Bipolarity redux: the mimetic context of the ‘new wars’

This article challenges the theorem of non-polarity in international relations theory by employing ‘mimetic theory’, a notion associated with the French anthropologist René Girard. The article argues that non-polarity is a distorted visual effect that conceals the actual polar configurations in global politics. So-called ‘new wars’ are seemingly asymmetrical and are said to mobilize fronts ‘on the basis of identity’. However, on closer inspection new wars appear to be shaped by underlying mimetic forces, whereby the contenders behave like ‘doubles’, each reflecting its own image in the wishes and actions of the other. The article picks up and develops a clue from political theorist Herfried Münkler, that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a miniature copy ‘of global political line-ups’. The conflict is placed here in its mimetic context, and implications for political theory and the theory of international relations are drawn.     

Resilience and Renewal: The Enforcement of Labor Laws in Brazil

What happens to a country's system of labor laws when its government embraces market‐oriented reforms? In a twist on the prediction that labor regulations will be repealed, researchers find that laws remain in place but are not faithfully enforced, a phenomenon known as de facto flexibility. This article examines the case of Brazil to understand its near‐opposite; namely, resilience and renewal in the enforcement of labor regulations. It finds that labor unions have combined the corporatist authority they gained under state control with the autonomy they acquired under democratization to devise new modes of action and to safeguard existing regulations. Meanwhile, labor inspectors and prosecutors rely on existing laws to combat precarious work conditions and promote formal employment relations, which strengthen the unions. This mutually supportive arrangement is neither perfect nor free of tension, but it shows how workers can be protected even when employers are subjected to global competition.     

Surviving the suicides of significant others: a case study

Psychological pain has been reported to be major contributing factor for completed suicide, and classical suicidology based its wisdom on this construct. In this paper we report the case of a patient whose family experienced a high number of suicides apparently due to an escalation of psychological pain in the family members after the successive suicides. We also briefly discuss the problem of helping survivors after the suicide of loved one.     

MI Implementation in Juvenile Justice: A Case Report

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a communication style focused on enhancing clients’ own motivation towards change. In the justice system MI has evidence to support that it enhances communication and change behaviors in youth. As most MI training is designed for healthcare settings training and implementation of MI must be adapted to fit the juvenile justice model. This includes both rehabilitation and restorative justice. Here we describe the details that allowed one county small county in Pennsylvania to roll out MI training and initial skills review in less than 6 months. The case reviews the details of planning, trainings, and timing of activities. We then discuss what elements of those details fit into a greater implementation plan that may be applied elsewhere. Four key elements were instrumental to implementation: 1) appreciation of JPO time constraints, 2) cost containment 3) using blending to enhance JPO flexibility with MI use, and 4) policies that normalize use of MI. This outline may assist other courts in their own implementation efforts.     

On the Rights of Undocumented Children

Changes in immigration laws over the last three to four decades have given rise to unprecedented numbers of undocumented children. However, as others have argued, policies regarding the control of undocumented migration have had deleterious effects on undocumented children and their basic access to social rights. Undocumented youth in the United States can legally attend K-12 education, but cannot legally work, vote, receive financial aid, or drive in most states. Their situation calls for a reexamination of immigration laws and a recasting of the frame that has been used to promote their inclusion.

How do Migration and Remittances Affect Human Capital Investment? The Effects of Relaxing Information and Liquidity Constraints

Abstract

This article explores the heterogeneous effects of the migration–remittance process on the educational attainment of Nepalese children. The results suggest that when controlling for remittances, the children of more educated or informed parents suffer from parental absence, while the children of less informed parents gain from migration, implying that the migration experience helps less educated parents estimate the value of and returns to education more precisely. The results also suggest that remittances help severely credit-constrained households enrol their children in school and prevent dropouts. These remittances help households that face less severe liquidity constraints increase their investment in quality education.     

