Agendas and sincerity: a second response to Schwartz

An Ordeshook-Schwartz agenda tree requires a voting theorist to assign a unique “ostensive alternative” to each node, but under some non-pairwise agendas there is no evident principle by which to do this. Therefore Ordeshook-Schwartz sincere voting is not clearly defined under all types of agendas. Farquharson-style agenda trees sidestep this problem and allow one or more definitions of sincere voting under every type of agenda.     

The ego-virtue of fidelity: A case for the study of religion and identity formation in adolescence

Extrapolation from Erik Erikson's theory of human development suggests the ego-virtue of fidelity provides a conceptual link between religion and identity formation. It is argued here that fidelity, within identity statuses, is characterized by commitment (i.e., foreclosure and achievement). Further, due to the connection between fidelity and ideology, greater evidence of fidelity and identity commitment should be observed among religious minority adolescents and among adolescents who more frequently attend church. Partial support was shown for these predictions. Mormon adolescents, who were minorities in the broader societal context, but majorities in their local community context, were found to score higher in identity foreclosure in comparison to Catholic and Protestant adolescents who were religious minorities in their local community context. It was suggested that premature foreclosure among Mormon adolescents may be due to the importance of exhibiting indicators of fidelity as efforts to strengthen one's minority identity and one's minority group in respect to the broader society. More frequent church attendance was related to higher scores in commitment identity statuses (i.e., foreclosure and achievement). Apparently, consistent church attendance is not required for heightened scores in the exploration status of moratorium.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the Department of Psychology, Utah State University. Research interests: identity formation and psychosocial maturity in adolescence, ethnic and religious minority adolescents, and social relationships.Received Ms.C. in Consumer Studies, University of Guelph. Research interest: facilitating learning of computer software.Received B.S. in psychology at Utah State University.     

Analysis of biofluids for flunitrazepam and metabolites by electrospray liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/MS) procedure has been developed for the analysis of biofluids containing flunitrazepam and its metabolites. Specimens were spiked with deuterated analogs of the analytes. Urine specimens were enzymatically hydrolyzed and blood specimens were untreated. Extractions were carried out using CleanScreen DAU SPE cartridges. The drugs were separated on a C18 column using a methanol-water-ammonium hydroxide (60:40: 0.03 v/v) mobile phase. After determination of base peaks using full scan mass spectrometry, the mass spectrometry method was optimized to operate in selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode for the base peak of each analyte. Positive findings were confirmed by LC/MS/MS using the same mobile phase and column. This analytical procedure allows for the detection of low levels of flunitrazepam and metabolites in biofluids. It is useful for ascertaining the role of flunitrazepam in cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault.