Specific Allegations Research Articles

Efficacy of artemether\u2013lumefantrine, artesunate\u2013amodiaquine, and dihydroartemisinin\u2013piperaquine for treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Angola, 2015

BackgroundRecent anti-malarial resistance monitoring in Angola has shown efficacy of artemether–lumefantrine (AL) in certain sites approaching the key 90% lower limit of efficacy recommended for artemisinin-based combination therapy. In addition, a controversial case of malaria unresponsive to artemisinins was reported in a patient infected in Lunda Sul Province in 2013.MethodsDuring January–June 2015, investigators monitored the clinical and parasitological response of children with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum infection treated with AL, artesunate–amodiaquine (ASAQ), or dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine (DP). The study comprised two treatment arms in each of three provinces: Benguela (AL, ASAQ), Zaire (AL, DP), and Lunda Sul (ASAQ, DP). Samples from treatment failures were analysed for molecular markers of resistance for artemisinin (K13) and lumefantrine (pfmdr1).ResultsA total of 467 children reached a study endpoint. Fifty-four treatment failures were observed: four early treatment failures, 40 re-infections and ten recrudescences. Excluding re-infections, the 28-day microsatellite-corrected efficacy was 96.3% (95% CI 91–100) for AL in Benguela, 99.9% (95–100) for ASAQ in Benguela, 88.1% (81–95) for AL in Zaire, and 100% for ASAQ in Lunda Sul. For DP, the 42-day corrected efficacy was 98.8% (96–100) in Zaire and 100% in Lunda Sul. All treatment failures were wild type for K13, but all AL treatment failures had pfmdr1 haplotypes associated with decreased lumefantrine susceptibility.ConclusionsNo evidence was found to corroborate the specific allegation of artemisinin resistance in Lunda Sul. The efficacy below 90% of AL in Zaire matches findings from 2013 from the same site. Further monitoring, particularly including measurement of lumefantrine blood levels, is recommended.

The questionable legitimacy of non-state anti-corruption bodies: a case study of the Tennis Integrity Unit

The rise of non-state governance to tackle corruption, social harm and misbehaviour within globalised industries often produces key questions about the credibility and effectiveness of ‘private’ enforcement. This articles uses the case study of the ‘Tennis Integrity Unit’ (TIU) to explore the struggles of non-state, transnational anti-corruption bodies to build and maintain legitimacy. Heightened media attention and specific allegations of complacent, under-enforcement against match-fixing in January 2016 highlighted the deficit of trust in the TIU which has prompted a review of the industry’s anti-corruption efforts. While non-state governance bodies are always likely to be considered suspect, there are specific ways in which such bodies, including the TIU, can attempt to improve their legitimacy through enhancing transparency, embracing forms of ‘meta-regulation’ and appreciating the ‘dialectic’ nature of legitimacy through expanding the involvement and participation of key stakeholders.

Royal Apologetic in the Ancient Near East by Andrew Knapp

Reviewed by: Royal Apologetic in the Ancient Near East by Andrew Knapp David A. Bosworth andrew knapp, Royal Apologetic in the Ancient Near East (WAW Supplements 4; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015). Pp. xx + 419. $59.95. Knapp provides a valuable study of royal apologetic in the ancient Near East. He reviews the scattered scholarship on the subject and then turns to scholars of rhetoric for some much-needed clarity and borrows a definition of apology as "a public speech of self-defense" (p. 18). Ancient Near Eastern apologies are propaganda and therefore public, and K. strives to discern the intended audiences of ancient texts to determine whether they meet [End Page 325] this criterion (e.g., building inscriptions buried in foundations could be public in the sense of existing in many clay copies circulating among scribes). Apologies are speech in the broad sense that includes writing. The self-defensive nature of apologetic may be divided into defenses against specific allegations (called justifications) and wider defenses of legitimacy (called legitimations). Most importantly, K. clarifies that apology is not a literary genre but rather what scholars of rhetoric call a mood or mode, analogous to satire as a generally useful rhetorical category that may find expression in a wide variety of genres or forms (e.g., novel, lyric poem). Once the groundwork on apology in general is completed, K. offers in chap. 2 a list of motifs that commonly appear in ancient Near Eastern apologies, such as divine election, popular acclamation, and military success. He then lists sixteen ancient Near Eastern texts that qualify as apologies, from which he selects seven for analysis in the subsequent chapters, specifically: Proclamation of Telipinu, Autobiography of Hattusili III, Traditions of David's Rise and Reign, Succession Narrative of Solomon, Tel Dan Inscription, Accession of Esarhaddon, and The Rise of Nabonidus. K. limits himself to these texts because they include both legitimations and justifications, whereas the others lack the specificity of justifications. K. then outlines his approach to each text in subsequent chapters: summary of the ruler's accession, description of the text, transliteration and translation of the text (except the biblical texts, which are source-critically analyzed and summarized), analysis of apologetic motifs, and the circumstances of each text. The discussion of the biblical texts receives the most attention due to the length of the texts and the wealth of scholarship concerning them. K. notes that the biblical texts differ from the other ancient Near Eastern apologies in that they are composite texts whose earliest copies date to centuries after the events they purport to describe, and that they are not royal inscriptions. Without the two chapters on the biblical narratives, the monograph would be more focused with a more coherent collection of related texts. Although the biblical materials get the most attention, K. does not treat the ancient Near Eastern texts as "background" to the biblical narratives. K. does not seek to reconstruct an alleged singular narrative that was an apology for David. Rather, his "Tradition of David's Rise and Reign" (TDRR) consists of 1 Samuel 16–2 Samuel 24 minus those passages that seem late. For example, 2 Sam 11:2–12:25 presents an unusual interaction between the king and the prophet Nathan that K. thinks derives from a later prophetic source (it also happens to be hard to reconcile with an apologetic purpose). Knapp states, "Methodologically, I privilege the apologetic mode because I can coherently explain (to my mind, anyway) all other aspects of the Samuel narrative in light of this, but I cannot account for the apology with other models (such as those that treat 1–2 Samuel as a late fiction" (p. 195). Here and elsewhere, he notes the connection between the apologetic mode and historical reconstruction. If the text is apologetic, then it must be early and represent historical events (albeit in distorted fashion). He thinks that no such apology was needed centuries after the events, yet even in recent times many people have a vested interest in defending David from reasonable suspicions about his character that may be derived from the biblical text. Consider, for example, the many attempts to read Bathsheba as a dangerous seductress...

