Clarifying the complex chemistry of cobalt(II) thiocyanate-based tests for cocaine using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques

Cobalt(II) thiocyanate-based tests are routinely used to screen cocaine products, with the formation of a blue species interpreted as a positive response. An array of other organic bases has been identified as false positives – including well-documented cocaine product adulterant lidocaine and its salt. False positives prompt continued test development, though improvements are hindered by unresolved product structures and reaction pathways. Toward greater clarity, cobalt(II) thiocyanate reactions with cocaine hydrochloride, along with lidocaine and its salt, were investigated using multiple analytical techniques. Reactions involving cocaine hydrochloride yielded glassy, amorphous blue material while reactions of lidocaine hydrochloride monohydrate produced larger, needle-like crystals whose structure was determined via single-crystal X-ray diffraction to be an ion pair (Hlidocaine⁺)₂([Co(SCN)₄]²⁻)·H₂O. While the blue precipitate isolated from reactions involving cocaine hydrochloride was unsuitable for crystallographic structure determination, comparative ultraviolet–visible, attenuated total reflectance infrared, and Raman spectroscopic analysis – along with elemental analysis – supports that this solid is comprised of a comparable ion pair (Hcocaine⁺)₂[Co(SCN)₄]²⁻. Pink crystals isolated from lidocaine reaction vessels were identified as coordination compounds cis-[CoL₂(SCN)₂] and trans-[CoL₂(SCN)₂] where L = lidocaine, while pink crystals from both cocaine hydrochloride and lidocaine hydrochloride monohydrate reaction vessels were the coordination polymer trans-[Co(H₂O)₂(SCN)₂]·H₂O. The results presented herein enable reaction optimization to favor a desired product, whether ion pair or coordination species.     

From scarcity to security: Water as a potential factor for conflict and cooperation in Southern Africa

The authors argue that South Africa's role as an economic gateway for various African countries primarily depends on geography, that is, on naturally given and man-made structures in geographical space. Hence, they first examine South Africa's location and physio-geographical conditions in Southern Africa in order to show important factors that affect the scope of the South African gateway. Second, they shed light on regional transport infrastructure, revealing how South Africa interlinks its neighbouring countries globally. Thirdly, regional economic interaction is analysed with regard to structural features of South Africa's economy that make it prone to being a gateway. The authors recognise that the impact of all these factors is influenced by strategic decisions taken by politicians and businesspeople. The outlook of the paper therefore addresses policies of the South African government that are often problematic for the country's gateway role. Potential challengers and their competitive advantages are presented, too.     

FDI Liberalisation,Firm Heterogeneity and Foreign Ownership: German Firm Decisions in Reforming India

The paper investigates the role of firm-level productivity and industry-level R&D for multinational enterprises' (MNEs') choice of undertaking foreign direct investment (FDI), and the share of ownership in foreign affiliates. Two firm-specific datasets on German MNEs with varying equity stakes in Indian affiliates are used to account for the two-step decision process. The paper also analyses how German firm decisions were affected by the liberalisation of FDI regulations in India. Results show remarkable differences between the selection and the ownership share equation, and also between the pre-reform and post-reform periods. The evidence clearly reveals the trade-offs involved in selective FDI approvals and foreign ownership restrictions.     

Federal-level Government Participation and State-level Electoral Performance: A Party-based Analysis of Land Elections in Germany, 1949–2017

To what extent does the federal political arena contaminate the regional one in Germany? Does a party’s position as government or opposition on the federal level have a systematic impact on its performance in Land elections? Land elections are often characterised as second order elections, but existing empirical studies that use real election data suffer from important methodological problems. Unlike previous approaches using survey data or comparing vote shares in regional and federal elections, we analyse contamination in two ways. First, we test whether a party’s role at the federal level has a systematic impact on gaining or losing office at the Land level. Second, we examine the vote difference of parties relative to their result in the previous election in the Land. Drawing on a complete dataset of all Land elections from 1949 to 2017, we find confirmation for two phenomena well known in comparative electoral studies. First, the anti-incumbency effect: government parties tend to lose votes. In the German context, as in many other multilevel systems, this is exacerbated by the second effect: contamination. Gaining power or votes on the Land level is very difficult when a party is in government on the federal level.     

Correctional Treatment Programmes for Young Offenders in Europe: A Survey of Routine Practice

This article presents the results of an international survey of European correctional treatment programmes for young offenders. Questionnaires gathering data on programmes’ design, implementation, structure, and evaluation were collected from 112 programme administrators in 25 European Union countries. Results demonstrated that although there was a commitment to young offender rehabilitation in almost every country, programmes adopted many different approaches and were implemented with varying levels of adherence to evidence-based principles of ‘best practice.’ The majority of programmes adopted a cognitive-behavioural approach, and clinical discretion was prioritised over systematised, empirically validated assessment instruments. Most programmes were administered by centralised government agencies; however, process and outcome evaluation was rare. These findings suggest a strong need for improved systematic evaluation in most European countries.     

