Institutionalizing ambiguity: the management review group and the reshaping of the defence policy process in Canada

Abstract: The Department of National Defence (dnd) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CF) have been the subject of many studies intended to elicit a better return from defence efforts. None of these studies have been at all comprehensive. The 1971 white paper, Defence in the 70s, introduced a new study aimed at “ensuring maximum effectiveness” in DND. The 1972 Management Review Group (MRC) report changed the entire administrative structure of DND and the CF, introduced new concepts for management, and shifted the power structure of the central bureaucracy. By the end of 1972, DND and the CF had a new set of principal actors, a new administrative structure, and a new policy process. To some the changes were more significant than previous unification reforms. The mrc report stands in sharp contrast to other studies because it has not been available to officials, scholars, or the public. Yet an awareness of die concepts that underlie the recommendations of the MRG is fundamental to understanding why the National Defence Headquarters exists and functions as it does today and why some issues are advanced over others. Sommaire: Le ministére de la Défense nationale (MDN) et les Forces armées cana-diennes (FC) ont fait l'objet de nombreuses “études” visant à accroître le rendement des efforts faits dans le domaine de la défense. Aucune de ces études n'est exhaustive. Le livre blanc de 1971, s'intitulant La défense dans les années 70, présentait une nouvelle étude dont l'objectif était “d'assurer une efficacité maximale” au sein du MDN. Le rapport de 1972 du Management Review Group (MRG) a modifyé toute la structure administrative du MDN et des FC, a introduit de nouveaux concepts de gestion et a entraîné un déplacement des pouvoirs de la bureaucratie centrale. Vers la fin de 1972, le MDN et les FC étaient dotés de nouveaux acteurs principaux, d'une nouvelle structure administrative et de nouvelles méthodes d'établissement de politique. Pour certains, ces changements ont été plus importants que les précédentes réformes d'unification. Contrairement aux autres études, le rapport du MRG n'a pas été mis à la disposition des responsables, des intellectuels ou du public. II est pourtant essentiel de con-naître les concepts sur lesquels s'appuient les recommandations du MRG si Ton veut comprendre pourquoi le Quartier général de la Défense nationale est ce qu'il est aujourd'hui, son mode de fonctionnement et les raisons pour lesquelles certaines questions ont pris le pas sur d'autres.     

Marital Satisfaction and Marital Discord as Risk Markers for Intimate Partner Violence: A Meta-analytic Review

A meta-analysis investigating the relationship between marital satisfaction/discord and intimate partner violence (IPV) in heterosexual relationships was conducted with 32 articles. Overall, a small-to-moderate effect size (r = −0.27) indicated a significant and negative relationship existed between marital satisfaction/discord and IPV. Moderator analyses found no differences between effect size based on construct examined (discord or satisfaction). However, the magnitudes of observed effect sizes were influenced by other moderator variables, including the use of standardized versus non-standardized measures, gender of the offender and victim, role in the violence (perpetrator versus victim), and sample type (clinical versus community). The data suggests that gender is an especially important moderator variable in understanding the relationship between marital satisfaction/discord and IPV.     

Post-injection hybridization of complementary DNA strands on capillary electrophoresis platforms: A novel solution for dsDNA artifacts

Several laboratories have reported the occurrence of a split or n − 1 peak at the vWA locus in PowerPlex^® 16 and PowerPlex^® ES amplification products separated on 4- and 16-capillary electrophoresis instruments. The root cause of this artifact is post-PCR reannealing of the unlabeled, unincorporated vWA primer to the 3′-end of the tetramethylrhodamine (TMR)-labeled strand of the vWA amplicon. This reannealing occurs in the capillary post-electrokinetic injection. The split peak is eliminated by incorporation into the loading cocktail of a sacrificial hybridization sequence (SHS) oligonucleotide that is complementary to the vWA primer. The SHS preferentially anneals to the primer instead of the TMR-labeled strand of the vWA amplicon. In addition, the n − 10/n − 18 artifact that may be seen at the vWA locus was determined to be due to double-stranded amplicon formed post-electrokinetic injection into the capillary. This was also eliminated by adding in two Complementary Oligo Targets (COT1 and COT2) in addition to the SHS oligonucleotide into the loading cocktail. These three oligonucleotides are complementary to the 33 bases at the 5′-end of the unlabeled vWA amplicon strand and the 60 bases at its 3′-end and therefore compete for hybridization to the TMR-labeled amplicon strand. Incorporation of these three oligonucleotides in the Internal Lane Standard 600 (ILS600) eliminate both the split peak and n − 10/n − 18 artifact in PowerPlex^® 16 and PowerPlex^® ES amplification products without affecting sizing of alleles at the vWA locus or any locus in the PowerPlex^® 16, PowerPlex^® Y, PowerPlex^® ES, AmpFlSTR^® Profiler Plus^® ID, AmpFlSTR^® Cofiler^®, and AmpFlSTR^® SGM Plus^® kits.     

On Blame and Punishment: Self-blame,Other-Blame,and Normative Negligence

Law and Philosophy - Punishment should, at least normally, be reserved for blameworthy actions. But to make sense of that claim, we need an account of blame and of why it might license or even call...