Organelle DNA haplotypes reflect crop-use characteristics and geographic origins of Cannabis sativa

Comparative sequencing of cannabis individuals across 12 chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA loci revealed 7 polymorphic sites, including 5 length variable regions and 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Simple PCR assays were developed to assay these polymorphisms, and organelle DNA haplotypes were obtained for 188 cannabis individuals from 76 separate populations, including drug-type, fibre-type and wild populations. The haplotype data were analysed using parsimony, UPGMA and neighbour joining methods. Three haplotype groups were recovered by each analysis method, and these groups are suggestive of the crop-use characteristics and geographical origin of the populations, although not strictly diagnostic. We discuss the relationship between our haplotype data and taxonomic opinions of cannabis, and the implications of organelle DNA haplotyping to forensic investigations of cannabis.     

The changing role of the Privy Council Office†

Abstract. Since the establishment of the office of Secretary to the Cabinet thirty years ago, there have been a number of changes in the way the cabinet operates, one being in the cabinet committee system which has passed through three distinct phases and is now in a fourth. Nine standing committees exist, with significant changes in procedure, permitting ministers to participate more fully in discussion and to share responsibility better. The Cabinet Committee on Priorities and Planning, established in 1968, deals with broad objectives, main questions of policy with long-term implications and with priorities for broad financial allocation. With the complexity of government and the scale of die elements of complexity increasing, the demands on ministerial time have become overwhelming. The Operations, Plans and Federal-Provincial Affairs Divisions of the Privy Council Office, with a small and discreet staff constantly changing to avoid the formation of a ruling elite, assist the prime minister, cabinet and cabinet committees in the total process of decision-making and in assuring a coherence of policy. Attempts are made to provide the central executive with full information and optimum freedom in taking the decisions for which parliament and the people of Canada have given them responsibility. Sommaire. Depuis la création du poste de secrétaire du Cabinet, il y a une trentaine d'années, il s'est produit un certain nombre de changements dans le fonctionnement même du cabinet. Citons, entre autres, le système des comités du cabinet qui est passé par trois phases distinctes et se trouve maintenant dans une quatrième phase. Il existe neuf comités permanents dont la procédure a subi d'importantes modifications pour permettre aux ministres de prendre une part plus active aux discussions, et de mieux partager les responsabilités. Le comité du cabinet chargé de l'établissement des priorités et de la planification, établi en 1968, s'occupe des objectifs généraux, des lignes de conduit A long terme et des priorités pour l'allocation générale des fonds. A cause de la complexité du gouvernement et de l'ampleur croissante de ses responsabilités, l'emploi du temps des ministres est devenu incroyablement chargé. Les sections des Opérations, des Plans et celle des Affaires fédérales-provinciales du Conseil privé, avec un personnel peu nombreux et discret, constamment renouvelé pour éviter la formation d'une élite trop influente, aident le premier ministre, le cabinet et les comités du cabinet à prendre les decisions qui s'imposent et à assurer la cohérence de la politique du gouvernementale. Elles s'efforcent de fournir à l'exécutif central toute information utile et de lui assurer le maximum de liberté pour prendre les décisions dmt l'ont chargé le parlement et le peuple canadien.     

Young people with cognitive disabilities and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system: service provider perspectives on policing

Young people with cognitive disabilities (YPWCD) are overrepresented as offenders in the criminal justice system. However, most existing research on this topic examines overrepresentation in courts and corrections rather than at the police gatekeeping stage of the criminal justice process. Furthermore, while the views of other groups have been documented, the perspectives of service providers – who often bear witness to YPWCD’s interactions with police – have yet to be examined. This research addresses this gap by analysing qualitative interviews with service providers from Queensland, Australia, using the three most common theoretical explanations for the overrepresentation of PWCD (the susceptibility, differential treatment and psychosocial disadvantage theses) as an analytic framework. A number of implications emerged from the study. There is a need to take a critical and intersectional lens to YPWCD’s experiences, as well as to equip police to work with YPWCD to de-escalate interactions with this group.     

