Perspectives on the Capacity of the Australian Public Service and Effective Policy Development and Implementation

It is a long held tradition of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) to invite speakers to address the Fellow's Colloquium as part of the annual symposium, with an aim to spark discussion and debate on a controversial and contemporary topic. In 2010 the debate was focused on the question of whether there had been a degradation of the professional capacity of the Australian Public Service (APS) with regard to effective policy development and implementation. The contributions of each of the four panel members are reproduced here, in part, and they reflect the diverse perspectives which informed a robust and compelling debate. Janine O'Flynn, the editor of these contributions, argues that any claim of degradation is based on rumour rather than hard evidence, and she sets out how we might think about policy capacity from a public sector management perspective. Sue Vardon, the former CEO of Centrelink and the architect of a transformation change program which redefined the delivery of public services in Australia, reflects on the strengths of the APS, but points out the current stresses that it now finds itself under. Anna Yeatman, an expert in political theory and its application to citizenship and public policy, argues that in the last twenty years we have witnessed degradation in the work of government and that this has impacted on policy capacity. Lyn Carson, an expert in deliberative democracy, points to the unrealised capacity that could come from increasing citizen involvement. Policy capacity is degraded, she argues, because we have systems that are neither deliberative nor representative. Individually these contributions spark their own controversies; together they ask us to consider the question in different ways.     

Squaring the circle? Collective and distributive effects of United Nations Security Council reform

Changing the composition and voting system of the Security Council, in an effort to increase the institution’s global legitimacy, is proving to be one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome for the global community of states represented in the United Nations (UN). This paper demonstrates that due to institutional hurdles, it is considerably more difficult today than it was in the early years of the UN to reach a winning coalition in the General Assembly to secure Security Council reform. In addition, the paper analyzes the effects that adapted patterns of voting, as prescribed by recent reform proposals, would have on the distribution of power among UN member states in the Security Council and on the probability that this institution can form a winning coalition, i.e., reach decisions. Our power and decision capacity computations are based on (modified) Penrose-Banzhaf-Coleman measures.     

The contribution of DNA to the disaster victim identification (DVI) effort

As part of the disaster victim identification (DVI) response to the 2009 Victorian bushfires disaster, a number of scientific disciplines contributed to the human identification process--forensic pathology, anthropology and odontology, as well as fingerprinting and DNA profiling. The DNA laboratory received 182 post-mortem (PM) samples from 120 DVI cases and 236 reference samples corresponding to 163 missing persons (and two non-DVI cases). DNA analysis yielded full DNA profiles for 102 DVI cases and 190 ante-mortem (AM) samples (relating to all 163 missing persons), respectively. Subsequent comparison of DNA profiles, through direct and kinship matching, resulted in the submission of 76 DNA reports to the DVI Reconciliation Centre which assisted in the identification of 67 deceased. This paper describes the contribution of DNA analysis towards the DVI response to the 2009 Victorian bushfires disaster.     

Accidental head explosion: an unusual blast wave injury as a result of self-made fireworks

A 33-year old hobby pyrotechnician sustained a lethal craniofacial trauma secondary to a salute fireworks blast. He was examining a misfire of a self-constructed salute gun, when it detonated, causing an explosively rupture of his forehead, which led to his immediate death. An autopsy was performed to achieve knowledge of the injury and to be able to reconstruct the events that lead to it. The pressure effect of the explosion caused a shredded rupture of the forehead with a regional spread of brain tissue and small polygonal skull fragments up to 30m from the detonation site. Furthermore multiple cinderlike fragments of black powder were embedded in the skin of the face and the anterior aspect of the neck (s.c. blast tattoo). The complete destruction of the forehead in combination with the multiple blast tattooing suggested that the explosion detonated while he was leaning over the device.     

