Anal findings in sexual abuse of children (a descriptive study)

The aim of this study was to assess anal physical findings in children whose abuse was admitted by the perpetrator. Fifty children were studied in whom medical assessment took place remote in time from anal abuse which was admitted by the perpetrator. Medical assessment included examination to detect the presence of anal physical signs. Most frequent signs were anal scars and tags (either single or multiple) present, respectively, in 84 and 32% of cases. In some cases scars extended to the perianal region. Other signs included reflex anal dilatation (RAD) and venous congestion (VC) found, separately or associated with other signs, in over 33% of the cases. In 6% of the cases there were no abnormal anal findings. The results confirm earlier reports that physical signs, including scars, tags, RAD, funneled anus and extensive venous congestion, are often present in abused children, singly or in combination, and that anal examination should be undertaken even months after a known or suspected sexual assault. In the legal setting these physical signs are seen in association with anal abuse and support the child's statement. They do not per se provide proof of abuse.     

The Future of the European “Social Model” in the Global Economy

This article examines the prospects for European welfare states in the context of globalization. It begins with a critical review of the globalization arguments. While there is some evidence that external constraints make life harder for policymakers seeking positive-sum outcomes, it is the combination of national debt and spending limits, plus domestic tax resistance, that really count in making expenditure-based social and employment policies more difficult in certain countries. In understanding the constraints and opportunities that will shape Europe's welfare future, globalization—crudely understood—is therefore much less influential than many suppose. While EMU has radically diminished national autonomy in exchange rate, monetary policy, and fiscal policy, there are also beneficial consequences for social policy and broader economic management. On the employment and social policy side, initiatives required to match greater flexibility with sustained security are now at the top of the EU agenda, and mechanisms for diffusing best practice across Europe are being put in place. Within this framework, European welfare states must place more emphasis on dynamic equality, being primarily attentive to the worst off, more hospitable to incentive-generating differentiation, and actively vigilant with regard to the openness of opportunity structures.     

Bureaucrats’ corruption and competition in public administration

Competition in public administration is often advocated as a solution to bureaucrats’ corruption. However, there are no well developed analyses of how competition could succeed and the issue of its detailed design has not been carefully addressed so far. In this paper, we put forward a series of models that help understand what competition in public administration can actually accomplish. We distinguish two different shapes that corruption may take: bribery and extortion, and we demonstrate, under the usual assumption of asymmetric information as to the honesty of the bureaucrats, that while competition is effective in fighting extortion it exacerbates bribery. Given that corruption normally manifests itself simultaneously under the two different shapes, an anti-corruption policy based upon competition is bound to face a serious trade-off: trying to curb one of them through competition implies making the other worse. This result holds, with some differences, under exogenous and endogenous bureaucrats’ “honesty”. The dual aspect of corruption is probably one of the most serious—and so far largely neglected—obstacles to any effective anti-corruption policy.     

Suicidal intent in single-car accident drivers: Review and new preliminary findings

This study addressed the issue of a possible link between single-car accident drivers and suicidal intent. In the international literature this topic has generated both positive and negative results. Some authors have stressed unconscious suicidal motivations in various single accidents. Nevertheless, refutation of such theory was demonstrated through experimental studies. We selected 30 single-car accident drivers who had been admitted to emergency departments and then hospitalized for an average period of 10 days. We administered the Reason for Living Inventory (RFL) and investigated their attitudes toward suicide. We also matched these patients with a control group of drivers who had never had a car accident. Results showed that single-car accident drivers were not exposed to a higher overall suicidal risk, though they reported a higher risk on the RFL Survival and Coping Beliefs subscale and often expressed tiredness of being alive. These patients had experienced more life events than controls. We conclude that, although suicide risk was low in our patients, they were engaged in looking for a solution to their problems in which the accident played a role in such a process. This behavior has some characteristics of the logic of suicidal individuals.     