Bemerkungen zur reform des Reichsjustizwesens in der Zweiten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts

Summary

Voltaire and the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688

From the start of his career Voltaire was pro‐English. Britain was for him the country of a ‘sage liberté’ which was the beneficial result of the civil wars. His contacts with the British community in Paris and the exiled Lord Bolingbroke help explain why he sought refuge in London after his imprisonment and his subsequent passion for English institutions. Voltaire's view of institutions was not always very accurate; he only saw the positive side and, intentionally or not, concealed a great deal. The religious foundation of the English character escaped him, as did the agrarian problems. For him the regime of 1689 constituted a constitutional ideal; the balance it achieved was a perfection to whose defects he was blind.

Voltaire had always been split between his admiration for the English system and his respect for the ‘enlightened’ work of Frederick the Great and Catherine Il. He inclined, especially towards the end of his life, towards England. He was one of the originators of a current, still very much alive in France, of an anglophilia of the left’. But the undeniable weakness in Voltaire's thought was his failure ever to ask how far the representative government he so admired was capable of being practised by the French.     

Transnational networks and kin states: the Turkish minority in Bulgaria, 1878–1940

This paper focuses on the development of national identity and the formation of political organizations in the Turkish minority in the early years of the formation of the Bulgarian state from 1878 to the 1940s. It studies transnational aspects of nationalism, which is usually considered territorially bounded, by studying the impact of connections between the Turkish minority and the Ottoman Empire and later with Turkey. In addition to studying inter-state relations and their reflection in the legal and political sphere, this paper studies the flow of ideas across borders, transnational networks among political activists, and the resulting cleavage formation. Findings show that transnational connections and actors played dual roles. The circulation of political activists, contributed to the formation of national organizations which played a crucial role in (re)formulating national identity. Transnational connections increased political activity in the name of the Turkish minority. Through these organizations the community was able to make collective demands from the Bulgarian state. However, transnational connections carried debates and divisions in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey to the Turkish minority in Bulgaria. By dividing the community, they decreased the capacity for collective action.     

The ‘Forgotten’ People: Turkey's Artisans in the 1950s

This paper intends to shed light into a social class, the Turkish artisans who were ignored by the mainstream historiography for a variety of reasons. Yet, they were the ones who formed the bulk of the middle-class in the following decades, helped shape the contours of Turkish politics and were seen as responsible for propogating the ideology of conservatism. In fact, without a thorough analyses of this social class, one could hardly grasped the evolution of the so-called modernization process Turkey underwent for the last half a century or so. By using parliamentary records, periodicals, newspapers and memoirs of the time as well as artisans' own journals, we trace the social and ideological demands of the Turkish artisans of the 1950s and bring about a comparative perspective by using the historical experiences of other countries. We argue that their conservatism should not be confused with the modern day conservatism since they represented a version of a peculiar form of progressive ideas and demands together with pro-Western and pro-capitalist inspirations.     

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of European drug treatment programmes on reoffending

This article presents the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of treatment programmes for drug abusing offenders in Europe, using stringent eligibility criteria to control for threats to internal validity. A literature search of approximately 37,000 titles revealed 15 sound evaluations from six countries, containing 3953 participants. There were significant positive overall effects of treatment on crime (d=0.47) and illicit drug use (d=0.38). Most evaluations originated from the UK and evaluated primarily substitution therapy-based treatment. Evaluations of other interventions were a minority. Our findings support the use of treatment programmes among substance-abusing offenders. However, these results are limited to a small set of programmes from very few countries. Therefore, sound evaluations on a range of treatments across Europe are needed.     

Using multidimensional scaling for the analysis of sexual offence behaviour: A replication and some cautionary notes

Abstract

Crime scene profiling has received considerable attention, particularly in popular media. First, since low inter-rater reliability would affect the validity of profiling, we tested inter-rater agreement for 33 variables often used in manuals for the coding of crime-related behaviour. Thirty cases were chosen randomly from 146 cases of assault rape with unknown male offenders in Sweden during 1990–1994. Second, we used multidimensional scaling (MDS) with all 146 cases to replicate earlier work by Canter and Heritage (Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 1, 185–212, 1990) regarding motivational dimensions in unknown assault rapists. On average, inter-rater reliability was good; physical behaviours were more reliably coded than were verbal behaviours. However, a two-dimensional MDS solution with the motivational dimensions suggested by Canter and Heritage was not replicated. We argue for better empirical support for the inclusion of specific variables in coding formats for crime scene information. This is particularly important for analyses like the MDS, since the number, representativity, and intercorrelations of such variables could affect results considerably.