The determination of psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms by HPLC utilizing a dual reagent acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) chemiluminescence detection system

This paper describes a procedure for the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in mushroom extracts using high-performance liquid chromatography with postcolumn chemiluminescence detection. A number of extraction methods for psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms were investigated, with a simple methanolic extraction being found to be most effective. Psilocin and psilocybin were extracted from a variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms using methanol. The analytes were separated on a C12 column using a (95:5% v/v) methanol:10 mM ammonium formate, pH 3.5 mobile phase with a run time of 5 min. Detection was realized through a dual reagent chemiluminescence detection system of acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II). The chemiluminescence detection system gave improved detectability when compared with UV absorption at 269 nm, with detection limits of 1.2 x 10(-8) and 3.5 x 10(-9) mol/L being obtained for psilocin and psilocybin, respectively. The procedure was applied to the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in three Australian species of hallucinogenic mushroom.     

Putrefactive pleural effusions as an alternative sample for drug quantification

In the investigation of drug-related deaths it is occasionally necessary to examine putrefied bodies. In such cases the availability of conventional body fluids for toxicologic analysis is usually limited, whereas blood-stained pleural effusion is often present in adequate quantity in the pleural cavity. Fifty-five cases involving numerous drugs are presented in which pleural effusion drug concentrations are compared with corresponding blood or liver concentrations. More than 90% of comparisons produced coincident interpretations of the role that drugs played in the deaths. In most instances pleural effusion analysis was shown to be a valid alternative to the analysis of blood or other conventional fluids or tissues in cases exhibiting advanced putrefaction.     

In Defence of Competition: The Successful Application of Competition Policy in NSW Rail

This paper argues that recent rail reform in NSW has been successful. NSW rail is now not only more cost effective, but also offers improved service and safety levels to its customers. As such the NSW rail reforms have been of benefit to the community as a whole, and have laid the groundwork for a resugence of the rail sector. Despite the criticism surrounding recent job losses, it is argued that the reforms have reinvigorated an industry that had been caught up in an ever decreasing vicious circle. The success of the 1996 reforms have been dependent upon a reform model that mixes factors such as vertical separation and independent regulation with government provision of targeted community service obligation payments. This paper argues that the most important ingredient for rail's future is the removal of the enormous bias in government tax and user charging policy against rail and towards road transport. In addition to keeping faith with the traditional National Competition Policy agenda, nothing is more important than that Australian governments address this continuing and debilitating bias against rail transport.     

Survey research and racially charged elections: The case of David Duke in Louisiana

Accuracy in measuring vote intention has become a particular problem in elections involving candidates who take conservative positions on racial issues and who emphasize these issues in their campaigns. Consistent understatement of support for such candidates in preelection polls would seem to indicate a reluctance on the part of some survey respondents to honestly express their vote intention, perhaps due to the fear that their intended action might be interpreted as an expression of racism. This research, which utilizes surveys conducted during the 1991 Louisiana governor's election in which David Duke was prominently featured, attempts to develop more accurate alternative measures of support for racially conservative candidates. The findings indicate that more accurate and valid vote intention measures can be constructed through the use of candidate image variables. The findings also call into question the practice of attempting to develop more accurate measures of vote intention through simple reallocation of undecided voters based solely on race.     

An examination of gender and age in print media accounts of child abductions

Previous research has suggested that the print media over-report on certain demographics of abducted children. Specifically, cases where the abduction victim is younger or the abduction victim is female are most often covered. The purpose of the current study was to systematically examine, through the research technique of content analysis, whether a lack of congruency exists between newspaper articles detailing child abduction victims and empirical data of the same. Newspaper articles were collected from LexisNexis Academic, and empirical data were drawn from the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. The results revealed that gender and age play only a minor role in deciding which abduction incidents are covered by newspapers, as well as the extent to which they are reported on. Specifically, newspapers dedicated more words to female victims than male victims and reported more on younger children (aged 11 and under) than older children (aged 12 and over) when they were the victim of a nonfamily abduction. It appears, however, that in all other types of abduction cases, newspapers are reporting a rather factual depiction of the demographics of victims. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Intelligence to counter terror: The importance of all-source fusion

