Confidence in an election authority and satisfaction with democracy: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of a failed election in Sweden

Contemporary research on electoral integrity has focused on the functioning, evaluation, and legitimacy of electoral processes in emerging democracies. By contrast, this study investigates whether a failed election in a well-established democracy can affect individuals' evaluations of the electoral management body, the Election Authority, and whether those evaluations affect satisfaction with democracy. Using the case of a Swedish regional election in 2010 that had to be rerun due to procedural mistakes in the vote handling, we found that, in the short term, individuals’ confidence in the Election Authority was reduced after it was announced that the election had to be rerun because of the mistakes. Subsequently, this decreased confidence was strongly associated with less satisfaction with democracy at the regional and national level. As good news for the authority, after a successful rerun election, confidence rebounded to the levels prior to the failed election.     

Fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237

Novel synthetic opioids contribute considerably to the opioid epidemic, especially with the frequent emergence of structurally similar compounds. This case report describes a fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237. A 54-year-old Caucasian male was found deceased from an apparent drug overdose. A plastic container labeled “2MAP” and a cut straw were found in the decedent's backpack at the scene. A white substance found in the container tested positive for fentanyl by field testing. According to his medical history, the decedent was treated for a drug overdose 3 years prior to his death. With no diagnostic findings at autopsy, the case was submitted for toxicological analysis. An unknown substance was detected in peripheral blood and urine using gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorous detection (GC-NPD). Further testing was conducted using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) which confirmed the presence of 2-methyl AP-237 and potential metabolites in blood and urine. Quantitation by GC-NPD revealed concentrations of 2-methyl AP-237 in blood and urine at 480 ng/mL and 4200 ng/mL, respectively. The toxicological analysis also identified and quantitated alprazolam in the blood at 55 ng/mL. Additionally, the metabolism of 2-methyl AP-237 was investigated and three hydroxylated metabolites were identified in peripheral blood and urine. Limited literature is available for the detection and quantitation of 2-methyl AP-237 in postmortem specimens. Given the toxicological findings with unremarkable autopsy findings, this case is an example of a fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237.     

2,4,6-Tri(2′-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine for determination of iron(II), Iron(III), and total iron contents on human palms

When iron-based tools, such as knives or guns, are held, traces of iron can transfer to the skin. However, no previous studies have been published regarding the effect of the elapsed contact time on the transfer of iron species with different valences to the palm. Compared with 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine (PDT), 2,4,6-tri(2′-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TPTZ) was found to exhibit a higher sensitivity to iron(II) spectrophotometrically. This work employed 2,4,6-tri(2′-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TPTZ) and UV spectrophotometry to determine the amounts of iron(II), iron(III), and total iron transferred to human palms from iron tools. It was found that the palmar moisture level was an important factor in determining the amounts of total iron, including iron(II), transferred to the palm. For identical contact times, the amounts of total iron transferred to the palm was proportional to the palmar moisture, and the difference between the maximum and minimum amounts was 12 μg per hand. However, the amounts of iron(II) transferred to the palm gradually decreased over time for low palmar moisture levels, but steadily increased over time for high palmar moisture levels. Additionally, for average levels of palm moisture, the amounts of iron(II) and iron(III) transferred to the palm gradually decreased and increased, respectively, with longer contact times. Notably, this research could serve as a theoretical basis and guide for the detection of trace iron species with different valences on human palms for criminal investigations.     

The Responsibility to Protect at Ten: Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Abstract

Far from having faded away, ten years after its formal adoption, the responsibility to protect (R2P), is arguably more relevant than ever. In the current overall context of protection crises, heightened in severity by the emergence of violent extremists, R2P has changed the way in which the international community characterises situations that involve protection failures, and has raised expectations about what should occur when atrocity crimes have been committed or are imminent. UN member states now agree that prevention is at the core of R2P, that international action should employ the full range of diplomatic, political and humanitarian measures, and that military force should only be considered as a measure of last resort. While there is continued contestation about particular aspects of R2P – as there is over much older normative advancements, such as human rights – R2P has helped to forge political consensus and build new institutional capacity to prevent and respond to atrocity crimes.     

Responsibility to Protect: Russia’s Approaches

Abstract

Russia’s predominantly suspicious and even negative attitudes toward R2P are closely related to its traditional attachment to the notion of sovereignty, but its reluctance to ‘bless’ the use of force with R2P also serves as a pretext to cover various instrumental goals. Russia’s more assertive foreign policy has exacerbated this trend. Disagreements stem from differences between Russia and the West both in their conceptual approaches to security and in their assessments of specific cases. In particular, Russia has an existential concern over possible application of R2P by extra-regional actors in its immediate post-Soviet vicinity. However, in the conflicts around South Ossetia (2008) and Crimea / Southeastern Ukraine (2014-), there was a noticeable trend to refocus R2P-related arguments in support of Russia’s own actions. By and large, R2P continues to be perceived as a Western attempt to establish certain rules of behaviour which require caution and prudence. Nevertheless, more positive attitudes do not seem impossible. To play a prominent role in the evolving international system, Russia will have to make the R2P segment of its foreign policy more salient and overcome the lag in promoting this concept as a working tool indispensable for cooperative and responsible leadership.     

