Public Access to the English Coastline: An Analysis of Part 9 of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill

The Marine and Coastal Access Bill includes legislative provisions for improving public rights of access to the English coast. This paper examines the background to the coastal access proposals and analyses the draft legislative framework in the context of ongoing controversies over the creation of public rights of access to private land. It also considers the issue of compensation payments to the owners and occupiers of land affected by the coastal access proposals.     

I Blog Therefore I Am

Twenty-five years since the publication of Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity, this essay reflects on the extraordinary changes in the nature of celebrity, including its radical democratization by way of the internet. Such changes reflect old dilemmas and pose new challenges as the internet and publishing worlds begin to merge and print culture is left behind.     

Solid phase extraction method for rapid isolation and clean-up of some synthetic pyrethroid insecticides from human urine and plasma.

A simple and rapid method for the isolation of seven synthetic pyrethroid insecticides (methothrin, fenpropathrin, cyhalothrin, permethrin, cypermethrin, fenvalerate, deltamethrin) with a solid phase extraction (SPE), utilizing Sep-Pak C18 cartridges, from human urine and plasma is presented. The detection of the insecticides was performed using a wide bore capillary gas chromatograph (GC) with flame ionization detection (FID). The insecticide-containing samples mixed with 70% methanol were directly applied to the cartridges and eluted with 2 ml chloroform. The recoveries using the cartridges were between 90-102% for urine and 81-93% for plasma. Mixing samples with 70% methanol prior to extraction, seems very useful for the screening of synthetic pyrethroid insecticides.     

Analysis of 2-hydroxyimipramine in an imipramine-related fatality

A fatality following ingestion of the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine (Novopramine), acetaminophen, and ethyl alcohol is described. Imipramine, desipramine, acetaminophen, and 2-hydroxyimipramine were quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography, and ethyl alcohol by gas liquid chromatography. Concentrations of imipramine, desipramine, 2-hydroxyimipramine, and acetaminophen were: in blood--9.0, 1.1, 3.9, and 11 mg/L; in urine--92, 14, and 42 mg/L (acetaminophen not quantitated in urine). Ethyl alcohol concentration in blood was less than 10 mg/dL and 105 mg/dL in the urine by headspace gas chromatography. These findings are compared to previous reports of imipramine-related fatalities. To our knowledge, this is the first fatality reported involving imipramine where analysis included quantitation of 2-hydroxyimipramine in blood and urine.     

Democracy at Rest: Strategic Ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment

The Prohibition (Eighteenth, 1919) and repeal (Twenty-First,1933) amendments, which represent the only case of a later amendmentdirectly reversing an earlier one, were ratified by the twodifferent methods allowed by Article V of the United StatesConstitution: the former by state legislatures, the latter bystate conventions. This essay examines the legislatures-or-conventionsdichotomy as a microcosm of William Riker's treatment of liberalismand populism, with specific attention paid to the state conventionsthat ratified repeal. Using previously uncollected county datafrom the special elections to choose the 1933 convention delegates,this study demonstrates that invocation of the convention methodwas strategic, and intended not only to legitimate the Twenty-FirstAmendment but also to improve its chances of passage.     

The size of the SOE sector and macroeconomic performance: an empirical study based on Chinese provincial data

Using a neoclassical growth model augmented with human capital, we investigate the impact of the presence of state owned enterprises (SOEs) on macroeconomic performance in China, using provincial data from 1990 to 2004. We estimate a macroeconomic model with panel methods to explain changes in labor productivity resulting from standard influences as well as presence of the SOE sector measured in five different ways. While controlling for growth in the labor force and physical capital, government size, exposure to trade and change in economic structure, we conclude that the relative share of the SOE sector has no significant influence on macroeconomic performance in China during our sample period.