Public Sector ‘Modernisation’: Examining the Impact of a Change Agenda on Local Government Employees in England

Can public sector reform change service performance for the better? This is a hotly contested debate that carries significant theoretical and practical importance. In England, as in many countries, modernisation was at the heart of local government reform and represented an interpretation of New Public Management into a policy framework. This paper examines the role of the modernisation change agenda in England and what this has subsequently meant for ‘service improvement’. Drawing on both document analyses and qualitative interviews with local government employees, we find that while modernisation sought to establish continuous improvement, unintended consequences of modernisation have led to Staff Reductions, Skill Deficiencies, and Loss of a Competent Middle Core in local government, as well as performance outcomes creating an environment for Commissioning, Service Reduction, and Self‐Policing. Implications for the lasting roles and behaviours of public managers affected by this national change agenda are discussed, and conclusions for theory and practice are drawn.     

Applicability of the ParaDNA® Screening System to Seminal Samples

Seminal fluid represents a common biological material recovered from sexual assault crime scenes. Such samples can be prescreened using different techniques to determine cell type and relative amount before submitting for full STR profiling. The ParaDNA^® Screening System is a novel forensic test which identifies the presence of DNA through amplification and detection of two common STR loci (D16S539 and TH01) and the Amelogenin marker. The detection of the Y allele in samples could provide a useful tool in the triage and submission of sexual assault samples by enforcement authorities. Male template material was detected on a range of common sexual assault evidence items including cotton pillow cases, condoms, swab heads and glass surfaces and shows a detection limit of 1 in 1000 dilution of neat semen. These data indicate this technology has the potential to be a useful tool for the detection of male donor DNA in sexual assault casework.     

Sex and the civil partnership act: the future of (non) conjugality?

This article considers the transgressive and transformative possibilities in the sexual silences of the U.K.’s Civil Partnership Act 2004. The absence of a consummation requirement and adultery as a specific ground of dissolution do open up some possibilities but are not unproblematic. These issues are explored in the context of the England and Wales Law Commission’s apparent ‘return’ to a conjugal model in its forthcoming consultation on cohabitation. It is concluded that though the Act may open up possibilities for expanding the legal recognition of relationships beyond those that are sexual, this raises concerns about the further privatisation of care as well as increased state intervention in relationships. Instead, I argue that the purpose and function of relationship recognition should be deconstructed and separated from ideology and romantic mythology about what families and relationships are and should be. If it does wed itself so closely to the conjugal marriage model in the consultation document, the Law Commission will miss a valuable opportunity to ask important questions about the purpose and function of relationship recognition.     

Should the UK adopt a European system for the registration of trade marks?

An examination of whether the UK Trade Marks Registry shouldno longer undertake searches for relative grounds of refusal.     

紫锥菊提取物Polinacea~(TM)对乳牛外周血单核细胞免疫功能的影响

采用ELISA方法检测了不同浓度的狭叶紫锥菊提取物PolinaceaTM在体外结合刀豆蛋白A(ConA,1μg/mL)和美洲商陆有丝分裂原(PWM,0.6μg/mL)刺激6头荷斯坦乳牛外周血单核细胞(PBMC)的增殖效果及PolinaceaTM结合ConA(2.27μg/mL)对γ-干扰素(IFN-γ)产量的影响.PolinaceaTM加入细胞培养基的浓度分别为0、6.3、20、60和180μg/mL.结果表明:PolinaceaTM最高浓度(180μg/mL)与最低浓度(6.3μg/mL)对PBMC的增殖分别高于对照组将近10倍与2倍;180μg/mL PolinaceaTM结合ConA对PBMC的增殖有显著的抑制作用;20、60μg/mL PolinaceaTM结合PWM可显著刺激PBMC的增殖;PolinaceaTM能诱导外周血淋巴细胞产生IFN-γ,但不同浓度的紫锥菊提取物对IFN-γ的产生无显著影响(P)0.05).试验结果为体内试验提供了有力的理论依据.