Technical decisions and public accountability

Abstract. The paper focuses on Canadian decisions involving technical issues. The inherent difficulties associated with the application of technical advice and the need to secure public accountability for related government action are both discussed. It is suggested specifically that although there has been a significant governmental response to the problem of man-made hazards, much remains to be achieved. The general difficulties with the concepts of ‘public accountability’ and ‘technical advice’ are reviewed, and some observations are made on the idea of ‘risk’ The particular Canadian problems dealt with include those derived from the constitutional and overall political situation. The case of asbestos is introduced especially to illustrate inter-provincial inadequacies. Intra-provincial shortcomings are brought out by reference to the dangers resulting from lead. Note is taken of the limitations imposed by the legal system, and of the issues precipitated by Canada's industrial structure. The foreign policy dimension is recognized. The vinyl chloride issue is used to illustrate the long-term and yet fundamental nature of many risks. Recommendations are finally made concerning the roles of the Environmental Advisory Council and of the National Research Council's Associate Committee on Scientific Criteria for Environmental Quality, and an attempt is made to identify the detailed responsibilities which should fall to the federal government, both in regard to general and occupational standards covering man-made hazards, and more generally in regard to all the ways in which the general and specific publics can be safeguarded. Sommaire. L'auteur traite plus particulièrement des décisions relatives aux questions techniques. Il expose les difficultés inhérentes à l'application des conseils techniques et le besoin d'assurer le droit de regard du public sur les mesures gouvernementales. Il considère en particulier, qu'en dépit de la réaction positive du gouvernement face au problème des risques d'origine humaine, il reste encore beaucoup a faire. Il examine les difficultés générales que présentent les concepts du « droit de regard du public » et des « conseils techniques » et il présentent certaines observations sur la notion de » risque ». Les problèmes plus particulièrement canadiens dont il s'occupe sont la consequence de la situation constitutionnelle et de la situation politique générale. Il utilise le cas de l'amiante pour illustrer les carences interprovinciales. Ces mêmes carences sont évidentes, également, si l'on considère les dangers que présente le plomb. Il prend note des limites imposées par la loi et les problèmes posés par la structure industrielle du Canada. Il reconnait aussi la dimension politique étrangère. L'auteur se sert de la question du chlorure de vinyle pour illustrer le caractère à long terme et pourtant fondamental d'un grand nombre de dangers. Il fait des recommandations quant aux rôles du Conseil consultatif sur l'environnement et du comité du cnr sur les normes scientifiques pour la qualité de l'environnement. Il dégage enfin les différentes responsabilités du government fédéral, quant aux normes générales et professionnelles couvrant les risques créés par l'homme et, d'une façon plus large, quant aux moyens de protéger le public, qu'il s'agisse du grand public ou de groupes particuliers.     

Effect of evaporation and matrix interferences on the association of simulated ignitable liquid residues to the corresponding liquid standard

Identification of an ignitable liquid in fire debris evidence can be complicated due to evaporation of the liquid, matrix interferences, and thermal degradation of both the liquid and the matrix. In this research, liquids extracted from simulated fire debris were compared to the original liquid using multivariate statistical procedures. Neat and evaporated gasoline and kerosene standards were spiked onto nylon carpet, which was subsequently burned. The ignitable liquid residues were extracted using a passive headspace procedure and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients, hierarchical cluster analysis, and principal components analysis were used to compare the liquids extracted from the carpet to the corresponding neat liquid. For each procedure, association of the extracts according to liquid type was possible, albeit not necessarily to the specific evaporation level. Of the three procedures investigated, principal components analysis offered the most promise since contributions from matrix interferences were essentially eliminated.     

Women's Musical Lives: Self-Managing a Freelance Career

While opportunities for women have certainly improved and they are far better represented today in a range of music sectors, Creative and Cultural Skills (2010) found that women occupy only 32.2% of all music industry related jobs, they earn less, give up their careers sooner and experience more barriers to progression than their male counterparts. It has been shown that while ‘creative labour’ can be rewarding and fulfilling it is also a source of (self-) exploitation, is insecure, involves long hours, entails working for low or no pay, through the gifting of free labour, requires high levels of commitment from a normatively younger worker and results in bulimic patterns of work. It appears that the contested nature of creative work may have particular implications for female freelance musicians but, hitherto, very little critical attention has been paid to their experiences. Using an innovative methodological approach combining visual social research methods and digital ethnography, this paper presents the findings of an exploratory study into the working lives of five professional female musicians based in London and the South West of England. It examines the nature of their work and seeks to understand how freelance careers are experienced, supported and developed. The findings suggest that this is often contingent on the context of the work, its purpose, the types of work the musicians undertake and the meanings they attribute to their various musical activities.     

The Albanian Diaspora and security in the Balkans

The main theses of this article, completed on the eve of the NATO bombing campaign, remain relevant. With half of Europe's Muslim Albanians living outside Albania proper in Slavic and Greek Orthodox countries, the resultant risk of a broader Balkan conflict remains. Indeed, the sense of grievance of both Serbs and Albanians has been intensified by ethnic cleansing, bombing, dispossession, and polarization. Those like Kosovar shadow President Rugova, who were committed to multi‐ethnic compromise, have been pushed aside by the KLA. Increasingly, the long‐term solution in Kosovo appears to be one of independence from both Serbia and Albania with the rights of Serbs preserved by partition policed by NATO/UN forces.     

