Domestic environmental activists and the governance of the Ganges and Mekong Rivers in India and China

It is generally considered difficult to resolve negative unidirectional externalities within hydro-hegemonic basins in which the upstream powerful riparian has the incentive to unilaterally develop the river without regard to downstream consequences. Weaker downstream riparian states can resort to issue linkages and side payments to coerce a change in the upstream hydro-hegemon’s behavior, but the success of these tools depends on the specific political and economic situation in the basin and on the preferences of the hydro-hegemonic state for cooperation. Neglected in the literature is another possibility. Through a consideration of the sanctioned discourse of watershed management at the domestic levels, this article shows that domestic environmental non-governmental organizations and policy entrepreneurs—through the application of a range of tools—can work to change the domestic water management discourse from a state-hydraulic paradigm to a more sustainable water management paradigm. When these efforts are successful, we can find that these non-state actors can perform a crucial function in cleaning up domestic stretches of international rivers, which produces positive externalities downstream. In the process, they are able of achieving what often years of international negotiations failed to accomplish. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, India’s policies on water quality in the national stretches of Ganges Basin and China’s policies on biodiversity in the national stretches of the Mekong Basin are used to make this argument.     

Intergroup Prejudice in Multiethnic Settings

This article examines how out-group perceptions among Asian Americans, blacks, Latinos, and whites vary with the racial composition of their surroundings. Previous research on the contextual determinants of racial attitudes offers mixed expectations: some studies indicate that larger percentages of proximate out-groups generate intergroup conflict and hostility while others suggest that such environments promote interracial contact and understanding. As most of this research has been directed at black-white relations, the applicability of these theories to a multiethnic context remains unclear. Using data that merge the 1992–1994 Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality and 1990 Census, we find that in neighborhood contexts, interethnic propinquity corresponds with lower levels of out-group prejudice and competition, although intergroup hostility is higher in metropolitan areas with greater minority populations. Further tests suggest that these results do not occur from individual self-selection; rather ethnic spatial and social isolation bolster negative out-group perceptions. These findings suggest the value of residential integration for alleviating ethnic antagonism .     

Molecular study of time dependent changes in DNA stability in soil buried skeletal residues

Stamp marks are used as a unique identification for a range of items, but these can be erased for criminal activities. Erased marks can sometimes be recovered by etching or magnetic means. The present study looked at the application of Fry's reagent to recover erased marks from steel. The investigation also demonstrated that Fry's reagent can deteriorate on storing and will require a longer etching time. The effect of different applied forces of stamping was investigated, and the depth of the underlying deformation was determined by etching after varying degrees of metal removal. The amount of metal needing to be removed depends on the force applied to the die. Metal removal also affects the time needed for recovery. The underlying structural change remains as a hidden identification mark, and could potentially be used by manufacturers as an unseen identifier. A model for the underlying deformation is proposed.     

The effect of sexual priming cues on emotional recognition in nonviolent child sexual abusers: a preliminary study

This article describes a study that used a computer-based task to investigate the emotional recognition skills of child sexual abusers. The experiment consisted of two phases (prime and probe) and measured both response time and error rates to facial expressions. The priming phase of the experiment consisted of the presentation of short phrases via computer of either sexual or neutral content. The probe phase of the experiment consisted of the presentation of adult facial expressions depicting either the emotion fear or surprise. Results showed child sexual abusers to be slightly less accurate overall. Furthermore, contrary to prediction, the effect of sexual priming appeared to make child sexual abusers actually better at recognizing fearful faces (p = .055). This result is discussed in relation to current victim empathy theory and treatment implications for sexual offenders.     

Can Birth Trauma Be Confused for Abuse?

Abstract: An unexpected infant death is usually investigated with a complete autopsy. If evidence of prior trauma is found at autopsy in these cases, suspicion is raised for nonaccidental trauma. In a young infant, the residua of trauma received during birth has the potential to be incorrectly interpreted as nonaccidental trauma. We report a the findings of a 4 1/2‐month‐old‐infant that died unexpectedly with a healing linear skull fracture and a circular lesion over the calvarium found at autopsy. Though this lesion was concerning, the remainder of the autopsy and the histological findings did not support a diagnosis of recent trauma. Review of the literature describing birth injuries made the diagnosis of healing, residual birth trauma more convincing in this case.     

Reasons for Lack of Consensus in Forensic Pathologist Interpretation of Photographs of Patterns of Injury of the Skin,

In a previous study, a survey‐based analysis of pathologist diagnoses of patterned injury in which participants were asked makes diagnoses from photographs in the absence of history or context. The level of consensus was low. A follow‐up survey was created to ask those who responded to the first survey why they answered as they did or why they were unsure of their answers. The most common reason for lack of consensus was that the lesion was nonspecific. Responses invoking ambiguity were more common than those that indicated a confident difference in diagnosis. There were differences between demographic groups, with age and experience being most prominent. These findings suggest that differences in image interpretation do not generally reflect firm differences in diagnosis as much as differing ways of dealing with ambiguity in the absence of history and context. A third survey will study the effect of the addition of contextual information.     

Book reviews

John R. Davis, Britain and the German Zollverein, 1848-66 (London: Macmillan, 1997). x + 238 pp. £45. ISBN 0-333-67828-1.

Martin Thomas, Britain, France and Appeasement: Anglo-French Relations in the Popular Front Era (Oxford and New York: Berg. 1996). xi + 268 pp. £29.95 hb; £12.95 pb. ISBN 1-85973-192-9.

Peter Lowe, Containing the Cold War in East Asia: British Policies Towards Japan, China and Korea, 1948-53 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997). xii + 288 pp. £40. ISBN 0-7190-2508-7.

David M. Barrett, Uncertain Warriors: Lyndon Johnson and His Vietnam Advisers (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1994). xii + 279 pp. £11.95 pb. ISBN 0-7006-0631-9.

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Changing Differences: Women and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1917-1994 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997). x + 275 pp. £14.50 pb. ISBN 0-8135-2449-0.

Philip M. Taylor, Global Communications, International Affairs and the Media Since 1945 (London & New York: Routledge, 1997). xx + 248 pp. £45 hb. ISBN 0-415-11678-3; £15.99 pb. ISBN 0-415-11679-1