Book Reviews

Andrew Levine, Arguing for Socialism—Theoretical Considerations (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984).

Irving Howe, Socialism and America (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985).

Ellen Meiksins Wood, The Retreat from Class: A New “True” Socialism (London: Verso/American distributor: Shocken, 1986)

Joanne Barkan, Visions of Emancipation: the Italian Workers’ Movement Since 1945. (New York City: Praeger, 1984)

Carlos M. Vilas, The Sandinista Revolution: National Liberation and Social Transformation in Central America, trans. Judy Butler (New York City: Monthly Review Press, 1986)

Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Democracy and Capitalism—Property, Community, and the Contradictions of Modern Social thought (New York: Basic Books, 1986).

Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin, The Dialectical Biologist. (Cambridge, Ma.: Harvard University Press, 1985).

Anthony Giddens, The Nation‐State and Violence: Volume Two of The Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985)

Bob Jessop, Nicos poulantzas. Marxist theory and political strategy, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985).     

Conquest and Regime Change: An Evolutionary Model of the Spread of Democracy and Peace

Whereas the literature on the democratic peace tends to treat the phenomenon as a causal law, we follow Immanuel Kant in interpreting it as a macro-historical process that expanded from a small number of democracies to about 50% of all states. In order to account for this development, we introduce an agent-based model that combines a natural-selection logic with an adaptive mechanism of regime change. The latter is implemented as an empirically calibrated, contextual rule that prompts democratization as an S-shaped function of the democratic share of a state's immediate neighborhood. A similar transition rule governs regime change in the opposite direction. The computational results show that regime change and collective security are necessary to produce realistic trajectories of democratization at the systemic level.     

The Effects of Dextromethorphan on Driving Performance and the Standardized Field Sobriety Test

Dextromethorphan (DXM) is abused most commonly among adolescents as a recreational drug to generate a dissociative experience. The objective of the study was to assess driving with and without DXM ingestion. The effects of one‐time maximum daily doses of DXM 120 mg versus a guaifenesin 400 mg dose were compared among 40 healthy subjects using a crossover design. Subjects’ ability to drive was assessed by their performance in a driving simulator (STISIM^® Drive driving simulator software) and by conducting a standardized field sobriety test (SFST) administered 1‐h postdrug administration. The one‐time dose of DXM 120 mg did not demonstrate driving impairment on the STISIM^® Drive driving simulator or increase SFST failures compared to guaifenesin 400 mg. Doses greater than the currently recommended maximum daily dose of 120 mg are necessary to perturb driving behavior.     

Segmental Hair Analysis—Interpretation of the Time of Drug Intake in Two Patients Undergoing Drug Treatment

The present study involved segmental testing of hair in two clinical cases with known dosage histories. Hair analysis confirmed the first patient's exposure to the prescribed sertraline and citalopram for several months. Citalopram was generally distributed along the hair shaft in accordance with the drug ingestion period. By contrast, “false” positive results were observed for sertraline in distal hair segments, corresponding to a period of no sertraline exposure, which may indicate incorporation from sweat or sebum, which transport the drugs along the hair surface. The second patient received various drugs during her treatment for brain cancer. Metoclopramide, morphine, oxazepam, paracetamol, sumatriptan, tramadol, and zopiclone, which had been part of the therapy, were all detected in the proximal hair segment. The results of these two cases indicated that results—especially concerning the time of drug intake—must be interpreted with caution and allow for the possibility of incorporation from sweat or sebum.     

Skin changes following defibrillation. The effect of high voltage direct current

Previously, electrical injuries have been suggested caused only by the concomitant heat developed during the passage of an electrical current. Recent experimental studies on fully anesthetized pigs and the study of one human case have, however, shown typical electrical alterations. The purpose of the present study was further to evaluate the histology of electrically induced changes in the skin in humans. In addition, supplementary in vivo methods for evaluation of skin changes as high-frequency ultrasound and Raman spectroscopy were used. The skin of 11 patients treated with a defibrillation of the heart was examined for macroscopic changes, the skin of eight of them also for histologic changes and for changes observable via supplementary methods. Immediately and 7 days after the defibrillation, fractions of a narrow red ring were observed along the periphery of the tin-foil electrode. Epidermis showed signs previously observed following electrical influence: segmental alterations often related to the openings of sweat ducts, darkstaining or "empty" nuclei and homogeneous cytoplasm, eosinophilic or pale. Dermis did not show the specific sign of electrical influence: deposits of calcium salts on dermal fibres, neither via histologic examination nor via high-frequency ultrasonography and Raman spectroscopy. Fractions of a narrow red ring along the periphery of the electrode showing histological signs of electric influence in epidermis thus appear to be characteristic of high voltage electrical injury.     

