IBSA's trilateral constellation and its development fund: Valuable pioneers in development cooperation?

With a changing geopolitical landscape following the Northern-induced global financial meltdown, stagnation on global governance reform and failure to reach agreement on issues ranging from trade (Doha Development Round) to climate change (United Nations Convention on Climate Change), the India–Brazil–South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum finds itself at the proverbial crossroads. At this point, with no summit having taken place since 2011, the future of IBSA is uncertain in part because the three IBSA partners have allowed ambivalence and lack of leadership to hold sway. Yet the current fluidity in the international environment has ironically meant that IBSA is more relevant and needed than ever before. IBSA is well placed to play a vital role in arresting the current trajectory of the global governance architecture, particularly when it comes to concerns of development. As this article argues, it is in the area of development cooperation that IBSA has found its niche in demonstrating the possibilities that development diplomacy and South–South cooperation avail, while challenging traditional norm conceptions when it comes to the future of international development financial institutions. Yet the question remains as to how this will be used going forward, as there is little strategic discussion between the trilateral partners on the future of development diplomacy and the IBSA Fund.     

Stable isotope ratios as a tool in microbial forensics--part 3. Effect of culturing on agar-containing growth media

Stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in microbes have been shown to be functions of the corresponding isotope ratios of the water with which the culture medium was prepared, and thus to contain a potential geographic signal. Water can evaporate from agar (solid) media during culturing, changing its isotope ratios. Here we describe the effect of drying on the isotope ratios of water extracted from agar media and the H and O stable isotope ratios ratios of Bacillus subtilis spores cultured on agar. The delta2H vs delta18O relationship of water in Petri dish agar was surprisingly constant during evaporation regardless of the ambient relative humidity, making it possible to calculate the approximate isotope ratios of the original water, even in significantly evaporated agar. The H stable isotope ratios of spores cultured on agar remained relatively unchanged as the agar dried, but the O ratio became significantly enriched.     

Urban crime rates and the changing face of immigration: Evidence across four decades

Research has shown little support for the enduring proposition that increases in immigration are associated with increases in crime. Although classical criminological and neoclassical economic theories would predict immigration to increase crime, most empirical research shows quite the opposite. We investigate the immigration-crime relationship among metropolitan areas over a 40 year period from 1970 to 2010. Our goal is to describe the ongoing and changing association between immigration and a broad range of violent and property crimes. Our results indicate that immigration is consistently linked to decreases in violent (e.g., murder) and property (e.g., burglary) crime throughout the time period.     

Policy influences on community trail development

This study explores processes and policies that facilitate the development of community trails. With funding from Active Living Research and the research framework of the Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN), we conducted a multiple-site case study. A total of six trails in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington were chosen for study. The goals of this case study were to identify the policy influences on trail development, explore the roles of key players in trail development, and compare and contrast findings from the different trails. Trail development can be a long process. Some of the trails took over a decade to complete because of funding, opposition, and roadblocks in the form of design standard policies. Work in trail development requires a team of many players, and it is necessary to balance their varied motives to accomplish a shared overall goal. Foresight through the master planning process is also a vital component of successful trail development. Finally, community involvement is key. Communities contemplating trail development should explore the effects of policy on the trail projects reported here to proactively identify potential influence.     

Recovering fraudulent claims for Australian federal expenditure on pharmaceuticals and medical devices

The Australian Federal Government expends increasingly large amounts of money on pharmaceuticals and medical devices. It is likely, given government experience in other jurisdictions, that a significant proportion of this expenditure is paid as a result of fraudulent claims presented by corporations. In the United States, legislation such as the False Claims Act 1986 (US), the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act 2009 (US), the Stark (Physician Self-Referral) Statute 1995 (US), the Anti-Kickback Statute 1972 (US), the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 1938 (US), the Social Security Act 1965 (US), and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 (US) has created systematic processes allowing the United States Federal Government to recover billions of dollars in fraudulently made claims in the health and procurement areas. The crucial component involves the creation of financial incentives for information about fraud to be revealed from within the corporate sector to the appropriate state officials. This article explores the opportunities for creating a similar system in Australia in the health care setting.     

Safeguarding Children's Welfare in Non‐Contentious Divorce: Towards a New Conception of the Legal Process?

This article considers the working of the current procedure intended to ensure the welfare of children when their parents divorce but are not seeking any orders relating to them. It shows that the process is ineffective in safeguarding children's welfare and is not geared to ensuring that their wishes and feelings are taken into account. It argues that the focus of policy should shift away from assuming that the legal system can handle the problems of divorce, towards using the legal process as a point of contact through which families can be offered the full range of services they may need during relationship breakdown.