LSD and 9,10-dihydro-LSD Analyses in Street Drug Blotter Samples via Easy Ambient Sonic-Spray Ionization MassSpectrometry (EASI-MS)

Normally, the identification of the LSD drug is performed by forensic laboratories, using the Ehrlich spot test. However, this is a nonspecific analysis. Additionally, the Brazilian Federal Police has identified the presence of a new compound in seized blotters: 9,10-dihydro-LSD, an uncontrolled substance. In this work, easy ambient sonic-spray ionization mass spectrometry in the positive ion mode, EASI(+)-MS, was used to characterize LSD and 9,10-dihydro-LSD compositions directly from the surface of blotters. The presence of LSD in the seized blotter samples were also confirmed via high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detector. In a set of 41 blotters analyzed by EASI(+)-MS, 28 showed positive results for LSD, seven for 9,10-dihydro-LSD, and another six samples showed negative results for both LSD and 9,10-dihydro-LSD. The combination of thin layer chromatography with EASI-MS also demonstrated to be a relatively simple and powerful screening tool for forensic analysis of street drugs.     

Analysis of Dopamine D2 Receptor (DRD2) Gene Polymorphisms in Cannabinoid Addicts*

Abstract: The gene encoding the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) has been suggested as a candidate gene for substance dependence. In this study, the possible association between Taq1A and Taq1B DRD2 polymorphisms and cannabinoid dependence was investigated. One hundred and twelve cannabinoid addicted and 130 healthy control subjects were included in this study. The Taq1A and Taq1B genotypes were determined in all subjects by polymerase chain reaction. For each polymorphism (A or B), the subjects were categorized into three groups according to their genotype, that is, the subjects with alleles A1/A1, A1/A2, A2/A2; B1/B1, B1/B2, and B2/B2. A significant association was found between Taq1A gene polymorphism and cannabinoid addicts compared to the control subjects. This finding suggests that polymorphism of the Taq1A, but not the Taq1B, may be associated with the susceptibility to cannabinoid dependence. Further clinical studies are required to be carried out for confirmation and evaluation of these findings.     

Studies of dentition abnormalities in children of the Republic of Armenia for the purpose of personality identification

This paper reports the results of investigations carried out to elucidate the frequency and the structure of various forms of abnormalities of dentition among the children of the preschool and school age in the Republic of Armenia. These data may be of help for the forensic medical personality identification especially for the expertise of unrecognized corpses. Moreover, these data provide an indirect picture of the prevalence of abnormalities of dentition among the adult population of the country. Specifically they may sometimes be used to identify the ethnic and/or racial background of a person.     

The recovery of latent text from thermal paper using a simple iodine treatment procedure

Faded, or actively removed text on thermally printed paper samples may be enhanced and retrieved through the use of a simple iodine fuming procedure. The recovery of printed documentation evidence in this fashion is neither affected by prior fingerprint enhancement techniques (such as ninhydrin or DFO), nor by sample age. This method allows, for the first time, evidence to be obtained from completely faded thermal paper samples (receipts, for example) as well as allowing deliberately removed printed text (a consequence of solvent washing pre-treatment in latent fingerprint enhancement procedures) to be recovered.     

Association between education and domestic violence among women being offered an HIV test in urban and rural areas in Kenya

The objective of this study was to examine the association between education and domestic violence among women being offered an HIV test in urban and rural areas in Kenya. A sample selection of women who experienced physical (n = 4,308), sexual (n = 4,309), and emotional violence (n = 4,312) aged 15 to 49 allowed for the estimation of the association between education and domestic violence with further analysis stratified by urban and rural residence. The main outcome of interest was a three-factor (physical, sexual, and emotional) measure for violence with the main predictor being education. Nearly half of all domestic violence, physical (46%), sexual (45%), and emotional (45%) occurred among women aged 15 to 29. After adjusting for confounding variables, women who resided in urban areas and had a postprimary/vocational/secondary and college/university education were 26% (OR = 0.74, 95% CI: [0.64, 0.86]), p < .001 and 22% (OR = 0.78, 95% CI: [0.66, 0.92]), p < .01 less likely to have experienced physical violence compared to those who had a primary education respectively. This was 17% (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: [0.73, 0.94]), p < .01 and 17% (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: [0.72, 0.96]), p < .05 less likely among women who resided in rural areas. A surprising finding was that women residing in rural areas with less than a primary education were 35% less likely to have experienced sexual violence (OR = 0.65, 95% CI: [0.43, 0.99]), p < .01 compared to those who had a primary education. These findings suggest that physical, sexual, and emotional violence were prevalent in Kenya among married and formerly married women. This study indicates that more research is needed to understand factors for HIV/AIDS among Kenyan women who have specifically tested positive for HIV or identified as AIDS-positive and the implications for women's health.