Beyond COVID-19: Five commentaries on expert knowledge,executive action,and accountability in governance and public administration

Several Canadian and international scholars offer commentaries on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for governments and public service institutions, and fruitful directions for public administration research and practice. This first suite of commentaries focuses on the executive branch, variously considering: the challenge for governments to balance demands for accountability and learning while rethinking policy mixes as social solidarity and expert knowledge increasingly get challenged; how the policy-advisory systems of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and United Kingdom were structured and performed in response to the COVID-19 crisis; whether there are better ways to suspend the accountability repertoires of Parliamentary systems than the multiparty agreement struck by the minority Liberal government with several opposition parties; comparing the Canadian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Global Financial Crisis and how each has brought the challenge of inequality to the fore; and whether the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated or disrupted digital government initiatives, reinforced traditional public administration values or more open government.     

The Identity of Person and World in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Caraka Saṃhitā</Emphasis> 4.5

This paper examines the puru?a concept in the Caraka Sa?hitā (CS), an early text of Ayurveda, and its relation to Indic thinking about phenomenal worldhood. It argues that, contrary to the usual interpretation, early Ayurveda does not consider the person to be a microcosmic replication of the macrocosmos. Instead, early Ayurveda asserts that personhood is worldhood, and thus the person is non-different from the phenomenal totality (spatial and temporal) of his existence. This is confirmed by the CS’s several definitions of puru?a, which are alternately posed in terms familiar to Vai?e?ika, early (pre-“classical”) Sā?khya, early Buddhism, and Upani?adic monism. It is likewise confirmed by the Ayurvedic logic of sāmānya (translated as “identity”), which governs the meaning of the list of person-to-world correspondences in CS 4.5 and its often misinterpreted claim, puru?o’yam lokasa?mita?. Finally it is confirmed in the program of Ayurvedic therapeutics, which aims at establishing various kinds of “appropriateness” for the sake of effecting samayoga—the “harmonious joining” of person and world.     

Quantification of human mitochondrial DNA using synthesized DNA standards

Successful mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) forensic analysis depends on sufficient quantity and quality of mtDNA. A real-time quantitative PCR assay was developed to assess such characteristics in a DNA sample, which utilizes a duplex, synthetic DNA to ensure optimal quality assurance and quality control. The assay's 105-base pair target sequence facilitates amplification of degraded DNA and is minimally homologous to nonhuman mtDNA. The primers and probe hybridize to a region that has relatively few sequence polymorphisms. The assay can also identify the presence of PCR inhibitors and thus indicate the need for sample repurification. The results show that the assay provides information down to 10 copies and provides a dynamic range spanning seven orders of magnitude. Additional experiments demonstrated that as few as 300 mtDNA copies resulted in successful hypervariable region amplification, information that permits sample conservation and optimized downstream PCR testing. The assay described is rapid, reliable, and robust.     

A field study of adult witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization

Purpose. The current study examined witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization. The effect of interviewer, interviewee, and interview characteristics on those practices was also examined. Method. Ninety witness interviews from a Canadian police organization were coded for the following interviewing practices: types of questions asked (i.e. open‐ended, probing, closed‐ended, clarification, multiple, leading, opinion/statement, and re‐asked), the number of interruptions, percentage of words spoken by interviewer, type of pre‐interview instructions (consequential vs. generic), and whether or not a free narrative was requested (and when requested during the interview). Characteristics pertaining to the interviewer (e.g. primary interviewer's age), interviewee (e.g. witness gender), and interview (e.g. crime type) were also coded. Results. Results showed that closed‐ended and probing questions were the most widely asked questions, and that open‐ended questions were asked relatively infrequently. It was also found that the 80–20 talking rule was violated in 89% of the interviews, interviewers rarely interrupted the witnesses, and free narratives were requested often. Overall, the effect of interviewer, interview, or interviewee characteristics on interviewing practices was minimal. Conclusions. The finding that scientifically prescribed interviewing practices are employed rarely by Canadian police officers highlights a need for increased professional interviewing training. The finding that practices are largely unaffected by personal and situational factors suggests that such training would be equally beneficial for all types of interviewers, interviewees, and contexts.     

Interviewing Witnesses: The Effect of Forced Confabulation on Event Memory

After viewing a crime video, participants answered 16 answerable and 6 unanswerable questions. Those in the "voluntary guess" condition had a "don't know" response option; those in the "forced guess" condition did not. One week later the same questions were answered with a "don't know" option. In both experiments, information generated from forced confabulation was less likely remembered than information voluntarily self-generated. Further, when the same answer was given to an unanswerable question both times, the confidence expressed in the answer increased over time in both the forced and the voluntary guess conditions. Pressing eyewitnesses to answer questions, especially questions repeated thrice (Experiment 2), may not be an effective practice because it reliably increases intrusion errors but not correct recall.