Introduction: the measures of waves

Abstract

The aftershocks of the spring of 2011 in Japan led the nation into a paralysis of futureshock. But as the aftershocks continued and news of more radiation seeped out of the cracks in the tightly sealed industrial-political power generator, it became clear that the idea that the earthquake has brought a new reality to Japan must itself be resisted. Indeed what is now evident is that little has changed, despite renewed urgency to respond.

Although the waves of disaster in Japan unfolding from 11 March caught everyone off guard, in some significant ways Japan was already prepared. Such preparedness can be read into Japan's long history of dealing with disasters, twenty years of economic stagnation and the growing prevalence of mysticism and eschatology in pop culture in the wake of the Kobe earthquake and Aum Shinrikyō attacks on the Tokyo subway. So, rather than a rupture, an anomalous event, the series of catastrophes of the spring 2011 that appeared as if out of the blue could be narrativized in real time through social media and connected to historical and social contingencies and continuities.

Rather than mourning the passing of some Japan that may never have existed or may already have passed away some time in the early 1990s, 11 March should be the occasion for reflection on the past, action in the present and taking stock for the future. Fighting the tendency to be stunned into complacency, this special issue reflects on the past and future amid the aftershocks radiating from Fukushima and post-earthquake Japan.     

Evaluation of the persistently violent offender treatment program

The treatment of violent offenders has evolved in recent years, shifting from interventions focused on anger management to those incorporating social information processing skills. The present study was a multimethod evaluation of one such program, the Persistently Violent Offender program. A total of 256 Canadian male violent offenders participated in the study; 70 Persistently Violent Offender program completers were compared to two control groups (n(1) = 33, n(2) = 105) who completed an alternate program and to 48 offenders who failed to complete either program. Results demonstrate few differences among groups in terms of changes on measures of treatment targets, involvement in institutional misconducts, and postrelease returns to custody, thus demonstrating that the Persistently Violent Offender program was superior to neither the alternate program nor program noncompletion. These results are discussed in light of the findings from two more promising recent evaluations of similar programs.     

Locating extra-legal activities of the modern state in legal-political theory: Weber,Habermas, Kelsen,Schmitt and Turk

This article is concerned with deviations from legal functioning of the modern state, which is supposedly grounded on legal structure, but may conduct extra-legal activities. In this article, special focus is directed to certain extra-legal activities of the following modern states: the Susurluk Affair in Turkey, the Iran-Contra Affairs of the USA, GAL in Spain, the Gibraltar Killings committed by UK soldiers, and enforced disappearances in Argentina. These cases are interpreted from the points of view of Max Weber’s and Jürgen Habermas’s theories of the rule of law, Hans Kelsen’s legal positivism, Carl Schmitt’s theories of the political and sovereignty, and Austin Turk’s theory of political criminality. Our purpose, then, is to evaluate these theories vis-à-vis the cases of extra-legal activities of the state.

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Selective colorimetric determination of TNT partitioned between an alkaline solution and a strongly basic Dowex 1-X8 anion exchanger

The Meisenheimer anions formed from TNT in KOH solutions in alcohol or acetone were used in screening tests for TNT among possible nitro-explosives. The same reaction was used for the spectrophotometric assay of TNT in soil by CRREL (Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory of the U.S. Army) method, also known as Jenkins' method, but the color stability was too dependent on the solution composition and the water tolerance was low, necessitating complete drying of soil samples (which may cause partial analyte decomposition) prior to analysis. This study reports the development of a colorimetric method based on the solid phase extraction (SPE) of the Meisenheimer anion formed from TNT and aqueous NaOH into a strongly basic anion exchange resin Dowex 1-X8 (OH(-) form). The orange-red color that developed both in the solid resin and solution phases was persistent for at least 1h. The resin was let to swell in alcohol, washed first with 1M aqueous NaOH, and then with H(2)O before use. To 5 mL of 4-400 ppm TNT solutions in 1:1 (v/v) acetone-water, 0.5 mL of 5% NaOH was added, diluted to 50 mL with 1:1 acetone-water, and the resulting solutions (containing the orange-red Meisenheimer anion of TNT) were agitated at room temperature with 0.9 g resin for < or =50 min. TNT exhibited a reasonably constant distribution coefficient between the resin and aqueous phases. The absorbance of the filtered solutions was measured against a reagent blank at 500nm. The TNT-loaded resins were regenerated with 1M HCl containing sodium sulfite. The calibration line of filtrate absorbance versus analytical concentration was linear over two orders of magnitude between 0.4 and 40 ppm TNT in final solution. Unlike Jenkins' method, the method was tolerant to 100-fold (by mass) of common soil anions like sulfate, nitrate, and chloride. The basic advantages of the developed colorimetric method over the similar CRREL/Jenkins' method may be summarized as color stability, water and common ion tolerance, lowering of the LOD, and widening of the linear range. As opposed to Jenkins' method, the charge-transfer bands characteristic to colorimetric detection were not obscured by the presence of water. The method is suitable for on-site applications, because the color developed in heterogenous solution was stabilized, and the method can be easily practiced with a portable colorimeter to large numbers of samples.     

Post-conflict justice in divided democracies: the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India

Abstract

Official figures claim that almost 3000 people were killed, and many more injured or displaced, in four days of rioting aimed at the Sikh population of Delhi in late October and early November 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. This article analyses the efforts made to address the human rights violations that occurred. It argues that as a divided democracy, India has struggled to do justice to the victims, despite multiple commissions of inquiry, compensation schemes and a prime ministerial apology. It argues that this has occurred not simply because of challenges commonly faced by democracies dealing with similar incidents, but also because of the particular problems faced in a context in which we see continuity of rule by a political elite allegedly implicated in the abuse and in which there is acute concern for the survival of a fragile divided polity.     

Feminist perspectives report of the feminist perspectives working group to the closing plenary

This article is based on the experiences of the feminist perspectives workshop that met each day of the Congress. It discusses feminism as a worldview and particularly applies that perspective to the Congress proceedings. It examines the Congress in terms of three vital aspects of feminism: power, strategy and diversity. Finally, it suggests some ways in which a global feminist perspective might improve future international conferences.