Neurolaw and Direct Brain Interventions

This issue of Criminal Law and Philosophy contains three papers on a topic of increasing importance within the field of “neurolaw”—namely, the implications for criminal law of direct brain intervention based mind altering techniques (DBI’s). To locate these papers’ topic within a broader context, I begin with an overview of some prominent topics in the field of neurolaw, where possible providing some references to relevant literature. The specific questions asked by the three authors, as well as their answers and central claims, are then sketched out, and I end with a brief comment to explain why this particular topic can be expected to gain more prominence in coming years.     

Diffusion of Personalised Services among Dutch Municipalities: Evolving Channels of Persuasion

In many European countries, municipalities are becoming increasingly important as providers of electronic public services to their citizens. One of the horizons for further expansion is the delivery of personalised electronic services. In this article we describe the diffusion of personalised services in the Netherlands over the period 2006–2009 and investigate how and why various municipalities adopted personalised electronic services. In achieving this, we analyse data that were gathered during interviews with key stakeholders in 10 selected Dutch municipalities. We synthesise the findings in an explanatory model of personalised electronic service delivery diffusion. The model emphasises persuasive pressures that are channelled to potential adopters of personalised services. Furthermore, the model shows how persuasive pressure (as perceived by adopters) is followed-up by organisational search activities, and how, in various circumstances, the idea of personalised services is ‘framed’ by innovation champions, knowledge brokers and new members of staff as to appeal to specific organisational priorities and ambitions. In doing so, this article contributes to an institutional view on adoption and diffusion of innovations, in which (1) horizontal and vertical channels of persuasion and (2) human agency, rather than technological opportunity and rational cost-benefit considerations, account for actual diffusion of innovations.     

Centralized planning and economic reforms in a mountainous region of Vietnam

This study contributes to an understanding of the diversity of agrarian systems in the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam. By examining over 100 small family farms, we identified the major changes in production systems that have occurred over the last 50 years. Access to land, population migration, and individual initiative were the three major factors driving household differentiation. State policies had substantial impacts on all three factors, making the State the key driving force of differentiation. After years of central planning, farmers are now free to make their own choices as they interact with their new environment: the market economy.

Effective farmers' organizations need to be established to provide farmers with the information and decision-making tools they need to adjust their production to fit the market. Somewhere between State control and total independence, community-based natural resource management schemes are needed to ensure that small family farms in the isolated mountainous areas are sustainable in the face of ineluctable macroeconomic changes.     

Book reviews

Foreign Policy Making in Developing States: a comparative approach. Edited by Christopher Clapham, Farnborough (UK): Saxon House. 1978. 148 pp. £8.50.

Tariff Protection and Growth in Developing Countries. Mona Fouad Attia, Rotterdam: Rotterdam University Press. 1976. 251 pp.

Exports of Manufactures from Developing Countries. A H M Mahfuzur Rahman, Rotterdam: Centre for Development Planning, Rotterdam University Press. 1973. 140 pp.

Policy Reform in Developing Countries. Bela Balassa, Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1977. 176 pp. £9.00. £5.95 pb.

Nuclear Proliferation and the Near‐Nuclear Countries. Edited by Onkar Marwah & Ann Schultz, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger. 1975. 350 pp £11.60. (Distributed in UK by John Wiley)

Sociology and Development. Edited by E de Kadt and G Williams, London: Tavistock Publications Ltd. 1974. (Reprinted 1976). 374 pp. £4.25.

An Introduction to the Sociology of Rural Development. Norman Long, London: Methuen &Co Ltd. 1977. 221 pp. £3.25 pb.

Growing out of Poverty. Elizabeth Stamp, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1977. 165 pp. £4.25.

The United Nations System: coordinating its economic and social work. Martin Hill, Cambridge University Press. 1978. 252 pp. £13.50.

The United Nations in Bangladesh. Thomas W Oliver, Princeton University Press. 1978. 231 pp. US$20.

International Money: issues and analysis. Andrew Crockett, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons. 1978. 250 pp. £3.95 pb.

The Failure of World Monetary Reform 1971–74. John Williamson, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons. 1977. 221 pp. £3.25.

The International Monetary Tangle: myths and realities. Guillaume Guindey, Oxford: Blackwells. 1977. 121 pp. £7.85.

Research and Development Abroad by US Multinationals. Robert Ronstadt, New York: Praeger. 1977. 150 pp. £11.25.

International Migration and Dependence. Stephen Adler, Farnborough (UK): Saxon House. 1977. 235 pp. £8.50.

The Seventh Enemy: the human factor in the global crisis. Ronald Higgins, London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1978. 303 pp. £5.95.

The Disintegrating West. Mary Kaldor, London: Allen Lane‐Penguin Books Ltd. 1978. 219 pp. £5.50.

