Decentralisation and NGO–municipal government collaboration in Ecuador

Decentralisation, or the transfer of decision-making power and funds from central to local governments, is one of the most important reform movements in Latin America. Recent constitutional changes in Ecuador have contributed to the democratisation and empowerment of municipal governments. Case studies of three municipalities in highland Ecuador examine new opportunities for NGO–municipal government collaboration. NGOs have considerable experience of working locally and can help municipalities with planning and capacity building. Municipalities offer NGOs the legitimacy and local accountability they may lack, as well as the means both to extend project activities beyond isolated communities and to maintain the results once NGO assistance ends.     

microRNA Detection in Blood,Urine, Semen,and Saliva Stains After Compromising Treatments

Evaluation of microRNA (miRNA) expression as a potential method for forensic body fluid identification has been the subject of investigation over the past several years. Because of their size and encapsulation within proteins and lipids, miRNAs are inherently less susceptible to degradation than other RNAs. In this work, blood, urine, semen, and saliva were exposed to environmental and chemical conditions mimicking sample compromise at the crime scene. For many treated samples, including 100% of blood samples, miRNAs remained detectable, comparable to the untreated control. Sample degradation varied by body fluid and treatment, with blood remarkably resistant, while semen and saliva are more susceptible to environmental insult. Body fluid identification using relative miRNA expression of blood and semen of the exposed samples was 100% and 94%, respectively. Given the overall robust results herein, the case is strengthened for the use of miRNAs as a molecular method for body fluid identification.     

Introducing Purchaser/Provider Separation in the Catalan Health Administration: A Budget Analysis

This article examines the extent to which the Catalan reform launched in 1990 effectively introduced the purchaser/provider separation within the public health administration. The reform had two formulation sources: a law passed by the Catalan Parliament, which left this principle vague, and a further 'new public management' discourse, which interpreted the law in terms of a clear purchaser/provider separation. This study uses Dunleavy's (1991) analytical model of agency types to compare the impact of the reform on the budget structures of the health administration agencies affected — namely, the Department of Health and Social Security, the Catalan Health Service and the Catalan Health Institute. The data show that while the provider role was clearly defined and implemented, the purchaser role was not. Instead, the role of the health authority embodied the complex blend of functions established by the text of the law, which was also reflected in its budget structure, and which blurred the separation between purchaser and provider.     

Delimitation of the time of death by immunohistochemical detection of thyroglobulin

To improve the possibilities to delimit the time of death after longer laytime it was examined if this is possible by immunohistochemical detection of thyroglobulin. The results show that in our examination material the colloid and the follicular cells of the thyroid glands of up to 5-day-old corpses produce a positive immunoreaction towards thyroglobulin in all cases whereas none of the corpses older than 13 days show such a reaction. This means that in case of a negative immunoreaction the time of death can be assumed to lie more than 6 days before the autopsy. The fact that a negative immunoreaction occurrs consistently after 13 days leads to the conclusion that when thyroglobulin has been stained in a specimen, the death of the respective person must lie a maximum of 12 days earlier, whereby these time-limits may change in considerably different surrounding conditions.     

The post-Lisbon high representatives: an introduction

ABSTRACT

The Lisbon Treaty recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. The 2009 legal text was an attempt to enhance the unity, consistency and effectiveness of the EU’s action in an increasingly volatile world. And yet, the post-Lisbon time period has been characterised by multiple crises coming from the West, the East, the South, and even from within the EU. Against this backdrop, our Special Issue makes a systematic assessment of the EU's foreign policy post-Lisbon and of its evolution by focusing on the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP). Assessing the post-Lisbon HR/VPs provides important insights on EU foreign policy processes over the past decade. In this introduction, we discuss the three research questions that guide our collection of articles, as well as our theoretical and empirical contribution to existing scholarly literature.