The OSCE's post-September 11 agenda,and Central Asia

With an enlarged membership and a wide agenda including politico-security matters, economic and environmental issues and human aspects, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) aims at promoting stability and democratisation in its area, fostering good governance. The September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 have prompted the organisation to reinforce its commitments with regard to the prevention of and combat against terrorism, as a primary goal in the pursuit of its main tasks of conflict prevention and management, and post-conflict rehabilitation. The institutional response of the OSCE has been translating its effort to address the new concerns while promoting its founding principles, both at headquarters and in the field. The extent to which the organisation's institutions and commitments are adequate to respond to the new challenges and promote good governance in the OSCE area are analysed. Are the OSCE principles, agreed commitments and elaborated post-September 11 agenda adequate to meet the many uncertainties and to build cooperation and security in the OSCE space? Is the OSCE prepared to respond effectively to the current challenges particularly with regard to Central Asia? Which means and what actions might the organisation pursue in the context of its new agenda? By matching words with action OSCE's contribution to global governance in Central Asia is clarified through assessing its means, activities and adequacy to meet old and new challenges.     

Ethnicity and Sexual Orientation as PTSD Mitigators in Child Sexual Abuse Survivors

Purpose and Potential benefits: Research, to our knowledge, has not examined the effect of demographic variables on PTSD symptoms among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). This study explores the relationship between demographic variables and scores of CSA survivors on the Impact of Scale (IES). Participants were 257 women CSA survivors entering outpatient treatment at a university-based mental health center. All participants reported a CSA history and presented with psychological difficulties associated with CSA. The demographic variables investigated were relationship status, religious affiliation, ethnicity, educational level, spousal educational level income, and sexual orientation. Significance tests were used to examine each variable and scores on the Total IES and Avoidance and Intrusion Subscales. Total IES and Intrusion scores differed for sexual orientation and ethnicity in accord with conventional standards of significance ( < .05). Self-reported asexuals indicated fewer intrusive and total PTSD symptoms than heterosexuals, lesbians, and bisexuals. Likewise, Hispanics reported less intrusive PTSD symptoms than Non-Hispanic Caucasians. Our findings invite further exploration of the relationship between ethnicity and sexual orientation and the long-term effects of CSA. A question for empirical investigation is whether asexuality shields against the triggering of CSA memories by a sexual relationship. Another possible area of inquiry is whether particular characteristics of Hispanic culture as a whole serve to moderate the detrimental effects of CSA.     

Compositional analysis for identification of arson accelerants by electron ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance high-resolution mass spectrometry

Elemental compositions of each of 100 to 500 different constituents (i.e., every peak in a mass-to-charge ratio range, 50 < m/z < 300) of lighter fluid, kerosene, turpatine, gasoline, diesel fuel, and two brands of mineral spirits (and their weathered analogs) make possible direct identification of each accelerant in a experimental fire, based on electron ionization 6.0 Tesla Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (EI FT-ICR) ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry. Septum injection of as little as 500 nL of accelerant into an all-glass heated inlet system yields definitive elemental compositions (molecular formulas) based on accurate (< +/-1 ppm average error) mass measurement alone. Extraction and EI FT-ICR mass analysis of fire debris from a controlled burn of a couch with simple (lighter fluid) and complex (turpatine) ignitable liquid yielded dozens of elemental compositions serving as a unique "fingerprint" for each petroleum product, despite the presence of up to 249 additional extracted matrix and pyrolysis components. Forty-five of 56 lighter fluid constituents and 126 of 133 turpatine constituents (not counting 13C-containing species) were identified in the debris from a fire staged for each respective accelerant.     

Education finance reform: A dynamic perspective

We use a dynamic Tiebout model to analyze the consequences of moving from a pure local system of education finance to a pure state system of finance in which each student receives the same resources. While much of the education finance literature focuses on the static or immediate effects of such a change, our analysis also examines the dynamic effects. Numerical simulations for a calibrated version of our model indicate that these dynamic effects are very important. Comparing steady states, we find that aggregate welfare increases on the order of 10 percent following the switch to a state system. The key to this welfare gain is that a local system yields inefficiently low investment in human capital of children from low-income families.     

