Stability of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in oral fluid using the Quantisal collection device

This article details the stability of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in oral fluid during collection, extraction and storage. Oral fluid is being increasingly used as the specimen of choice for the detection of drug use in various applications. Studies to determine the extraction efficiency of THC from the collection buffer and stability under various laboratory storage conditions were carried out. THC was extracted from the collection pad and buffer with an average efficiency over 80% and was stable in Quantisal oral fluid extraction buffer when stored at refrigerated temperatures. Fluorescent lighting caused THC losses of over 50%, however the presence of the pad reduced the loss. In the dark, the loss of THC at room temperature was approximately 20% over 14 days. When stored with the serum separators in place, THC losses were significant. After 3 days, THC concentration was reduced by almost 30%, and after 14 days, 60% of the drug was lost and the losses were not concentration dependent.     

Judiciaries as crucial actors in Southern regulatory systems: A case study of Indian telecom regulation

This article addresses regulatory reforms in the Indian telecommunications sector and emphasizes the role of the Indian judiciary. Our claim is that when confronted with a series of disputes relating to the nascent telecom regulatory landscape, the Supreme Court of India sought to make a constructive contribution to both the actual disputes as well as the overall regulatory framework. Our reading of these cases suggests that in the sphere of telecom, the Supreme Court has been less interested in stamping its own authority on issues, and has instead sought to bolster the authority and legitimacy of the recently constituted telecom regulatory institutions. We seek to draw attention to the role of the Indian judiciary as marking an exceptional feature of evolving regulatory systems in the Global South. Conventional wisdom in the regulatory jurisprudence that has evolved in the Global North suggests that judiciaries should have little or no role to play in regulatory systems. We suggest that to overcome the special challenges that regulatory systems in the Global South confront, more established institutions and actors might have to lend credibility and legitimacy to enable nascent regulatory actors to develop over time. At least in the Indian case, this is one way to understand the Indian judiciary's interventionist actions in the sphere of telecom regulation.     

Interest Rates and Investment in East Asia: An Empirical Evaluation of Various Financial Liberalisation Hypotheses

The article attempts to shed light on the appropriate interest rate policy in the process of economic development. To this end, we examine whether higher interest rates lead to higher investment (and growth) in four East Asian countries. We find that the investment rate went up with real interest rates up to 9 per cent in all four countries but started declining at still higher interest rates in two of the countries. Further, a banking crisis occurred in each of the three countries for which the real interest rates exceeded 9 per cent. This evidence rejects the ‘neo-structuralist’ argument. Nor does it support unbridled financial liberalisation. Yet, it provides only limited support to Stiglitz's case for ‘mild financial repression (real interest rates near zero)’ since reducing real interest rates from say, 6 to 3 or 0 per cent would have reduced investment. The optimum policy seems to be closest to McKinnon's ‘restrained financial liberalisation’ policy, that is, liberalisation with a moderate upper limit (about 6 or 7 per cent) on the real interest rates.     

Faces of Pentecostalism in North India Today

Pentecostal revivals in India have been recorded since 1860, and Pentecostalism is flourishing in the subcontinent today. Yet this phenomenon is neither simple nor monolithic. Rather, it interacts with other Christian traditions and with other religious traditions in a number of different ways. Despite its rigid and exclusivistic rhetoric, Pentecostalism functions as a highly malleable and adaptable religious movement.     

A cross-cultural study of self-image: Indian,American, Australian,and Irish adolescents

Planning for research and youth welfare programs in every developed and developing country is essential if man envisages the normalization of sick adolescents. Adolescent unit programs are needed in India, as in all parts of the United States, and should be an integral part of medical institutes in every university. Actually, the problem of generation gap, ego identity, and subcultures (i.e., peer group pressure) creating negative attitudes in youth is one of the most explosive problems that behavioral scientists face in the modern era. The present project is an attempt to study the self-image, ego strength, self-esteem, or level of psychological well-being of a normal adolescent group of Indians and to compare this with youth of three other nationalities-American, Irish, and Australian. To measure the self-esteem of an individual, 11 areas of conflict including impulse control, emotional tone, body and self-image, social attitudes, morals, sexual attitudes, family relations, external mastery, vocational and educational goals, psychopathology, and superior adjustment have been examined. The Hindi version of the Offer Self-image Questionnaire has been used. The sample consists of 400 boys and 400 girls, ages 14 to 18, of middle class socioeconomic status; the educational level is high school/intermediate. It is concluded that American and Australian adolescents, in general, have higher self-esteem or ego strength than do Indian and Irish adolescents, respectively.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from the Banaras Hindu University in India. Since 1974 she has been Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Banaras Hindu University. In 1972, she was selected, under the Social Science Exchange program, to spend one year at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute and the Psychiatric and Psychosomatic Institute of Michael Reese Hospital. Her interests are clinical, social, and psychological aspects of crime and delinquency, and cross-cultural studies of adolescents.     

Unusual chamber marks on plastic shells

Chamber marks alone can serve for identification. It has been observed that these marks are more clearly imprinted on plastic shells fired through homemade crude weapons. The importance of these marks is crucial when other conventional marks are absent. In the present communication, principles of identification are briefly discussed along with the factors affecting the conventional marks. One such actual case is cited.