Deaths associated with liposuction: case reports and review of the literature

Tumescent liposuction is a common cosmetic procedure that is performed as an outpatient service in physician's offices and is largely believed to be safe. The protuberant areas of the body containing the undesirable fat deposits are injected with normal saline containing lidocaine and epinephrine for pain control and hemostasis, and the waterlogged cells are suctioned out via cannula through a small incision. We recently encountered three cases in which deaths were attributed to this procedure. Two showed fat embolization in the lung and one died from fluid overload. The osmium tetroxide post-fixed lung sections showed fat emboli in the interstitial capillaries and arterioles. We reviewed the recent literature and found that pulmonary thromboemboli, fat embolization, fluid overload, and lidocaine and epinephrine intoxication are found at autopsy in many cases. Forensic pathologists responsible for determining the cause and manner of death should become familiar with the postmortem findings and risks of liposuction therapy and communicate them to their clinical colleagues and communities.     

Factors Associated with Physician Discussion of Health Behaviors with Adolescents

Behaviors developed in adolescence influence health later in life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of health care provider's discussion of health behaviors with overweight and non-overweight adolescents and identify demographic and health behaviors related to exercise, hours of television viewing, and weight issues associated with these discussions. A Cross sectional survey of urban adolescents was conducted. Trained interviewers administered surveys over a three month period in 2001 at an urban academic pediatric and adolescent clinic. The 252 adolescents surveyed had a mean age of 15 with 49% categorized as being at risk for overweight/overweight and 51% as normal weight using the CDC percentiles for BMI. While 16% of the adolescents reported that their physician or nurse discussed the amount of television they watched, rates of discussion related to exercise (58%), and weight (54%) were much higher. In multivariate analyses, health care provider discussions with adolescents regarding exercise were more common for overweight (O.R.=2.42, 95% C.I. [1.28–4.57]) and at risk for overweight (O.R.=1.98, 95% C.I. [1.03–3.81]) adolescents, whereas physician discussion of television viewing was not associated with weight. Discussions of weight were more common for female (O.R.=2.18, 95% C.I. [1.21–3.95]), African-American (O.R.=2.53, 95% C.I. [1.40–4.57]), and overweight (O.R.=3.92, 95% C.I. [1.97–7.81]) adolescents. Even after adjusting for weight, race and gender strongly influenced the frequency of discussions about weight in physician offices. Although health care providers frequently address weight and exercise with adolescents, more discussions related to sedentary behaviors such as television viewing may be warranted to address adolescent obesity.Received PhD in Epidemiology from University of California, San Diego. Research interests include smoking prevention and cessation among adolescents and health promotion interventions.Received MD from University of Missouri-Kansas City and MPH from Johns Hopkins University. Research interests include health services research and research in support of measurable, systematic improvements in the quality of medical care.Received medical degree from Christian Medical College, Punjab, India and Master of Public Health from University of Kansas School of Medicine. Research interests include diet and physical activity behaviors, role of the environment in obesity and obesity prevention, especially among children and adolescents.Received MBBS from Allama Iqbal Medical College, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan and MPH from University of Kansas Medical Center. Research interests include smoking cessation, database design, implementation, data management and analysis, and use of information technology in health care settings.Director, Cancer Prevention, Control, and Population Sciences, Kansas Cancer Institute. Received MD/MPH from Tulane University and MS from Harvard School of Public Health. Research interests include disparities in healthcare; smoking cessation among underserved populations, specifically African Americans; diet, nutrition, obesity, and physical activity.     

Titian's secret: comparison of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere's skull with the Uffizi portrait

The present paper describes the study of a skeleton, kept at the Church of Santa Chiara in Urbino, Italy. Traditionally, this skeleton was thought to be that of the Duchess Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere (1493-1550), but suspicion exists as to whether or not the remains might belong to another important personage of the Urbino Renaissance, Battista Sforza (1447-1472). Here, external observation of the skull and odontological examination of the mandible were conducted in an attempt to clarify the identity. Age estimates of the skeleton were found to be consistent with the age at death of Eleonora but not with that of Battista. Craniofacial superimposition using the portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga by Titian (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) shows that the face of Eleonora matches the skull fairly closely except for the length of the nose. The historical record and the age matching appear to provide strong evidence that the remains are those of Eleonora, and the discrepancies in the superimposition may suggest that the artist altered the dimension of the Duchess' nose, possibly to make the portrait correspond to his canons of classical beauty. The results highlight the potential of forensic methods as a key to understand the work of earlier painters.