Transportation Access,Rental Vouchers,and Neighborhood Satisfaction: Evidence From the Moving to Opportunity Experiment

The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is designed in part to expand the neighborhood choices of assisted households, thereby enabling assisted households to find a living environment that simultaneously meets their housing and neighborhood preferences. While several studies have examined the impact of rental subsidies on neighborhood satisfaction, few have examined whether access to adequate transportation enables HCV recipients to locate housing in more desirable locations. This article relies on data from the Moving to Opportunity experiment to examine the impact of transportation access, rental housing vouchers, and geographic constraints on neighborhood satisfaction. We find that access to both vehicles and public transit positively influences neighborhood satisfaction, and the influence of vehicle access varies with transit proximity. These findings point to the importance of transportation in helping low-income assisted renter households locate housing in more desirable neighborhoods.     

Sudden Death Due To Acute Cocaine Toxicity—Excited Delirium in a Body Packer

Excited delirium denotes a life-threatening medical condition characterized by the acute onset of agitated and violent behavior that often results in a sudden and unexplained death. Cocaine-induced excited delirium refers to fatal cocaine intoxication with the following symptoms occurring sequentially: hyperthermia, delirium with agitation, respiratory arrest, and death. We present a case of cocaine-induced excited delirium in a cocaine “body packer” or a “mule”, specifically an individual who attempts to smuggle cocaine within the body. Investigators at the scene initially suspected homicide due to the victim's sharp and blunt force injuries. Three rubber packets containing cocaine were removed from the victim's rectum. Blood toxicological analysis revealed an alcohol concentration of 0.016 g/100 and cocaine >1 mg/L. The forensic pathologist should consider cocaine-induced excited delirium when an individual exhibits aggressive behavior, unexpected strength, and resistance to pain who dies suddenly. Further analysis should be performed during the scene investigation and autopsy for evidence of body packing.     

INFORMING WILDERNESS POLICY: THE DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF WILDERNESS CONSERVATION1

Abstract: Over the last two decades wilderness conservation has resurfaced to become one of the most contentious issues currently on the public agenda. The "politics" of wilderness preservation has been extensively reported in the media, but academic analysis has been on a superficial level and usually by the supporters of "conservation". This analysis has not proved particularly helpful for policy practitioners in this field.     

Forensic palynology in Canada: an overview with emphasis on archaeology and anthropology

Palynological analysis is shown from published and unpublished Canadian examples to be a useful tool in forensic investigation, although the technique is almost unknown and therefore under-utilized by forensic investigators. The techniques of pollen and spore identification and interpretation are continually improving, indicating that the potential for forensic applications is real. Focus in this paper is on an updated interpretation of palynological data that was presented during a trial involving a scientific test of oral history as part of a claim for aboriginal title to a large area of British Columbia (BC) (Delgamuukw versus the Queen). Although the original decision in British Columbia Supreme Court was decided in favor of the government defendants, an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the original decision, and established new principles and rights for aboriginal peoples.     

Post‐conventional Political Cultures via Processes of Direct Democracy: Theoretical Considerations Based on Jürgen Habermas and Lawrence Kohlberg

In this article, it is proposed to differentiate political cultures in two dimensions. First, inspired by Habermas' distinction of the contents of discourse, a distinction is suggested between moral, ethical‐political and pragmatic elements of political culture as well as of an element of culture of balancing interests. Second, inspired by Kohlberg's stage models for the development of the individual moral consciousness and for moral culture, a distinction is similarly suggested between two pre‐conventional, two conventional and two post‐conventional collective stages of political culture. It can be shown that from a normative point of view, only deliberations made in a post‐conventional political culture can produce reasonable or at least fair results. Conceptual considerations indicate processes of direct democracy as the method for promoting post‐conventional political cultures. The more liberty that the citizens have to formulate and trigger processes of direct democracy, the more one can expect from them to generate post‐conventional political cultures.     

Corporate social responsibility as new challenge for the IT industry

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a relevant topic for enterprises offering products and services on a global scale. International organizations provide for guidelines and private associations publish codes of conduct requiring businesses to integrate social, environmental and ethical aspects, human rights as well as consumer concerns into their operations. Not at least the EU is promoting CSR through an Agenda for Action 2011–14. The implementation of CSR is a multidimensional ethical process and gains particular importance for the IT industry which by its nature is global. Therefore, IT enterprises are invited to conduct a CSR assessment, to develop a CSR strategy and to implement CSR commitments. These tasks are to be done by introducing specific CSR processes and compliance measures for risk assessment and risk mitigation.     

Personal identification of cold case remains through combined contribution from anthropological, mtDNA, and bomb-pulse dating analyses

In 1968, a child's cranium was recovered from the banks of a northern Canadian river and held in a trust until the "cold case" was reopened in 2005. The cranium underwent reanalysis at the Centre for Forensic Research, Simon Fraser University, using recently developed anthropological analysis, "bomb-pulse" radiocarbon analysis, and forensic DNA techniques. Craniometrics, skeletal ossification, and dental formation indicated an age-at-death of 4.4 ± 1 year. Radiocarbon analysis of enamel from two teeth indicated a year of birth between 1958 and 1962. Forensic DNA analysis indicated the child was a male, and the obtained mitochondrial profile matched a living maternal relative to the presumed missing child. These multidisciplinary analyses resulted in a legal identification 41 years after the discovery of the remains, highlighting the enormous potential of combining radiocarbon analysis with anthropological and mtDNA analyses in producing confident personal identifications for forensic cold cases dating to within the last 60 years.     

Fiscal Consolidations: Quality,Economic Conditions,and Success

Recent research has demonstrated theimportance of good quality of fiscaladjustments for the success of governmentbudget consolidations. We extend thisapproach to analyze the importance of theeconomic conditions in which fiscalconsolidations are started for theirsuccess. The cyclical positions of thedomestic and international economy, theinitial debt level and the stance of fiscalpolicy in the OECD are all importantdeterminants of the likelihood of fiscalconsolidations. They also affect thegovernment's choice of consolidationstrategy, making them importantdeterminants of the success of fiscalconsolidations. In contrast, the monetarypolicy stance plays only a negligible rolefor fiscal consolidations. We use theanalysis to test for any Maastricht effectson the performance of European governmentsduring the 1990s. Such effects are weak atbest and occurred only during the firsthalf of the decade.     

Computer assisted modeling of ethyl sulfate pharmacokinetics

For 12 volunteers of a drinking experiment the concentration–time-courses of ethyl sulfate (EtS) and ethanol were simulated and fitted to the experimental data. The concentration–time-courses were described with the same mathematical model as previously used for ethyl glucuronide (EtG). The kinetic model based on the following assumptions and simplifications: a velocity constant k_form for the first order formation of ethyl sulfate from ethanol and an exponential elimination constant k_el. The mean values (and standard deviations) obtained for k_form and k_el were 0.00052 h^?1 (0.00014) and 0.561 h^?1 (0.131), respectively. Using the ranges of these parameters it is possible to calculate minimum and maximum serum concentrations of EtS based on stated ethanol doses and drinking times. The comparison of calculated and measured concentrations can prove the plausibility of alleged ethanol consumption and add evidence to the retrospective calculation of ethanol concentrations based on EtG concentrations.