The 1999 Berlin land election

The Berlin election of 1999 resulted in the continuation of the city's Grand Coalition with the veteran CDU leader, Eberhard Diepgen, at the helm, and confirmed the PDS as the strongest party in East Berlin. This article examines the election campaign in Berlin and considers the key factors which determined the outcome. It also considers whether or not the ‘wall in the ballot box’, a political manifestation of the infamous ‘wall in the mind’, still exists over nine years after German reunification. The author argues that the unique history, demography and social make‐up of Berlin, coupled with the prevailing political mood throughout the Federal Republic, made another grand coalition inevitable. She demonstrates that, judging by voting behaviour, ‘inner unity’ remains elusive in Germany's new capital.     

Berlin‐Brandenburg? Nein danke! The Referendum on the Proposed Länderfusion

On 5 May 1996, a narrow majority of voters in Berlin voted in favour of a merger between Berlin and Brandenburg, while a decisive majority in Brandenburg voted against, causing the initiative to fail. In this article the principal arguments put forward by the leading advocates and opponents of the merger are examined. Then the results in East and West Berlin and Brandenburg are analysed in turn in an attempt to identify the primary factors which appear to have determined voting. What emerges is that subjective factors played a greater role than the objective arguments of politicians, producing a result which suggests that deep divisions continue to exist in Germany today.     

Governing peacekeeping: the role of authority and expertise in the case of sexual violence and trauma

Abstract

The surprising authority of gender expertise on sexual violence within post-Cold War peacekeeping can be understood by tracing how sexual violence became linked with political torture and combat violence in peacekeeping security rationality. The linkage emerged from the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) theory within anti-Vietnam war activism, which gained international authority during the 1980s. Post-Cold War narratives of ‘multi-dimensional’ peacekeeping as the policing and rehabilitation of perpetrators and victims for self-government drew on PTSD expertise on ‘integrity violations’, thus problematizing sexual violence. However, gender expertise should not be dismissed as providing ideological cover for imperialist projects: the contingent authority gender expertise has claimed has disrupted the peacekeeping narrative by representing peacekeeping operations as fostering flourishing sex industries in which integrity violations are a norm.     

Priority-setting processes for medicines: the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand

The agencies involved in the assessment and prioritisation of medicines for public subsidy purposes in Australia, England and Wales, and New Zealand are compared in terms of their processes; ultimate decision-maker and political involvement in decisions; price-setting processes; decision criteria and inclusion of economic assessment of cost-effectiveness; provision for the rule of rescue and separate treatment of potentially life-saving medicines and cancer drugs; levels of access; extent of consumer participation in processes and decisions; and provision for appeal from decisions. All countries face the key challenge of expanding access to important new treatments, while maintaining cost-effectiveness as a key criterion for public funding and safeguarding the affordability and sustainability of their programs into the future. New Zealand's model may have led to a greater focus on cost-containment and overall affordability than those of the other two agencies. Despite controversial decisions that have led on occasion to disappointment and challenge, the Australian and New Zealand agencies have survived and appear to have managed to date to maintain public and political support. By contrast, the United Kingdom's National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence is facing major changes to its role that could see it become more of an advisory organisation.     

Factual causation in medical negligence

The conventional approach to causation in negligence is the "but for" test, decided on the balance of probabilities. Even when supplemented by the "material contribution" principle, satisfying the onus of proof of causation can be an insuperable obstacle for plaintiffs, particularly in medical cases. Yet, having found a breach of duty, a court's sympathies may gravitate toward the plaintiff at this point in the case. Accordingly, courts have sometimes accepted a relaxation of strict causation principles. The judicial devices are described: a special principle of causation in particular duties of care; a shifting burden of proof; "bridging the evidentiary gap" by drawing a robust inference of causation; treating a material increase in risk as sufficient proof of causation; and permitting causation to be established on the basis of the loss of a material chance of achieving a better outcome and discounting damages. In Accident Compensation Corp v Ambros [2007] NZCA 304 the New Zealand Court of Appeal recognised the need for a legal device to ameliorate the injustice sometimes caused by the strict rules of causation, and preferred the "inferential reasoning" approach favoured by the Canadian common law for use in the context of the accident compensation scheme. It is hoped that the New Zealand Supreme Court approves Ambros if the opportunity arises.     