The discursive construction of intervention: selves,democratic legacies,and Responsibility to Protect in French discourse on Libya

This article analyses French executives' and lawmakers' legitimisations of the intervention in Libya with the aim of understanding the discursive construction of intervention. It investigates the arguments in favour of intervention and the oppositions they were confronted with. To these arguments belong a re-evaluated democratic legacy of France, an identification with the Libyan people, and a debate on Responsibility to Protect and the rule of law in world politics, which have a broader relevance for French actorness abroad. The article applies the Essex School discourse theory and techniques from Interpretive Policy Analysis on executive speeches and parliamentary documents for structuring the debate and for estimating the strength of ideas in their interdiscursive configuration. An ideal-typical explanation of the legitimisation of intervention and of the choice of one policy over another is made. The article argues that going to war in Libya equated to a question of cultural appropriateness.     

In Defense of the Responsibility to Protect: A Response to Weissman

This article defends the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine (adopted by the United Nations in 2005) against critiques by Fabrice Weissman in this journal, and against similar criticisms of humanitarian intervention and human rights norms made by postmodern thinkers in the Nietzschean tradition, such as Alain Badiou and Anne Orford. I argue against Weissman that R2P can be effective in stopping or preventing mass atrocities, and in particular that opposition to military intervention in Syria during the 2013 debates was a terrible mistake. Moreover, the moral ground for humanitarian aid efforts is the same as the basis for forceful rescue from mass slaughter, ethnic cleansing, and persecution (when other conditions of just war can be met). Weissman's critiques misinterpret just war theory on key points and rely on inflated rhetorical strategies inspired by extreme forms of cultural and moral relativism that are intellectually bankrupt—both in blaming “Western imperialism” for most crimes against humanity committed by tyrants, and in leaving hundreds of thousands without the only protection that could prevent their murder and exile. These extreme positions and the strained rhetorical devices used to defend them do not deserve the wide respect they command in some parts of academia.     

基于J2EE的刑侦综合信息系统设计

公安刑侦信息化是公安“金盾工程”的重要环节,而刑侦综合信息系统是公安信息化建设的核心内容。基于J2EE架构的B/S模式的刑侦综合信息系统的开发应用能够充分发挥公安信息网络的效用,积极推动公安“科技强警”、“技术强侦”战略的实施,为公安机关海量数据采集、存储和利用提供分布式的、分级跨区域的解决方案。     

跗关节免疫法抗镉单克隆抗体的制备

为快速方便地检测环境水样中的镉离子浓度,以Cd-ITCBE-KLH为免疫抗原,采用小鼠跗关节注射抗原法,分2次免疫BALB/c小鼠,每次注射20μg抗原,首次免疫后第20天收获皮下腘淋巴结,采用常规方法与骨髓瘤细胞融合,筛选细胞株,以体内诱生腹水法收获单克隆抗体,纯化后建立了镉离子的竞争ELISA检测方法。结果显示,共筛选了A2G11、A4B8B1C2、B1G5、B4F12五株杂交瘤细胞,采用其中的1株A2G11细胞株建立了镉离子的竞争ELISA检测方法,其工作曲线方程为y=-0.119 5lg[Cd2+]+0.615 4,r2=0.973 2;半数抑制浓度为1.485μg/L,检测范围(IC20～IC80)为0.029～762.676μg/L,最低检测限为0.102μg/L;与其他金属离子的交叉反应≤3.684%。表明用该方法能够有效制备抗金属离子的单克隆抗体。     

猪圆环病毒2型对体外培养仔猪淋巴细胞转化能力及其活性的影响

采集5头PCV2和PRRSV血清抗体阴性的断奶仔猪血液,分离外周血淋巴细胞,分对照组、PHA组、LPS组、PCV2组、PCV2+PHA组、PCV2+LPS组进行体外培养,用MTT法检测PCV2作用2d后对仔猪外周血淋巴细胞转化能力的影响;无菌取脾制成单细胞悬液,分单独淋巴细胞(L)、淋巴细胞+PCV2(L+V)、淋巴细胞与巨噬细胞(L+M)和淋巴细胞与巨噬细胞+PCV2(L+M+V)4组进行体外培养.分别在培养后第0、6、12和24 h收获淋巴细胞,用RT-PCR法检测淋巴细胞IL-2R(α)mRNA的表达.结果显示,与对照组、PHA组和LPS组相比,PCV2组、PCV2+PHA组和PCV2+LPS组淋巴细胞的转化能力均极显著降低(P＜0.01);PCV2对单独培养的淋巴细胞IL-2R(α)表达的影响不显著(P＞0.05),而巨噬细胞能协同PCV2促进淋巴细胞IL-2R(α)的表达,尤其在攻毒后第12和第24 h极显著增加(P＜0.01).证实PCV2在攻毒后第2 d能抑制体外培养T、B淋巴细胞的转化能力,且巨噬细胞能协同PCV2促进T淋巴细胞的活化.