Breaking the Divide: Setting Environmental Precedent in the Chicago River

Here we argue that sociolegal processes can not only restructure social relationships through setting legal precedent but can also restructure socioenvironmental relationships through setting what we call “environmental precedent.” By environmental precedent we mean the environmental consequences of legal processes, environmental consequences that then become the new, dynamic material reality for future legal processes. We apply the concept of environmental precedent to a legal history of the Chicago River, using this case to illustrate how interactions between sociolegal and environmental processes can set environmental precedent in a way that reshuffles the social and material foundations of future legal processes.     

DNA Purification Cell Lysis and Wash Step Modifications for Low-Template DNA Sample Processing,

As DNA technology becomes increasingly sensitive, forensic laboratories are receiving more low-template DNA samples. These samples, already low in DNA content, become even more challenging to process as the available DNA becomes further reduced during the extraction step. In this study, two extraction modifications were tested to determine if the cause of DNA loss could be identified and mitigated. A double lysis technique was used to test for DNA loss in the sample collection substrate, and lysate eluates were re-extracted to determine DNA loss from inefficient binding to the silica column. Both modifications showed DNA was lost at these steps. However, resulting STR profiles from these samples had fewer peaks and lower peak heights when compared to samples processed with no extraction modifications. Overall, the potential benefits of adding these extraction modifications for low-template DNA sample processing are not enough to justify the risk associated with additional manipulation.     

Policy dismantling at EU level: Reaching the limits of ‘an ever-closer ecological union’?

Having explained their adoption, analysts are now trying to understand how EU environmental policies have subsequently evolved over time. In 2003, David Vogel famously speculated that having overtaken the US in the environmental race to the top, EU policies would also eventually succumb to policy gridlock, that is, neither expanding nor dismantling. Empirical research has since confirmed that EU policy expansion is in decline, but less is known about why dismantling has also been very limited. This article breaks new ground by reconfiguring dismantling—a concept developed for national policy systems—to explain the various dismantling strategies deployed at EU level (1992 to 2016). It finds that the absence of significant dismantling is due both to the symbolic nature of early dismantling attempts and the failure of more recent attempts to build coalitions that overcome institutional obstacles to policy change in the EU.     

Foreword: Follow-on Biologics: Implementation Challenges and Opportunities

This Book of the Seton Hall Law Review presents the contributions to Follow-On Biologics: Implementation Challenges and Opportunities, a one-day roundtable event hosted by Seton Hall University School of Law in the fall of 2010. The roundtable fostered an international dialogue regarding the future of follow-on biologics in the United States resulting from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of March 2010. THE BIOLOGIC PRICE COMPETITION AND INNOVATION ACT OF 2010. The March 23, 2010, enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the companion Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 ushered in landmark reform of the American health care system. Along with sweeping overhauls of the health care system generally, PPACA also provides a new regulatory challenge for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A subtitle within PPACA, the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), bestows upon FDA broad authority to implement an abbreviated approval route to market for biological products (also known as biologics) that are "biosimilar" to an existing marketed product. The brief introduction will provide a basic comparison of biologics and conventional pharmaceutical drugs that will prove central to the FDA's development of this follow-on biologic pathway as well as specifically examine the content and scope of the BPCIA provisions and identify future challenges for the FDA. It will conclude by highlighting details of presentations during the roundtable held at the Seton Hall University School of Law and introduce the two resulting articles contained with this Book of the Seton Hall Law Review.     

Engagement in after-school program activities: quality of experience from the perspective of participants

Middle school students’ experiences at after-school programs were compared as they participated in different types of activities and with different social partners. The students (N = 165) attended eight programs in three Midwestern states. A total of 1,596 experiences were randomly sampled using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) during 1 week in the fall of 2001 and 1 week in the spring of 2002. Student engagement was conceptualized as the simultaneous experience of concentration, interest, and enjoyment. Students reported high levels of engagement while participating in sports activities and arts enrichment activities at the after-school programs, and low levels of engagement while completing homework at programs. They reported being more engaged in activities involving both adults and peers than activities with peers only. Concentrated effort, intrinsic motivation, and positive and negative mood states were also compared by program activities and social partners. Findings about participants’ subjective experiences and engagement in specific program activities have implications for understanding after-school programs as a context for youth development.

Empirical evidence for AMBER alert as crime control theater: a comparison of student and community samples

While the AMBER Alert system is intended to facilitate the rescue of abducted children, it has practical and psychological limitations. Participants indicated their emotions and perceptions about Alerts before and after reading a vignette that manipulated details about a child abduction. Results indicate that the Alert system fits some criteria of Crime Control Theater (CCT). CCT polices are emotion-based legal actions that appear to address crime but fail to do so and have unintended consequences. Participants experienced panic about child abduction and believed the system is an effective tool which should be used no matter the unintended consequences. Emotions and panic positively related to perceptions of the system. Still, perceptions were not particularly positive, indicating that some participants recognize the system's limitations. Female and community participants generally had more positive perceptions than males and students, especially when experiencing high emotions or panic. Reading about an abduction reduced emotions overall and led to more positive perceptions (but only in the ‘AMBER Alert success’ condition). Reading about an ‘Alert failure’ did not affect perceptions. Results highlight the role of emotion in shaping perceptions of the system. As with other CCT policies, lawmakers should rely less on community sentiment and more on science when adopting legislation.     

Changes in illicit cocaine hydrochloride processing identified and revealed through multivariate analysis of cocaine signature data

For nearly 30 years, the methods utilized in illicit cocaine hydrochloride production have remained relatively consistent. Cocaine hydrochloride is typically produced one kilogram at a time. As a result, each individual kilogram is unique and distinct from other kilograms in any particular seizure based on the total alkaloid profile, occluded solvent profile, and isotopic signature. Additionally, multi-kilogram cocaine seizures are often comprised of cocaine from several different coca growing regions. There has been a documented shift in this type of processing based on the recent analysis of a large cocaine seizure in the Eastern Pacific. Signature analyses of samples from 21 kg randomly selected from a 517 kg seizure were virtually identical. Triplicate analyses of each sample via gas chromatography with flame ionization detection, static headspace gas chromatography mass spectrometry, and isotope ratio mass spectrometry were completed. An initial outlier evaluation of the data and an in-depth univariate analysis indicated there was no statistically significant difference among the 21 samples at the 95% confidence interval. Principal components analysis did reveal consistent minor deviations between the samples and known authentic data from the Nariño coca growing region of Colombia. These deviations were only observed on the latter principal components and could be explained by differences in solvent selection during cocaine hydrochloride processing. Chemical analyses in addition to a thorough statistical evaluation suggest a shift in the traditional small-batch method of cocaine processing to a multi-kilogram, high throughput approach.