A high-throughput urinalysis of abused drugs based on a SPE-LC-MS/MS method coupled with an in-house developed post-analysis data treatment system

A rapid urinalysis system based on SPE-LC-MS/MS with an in-house post-analysis data management system has been developed for the simultaneous identification and semi-quantitation of opiates (morphine, codeine), methadone, amphetamines (amphetamine, methylamphetamine (MA), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)), 11-benzodiazepines or their metabolites and ketamine. The urine samples are subjected to automated solid phase extraction prior to analysis by LC-MS (Finnigan Surveyor LC connected to a Finnigan LCQ Advantage) fitted with an Alltech Rocket Platinum EPS C-18 column. With a single point calibration at the cut-off concentration for each analyte, simultaneous identification and semi-quantitation for the above mentioned drugs can be achieved in a 10 min run per urine sample. A computer macro-program package was developed to automatically retrieve appropriate data from the analytical data files, compare results with preset values (such as cut-off concentrations, MS matching scores) of each drug being analyzed and generate user-defined Excel reports to indicate all positive and negative results in batch-wise manner for ease of checking. The final analytical results are automatically copied into an Access database for report generation purposes. Through the use of automation in sample preparation, simultaneous identification and semi-quantitation by LC-MS/MS and a tailored made post-analysis data management system, this new urinalysis system significantly improves the quality of results, reduces the post-data treatment time, error due to data transfer and is suitable for high-throughput laboratory in batch-wise operation.     

Negotiating climate legislation: Policy path dependence and coalition stabilization

This article investigates the nature of policy path dependence through analysis of climate policy formation in the United States. In 2008 the US Congress attempted to pass the Lieberman–Warner bill, a comprehensive climate and energy package that would have capped greenhouse emissions and established a nationwide cap and trade program. In the same year, California successfully enacted the Global Warming Solutions Act. This article explores the circumstances of both cases and raises the question of why legislation at the state level was successful and took such a divergent form from legislation at the federal level. The divergence of these cases is used to highlight the nature of coalition formation and policy path dependence in the legislative process. Explanations of policy tend to gravitate toward either the generalizability of game theoretic approaches or the empirical depth of case studies. This article suggests a combined approach that uses case studies to analyze the positions and motivations of actors and to then model policy development over time. The approach examines policy through the formation and negotiation of policy coalitions. Drawing on the Advocacy Coalition Framework and omnibus analysis, the approach expands these coalition theories first by analysing legislative development at the interface of legislators and constituent interest groups, and second by adding temporal dimension to the analysis. The findings suggest that policy is path dependent in that it is negotiated between coalitions that in turn create stability in the policy process and insulate policy fields from external shocks. Policy path dependence suggests that theory alone is insufficient to predict policy outcomes; policy results depend strongly on prior policy efforts, historically and socially contingent coalitions, and the resulting framing of policy possibilities.     

Short and long-term prediction of recidivism using the youth level of service/case management inventory in a sample of serious young offenders

The present investigation examined the predictive accuracy of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) for youth and adult recidivism in a Canadian sample of 167 youths (93 males, 74 females) charged with serious offenses who received psychological services from a community mental health outpatient clinic. Youths were followed for an average of 7 years in the community, and predictive accuracy was examined for several recidivism outcomes as a function of gender, ethnicity, and developmental age group. YLS/CMI total scores significantly predicted all recidivism categories in the overall sample (area under the curve values ranged from 0.66 to 0.77) although the instrument as a whole, and its criminogenic needs, demonstrated somewhat stronger and more consistent predictive accuracy for youth outcomes. The YLS/CMI also demonstrated significant predictive accuracy within demographic subgroups. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the use of risk-need assessment tools in providing clinical assessment, treatment, and case management services to diverse young offender groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The Effects of Age and Political Exposure on the Development of Party Identification Among Asian American and Latino Immigrants in the United States

