Lokalt ägandeskap för en hållbar fred?: En komparativ fallstudie mellan UNAMSIL och UNMIS

Not long ago Sierra Leone and Sudan experienced violent civil wars and both situations were perceived by the UN to constitute a threat to international peace and security. Because of this, the UN deployed two different peace operations, UNAMSIL and UNMIS, which have had various success regarding Sierra Leone and Sudan’s current level of peace. This thesis aims to investigate if the degree of local ownership during a UN peace operation matters for a country's level of sustainable peace, and does so by a comparative case study between the two countries. Our theoretical framework consists of Timothy Donais, who claims that a peace process cannot be sustainable without local ownership, and John Paul Lederach’s peacebuilding pyramid and his different divisions of the society. By analyzing implemented projects by UNAMSIL and UNMIS, the essay concludes that local ownership did play a part for the current level of peace in both countries

Mutational analyses of UPIIIA, SHH, EFNB2, and HNF1β in persistent cloaca and associated kidney malformations

OBJECTIVES: ‘Persistent cloaca’ is a severe malformation affecting females in which the urinary, genital and alimentary tracts share a single conduit. Previously, a Uroplakin IIIA (UPIIIA) mutation was reported in one individual with persistent cloaca, and UPIIIA, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Ephrin B2 (EFNB2) and Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1β (HNF1β) are expressed during the normal development of organs that are affected in this condition. HNF1β mutations have been associated with uterine malformations in humans, and mutations of genes homologous to human SHH or EFNB2 cause persistent cloaca in mice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We sought mutations of coding regions of UPIIIA, SHH, EFNB2 and HNF1β genes by direct sequencing in a group of 20 patients with persistent cloaca. Most had associated malformations of the upper renal tract and over half had impaired renal excretory function. The majority of patients had congenital anomalies outside the renal/genital tracts and two had the VACTERL association. RESULTS: Apart from a previously described index case, we failed to find UPIIIA mutations, and no patient had a SHH, EFNB2 or HNF1β mutation. CONCLUSION: Persistent cloaca is only rarely associated with UPIIIA mutation. Despite the fact that SHH and EFNB2 are appealing candidate genes, based on their expression patterns and mutant mice phenotypes, they were not mutated in these humans with persistent cloaca. Although HNF1β mutations can perturb paramesonephric duct fusion in humans, HNF1β was not mutated in persistent cloaca

Balancing stability and change in the New Weberian State

Attempts at modernization typically include change. We argue that, in a long term perspective, these change attempts tend to be balanced with reforms or measures aiming at stability. Many of the measures that are taken today, after years of New Public Management (NPM) reforms, aim at securing continuity and quality within the existing structures, meaning a public administration characterized by stability and continuity. This quest for stability serves as a cornerstone in the New Weberian State (NWS), connecting back to the classic bureaucratic values which have been more or less put aside during the past decades. In this article, we argue that stability is the new “modernity” in the public sector, thus pushing us away from the changes connected to the NPM ideas. This also includes a shift from output-related aspects to aspects concerning input and process. Three factors aiming to secure stability in public organisations are highlighted: Recruitment (input), standardization of work (formal process), and public sector values (informal process). These mechanisms are today increasingly being used to consolidate previous changes and achieve stability in the public administration

Electrochemical Determination of Diffusion Anisotropy in Molecularly-Structured Materials

Theory is presented for the case of two-dimensional diffusion anisotropy in axiosymmetric systems, which, advantageously and indirectly, affords a unified theory of diffusive mass transport at planar, microdisk (or nanodisk) and cylindrical electrodes in isotropic media. A strategy is proposed to determine the extent of diffusion anisotropy in experimental data; proof-of-concept is considered, via a lamellar lyotropic liquid crystalline system

A case-control study of maternal periconceptual and pregnancy recreational drug use and fetal malformation using hair analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Maternal recreational drug use may be associated with the development of fetal malformations such as gastroschisis, brain and limb defects, the aetiology due to vascular disruption during organogenesis. Using forensic hair analysis we reported evidence of recreational drug use in 18% of women with a fetal gastroschisis. Here we investigate this association in a variety of fetal malformations using the same method. METHODS: In a multi-centre study, women with normal pregnancies (controls) and those with fetal abnormalities (cases) gave informed consent for hair analysis for recreational drug metabolites using mass spectrometry. Hair samples cut at the root were tested in sections corresponding to 3 month time periods (pre and periconceptual period). RESULTS: Women whose fetus had gastroschisis, compared to women with a normal control fetus, were younger (mean age 23.78 ± SD4.79 years, 18-37 vs 29.79 ± SD6 years, 18-42, p = 0.00001), were more likely to have evidence of recreational drug use (15, 25.4% vs 21, 13%, OR2.27, 95thCI 1.08-4.78, p = 0.028), and were less likely to report periconceptual folic acid use (31, 53.4% vs 124, 77.5%, OR0.33, 95thCI 0.18-0.63, p = 0.001). Age-matched normal control women were no less likely to test positive for recreational drugs than women whose fetus had gastroschisis. After accounting for all significant factors, only young maternal age remained significantly associated with gastroschisis. Women with a fetus affected by a non-neural tube central nervous system (CNS) anomaly were more likely to test positive for recreational drugs when compared to women whose fetus was normal (7, 35% vs 21, 13%, OR3.59, 95th CI1.20-10.02, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate a significant association between non neural tube CNS anomalies and recreational drug use in the periconceptual period, first or second trimesters, but we cannot confirm this association with gastroschisis. We confirm the association of gastroschisis with young maternal age

Binary logistic regression.

<p><b>Dependent variable is fetus with gastroschisis.</b></p><p>Binary logistic regression.</p

Fetal anomalies and non-recreational drug use.

<p>OR: Odds Ratio.</p><p>Missing cases were excluded.</p><p>Fetal anomalies and non-recreational drug use.</p