Brazil and South Africa: the ‘odd couple’ of the South Atlantic?

Exploring the complexity of South Africa's and Brazil's ‘like-mindedness’ at the regional, multilateral, and bilateral levels, this article argues that shared middle power roles traceable to the pre-Cold War era and beyond set the scene for a great deal of political complementarity and cooperation at the multilateral level where Brazil and South Africa's shared identities drive an interest in reforming global governance processes. This complementarity does not, however, always spill over to the bilateral level, where trans-societal linkages are still relatively limited compared with state-to-state interactions.     

Urbanization,Rural Mobility,and New Class Relations in Darjeeling,India

Throughout the developing world, rapid urbanization is leading to new social relations and new conflicts between urban and (formerly) rural populations. This paper examines this process of change through a detailed examination of changing rural–urban relations in the town of Darjeeling, in the Himalayan foothills in Eastern India. In Darjeeling, increased rural mobility, accelerated rural-to-urban migration and the increased participation of rural people in local politics have led to major changes in the town. We demonstrate that the upward trajectory of rural classes who were previously subordinate is leading the more established urban residents to feel threatened, resulting in a redrawing of local political issues along rural–urban lines and a reconfiguration of class consciousness and social relations. The urban middle class, whose opportunities in the town have stagnated or declined, see rural migrants as a source of competition for increasingly scarce resources and blame them for the overall decline in the quality of urban life. They mobilize their (predominantly cultural) capital to reinforce markers of cultural distinction between them and the rural migrants and to delegitimize the political gains they have made. We argue that rural–urban conflict is emerging as the chief source of tension in the town and that this tension is largely grounded in class issues.     

Towards conflict or cooperation? The Ukraine crisis and EU-Russia relations

The Ukraine crisis and Russia’s contribution to it have raised numerous concerns regarding the possible emergence of a new ‘Cold War’ in Europe. At the same time, Ukraine’s popular choice and enthusiasm for European integration expressed clearly on the streets of Kyiv seem to have caused Russia to adopt a (neo)revisionist attitude. In this context, relations between Russia and the EU (and the West for that matter) have been limited, frozen and directed on path towards conflict. This article analyses how the traditional dichotomy between conflict and cooperation in EU–Russia relations was replaced by conflict in the context of the Ukraine crisis. The article contends that the breakdown of the symbolic and peaceful cohabitation between the EU and Russia has been influenced by the fact that both actors have chosen to ignore key tensions that characterized their post-Cold War interactions. The article identifies three such tensions: the first emphasizes divisions between EU member states and their impact on coagulating a common EU approach towards Russia; the second (geopolitical) tension highlights the almost mutually exclusive way in which the EU and Russia’s security interests have developed in the post-Soviet space; finally, the third contends that a clash of values and worldviews between the EU and Russia makes conflict virtually unavoidable.     

唾液与血液中海洛因代谢物的检测时限

目的比较唾液与血液中海洛因代谢物吗啡和O6-单乙酰吗啡的检测时限,为实际检测时选择样本采集时间提供依据。方法将实验大耳白兔分为3组,通过耳缘静脉注射浓度为2.6mg/m L的海洛因溶液,给药量分别为0.5m L,1m L,2m L。给药后于0.5~48h期间采集静脉血液;给药后于3~48h采唾液。采用超高效液相色谱串联质谱法,分别检测各时间点,各组不同种类样本中的海洛因代谢产物吗啡和O6-单乙酰吗啡。结果 1O6-单乙酰吗啡在血液中的检测时间为6h(给药量2.6mg和5.2mg)和1.5 h(给药量1.3mg),9h后已检测不到;而唾液样本在24h时虽下降明显,但3种给药剂量下均仍可检出,至48h时均不能检出;2吗啡在血液和唾液中不能检出的时间分别为24h和48h。结论血液中O6-单乙酰吗啡和吗啡的检测时限随用药量的增加而延长,而在唾液的检测时限均明显比在血液中更长久。该结果可作为实际检测时根据样本种类和选择采集时间的依据。     

SPE-HPLC/MS/MS法检测人唾液中地西泮及其代谢物

目的采用固相萃取-高效液相色谱-串联质谱法(SPE-HPLC/MS/MS)检测人唾液中地西泮及其代谢物。方法采用固相萃取法(SPE)处理唾液,HPLC/MS/MS法检测,MRM记录方式,保留时间和定性离子对定性,内标法和标准曲线法定量。结果地西泮及其代谢物去甲地西泮、去甲羟基西泮、去甲羟基地西泮葡萄糖醛酸苷(OG)、羟基地西泮葡萄糖醛酸苷(TG)的检测限在0.01ng/m L~0.5ng/m L之间,线性范围0.1ng/m L或0.5ng/m L~100ng/m L,回收率为84.9%~106%。口服5mg地西泮后15d内唾液中可检出地西泮及去甲西泮,但检出时间有个体差异,但去甲羟基西泮、TG和OG则不能检出。结论 SPE-HPLC/MS/MS检测法可应用于人唾液中地西泮及其代谢物的检测。人口服常量地西泮后唾液中可检出地西泮和去甲西泮,且检测窗口期较宽,但存在个体差异。     