“Talk about terror in our back gardens”: an analysis of online comments about British foreign fighters in Syria

The phenomenon of foreign fighters has become a central issue to the ongoing conflict in Syria. This article explores how members of the public answer the question ‘Why do British citizens join the conflict in Syria’ on social media sites and in response to online news articles. Building upon research on everyday narratives of security and terrorism, we analyse 807 comments, and in doing so, we argue that online comments are important in producing the discursive environment for making sense of British foreign fighters and what should be done in response to them. We find that there is a tendency to view British foreign fighters as being purely motivated by religion, and there is also a belief that British foreign fighters should be responded to through exceptional measures. We discuss the implications of such perceptions, and we highlight how problematic misconceptions about Islam and Muslims are not just disseminated through elite and media discourse, but through everyday narratives published by members of the public online.     

Identification of Human Remains by DNA Analysis of the Gastrointestinal Contents of Fly Larvae

Dipterous fly larvae (maggots) are frequently collected from a corpse during a criminal investigation. Previous studies showed that DNA analysis of the gastrointestinal contents of maggots might be used to reveal the identity of a victim. However, this approach has not been used to date in legal investigations, and thus its practical usefulness is unknown. A badly burned body was discovered with its face and neck colonized by fly larvae. Given the condition of the body, identification was not possible. Short tandem repeat (STR) typing was performed using the gastrointestinal contents of maggots collected from the victim and was compared to STR profiles obtained from the alleged father. The probability of paternity was 99.685%. Thus, this comparative DNA test enabled the conclusive identification of the remains. This is the first reported case of analysis of human DNA isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of maggots used to identify a victim in a criminal case.     

Waiver of the psychotherapist-patient privilege: implications for child custody litigation

The psychotherapist-patient privilege, rooted in both common and statutory law, is predicated upon the public policy goal of protecting the reasonable expectation of privacy of individuals seeking psychotherapy. The privilege is not absolute, however. State and federal courts are far from uniform in determining how and when the privilege should be waived, in whole or in part, through implication, inadvertence or the affirmative action of the parties. In the family law context, the law that has evolved around the exercise of this privilege is even more complex as the needs of children add another wrinkle to the goal of balancing the imperative of confidentiality with the need for useful information that may be provided.     

Crisis management: the OSCE in the Republic of Moldova

Maria Raquel Sousa Freire is an assistant professor, Department of International Relations, Universidade Lusíada do Porto, Portugal. Her research focuses on the former Soviet space and the role of international organisations in conflict and security issues.     

Genotyping of DNA samples under adverse conditions of Low Copy Number—LCN (formolisados tissue samples and embedded in paraffin)

This paper aims to describe and evaluate a protocol for extraction of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in formalinized tissues and embedded in paraffin for forensics genetic analysis. In outline the method is the removal of paraffin with an organic solvent in 0.3–0.5 mg of the sample of the tissue under study, followed by removal of formaldehyde, rehydration and soon after the extraction of genomic DNA. The extraction is achieved through the stages of cellular lysis, enzymatic digestion of proteins and DNA precipitation in ethanol medium. With the research we can conclude that even when the DNA is present in small quantities in conditions of extreme difficulties in its extraction, as formalinized tissues and embedded in paraffin, the technique of optimizing the extraction of DNA used both to organic extraction as Chelex, for use in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and possible the investigation of different samples of human tissue, biological samples, or was obtained under the conditions tested, a DNA with good quality and concentration. The samples were amplified for the mini-STRs loci using the product marketed in multilocus, using a methodology recommended by the supplier and validated for analysis of forensic DNA. Commercial kit was used MiniFiler from Applied Biosystems. The DNA fragments amplified by PCR showed that the extracted DNA had good amplification.