Political Philosophy and Empowering Citizens

This paper defends the idea of empowering citizens by means of teaching them political philosophy. First, I explain and define empowerment as an experience leading to the development of critical and philosophical capabilities. Several challenges to using philosophy to empower citizens are then discussed and rejected. This group of challenges is called the 'divorce theory', because, according to them, philosophy and politics should be distinguished, as if divorced from each other, so that they can live happily side by side, but not together. Finally, empowerment is normatively defended and distinguished from paternalism, and examine the relationships between empowerment through political philosophy and deliberative democracy.     

Personality,cognitive, and interpersonal factors in adolescent substance use: A longitudinal test of an integrative model

This study tests a multidimensional model of adolescent drug use. The model incorporates sociodemographic variables, personality variables (state and trait anxiety, depressive mood, and sensation seeking), cognitive variables (knowledge, attitudes, and intentions), interpersonal factors (relationships with peers and parents), and the availability of drugs. The model was tested in a longitudinal study, comprising two phases. A total of 1446 high school students served as subjects. The role of cognitive (attitudinal) and interpersonal factors (relationships with parents and peers) was confirmed. In addition, sensation seeking proved to have significant predictive power. Anxiety, depression, and sociodemographic factors, by contrast, had virtually no influence. Availability had a minor effect. The multidimensional explanation was validated longitudinally. The factors related to drug use at the first phase predicted use at the second. This multidimensional explanation accounted for the use of various substances, suggesting that different substances—whether legal or illegal—share a common multidimensional explanation.This work is based on the doctoral dissertation of Zipora Barnea supervised by Meir Teichman and Giora Rahav, and submitted to the Tel-Aviv University. The research was partially supported by a grant from the National Interministerial Committee on Substance Use and the National Research and Development Foundation.Received Ph.D. from Tel-Aviv University. Research interests are substance use, delinquency, and social deviance.Received Ph.D. from University of Missouri. Research interests are drug and alcohol abuse, and family violence.Received Ph.D. from Indiana University. Research interests are substance use, delinquency, and cross-national studies of deviant and violent behavior.     

Evaluation of Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of colored fibers: a collaborative study

A collaborative study on Raman spectroscopy was carried out by members of the ENFSI (European Network of Forensic Science Institutes) European Fibres Group (EFG) on three dyed fibers: two red acrylics and one red wool. Raman instruments from six different manufacturers were tested as well as nine different laser wavelengths ranging from blue (lambda = 458 nm) to near infrared-NIR (lambda = 1064 nm). This represents the largest comparison study of Raman analytical parameters carried out on identical fiber samples. For the chosen fiber and dye samples, red lasers (lambda = 633 and 685 nm) gave the poorest spectral quality whereas blue (458 nm), green (514 nm) and near infrared lasers (785, 830 and 1064 nm) provided average results. Blue (488 nm) and green lasers (532 nm) globally gave the best quality spectra. Fluorescence problems were often encountered with some of the excitation wavelengths and therefore a flexible Raman instrument equipped with different lasers can be recommended to measure forensic fiber samples. The instrument should also be equipped with a Raman microscope in order to be able to focus on a single fiber. This study shows that Raman spectroscopy usually enables the identification of the main dye present in a colored fiber; however, minor dye components are much more difficult to detect. SERRS (Surface Enhanced Resonance Raman Scattering) techniques give an improvement of the dye's spectral intensity but no spectral improvement was observed for the two red acrylic and red wool fibers tested.     

The Participant Perspective

Law and Philosophy -     

Transnational and International Exploitation

There are four types of exploitation in the international arena: exploitation between states; exploitation within state A, the beneficiaries of which are mainly people in state B; exploitation of individuals from one country by another state in which they work; exploitation of individuals from one country by individuals in another state, in which they work. The Marxian and the liberal theories of exploitation are inadequate to discuss these cases. After exploring the difficulties of applying these theories to international and transnational exploitation, it is suggested that the theories could be reconstructed: exploitation is when the exploiter benefits from treating the exploitee not as equal in circumstances of bargaining. It is finally shown how this interpretation helps us in the discussion of all four types of international and transnational exploitation.