Lessons from urban risk assessments in Latin American and Caribbean cities

This paper draws on the results from a recent World Bank-funded project designed to inform policy-making and climate change adaptation planning in small and medium-sized cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The focus was on floods and landslides, which are the two most common climate-related risks in cities across the region. The project allowed the application of the Urban Risk Assessment (URA) tool developed by the World Bank and the drawing of valuable lessons which may also be applicable to the many methods and tools available for climate change adaptation planning in the rapidly urbanising cities of developing countries.     

Review and commentary

“A” in politics, “C” in science

Michael R. Beschloss: Mayday: Eisenhower, Khruschev and the U‐2 Affair Harper & Row, New York, 1986, 494 p., $19.95.

Plausible deniability and waging war

Prados, John: A Review of Presidents’ Secret Wars. William Morrow and Co., New York, 1987 436 p., $19,95.

Mission impossible?

Nicholas Bethell: Betrayed. Times Books, New York, 1985, 206 p., $15.95

Spies, Deja Vu

Thierry Welton: Le KGB en France Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1986,340 p., 480 Fr.

She had no future, but oh what a past!

Russell Warren Howe: Mata Hari: The True Story Dodd & Mead, New York, 1986,292 p., $17.95.

Away but not forgotten

Vladislav Krasnov: Soviet Defectors: The KGB Wanted List Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif., 1986, 264 p., $16.95.

Cryptanalysis reexplored

Thomas Parrish: The Ultra Americans: The U.S. Role in Breaking the Nazi Codes Stein and Day, New York, 1986, p. 338, $19.95.

Robert J. Lamphere and Tom Shachtman: The FBI‐KGB War: A Special Agent's Story Random House, New York, 1986, p. 320, $18.95

Cipher A. Deavours and Louis Kruh: Machine Cryptography and Modern Cryptanalysis Artech House, Dedham, Md., 1985, 259 pp.     

Bellamy’s Looking Backward, 2000–1887, Globalism,and Race

This essay first considers the type of world that Edward Bellamy envisioned for the future and then holds his vision up for review. His society’s good points are discussed as well as the areas where Bellamy retains some of his 19th‐century limitations, especially where it comes to women’s role in the future. Because Bellamy did briefly turn to the international scene, the essay puts his version of international relations into the context of 21st‐century globalization. It is in this realm that Bellamy admits that his utopia is incomplete, a striking statement. Yet it is in the final realm of analysis—race—that Bellamy’s utopia is most swiftly criticized, since there are no people of color in America but they are to be found elsewhere on the planet. Finally, the article finishes with a few thoughts on the value of writing and reading fiction of this kind.     

Paradoxical and double-bind communication in treatment for people who sexually offend

Abstract

At its most fundamental structural level, treatment for people who sexually offend has inherently paradoxical elements. These involve questions about efficacy, the balance of community safety and client autonomy and responsibility for meaningful change. These elements can create further forms of paradoxical and double-bind communication within the treatment experience itself. This paper explores this communication and its potentially harmful effects on clients, therapy and community safety, particularly in light of the schemas, implicit theories and cognitive deficits exhibited by people with histories of sexually offending behaviour. It is intended to suggest topics for consideration in solving clinical dilemmas and preventing harm to therapeutic relationships.     

Before Seattle: The historical roots of the current movement against corporate-led globalisation

The purpose of this article is to enrich the understanding of the precursors to today's global citizen movement against corporate-led globalisation and to draw on that history for its relevance to the contemporary period and movement. In doing this, we provide snapshots of three dynamic waves of economic integration that provoked cross-border resistance: 1) the period of European colonialism, with case studies of the anti-slave trade and the international workers' movements; 2) the early post-World War II period (1940s-60s), when a vibrant debate erupted about how developing countries should relate to the world economy; and 3) the 1970s, when Southern governments banded together to pose alternative rules and institutions, and when popular resistance to different aspects of economic integration spread in many nations.     

Investigation of Reproducibility and Error Associated with qPCR Methods using Quantifiler® Duo DNA Quantification Kit*

Abstract: Reproducibility of quantitative PCR results is dependent on the generation of consistent calibration curves via accurate volume transfers and instrument performance. A review of 14 standard curves, using two different QuantDuo^® standard DNA lots, showed variability of cycle threshold values between assays were larger than those of the Internal PCR Control (IPC). This prompted a set of experiments designed to determine the source of variability. Results showed that error introduced during DNA addition to the plate resulted in little variation. A comparison of seven independent series demonstrated cycle threshold variation between dilutions was larger than the variation expected from repeated samples. Modeling the influence of pipette errors on dilution series accuracy indicated that a more rigorous approach to external calibration curve production is required and showed that improvement in calibration curve stability is expected if the pipette conditions are carefully chosen and/or a single validated curve is utilized as the calibrator.     

Jettisoning Illusions About the Median Mandate

We endorse G. Bingham Powell's cautionary corrective to challenge Paul Warwick's conclusions that the median mandate thesis needs to be jettisoned because there is not a close match between median voter and government left‐right positions. More to the point, however, we go beyond Powell's mild caution to challenge Warwick's rejection more assertively and thoroughly. We show his rejection mistakes responsiveness for congruence, misapprehends how and why the median mandate thesis distinguishes between those two concepts, and fails to take account of a measurement artifact associated with his survey data.