Determination of methadone in urine using ion trap GC/MS in positive ion chemical ionization mode

Methadone is a potent analgesic and sedative. It is widely used in the treatment of heroin addiction and is often encountered in forensic specimens. In electron impact (EI) gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) mode, methadone produces predominantly a m/z 72 ion, which is not sufficiently characteristic for identification. Determination of the molecular ion, which can be achieved using chemical ionization (CI) provides diagnostic information and better identification of the drug. This paper describes the development of a positive ion CI GC/MS procedure, using a liquid reagent gas and ion trap instrumentation, for the determination of methadone and its metabolites in urine. CI generally produces a single molecular ion spectrum, but optimization of the reagent gas parameters increases the fragmentation of the molecule, allowing determination of ion ratios if required. The procedure is sensitive, diagnostic and is currently in routine use in our laboratory.     

Revisiting the Instrumentality of Voice: Having Voice in the Process Makes People Think They Will Get What They Want

Research on procedural justice has found that processes that allow people voice (i.e., input) are perceived as fairer, and thus elicit more positive reactions, than processes that do not allow people voice. Original theorizing attributed these effects to beliefs that the provision of voice enhances people’s sense of process control, which people were assumed to value because it impacts their perceived likelihood of receiving desired outcomes (the instrumental perspective of procedural justice). Subsequent research questioned this perspective, arguing that outcome expectations do not account for the effects of voice. However, this subsequent research failed to directly examine the interplay of voice, outcome expectations, and reactions. The current studies revisit and extend research on this topic by asking whether manipulations of voice act as shared circumstance effects. Confirming an untested implication of the instrumental perspective, we show that giving everyone voice increases their belief, ex-ante, that they are likely to win an upcoming competition. However, this instrumental belief accounts for only part of the effects of voice on perceived procedural fairness and on general reactions to outcomes. Results suggest that voice does indeed have instrumental significance, an implication not adequately recognized in current justice theorizing. However, this instrumentality does not, by itself, explain why people value having a voice in processes that affect them.     

A Mace to Swat Two Blow‐Flies: Interpreting the Fitzpatrick and Browne Privilege Case

It is not widely remembered that on 10 June 1955 two men, Raymond Edward Fitzpatrick and Frank Courtenay Browne, were sentenced to gaol for three months on a vote of the Commonwealth House of Representatives for contempt of parliament. Two parliamentary officials, Frank Green and Harry Evans, have dominated scholarly attempts to explain this unusual event. To the former, the privilege case largely reflected the animus of Prime Minister Menzies towards Browne and his desire for revenge. To the latter the matter was a genuine case of contempt. This article revisits the 1955 Bankstown Observer privilege case with the benefit of recently released archival material. It seeks to understand why two citizens were deprived of their liberty without legal representation or redress and to find some compromise between the divergent interpretations proffered by Green and Evans.     

Combating terrorism in Russia and Uzbekistan

This article aims to offer a preliminary assessment of Russian and Uzbek attempts to combat terrorism after 9/11. While both cases fit into the larger post-Soviet political narrative, itself shaped by strategic realignments following the events of 9/11, relatively little work has been undertaken to analyse how terrorism and law enforcement have intertwined in order to generate military, legislative and police responses in these countries. Thus, while recognizing how security policies changed in Russia and Uzbekistan immediately after 9/11, this paper argues that policy reactions to home-grown terrorism have, for the most part, continued to be the main driving force behind attempts to combat terrorism. Equally, however, the latter part of this paper argues that a more nuanced account of security in the North Caucasus and Central Asia is needed in order to study terrorism effectively. In particular, the emergence of suicide terrorism in Russia and Uzbekistan raises important issues, not just about post-9/11 law enforcement, but also identity politics, illustrating how diverse local, regional and international forms of identification shape International Relations theory.     

Alcohol concentration and the ability to form intent

The ability to form intent to commit a particular act is often a significant issue in criminal litigation. Often, a complicating factor in the resolution of this issue is the presence of ethanol and drugs in the individual whose motives are to be ascertained. To determine whether an intoxicating blood ethanol concentration (BAC) in the absence of other information is sufficient to establish intent, we reviewed cases investigated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland over a two-year period. Specifically, we identified cases of suicide with a suicide note, the presence of ethanol and the absence of other psychoactive drugs. The BACs ranged from 0.01 to 0.37 g/dL. The average BAC was 0.14 g/dL and the median BAC was 0.13 g/dL. Twenty-five of the 37 cases had a BAC greater than 0.08 g/dL. We conclude that a BAC alone is not sufficient to determine the capability of an individual to form intent to commit a particular act.     

Corporate governance for NGOs?

Official aid funding for the development NGO sector grew fast in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These halcyon days are over. Thinkers within the NGO community are concerned with how to adapt to the end of the funding boom, and to correct its adverse effects. However, in spite of many calls to reorganize, re-think, and professionalize, one major set of issues has been largely ignored: the scope for introducing collective self-regulation of the organizational structure and procedures of NGOs in developing countries. The authors argue that this could make a major contribution to solving several problems currently faced by NGOs.     

Predicting adolescent risk behavior using a personalized cost-benefit analysis

Risk was investigated from the subjective viewpoints of adolescents, with the aim of assessing adolescents' perceptions of what constitutes risky behavior and how risk behaviors and risk judgments relate. Participants were 570 school-based adolescents. Students named risky behaviors perceived as common to similarly aged peers, then rated level of engagement in these behaviors. The perceived positive and negative outcomes of risk were also nominated, and rated on perceived likelihood and desirability/undesirability. The sample viewed risky behaviors as smoking, drinking alcohol, dangerous driving, taking drugs, criminal behavior, sporting risks, antisocial behavior, minor rebellion, school-related risks, and sexual activity. Negative outcomes of risk were categorized as death, disablement, punishment, and social consequences. Payoffs included pleasure, material gain, and avoidance of negative outcomes. There was a consistent pattern of relationships between risk participation and outcome judgment, with perceived pleasantness and likelihood of positive outcomes, and unpleasantness of negative outcomes, strongly associated with behavior.This research was supported by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund.Received Ph.D. from Florida State University. Research interests: adolescent development, risk taking, and sexuality.Received Ph.D. from Monash University. Research interests: adolescent development, emotional development, and families.