Evaluative research on a therapeutic community for adolescents

Findings from a 2-year research effort assessing the efficacy of the Young People's Unit (YPU) of Friends Hospital are presented. In one study, 79 patients were tested with the Offer Self-image Questionnaire for Adolescents (OSIQ) at the time of their admission to the YPU and at the time of their discharge (50 days later on the average). Data indicate significant improvements on all 11 scales of the OSIQ, but some subgroups improved more than others. A representative sample of 29 patients responded to a third administration of the OSIQ approximately 1 year after their discharge. As a group, these patients had maintained their level of improvement — there were no significant differences between discharge and followup OSIQs. Augmenting the followup sample through telephone contacts, 59 former patients could be separated into 44 treatment successes and 15 less well-adjusted adolescents: no significant differences on their admission OSIQs or on their demographic characteristics could be found. The findings permit the conclusion that the residential treatment approach used here can produce significant improvements which are stable over time, at least for the group as a whole, but that some exceptions exist. Further studies into the reasons for treatment failure are needed. Implications of this research for the reassessment of the unit are discussed.     

Forensic Entomology and the Estimation of the Minimum Time Since Death in Indoor Cases

Eight cases that occurred indoors in which the insects played an important role in the mPMI estimation are presented. The bodies of socially isolated people and old people living alone were discovered in central Italy between June and November. mPMI ranged from a few days to several weeks. Insects were collected during the body recovery and the postmortem. Climatic data were obtained from the closest meteorological stations and from measurements performed on the site. Sarcophagidae and Calliphoridae species were present in 75% of the cases with Lucilia sericata and Chrysomya albiceps collected in 50% of the cases. Chrysomya albiceps was always found in association with Lucilia species. Scuttle flies (Phoridae) were found in 37.5% of the cases, confirming the ability of these species in indoor body colonization. We show that if sealed environment may delay, the insect arrival dirty houses may create the environment where sarcosaprophagous insects are already present.     

The undoing of a unique relationship? Peace and security in the EU–South Africa Strategic Partnership

ABSTRACT

When the European Union (EU) and South Africa acceded to a strategic partnership, they expanded into new areas of partnership. One of these areas was peace and security, which is the focus of this article. The article argues that, although there appears to be a shared understanding of what security means, the strategic partnership has not been utilised significantly to further this understanding in practice. This is largely due to the EU's preferences for a continental, multilateral approach over the bilateralism of a strategic partnership. At the same time, South Africa sees its strategic partnership with the EU as being outside of its broader commitment to regional security. As a result the peace and security element of the strategic partnership has not been leveraged effectively despite several entry points for action. The article thus concludes that both the EU and South Africa need to re-think the current arrangement.     

Cracks in the Opposition: Immigration as a Wedge Issue for the Reagan Coalition

The absence of a core means that a majority coalition can never choose a policy that will keep it safe from minority appeals to its pivotal members. In two dimensions, strategic minorities will always be able to offer pivotal voters attractive policy concessions. We argue that this instability of multidimensional politics explains why minorities raise wedge issues and how wedge issues result in partisan realignment in legislative politics. Applying agenda‐constrained ideal point estimation techniques to immigration debates, we show that the Reagan coalition—pro‐business and social conservatives—has been vulnerable on the wedge issue of immigration and that parties have switched their positions on immigration over the last three decades. We use the uncovered set as the best‐fit theoretical solution concept in this legislative environment, to capture the limits of majority rule coalitional possibilities and policy change in the two‐dimensional absence of a core.