Municipal Leadership of Climate Adaptation Negotiations: Effective Tools and Strategies in Houston and Fort Lauderdale

Negotiation analysis of climate change–related issues has largely focused on public dispute resolution mechanisms that are typically applied in the face of specific environmental crises, or on multiparty diplomacy relating to international climate agreements. Mayors and other municipal leaders, however, are increasingly taking steps to negotiate urban planning efforts with stakeholders to implement policies for managing the intensifying impact of climate change. In this article, we analyze negotiations in Houston, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to identify which methods municipal leaders employed to conduct negotiations to implement climate adaptation policies and also consider whether those methods were effective. The two cities present two differing city management structures: Houston has a strong mayor‐driven system, while Fort Lauderdale uses a city commission and city manager system. In this article, we examine the barriers that leaders must overcome and consider their options for negotiating lasting agreements.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for deliberate self-harm

Patients who engage in deliberate self-harm (DSH) form a heterogeneous population. There is a need for psychotherapeutic interventions that give therapists the flexibility to tailor the treatment plan to the needs of an individual patient. To detect essential ingredients for treatment, three different cognitive-behavioral theories of DSH will be reviewed: (1) the cognitive-behavioral theory of Linehan (1993a), (2) the cognitive theory of Berk, Henriques, Warman, Brown, and Beck (2004), and (3) the cognitive-behavioral theory of Rudd, Joiner, and Rajab (2001). A review of these theories makes it possible to compare the different approaches to the essential aspects in the treatment of DSH: a trusting patient-therapist relationship, building emotion regulation skills, cognitive restructuring, and behavioral pattern breaking. An overview will be given of therapeutic techniques that can be used to address the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal problems associated with DSH.     

Suicide and other external-cause mortality statistics in Ireland: a comparison of registration and occurrence data

There are two sets of annual mortality statistics released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland, one based on deaths registered in the particular year and the other based on the deaths that occurred in that year. We compared the registration and occurrence figures for suicide and for other deaths by an external cause for the years 1987-2003. The occurrence figures were, on average, 6% higher than the registration figures. There was evidence that the extent of the discrepancy increased over the study period, reaching almost 20% in recent years. The findings suggest that caution needs to be taken in the media reporting of registration figures for suicide and other external causes of death in Ireland and in the interpretation of these figures by health professionals.     

The fragmented French executive: Ministerial cabinets in the Fifth Republic

Ministerial cabinets are small informal groups of personal advisers attached to each Minister. Originally a political body they have in the Fifth Republic become a pivot in the politico‐administrative system. To a large extent the role of cabinets can be understood by analysing their environment—that is the needs of the Minister to whom they are responsible, the central administration and the nature of the cabinet itself. These three variables form a useful framework within which the activities of cabinets can be assessed. ¹     

African solutions to African problems? The AU,R2P and Côte d'Ivoire

The African continent is inextricably linked to the development of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm and the latter's ethical interpretation of the duties associated with state sovereignty. With the African Union (AU) having institutionalised R2P in its legal-institutional foundation of 2000, the stage seemed set for the new African Peace and Security Architecture to demonstrate the continent's ramped-up interventionist approach to security. One of the first cases that presented an opportunity to do so was the humanitarian crisis that erupted after the 2010 elections in Côte d'Ivoire. As the crisis unfolded, however, it became clear that the AU was not only unable to operationalise its institutionalised R2P mechanisms, but indeed reluctant to invoke R2P explicitly. This raises serious concerns about the AU's willingness to intervene in its member states when humanitarian atrocities are perpetrated by governments against their own people, and throws into serious doubt the AU's promise to provide ‘African solutions to African problems’.     

Electrical Pulse Generated Upon Discharging a Firearm and Its Implication for Gunshot Residue Analysis

Ammunition primers consisting of a mixture of lead styphnate, barium nitrate, and antimony (III) sulfide, upon deflagration, lead to the formation of inorganic gunshot residue (GSR). The cations, from their predeflagration form, undergo reduction reactions during burning to form the classic spheroidal, micron-sized particles indicative of GSR. However, the rapidly changing pressure and temperature of the reaction zone implies that the reactions cannot go to completion. In this study, we use a conductivity detector to show that GSR produces an electrical pulse which corroborates the incomplete redox chemistry. We find that the shape of some GSR formed in an electric field also suggests its nonneutral character. Tantalizingly, the formation of GSR might be a result of Coulombic repulsion shattering the molten droplets in to smaller spheroids. Lastly, we suggest that deposition or transfer of GSR could be influenced by static electricity, an area which should be further studied.     

The role of cognitive coping in female victims of stalking

The aim of the study is to examine the role of cognitive coping in a sample of 47 female victims of stalking. Stalking victims who blamed themselves more for the stalking report significantly higher symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Respondents who ruminated more about the stalking experience, or respondents who explicitly emphasized the terror of the stalking to a higher extent, also report significantly higher symptom levels. Finally, respondents who thought more about what steps to take and how to handle the stalking report significantly higher symptom levels of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. This conclusion holds also after controlling for the severity of stalking. If the findings of the present study can be confirmed, this could possibly contribute to the help provided to victims of stalking.