Computer simulation of humanitarian scenarios: tools for training and field management in relief agencies

Computer simulation, a technology well advanced in military strategies and tactics, has been used for response to natural disasters. The authors argue that it should also be applied to the field of humanitarian action in armed conflict. Projected uses are: the management and planning of relief actions, public resource mobilization for humanitarian actions, and training personnel for violent work environments. How that can happen is shown with the example of a real relief management problem in the Sudan.

Simulation can be introduced in ways that are compatible with agencies’ needs, communication styles, and staff abilities. Several factors speak for it: many agencies routinely use computer applications that are flexible enough for simulation to be added seamlessly. Simulation will help agencies to add the power of analysis to the images that prompt humanitarian actions. And with violence and chaos continuing, simulation offers a technique around which to share expertise and training in new, networked partnerships.     

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.     

Compelled Third‐Party Participation in the Regulatory Process: Legal Duties, Culture, and Noncompliance

This paper focuses on government's enlistment of private entities (industries, businesses, professionals) to help in public enforcement. Despite the popularity of this enforcement strategy, there is little systematic research about the behavior of private enforcers in these systems. This article draws together the widely scattered popular and scholarly literature to examine: (a) the settings in which this strategy occurs, (b) its common features, and (c) the responses of private parties to their compelled participation. I then examine existing explanations for private parties' responses. Very little empirical research has been published. I argue that what exists suggests limitations of a conventional cost‐benefit approach to explaining noncompliance, as well as highlights the need for a broader perspective that considers how cultural factors may influence private enforcers' responses to their mandated duties.     

The Relationship of Alternative Negligence Rules to Litigation Behavior and Tort Claim Disposition

Recently most states have abandoned the traditional tort defense of contributory negligence and substituted a form of comparative negligence. Using an extensive data set of auto accident injury claims, we provide evidence on the relationship between negligence rules and claimants' litigation decisions to retain attorneys, file lawsuits and litigate versus settle out of court. Litigation choices appear to be rational responses to the varying incentives created by alternative tort standards. We find that in contrast to comparative negligence, claims arising under comparative negligence are associated with greater probabilities of attorney involvement, higher average award levels, and longer delays in securing payment. Only 37% of claims involving attorneys in contributory negligence states result in a lawsuit being filed compared to 49% and 47% under the pure and modified forms of comparative negligence, respectively. The study provides the first statistical evidence on the litigation costs of the new forms of comparative negligence.     

Feminism and mothering: A Kleinian perspective

There has been a tendency within recent feminist theory to celebrate the early mother-daughter relationship as a basis of women's unity as a sex. In this respect the work of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein is relevant to feminism in that it draws attention to the hatred as well as love that inheres in the early mothering relation, and explains the prevalent neglect of the contradictory and ambivalent aspects of mothering—a neglect that contributes to its idealization.