From gold to futurity: a semiotic overview on trust,legal tender and fiat money

ABSTRACT

In the first part of the paper, I am summarizing the most relevant findings of the semiotic study of the money sign. It starts with a tripartition of the major types, namely commodity money, representative money, and fiat money. I then use this approach in order to position the most important contributions of other authors from semiotics and surrounding disciplines. In the second part, I develop a semiotic reading of the notion of legal tender where the latter is seen as a semiotic mechanism that provides particular conditions for the formation of the value of money. I combine a historical review with stress on important theoretic reflections during the development and implementation of pure legal tender money. The last part is dedicated to a proposal for a semiotic model of the fiat money sign. The model is developed and implemented as a reflection on some critical readings of the world financial crisis from 2008 to 2009, where the “semiotization of money” was used for explication. My model is based on one of the most insightful definitions of money, which sees them as “trust inscribed”.     

Comparing deep-end confinement in England & Wales and Norway

Extreme forms of custody represent the boundary points of state power. The configuration of the most restrictive corners of prison systems, and what goes on within them, is highly instructive in exposing the objectives, limits, and implications of state coercion at its most severe. Based on data collected in England & Wales and Norway, this article has two main aims. The first is to explore the degree to which “deep-end” confinement differs between jurisdictions with different penal philosophies. The second is to understand how the most extreme form of confinement in each jurisdiction differs from the more typical carceral experiences within each system and its overall penal ethos. Empirically, then, the article seeks to shine light into the deepest dominions of both prison systems, illuminating the experiential texture of extreme forms of imprisonment. It concludes by asking what can be inferred about Nordic exceptionalism, and about deep-end confinement more generally, by analyzing these domains.     

Advisory bodies and morality policies: does ethical expertise matter?

Policy Sciences - Governments and parliaments struggle to design biomedical policies: while research and practice make rapid progress, they often trigger value conflicts. One response involves...     

Increased risk of fatal intoxication and polypharmacy among psychiatric patients at death

Patients suffering from psychiatric disorders have an excess mortality and a shorter life span expectancy compared to the general population. Furthermore, they are treated with multiple drugs and are known to have an increased risk of drug abuse. In this study, we aimed at investigating the pharmaceutical drug and drug of abuse profiles of the deceased included in the Danish prospective autopsy‐based forensic study on psychiatric patients, SURVIVE. Using the postmortem systematic toxicological analysis results, we identified 129 different consumed compounds in our population (n = 443). Polypharmacy (≥5 compounds) was detected in 39.5% of the deceased. Deceased with a psychiatric diagnosis or who died from a fatal intoxication had significantly more compounds at the time of their death compared to having either no psychiatric diagnosis or another cause of death, respectively. Evidence of drug abuse was present, as 29.8% of our total population had consumed either methadone or illicit drugs of abuse, excluding tetrahydrocannabinol. Of those deceased with a psychiatric diagnosis, 33.6% had either consumed methadone or illicit drugs of abuse, a greater number than those without a psychiatric diagnosis. Fatal intoxication was the most frequent cause of death (40.6%) with methadone as the major intoxicant. Here, we found that those without a psychiatric diagnosis had fewer fatal pharmaceutical drug intoxications compared to the psychiatric diagnosis groups. Our findings add further context to understanding the excess mortality of psychiatric patents, since there is an increased occurrence of fatal intoxication, polypharmacy, and drug abuse in this population.     

The other hidden hand: Soviet and Cuban intelligence in Allende’s Chile

The role of Soviet and Cuban covert activities in Allende’s Chile has not been given sufficient consideration. This paper outlines the significant actions that the KGB and the Cuban DGI undertook there, showing that both organizations played important roles in both operating directly against the CIA and by supporting local actors. The results of their efforts, however, may have been negative to Allende’s coalition by focusing on factional or ideological interests. A broad array of sources is brought together to shed light on this historical gap. The result is a new paradigm in which we can consider this dramatic period.