was mediated by social evaluative anxiety. Implications for elevated levels of social evaluative anxiety are discussed within a social cognitive theory perspective and for maternal psychological control within a social learning theory perspective.Received Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Michigan State University. Research interests include the interacting influences of individual differences and contextual factors on child and adolescent aggression.Research interests include examining the familial and peer systemic influences on child and adolescent aggression, individual differences influencing child and adolescent aggression, and interventions to reduce bullying behavior in peer groups.Received Ph.D. in School Psychology from Mississippi State University. Research interests include developing interventions in the classroom for disruptive behaviors, increasing prosocial behaviors, and decreasing aggression.     

Gender Stereotypes,Political Leadership,and Voting Behavior in Tunisia

Political Behavior - Although female political representation in the Arab world has nearly doubled in the last decade, little is known about how voters in the region view female politicians and...     

A comparison of the Russian and Canadian experiences with defining “organized crime”

The dangers stemming from organized crime have been widely acknowledged in the academic literature, government reports, as well as in popular discourse. This article focuses on the legislative efforts to define “organized crime” undertaken in Russia and Canada. Neither country has yet devised a satisfactory legislative definition of the varied phenomenon that is organized crime. Definitions in both jurisdictions are problematic due to their sweeping scope and insufficient delineation of a zone of risk for the accused as well as law enforcement officials. However, striking a proper balance between security concerns and human and civil rights in both countries will be problematic due to constant political pressure to “get tough on crime” as well as due to the amorphous nature of the phenomenon of organized crime.