DEATH SQUADS IN THE UNITED STATES: CONFESSIONS OF A GOVERNMENT TERRORIST

During the first half of the 1970s, the American Indian Movement (AIM) came to the forefront of a drive to realize the rights of treaty-guaranteed national sovereignty on behalf of North America\u27s indigenous peoples. For the government and major corporate interests of the United States, this liberatory challenge represented a considerable threat. On the one hand, Indians possess clear legal and moral rights to the full exercise of self-determination; on the other hand, their reserved land base contains substantial quantities of critical mineral resources. More than half of all known domestic U.S. uranium reserves lie within the boundaries of present- day Indian reservations, as do as much as a quarter of the high grade low sulphur coal, a fifth of the oil and natural gas, and major deposits of copper and other metals.\u27 Loss of internal colonial control over these items would confront U.S. 6lites with significant strategic and economic problems

On a clear day you can see forever : integrating values and skills in sex offender treatment

The topic of sex offender rehabilitation frequently evokes fierce reactions, ranging from strident demands for harsher sentences contrasted with calls for more imaginative and compassionate sentencing options. There seems to be a polarization of positions centred on the question of offenders\u27 moral standing: are they moral strangers or fellow travellers? This fundamental disagreement about offenders\u27 moral status is at the core of a number of independent, although related current practice and research issues confronting the field, namely: (1) risk management versus strength-based treatment approaches; (2) the utility of utilizing individually tailored versus manual-based programmes for offenders; (3) focusing on the technical aspects or therapy as opposed to relationship and therapist factors (what has been called process issues); and (4) the conflict between protecting the community versus promoting the interests of offenders. In this paper I suggest that an approach to sex offender treatment based on a combination of human rights theory (an ethical resource) and strengths-based approaches can help us navigate our way through the above dilemmas in a way that addressees both the needs of offenders and those of the community

Exploring excited states of Pt(ii) diimine catecholates for photoinduced charge separation

The intense absorption in the red part of the visible range, and the presence of a lowest charge-transfer excited state, render Platinum(II) diimine catecholates potentially promising candidates for light-driven applications. Here, we test their potential as sensitisers in dye-sensitised solar cells and apply, for the first time, the sensitive method of photoacoustic calorimetry (PAC) to determine the efficiency of electron injection in the semiconductor from a photoexcited Pt(II) complex. Pt(II) catecholates containing 2,2′-bipyridine-4,4′-di-carboxylic acid (dcbpy) have been prepared from their parent iso-propyl ester derivatives, complexes of 2,2′-bipyridine-4,4′-di-C(O)OiPr, (COOiPr)2bpy, and their photophysical and electrochemical properties studied. Modifying diimine Pt(II) catecholates with carboxylic acid functionality has allowed for the anchoring of these complexes to thin film TiO2, where steric bulk of the complexes (3,5-ditBu-catechol vs. catechol) has been found to significantly influence the extent of monolayer surface coverage. Dye-sensitised solar cells using Pt(dcbpy)(tBu2Cat), 1a, and Pt(dcbpy)(pCat), 2a, as sensitisers, have been assembled, and photovoltaic measurements performed. The observed low, 0.02–0.07%, device efficiency of such DSSCs is attributed at least in part to the short excited state lifetime of the sensitisers, inherent to this class of complexes. The lifetime of the charge-transfer ML/LLCT excited state in Pt((COOiPr)2bpy)(3,5-di-tBu-catechol) was determined as 250 ps by picosecond time-resolved infrared spectroscopy, TRIR. The measured increase in device efficiency for 2a over 1a is consistent with a similar increase in the quantum yield of charge separation (where the complex acts as a donor and the semiconductor as an acceptor) determined by PAC, and is also proportional to the increased surface loading achieved with 2a. It is concluded that the relative efficiency of devices sensitised with these particular Pt(II) species is governed by the degree of surface coverage. Overall, this work demonstrates the use of Pt(diimine)(catecholate) complexes as potential photosensitizers in solar cells, and the first application of photoacoustic calorimetry to Pt(II) complexes in general

From boundary-work to boundary object: how biology left and re-entered the social sciences

In an archaeological spirit this paper comes back to a founding event in the construction of the twentieth-century episteme, the moment at which the life- and the social sciences parted ways and intense boundary-work was carried out on the biology/society border, with significant benefits for both sides. Galton and Weismann for biology, and Alfred Kroeber for anthropology delimit this founding moment and I argue, expanding on an existing body of historical scholarship, for an implicit convergence of their views. After this excavation, I look at recent developments in the life sciences, which I have named the ‘social turn’ in biology (Meloni, 2014), and in particular at epigenetics with its promise to destabilize the social/biological border. I claim here that today a different account of ‘the biological’ to that established during the Galton–Kroeber period is emerging. Rather than being used to support a form of boundary-work, biology has become a boundary object that crosses previously erected barriers, allowing different research communities to draw from it

Introducing social science evidence in family court decision-making and adjudication:Evidence from England and Wales

