Dealing with cross-sectoral policy problems: An advocacy coalition approach to climate and water policy integration in Northeast Brazil

Policy Sciences - The governance of several cross-cutting challenges, such as food security, climate change, and sustainable development, calls for integrative policy approaches. However, efforts...     

Identification of acepromazine in hair: an illustration of the difficulties encountered in investigating drug-facilitated crimes

After a drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA), a woman was found in a drowsy state at home. She remembered having drunk an unknown beverage by the accused. Blood samples (collected 8 hours after the DFSA), two glasses, and a teaspoon seized by the police were analyzed. Acepromazine, a phenothiazine tranquilizer used in human and veterinary medicine, was detected in the residue of one of the glasses. In spite of acepromazine absence in the victim's blood, the possible use of acepromazine in the DFSA was reported to the police. Two weeks later, a suspect admitted having orally administered acepromazine to the victim. Using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method, this compound was subsequently detected (31 pg/mg) in a sample of the victim's hair collected a month and a half after the DFSA. A potential short elimination half-life in humans and/or the well-known in vitro degradation of acepromazine could explain the negative blood result. DFSA toxicological investigations are challenging and can be complicated when a rather unusual substance is concerned. In particular, special care should be taken when interpreting the results, taking into account elimination and/or instability data, when available.     

Selective colorimetric determination of TNT partitioned between an alkaline solution and a strongly basic Dowex 1-X8 anion exchanger

The Meisenheimer anions formed from TNT in KOH solutions in alcohol or acetone were used in screening tests for TNT among possible nitro-explosives. The same reaction was used for the spectrophotometric assay of TNT in soil by CRREL (Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory of the U.S. Army) method, also known as Jenkins' method, but the color stability was too dependent on the solution composition and the water tolerance was low, necessitating complete drying of soil samples (which may cause partial analyte decomposition) prior to analysis. This study reports the development of a colorimetric method based on the solid phase extraction (SPE) of the Meisenheimer anion formed from TNT and aqueous NaOH into a strongly basic anion exchange resin Dowex 1-X8 (OH(-) form). The orange-red color that developed both in the solid resin and solution phases was persistent for at least 1h. The resin was let to swell in alcohol, washed first with 1M aqueous NaOH, and then with H(2)O before use. To 5 mL of 4-400 ppm TNT solutions in 1:1 (v/v) acetone-water, 0.5 mL of 5% NaOH was added, diluted to 50 mL with 1:1 acetone-water, and the resulting solutions (containing the orange-red Meisenheimer anion of TNT) were agitated at room temperature with 0.9 g resin for < or =50 min. TNT exhibited a reasonably constant distribution coefficient between the resin and aqueous phases. The absorbance of the filtered solutions was measured against a reagent blank at 500nm. The TNT-loaded resins were regenerated with 1M HCl containing sodium sulfite. The calibration line of filtrate absorbance versus analytical concentration was linear over two orders of magnitude between 0.4 and 40 ppm TNT in final solution. Unlike Jenkins' method, the method was tolerant to 100-fold (by mass) of common soil anions like sulfate, nitrate, and chloride. The basic advantages of the developed colorimetric method over the similar CRREL/Jenkins' method may be summarized as color stability, water and common ion tolerance, lowering of the LOD, and widening of the linear range. As opposed to Jenkins' method, the charge-transfer bands characteristic to colorimetric detection were not obscured by the presence of water. The method is suitable for on-site applications, because the color developed in heterogenous solution was stabilized, and the method can be easily practiced with a portable colorimeter to large numbers of samples.     

Negative reactions to the sexually abused victims,withdrawing the complaint and outcomes of the litigation: the first data from Turkey

In order to provide psychosocial services to children with sexual abuse (SA) histories, their needs and problems should be initially identified. In this study, it is intended to determine the psychosocial problems of victims. Participants were 73 victims between aged between 16 and 21. A telephone interview form was used to collect the study data. It is found that there were several problems noted by victims, including underage marriage (15.1%), teenage pregnancy (6.9%), revictimization (13.7%), need for psychiatric support (21.9%) as well as negative social reaction (84.4%) and not being supported by family (41.1%). One-third of the victims (30.1%) had withdrawn the complaint for reasons such as SA being heard among social circle, the negative effect of court process on psychological well-being, make a new beginning and reasons related to the suspects. Finally, it was found out that 21.9% of the parents did not know the outcome of the litigation, 34.2% of them were satisfied with the case result, 43.8% of them were not satisfied with the penalty, 43.8% of the litigation process was ended in favor of the suspect and 43.9% of the suspects were punished. This study shows the need for prevention and intervention studies to solve the problems of SA victims, and it is essential to make the justice system child-friendly.     

