Findings in fatal cases of poisoning attributed to traditional remedies in South Africa.

An analysis of the Johannesburg forensic database over the years 1991-1995 revealed 206 cases in which a traditional remedy was either stated to be the cause of death or was found to be present in a case of poisoning with an unknown substance. The range of toxins detected was wide, with herbal materials being found in 43% of cases, and pharmaceutical or agri-chemicals in 20% and 33% respectively. Since there are as yet no standard methods for the detection of many herbal remedies or their metabolites, careful analysis, using methods such as HPLC/MS, are mandatory for the correct identification of the true cause in cases of poisoning ascribed to traditional remedies.     

Sponsoring Violence: A Typology of Constituent Support for Terrorist Organizations

Terrorist organizations rely on support from their constituencies to survive. Constituent support can be categorized by constituents' behavior (active or passive) and the inducement strategy used by terrorist organizations to obtain it (enticements or coercion). These two dimensions overlap, producing a typology of constituent support for terrorist organizations. Four types of support are thus identified: impelled (active and enticed), auspicious (passive and enticed), compelled (active and coerced), and deterred (passive and coerced). Although types often co-exist and transform from one to another over time, each is a distinct lens to view constituent support and can improve upon state counterterrorism strategies.     

Palestinian youth and non-formal service-learning: a model for personal development,long-term engagement,and peace building

Palestinian youth face developmental, cultural, and political barriers that impede them from fully engaging in civic life. Non-traditional, youth-centred pedagogies of engagement, like community-based service-learning, have shown their potential to motivate marginalised populations and provide space and roles for them to form individual identities while developing civic skills. Using data collected through focus-group interviews, this article considers the impact on West Bank youth who participated in an NGO's community-based service-learning leadership programme. Six themed findings are discussed, and the author suggests that non-school-based service-learning may have a central role to play in the civic-identity development of Palestine's most populous group of citizens.     

Deer stand fatalities in Kentucky: two cases of reverse suspension and blunt force trauma

Hunting many types of wild game is an avidly pursued outdoor activity that attracts all ages and both genders at various times of the year. Deer hunting is a popular sport in many regions of North America. A variety of weapons are used in the hunting, trapping, and killing of game. As a variety of different modalities are used, myriad types of injuries unique to the type of hunting can occur. Most deer hunting-related fatalities identified at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Kentucky are accidental firearm injuries. Less commonly encountered are fatalities resulting from elevation of the hunter in a tree stand, often associated with poor design or construction of the perch. We present 2 tree stand-related deaths. One victim died of positional asphyxia due to reverse suspension from a hunting tree stand. The second victim died of multiple blunt force injuries sustained in a 20-foot fall from a tree stand. We summarize the features of morbidity and mortality related to deer hunting based on investigations by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of Baker & McKenzie’s column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside web sites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.     

The dynamic properties of individual-level party identification in the United States

Central to traditionalist and revisionist perspectives of individual-level party identification is a debate about the stability of party identification. We revisit the debate about the dynamic properties and processes underlying party identification. We present a conceptual framework that defines heterogeneity and state dependence as endpoints of a continuum underlying partisan stability, which is important in understanding an individual’s capacity for updating partisanship. Using panel data from the 1992-1996 National Election Study, we estimate dynamic, random effects multinomial logit models of party identification that distinguish between heterogeneity and “true state dependence.” In accord with traditionalist perspectives, our evidence suggests that in general, minimal state dependence underlies party identification; party identification is strongly stationary. However, we find that age enhances the magnitude of state dependence, which provides some support for revisionist theories. Overall, our work showcases how explaining individual-level dynamics expands our knowledge of partisan stability.     

Does Mode Matter For Modeling Political Choice? Evidence From the 2005 British Election Study

Harold D. Clarke and Marianne C. Stewart School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083 e-mail: hclarke{at}utdallas.edu e-mail: mstewart{at}utdallas.edu Paul Whiteley Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester, England CO4 3SQ e-mail: whiteley{at}essex.ac.uk e-mail: sanders{at}essex.ac.uk (Corresponding author) Although political scientists have begun to investigate theproperties of Internet surveys, much remains to be learned aboutthe utility of the Internet mode for conducting major surveyresearch projects such as national election studies. This paperaddresses this topic by presenting the results of an extensivesurvey comparison experiment conducted as part of the 2005 BritishElection Study. Analyses show statistically significant, butgenerally small, differences in distributions of key explanatoryvariables in models of turnout and party choice. Estimatingmodel parameters reveals that there are few statistically significantdifferences between coefficients generated using the in-personand Internet data, and the relative explanatory power of rivalmodels is virtually identical for the two types of data. Ingeneral, the in-person and Internet data tell very similar storiesabout what matters for turnout and party preference in Britain.Determining if similar findings obtain in other countries shouldhave high priority on the research agenda for national electionstudies. Authors' note: We thank the U.K. Economics and Social ResearchCouncil (ESRC) and Gary Williams, Senior Science Manager atthe ESRC, for their generous support of, and interest in, thisproject. We also thank the editor and anonymous reviewers forhelpful comments and suggestions.