Death, dying, and euthanasia: Australia versus the Northern Territory

The purpose of this article is to explain what has happened in the euthanasia debate in the Australian States and Territories, and to give a more detailed account of how the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws were overturned by the Federal Government. Dr. Fleming begins with a review of euthanasia legislation in each State and Territory, then proceeds with an analysis of the events in the Northern Territory leading to reversal of its euthanasia laws, and includes the effect of the euthanasia law on the Aboriginal people. He concludes that the repeal of the 1995 Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was a significant setback for the pro-euthanasia movement not only in Australia, but worldwide.     

Procedural Change in the UK House of Commons, 1811–2015

Recent research has shown an increasing interest in the historical evolution of legislative institutions. The development of the UK Parliament has received particularly extensive attention. In this article, we contribute to this literature in three important ways. First, we introduce a complete, machine-readable data set of all the Standing Orders of the UK House of Commons between 1811 and 2015. Second, we demonstrate how this data set can be used to construct innovative measures of procedural change. Third, we illustrate a potential empirical application of the data set, offering an exploratory test of several expectations drawn from recent theories of formal rule change in parliamentary democracies. We conclude that the new data set has the potential to substantially advance our understanding of legislative reforms in the United Kingdom and beyond.     

Relationships Between Level and Change in Family,School, and Peer Factors During Two Periods of Adolescence and Problem Behavior at Age 19

While prior research has examined family, school, and peer factors as potential predictors of problem behavior, less attention has been given to studying when these factors are most predictive of problems and if and when changes in these factors signal risk. Using annual data on a community sample of 1,040 individuals (47% female; 81% White), this study models growth in risk and protective factors during two developmental periods (Grades 5–8 and Grades 9–12) in order to predict substance misuse and crime at age 19. For protective factors of positive relationships with family and positive bonds to school, both the levels of these factors at Grade 5 and change between Grade 5 and Grade 8 predicted substance misuse and crime in early adulthood. Higher likelihoods of both forms of problem behavior also were predicted by increases in the risk factor of exposure to negative peers between 5th and 8th grade. In the late adolescent period, levels at 9th grade of all risk and protective factors examined predicted both substance misuse and crime. Also, increases in exposure to negative peers in late adolescence predicted greater likelihoods of both forms of problem behavior, while greater risk of substance misuse was predicted by decreases in school bonding and academic achievement, and greater risk of crime was predicted by worsening relationships with family. The results add to prior research by indicating that in addition to the level, change in risk and protective factors during these two stages of development can be signals of risk and are promising targets for intervention.     

Conflict and Collaboration in Wildfire Management: The Role of Mission Alignment

Responding to large wildfires requires actors from multiple jurisdictions and multiple levels of government to work collaboratively. The missions and objectives of federal agencies often differ from those of state land management agencies as well as local wildfire response agencies regarding land use and wildfire management. As wildfire size and intensity increase over time and associated annual suppression costs range between $2 billion and $3 billion, learning more about the existence and management of perceived agency differences becomes imperative within the academic and practitioner communities. This article examines the extent to which perceived mission misalignment exists among federal, state, and local actors and how well those differences are managed. Findings provide quantitative evidence that mission misalignment is greater within intergovernmental relationships than within intragovernmental relationships. Additionally, findings speak to the larger conversation around intergovernmental relationships within the federal structure and perceptions of the presence and management of potential interagency conflict.

Practitioner Points

• Potential conflict between the missions of federal and state land agencies presents a challenge for disaster management, and differing governmental levels and land‐use mandates may highlight relationships where tensions are likely greater.
• Wildfire managers may need to more proactively address relationships among federal agencies and state and local partners rather than relationships among multiple federal agencies.
• Wildfire management may benefit from increased awareness of—and discussion around—partner agencies’ stated land management philosophies and legal mandates, as structural frameworks, such as the Incident Command Structure, may not alone lead to conflict‐free collaboration.

     

Ninth Circuit heightens DMCA notice requirement and clarifies CDA immunity

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’) offersseveral ‘safe harbours’ that allow internet serviceproviders to limit liability for postings that allegedly constitutecopyright infringements. As a threshold to relying on one ofthese safe harbours, the internet service provider must reasonablyimplement a policy for removing content posted by repeat copyrightinfringers.     

Is Species Integrity a Human Right? A Rights Issue Emerging from Individual Liberties with New Technologies

Currently, some philosophers and technicians propose to change the fundamental constitution of Homo sapiens, as by significantly altering the genome, implanting microchips in the brain, and pursuing related techniques. Among these proposals are aspirations to guide humanity’s evolution into new species. Some philosophers have countered that such species alteration is unethical and have proposed international policies to protect species integrity; yet, it remains unclear on what basis such right to species integrity would rest. An answer may come from an unexpected angle of rights issues: Some cultures have indicated that they want no part of our technological culture, preferring to retain their practices. Yet, rights documents do not explicitly establish that any individual has a right to species integrity. Careful interpretation of rights documents nonetheless reveals that such a right to species integrity is implicit. Interpreting these so as to reveal this needed right is also necessary to retain the foundations of rights documents and institutions. Further, acknowledging a right of species integrity could mean, because of practicalities, a limit to the freedom of proponents to implement proposals to manipulate the species.     

The Limits of the German Minority Project in Post-communist Poland: Scale,Space and Democratic Deliberation

This paper explores the development of the German minority community in postcommunist Poland, focusing specifically upon the Opole Silesia voivodship. I argue that the minority's successful engagement within democratic fora at all spatial scales allowed the minority to voice its concerns and secure funds to develop its community infrastructure. However, as the 1990s progressed, the minority's ability to manipulate a politics of scale declined as the policy objectives of key allies were achieved or reformulated. Furthermore, the changing contours of the minority–majority relationship within Poland have exposed significant cleavages within the minority, bringing into question the continued relevance of the German minority political party for the constituency it claims to represent. Introduction The emergence in Europe of a new minority rights regime, adhered to by Poland as part of its desire to “return to Europe” and join the European Union, has created a legislative framework that aims to ensure that members of national minority populations can enjoy substantively the same rights as the majority. The most significant legislation in this area is the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995), ratified by Poland in December 2000. The “guarantees” of this new regime, in order to be substantiated, require minorities to be able to mobilise sufficient political capital in order to have their rights (social, cultural, economic) taken into account, both within and without democratic fora. In Poland the most successful minority has been the German minority, which, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, was able to forge up-scale links with powerful allies such as the German government, the Union of Expellees and the Association of Compatriots. As the 1990s unfolded, these links weakened, in part because of the substantial progress made by the minority in gaining the recognition they had been aiming for, but also owing to the changing policies of allies as their own goals were achieved or reformulated.     

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)--standardised investigations and classification: recommendations

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) still accounts for considerable numbers of unexpected infant deaths in many countries. While numerous theories have been advanced to explain these events, it is increasingly clear that this group of infant deaths results from the complex interaction of a variety of heritable and idiosyncratic endogenous factors interacting with exogenous factors. This has been elegantly summarised in the "three hit" or "triple risk" model. Contradictions and lack of consistencies in the literature have arisen from diverse autopsy approaches, variable applications of diagnostic criteria and inconsistent use of definitions. An approach to sudden infant death is outlined with discussion of appropriate tissue sampling, ancillary investigations and the use of controls in research projects. Standardisation of infant death investigations with the application of uniform definitions and protocols will ensure optimal investigation of individual cases and enable international comparisons of trends.