Development of a harmonized method for the profiling of amphetamines. I. Synthesis of standards and compilation of analytical data

Reference material was synthesised for 21 substances that are frequently present as synthetic impurities, i.e. by-products, in illicitly produced amphetamine. Each of these substances is a typical by-product for at least one of the three approaches most often used to synthesise amphetamine, namely, the Leuckart, the reductive amination of benzyl methyl ketone, and the nitrostyrene routes. A large body of data on the substances was recorded, including the following: mass spectra, ultraviolet spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectra, infrared spectra in gas phase, and 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra.     

Development of a harmonized method for the profiling of amphetamines. II. Stability of impurities in organic solvents

The present study focused on the stability of 22 amphetamine impurities dissolved in six organic solvents: isooctane, toluene, ethanol, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and diethyl ether. The aim was to find the most inert, and thereby most suitable, solvent for amphetamine profiling. Mixtures of the impurities were prepared in the different solvents, and changes in the concentrations of the individual compounds over-time were monitored by gas chromatographic analysis after 0, 4, 12, 24, 48, and 96 h. Isooctane and toluene provided the most inert conditions, although, a few of the impurities were insufficiently stable in these two solvents. The present experiments were performed as a part of the development of a harmonized method for profiling of amphetamine. The results can be used to support the choice of organic solvents for sample preparation. They also provide information about the stability of the impurities that are found in profiles of illicit amphetamine. This is essential due to the fact, that unstable compounds can have a negative influence on the comparison of profiles.     

Policy-Motivated Candidates,Noisy Platforms,and Non-Robustness

This paper develops a model of a two-candidate election inwhich the candidates are mainly office-motivated but also tosome (arbitrarily small) extent policy-motivated, and theirchosen platforms are to some (arbitrarily small) extent noisy.The platforms' being noisy means that if a candidate haschosen a particular platform, the voter's perception is thatshe has, with positive probability, actually chosen some otherplatform. It is shown that (i) an equilibrium in which thecandidates play pure exists whether or not there is aCondorcet winner among the policy alternatives, and (ii) inthis equilibrium the candidates choose their own favoriteplatforms, which means that the platforms do not converge.     

Mixed fatal poisoning caused by taking L-methadone and chloral hydrate

A 42-year-old female drug user who was enrolled in a methadone maintenance program was found dead in her apartment. Cause of death was an intoxication with chloral hydrate and L-methadone. Trichloroethanol (TCE), the primary metabolite of chloral hydrate, was quantified by solid phase microextraction (SPME) and GC/MS in heartblood (27 micrograms/ml) and urine (338 micrograms/ml). D- and L-methadone were differentiated by chiral HPLC, which showed that only L-methadone had been taken. The quantitation of L-methadone and its metabolite EDDP was carried out by GC/MS from heartblood (1300 ng/ml and 86 ng/ml, respectively), urine (5239 ng/ml and 4960 ng/ml, respectively) and gastric contents (159 ng/ml and 122 ng/ml, respectively). The concentrations of both--trichloroethanol and methadone--were in toxic ranges.     

Political systems and distortions: An empirical study

This paper studies empirically why price distortions are more prevalent in some countries than in others. We find no significant difference between democracies and dictatorships, but frequent regime changes reduce distortions. Political systems (factional-subordinate) that encourage redistributive activities (RDA) tend to have more distortions. Allowing for different effects of RDA in democracies and dictatorships, there is a positive and significant effect of RDA on distortions in dictatorships. In democracies, “distortions-destroying” lobbying seems more important since no significant relation between RDA and distortions can be found.     

Dynamics of regime personalization and patron–client networks in Russia, 1999–2014

Many comparative scholars classify personalist regimes as a distinct category of nondemocratic rule. To measure the process of regime personalization, and to distinguish such a process from overall authoritarian reversal, is difficult in comparative context. Using the Russian political regime in 1999–2014 as a case study, we examine the dynamics of regime personalization over time. Relying on original data on patron–client networks and expert surveys assessing the policy influence of the key members of the ruling coalition, we argue that having more clients, or clients who are more powerful, increases the power of patrons – and that where the patron is the ruler, the resulting measure is an indication of the level of personalization of the regime. We trace regime personalization from the changes in political influence of the president's associates in his patron–client network versus that of other elite patron–client networks. We find that as early as 2004, the Russian regime can be regarded as personalist, and is strongly so from 2006 onward.     

The Institution of a Standardized Investigation Protocol for Sudden Infant Death in the Eastern Metropole,Cape Town,South Africa,,

The rate for the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in Cape Town, South Africa, is estimated to be among the highest in the world (3.41/1000 live births). In several of these areas, including those of extreme poverty, only sporadic, nonstandardized infant autopsy, and death scene investigation (DSI) occurred. In this report, we detail a feasibility project comprising 18 autopsied infants with sudden and unexpected death whose causes of death were adjudicated according to the 1991 NICHD definitions (SIDS, n = 7; known cause of death, n = 7; and unclassified, n = 4). We instituted a standardized autopsy and infant DSI through a collaborative effort of local forensic pathology officers and clinical providers. The high standard of forensic investigation met international standards, identified preventable disease, and allowed for incorporation of research. We conclude that an effective infant autopsy and DSI protocol can be established in areas with both high sudden unexpected infant death, and elsewhere. (SUID)/SIDS risk and infrastructure challenges.     

Future generations as rightholders

Many people believe that we have obligations with respect to future generations concerning the state of the environment that we pass on to them. Apart from the practical problem of people not really acting on such beliefs, there are also conceptual or philosophical issues that make these obligations problematic. The so-called non-identity problem is especially difficult: depending on which courses of action we adopt, different people will be born in the future, which means that even future people who due to our behavior will live under fairly poor circumstances might not have any ground for complaint. Had we not behaved as we did, they would not even have existed. It is argued here that, at least within a rights-theoretical approach, the non-identity problem can be solved by moving from considering individual rights to generational rights, rights which future generations hold qua generations.     

Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice

The growing role of economic expertise in contemporary policy-making has received increasing scholarly attention. Yet, so far, this discussion has only been tenuously linked to relevant debates in public policy and administration, such as the work on policy advisory systems. The article attempts to bridge this gap by examining the changing reliance on academic economic knowledge within policy advisory bodies. It does so by analysing appointments and citation patterns in Norwegian advisory commissions in economic policy over the last 45 years. The analysis shows a marked increase in the number of academic economists appointed to commissions and in citations to economic literature. Moreover, it reveals an orientation towards the most prestigious outlets of the international economics discipline. This development can be interpreted as a scientization of policy advice in the economic field, that is, a growing reliance on academic expertise for analysis and arguments about public policy.