The Square of Intimate Citizenship: Some Preliminary Proposals

This exploratory paper suggests some emerging arenas of public debate across the personal life‐from 'test-tube babies' to 'lesbian and gay families'‐which when taken together may be captured by the term 'intimate citizenship'. This suggests a plurality of public discourses developing about how to live the personal and intimate life in a late modern and global world where we are often confronted by an escalating series of choices and difficulties around intimacies. A framework of four key issues is suggested for fuller examination. This entails the changing nature of the public sphere; the growth of culture wars and the need for dialogue; the narrativisation process and grounded moralities; and the links to global intimacies.     

Design and Crime: Proofing Electronic Products and Services against Theft

This paper introduces the work of Project Marc (an EU-funded project to develop mechanisms for assessing the risk of crime) and discusses both difficulties encountered throughout the project and progress made since the project ended. The authors introduce the papers contained within this special edition and summarise their relevance to crime-proofing. The paper discusses progress made within this field in the decade prior to Project Marc and makes recommendations to ensure that the ideas move forward.

Reviews

Tsuyoshi Hasegawa & Alex Pravda, eds, Perestroika: Soviet Domestic and Foreign Policies. London: Sage Publications, 1991, xxi+276 pp., £27.50 h/b, £11.95 p/b.

Ronald J. Hill & Jan Ake Dellenbrant, eds, Gorbachev and Perestroika: Towards a New Socialism? Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1989, 234 pp., £32.50

Uri Ra'anan & Igor Lukes, eds, Gorbachev's USSR: A System in Crisis, London: Macmillan, 1990, xxi+154 pp., £35.00.

Martin McCauley, ed., Gorbachev and Perestroika. London: Macmillan, 1990, xii+222 pp. £35.00 h/b, £14.99 p/b.

Pawel Dembinski, The Logic of the Planned Economy: The Seeds of Collapse. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991, xii+249 pp., £30.00.

Mildred Turnbull, Soviet Environmental Policy and Practice. Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing Company, 1991, xiv+215 pp., £35.00

Chandran Kukathas, David W. Lovell & William Maley, eds, The Transition from Socialism: State and Civil Society in the USSR. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1991, vii+227 pp., $24.99.

Vladimir Tismaneanu, In Search of Civil Society: Independent Peace Movements in the Soviet Bloc. London: Routledge, 1990, x+191 pp., £30.00.

John Feffer, Beyond Detente. New Options on East‐ West Relations. London: I. B. Tauris & Co., 1990, xviii+238 pp., £14.95

Robert Hall, Soviet Military Art in a Time of Change: Command and Control of the Future Battlefield. London: Brassey's (UK), 1991, xix+203 pp., £22.50, $40.50 h/b.

Alfred D. Low, Soviet Jewry and Soviet Policy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990, 249 pp., $37.50     

US Appeals Court invalidates retroactive assignments of copyrights

A unanimous panel of the US Court of Appeals for the SecondCircuit held that a ‘retroactive’ assignment ofownership from a co-author of a copyright to an alleged infringercannot defeat the other co-author's accrued infringement claims.The court also held that a written agreement could not ‘ratify’an earlier oral agreement to transfer ownership.     

Forensic Analysis of Explosives Using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)—Part 2: Forensic Inter-Laboratory Trial: Bulk Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes in a Range of Chemical Compounds (Australia and New Zealand)

Abstract:  Comparability of data over time and between laboratories is a key issue for consideration in the development of global databases, and more broadly for quality assurance in general. One mechanism that can be utilized for evaluating traceability is an inter-laboratory trial. This paper addresses an inter-laboratory trial conducted across a number of Australian and New Zealand isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) laboratories. The main objective of this trial was to determine whether IRMS laboratories in these countries would record comparable values for the distributed samples. Four carbon containing and four nitrogen containing compounds were distributed to seven laboratories in Australia and one in New Zealand. The laboratories were requested to analyze the samples using their standard procedures. The data from each laboratory was evaluated collectively using International Standard ISO 13528 ( Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by inter-laboratory comparisons ). "Warning signals" were raised against one participant in this trial. "Action signals" requiring corrective action were raised against four participants. These participants reviewed the data and possible sources for the discrepancies. This inter-laboratory trial was successful in providing an initial snapshot of the potential for traceability between the participating laboratories. The statistical methods described in this article could be used as a model for others needing to evaluate stable isotope results derived from multiple laboratories, e.g., inter-laboratory trials/proficiency testing. Ongoing trials will be conducted to improve traceability across the Australian and New Zealand IRMS community.     

Experimental Study on the Postmortem Redistribution of the Substituted Phenethylamine, 25B‐NBOMe

2‐(4‐Bromo‐2,5‐dimethoxyphenyl)‐N‐(2‐methoxybenzyl)ethanamine (25B‐NBOMe) is a substituted phenethylamine, which has become highly prevalent worldwide since 2014. Recently, in an autopsy case involving fatal 25B‐NBOMe intoxication, we found the postmortem increase of 25B‐NBOMe concentration in the cardiac blood approximately 2 days after death. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of 25B‐NBOMe and reproduce the postmortem redistribution using a rat model. Sprague‐Dawley rats were killed 30 min after intraperitoneal injection of 25B‐NBOMe (0.5 mg/kg) and left for 0, 3, 6, 9, 15, or 24 h (six rats at each time point). Postmortem 25B‐NBOMe concentrations in the cardiac blood increased by more than 10‐fold at 6‐h postmortem. 25B‐NBOMe accumulated primarily in the lung. Moreover, this postmortem redistribution occurred even in rats that had died 1 week following the 25B‐NBOMe administration. These findings indicate that attention should be paid to sample collection and data interpretation in the toxicological analysis of 25B‐NBOMe.