Resource Wealth,Democracy and Mobilisation

The impact of resource wealth on society remains highly contested in the literature. Some perspectives suggest that resource wealth is associated with political apathy, while others indicate that resource wealth fosters violent civil conflicts. We leverage these seemingly contradictory impacts of natural resources on society by expanding the scope of inquiry to explore different types of resource wealth (oil and minerals) as well as other dimensions of political life (protest). Utilising a global dataset for the period 1950–2006, we test the impact of resource wealth on mobilisation. We find that while oil wealth demobilises citizens in all regime types, mineral wealth strongly correlates with higher levels of mobilisation in democracies, though not in autocracies. In addition, using survey data, we examine individual-level attitudes toward protest participation in two resource-rich states, Peru and Ecuador. The results indicate that an individual living in a mineral-rich country like Peru is more likely to participate in a protest compared to an individual living in an oil-rich country like Ecuador. Our findings highlight the contributions of the resource activism framework for understanding the connection between natural resources and mobilisation.     

A Cross-National Comparison of the Internal Effects of Participation in Voluntary Organizations

This article draws on two recent and largely untapped sources of data to test empirically the Tocquevillian argument about the impact of involvement in civic organizations on individual attitudes and behaviors. Our analysis is based on two related studies – the European Social Survey (ESS) and the US 'Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy' (CID) survey – that incorporate innovative and detailed measures about respondents' involvement in voluntary associations in nineteen European countries and in the United States. These surveys provide us not only with rich individual-level data within a cross-national comparison, but they also allow us to develop and test a new measure of civic involvement that distinguishes between different levels of participation. After employing our 'civic involvement index' in pooled and individual country analyses, we find general support for the Tocquevillian argument. On average, those persons with greater levels of involvement in voluntary organizations also engage in more political acts, have higher life satisfaction and are by and large more trusting of others than those who do not. These findings highlight the general importance of actual involvement as opposed to nominal membership.     

Determination of ibogaine and noribogaine in biological fluids and hair by LC-MS/MS after Tabernanthe iboga abuse Iboga alkaloids distribution in a drowning death case

Tabernanthe iboga belongs to the Apocynaceae family. In this study, we report the case of a 37-year-old black male working as a security agent in Paris and found dead naked on the beach in Gabon after consumption of iboga. Autopsy revealed a drowning fatality and a myocardial abnormality (myocardial bridging). Samples of blood, urine, bile, gastric content, liver, lungs, vitreous, spleen and hair were taken. Biological fluids were liquid-liquid extracted with saturated NH4Cl pH 9.5 and methylene chloride/isopropanol (95/5, v/v) in presence of clonazepam-d(4), used as internal standard. After decontamination with dichloromethane, hair was cut into small pieces then sonicated for 2h in saturated NH4Cl pH 9.5 before extraction by methylene chloride/isopropanol (95/5, v/v). After evaporation the residues were reconstituted in methanol/ACN/formate buffer pH 3, from which 10 microL were injected into an ODB Uptisphere C(18) column (150 mm x 2.1mm, 5 microm) and eluted with a gradient of acetonitrile and formate buffer delivered at a flow rate of 200 microL/min. A Quantum Ultra triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer was used for analyses. Ionization was achieved using electrospray in the positive ionization mode (ESI). For each compound, detection was related to three daughter ions (ibogaine: m/z 311.4-->122.1, 174.1 and 188.1; noribogaine: m/z 297.4-->122.1, 159.1 and 160.1; clonazepam-d(4): m/z 319.9-->218.1, 245.1 and 274.1). Ibogaine and noribogaine were detected in all autopsy samples. Hair segmentation was not possible as hair was very short and frizzy. Concentrations of 1.2 and 2.5 ng/mg, respectively were detected. Neither other licit or illicit drugs nor alcohol were found. The presence of ibogaine and noribogaine in all autopsy samples was consistent with the recent absorption of Tabernanthe iboga, which was assumed to be responsible of the drowning fatality. The history of exposure, regarding hair analysis, is discussed. LC-MS/MS appears to be the best method for analyzing complex and poorly volatile alkaloids in autopsy samples and particularly in hair, due to the presence of a nitrogen ring and the relatively low concentrations to be measured.     

Race,Class, and the Development of Criminal Justice Policy1

Racial disparities in the criminal justice system are profound and well documented. A range of scholarship has examined these trends to assess the degree to which they result from biased decision making at various levels of the justice system. Also key to understanding the origin of these disparities is an analysis of the race and class determinants of criminal justice policy. This can be seen most clearly in the development of drug policy, but also in the means by which policy choices in law enforcement, prosecution, and sentencing are formulated. To the extent that crime is perceived as a “black problem,” the means by which the problem is addressed and the resulting punitiveness of the approach serve to exacerbate societal inequalities.     

Equity and information: Information regulation,environmental justice,and risks from toxic chemicals

Decreases over time in pounds of industrial chemical emissions have led to concerns that nonminority, higher‐income communities have benefited disproportionately in reductions in risk. Toxic chemical release data, modeled for toxicity and dispersion in square kilometer units across 45 states, are used to test six sets of hypotheses of potential interactions between facilities and the communities surrounding them. The results provide mixed evidence that ethnicity explains chemical emission changes. Stronger support is found that changes in emission patterns are affected by a community's ability to process complex information and its capacity for collective action, and industrial production factors. Some support is found for the efficacy of state environmental policies that both do and do not fit the traditional regulatory model in encouraging risk reductions. © 2005 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Mitochondrial Genome DNA Analysis of the Domestic Dog: Identifying Informative SNPs Outside of the Control Region*

Abstract: While the mitochondrial control region has proven successful for human forensic evaluations by indicating ethnic origin, domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) of seemingly unrelated breeds often form large groups based on identical control region sequences. In an attempt to break up these large haplotype groups, we have analyzed the remaining c. 15,484 base pairs of the canine mitochondrial genome for 79 dogs and used phylogenetic and population genetic methods to search for additional variability in the form of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We have identified 356 SNPs and 65 haplotypes in the remainder of the mitochondrial genome excluding the control region. The exclusion capacity was found to be 0.018. The mitochondrial control region was also evaluated for the same 79 dogs. The signals from the different fragments do not conflict, but instead support one another and provide a larger fragment of DNA that can be analyzed as forensic evidence.