Where to From 2021?

More efforts needed to make sure investment pact delivers pragmatic results China became the EU’s largest trading partner in 2020,taking the spot occupied by the U.S.Though global trade was heavily impacted by COVID-19,bilateral trade maintained an uptrend.As the two sides sealed the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment(CAI)in December 2020,more potential in cooperation awaits to be tapped.     

Compounds identified in an illicit generic Xanax tablet are the result of a failed synthesis of alprazolam

Unintended compounds produced by inexperienced clandestine chemists may present a challenge in laboratories tasked with their identification. In March 2020, an anonymously submitted tablet purchased as a generic form of Xanax was analyzed by Erowid's DrugsData.org . The gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) results publicly released online indicated several unidentified compounds due to a lack of database references at that time. Elucidation by our group indicated the presence of several structurally related compounds that were linked to a failed synthesis of alprazolam. For this case study, a published procedure for the synthesis of alprazolam starting with the chloroacetylation of 2-amino-5-chlorobenzophenone was identified as a potential source of this failure. The procedure was reproduced to identify pitfalls of the methodology and examine its possible link to the illicit tablet. Reaction outcomes were analyzed via GC–MS and compared to the tablet submission data. The major compound in this submission, N-(2-benzoyl-4-chlorophenyl)-2-chloroacetamide, along with several related byproducts were successfully reproduced indicating that the tablet contents potentially stem from a failure to synthesize alprazolam.     

Development of an Index of Subsidized Housing Availability and its Relationship to Housing Insecurity

Housing insecurity is a known threat to child health understanding predictors of housing insecurity can help inform policies to protect the health of young children in low-income households. This study sheds light on the relationship between housing insecurity and availability of housing that is affordable to low-income households.

We developed a county-level index of availability of subsidized housing needed to meet the demand of low-income households. Our results estimate that if subsidized units are made available to an additional 5% of the eligible population, the odds of overcrowding decrease by 26% and the odds of families making multiple moves decrease by 31%. Both of these are known predictors of poor child health outcomes. Thus, these results suggest that state and federal investments in expanding the stock of subsidized housing could reduce housing insecurity and thereby also improve the health and well-being of young children, including their families' food security status.     

Facts,Preferences, and Doctrine: An Empirical Analysis of Proportionality Judgment

Legal proportionality is one of the most important principles for adjudicating among conflicting values. However, rather little is known about the factors that play a role in the formation of proportionality judgments. This research presents the first empirical analysis in this regard, relying on a sample of 331 legal experts (lawyers and legal academics). The policy domain addressed by the experiment is the antiterrorist military practice of targeted killings, which has been the subject of a legal debate. Our experimental findings suggest that proportionality judgments are receptive to normatively relevant facts. We also find strong correlational evidence for the effect of ideological preferences on such judgments. These results are consistent for two proportionality doctrines. We suggest that proportionality judgment is anchored jointly in the experts’ policy preferences and the facts of the case. We outline the implications of the findings for the psychological and legal literature.     

Transferring Health Technology to South Africa: The Importance of Traditional African Culture

The transfer of new health technology to South Africa is occurring despite the fact that North American and European health care planners and entrepreneurs have a very limited understanding of traditional Black South African cultures which condition the health-related behaviors of the majority of the population. Consequently, relatively few people of African descent in this very diverse nation are, at least initially, benefiting from the new imported medical technology. This study gives an overview of traditional Black medicine in South Africa and, through the presentation of several case studies, discusses its implications for the societal adoption of new health technology received from the United States and other industrialized nations. The example of the successful application of cervical cancer exams in rural and urban clinics of the Eastern Cape is analyzed and institutional mechanisms that support successful transfer are identified.     

Ecofeminism and Globalisation: A Critical Appraisal

Ecofeminism offers a useful yet limited framework through which to critique globalisation. Ecofeminism claims that the domination of women and of nature are intrinsically linked. Material ecofeminists, in particular, focus on the material conditions of women's lives locating the source of this twin domination in patriarchal capitalism. These ecofeminists provide insights into the impacts of globalisation on women but their analysis of the causes of globalisation are limited. They identify globalisation as an outgrowth of patriarchal capitalism, insisting on the primacy of gender as the determinant of social organisation and arguing that it is the dichotomy between production and reproduction that essentially defines capitalism. However, the rise of modern capitalism has been more convincingly described by those who focus on the domination of workers, the role of the market economy, and the enrolment of all sections of society through the propagation of the work ethic and the allure of consumerism.     

Measuring Delegation

Principal-agent analyses of delegation to international organizations have advanced our understanding of international cooperation through institutions. However, broader tests of why and when states delegate are not possible without a clear means for objectively identifying and measuring delegation. This paper develops a metric for delegation based upon the services the agent provides to its principals and the resources and autonomy it has to provide those services. This numerical metric is continuous and generalizable to a wide variety of principal-agent relationships. This paper then demonstrates the face validity of the measure with case studies of delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The paper concludes with a test of Realist and Institutionalist hypotheses for cooperation using the delegation metric, demonstrating the complexity of the underlying reasons we observe delegation.     

An experimental study of the effect of structured videotape feedback on adolescent group psychotherapy process

Group psychotherapy with disturbed undersocialized adolescents requires modification of traditional group psychotherapy methods. The effectiveness of a structured, brief video-tape feedback and discussion on group psychotherapy process with this population was studied by an analysis of detailed ratings of each statement, or process unit; in randomly selected videotapes from a control and experimental group during a nine-month period. Significant differences in level of intimacy of verbal content and in frequency of feedback about behavior in content indicate that this technique is effective in facilitating group psychotherapy goals.Received Ed.D. from University of Kentucky. Research interests are group psychotherapy process and methodology.Received M.A. from North Carolina State University. Research interest is adolescent group psychotherapy.Received Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. Research interest is adolescent group psychotherapy.Received M.A. from University of North Carolina. Research interest is group psychotherapy process.Received Ph.D. from Purdue University. Research interets include analysis of small group processes.