Courts, the new constitutionalism and immigrant rights: The case of the French Conseil Constitutionnel

Abstract.  This article examines the role of courts in the creation of immigrant rights. Immigrant rights are located within a broader 'new constitutionalism' (especially in postwar Europe), in which courts have abandoned their traditional passiveness toward the political process and taken on the role of de facto legislator. Analyzing the immigration jurisprudence of the French Conseil Constitutionnel , we argue that courts are torn between two opposite imperatives: to protect an especially vulnerable category of people from the enormous police powers of the modern administrative state; and to respect an elementary exigency of sovereign stateness – that is, the capacity to draw a distinction between 'citizens' and 'aliens' as differently situated persons without a right of entry and permanence.     

Qatar’s humanitarian aid to Palestine

The purpose of this paper is to document Qatar’s recent contribution of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. We consider Qatar as an example of a mini state that relies on its wealth and soft power to further its interests in the Middle East and support a beleaguered Arab-Muslim state. The paper carries out analysis of Arabic newspapers and other documentary evidence to contextualise and estimate Qatar’s financial contribution 2010–2016. Contextualising Qatar’s aid necessitates considering Israel’s military control of the Palestinian Territories, and its ability through hard power to regulate the inflow of aid to Palestine. The paper concludes by calling for adopting the political economy perspective in dealing with humanitarian aid.     

Constructing Palestine through Surveillance Practices

State-building is normally associated with the setting-up of institutions such as the army, police force, judiciary and political system. By considering the Palestinian case of state-building, the paper relies on constructivist analysis to examine the use of surveillance as a discursive practice in State construction. Two central aspects of surveillance practices are considered in this paper: population count and spatial monitoring. Examination of these practices is situated in the asymmetrical power relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Conflict over land and people is manifested in the construction of citizenship, identities and geographical boundaries. The paper examines the historical and contemporary role of the census in both the Palestinian and Israeli case in the social construction of spaces and categorization of people. Examples are drawn from the first Israeli census taken in 1948, the monitoring of Palestinian refugees by the United Nations, and the contest over Jerusalem and borders as a consequence of the Oslo Agreement.     

Analytical aspects in doping control: challenges and perspectives

Since the first anti-doping tests in the 1960s, the analytical aspects of the testing remain challenging. The evolution of the analytical process in doping control is discussed in this paper with a particular emphasis on separation techniques, such as gas chromatography and liquid chromatography. These approaches are improving in parallel with the requirements of increasing sensitivity and selectivity for detecting prohibited substances in biological samples from athletes. Moreover, fast analyses are mandatory to deal with the growing number of doping control samples and the short response time required during particular sport events. Recent developments in mass spectrometry and the expansion of accurate mass determination has improved anti-doping strategies with the possibility of using elemental composition and isotope patterns for structural identification. These techniques must be able to distinguish equivocally between negative and suspicious samples with no false-negative or false-positive results. Therefore, high degree of reliability must be reached for the identification of major metabolites corresponding to suspected analytes. Along with current trends in pharmaceutical industry the analysis of proteins and peptides remains an important issue in doping control. Sophisticated analytical tools are still mandatory to improve their distinction from endogenous analogs. Finally, indirect approaches will be discussed in the context of anti-doping, in which recent advances are aimed to examine the biological response of a doping agent in a holistic way.     

Factor Structure and Criterion Validity of the Five Cs Model of Positive Youth Development in a Multi-University Sample of College Students

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - There is growing recognition that clinical and developmental outcomes will be optimized by interventions that harness strengths in addition to ameliorating...     

The Applicability of the Lamendin Method to Skeletal Remains Buried for a 16-Year Period: A Cautionary Note

The Lamendin method is widely reported as one of the most reliable means of age estimation of skeletal remains, but very little is known concerning the influence of burial in soil. This study aimed at verifying the reliability of the Lamendin method on corpses buried for 16 years in a cemetery. The Lamendin and the Prince and Ubelaker methods were applied. In all age groups except the 40- to 49-year–olds, the error was higher in the buried sample. The age-at-death error ranged between 10.7 and 36.8 years for the Lamendin method (vs. the reported 7.3–18.9 years) and 9.5 and 35.7 for the Prince and Ubelaker one (vs. the original 5.2–32.6 years); in all age groups, the error is closer to that found on archeological populations. These results suggest caution in applying the Lamendin method to forensic cases of human remains buried even for a brief period under soil.     

Demography and transfer: Israel's road to nowhere

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which dates back to the latter part of the nineteenth century, has always been a conflict over land and population balance. At the start of the twenty-first century, with no end in sight to the conflict, the issue of demography stares both sides in the face. Israel's ability to maintain military and economic superiority over neighbouring Arab countries in general and the Palestinians in particular is matched by its inability to maintain long-term numerical superiority in the areas it holds west of the Jordan River. It is expected that within 10 to 15 years there will be parity between the Arabs and the 5.5 million Jews who currently live in historical Palestine. While discussion of Arab population transfer has been relegated to internal debates among Zionist leaders, the idea itself has always remained a key element in Zionist thinking of ways to solve the demography problem and ensure Jewish population dominance. A recent decline in Jewish immigration to Israel, the rise of the religious-political right, continuing Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Gaza and the recent Palestinian uprising have moved this debate to the public arena. Fractions among Israel's intellectuals, political figures and Sharon government ministers have raised the demography issue publicly, calling openly for the transfer of the Palestinian population to Jordan.     

SARM-S4 and metabolites detection in sports drug testing: a case report

Recently, pharmaceutical industry developed a new class of therapeutics called Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM) to substitute the synthetic anabolic drugs used in medical treatments. Since the beginning of the anti-doping testing in sports in the 1970s, steroids have been the most frequently detected drugs mainly used for their anabolic properties. The major advantage of SARMs is the reduced androgenic activities which are the main source of side effects following anabolic agents' administration. In 2010, the Swiss laboratory for doping analyses reported the first case of SARMs abuse during in-competition testing. The analytical steps leading to this finding are described in this paper. Screening and confirmation results were obtained based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analyses. Additional information regarding the SARM S-4 metabolism was investigated by ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC-QTOF-MS).