This article seeks to understand the development of partisanship among the largest of contemporary immigrant groups, Asian Americans and Latinos. Identifying the processes that underlie the acquisition of partisanship is often complicated because the associated concepts are not easily isolated from one another. In particular, among those born in the U.S., distinguishing between the separate effects of age and political exposure on partisan development is especially difficult since age usually serves as an exact measure of exposure to the political system and vice versa. Because immigrants' length of residence does not correspond directly to their age, tracking the acquisition of party identification represents one way to untangle the effects of age and exposure on partisanship. A strong relationship between the number of years an immigrant has lived in the U.S. and the acquisition of partisanship is found. Further analysis shows that naturalization, gains in English language skills, and media use also contribute to immigrants' acquisition of partisanship. This study reveals that a process of reinforcement through exposure to the political system underlies the development of political attitudes across diverse immigrant groups.     

The impact of cuts in legal aid funding of private family law cases

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) made deep cuts to legal aid in the UK from April 2013, withdrawing state aid from almost all private family law cases. The paper is based on the findings of a micro-study of solicitors and Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABx) in Kent and London to investigate the impact of LASPO cuts on their work. The findings suggest that: legal aid firms have closed or merged; legal aid work is often partially carried out in solicitors’ own time; ‘unbundled’ services for litigants in person (LIPs) are increasingly common; and family cases are being complicated and extended by the new ubiquity of the LIP. Respondents suggest that litigants may increasingly be ‘giving up’ on pursuing their cases, with clear implications for financial justice and contact with children. Further research is needed into the financial and affective impact of the cuts and the distribution of losses and difficulties between genders. The study, however, suggests the likelihood of post-separation poverty, debt and capital losses increasing in the post-LASPO environment, and that firms and CABx are having to find various methods of dealing with clients abandoned by the state.     

Carbon monoxide concentrations in the 2009 Victorian Bushfire disaster victims

Blood was available for the estimation of carboxyhemoglobin saturation (COHb) in 30 of the 173 persons who died in the Victorian bushfires in February 2009. The ages of these 30 deaths ranged from 3 to 80 years and there were 8 females. 13 cases (43%) were considered negative (less than 5% COHb), 12 (40%) were between 5 and 40% COHb, 2 (6.7%) between 40 and 50% and 3 (10%) were greater than 50% COHb. There were 6 persons either found within a building or a car and the COHb in these cases ranged up to 69% (mean 50%). There were 5 cases where the location was unable to be determined as either indoor or outdoor due to the extensive nature of the fire. The remaining 19 deceased persons were all located outside in the open and the concentration of COHb in these cases ranged up to 30% (mean 19%). Hydrogen cyanide was only detected in two deceased persons at concentrations of 0.5 and 2.7 mg/L, respectively. 13 deceased were found to have soot in the airways following necropsy but this did not correlate with the COHb levels.     

Cyber-trespass and 'Unauthorized Access' as Legal Mechanisms of Access Control: Lessons from the US Experience

The common law doctrine of trespass to chattels has recentlybeen revived and applied by courts in the United States (US)to cover intrusions (in the form of electronic signals) to computersystems connected to the Internet. These cases represent judicialrecognition of the need to protect certain unwanted intrusionsin cyberspace, though the principles developed therewith areremarkably expansive. As such, they overlap with the conceptof ‘unauthorized access’ under computer misuse legislationin the US and elsewhere. This overlap has yet to be judiciallyacknowledged. Since the US, the United Kingdom and other commonlaw countries not only share a common law ancestry but also‘unauthorized access’ principles as the primarytrigger for computer misuse, this paper seeks to examine theconsequences of developing a broad cyber-trespass doctrine beyondthe US, and its corresponding implications for judicial interpretationsof ‘unauthorized access’ in the common law world.     

The Future of Consumer Web Data: A European/US Perspective

The article considers the subject of clickstream data from aEuropean/US perspective, taking into account the Data ProtectionFramework (Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC; Directive onPrivacy and Electronic Communications 2002/58/EC) and the USlegal framework and in particular, the Wiretap Act U.S.C. 2701(2004) and related statutes. It examines the extent to whichclickstream data is considered "personal data" within the DataProtection Directive and the implications to consumers and businesses.