The Sino–Japanese territorial dispute and threat perception in power transition

A territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands has gained a high profile in Sino–Japanese relations. Since the 2012 escalation of the territorial dispute, there is no sign of any de-escalation despite economic interdependence, which previously helped ease the tension. Drawing on the constructivist understanding of threat perception and power transition theory, this article analyzes the way in which the deepening of threat perceptions associated with a perceived regional power transition prevents Japan and China from working beyond their subjective conceptions of justice associated with boarders and history. Since 2012, the Sino–Japanese territorial dispute has increasingly fitted into a larger picture of power-political conflict taking place in a power transition in which both Japan and China aim to return to ‘normality’ by propagating their territorial claims, strengthening their military capabilities, and strategic realignment. To that end, this article first introduces a theoretical framework on the centrality of threat perceptions in power transition. Second, it traces the ways in which Japan and China have developed a threat perception of each other since 1972. The third section deals with the escalation of the Sino–Japanese territorial dispute since 2010 and highlights the deepening of mutual suspicion and threat perception exemplified at the bilateral and multilateral levels. I conclude that the Sino–Japanese territorial debate entered a new stage of normative and power-political competition in earning international support for territorial claims in the East China Sea.     

Regionalist Protest through Shared Rule? Peripherality and the Use of Cantonal Initiatives in Switzerland

In this article, we are interested in the extent to which federalism is able to deal with peripheral protest through shared rule channels. Shared rule as a key dimension of federal states has not thus far received adequate academic attention. Empirically, we analyse the use of all cantonal initiatives in Switzerland over the past 25 years as a particular instrument of shared rule, subsequently focusing on two peripheral regions with successful regionalist parties, Ticino and Geneva. We find that regionalist parties contribute towards radicalizing peripheral demands in search of attention from the centre. This leads to the mainstreaming of peripheral demands by pulling other parties along. We conclude that shared rule properly designed gives even the most peripheral regions a voice in national decisions, but that regionalist parties may also use shared rule instruments to mobilize their electorate at home to fight their non-regionalist competitors.     

The Political Economy of State Failure: A Social Contract Approach

By employing the contract approach of state theory, this article provides a conceptual framework for the analysis of state failure phenomena which puts the emphasis on structural conditions as the root cause of state fragility and state failure. The article argues that the deep social fragility of some post-colonial societies, augmented by self-serving external interventions by foreign powers, is at the heart of their failure. Deep social fragility makes societies unable to cooperate and thus renders them powerless to discipline their leaders. Meanwhile, by linking leadership survival to the decisions and policies of a self-serving foreign power, intervention provides flawed incentives to the state leaders, which increases their predatory behaviour. In such situations, state leaders, rather than strengthening formal state institutions, again intensify the collective action problem and increase social fragility as mechanisms for survival.     

2'-氯地西泮及其代谢物的药代动力学特征的LC/MS研究

目的利用液质联用法研究2’-氯地西泮及其代谢物在大鼠体内的药代动力学规律。方法SD大鼠经灌胃给药2’-氯地西泮2.625mg/kg,给药后采集不同时间的血样。蛋白沉淀法处理血浆样品后,进样分析。结果2’-氯地西泮及其代谢物在给药后1h均达到最高血药浓度。2’-氯地西泮在大鼠体内的半衰期约为93h,在给药后144h均能检测到。3种代谢产物地洛西泮、氯甲西泮、劳拉西泮在大鼠血浆的检出时限分别24h、144h、48h。结论2’-氯地西泮在大鼠体内吸收较快,半衰期较长,原体药物和代谢物在大鼠体内的检测窗口均较长。该研究可为临床救治2’-氯地西泮中毒患者以及相关案件的侦破提供一定的实验依据。     

Development of a harmonised method for the profiling of amphetamines VI: Evaluation of methods for comparison of amphetamine

Amphetamine samples were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the peak areas of 33 target compounds were transformed by applying various pretreatment techniques. The objective was to optimise the ability of a number of distance metrics to establish links between samples of amphetamine originating from the same batch (henceforth referred to as linked distances). Furthermore, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to evaluate the effects of various pretreatment methods on separation of amphetamine batches synthesised by the Leuckart reaction, reductive amination of benzyl methyl ketone, and the nitrostyrene route. The most efficient way to pretreat GC-MS data varied for the different distance metrics, although best results were obtained when data were normalised to the sum of peak areas, and either the fourth root or a logarithm was applied to the normalised data. When pretreating normalised data by fourth root transformation, Pearson correlation was the distance metric that was most successful at finding linked samples. Normalisation and the use of fourth root also represented the best method of pretreating data when employing PLS-DA to separate samples synthesised by different routes. To achieve a faster and more user-friendly procedure for evaluating chromatograms, experiments were performed in which the number of target compounds used to compare samples was reduced. The effect of each compound that was removed was studied by applying PLS-DA and by using Pearson correlation to calculate linked distances as well as unlinked distances (between samples from different batches of amphetamine). Considering both links between samples from the same batch and separation of samples synthesised by different routes, the best results were obtained with the data set comprising 26 compounds. Finally, it was found that the profiling method developed in this work was superior to an existing technique with respect to separating linked and unlinked distances.