A large-scale study of the relationship between blood and breath alcohol concentrations in New Zealand drinking drivers

Blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) and corresponding breath alcohol concentrations (BrAC) were determined for 21,582 drivers apprehended by New Zealand police. BAC was measured using headspace gas chromatography, and BrAC was determined with Intoxilyzer 5000 or Seres Ethylometre infrared analysers. The delay (DEL) between breath testing and blood sampling ranged from 0.03 to 5.4 h. BAC/BrAC ratios were calculated before and after BAC values were corrected for DEL using 19 mg/dL/h as an estimate of the blood alcohol clearance rate. Calculations were performed for single and duplicate breath samples obtained using the Intoxilyzer (groups I-1 and I-2) and Seres devices (groups S-1 and S-2). Before correction for DEL, BAC/BrAC ratios for groups I-1, I-2, S-1, and S-2 were (mean+/-SD) 2320+/-260, 2180+/-242, 2330+/-276, and 2250+/-259, respectively. After BAC values were adjusted for DEL, BAC/BrAC ratios for these groups were (mean+/-SD) 2510+/-256, 2370+/-240, 2520+/-280, and 2440+/-260, respectively. Our results indicate that in New Zealand the mean BAC/BrAC ratio is 19-26% higher than the ratio of the respective legal limits (2000).     

The clinical trial research participant as an inside trader: a legal and policy analysis

This Article examines whether a participant in a clinical research trial for a drug obtains material nonpublic information about the drug and its manufacturer or licensor and, if so, whether the participant may lawfully trade securities based on that information. This issue has been noted but not examined in depth in several articles in recent years. After an introduction to the federal law of insider trading and a discussion of relevant aspects of a supervised research trial, the Article concludes that, absent an agreement to the contrary, the participant would be free to trade securities based on any material nonpublic information learned in the trial. The author evaluates the extent to which the information is material and nonpublic and then presents the policy issues surrounding whetherthe participantshould be precluded from trading when in possession of material nonpublic information gained as a result of participation in the trial. While not resolving the competing policy considerations, including the value of allowing participants to make disclosure of their experiences in the trial before publication of the results in a peer reviewed journal, the Article presents an approach for preventing the misuse of material nonpublic information gained in the clinical trial context, by obtaining an agreement from the participant, and an agreement from the limited circle of persons to whom the participant should be allowed to make disclosure in any event (such as his personal physician and family members), that would render any trading by them unlawful under the federal law of insider trading.     

Introduction: A post-Polanyian political economy for our times

Abstract

2014 is the seventieth anniversary of the publication of Karl Polanyi's The great transformation and the fiftieth anniversary of its author's passing. This special issue celebrates these markers by bringing together a collection of critical engagements with Polanyi's work which, whilst sympathetic to his intellectual aims, ward against any straightforward application to contemporary issues. In so doing, it suggests that part of the value of Polanyi's work lies not in its ability to be recited, repeated and re-applied in its original form, but rather in its openness and its susceptibility to alteration and transmutation. In this introductory article, I consider the return to intellectual ‘voices from the past’ in the post-2008 landscape. I suggest that the distinctiveness of Polanyi's voice comes from his attempt to problematize, challenge and re-imagine the very notion of ‘economy’ itself, a theme which underpins all of his most important ideas, and one which reverberates across contributions to this special issue. I suggest that, beyond his immediate critique of free-market ideas, the desire to de-centre the notion of an autonomous economic sphere – and to challenge abstract modes of thought that address such a notion, regardless of their political sensibilities – is his most valuable legacy, and one which might encourage us to seek out new innovations and engagements in future Polanyian scholarship.     

When two become one: sexuality studies and critical studies of men and masculinities

Men think about sex … a lot. Is this a problem or is this a site for reformation? In this paper, we set out to think actively, deeply, about the question of sexuality, to penetrate the limits of men and masculinity studies, and to tease at a range of questions that it seems the field is not attending to for any number of reasons. When men’s studies scholars speak of sex, we often speak of rape culture, violent sex, ideas of entitlement to sex, sex workers and pornography. Many of these approaches would be framed and understood by many as ‘sex negative.’ This paper sets out to think about what a ‘sex positive’ vision of men’s studies might look like – and also to ask if a sex positive vision of the field is even possible, desirable or necessary. In this paper, we braid together sex positive feminist theory, queer theory and men’s studies to complicate the matter of sexuality, both as an actual site of the kinds of things we do, and as a site of psychic and affective possibility.     

Theorising state–narco relations in Bolivia’s nascent democracy (1982–1993): governance,order and political transition

Conventional policy and academic discourses have generally held illicit drug economies in Latin America to be synergistic with violence and instability. The case of post-transition Bolivia (1982–1993) confounds such assumptions. Applying a political economy approach, this article moves beyond mainstream analyses to examine how the Bolivian drug trade became interwoven with informal forms of governance, order and political transition. I argue that state–narco networks – a hangover from Bolivia’s authoritarian era – played an important role in these complex processes. In tracing the evolution of these interactions, the article advances a more nuanced theorisation of the relationship between the state and the drug trade in an understudied case.     

Citizens of California: How the Golden State Went from Worst to First on Immigrant Rights

California has accomplished a remarkable shift in its historical development on immigrant rights, from pioneering and championing anti-immigrant legislation from the 1850s through the 1990s, to passing robust pro-immigrant rights policies in the last two decades. In this article, we unpack California’s policies and historical shift on immigrant rights, and develop a typology of regressive, restrictive, and progressive variants of state citizenship. We then advance a theory of how California’s progressive state citizenship crystallized in 2014 by cumulating and gaining sufficient strength in particular elements – of rights, benefits, and membership ties – to constitute a durable and meaningful form of state citizenship. Our work builds on, and speaks to, a fast-growing literature on immigration federalism and a robust literature on semi-citizenship and alternative types of citizenship. Situated in federalism, state citizenship operates in parallel to national citizenship, and in some important ways, exceeds the standards of national citizenship. While many states have passed various policies intended to help undocumented immigrants such as state driver licenses, in-state tuition, financial aid, health insurance for children, our concept and theory of state citizenship formation considers how California’s policies took more than a decade to develop and reach a tipping point, transforming in 2014 from integration policies to a more durable crystallized state citizenship.