L'assurance-maladie au Canada: les raisons de l'implication de l‘État

Sommaire: Cet article souligne d'abord brièvenient l'importance politique de l'assurance-maladie au Canada, de même que son importance en tant qu'objet de recherche. Á la suite d'un tour d'horizon des principaux champs d'intérêt de la recherche sur les politiques, l'auteur propose de s'attarder plus longriement à la question de savoir pourquoi le Canada s'est doté de programmes d'assurancemaladie. Cette question est abordée par le biais d'une étude comparative d'Anthony King, publiée en 1973, qui attribuait l'absence de programmes universels d'assurance-maladie aux États-Unis à l'influence prépondérante des Idées, c'est-à-dire des valeurs collectives de la nation américaine. Pouvons-nous également expliquer la présence de tels programmes au Canada par cette variable? L'examen du contexte dans lequel chacun des onze gouverneinents impliqués a pris la decision d'implanter un programme d'assurance-maladie perinet d'affirmer que le rôle des Idées a été déterminant pour seulement trois de ceux-ci: le gouvernement fédéral, celui de la Saskatchewan et celui du Québec. La décision du gouvernement fédéral a été fortement influencée par les initiatives britanniques en la matière; la Saskatchewan est intervenue en mison de l'idéologie socialiste de son gouvernement; quant au Québec, il a agi sous l'impulsion dun interventionnisme en rupture avec le passé. Cependant, puisque les huit autres gouvernements en sont venus à croire nécessaire d'offrir de tels programmes à cause des initiatives du gouvernement fédéral et de celui de la Saskatchewan, on peut néanmoins considérer pe la variable des Idées constitue fondanientalement la variable clé qui explique la création de programmes d'assurance-maladie au Canada. Parmi les trois phénomènes d'Idées distingués, c'est l'influence de la Crande-Bretagne qui s'est probahlement avérée la plus importante. Abstract: First of all, this article underlines briefly the political significance of health insurance in Canada. After reviewing the main areas of interest for policy research, the author considers at greater length the reasons why Canada opted in favour of a health insurance plan. This question is introduced through a comparative study by Anthony King, published in 1973. which attributes the absence of a universal health insurance plan in the United States to the preponderont influence of Ideas, which is to say, the collective values of the American nation. Likewise, can we explain the existence of such programs in Canada on the basis of this variable? A study of the context in which each of the eleven governments involved made the decision to set up a health insurance plan shows that Ideas have played a decisive role for only three of them: the federal government, the government of Saskatchewan and the government of Quebec. The federal government's decision had been strongly influenced by the British example; Saskatchewan acted because of the socialist ideology of its government; as to Quebec, it moved under the impulse of an interventionist movement breaking with its tradition. However, since the eight other governments came to believe that they had to offer such programs because of the initiatives of both the federal government and the government of Saskatchewan, one can consider nevertheless that the ideas variable was basically the key to the creation of health insurance programs in Canada. A further examination of the three Ideas phenomena indicates that it is probably Great Britain's influence which has been most important.     

Watchdogs in Our Midst: How Presidents Monitor Coalitions in Brazil's Multiparty Presidential Regime

When delegating governing tasks to a coalition partner, the president would like to give a minister ample administrative powers to be able to effectively accomplish the political mission. Due to information asymmetries, the president runs the risk that this discretion might be used to pursue policy outcomes that may harm the president's preferences. This trade‐off between delegation and control is key to understanding governance strategies the president chooses to minimize agency risks and coordinate public policies. With Brazil as a case study, this article demonstrates that presidents have strategically made frequent use of junior ministers as watchdogs of coalition partners, especially when coalition allies are ideologically distant from the president's preferences. Yet neither the portfolio salience nor the president's decision to share powers with coalition partners proportionally seems to interfere in such strategic decisions.     

Left-right party ideology and government policies: A meta-analysis

Abstract. This paper summarizes how the partisan influence literature assesses the relationship between the left–right party composition of government and policy outputs through a meta–analysis of 693 parameter estimates of the party–policy relationship published in 43 empirical studies. Based on a simplified 'combined tests' meta–analytic technique, we show that the average correlation between the party composition of government and policy outputs is not significantly different from zero. A mutivariate logistic regression analysis examines how support for partisan theory is affected by a subset of mediating factors that can be applied to all the estimates under review. The analysis demonstrates that there are clearly identifiable conditions under which the probability of support for partisan theory can be substantially increased. We conclude that further research is needed on institutional and socio–economic determinants of public policy.     

Use of forensic investigations in anti-doping

The fight against doping is mainly focused on direct detection, using analytical methods for the detection of doping agents in biological samples. However, the World Anti-Doping Code also defines doping as possession, administration or attempted administration of prohibited substances or methods, trafficking or attempted trafficking in any prohibited substance or methods. As these issues correspond to criminal investigation, a forensic approach can help assessing potential violation of these rules. In the context of a rowing competition, genetic analyses were conducted on biological samples collected in infusion apparatus, bags and tubing in order to obtain DNA profiles. As no database of athletes' DNA profiles was available, the use of information from the location detection as well as contextual information were key to determine a population of suspected athletes and to obtain reference DNA profiles for comparison. Analysis of samples from infusion systems provided 8 different DNA profiles. The comparison between these profiles and 8 reference profiles from suspected athletes could not be distinguished. This case-study is one of the first where a forensic approach was applied for anti-doping purposes. Based on this investigation, the International Rowing Federation authorities decided to ban not only the incriminated athletes, but also the coaches and officials for 2 years.