Identification of two cannabimimetic compounds WIN48098 and AM679 in illegal products

Two synthetic cannabinoids have been identified, during a survey, as new adulterants; they might have been intended to be used as ingredients for smart drugs. The characterization of these compounds has been made by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), leading to the identification of WIN48098, a compound disclosed as a new adulterant in herbal and powder products, and AM679, identified in Italy for the first time.Taking into account the high number of synthetic cannabinoids seized during the last year in Italy, how quickly they appear on the illegal market and the rapidity required for analytical results, a method was developed for the simultaneous quantitation of several synthetic cannabinoids, using gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC–FID).     

The European Welfare State: Golden Achievements,Silver Prospects

For the welfare state the last 30 years have witnessed a turbulent transition from the ‘Golden Age’ of expansion to a ‘Silver Age’ of permanent austerity. This shift has been the result of external pressures and of internal transformations of domestic economies and social structures. Permanent austerity has entailed incisive institutional adaptations and has been accompanied by a ‘new politics’, centred on a plurality of ‘blame avoidance’ strategies on the side of parties and governments. The article summarises and discusses the main factual developments since the mid-1970s but it also surveys the main strands of academic debates on both the expansion and the crisis phases. The author argues that comparative welfare state research has been one of the liveliest fields of political economy – a field marked by important analytical and theoretical advances and by the accumulation of relevant and systematic empirical knowledge about a key institution of the European political landscape.     

Do it yourself: The national approach to the out‐of‐area question

European Union: Identity and international role

Birthmarks of Europe: the origins oj the European Community reconsidered / Edelgard Mahant. ‐ Ashgate : Aldershot, c2004. ‐ISBN 0–7546–1487–5

EU trade strategies : between regionalism and globalism I edited by Vinod K. Aggarwal and Edward A. Fogarty. ‐ Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, c2004. ‐ xiv, 249 p. ‐ ISBN 1–4039–3258–1 (pbk)

L'Europa potenza civile / Mario Telò. ‐ Bari : Laterza, c2004. ‐ XIV, 261 p. ‐ (Libri del tempo , 358). ‐ ISBN 88420–7258–3

European Union foreign and security policy : towards a neighbourhood strategy / edited by Roland Dannreuther. ‐ London : Routledge, 2004. ‐ xiv, 226 p. ‐ ISBN 0–415–32298–7 (pbk)

Paneuropa : geografia e storia di un'idea / a cura di Gianfranco Lizza; Sergio Balanzino [et al.]. ‐ Torino : UTET, C2004. ‐ x, 230 p. ‐ ISBN 88–7750–894–9

The politics of European security / edited by Jess Pligaard. ‐ Copenhagen : Danish Institute for International Studies, C2004. ‐ 198 p. ‐ ISBN 87–7605–015–7

Who are the Europeans now? I Edward Moxon‐Browne. ‐ Aldershot : Ashgate, c2004. ‐ viii, 202 p. ‐ ISBN 1–84014–429–7

China

China's role in Asia and the world economy .‐ fostering stability and growth / edited by Jan Joost Teunissen. ‐ The Hague .‐ FON‐DAD, 2003. ‐ xvi, 98 p. ‐ ISBN 90–74208–22–3

Integrating China into the global economy / Nicholas R. Lardy. ‐ Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, c2002. ‐xii, 244 p. ‐ ISBN 0–81–57–5136–2     

Russia and the EU Ten Years On: A Relationship in Search of Definition

Russia and the EU have dramatically expanded their relationship over the last ten years ever since the 1997 Partnership Cooperation and Agreement entered into force. The four spaces of cooperation agreed upon in 2003 have provided a myriad of opportunities for dialogue and cooperation. Yet, quantity does not equal quality in a relationship that lacks a clear endgame perspective. Russia's new cockiness and the EU's internal divisions do not help bridge the strategic gap. Energy and the common neighbourhood are today the main spoilers in the relationship. They could however be turned into major opportunities in developing a strategic partnership.