‘Spending Wisely: Principles for a Good Spending Review': The First Report of the Fabian Commission on Future Spending Choices

This article examines the work of the Fabian Society Commission on Future Spending Choices published in June 2013. The Commission is undoubtedly the most detailed and ambitious attempt by a centre‐left think‐tank to analyse the structure of UK public spending since Labour's 2010 defeat. The Commission makes an eloquent case for a strategic approach to UK public spending, filling the substantial void in thinking on the centre‐left since Labour's 2010 defeat. Inevitably, the proposals raise fundamental questions about the capacity of the British state and the constitutional framework of the UK political system to accommodate a long‐term, future‐orientated approach to public expenditure, which deserve to be properly aired and debated.     

Teaching Forensic Entomology,Forensic Anthropology,and Haematology & Serology during the COVID-19 pandemic: Practical activities for distance learning

As the COVID-19 pandemic upended college and university instruction throughout the world, instructors were hard-pressed to find suitable alternatives for practical activities typically carried out outside of classrooms—in laboratories, workshops, clinics, and in the field. In response to this unanticipated challenge, they relied on their ingenuity to achieve pre-pandemic goals under pandemic conditions that necessitated the shift to online teaching. The Forensic Science Undergraduate Program housed in the School of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico was not exempt from this educational upheaval but, due to its interdisciplinary nature, required creating and/or adopting a wide range of activities capable of training students to perform practical tasks associated with subject areas that span the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and the law. This report aims to describe the approaches undertaken in three subjects (Forensic Entomology, Forensic Anthropology, and Hematology & Serology) by interviewing instructors and examining their teaching materials. Also, through online surveys, students’ reactions to these approaches were elicited to learn about their suitability and teaching potential. Instructor’s experiences during the pandemic have proven to be a rich source of ingenious solutions, with implications well-beyond the current crisis, such as creating blended or fully online courses aimed at larger numbers of students, forensic and legal professionals, and even other instructors. The wide variety of forensic sciences offers the opportunity to innovate and improve the teaching and learning of science, particularly to the benefit of students that must combine their school tasks with professional and/or family duties.     

The web of plenty: Leveraging the abundance of free,on-demand online forensic content

The move to online instruction forced many educators towards the task of producing recorded content, many for the first time. The result was that many instructors, usually those with limited or no remote-teaching experience, produced 60- to 90-minute audioonly lectures, recorded using Powerpoint or a conferencing platform, and posted them to a Learning Management System (LMS). Instructors more well-versed in online pedagogy or those who utilized instructional design best-practice training, produced video content more in-line with established research, which states that videos should be no longer than 6 to 15 min. Regardless of video length and quality, creating recorded content is time-consuming, resource-intensive, and arduous even for experienced educators.The alternative to self-created content is to mine the wealth of freely available forensic science videos, webinars, and web-based resources already posted to the internet. Prior to the move to remote instruction, some forensic educators integrated YouTube clips into lecture material. Post-pandemic, the quantity, and often quality, of online content has greatly increased. However, on-demand resources are spread widely across the internet. Whilst some repositories of material, such as webinars from individual organizations exist, other sources of content require more intentional searching.Identified content is meaningless unless integrated into a course or module’s learning objectives. Instructors may need to shorten lengthy webinars or edit extraneous material in order to maintain educational best practice. Finally, once content is captured and posted to a course LMS, an instructor must set up an accountability structure to ensure students are viewing and digesting required material. The first half of this paper will outline the types and locations of free, on-demand online forensic materials and resources. As forensic science education looks to the future, the creation and use of web-based resources is likely to increase. The second half of this paper will address what to do once content is identified and how to effectively utilize it within the framework of remote instruction best-practice. Existing content can help the educator work smarter, not harder. The wealth of online forensic resources can help illustrate concepts and add variety to LMS-posted content, leading to a more enriching experience for the student.     

Between Market‐Preserving Federalism and Intergovernmental Coordination: The Case of Australia

This article investigates Australia's economic success since the 1990s. As this was set in motion by fundamental political reforms, it asks to what extent Australian‐type federalism has been an important factor in the reform process. By using two approaches ‐ the market‐preserving federalism approach of Weingast, which stresses the virtues of ‘limited government’, decentralisation and competition together with the intergovernmental coordination approach of Scharpf which argues for a ‘problem‐solving’ orientation of territorial actors ‐, the structure of Australian federalism, changes in the working of the federal system in the 1990s, and effects on policy‐making are scrutinised. The article demonstrates that a particular combination of a rather centralised federal structure and a particular type of intergovernmental coordination, i.e. collaboration, supplemented by the strong influence of new public management ideas, has been conducive to political reforms in Australia. This suggests that a decentralised and competitive version of federalism, as defended by Weingast, is not a necessary condition for embarking on a successful reform path in federal countries. In future research, both approaches or analytical dimensions should be used in order to better understand the relationship of intergovernmental relations and policy reforms.     

