A Prospective Examination of the Path from Child Abuse and Neglect to Illicit Drug Use in Middle Adulthood: The Potential Mediating Role of Four Risk Factors

This study examines prostitution, homelessness, delinquency and crime, and school problems as potential mediators of the relationship between childhood abuse and neglect (CAN) and illicit drug use in middle adulthood. Children with documented cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect (ages 0–11) during 1967–1971 were matched with non-maltreated children and followed into middle adulthood (approximate age 39). Mediators were assessed in young adulthood (approximate age 29) through in-person interviews between 1989 and 1995 and official arrest records through 1994 (N = 1,196). Drug use was assessed via self-reports of past year use of marijuana, psychedelics, cocaine, and/or heroin during 2000–2002 (N = 896). Latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test: (1) a four-factor model with separate pathways from CAN to illicit drug use through each of the mediating risk factors and (2) a second-order model with a single mediating risk factor comprised of prostitution, homelessness, delinquency and crime, and poor school performance. Analyses were performed separately for women and men, controlling for race/ethnicity and early drug use. In the four-factor model for both men and women, CAN was significantly related to each of the mediators, but no paths from the mediators to drug use were significant. For women, the second-order risk factor mediated the relationship between CAN and illicit drug use in middle adulthood. For men, neither child abuse and neglect nor the second-order risk factor predicted drug use in middle adulthood. These results suggest that for women, the path from CAN to middle adulthood drug use is part of a general “problem behavior syndrome” evident earlier in life.

UNSC Resolution 1325 national action plans in Liberia and Sierra Leone: An analysis of gendered power relations in hybrid peacebuilding

This paper considers how the use of ‘hybridity’ in the peacebuilding literature overlooks the gendered dimensions of hybrid interactions. It does so by examining the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325 national action plans (NAPs) for Liberia and Sierra Leone. By asking the gendered questions of ‘who participates?’ and ‘how do they participate?’ it draws from Mac Ginty’s conception of hybridity and traces the compliance and incentivizing power in hybridized peace, as well as the ability of local actors to resist and provide alternatives. However, Mac Ginty’s model is found to be inadequate because of its inattention to the gendered nature of power. It is found that with a gendered approach to hybridity, it is easier to trace the processes of hybridization of NAPs in post-conflict states where their implementation is limited. In asking the questions of ‘who’ and ‘how’, three conclusions about the gendered nature of hybrid peacebuilding are drawn: international intervention relies upon the ‘feminization’ of local actors; issues framed within the realm of the ‘masculine’ are more likely to get attention; and the Resolution 1325 agenda in post-conflict states can be subverted by framing it as a ‘soft’ issue.     

dystopia,gerontology and the writing of Margaret Atwood

Old age and visions of the future are inherently bound with one another, and the realms of dystopian fiction provide scope for a gerontological focus within contemporary literature. A theme that is now being revisited in speculative fiction, this paper aims to assess the role of the elderly within Margaret Atwood’s dystopian tales, specifically looking at the role of gerontology in her collection of short stories Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales (2014). I argue that Atwood utilises the dystopian narrative in order to address broader social issues that stem from immobility and declining virility. Focussing on Atwood’s feminist politics and representations of the elderly woman in the dystopian narrative, this paper proposes that older women in Atwood’s fiction seek to move beyond the asexual, immobile and matronly gerontological stereotype that is often portrayed in literature. Instead, the elderly, and in particular elder women, adapt to their environment, often becoming figures of their community. They are aware of sexual desires and look to move within and beyond societal constraints, utilising the realms of cyberspace in order to forge their own identity. The role of the elderly in a distinctly dystopian narrative allows for a new utopian strategy to be constructed.     

Exploring Online Engagement in Public Policy Consultation: The Crowd or the Few?

Governments are increasingly adopting online platforms to engage the public and allow a broad and diverse group of citizens to participate in the planning of government policies. To understand the role of crowds in the online public policy process, we analyse participant contributions over time in two crowd‐based policy processes, the Future Melbourne wiki and the Open Government Dialogue. Although past evaluations have shown the significance of public consultations by expanding the engaged population within a short period of time, our empirical case studies suggest that a small number of participants contribute a disproportionate share of ideas and opinions. We discuss the implications of our initial examination for the future design of engagement platforms.     

Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers and Fiscal Capacity

An intergovernmental fiscal transfer is an instrument used by governments to equalize fiscal capacity. However, with the large discrepancies in fiscal capacity among Local Authorities (LAs) in Kenya, it is evident that the intention of the instrument has not been met. These disparities lead to inequity as some LAs receive better services for their tax, while others do not.

Using panel data from 2001-2006 among 22 LAs, the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) was found to be high in LAs that had substantial fiscal capacities. This suggests the need to revise the formula used in computing LATF.     

Α Simple Method for the Determination of Lacosamide in Blood by GC-MS

Lacosamide is a functionalized amino acid with antiepileptic function. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in patients for lacosamide is critical as it allows clinicians to control epileptic seizures. A single liquid–liquid extraction step was applied for the extraction of lacosamide from whole blood samples which were thereafter analyzed by GC-MS. Optimum extraction conditions were selected on the basis of experiments with various solvents at different pHs, indicating ethyl acetate at pH 12 as the most efficient parameters for the extraction of lacosamide. Method exhibited linearity from 2 to 100 μg/mL with R² = 0.998. Accuracy and precision were evaluated at three concentrations and found to be within acceptable limits. LOD and LOQ were determined at 0.1 and 0.5 μg/mL, respectively. Lacosamide was found to be stable at storage conditions. The developed method was applied successfully in clinical samples and postmortem blood sample from an overdose case.