Community Engagement and Cultural Building Projects

This study explores whether community engagement efforts among nonprofit arts organizations pursuing major building projects are effective mechanisms for generating support from other organizations. Specifically, the study analyzes the degree to which context—such as the perceptions of the goals of community engagement efforts, competitive environment, and institutional characteristics—affect managers' perceptions of community engagement strategies. The study uses data on thirteen different cultural building projects in counties across the United States between 1994 and 2008 coupled with data on 444 arts organizations in the same county. The results of this study indicate that managers of nonprofit arts organizations perceive other organizations' community engagement efforts differently based on their own perceptions of the goals of those efforts, their own organization's competitive status, and perhaps even the age of their organization.     

Are accurate witnesses more likely to make absolute judgments?

The present study tested the Two-Judgment Theory of Eyewitness Identification Accuracy. Specifically, the extent to which participants were able to engage in an absolute judgment strategy was manipulated by varying the time available to view a lineup. Providing a limited exposure to a lineup should “interrupt” decision making, whereby witnesses can only engage a relative strategy, thus leading to higher false positive responding given a target-absent lineup. Seventy-four adults viewed a 1-minute video that exposed them to an unknown target and subsequently viewed the lineup for a limited (2 s) or an unlimited amount of time. Although false positive rates were similar across conditions, accurate witnesses were more confident than inaccurate witnesses. Confidence was negatively correlated with response latency such that witnesses who took more time to make a decision were less confident in their decisions compared to witnesses who made more rapid decisions. Response latency did not differ for accurate and inaccurate witnesses. Limitations and suggestions for future research on the Two-Judgment Theory are discussed.     

US: immigration court allows Zambian woman's asylum claim based on HIV infection

On 9 February 2004, the federal Immigration Court ruled that a Zambian woman can stay in the US because her HIV-positive status gives her a well-founded fear of persecution in Zambia. The court found that she would face severe and lethal discrimination in the public health clinics and in the employment sector and that the Zambian government is unwilling or unable to control this persecution.     

UK: Court of Appeal orders retrial in UK's first HIV criminal transmission case

On 5 May 2004, the UK Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, granted Mohammed Dica's appeal against his October 2003 conviction on two counts of causing grievous bodily harm for reckless transmission of HIV. The court ordered a retrial after determining that the trial judge was wrong to not allow the defendant to present information that the victims had known about his condition and had consented to the risk.     

The distribution of controlled drugs on banknotes via counting machines

Bundles of paper, similar to sterling banknotes, were counted in banks in England and Wales. Subsequent analysis showed that the counting process, both by machine and by hand, transferred nanogram amounts of cocaine to the paper. Crystalline material, similar to cocaine hydrochloride, could be observed on the surface of the paper following counting. The geographical distribution of contamination broadly followed Government statistics for cocaine usage within the UK. Diacetylmorphine, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA) were not detected during this study.     

Social Reconstruction in Uganda: The Role of Customary Mechanisms in Transitional Justice

In the aftermath of prolonged civil conflict, social repair is essential. Countries like Uganda, various parts of which have been at war since 1962, are in need of healing and renewal. This paper explores the use of customary mechanisms, instead of trials and truth commissions, to bring about societal acknowledgement of what has happened, and it offers ideas as to how these traditional practices might augment the rebuilding process in Uganda.     

Autonomy and the competent patient's right to refuse life-prolonging medical treatment--again

This article discusses the recent decision of the Court of Appeal of the United Kingdom in Re B (Adult: Refusal of Medical Treatment) [2002] 2 All ER 449, which confirmed the common law right of a competent patient to refuse medical treatment, even though exercise of the right would (and later did) result in the patient's own death. Re B indicates that if a competent refusal is not respected, health professionals and hospitals face the prospect of awards of damages being made against them for unlawful trespass.     

Lifestyle and the Depoliticisation of Agency: Sex as Power in Women's Magazines

Sex, due to its connotations of dangerousness and the non-traditional, has been used heavily in women's magazines and other mass media to signify core values of power and freedom as part of their brands. Through this process, other forms of agency for women have tended to be excluded. In these magazines women are shown to be assertive, powerful and independent, not through the political views that they hold, not through the way that they act upon society, but through the way that they seduce men and behave sexually. We show, using a number of examples, that for this to happen a fantasy space has to be created: a space where real-world obstacles and meanings are erased, allowing a repertoire of theatrical sexual play to operate. This is typical of the lifestyle society in which we now live. In this society, we define ourselves not on the basis of who we are, in an older sense of gender or social class, but in terms of what we do and the values we hold. The way we communicate these values is often through our use of consumer products, which allows us to align ourselves with the core values and meanings with which the products have been loaded. But while lifestyle itself may be a matter of choice, the choices available to us are often created to serve the interests and needs of large corporations, of consumerism. Sex is one such choice of which we must be very careful.     

The Berlin Land Election 2011

This article analyses the Berlin Land election of September 2011 which resulted in a degree of continuity but also some change. It examines the campaigns of the main parties, the results – some predictable, others less so – and offers possible explanations. It then looks at the process of coalition formation which eventually resulted in a red–black coalition senate headed by incumbent governing mayor Klaus Wowereit. Attention is also paid to the question of whether or not electoral convergence has now occurred between the two halves of the capital.