Oral fluid drug tests: Effects of adulterants and foodstuffs

An on-site oral fluid drug screen, Oratect^®, was used to investigate the effects of adulterants and foodstuffs on oral fluid test results. Common foods, beverages, food ingredients, cosmetics and hygienic products were demonstrated not to cause false positive results when tested 30 min after their consumption. Evaluations of two commercial oral fluid adulterants, “Clear Choice^® Fizzy Flush™” and “Test’in™ Spit n Kleen Mouthwash” suggest their mechanism of action is the clearing of residual drugs of abuse compounds through rinsing of the oral cavity. They do not directly destroy the drug compounds or change the pH of the oral fluid. It is also suggested that a common mouthwash would perform similar action.     

Law of assembly in China: People''s Republic of China vs. Republic of China

This paper is a comparative study of law of assembly between the People's Republic of China (PRC) vs. the Republic of China (Taiwan) (ROC). The comparison is achieved by looking at how these two societies regulate and police assembly, procession, and demonstration (hereinafter “public assembly”). Particularly it looks at the constitutional mandate and legal limitations on police powers in managing such public gatherings, e.g. what are the role and functions, and powers and limitation of the police in dealing with public assembly application and conduct.This comparative project is conducted with a view to understand the relative development in police powers in the two Chinese societies, once linked by history and culture and now divided by geography and ideology. It is assumed that in order to achieve a political “unification” of the two societies under a “one country two systems” formula,or any other viable political settlement, some understanding of how the two legal systems work is important in breaching their differences.In a still larger context, this research rides the tide of comparative policing in exposing and explicating how police in these two closed societies, ROC (Confucianism) and PRC (Socialism), come to terms with social protests and political challenges; more broadly how they balance the forces of reform and control with the use of law.     

Going 'Back' and Staying 'Out': Articulating the postcolonial Hong Kong subjects in the development of China

In examining the Hong Kongers' participation in the social development of China, I suggest that China-development provides an important local site for the study of Chinese postcoloniality. Not only does it disclose the multiple and contradicting effects of colonial power, it also embodies the conflicting visions of modern China between the official Grand Narrative of modern Chinese nationhood and the local narratives of modern Chineseness. It became a site that created discursive possibilities for individual Hong Kongers to negotiate their ambivalent identification with and resistance to China. In this paper, I show how Hong Kongers were constructed as 'free subjects' under the British colonial discourse of liberalism which in turn shaped the Hong Kong discourse of China-development. Circulating in China-development was the image of China as the oppressive and corrupt 'inside' and Hong Kong as a free 'outside' space of accountability and equality of opportunities. Vacillating between East and West, Hong Kongers came to represent themselves as modern Chinese towards which they worked to develop their mainland compatriots.     

Kwok Cheuk Kin v Lam Cheng Yuet Ngor: Government Chastisement of Dissidents and Judicial Review That Never Was?

The Hong Kong Government issued a strongly-worded official statement, subsequently adopted by the Chief Executive, to publicly condemn an outspoken constitutional law scholar for expressing views which the Government considered unconstitutional. Leave to judicially review the statement was refused by the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong on the grounds, inter alia, that a statement lacking in direct legal consequences was outside the ambit of judicial review and, further, the Chief Executive was in any event entitled to comment on public affairs. This note argues that, on a proper understanding of the supervisory jurisdiction of the Court and the theory of the ‘third source’ of governmental power, neither ground should have precluded judicial review.     

Keeping promises: A systematic review and a new classification of gang control strategies

Purpose

We argue that inadequate frameworks to compare similar gang control strategies, and the scarcity of well-designed evaluations have hindered our ability to determine the effectiveness of existing programs. This article proposes a new typology of gang control strategies to use with logic models as tools to improve gang program evaluation.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of gang control strategy evaluation reports and created a typology from the studies identified. Studies were selected on the basis of methodological quality in order to reflect only rigorous evaluations with credible research findings.

Results

Forty-five studies were selected and reviewed. Studies were classified in homogeneous categories based on the targeted population and the objective of the strategy. We infer logic models that consider the activities, outputs, and outcomes of each type of strategy.

Conclusion

A better framework for the comparison of similar studies may allow meta-analyses to be conducted, thereby improving our knowledge of what works. Logic models can move the field forward by allowing researchers to understand why some programs work and others do not. The improvement, both in quality and quantity, of program evaluation in gang research is crucial in order to move beyond claims of promising approaches.