Thinking 'globally' about peace in Northern Ireland

Though many in Britain and Northern Ireland remain highly sceptical about the longer term intentions of the Provisional IRA, it is clear that its ceasefire of August 1994 represented a major turning-point in Irish history. The nature of the IRA decision however remains shrouded in controversy – made all the more controversial of course by its resumption of military activities followed eighteen months later by the announcement of another ceasefire. This article seeks to throw light on the original IRA decision by exploring some of the international pressures which led the organization to take the decision it did in 1994. While in no way seeking to downplay the importance of 'internal' factors such as war weariness and the Anglo-Irish agreement, it is suggested here that the decision itself makes little sense unless it is situated within a wider global context. It is also implied that if analysts had been more sensitive to the influence of the 'global' upon the 'local' conflict in Northern Ireland, they may have been less surprised than they were by the IRA announcement.     

Application of Technology Transfer principles to managerial responsibilities

During the summer of 1985, LCDR Robert Cox completed a course entitled “Technology Transfer” at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. The objectives of the course were to enhance the capability of course participants to take advantage of innovations, to move appropriate research and development results into use, and to gain insight into the Technology Transfer responsibilities of managers. LCDR Cox' paper was chosen from among several contributions as an example of the application of Technology Transfer principles to a manager's job.     

Recovery of human skeletal elements from a recent UK murder inquiry: preservational signatures.

Factors that control bone preservation are not fully understood but generally include those that reflect "natural" taphonomic or diagenetic processes and also those reflecting anthropogenic activity. The aim of this paper is to examine whether the survival of skeletal elements from a recent UK serial murder investigation (n = 12) and three archaeological cemetery sites from England (n = 112, 95, 182; Roman to early-medieval), share a similar recovery signature. Examination of this data demonstrates that even when clear evidence of traumatic and perimortem dismemberment exists within an assemblage, the distribution of missing elements can be almost identical to archaeological material buried in normal attrition cemeteries. Given that these preservational signatures are so similar, it is concluded that careful observation of bone surfaces is necessary to confidently interpret bone loss, particularly where dismemberment and/or element excision is suggested by the non-anatomical position of the skeleton within the grave. Where postmortem excision of bone is suspected, careful examination of contiguous bone surfaces, both macroscopic and microscopic, is suggested to detect fine cutmark lesions indicative of anthropogenic excision. Without this evidence other preservational factors must be considered both taphonomic and diagenetic.     

Public Procurement Directives in the European Union: A Study of Local Authority Purchasing

Prompted by the Single European Market initiative, virtually all public procurement, except for defence equipment, is now subject to European Union rules which prohibit discriminatory (buy national) purchasing policies. This paper examines the impact of recent procurement Directives on local authority tendering and contract award behaviour (compliance), and considers whether the legislation has been successful in opening-up such public procurement to international competition. Although local authorities are making extensive use of the Official Journal to advertise their requirements, there is evidence that purchasers do not always adhere to the new legislation and it is not obvious that adherence to the legislation is improving. Moreover, an analysis of local authority contract award data for 1993 revealed that almost all contracts were won by domestic firms. However, doubts about the ultimate ownership of such firms and the sourcing of components means that there remains considerable scope for further work.     

Implementation of the Routine Use Clause of the Privacy Act

Information privacy, the privacy of personally identifiable data held by organizations, gained access to the federal policy agenda in the sixties. The passage of several legislative acts resulted in protection for information privacy in specific environments and circumstances. In 1974, the Privacy Act was passed, providing citizens limited protection for data held by agencies of the federal government. While the Privacy Act is the cornerstone of protection for citizens with regard to government-held data, the law has been less effective than its designers hoped it would be. One major deject of the law is the routine use clause, which has been subjected to broad interpretation and distortion, to the benefit of executive branch agencies which handle personally identifiable data. This article examines the issue of information privacy, with focus on the misuse of the routine use clause and subsequent implications for citizen privacy.     

Attentional and intellectual deficits in unmedicated behavior-disordered adolescent inpatients

The authors examined the hypothesis that impairments in attention and verbal intelligence are associated with seriously maladaptive social behavior in behavior-disordered, hospitalized adolescents. Twenty-five unmedicated inpatients with disruptive behavior disorder diagnoses were rated during a one-month period for frequency of severe disruptive episodes, or critical incidents (CI); these included assaults, behavior resulting in the use of restraints, etc. All subjects independently received intelligence testing and continuous performance testing (CPT). Based on CI scores, subjects were divided into a high-CI group (CI>5; N=9) and a low-CI group (CI<4; N=16). On the CPT, the high-CI group showed more impairment in perceptual sensitivity (d; this group also had lower verbal IQ scores. (Both findings were significant at the p<.05 level.) The latter result was largely due to differences in Comprehension subtest scores. These results support the hypothesis, and may have implications for the treatment of behavior-disordered adolescents.Received M.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Major research interests are adolescent psychopathology, disruptive behavior disorders, and information processing.Received Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Major research interests are outcomes measurement, psychosis proneness, and psychodiagnostic assessment.Received Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Major research interests is adolescent psychopathology.Received M.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Major research interests are adult attachment and mental representation.Received M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Major research interests are schizophrenia, personality disorders, and trauma.     

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Diary

Commonwealth Heads of Government convened in Malta from 27 to 29 November 2015 under the theme ‘The Commonwealth: adding Global Value’. They reaffirmed their shared and enduring commitment on behalf of the Commonwealth to the values and principles of the Commonwealth Charter. In a year of exceptional global challenges and opportunities, Heads addressed issues such as climate change, sustainable development, trade and investment, migration, and countering violent extremism and radicalism. They also deliberated on safeguarding the interests of Commonwealth small states and emphasised that the unique nature of the Commonwealth adds value in responding to contemporary global challenges. (http://thecommonwealth.org/sites/default/files/news-items/documents/CHOGM%202015%20Communique.pdf0)