The efficiency of a group-specific mandated benefit revisited: the effect of infertility mandates

This paper examines the labor market effects of state health insurance mandates that increase the cost of employing a demographically identifiable group. State mandates requiring that health insurance plans cover infertility treatment raise the relative cost of insuring older women of child-bearing age. Empirically, wages in this group are unaffected, but their total labor input decreases. Workers do not value infertility mandates at cost, and so will not take wage cuts in exchange, leading employers to decrease their demand for this affected and identifiable group. Differences in the empirical effects of mandates found in the literature are explained by a model including variations in the elasticity of demand, moral hazard, ability to identify a group, and adverse selection.     

Identification of common impurities present in the synthetic routes leading to 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA). Part II: Reductive amination and nitropropene route

In this paper the by-products arising during the synthesis of 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA) by LiAlH(4) reduction of 1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-2-nitropropene (nitropropene route) and reductive amination of 4-methylthiophenyl-2-propanone in the presence of NaCNBH(4) are investigated. The identification of 4-methylthio derivatives of N-(β-phenylisopropyl)benzaldimine, 4-methylthio derivative of N-(β-phenylisopropyl)benzyl methyl ketimine, 1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-N-(4-methylthiobenzyl)-2-propanamine, (RS) and (SS/RR)-N,N-di-[β-(4-methylthiophenyl)isopropyl]amine, 4-methylthiobenzyl ether and methylthiobenzoic acid methyl ester as most prominent impurities in crude 4-MTA synthesised by reductive amination of 4-methylthiophenyl-2-propanone, is reported. Methylthio derivatives of 2-methyl-3-phenylaziridine, 2-benzylaziridine, and 4-methylthio derivative of BMK oxime as route-specific markers of nitropropene route leading to 4-MTA, were also characterized. The identity of these compounds was confirmed by their independent synthesis.     

Ignitable liquid identification using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry data by projected difference resolution mapping and fuzzy rule-building expert system classification

The gasoline and kerosene collected from different locations in the United States were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) followed by chemometric analysis. Classifications based on two-way profiles and target component ratios were compared. The projected difference resolution (PDR) mapping was applied to measure the differences among the ignitable liquid (IL) samples by their GC/MS profiles quantitatively. Fuzzy rule-building expert systems (FuRESs) were applied to classify individual ILs. The FuRES models yielded correct classification rates greater than 90% for discriminating between samples. PDR mapping, a new method for characterizing complex data sets was consistent with the FuRES classification result.     

Investigation of markers to indicate and distinguish death due to alcoholic ketoacidosis, diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state using post-mortem samples

Data from 191 post-mortem cases where post-mortem blood beta-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) and acetone concentrations and vitreous humor glucose concentrations (where available) had been measured were retrospectively investigated to determine the markers required to identify and distinguish between Alcoholic Ketoacidosis (AKA), Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) and Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic State (HHS). Blood βHB concentrations above 250 μg/mL were considered significant and it was shown to be the preferred marker of ketoacidosis. All cases with significant βHB detected also had acetone present (greater than 2mg/dL) demonstrating that acetone can be used as a marker to identify ketoacidosis and can be used to indicate when βHB measurement is necessary. Vitreous humor glucose concentrations above 6.9 mmol/L were considered high and indicative of hyperglycemia prior to death. Vitreous humor glucose concentrations can be used to distinguish between DKA and ketoacidosis from other causes and to identify deaths due to HHS. The data showed that ketoacidosis can occur without a history of alcoholism or diabetes. Many diabetics are undiagnosed for many years. Therefore, DKA or HHS should be considered in sudden or unexplained deaths and glucose should be routinely measured especially in cases with risk factors for diabetes including obesity, old age, a history of mental health problems or treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs including clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine and risperidone.