Growing Stem Cells: The Impact of Federal Funding Policy on the U.S. Scientific Frontier

This paper articulates a citation‐based approach to science policy evaluation and employs that approach to investigate the impact of the United States’ 2001 policy regarding the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. We evaluate the impact of the policy on the level of U.S. hESC research, the U.S. position at the knowledge frontier, and the strategic response of U.S. scientists. Consistent with recent research on the science of science and innovation policy, we employ a difference‐in‐differences approach using bibliometric data with the aim of analyzing the causal impact of the policy on cumulative research. Our estimates suggest that in the aftermath of the 2001 policy, U.S. production of hESC research lagged 35 to 40 percent behind anticipated levels. However, this relative decline was largely concentrated in the years 2001 to 2003 and ameliorated over time. The rebound in U.S. hESC research after 2003 was driven by contributions by researchers at elite U.S. institutions and U.S. researchers who collaborated with international partners. The results suggest that scientists respond strategically to research funding restrictions and that modest science policy shifts can have a significant influence on the within‐country composition of research and the pattern of global research collaboration.     

Gender and land rights in Murang'a district,Kenya

Conceptualising rights to land in a framework of legal pluralism, this article explores the historical nature of struggles over land by women and men in a situation of increasing land scarcity. It is argued that the manipulation of customary law and state law is instrumental in increasing gender and, more generally, social differentiation.     

Barriers to Gender Equality in the Canadian Legal Establishment

In this paper we trace the historical exclusion of women from the legal profession in Canada. We examine women’s efforts to gain entry to law practice and their progress through the last century. The battle to gain entry to this exclusive profession took place on many fronts: in the courts, government legislature, public debate and media, and behind the closed doors of the law societies. After formal barriers to entry were dismantled, women continued to confront formidable barriers through overt and subtler forms of discrimination and exclusion. Today’s legal profession in Canada is a contested one. Women have succeeded with large enrolments in law schools and growing representation in the profession. However, women remain on the margins of power and privilege in law practice. Our analysis of contemporary official data on the Canadian legal profession demonstrates that women are under-represented in private practice, have reduced chances for promotion, and are excluded from higher echelons of authority, remuneration, and status in the profession. Yet, the contemporary picture of the legal profession also reveals that women are having an important impact on the profession of law in Canada by introducing policy reforms aimed at creating a more humane legal profession. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Drug deposition in adipose tissue and skin: evidence for an alternative source of positive sweat patch tests

In a series of licit and illicit drug-related deaths, qualitative and quantitative analyses on extracts of adipose tissue and skin were performed by GC/MS. In all cases, the adipose tissue was found to contain drugs at concentrations lower than, approximately equal to, or even greater than the concentrations of the same analytes found in the blood, which may reflect a consequence of long-term chronic exposure, or acute intoxication, or some combination of both. Approximately one cubic inch of skin with adipose tissue was removed from the mid to lower abdominal region adjacent to the midline incision during autopsy. The drugs were recovered from the specimens following incubation and alkaline, acidic, and alkaline chloroform back extraction of one to three grams of tissue. Deuterated analogs of the analytes were added to the matrix at the beginning of the incubation period. Cocaine and free morphine (from heroin) were readily identified in several cases. The presence of these illicit drugs in adipose tissue raises significant forensic questions, especially the use of 'sweat patches' to monitor recent cocaine or heroin use in chronic drug users.