Means and Ends: A Theory Framework for Understanding Entrepreneurship in the US Arts and Culture Sector

This article provides a framework for the conceptualization of arts entrepreneurship in the US by first examining a range of perspectives on the boundaries of the “arts and culture sector” in the US and then exploring in some depth four theories of entrepreneurship and how such theories may be realized within the arts and culture sector. Theories of firm formation are considered both generally and as potentially applied to the arts and culture sector, with examples of firm formation drawn both from existing literature and the author's direct observation of entrepreneurial activity. Finally, the essay connects these theories in a means and ends framework to provide a context for understanding arts entrepreneurial activity, especially in the US arts and culture sector. The theory that emerges from the examples provided to illustrate the framework is a simple one: artists form firms or otherwise undertake entrepreneurial action toward the end of creating art sustainably and they do so by discovering or creating new connections between their means and that desirable end.     

Means and Capabilities in the Discussion of Distributive Justice*

Abstract. Dworkin's equality of resources can be interpreted as a proposal that integrates distributive criteria taken from both equality of means and equality of capabilities, and overcomes the risks of subjectivism, overrigidity and perfectionism inherent in theories of welfare, means and capabilities respectively. This can be achieved by concentrating on arrangements of justice working within the parameter of equality of resources that equalize capabilities at a level of minima, thus avoiding the perfectionist risk and, once the threshold that ensures autonomous subjects is passed, ruled by criteria taken from theories of means. In such a task, the concept of moral person will be used as the criterion for determining the threshold of autonomy, and not only will it allow for the discrimination between the different circumstances that make the application of distributive criteria possible, but it will also specify the circumstances in which it is possible to attribute responsibility to an agent.     

Toxicology and Circumstances of Completed Suicide by Means Other than Overdose*

Abstract: To determine the prevalence and circumstances of psychoactive substances amongst nonoverdose completed suicide, 1436 consecutive cases autopsied at the NSW Department of Forensic Medicine over the period 1/1/1997–12/31/2006 were analyzed. Substances were detected in 67.2% of cases, and illicit drugs in 20.1%. Alcohol was present in 40.6% of cases. Males were more likely to be positive for alcohol, cannabis, and psychostimulants, and females for pharmaceuticals. Illicits were associated with younger age. Alcohol was most prominent amongst toxicity cases, as were opioids, psychostimulants amongst gunshot cases, and pharmaceuticals amongst drownings. Cases in which drug and alcohol histories were noted were more likely to have a substance detected. Alcohol was more common where a suicide note was left and where relationship problems were involved. Pharmaceuticals were more common where a previous attempt was noted. Licit and illicit substances are strongly associated with suicide, even when the method does not involve drug overdose.     

Surgical Sutures as a Means of Identifying Human Remains*

Abstract: The Food and Drug Administration does not require surgical sutures to be tracked by manufacturer, physician, or patient; thereby, surgical sutures have been of little use to forensic practitioners who are tasked with establishing a positive identification with biological evidence. This study demonstrates the investigative process used to pinpoint suture manufacturers by presenting a case where surgical sutures were a distinctive characteristic that aided in the positive identification of skeletal remains. The suture’s manufacturer, construction material and structure, size, and medical use was determined by contacting a local surgical suture and orthopedic implant manufacturer and utilizing publicly available manufacturer websites, which provide catalogs and specific product details. This research was one of many lines of evidence used to establish the positive identification of a 47‐year‐old male.     

Without Negative Origins and Absolute Ends: A Jurisprudence of the Singular

This paper is a preparatory analysis for a jurisprudence of the singular. Through a critical analysis of the negativity and the absolving character of the transcendental metaphysics of law and justice it reads mainly through M. Heidegger, Heraclitus, G. Agamben and J-L. Nancy a realignment of the questioning of justice that takes its provisional name in ‘dike’, at thepoint where the routes of ontology, the juridical and the political intersect and reveal the pseudo-propriety of their presuppositions. Without the transcendental dialectical discourse of the origin and its absolving-absolute ‘ends’, this paper re-poses the urgency of thinking the singular-multiple ‘right’ otherwise. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sex, Property Rights, and Divorce

This paper examines how differences in sex drives between husbands and wives affect bargaining strengths during marriage and particularly at times when divorce might occur. The basic argument follows from the fact that sex drives vary over an individual's life cycle, and are systematically different for men and women. The spouse having the lowest sex drive at any time in the marriage has a property right over whether or not sexual intercourse will occur, with a consequent increase in bargaining power at the margin. The paper derives a number of testable implications from its model, and, using several data sources, shows empirically how this difference affects marriage, adultery and divorce.     

Matrimonial Breakdown and the Legal Process: The Limitations of No-Fault Divorce

This paper sets out the factors underlying the policy of no-fault divorce, and questions the attainability of its aims. From the writer's empirical research into the operation of English divorce law, it is argued that legal reforms are not of themselves enough to change the attitudes of divorcing parties to the breakdown of their marriage. Reform should take into account the dynamics of the process of breakdown, in particular, the likelihood that the parties will have different attitudes to the breakdown of the relationship.