Chinese migrant women and families in Britain

This article examines the mode of understanding and experiences of family relationships of Chinese migrant women in Britain. In contrast to much existing research work on the patterns and experiences of postwar settlement of unskilled Chinese male labourers in Britain, the focus here is on the life stories of 41 Chinese women with different migration trajectories and varying economic and cultural capital. Their oral testimonies reveal Chinese women's diverse expectations and experiences of migrant family relationships and their different strategies to achieve self-fulfillment both within and outside the confines of the migrant family. For some women, migration brings opportunities for a fulfilling and independent lifestyle. They are successful in negotiating their way around and sometimes out of their initial familial and social position. For others, they bear the disproportionate cost and labour of familial strategies of advancement and remain vulnerable to the most constraining aspects of diasporic existence.     

The protective role of parental involvement in adolescent suicide

This study of 2,722 adolescents aged 14-18 years explored whether parental involvement can protect against adolescent suicide attempts. Compared to their counterparts suicide attempters were more likely to have been in trouble with the police, to report lower levels of parental interest and academic motivation, and to report suicidal ideation and using alcohol or an illegal drug when they feel stressed. They were also less likely to reside with both parents. The association between parental involvement and suicidal behaviour was not stronger for sons than for daughters or for adolescents who had experienced family disruption than for those who grew up in two-parent families.     

Enantiomeric separation of methamphetamine and related analogs by capillary zone electrophoresis: intelligence study in routine methamphetamine seizures

A method for simultaneous enantiomeric separation of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and methamphetamine (MA) in a single run by simple capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with beta-cyclodextrin as a chiral selector is described. The effects of the buffer pH, phosphate concentration, beta-cyclodextrin concentration, voltage and temperature on the peak resolution were examined. Good enantiomeric resolution was attained for each analyte under our optimized conditions: 15 mM beta-cyclodextrin, 300 mM NaH2PO4 at pH 2.5 with an uncoated capillary (64.5 cm x 50 microm), applied potential at 20 kV and temperature at 30 degrees C. Ultraviolet (UV) detection at a fixed wavelength (200 nm) was employed using a diode array detector. Using phentermine as an internal standard, migration times for all analytes are reproducible within 0.16% for intra-day and 0.6% for inter-day runs. Application of this method to the analysis of confiscated drugs is discussed.     

Newborn kidnapping by cesarean section

A study of 30 cases of violence from a total sample of 199 cases of infant abductions between the years 1983 and 2000 included a subsample of six (or 20%) where the kidnapping was by cesarean section. The six cases are classified by type of crime. Four cases were classified as personal cause homicide, subtype cesarean section homicide; one case classified as personal cause, subtype domestic homicide, and one case classified as a criminal enterprise homicide. The behavioral profiles of the abductors included a confidence style approach to the victim mother, deception, and planning of the cesarean section. The forensic psychodynamics suggest a dual motive to cement a failing partner relationship and to fulfill a childbearing and delivery fantasy. Cesarean section murder suggests a new category of personal cause homicide.     

Assessing the Impact of Bureaucracy Bashing by Electoral Campaigns

The literature on the implications of electoral "bureaucracy bashing" for public management is thin. This is partly because of the difficulty of defining basic terms and measuring results in meaningful ways. Using focus group data, this article explores how senior federal managers perceive campaign bureaucracy bashing and assess its consequences. The participants perceive that candidate-based bashing affects federal management on two levels: one emotional, the other programmatic. The emotional impact is pronounced, producing frustration and hostility from senior managers toward political candidates, political appointees, and the media. Senior managers report that bashing adversely affects policy implementation through low morale, poor recruitment, and training and by fostering an environment of distrust toward bureaucracy. Grounded in a diverse literature relating to public administration, the presidency, campaigns and elections, and political communication, this inquiry finds that senior managers confirm many of the speculations these works raise about how bashing affects public employees and public policy.     

Locke on the Moral Basis of International Relations

This article aims to focus analysis of Locke's theory of international relations away from the familiar discourse of sovereignty and natural law and toward a different discourse involving self-government and international society. It argues that Locke's conception of international society balanced interrelated, overlapping, and even competing claims about sovereignty and natural law in a normative framework in which the right of self-government replaced the principle of sovereignty as the moral basis of international relations. Thus, for Locke the norms deduced from the law of nature govern the international state of nature even as independent societies remain the primary executors of the law of nature in international society. The article concludes by considering how Locke's reflections on international relations may contribute to our understanding of contemporary debates about sovereignty, the use of force, and the ethics of intervention.     

State Poverty Rates: Do the New Welfare Policies Make a Difference?

This article uses four models to identify the best predictors of state poverty levels and changes in state poverty rates since the implementation of welfare reform. The policy decisions based on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) by the states are tested along with more traditional variables identified in the literature. Using several measures of state poverty, the analysis finds that those states with the lowest poverty rates are those with the healthiest economies, and the most generous state spending on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). States with the highest percentage of their TANF rolls made up of black citizens tend to have the highest rates of poverty. Initial poverty rates are found to be important in that states with higher initial poverty levels are capable of generating a larger reduction in poverty than states with lower initial rates. With the exception of limited evidence on sanctions, none of the PRWORA–based policies were found to have any effect on poverty rates.