Stable isotope models to predict geographic origin and cultivation conditions of marijuana

Here we describe stable isotope based models using hydrogen and carbon isotope ratios to predict geographic region-of-origin and growth environment for marijuana, with the intent of applying these models to analyses of marijuana trafficking in the USA. The models were developed on the basis of eradication specimens and border specimens seized throughout the USA. We tested reliability of the geographic region-of-origin and growth environment models with a “blind” set of 60 marijuana eradication specimens obtained from counties throughout the USA. The two geographic region-of-origin model predictions were 60–67% reliable and cultivation environment model predictions were 86% accurate for the blind specimens. We demonstrate here that stable isotope ratio analysis of marijuana seizures can significantly improve our understanding of marijuana distribution networks and it is for that purpose that these models were developed.     

Mail vs. telephone surveys of criminal justice attitudes: A comparative analysis

This study compares results from surveys using two modes of administration. A subset of questions from the 1992Texas Crime Poll, a statewide poll conducted annually by mail, was replicated in telephone interviews using the Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing System. The phone survey yielded better participation rates but less complete responses to individual attitude questions than did the mail poll. As expected, the mail survey was less expensive but less efficient than the automated phone survey. The central finding was that all but one of the responses to five attitude questions difered significantly across the surveys. The samples differed in their demographic composition, but this did not explain differences in the substantive findings from the mail and phone surveys. The discussion considers alternative explanations for differences in the findings from the two surveys and suggests direction for further comparative research.     

电流斑的光镜和扫描电镜观察以及能谱测定

为了找出电流斑在扫描电镜下的特征性改变,作者用扫描电镜和能谱测定,配合光镜观察,对电击死者的22个皮肤电流斑和尸体上造成的18个皮肤电流斑和金属灼伤,进行了对比观察。结果表明,光镜下电流斑的形态改变与过去学者所述基本一致。非典型的电流斑难与热灼伤相鉴别。扫描电镜下电流斑的形态特征为:(1)损伤底部和壁上可见散在的小孔穴,直径为30～100μm,深浅不一,边缘不规则;(2)损伤组织表面大量细胞碎屑和颗粒;(3)组织和脱落细胞表面有裂纹;(4)损伤区内有散在的异物颗粒沉积,其形态为球形、方形或不规则形,电子密度较大。作者认为这些改变是电流作用造成,热灼伤不具备这些改变,故在扫描电镜下极易区别电流斑和热灼伤。所有电流斑均可测出与导体化学组成相同的金属元素。作者提出,扫描电镜下的上述形态改变和能谱测定结果可以作为诊断电流斑的依据。     

An empirical analysis of municipal choice in Portugal

Processes of European integration and growing consumer scrutiny of public services have served to place the spotlight on the traditional French model of public/private interaction in the urban services domain. This article discusses recent debates within France of the institutionalised approach to local public/private partnership, and presents case study evidence from three urban agglomerations of a possible divergence from this approach. Drawing on the work of French academic, Dominique Lorrain, whose historical institutionalist accounts of the French model are perhaps the most comprehensive and best known, the article develops two hypotheses of institutional change, one from the historical institutionalist perspective of institutional stability and persistence, and the other from an explicitly sociological perspective, which emphasises the legitimating benefits of following appropriate rules of conduct. It argues that further studying the French model as an institution offers valuable empirical insight into processes of institutional change and persistence.