Evolution and Devolution: Citizenship, Institutions, and Public Policy

The United Kingdom is a state of unions. It evolved througha series of diverse unions, each leaving an institutional legacy.Though the United Kingdom was highly centralized it was notuniform. Devolution is rooted in this legacy. Past institutionalarrangements, notably central government departments responsiblefor Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Ireland affairs (collectivelyknown as "administrative devolution") remain central to howUK politics and policy should be understood today. Devolutioninvolved adding elected representative institutions to eachof the components of the state of unions apart from England.The powers, responsibilities, and funding arrangements of devolutionreflect the evolution of administrative devolution. Nonetheless,devolution marks a critical juncture that will accentuate differencesin citizenship rights within the United Kingdom.     

A comparison of the feeding behaviour in teneral and post-teneral Glossina morsitans (Diptera, Glossinidae) using an artificial membrane

Post-teneral flies are much more reluctant to feed through an artificial membrane than are inexperienced, teneral flies. It is possible to separate those stimuli which are important to flies of all ages, regardless of experience, from those which become important with feeding experience. ATP is necessary at all ages if flies, following successful probing, are to suck up a blood meal. Factors such as host odour, blood factors other than ATP, skin texture and skin movements probably influence this aspect of feeding behaviour only after the fly, through experience, has come to associate them with feeding.

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Résumé Cette étude expérimentale utilise avec quelque modification la technique d'alimentation sur membrane artificielle décrite par Langley & Maly (1969). Le stimulant alimentaire est une solution d'ATP dont la concentration optimale est 10⁻³ M pour les jeunes adultes, cependant que cette concentration doit être augmentée pour les adultes agés. Sans doute ces derniers insectes sont-ils sensibles à d'autres stimuli alimentaires, per?us dans les conditions d'alimentation préalable sur un h?te normal, tels que l'odeur de l'h?te, la texture et le mouvement de la peau, les constituants chimiques du sang autres que l'ATP.

     

Beware of the possibility of fingerprinting techniques transferring DNA

Fingerprinting brushes have the potential to collect and transfer DNA during powdering. Squirrel-hair fingerprint brushes exposed to specific sets of saliva stains and brushes used in routine casework were tested for their ability to collect and transfer DNA containing material using standard DNA extraction procedures and AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus amplification and typing procedures. The tests found that the risk of transferring DNA during powdering and having a detrimental impact on the analysis increases if the examiner powders over either biological stains (such as blood or saliva) or very fresh prints and uses more sensitive PCR amplification and typing procedures. We advocate caution when powdering prints from which DNA may also be collected and provide options for consideration to limit the risk of transferred DNA contamination while fingerprinting.     

A willingness to talk: Conciliatory gestures and de-escalation

Conclusion This article points up a lack of any systematic, comparative knowledge about one aspect of the complex process of conflict termination, namely signalling a willingness to talk at the start of termination in such a way that the likelihood of an adversary's recognizing the gesture for what it is (and perhaps responding positively) is maximized. In the absence of systematic analysis, I have suggested a number of plausible working hypotheses about the characteristics of actions that have the best chance of being recognized by an adversary in the midst of conflict as real or genuine. In doing so, I have isolated a number of general principles that could be helpful in explaining why certain actions were successful in starting a process of de-escalation, at least leading to talks about talks, while others were not.I have, thus, focused on the likelihood of successful communication of a credible conciliatory gesture, if this is what a party wishes to convey. Of course, the real world of political conflict gives rise to numerous examples of false conciliatory gestures made for tactical advantage, concessions extracted from a reluctant adversary that will be repudiated once the balance of advantage changes, and de-escalation processes begun purely to obtain a breathing space. However, sorting out the genuinely intended signals from those designed as a ruse or smoke screen does not seem to be an inherently hopeless research task. It is unlikely that the accurate perception of genuine concessions in past conflicts has occurred in a wholly individual or random manner. Our hope, as scholars, must be that systematic empirical analysis will indicate some patterns in this phenomenon, throwing light on the manner in which conflicts begin to terminate, even if this proves only a temporary halt. This article seeks to contribute to such understanding by suggesting a framework within which answers might be sought. Christopher R. Mitchell is Professor of Conflict Resolution and International Relations at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. 22030. He also serves as Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason.Ideas for this article arose originally from work carried out in the Conflict Termination Project in the Department of Systems Science at the City University, London. Sincere thanks are due Dean Pruitt of the State University of New York, Buffalo; Louis Kriesberg of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Program, Syracuse University; Alan Simpson (Visiting Fellow); Shaw Smith (Diplomat in Residence) at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution; and to doctoral students in my class, CONFLICT 751, for helpful comments and criticisms.