Drug Policy and the HIV Pandemic in Russia and Ukraine

Over the past three years Russia and Ukraine have experienced one of the fastest growing HIV pandemics in Europe. In contrast to other parts of the world, the main driver behind the rate of infection is injecting drug use. Recent government policies have placed a heavy emphasis on reducing availability and on harsh punishments for drug users. This approach has not succeeded in significantly reducing the level of drug use. It has pushed the drug scene underground and increased risky behaviours among vulnerable groups. In the absence of measures to reduce infections and reverse the rate of transmission, the long-term impact of HIV/AIDS on population growth and economic development is likely to be grave

Using women.

This report highlights women who get in trouble with the law because of illegal drugs, with a particular focus on women's experiences of imprisonment and alternatives to custody. This report has 10 key findings and recommendations with a view towards a more humane response to women with problematic drug use within the criminal justice system

The Formation of Variation Contracts in New Zealand: Consideration and Estoppel

This article will review the current New Zealand approach to the formation of variation contracts. In particular, it will critique the current position taken by the Court of Appeal that either: a practi-cal benefit can be good consideration;, or consideration is not needed for variation agreements. The article will then explore some of the implications of using estoppel as an alternative basis to enforce variation agreements when consideration has not been provided by the promisee

Lowering the Voting Age: it’s all about competency

This article explores the recent high-profile debate around the current voting age of 18 in New Zealand. It examines the Supreme Court case brought by the ‘Make it 16’ campaign and then seeks to uncover the normative arguments for setting a minimum voting age. While the most common arguments for lowering the voting age have rhetorical force, they do not demonstrate why the voting age should be 16 rather than 18. The public debate does not address the key question: when do young people become competent so that they can responsibly and reasonably exercise the right to vote? This article concludes that a voting age of 18 is a better proxy for competency than 16 and that the voting age should not be lowered

An approach to market analysis for lighter than air transportation of freight

An approach is presented to marketing analysis for lighter than air vehicles in a commercial freight market. After a discussion of key characteristics of supply and demand factors, a three-phase approach to marketing analysis is described. The existing transportation systems are quantitatively defined and possible roles for lighter than air vehicles within this framework are postulated. The marketing analysis views the situation from the perspective of both the shipper and the carrier. A demand for freight service is assumed and the resulting supply characteristics are determined. Then, these supply characteristics are used to establish the demand for competing modes. The process is then iterated to arrive at the market solution

A General Framework for Analyzing, Characterizing, and Implementing Spectrally Modulated, Spectrally Encoded Signals

Fourth generation (4G) communications will support many capabilities while providing universal, high speed access. One potential enabler for these capabilities is software defined radio (SDR). When controlled by cognitive radio (CR) principles, the required waveform diversity is achieved via a synergistic union called CR-based SDR. Research is rapidly progressing in SDR hardware and software venues, but current CR-based SDR research lacks the theoretical foundation and analytic framework to permit efficient implementation. This limitation is addressed here by introducing a general framework for analyzing, characterizing, and implementing spectrally modulated, spectrally encoded (SMSE) signals within CR-based SDR architectures. Given orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a 4G candidate signal, OFDM-based signals are collectively classified as SMSE since modulation and encoding are spectrally applied. The proposed framework provides analytic commonality and unification of SMSE signals. Applicability is first shown for candidate 4G signals, and resultant analytic expressions agree with published results. Implementability is then demonstrated in multiple coexistence scenarios via modeling and simulation to reinforce practical utility