The detection of HIV antibodies in blood stains

Blood samples were collected on cotton wool and stored at +20 degrees C. These samples were tested in an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and the immunoblotting test. HIV-antibodies could be detected in samples stored up to four month.     

Overcoming barriers to communication between police and socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods: a critical theory of community policing

This research paper explores barriers to communication between police and residents of socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods (SDNs). Using a participant observation approach, research in a poor, high-crime, muiti-ethnic neighbourhood in Vancouver, Canada examined communication between police and neighbourhood residents. Communication problems that were apparent included one-way dialogue between police and neighbourhood residents, the inability of police to effectively communicate with minority and special needs groups, and the promulgation of community policing as a purposive rational model which obfuscates an empathetic dialogue between police and SDN residents. These communicative problems limited the success of community policing and crime prevention in this neighbourhood and perpetuated the asymmetrical relations between many residents and the police. Indeed, traditional community policing models have generally failed SDNs because they do not recognize how police communication with residents can continually reproduce an asymmetrical power relationship between the two. The infusion of Habermasian critical theory into community policing represents one means to overcome the communicative obstacles that perpetuate the asymmetrical power relations between police and SDN residents. lt does so by emphasizing a communicative action that attempts to expose and deconstruct asymmetrical social and personal power relationships and replace them with modes of communication that result in a more empathetic relationship. The communicative emphasis in a critical theory of community policing is a commitment to forward policing in SDNs as a democratic and empowering process. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A variable geometry of enforcement?

This paper locates the control of fraud against the Community budget within the wider context of the tensions engendered by fiscal crises and successive enlargements of the European Union. Funds allocated to the Member States for agriculture, whether in the form of subventions or structural grants, take up more than half of total budget expenditure, so the Common Agricultural Policy has been at the heart of the discussion on budgetary control. Since the 1980s the Common Agricultural Policy has been blamed for the repeated fiscal crises affecting the Community budget, and for frauds and irregularities. In this historical context, the control of fraud has not been static, but has gone through distinct phases, beginning with benign neglect in the 1960s and 70s, followed by transitional and active phases up to and including today's media focus on the Community budget, and the fraud affecting it. The paper analyses the prospects for future enforcement.     

Development of immersion skin in fresh and salt water at different water temperatures

The development of skin wrinkling was analysed using 48 hands from 24 adult corpses in systematic experiments involving submersion in fresh and salt water at varying water temperatures (10 degrees, 20 degrees, and 30 degrees C); the results were documented by photography. Skin wrinkling was observed after between 15 min and 72 h of submersion. These are the essential results of the study: skin wrinkling is highly dependent on temperature and begins after only 15 min of submersion. The development of wrinkling in salt water, especially after long periods (greater than 24 h), is different from that in fresh water. Washerwomen's hands are classified into four categories that allow practical, usable conclusions to be drawn about the duration of submersion. Previous opinions concerning the development and timing of washer-women's hands were verified by means of test photographs shown to 16 domestic and foreign experts on legal medicine. It became obvious that expertise in this area varies considerably. Concerning the forensic approach, these surveys again show that, even when many influencing factors are known (water temperature, osmolarity, etc.) and comprehensive documentation has been made, the length of submersion can only be very roughly assessed from macroscopical aspects.     

An analysis of the relationship between the additionality of CDM projects and their contribution to sustainable development

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows industrialised countries to use credits from greenhouse gas abatement projects in developing countries in order to fulfil their own emission reduction commitments. There has been mounting evidence that the CDM’s ability to fulfil its goals as stipulated by the Kyoto Protocol—contributing to the sustainable development of the host countries and delivering real, measurable and additional emission reductions—is less than satisfactory. In this article, an evaluation is made of CDM projects’ likelihood of being additional by assessing the impact Certified Emission Reductions have on the Internal Rate of Return of the individual projects. In addition, the projects’ sustainable development benefits are assessed by using a multi-criteria analysis. In a final step, the relationship between the projects’ additionality and sustainability contribution is assessed and a trade-off between these two CDM goals is established, revealing a potential inherent conflict in how the current mechanism works. The analysis is based on a systematic evaluation of 40 registered CDM projects in India.     

Evidenz und Expertise im vorparlamentarischen Gesetzgebungsprozess: Die Rolle von Verwaltung und externen Experten

Der Evidence‐Based Policy‐Ansatz hat international Reformen ausgelöst und Studien zum Verhältnis von Wissen und Politik angestossen, wobei ein klares Verständnis von “Evidenz” nach wie vor fehlt. In diesem Artikel wird eine Typologie politikrelevanter Wissensarten entwickelt, die zwischen systematischer Evidenz und personengebundener Expertise sowie zwischen den Politikdimensionen Policy, Politics und Polity unterscheidet. Auf dieser konzeptionellen Grundlage wird empirisch erfasst, welches Wissen die Verwaltung und externe Experten während der bisher kaum untersuchten Frühphase von Gesetzgebungsverfahren auf Bundesebene beitragen. Es zeigt sich, dass die federführenden Verwaltungsakteure kaum über Expertise verfügen, die für den Gesetzgebungsprozess relevant wäre, doch versuchen sie, ihre Wissenslücken je nach Dimension unterschiedlich zu kompensieren. Externe Experten leisten einen bescheidenen Wissensbeitrag, weshalb ihre Beteiligung primär als Mittel für die politische Kompromissfindung verstanden werden muss. Dies eröffnet aus demokratietheoretischer Sicht Diskussionsbedarf.     

Diplomaten zwischen Sozialisation und Kalkulation: Bestimmungsfaktoren des Berufserfolgs im Auswärtigen Dienst

This article examines the determining factors of career success in the German Foreign Service. Based on the socialization and the rational choice approach, we design two models from which empirical relevance is evaluated through data from four career entry cohorts (attaché training courses 1970–1973). The statistical analysis of a systematic survey shows that facets of career calculation such as networking or conformity more strongly influence the professional achievements of a diplomat than that of group-specific features such as family background or party membership. Even though we cannot strictly separate the models from each other, it becomes evident that the rationalist explanation predicts career success better than the factors attributed from the socialization model.