Metabolite sensitivity in the methaqualone radioimmunoassay.

Recent literature reflects the increased use of RIA as a qualitative and quantitative tool. This study exemplifies the problems that may arise when this technique is used for quantitation. Caution must be exercised, and a physiological and toxicological understanding of each particular drug is essential to provide credible results. It is evident that the sensitivity and ease of the RIA method for methaqualone makes it invaluable as a screening test, but confirmation and quantitation of this drug must remain with those methods that can quantitate each metabolite.     

The Prime Minister's mailbag

Abstract. This study is based on examination of a randomly selected sample of 2,150 letters representing all the mail received by Prime Minister Trudeau between February 1969 and June 1972. The object of the study was to ascertain the characteristics of the letter-writers and the nature of their concerns, arguments and strategies. Through interviews with the staff of the Correspondence Section of the Prime Minister's Office we were also able to discover how the mail is processed. This is described in the last section of our paper. As one might expect, the mail is unrepresentative of the regional, linguistic and class diversity of Canada. Metropolitan areas, rich provinces and English-speakers are over-represented, as are people who have access to typewriters. There is, however, a sizable group of letters from the very poor who write the Prime Minister to complain of their victimization by government bureaucracy or by life in general. These letters are personal and apolitical and approach the Prime Minister in a deferential manner. They appear to us to be carefully and sympathetically answered, and to be probably effective in rectifying small problems. The bulk of the mail is policy-oriented, but probably not effective in influencing policy. Public attention to policy, as expressed in the mail, is extremely transitory and focuses particularly on topics with strong emotional content or on those affecting economic welfare. The mail seems only weakly related to the government's own policy priorities. Sommaire. Cette étude est fondée sur un échantillon de 2,150 lettres tirées du courrier par le premier ministre Trudeau entire février 1969 et juin 1972. Nous avons voulu identifier les catégories de personnes qui s'adressaient au premier ministre, et déterminer le but de leur correspondence et la nature de leur argumentation etc. Nous avons interviewé le personnel de la section de la correspondance du cabinet du premier ministre pour connaître la procédure de réponse à ce courrier. Nous avons constaté que le courrier n'est pas représentatif de la diversité régionale, culturelle et sociale du pays. Les plus fortunés, les habitants des grandes villes, et les habitants des provinces sont surreprésentés. II y a, cependant, une proportion assez élevée de lettres venant d'économiquement faibles qui se plaignent au premier ministre de leur traitement par la bureaucratic ou de la vie en générate. Leurs problèmes sont formulés en termes personnels, et ces personnes s'adressent au premier ministre respectueusement. Les réponses à ces lettres nous paraissent sympathiques et souvent efficacies quant au redressement des plaintes. Le gros du courrier concerne l'orientation de la politique mais son influence est sans doute limitée. L'attention du public à l'égard de la politique gouvernementale est conditionnée par les évènements, en particulier les évènements à contenu émotif ou ceux qui touchent de près le bien-être des correspondants. Ce courrier ne se réfère que très indirectement aux priorités politiques du gouveniement.     

Terminating federal research and development programs

The barriers to terminating federal research and development vary with the type of program (manpower resource creation, basic or applied research, hardware development) and the functional sector in which it is lodged (defense or civilian). Each has a public/private constituency of sponsors and performers. Some constituencies are much more potent than others. Hence, to kill an R&D program, one must weaken the constituency behind it. Useful strategies for would-be terminators include decremental funding and the amalgamation of competing R&D programs within the same agency.     

Gender and Gender-Role Orientation Differences on Adolescents' Coping with Peer Stressors

Gender and gender-role orientation differences were explored on adolescents' coping with peer stressors. Eighth-grade and ninth-grade public junior high school students (N = 285) completed the COPE, reporting the strategies they recently used to deal with a stressful peer-related situation. Measures of gender-role orientation (Bem Sex-Role Inventory) and demographic information also were obtained. Factor analysis of the COPE revealed 4 distinct coping factors: active, avoidant, acceptance, and emotion-focused. The most frequently reported stressful event was arguments/fights with same-sex friends. Girls reported more arguments/fights with opposite-sex friends. Boys reported more physical fights and threats. Students' ratings of how much the situation mattered were used as a covariate in a MANCOVA to compare coping by gender and gender-role orientation, to control for perceived stressfulness of situations. Significant gender-role orientation differences were found for active, acceptance, and emotion-focused coping.     

When Does Deliberation Begin? Internal Reflection versus Public Discussion in Deliberative Democracy

Political deliberation involves both internal reflection and public discussion. The former might be far more important than implied by deliberative democrats' heavy emphasis on the discursive component. Analysis of the deliberations of a citizen's jury on an Australian environmental issue shows jurors' attitudes changing more in response to the 'information' phase of the jury proceedings, involving a large degree of 'deliberation within', than during the formal 'discussion' phase. Various ways can be imagined for evoking internal reflection of that sort, even in mass-political settings.     

Mandates, Powers, and Policies

Elections provide a mandate to pursue a set of policies. Party label provides a concise ideological cue for voters to choose among candidates, and research on industrial democracies verifies a link between the parties voters elect and subsequent policy outcomes. The combination of inchoate party systems and economic vulnerability elsewhere may weaken the link between voter choice and policy. When examining economic policies in Latin America, there is some controversy as to whether governments carried out "reform by surprise"—promising one thing during a campaign while implementing another in office. We test whether the ideological reputations of executives' and legislators' parties explain whether they adopt market-oriented policies. We find that the future behavior of presidential candidates is difficult for voters to predict. However, the ideological reputation of legislators is a reliable predictor of policy outcomes, and the relationship is clarified by the prospects of collective action by legislative delegations.