Adolescent Daughters’ Romantic Competence: The Role of Divorce,Quality of Parenting,and Maternal Romantic History

This study examined the links between parental divorce, quality of maternal parenting, spousal relationships and middle adolescent romantic competence in 80 mother-adolescent daughter pairs (40 divorced). Mothers were asked to describe their attitudes and behaviors with regard to their daughters’ romantic behavior. In addition, mothers were interviewed about their own romantic experiences when they were at the age of their daughters. Adolescent girls (mean age = 16.98 years; range 16–18) were administered a comprehensive interview about romantic competence. Findings indicated that adolescent girls from divorced families showed lower levels of romantic competence, which were expressed in their behavior, attitudes toward relationships and skill in handling those relationships. Divorce was found to have had an adverse effect on girls’ romantic competence, whereas continued adaptive parenting and spousal relationships alleviated the effect of divorce. Mothers’ coherent representation of their own adolescent romantic experiences also alleviated the effect of divorce on daughters’ romantic behavior. Results show the important role of family relationships in fostering romantic competence among adolescent girls.     

Reflections on mentoring experiences for evidence-informed decision-making in South Africa and Malawi

This article is based on the consensus that the availability and utilisation of research enhances policy discussions. The article reflects on the experiences within one approach: capacity building through mentoring. The UJ-BCURE programme aimed to increase the capacity of decision-makers to use evidence in decision-making via mentoring models. Mentoring is described as an interactive, facilitated process that promotes learning. The features of the models that have contributed to the programme’s success are orientation workshops with mentees combined with participatory, needs-led, and flexible approaches. UJ-BCURE experiences are relevant to the field of evidence-informed decision-making in an African government context.     

New judicial interpretation of PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law issued

The Supreme People's Court of China has announced the firstjudicial interpretation of the PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law(‘the Law’), to clarify the ambiguities in the applicationof the Law. Issues covered include passing off by the use oftrade names, packaging or trade dress of well-known products,or the use of the business name or personal name of anotherenterprise or individual, false or exaggerated advertising,and unauthorized use of trade secrets.     

Federal Supreme Court confirms principles on which colour combinations may be registered as trade marks

Applying European case law, the German Federal Supreme Court(FSC) has confirmed the principles on which colour combinationsmay be registered as trade marks, holding that the arrangementof more than one colour must be specified by a definite distributionof the colours and the relationship between them at the timeof the application.     

Fragmented pathways to care: the experiences of suicidal men

Using qualitative methods, this study examined how, and under what circumstances, suicidal men used mental health services. In particular, the analyses focused on fragmented pathways to care. Fifteen men with a history of suicidal and aggressive behaviors and a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and/or antisocial personality disorder participated in semistructured interviews that consisted of questions about their mental health status and experiences with mental health and addiction services. Interviews were taped and transcribed. An iterative, inductive qualitative analytic process was used. Men followed a cyclical pattern wherein negative experiences with health care providers were said to be followed by avoidance of health care settings, crisis, and then by involuntary service utilization. Men identified five health care provider and three personal practices, and two types of episodes they believed to contribute to their fragmented pathways to care. Implementation of specialized interventions, and providing patients with more information and more opportunity to participate in decisions, may improve interactions between patients and providers and improve patients' mental health status.     

Development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamines V: Determination of the variability of the optimised method

This paper is the fifth in a series of six in relation to the development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamine [L. Aalberg, K. Andersson, C. Bertler, H. Borén, M.D. Cole, J. Dahlén, Y. Finnon, H. Huizer, K. Jalava, E. Kaa, E. Lock, A. Lopes, A. Poortman-van der Meer, E. Sippola, Development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamines I. Synthesis of standards and compilation of analytical data, Forensic Sci. Int. 149 (2005) 219-229; L. Aalberg, K. Andersson, C. Bertler, M.D. Cole, Y. Finnon, H. Huizer, K. Jalava, E. Kaa, E. Lock, A. Lopes, A. Poortman-van der Meer, E. Sippola, J. Dahlén, Development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamines II. Stability of impurities in organic solvents, Forensic Sci. Int. 149 (2005) 231-241]. The third paper [K. Andersson, K. Jalava, E. Lock, L. Aalberg, Y. Finnon, H. Huizer, E. Kaa, A. Lopes, A. Poortman-van der Meer, M.D. Cole, J. Dahlén, E. Sippola, Development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamines III. Development of the gas chromatographic method, Forensic Sci. Int., in press] dealt with the optimisation of the gas chromatographic and detection methods whereas the fourth paper [K. Andersson, K. Jalava, E. Lock, Y. Finnon, S. Stevenson, L. Aalberg, H. Huizer, E. Kaa, A. Lopes, A. Poortman-van der Meer, M.D. Cole, J. Dahlén, E. Sippola, Development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamines IV. Optimisation of sample preparation, Forensic Sci. Int., in press] concerned the optimisation of the extraction method prior to GC analysis. This paper is a study of the optimised method in order to determine its stability. Investigations of within and between day variations were carried out in four laboratories. Moreover, variations between laboratories were also determined. Both flame ionisation detector (FID) and MS detection were used. One laboratory studied nitrogen-phosphorous detector (NPD) detection as well. For this task, 12 batches of amphetamine were prepared. Six of them were synthesised via the Leuckart route, three via the nitrostyrene route and three via the reductive amination route [A.M.A. Verweij, Impurities in illicit drug preparations: amphetamine and methamphetamine, Forensic Sci. Rev. 1 (1989) 2-11]. Taking into account all studied target compounds and the average results from four laboratories, the within day variation was around 6% for FID and 5% for MS, the between days variation was around 10% for FID and 8% for MS. For NPD detection, within day variation was 5% and between days variation 9% (only one laboratory). Finally, the inter-laboratory variation was about 12% for FID (four laboratories) and 10% for MS (three laboratories).