Hybridity and Friction in Organizational Politics: New Perspectives on the African Security Regime Complex

ABSTRACT

Security governance in Africa constitutes a web of interactions between national, regional, and international organizations. This emerging ‘African security regime complex' receives growing attention in International Relations debates on international organizations (IOs). Most analysis, however, follows institutionalist and problem-solving approaches, centred on regulatory concerns. We offer a different perspective. Moving beyond dominant perspectives on organizations as either pre-given institutional ‘wholes' or rationalized ‘tools' of states, we instead unpack the ‘politics of organizations’, understood as the multiple processes and forms of agency through which organizations emerge, diversify and transform. In doing so, we bring IO analysis into conversation with debates on hybridity, friction and translocality.     

Networks as ‘laboratories of experience’: exploring the life cycle of the suffrage movement and its aftermath in Ireland 1870–1937

ABSTRACT

Applying an innovative conceptual framework this article presents an interdisciplinary re-appraisal of the suffrage movement and its aftermath in Ireland throughout the years 1870–1937. New social movement theory is utilised to consider how, in the words of the Italian sociologist Alberto Melucci ‘the submerged networks of social movements are laboratories of experience’. Going beyond the previously published work of each author, this article uses the sociological lens of ‘laboratories of experience’ to re-analyse aspects of the suffrage movement, female activism and the wider women's movement in Ireland. This application of social movement theory to female networks, their origins, aims and strategies, along with their interconnectedness, provides a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the ‘life-cycle’ of this movement. The article aims to demonstrate how an analysis of network dynamics and application of the concept of ‘latency’ is useful in further understanding the significance, impact and longevity of the women's movement in Ireland.     

The Recovery and Persistence of Salivary DNA on Human Skin

Abstract: Salivary DNA is encountered in many crimes, such as sexual assaults and murders. In this study, saliva from three male donors was deposited on the skin of three female recipients. The amount of male salivary DNA remaining on the female skin was measured over a 96‐h period using the Quantifiler? Y Human Male DNA Quantification Kit. In eight of the nine experiments, a full male DNA profile matching the donor was obtained even after 96 h. In addition, the study showed that the concentration of salivary DNA varied from donor to donor and from day to day. The efficiency of two recovery methods, wet and dry swabbing and minitaping, was compared. The results indicate the tapelift method gave higher DNA recovery. This study also examined the secondary transfer of salivary DNA from skin to fabrics. Cotton and polyester give higher DNA transfer than leather.     

Psychiatric correlates of medical care costs among veterans receiving mental health care

Research on increased medical care costs associated with posttraumatic sequelae has focused on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the provisional diagnosis of Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS) encompasses broader trauma-related difficulties and may be uniquely related to medical costs. We investigated whether DESNOS severity was associated with greater nonmental health medical care costs in veterans receiving mental health care. Participants were 106 men and 105 women receiving VA outpatient mental health treatment. A standardized interview assessed DESNOS severity. The dependent variables consisted of primary and specialty medical treatment costs. Sequential zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to evaluate the variance in medical costs accounted for by DESNOS severity, controlling for PTSD severity and established predisposing, enabling, and need-based health care factors. Contrary to our hypothesis, in fully adjusted models, DESNOS severity independently added a significant amount of variance to lower specialty medical care costs, whereas PTSD did not consistently account for significant variance in medical care costs. Greater DESNOS severity appears to be associated with lower specialty medical care costs but not primary care costs. These findings may indicate that patients with DESNOS symptoms are at risk for being underreferred for specialty care.     

Donor conception legislation in Victoria, Australia: the "Time to Tell" campaign, donor-linking and implications for clinical practice

The State of Victoria in Australia was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to introduce legislation regulating donor conception. Under the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984 (Vic), donor-conceived people, aged 18 years and over, parents of children under 18 years, and donors gained the right to apply for the release of identifying information about each other recorded in a Central Register. As a result, of this and subsequent legislation, services providing donor treatment were obliged to change clinical practice relating to recruitment of donors, counselling of donors and recipients and recordkeeping. Since this legislation was introduced in 1988, over 5,000 donor-conceived children have been born and in 2006 the first 100 of these children reached the age of 18. The Victorian Infertility Treatment Authority (ITA) conducted a public education campaign to provide information and support to people affected by the legislation. This article describes clinical practice changes prompted by legislation, the 'Time to Tell" campaign and the service model developed for linking parties on the donor registers. The Victorian experience demonstrates that laws allowing the parties involved in donor conception access to information about each other must be accompanied by changes to clinical practice, public education about the implications of the laws, and services to meet the needs of those seeking information relating to donor conception and those contacted as a result.     

Variation in the Measurement of Cranial Volume and Surface Area Using 3D Laser Scanning Technology

Abstract: Three‐dimensional (3D) laser scanner models of human crania can be used for forensic facial reconstruction, and for obtaining craniometric data useful for estimating age, sex, and population affinity of unidentified human remains. However, the use of computer‐generated measurements in a casework setting requires the measurement precision to be known. Here, we assess the repeatability and precision of cranial volume and surface area measurements using 3D laser scanner models created by different operators using different protocols for collecting and processing data. We report intraobserver measurement errors of 0.2% and interobserver errors of 2% of the total area and volume values, suggesting that observer‐related errors do not pose major obstacles for sharing, combining, or comparing such measurements. Nevertheless, as no standardized procedure exists for area or volume measurements from 3D models, it is imperative to report the scanning and postscanning protocols employed when such measurements are conducted in a forensic setting.