Convention Compliance, Public Safety, and the Social Inclusion of Mentally Disordered People

The first part of this paper considers the impact of the HRA 1998 in the courts, and the application of Articles 3, 5, and 8 in relation to psychiatric detention, treatment without consent, and seclusion. The second part looks at its effect on the discourse of law reform. Here a key theme is the way Convention compliance has been used by the government to justify measures that will lead to a broadening of the scope of compulsory powers and a reduction in psychiatric service users' rights.     

Utilized coefficient of friction during walking: static estimates exceed measured values

This study compared utilized coefficient of friction (COF) measured during nonslip pedestrian gait to estimated utilized COF values calculated using anthropometric (i.e., leg length) and stride characteristic data (i.e., impact angle, step length). Twenty healthy adults walked at slow, medium, and fast speeds with kinematic and kinetic data recorded simultaneously. Estimated and measured impact angle varied with walking speed, with greater angles evident with faster speeds (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). The estimated impact angle was greater than the measured impact angle (p < 0.05). Estimated and measured peak utilized COF values varied with walking speed, with higher utilized COF values evident with faster speeds (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Estimated utilized COF values were 86, 118, and 131% greater than measured peak utilized COF values for slow, medium, and fast speeds, respectively (p < 0.001). Higher estimated utilized COF values varied moderately with increased measured peak utilized COF values (r = 0.522; p < 0.001). These data suggest that impact angle and step length alone cannot be used to accurately assess the utilized COF on level walking surfaces.     

The evolution of a campaign: tracking press coverage and party press releases through the 2001 UK General Election

• This paper builds upon a content analysis of all news articles that appeared in six national daily newspapers and of all national press releases issued by the three main political parties during the UK General Election 2001 campaign. The results were compared with data from two opinion polls conducted at the start and at the end of the campaign. Here, using the same basic data, we track the coverage of issues in party press releases and daily newspapers on a weekly basis to determine how the parties' priorities and press coverage evolved.
• The results show that the Labour and Liberal Democrat campaign strategies, in terms of relative issue priorities, did not change during the campaign. However, the Conservatives shifted their attention to the public priorities of Health and Education towards the end of the campaign. There is evidence that the Conservative emphasis on Europe and taxation earlier in the campaign may have influenced the volume of press coverage but did not appear to have affected relative party standings. The implications of these results for political marketers are considered.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organized crime in Ukraine: Challenge and response

Organized crime in Ukraine has helped to derail the transition to a democratic polity and a free market economy, has generated considerable violence and corruption, and has contributed significantly to the development of a climate that does little to encourage foreign direct investment. Consequently this article explains why Ukraine, along with other states of the Former Soviet Union, developed a major organized crime problem during the 1990s. Having done this, it delineates some of the major contours of organized crime in Ukraine, identifying the major participants in organized crime, the variations in the phenomenon in different cities and regions, and the major activities of organized crime. The article also examines the kinds of initiatives that have been taken by the government of Ukraine in its efforts to combat organized crime, before suggesting some areas in which these efforts could be significantly improved.     

Isolation,identity and Taiwanese stamps as vehicles for regime legitimation

Postage stamps issued by the government of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan provide a useful tool for considering changing elite aspirations and political objectives. Stamps issued on Taiwan while under authoritarian rule frequently sought to demonstrate or bolster the legitimacy of the ruling KMT, typically through demonstrating the ROC's status in international society or through portraying the economic and developmental success of the KMT regime. The on-going democratic transition on Taiwan has seen a move away from stamps as mechanisms for domestic regime legitimation. Since the election of President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party in 2000 stamps have increasingly become a medium for promoting the idea of a ‘Taiwanese’ identity distinct from that of ‘China’.     

Fatal Intoxications Due to Administration of Isosorbide Tablets Contaminated with Pyrimethamine

In January 2012, 664 cases of pyrimethamine toxicity and 151 deaths were reported among cardiac patients that had recently received free medicines from pharmacy of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan. These patients, ages ranged from 58 to 75 years, were prescribed simvastatin, clopidogrel, aspirin soluble, isosorbide mononitrate, and amlodipine. On examination of medications being given to them, it was found that a particular batch of isosorbide mononitrate tablets was contaminated with 50 mg pyrimethamine. Cardiac patients were taking isosorbide contaminated with pyrimethamine twice daily (100 mg pyrimethamine/day), whereas therapeutic dose of pyrimethamine for malaria is 25 mg/week. Postmortem urine, cardiac blood, and femoral blood specimens of three deceased males were submitted to author's laboratory for analysis. Postmortem toxicological analysis revealed that pyrimethamine concentration fell within the range of 1–10 μg/mL by liquid chromatography. Clinical, autopsy, histopathological, and toxicological findings strongly suggested toxicity due to pyrimethamine accumulation that resulted in deaths of these cardiac patients.