An anthropological analysis of gunshot wounds to the chest

This analysis of gunshot trauma to the bony thorax examines 87 handgun and rifle wounds from documented cases in an effort to corroborate an earlier report and to provide the forensic community with additional literature in this area. Specifically, this study tests whether the trauma signatures associated with gunshot wounds in the bony thorax are useful in determining the direction of fire. Because the ribs occupy a significant portion of the bony thorax, they are struck more frequently than other bones and, consequently, they are the focus of this report. This study confirmed that bullets can leave distinctive markers on ribs that indicate the direction of fire, including depressed fractures, bone fragments displaced in the direction of the bullet's path, and beveling. Although forensic anthropologists can determine the direction that a bullet was traveling when it struck a given rib, they cannot give a definitive statement about the number or sequence of gunshots without supporting soft tissue evidence.     

Comparative analysis of gamma-hydroxybutyrate and gamma-hydroxyvalerate using GC/MS and HPLC

This paper describes two analytical techniques used to separate and quantify gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and gamma-hydroxyvalerate (GHV). The first technique was a N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)triflouro-acetimide-trimethylchlorosilane derivatization, followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis using an HP-5 capillary column at a rate of 1.0 mL/min with a run time of 9.25 min. This technique was found to be sensitive (LOD 1 pg on column) and gave a low average error (5%) in a beverage study. When supplemented by a surrogate spike, the method yielded 97% analyte recovery from beverages. The second technique was high-performance liquid chromatography/UV (HPLC/UV) using a C-18 column with a (20:80% v/v) methanol:dibasic phosphoric buffer (10 mM, pH 3) at a rate of 1.00 mL/min with a run time of 7.5 min. UV detection occurred at 254 nm. This method was found to be less sensitive (LOD 0.05 microg on column) for direct analysis of aqueous samples. To remove interferences seen in the beverage study, a liquid-liquid extraction before HPLC analysis was tested. However, a decreased sensitivity (LOD 100 microg on column) and irreproducible peak profiles resulted.     

Where Size Matters: Agglomeration Economies of Illegal Drug Markets in Philadelphia

There is a debate over whether police attention focused on an illegal drug market causes dealers to spatially displace their activities “around the corner” therefore having no positive impact on the aggregate level of illegal drug sales in the city. The alternative perspective is that focused police attention lowers the rate of illegal drug sales in the city. Recent research in Jersey City, New Jersey has demonstrated that focused police attention does not simply move illegal drug dealing around the corner. The present analysis explains why this finding is likely to be common in other cities using the economic theory of “agglomeration economies.” Agglomeration economies illustrate that taking the largest and most profitable site from illegal drug dealers will make dealing in the surrounding neighborhoods less rather than more profitable and lead to a smaller marketplace overall. The empirical analysis focuses on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.     

PROSPECT lost: when a pilot project does not look to learn

If a development project is destined to reach only a selection of its intended beneficiaries or to give them only momentary or uncertain benefits, there is a strong rationale for making it instead a project of trials from which lessons can be taken for obtaining the impact that it may not otherwise have. Because the fundamental problems and opportunities of development are very complex by their nature, interventions that seek to test practice knowledge and to learn above all else may have the greatest potential for benefit in the long term. A project that wishes to create experience from which others can learn will engage in research, so it must be conceived, led and conducted as such. This means it must be designed with knowledge of research. It must be led with an appreciation and understanding of research method. Specific research activities must be conducted that produce knowledge and promote its up‐take, so that learning is a principle project outcome. The large urban anti‐poverty project, PROSPECT, conducted in Lusaka, Zambia, illustrates this argument. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

专门用途英语教师网络学习共同体运行机制研究——以公安专业英语教师Sharing&Improving网络学习共同体为例

高校教师的专业素养水平和科研能力决定着高校的核心竞争力,这与教师的终身学习、持续研究和常态反思息息相关。SharingImproving网络学习共同体正是基于上述思想构建。"共享·进步群"的宗旨是共享优秀资源,不断完善自我。它的运行由多元发散型互动机制、资源共享机制和协作讨论评价机制构成。网络化协作学习能够敦促教师进行及时反思、科学对比和创造性思维,即对自我学习过程和教学实践的深入思考,从而获得新的认知,步入教学、研究新境界。     

Quantitative Analysis of Sildenafil and Tadalafil in Various Fake Drugs Recently Distributed in Korea

Abstract: Illicit distribution of various illicit or counterfeit drugs containing sildenafil and tadalafil has increased and caused noticeable problems in Korea. This study has been performed to determine the content range of sildenafil and tadalafil in various fake drugs. Among the illicit or counterfeit drugs seized by Korean authorities, 105 exhibits were used for the quantification. HPLC–UV analysis of methanol extractions was used for separation and quantitation of the two target compounds. The most abundant type of fake drug was counterfeit Viagra^® tablets. Sildenafil was found in 73 exhibits, and tadalafil was found in seven exhibits. Twenty‐five exhibits out of the 105 contained both sildenafil and tadalafil. The contents of sildenafil ranged from 4.3 to 453.2 mg; for tadalafil, the range was 2.2–40.4 mg. The proportion of cases of having more than 100 mg of sildenafil was 50% and 78% had more than 20 mg of tadalafil.