The Changing Face of the Third World: regional and national studies. Edited by Josef Nyilas, Budapest: Department of World Economy, Karl Marx University of Economic. Sciences. 1978. 431 pp.

Interdependent Development. Harold Brookfield, London: Methuen. 1977. 233 pp. £3.30.

Oil Companies in the International System. Louis Turner, London: George Allen &Unwin. 1978. 222 pp. £8.50.

Venezuela's Oil. Romullo Betancourt, London: George Allen & Unwin. 1978. 275 pp. £3.95.

Namibia Old and New. Gerhard Tötemeyer, London: C Hurst & Company Ltd. 1978. 257 pp. £9.50.

Buying Time in South Africa. CIS Anti‐Report No. 21, London: Counter Information Services. 1978. 56 pp. £0.95 pb.

Revolutionary Pressures in Africa. Claude Ake, London: Zed Press Ltd. 1978. 109 pp. £6.50.

The Guerilla Reader: a historical anthology. Edited by Walter Laqueur, London: Wildwood House. 1978. 246 pp. £5.95.

Negotiating Third World Mineral Agreements: promises as prologue. David N Smith and Louis T Wells Jr., Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger Publishing Company. 1975. 266 pp. £10.80. (Distributed in the UK by John Wiley)

Economic Growth and Distribution in China. Nicholas R Lardy, Cambridge University Press. 1978. 244 pp. £12.

The Peasant and the Raj: studies in agrarian society and peasant rebellion in colonial India. Eric Stokes, Cambridge University Press. 1978. 308 pp. £12.50.

Women of the World: illusion and reality. Urmila Phadnis and Indira Malani, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. 1978. 283 pp.

Message from the Village. Perdita Huston, New York: Epoch B Foundation. 1978. 120 pp. US $3.95.

Living Black. Kevin Gilbert, London: Allen Lane ‐ the Penguin Press. 1977. 305 pp. £7.00.

The Economics of the Arab World. Yusif A Sayigh, London: Croom Helm. 1978. 726 pp. £35.

The Determinants of Arab Economic Development. Yusif A Sayigh, London: Croom Helm. 1978. 181 pp. £12.95.

The Arabs’ New Frontier. Robert Stephens, London: Temple Smith (second revised edition). 1976. 279 pp. £5.50.

Emergency in Perspective; reprieve and challenge. Sachchidanand Sinha, London: Books from India Ltd. 1977. 122 pp. £3.75.

Inside India Today. Dilip Hiro, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1976. (reprinted 1978) 293 pp. £3.95 pb.

The Essential JP: the philosophy and prison diary of Jayaprakash Narayan. Edited by Satish Kumar, Dorchester (UK): Prism Press. 1978. 153 pp. £4.95.

Women of Vietnam. Arlene Eisen Bergman, San Francisco: People's Press. 1975 (revised edition). 255 pp. £2.95.. (Distributed in the UK by Zed Press)

Land and Labour in Latin America. Edited by Kenneth Duncan and Ian Rutledge with the collaboration of Colin Harding Cambridge Latin American Studies, Cambridge University Press. 1977. 535 pp. £17.50.

Secession: the legitimacy of self‐determination. Lee C Buchheit, New Haven: Yale University Press. 1978. 260 pp. £12.60.     

Death Due to Decapitation in Two Motorcyclists: A Description of a Unique Case and a Brief Review of the Literature

Deaths due to decapitation, especially related to traffic accidents, are rarely found in forensic practice. The present case involves a man and a woman who died from decapitation due to an unusual mechanism while they were riding on a motorbike down a mountain road. The autopsy, which was completed as a physics study, allowed the accident to be reconstructed as follows: A plastic cable that had detached from a timber‐transporting machine whipped the road and hit the two motorcyclists. The impact resulted in the complete severing of both riders’ heads. Involving different scientists in this accident investigation was crucial to understanding the dynamics of the accident. In fact, in addition to scene inspection and autopsy, a physics study was carried out on the cable and the clamp involved, which led to an explanation for the abrupt movement of the cable and, thus, to a thorough reconstruction of the accident.     

Quadruple Helix and firms’ performance: an empirical verification in Europe

The emerging relationships connecting organizations are the condition on which innovation is founded nowadays, so it is pivotal to achieve a vaster comprehension of the phenomenon through the exploitation of new dynamics and the exploration of new trajectories. In line with the Quadruple Helix (QE) approach, it seems reasonable to expect that the different environments in which firms operate would highlight the expectations of the various market governance systems, which firms must comply with in order to gain social legitimacy and improve their capacity for survival. To determine whether the Quadruple Helix model has an effect on the firms’ profitability, the authors employed the classification analysis method (Classification And Regression Trees). The sample is composed by 4215 manufacturing firms located in science parks. In our empirical model, the variable “citizen” classifies businesses with high Return On Investment in the best way. This shows that in science parks “the fourth helix” (citizen) has an important role in classifying the firms with the highest performance. Moreover, the majority of firms that attribute high importance to the collaboration with private financial institutions in order to finance innovations have a high ROI. In addition, firms with high economic performance in the model of the quadruple helix generate product innovation.     

