New developments in SPME Part 2: Analysis of ammonium nitrate-based explosives

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a simple, reliable technique for the recovery and analysis of many organic explosives. However, this technique is impractical for the analysis of ammonium nitrate-type explosives due to the extreme polarity, low molecular weight, and high volatility of the amine moiety. This article describes an initial investigation of a derivatization process utilizing alkylchloroformates that converts ammonium nitrate and methylammonium nitrate into a form suitable for recovery by SPME and analysis by GC-MS.     

Metal concentrations in plants and urine from patients treated with traditional remedies

A number of traditional South African herbal remedies which are associated with morbidity and mortality were analysed for selenium, manganese, copper, lead, zinc and mercury content. Few showed high levels of toxic metals, but in these the concentrations were sufficiently high as to cause concern since there is no quality control on the production of these remedies, which are the accepted form of medication for over 80% of the population. Urine samples, obtained from 65 patients admitted to hospital following treatment with a traditional herbal remedy were also analysed for metals. Only a small number of the patients had abnormally high levels of metal excretion. These data suggest that, in contrast to experience with traditional Chinese and Indian preparations, metal contamination from plants seems not to be a problem in traditional South African remedies.     

Mediation and Psychotherapy: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

Some mediators believe that mediation and psychotherapy are quite similar, and that when doing mediation, the mediator also is practicing an art form similar to psychotherapy. On face value, some forms of mediation (e.g., evaluative) and some forms of psychotherapy (e.g., psychoanalysis) are so far apart in theoretical conception and in actual practice that they cannot be compared meaningfully. However, the forms of mediation known as facilitative and transformative and the forms of brief or focused psychotherapy that often involve families or couples do have considerable similarity. Overall, numerous resonances exist between these two approaches to mediation and to couples or family-oriented psychotherapies, especially when differences in terminology, licensure, and training requirements are not allowed to obscure commonalities.     

Short-term forces and partisan change in Canada: 1974–1980

The theoretical attractiveness of party identification derives in large measure from its presumed stability at the level of the individual voter. Recent studies conducted in Great Britain and the United States suggest, however, that partisan attachments are less stable than originally believed, and respond to the impact of shortterm forces. This paper uses newly available, national panel surveys to consider the Canadian case. Between 1974 and 1980 party identification in this country is characterized by aggregate stability and individual change. The latter is not confined to particular groups of voters and is not strongly associated with time-related reinforcement effects, but rather reflects variations in party leader and party/issue preferences. Further, interaction effects suggest that extent of political interest and patterns of partisanship across levels of the federal system condition processes of partisan change.     

Systems theory and policy practice: An exploration

Systems approaches in policy analysis have had a chequered history. Expectations that hard (quantitative) systems analysis would lead to better answers to policy problems have largely been disappointed. Yet systems theory has itself moved on, to embrace the concept of autopoiesis and a variety of soft systems methodologies. Collectively, these theories offer a way of analysing policy quite distinct from the institutionalist approaches which tend to dominate the theory and practice of policy-making. Rather than selecting instruments to fit a particular kind of policy problem (the conventional approach to policy design) systems analysis suggests that the nature of the problem cannot be understood separately from its solution. For policy problems characterised by complexity (such as those concerned with environmental management and regulation, and urban re-development) using systems concepts offers a way of rationalising aspects of existing practice and of suggesting directions for improvement.     

Forensic voice comparison and the paradigm shift

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the forensic comparison sciences. The new paradigm can be characterised as quantitative data-based implementation of the likelihood-ratio framework with quantitative evaluation of the reliability of results. The new paradigm was widely adopted for DNA profile comparison in the 1990s, and is gradually spreading to other branches of forensic science, including forensic voice comparison. The present paper first describes the new paradigm, then describes the history of its adoption for forensic voice comparison over approximately the last decade. The paradigm shift is incomplete and those working in the new paradigm still represent a minority within the forensic–voice-comparison community.     

Causal inference and American political development: the case of the gag rule

Public Choice - We extend previous work on the role of politically motivated donors who contribute to candidates in an election with single dimension policy preferences. In a two-stage game wherein...