The modern digital environment has made terrorism and other transnational crimes vastly easier to coordinate on a worldwide scale than was possible before World War II. It has also exacerbated a most serious challenge: governments attempting to stop terrorists – particularly democracies – are expected to do so without undermining the laws, representative principles and informal confidences upon which a culture of democracy depends. The purpose of this article is to examine the modern intelligence requirements for countering terror in order to appreciate this challenge in greater depth and to develop a reasoned basis for balancing counterintelligence capabilities with civil liberties. It begins by considering the nature of the terrorists we face and the requirements for good intelligence operations against them. Historical examples illustrate those lessons that can be learned from the defeat of similar threats in the past, including the recurring ways in which challenges to civil liberties arise as democracies optimize intelligence in the name of security. In discussing the special opportunities and challenges modern technology poses in this contest, the analysis suggests an essential next step for democracies threatened by terrorists in their midst.     

The South AfricdCanada Program on Governance: an experiment in supporting democracy

Abstract: The South Africa/Canada Program on Governance is a am‐funded initiative that assisted South Africa's transition to democracy in 1993 and 1994 and since then has supported the country's leaders in building the basic systems of government. It has done this by making available to senior South African elected and appointed officials Canadian public‐service practitioner advice, focusing always on the key people, key places, and core processes of government. The program has provided advice on constitutional arrangements, the establishment of a representative public service, support to the centre of government, planning and budgeting, and services delivery through its special advisers resident in Johannesburg, through workshops, through study visits to Canada for South Africans, and through the assignment of Canadian public servants to carry out projects in South Africa. Much of its work has been carried out under the auspices of twinning arrangements between six Canadian provinces and six South African provinces and their respective national departments of public works. As the program draws to an end, the authors, two of the program's special advisers, argue that in addition to providing important assistance during the transition to democracy, the program has been successful in a number of identifiable ways by supporting good governance in South Africa. They also argue that there is good reason for continued Canadian assistance in this area. Sommaire: Le Programme de gouvernance sud‐africain, une initiative financée par l'ACDI, a facilité en 1993 et 1994 l'évolution démocratique de l'Afrique du Sud et a aidé les leaders de ce pays àériger les systèmes essentiels de gouvemement. Le Programme a réalisé cela en offrant aux cadres supérieurs et aux élus sud‐africains les conseils de praticiens de la Fonction publique canadienne, en se concentrant chaquefois sur les personnes‐clé, les endroits‐clé et les processus fondamentaux du gouvernement. Grâce aux efforts de conseillers spéciaux à Johannesburg, à des ateliers, aux voyages d'études du Sud‐Africains au Canada et à l'affectation de fonctionnaires canadiens à des projets en Afrique du Sud, le programme a prodigué des conseils sur les arrangements constitutionnels, la mise sur pied d'une Fonction publique représentative, le soutien aux organismes centraux du gouvernement, la planification et la budgétisation ainsi que la prestation de services. Les activités du Programme ont été réalisées grâce au jumelage de six provinces canadiennes à six provinces sud‐africaines, ainsi que des ministères des travaux publics respectifs des deux pays. Sous sa forme actuelle, le programme viendra àéchéance bientot. Selon les auteurs, deux des conseillers spéciaux du programme, ce dernier a réussi à favoriser la bonne gouvernance en Afrique du Sud en plus d'aider le passage à la démocratie. Toujours don eux, il serait judicieux de continuer à offrir de l'assistance canadienne dans ce domaine.     

A strategic response to class size reduction: Combination classes and student achievement in California

The California class size reduction program provided schools with cash rewards for K–3 classes of 20 or fewer students. I show how program rules made it possible for schools to save money by using mixed‐grade classes to meet class size reduction obligations while maintaining larger average class sizes. I also show that this smoothing of students across grades is associated with a significant test score gap for certain second and third grade students. My estimates suggest that class size reduction may lead to lower test scores for students placed in combination classes. Alternative explanations of teacher experience and credentialing changes cannot explain the test score pattern. This result spotlights both the underappreciated role of age heterogeneity in classroom learning and the difficulty of replicating the success of policy experiments in statewide reform. © 2008 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.