The Psilocin (4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) and Bufotenine (5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) Case: Ensuring the Correct Isomer has Been Identified

Psilocin (4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, 4-HO-DMT) and bufotenine (5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, 5-HO-DMT), which are both naturally occurring compounds, are classified as controlled substances in numerous countries due to their pharmacological activities and recreational usage. There are two other benzene ring regioisomers, 6-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (6-HO-DMT) and 7-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (7-HO-DMT), which are not classified by name as controlled substances, and which were synthesized for this current work. The four isomers were analyzed using routine methodologies employed by the Israel's Police Division of Identification and Forensic Science (DIFS) Laboratory, namely thin layer chromatography (TLC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). It was found possible to differentiate the four isomers. Forensic specimens that were suspected to be psilocybe mushrooms were examined, confirming that it is now possible to unequivocally identify the presence of psilocin and rule out the presence of its other isomers.     

Gender trouble on the German soccer field: can the growth of women’s soccer challenge hegemonic masculinity?

Soccer in Germany represents a social sphere for the expression of masculinity and features significant ideological battles over gender roles. This paper discusses whether the growth of women’s soccer can challenge the prevailing hegemonic masculinity in an area that represents an important economic aspect of consumer culture and social identity. Does women’s soccer have the potential to subvert existing gender norms and challenge dominant understandings of gender? While women’s soccer has seen some important areas of growth in Germany, there are reasons to remain sceptical about the subversive potential of women’s soccer. This article argues that the unholy trinity of the sports-media-business alliance is the root cause for the limitations women’s soccer faces in challenging hegemonic masculinity. This sports-media-business alliance has served as the structural framework that has shaped societal discourses about women’s soccer in Germany. This paper discusses three of those discourses: the evolution of the macro-historical discourse over the societal role of women’s soccer in post-World War II Germany; the discourse comparing men’s and women’s soccer and asserting the superiority of men’s soccer; and the discourse on the role of femininity in women’s soccer and the sexualization of the players.     

The Economy Effect: Conceptual Innovation and Benefit Corporations

What kind of thing is the economy, and how might we act to change it? This article draws on the work of Timothy Mitchell and J. K. Gibson-Graham to suggest that the economy may be fruitfully understood as a structural effect, or an appearance of difference maintained through the repetition of acts and practices. It then employs Reinhart Koselleck’s theory of conceptual change to argue that the economy effect may be altered through efforts aimed at conceptual innovation. If the economy effect is maintained through repeated acts and practices that delineate the distinction between the economy and everything else, then conceptual innovation with respect to those concepts that inform these acts and practices could alter the manner in which this distinction is produced. The benefit (or public interest) corporation serves as an example of how such efforts at conceptual innovation might produce change in the structural effect that we call “the economy.”     

Conflict reconsidered: The boomerang effect of depoliticization in the policy process

This article argues that the efforts of policy‐makers to avoid conflict in the short run can be counterproductive in the long run. Not only may policy‐makers fail to reap the benefits of conflicts when they try to steer clear, but conflict may actually increase rather than diminish. We study conflict through the conceptual lens of (de)politicization in the lengthy and highly contested policy‐making process over the multibillion‐euro ‘Oosterweelconnection’ highway in Antwerp (Belgium). An in‐depth media analysis of 739 articles is combined with data from 32 narrative interviews. We conclude that efforts to end public debate through depoliticization can have a boomerang effect, in which conflict disappears only temporarily, and that these efforts can ultimately increase conflict while wasting engagement and creativity. More attention to the productive aspects of conflict is needed in public administration literature and practice.     

Taming the real estate boom in the EU: Pathways to macroprudential (in)action

In the fallout of the 2008 crisis, macroprudential policy has been installed as the policy remedy against future financial instability, a primary focus being developments in the real estate sector. With house prices consistently rising in the EU since 2014, causing alarm among macroprudential supervisory bodies, a core question of EU regulatory governance is how far macroprudential bodies have been capable of bringing about countercyclical actions against the build-up of such vulnerabilities. This paper investigates this question using a novel dataset of macroprudential intensity coded for the 17 EU countries that experienced real estate vulnerabilities post-euro crisis. Specifically, it asks which configuration of conditions account for the (in)capacity of countries to impose stringent countercyclical regulations against housing booms? Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis technics coupled with qualitative analysis of country cases using expert interviews, we find that the absence of political salience of homeownership and the political independence of macroprudential authorities to be crucial conditions that jointly explain countercyclical macroprudential activity. These findings, which show two pathways to action have implications for the capacity of the EU to prevent future crises and future reform of the EU prudential framework.     

Gelungene Integration in den Arbeitsmarkt?

This article discusses the social-structural dynamics of the biographies of transnationally mobile Europeans on the basis of 27 interviews, conducted in 2002–2003, with people of Italian, French, British, Danish, and Polish origin living in Berlin. In comparing different forms of mobility and taking into particular consideration the vocational aspects of the Europeans interviewed, this study reveals several characteristic types of transnational mobility within Europe. It does not only reveal the biographies of the elite or lower class Europeans, as these types have already been derived from the new transnational or classical migration research; it also unravels the biographies of a variety of transnational middle class Europeans. Furthermore, our study shows, that the availability of cultural and social capital is the determining factor for integration. These findings are an interesting extension to the sociological understanding of migration in the 21st century.     

Die deutsche Föderalismusreform — von außen betrachtet. Ein Vergleich von Systemproblemen des deutschen und des schweizerischen Föderalismus

Ohne Zusammenfassung Ich danke meiner Mitarbeiterin Andrea Iff für ihren eigenen Diskussionsbeitrag zum Thema, von dem ich viel gelernt habe, sowie Adrian Vatter und Stephan Heichel (Universit?t Konstanz) für kritische Kommentare.     

Migration past and present: changing patterns in Kyrgyzstan

Internal and international labour migration is a main livelihood strategy for many people in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan. It is estimated that approximately one-third of the employable population of Kyrgyzstan is working abroad. However, current labour migration phenomena are not exceptional since Central Asia's history has always been characterized by the movement of people, including external and internal, forced and voluntary, legal and illegal, permanent and temporary, ethnically or economically motivated migration. This article gives an overview of the historical and present migration processes with a special focus on three village communities in rural Kyrgyzstan. It deals with the opportunities and difficulties with which labour migrants and their non-migrating family members are confronted today. The results are based on extensive field work in Kyrgyzstan.