This article examines the use of social science research in case level decision-making and adjudication in public and private family law proceedings from the perspectives of judges and lawyers in England and Wales. To provide a context for our analysis, we first review a limited, but nevertheless important, body of international literature concerned with the place of social science in the family courts. We then turn to our empirical material, drawn from a scoping study commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation, to inform the design of a new family justice observatory for England and Wales. The study found that judges and lawyers in England and Wales described similar obstacles to the use of social science evidence at a case level as their international counterparts, despite differences in jurisdictional rules and norms. Specifically, they were concerned with due process and the admissibility of research evidence, as well as the potential for advocacy bias, given the contested nature of social science evidence. Questions about how to apply population data to the specifics of an individual case were also raised. However, analysis also revealed further contextual obstacles in England and Wales resulting from radical changes to the family justice system, following comprehensive review in 2011. Judges and lawyers indicated that a reduction in experts and far shorter timescales for the completion of public law cases, together with an influx of self-representing litigants in private law, have created a context that is less, rather than more receptive to interdisciplinary knowledge, including research evidence

The Transcendence of the Social: Durkheim, Weismann, and the Purification of Sociology

Building on Fox Keller’s acute genealogy of the nature–nurture opposition as located in a certain specific social, cultural, and political history in the late nineteenth century (2010), in this paper, I address a parallel problem: the making of a really modern (i.e., non-biological) sociology nearly at the same time as the “hard disjunction” (Keller, 2010) between heredity and the environment, nature and nurture, was made. I argue rather provocatively that traces of borrowing from hard heredity to sociology can be seen in Durkheim’s strategic usage of Weismann to destroy Lamarckian sociology. The transcendence of the social in Durkheim is entirely isomorphic to Weismann’s transcendence of the germ plasm: in both cases, they aimed to construct objective realities, radically independent and exterior from individual tendencies and peculiarities. Weismann offered Durkheim an important scientific companion to make boundaries between sociology and biology. In a Latourian sense (Latour, 1993), the purification strategy of Durkheim was actually helped by a hybridization with Weismann’s biology. In conclusion, by taking Weismann as an anticipator of the genetics revolution a few years later, I argue for a profound complicity between twentieth century non-biological sociology and genetics. They both made space for a neat distinction between biological heredity and sociocultural transmission, heredity, and heritage. If sociology and genetics thought of themselves as rivals and even enemies in explaining social facts, they should reconsider their positions

Taxonomic and functional turnover are decoupled in European peat bogs

In peatland ecosystems, plant communities mediate a globally significant carbon store. The effects of global environmental change on plant assemblages are expected to be a factor in determining how ecosystem functions such as carbon uptake will respond. Using vegetation data from 56 Sphagnum-dominated peat bogs across Europe, we show that in these ecosystems plant species aggregate into two major clusters that are each defined by shared response to environmental conditions. Across environmental gradients, we find significant taxonomic turnover in both clusters. However, functional identity and functional redundancy of the community as a whole remain unchanged. This strongly suggests that in peat bogs, species turnover across environmental gradients is restricted to functionally similar species. Our results demonstrate that plant taxonomic and functional turnover are decoupled, which may allow these peat bogs to maintain ecosystem functioning when subject to future environmental change

Sensing coral reef connectivity pathways from space

Coral reefs rely on inter-habitat connectivity to maintain gene flow, biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Coral reef communities of the Red Sea exhibit remarkable genetic homogeneity across most of the Arabian Peninsula coastline, with a genetic break towards the southern part of the basin. While previous studies have attributed these patterns to environmental heterogeneity, we hypothesize that they may also emerge as a result of dynamic circulation flow; yet, such linkages remain undemonstrated. Here, we integrate satellite-derived biophysical observations, particle dispersion model simulations, genetic population data and ship-borne in situ profiles to assess reef connectivity in the Red Sea. We simulated long-term (>20 yrs.) connectivity patterns driven by remotely-sensed sea surface height and evaluated results against estimates of genetic distance among populations of anemonefish, Amphiprion bicinctus, along the eastern Red Sea coastline. Predicted connectivity was remarkably consistent with genetic population data, demonstrating that circulation features (eddies, surface currents) formulate physical pathways for gene flow. The southern basin has lower physical connectivity than elsewhere, agreeing with known genetic structure of coral reef organisms. The central Red Sea provides key source regions, meriting conservation priority. Our analysis demonstrates a cost-effective tool to estimate biophysical connectivity remotely, supporting coastal management in data-limited regions

Older Shopper Types from Store Image Factors

This study aims to characterise the older shopper by exploring unobserved heterogeneity within the segment and developing an older shopper typology from an empirically derived store image scale. Store attribute theory informed a two-stage research design. Firstly, a ‘pool’ of salient store attributes was identified through in-depth interviews. Scales were then developed and quantitatively tested using data collected through a household postal survey. Seven store image factors emerged, forming the basis of the typology. Five clusters were subsequently profiled using behavioural and demographic variables: Prudent neutrals, All-Round demanders, Reluctant casuals, Demanding sociables, and Affluent utilitarians. A discussion of the resultant classification's utility in terms of retail strategy, including opportunities for better targeting through adjustment of the retail offer, is presented. This study develops a store image scale that reflects the importance of store choice decisions of older shoppers, extending store image research by providing contemporary insights into the requirements of older shoppers in a changing retail environment