Differentiation of methylenedioxybenzylpiperazines (MDBPs) and methoxymethylbenzylpiperazines (MMBPs) By GC-IRD and GC-MS

The substituted benzylpiperazines, 3,4-methylenedioxybenzylpiperazine (3,4-MDBP), its regioisomer 2,3-methylenedioxybenzylpiperazine (2,3-MDBP) and four isobaric ring substituted methoxymethylbenzylpiperazines (MMBP) have almost identical mass spectra. Perfluoroacylation of the secondary amine nitrogen of these isomeric piperazines gave mass spectra with differences in relative abundance of some fragment ions. However, the spectra did not yield any unique fragments for specific identification of one isomer to the exclusion of the other compounds. Gas chromatography coupled with infrared detection (GC-IRD) provides direct confirmatory data for the structural differentiation between the six isomers. The mass spectra in combination with the vapor phase infrared spectra provide for specific confirmation of each of the isomeric piperazines. The underivatized and perfluoroacyl derivative forms of the ring substituted benzylpiperazines were resolved on the polar stationary phase Rtx-200.     

Mental sets in conduct problem youth with psychopathic features: Entity versus incremental theories of intelligence

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of a motivational intervention on conduct problem youth with psychopathic features. Specifically, the current study examined conduct problem youths' mental set (or theory) regarding intelligence (entity vs. incremental) upon task performance. We assessed 36 juvenile offenders with psychopathic features and tested whether providing them with two different messages regarding intelligence would affect their functioning on a task related to academic performance. The study employed a MANOVA design with two motivational conditions and three outcomes including fluency, flexibility, and originality. Results showed that youth with psychopathic features who were given a message that intelligence grows over time, were more fluent and flexible than youth who were informed that intelligence is static. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of originality. The implications of these findings are discussed including the possible benefits of interventions for adolescent offenders with conduct problems and psychopathic features. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Public choice in a local government setting

From its beginnings, public choice has always had a substantial component devoted to federalism and local government decision-making. The DeVoe Moore Center at Florida State University has made the study of local government within a public choice framework a core component of its mission. The Center held a conference February 17?C19, 2011, on public choice in a local government setting. This special issue of Public Choice contains the papers presented at that conference.     

Migration,citizenship and race in Europe: Between incorporation and exclusion

Abstract. The article examines four recent studies, which represent the scholarly divisions in and the strengths and the weakness of current research on migration, citizenship and race in Europe and, to a lesser degree, the USA. Organising the review around three themes — the causes of post–war migration, integration and race, and the relationship between citizenship and state sovereignty, it reviews the studies in the context of broader debates about postnational citizenship, the decline of state sovereignty and the role of theory in the study of citizenship. It argues that the studies of postnationalism (Jacobson) and race and racism (Solomos & Back) suffer from faults common to macro–sociological approaches and unfocused attempts to blend normative theory and causal explanation, while the studies of integration (Favell) and citizenship, immigration and the state (Joppke) are exemplars of approaches that successfully pair an interest in theory with detailed causal analysis. The article concludes by suggesting that the debate between 'nationalists' and 'postnationalists' can now be transcended. Postnationalism, it concludes, contains two theses, not one: an empirical and a causal. The empirical thesis — that universal personhood has decoupled rights and identity – is incontrovertible; the causal — that this development resulted from the 'internationalisation' and 'universalisation' of human rights legislation and discourse — is, in the light of Joppke's and other's research, false. The sources of third–country nationals' social and economic status, the foundations of the distinction between rights and identity, are domestic.     

The median voter model in public choice theory

The changing perception by public choice theorists about the relevance of the median voter model is a result of excessive extrapolation of the conclusions of theoretical models to the real world. Early in the 1970s the median voter model was often accepted as implying that the output produced in the public sector was what was most preferred by the median voter. This claim is excessive because the median voter model is only a model of demand aggregation under majority rule and has little to say about the supply side of the public sector. In the late 1970s many scholars identified several circumstances under which the model would not apply in theory, but these critiques of the model were often viewed as reasons to abandon the median voter model altogether. The model went from having excessive claims that made the model appear to be more powerful than it really is to excessive claims that made the model appear to be less powerful than it really is. These latter claims were often in response to the earlier claims rather than to the model, appropriately applied.Pointing out that the model might not be valid under some circumstances in no way implies that the model is never valid. In fact, this paper has reviewed strong arguments, both empirical and theoretical, suggesting that the median voter model is a good approximation of demand aggregation in the public sector for many issues. One paper will not change the opinions of public choice theorists on the median voter model. But the argument given here is that there is a large amount of theoretical and empirical evidence supporting the median voter model as a good foundation for the development of the theory of public sector demand. Once the overly ambitious claims that have been made for the model are set aside, the median voter model is in a good position to provide a base for the development of a theory of political structure that is analogous to the theory of market structure in economics.