Arsenic speciation of two specimens of Napoleon's hair

Since 1960, it has been demonstrated by various analytical procedures that high concentrations of arsenic were present in Napoleon's hair. Various authors, indicating that the detected arsenic levels are a consequence of external contamination, have challenged the results of these examinations. We have tested two strands of hair, referenced as Noverraz and Grand Maréchal Bertrand. Samples were incubated 6h in water at 90 degrees C, and arsenic speciation was carried out by HPLC-ICP/MS. The residue was injected on a cation-exchange PRP-X200 column that allows the detection of arsenobetaine and on an anion-exchange PRP-X100 column to test for the mineral forms. In these conditions, the inorganic species As(III), As(V) and their metabolites (DMA and MMA) were separated. Analysis of hair samples highlighted massive amounts of total arsenic (42.1 and 37.4ng/mg). Arsenical species found in the two samples of analyzed hair are distributed in the following: As(III) 31.1 and 44.7%; As(V) 66.3 and 53.2%; DMA 0.42 and 0.15%. Traces of MMA were detected, and 2% of the species could not be identified. These results prove that more than 97% of the arsenic found in the hair of Napoleon is in inorganic form, which is consistent with a chronic intoxication to arsenic.     

Evaluation of the IDS One-Step ELISA kits for the detection of illicit drugs in hair

This work presents the validation of a new immunological assay, the One-Step enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests from International Diagnostic Systems Corp. for the screening of drugs of abuse (cannabis, amphetamines, opiates, and cocaine) in human hair, with subsequent GC-MS confirmation. After decontamination and segmentation into small pieces, 50 mg of hair sample were incubated in 1 ml of methanol during 16 h at 40 degrees C. A 100 microL aliquot was collected and evaporated to dryness in presence of 100 microL of methanol/hydrochloric acid (99:1, v/v) to avoid amphetamines loss. The dried extract was dissolved in 100 microL of the "sample and standard diluent" solution included in the kit. This solution was submitted to analysis according to the recommended instructions of the manufacturer. During the validation phase, GC-MS confirmations were conducted according to our fully validated and published methods for opiates, cocaine, cannabis, and amphetamines determinations in hair. In a last development step, these procedures were slightly modified to directly confirm ELISA results by GC-MS using the methanolic extract. Ninety-three specimens were simultaneously screened by the ELISA tests (103 for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) and confirmed by GC-MS. Twenty were found positive for cannabis (THC: 0.10-6.50 ng/mg), 21 for cocaine (0.50-55.20 ng/mg), 24 for opiates (6-acetylmorphine (6-AM): 0.20-11.60 ng/mg, MOR: 0.20-8.90 ng/mg, codeine (COD): 0.20-5.90 ng/mg), and 13 for amphetamines (AP: 0.20 and 0.27 ng/mg, methamphetamine (MAP): 0.30 and 1.10 ng/mg, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): 0.22-17.80 ng/mg). No false negative results were observed according to the Society of Hair Testing's (SoHT) cutoffs (0.5 ng/mg for cocaine, 0.2 ng/mg for opiates and amphetamines, and 0.1 ng/mg for THC). The One-Step ELISA kits appear suitable due to their sensitivity and specificity for drug of abuse screening in hair. This technology should find interest in workplace drug testing or driving license regranting, especially when many samples have to be tested with a high rate of negative samples, as ELISA is an easy and high-throughput method.     

Hair analysis for diphenhydramine after surreptitious administration to a child

Diphenhydramine is one of the first effective antihistamine agents to have been discovered. The compound is also used for its sedative and antiemetic effects. The first case involving repetitive sedation linked to the use of diphenhydramine as a drug-facilitated crime and subsequent impairment of a 9-year-old female victim is reported. Due to the long delay between the alleged crime and clinical examination, collection of blood or urine was of little value. Hence, the laboratory developed an original approach based on hair testing by LC-MS/MS. A single strand of hair from the victim was sampled about 7 weeks after the last suspected administration and was cut into small segments. After cutting into small pieces, about 20 mg of hair per segment was incubated overnight in a phosphate buffer (pH 8.4). The aqueous phase was extracted with 5 ml of a mixture of methylene chloride/diethyl ether (80/20), in presence of diazepam-d5, used as internal standard (IS). The hair extract was separated on an XTerra MS C18 column using a gradient of acetonitrile and formate buffer. Detection was based on two daughter ions: transitions m/z 256.2-152.1 and 167.1 and m/z 289.9-154.0 for diphenhydramine and the IS, respectively. In the hair of the child, diphenhydramine was detected at concentrations in the range 33-39 pg/mg, depending on the segment.