The impurity characteristics of methamphetamine synthesized by Emde and Nagai method

Impurity profiling and classification of seized methamphetamine may play an important role in the interpretation of analytical results, the determination of the synthetic method employed, and the criminal investigations of drug traffic routes. Our study is focused on classifying seized methamphetamine samples according to the groups sorted by the types and quantities of impurities present in illicit methamphetamine samples. The samples (100 mg) were dissolved in 2 mL of potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), extracted with 200 μL of ethyl acetate under basic condition, and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) with a DB-1 capillary column (30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 μm). Five impurities are used as criteria for the classification of seized methamphetamine samples by Emde and Nagai method. A total of fifty-two samples of seized methamphetamine were analyzed by GC–MS and classified by five organic impurities, and then sorted into four groups, which are Nagai type, Emde Type, Undetermined I type, and Undetermined II type.     

Stressors, coping resources and strategies, and police stress in South Korea

The present article extends prior research to identify the predictors of police stress from work place problems, the resources available through social support, different strategies for coping with stress, and conditions unique to policing in South Korea. The unique conditions are perceived public perception of police and attitudes towards women working outside of the home. Seven hundred officers were asked to participate in the research, and 686 did participate (96 percent response rate). Almost half of the variance in stress could be explained. Reports of being ridiculed and “set up” in dangerous situations, and to a lesser extent, lack of support from superiors and perceived disrespect from the public, were salient predictors of stress. Coping strategies did not moderate the associations between stressors and stress. Findings were interpreted in relation to collectivist culture and possible points of intervention.     

Review Essay / Justifying the rights of pregnancy: The interest view

Bonnie Steinbock, Life Before Birth New York, Oxford University Press, 1992, 256 pp.     

To be continued . . . Syntheses and trends in follow-up of quality assurance in West European higher education

The authors report on West European trends in follow-up arrangements of national quality assurance procedures. They argue that external quality assurance ought to adopt a broader conception of quality than is now often the case. Next, the general public ought to have a guarantee that external quality assurance is valid (through meta-evaluation) and has consequences (through follow-up arrangements). Follow-up currently is not well developed in many European countries in a formal sense, but is receiving more attention as external quality assurance is maturing. Finally, the authors link national quality assurance to the European dimension; an international network could fulfil important functions in making quality assurance transparent and credible across Europe. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Building the Evidence Base for Intensive Family Preservation Services

This article examines the state of intensive family preservation services (IFPS) research. Using studies of IFPS in five states, this article seeks to establish whether IFPS can be regarded as an evidence-based practice, an increasingly important standard for publicly funded services. While reporting rates of repeat child maltreatment, the analysis uses placement rates as the main outcome measure and compares effect sizes using Cohen's arcsine transformation for data reported as proportions. Significant differences in rates of child out-of-home placement and repeat maltreatment were found in some studies, particularly for higher risk families. The findings also underscore the difficulty of identifying which families to serve (targeting), ensuring treatment fidelity, and employing rigorous and appropriate evaluation methods. Overall, additional research is needed to move IFPS from a promising practice to an evidence-based practice.     

Forays into Japanese cultural psychology

Abstract

The search for a theory of Japanese personality and culture has been an epic endeavor among foreign specialists, filled with all the mystery and fantasy of discovering Atlantis. The inquiry began nearly a century ago when the venerable William Griffis described the moral character of the “average Japanese” as being “frank, honest, kind, gentle, courteous, confiding, affectionate, filial, loyal.” Reviewing his own inventory of personality traits, Griffis felt obliged to conclude that the “Japanese are simply human, no better, no worse than mankind outside.”     

Prelapsarian State: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Transitional Justice

Since South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), 'reconciliation' is now an authoritative discourse governing political transition. Reconciliation governs the 'moral reordering' of national communities in the wake of conflict and transition to more democratic regimes by enquiring into, and attempting to address, past gross violations of human rights perpetrated, in the main, against civilian populations by the state and its agents. Reconciliation eschews retributive justice in favour of 'restorative' modes of 'dealing with the past', and has come, broadly, to be institutionalised by the truth commission. South Africa's TRC animated theological discourses of forgiveness and Christian reconciliation in order to legitimise and endow with moral resonance the project of transitional justice. This article enquires into the political effects of such an animation, and investigates the performance of forgiveness and reconciliation as metaphor and narrative.