Setting aside a trust on the ground of mistake--In the Matter of the DSL Remuneration Trust: DSL Remuneration Trust [2007] JRC 251

This case concerned a remuneration trust which had been establishedby a company called DSL in April 2000. The beneficiaries ofthe Trust were named as the past, present and future employeesof DSL and their families. The shares in DSL were owned by acouple, Mr and Mrs L, who were also the two directors of DSL.The Trust assets comprised the proceeds of sale of the businessof DSL and its interest in two retail shops, and representedthe bulk of the assets of Mr and Mrs L and their family. The terms of the Trust prevented any outright distribution orpayments being made or any benefits     

The problem of single parent/child paternity analysis--practical results involving 336 children and 348 unrelated men

In a certain amount of paternity investigations, only DNA from child and alleged father is analyzed, thus increasing the possibility of false paternity inclusions. The aim of this study was to determine how many wrong paternity inclusions could be detected in a rather small geographical area comparing empirical results from 336 children and 348 men (13-15 STRs were investigated per person). This comparison between each child and all unrelated men (i.e. all putative fathers from the other cases) with an especially designed computer program resulted in 116,004 man/child pairs. Less than three excluding STRs were found in 1666 child/unrelated man pairs (1.44% of the comparisons). At least one unrelated man with only two or less STR mismatches could be determined for 322 children (95.8% of all investigated children). In 26 comparisons no STR mismatches between a child and an unrelated man were detected, thus at least one and up to three "second father(s)" under 350 men could be found for 23 children, if the mother is excluded. Paternity probabilities between 95.475% and 99.996% were calculated. Our results underline the difficulties in motherless paternity cases using only STR analysis and advise great precaution in assigning verbal predicates such as "paternity proven" in those investigations.     

The distribution of and factors associated with intimate terrorism and situational couple violence among a population-based sample of urban women in the United States

It has been proposed that two distinct forms of intimate partner violence exist: intimate terrorism and situational couple violence. This article describes the distribution of factors that characterize intimate terrorism and situational couple violence, including controlling behaviors, violence escalation, and injury, among a representative sample of 331 physically assaulted women living in 11 North American cities. In addition, respondent, partner, and relationship characteristics associated with each form of violence are identified. Most women who experienced physical assault also experienced controlling behavior by their male partner. In multivariate analyses, respondent's young age, violence escalation in the relationship, partner's access to guns, previous arrests for domestic violence offenses, poor mental health, and previous suicide attempts or threats were associated with intimate terrorism, defined as experiencing one or more controlling behaviors. These results suggest that situational couple violence is rare and that moderate and high levels of controlling behaviors are associated primarily with partner factors.     

Interpersonal violence in adolescence: ecological correlates of self-reported perpetration

Although growing attention is being paid to the problem of teen dating violence, to date less is known about perpetrators of victimization. The current article used a subset of 980 adolescents aged 11 to 19 who were surveyed as part of a statewide community service coordinated through Cooperative Extension to survey all youth in target communities about risky health behaviors. The current article examined correlates of perpetration of either physical dating violence or sexual abuse across all levels of the ecological model (individual, family, and community factors). At the bivariate level, individual factors including substance use and low social responsibility, family factors including divorce, low parental monitoring, and low social support, and community variables such as low school attachment and neighborhood monitoring were associated with self-reported perpetration. At the multivariate level, gender and history of victimization were most significant in explaining variance in perpetration.     

Severity of intimate partner violence and occurrence and frequency of police calls

This article evaluates whether female victims of severe physical, psychological, or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) call police more often than other abused women. Abused women (431) reported frequency of contacting police (dependent variable), nature and severity of IPV experienced, and characteristics of themselves and their perpetrator (explanatory variables). A two-part regression model estimated likelihood of police contact among all participants and rate of contact among callers. Women with severe physical or psychological IPV or injury were more likely to call police than were other abused women. Among callers, women made 96% more calls if a weapon was involved, 58% more if they were severely sexually abused, and 40% more if they were severely physically abused. Women with children at home made 32% more calls. These results delineate the level and types of IPV and other characteristics of homes that make single and repeat calls to police.     

Vota por tu Futuro: Partisan Mobilization of Latino Voters in the 2000 Presidential Election

Over the past two presidential elections, the major parties have been making a push at appealing to Latinos, airing over 3000 political advertisements in Spanish in the 2000 presidential election. In this paper, we ask whether the political ads used in the 2000 election had any effect on Latino turnout. We argue that the effectiveness of ads on the likelihood of turnout depends on how targeted the ad is to Latinos and the individual’s process of acculturation. We test our hypotheses using data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group, merged with data from the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey. We find that the effectiveness of the ads on the likelihood of turnout was mediated by the individual’s dominant language, which is taken as a proxy for the process of acculturation.