More Sinned Against than Sinning? The Case of the Arab Office, Washington, 1945-1948

In 1945, as a final settlement of the Palestine question drew near, the Arab states established the Arab Office, Washington, as part of their unprecedented effort to influence public and elite opinion on this matter in the United States. It was staffed by many of the leading young Arab intellectuals of the era. This article charts the Arab Office's attempt to reduce American support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. In particular, it examines the accusations, made at the time, that the Arab Office, in pursuing its anti-Zionist agenda had co-operated with leading American anti-Semites and was under the control of the notorious former Mufti of Jerusalem, who had collaborated with Hitler during the Second World War.     

The Theory–Practice Issue in Policy Implementation Research

Applying implementation theory to practice has been rare. Reasons include the difficulty of the theoretical challenge, the varied needs of practitioners and the complicating normative issues at stake. Nonetheless, several approaches can contribute to the efficacy of implementation action. Building on points of theoretical consensus is one strategy. A second is the systematic probing of points in theoretical dispute, to sketch out practical implications. A third is the development of a contingency perspective to determine which theoretical strands may be appropriate in a given case. Finally, tapping the emerging ideas built on a synthesis of partial perspectives is ultimately likely to be the most useful approach. New methodological tools can help select out valid high-performing instances for systematic inspection and possible emulation. And some of the synthetic perspectives now available are amenable to heuristic application; these include approaches based upon reversible logic, game-theoretic notions and contextual interaction theory.     

Ethnography of a political ritual: speeches given to new Swiss citizens by representatives of the state

Our paper examines speeches given at citizenship ceremonies in Geneva (Switzerland) in order to understand what makes a foreigner a new member of a national and especially of a cantonal entity. Focusing on speeches by three ministers over an interval of 4 years, we analyze their conceptions of the state, the nation, and of nationality, and the kind of change – if any – this rite of passage acknowledges. We observed that the variations that appeared, ranging from an assimilationist view to a conception of citizenship mainly encompassing rights and duties, reached beyond the political positions of the magistrates who wrote and read the speeches. We aim to show that official discourse covers a broad range of conceptions of the state and of citizenship, independently of the political position of the state representative making the speech.     

Norms,Behavioral Compliance,and Status Attribution in International Politics

Extant work on status attribution has largely focused on major powers or state capabilities as key explanatory factors driving these social processes and suggests that status considerations increase conflicts between states. We argue for a more comprehensive approach to status attribution that considers international norms as another major factor that is weighed in the attribution process. We contend that states (policymakers) evaluate one another not only on the basis of economic and military capabilities but also on the extent to which there is behavioral conformance with normative expectations and reward one another dependent upon whether these expectations are met. However, this attribution of status is dependent upon the level of contestation pertaining to that norm. Using a data set that assesses consistency with six different norms (resource transference, multilateralism, economic liberalism, democratic governance, respect for human rights, and peaceful dispute resolution), we find that status attribution is associated with norm-consistent behavior but only when these norms are uncontested at the global level.     

Diagnostic Value of PSA and AP Tests for the Detection of Spermatozoa in Postmortem Swabs from the Genital and Anal Region in Males

The aim of this study was to clarify whether positive results for prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) and acid phosphatase (AP) occur in postmortem swabs from the genito‐anal region in males (n = 80; 4 regions) and females (n = 20; 3 regions) and to calculate the positive predictive value (PPV) concerning the presence of spermatozoa. In male subjects, the highest incidence of positive test results was found in urethral swabs (PSA 76%, AP 71%) and the lowest frequencies appeared in perianal and rectal swabs (15–20%). Microscopic evaluation for spermatozoa was positive between 39% in urethral swabs and 1% in rectal swabs. PPV regarding positive identification of spermatozoa was 33.3% for PSA and 31.5% for AP. The combination of both tests yielded a PPV of 38.2%. In female cases, no spermatozoa were identified, and one case was PSA‐ and AP‐positive in perianal swabs. Our findings indicate that PSA and AP tests are of limited value for the postmortem detection of spermatozoa in male subjects.     

TrueAllele® Genotype Identification on DNA Mixtures Containing up to Five Unknown Contributors

Computer methods have been developed for mathematically interpreting mixed and low‐template DNA. The genotype modeling approach computationally separates out the contributors to a mixture, with uncertainty represented through probability. Comparison of inferred genotypes calculates a likelihood ratio (LR), which measures identification information. This study statistically examined the genotype modeling performance of Cybergenetics TrueAllele^® computer system. High‐ and low‐template DNA mixtures of known randomized composition containing 2, 3, 4, and 5 contributors were tested. Sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility were established through LR quantification in each of these eight groups. Covariance analysis found LR behavior to be relatively invariant to DNA amount or contributor number. Analysis of variance found that consistent solutions were produced, once a sufficient number of contributors were considered. This study demonstrates the reliability of TrueAllele interpretation on complex DNA mixtures of representative casework composition. The results can help predict an information outcome for a DNA mixture analysis.     

Routine activity and labor market segmentation An empirical test of a revised approach

This article contends that routine activity theory has virtually ignored the motivated offender construct in terms of its measurement. We extend previous research testing routine activity theory by more accurately modeling the effects of labor market segmentation and other structural sources of offender motivation on variation in crime rates. A revised routine activity model is tested using data for the 100 largest cities in the US in 1980. The findings suggest that as secondary labor markets grow, urban crime can be expected to rise.