Reducing public complaints and use of force: the Portland Police Bureau experience

Purpose From 2002 to 2014, the Portland Police Bureau reported large reductions in complaints against officers and use of force indicators. The purpose of this paper is to develop a case study to document these changes and explore possible influences. Design/methodology/approach The paper maps the changes in conduct indicators against the developing relationship between the Bureau and the Portland Independent Police Review Division, and changes in policies and procedures. Findings Public complaints reduced by 54.4 per cent, while the rate of specific allegations per officer fell by 70.1 per cent. Quarterly use of force incident reports were reduced by 65.4 per cent between 2008 and 2014. Annual average shootings decreased from a high of nine per year across 1997-2002 to just below four per year in 2009-2014. Fatal shootings also trended downward but remained two per year in the last three years on record. Reforms instituted during this period that may have influenced these trends include a more rigorous complaints process, an early intervention system (EIS), enhanced external and internal review mechanisms, policy changes and training initiatives. Research limitations/implications The researchers were unable to control for a range of additional variables that may have influenced the findings, including police deployments and changes in officer demographics. Practical implications The study provides support for strategies to improve police conduct including external oversight, diagnostic research, training focussed on de-escalation and minimal force, and complaint profiling and EISs. Originality/value There are very few studies available showing large long-term reductions in adverse police conduct indicators.

Karyotype characteristics, larval morphology and chromosomal polymorphism peculiarities of Glyptotendipes salinus Michailova, 1983 (Diptera, Chironomidae) from Tambukan Lake, Central Caucasus.

Data on the karyotype characteristics, larval morphology and features of chromosomal polymorphism of a population of Glyptotendipes salinus Michailova, 1983 (Diptera, Chironomidae) from Tambukan Lake (on the northern macroslope of the central Caucasus) are presented. It was found that diagnostic larval characters of Glyptotendipes salinus from Caucasus in general are similar to those described in previous studies, but with some significant differences. By some morphological characteristics Caucasian larvae appeared to be closer to Glyptotendipes barbipes than to ones provided for European larvae of Glyptotendipes salinus by Contreras-Lichtenberg (1999). Obtained morphological data make possible to conclude that Caucasian population of Glyptotendipes salinus can be a markedly diverged population of the species, probably even subspecies. In the Caucasian population 12 banding sequences were found: two in arms A, B, C, E, and G, and one in arms D and F. Eight of these are already known for this species, and four, salA2, salB2, salEX, and salG3, are described for the first time. Genetic distances between all the previously studied populations of Glyptotendipes salinus were measured using Nei criteria (1972). The population of the central Caucasus occupies a distinct position on the dendrogram compared with populations from Altai and Kazakhstan. All the obtained morphological and cytogenetic data can indicate the plausible relative isolation and complexity of the Caucasus from the viewpoint of microevolution. More researches are required in other parts of Caucasus and other geographically distant regions for more specific allegations.

Israel Charny’s Attack on the Journal of Genocide Research and its Authors: A Response

Israel Charny has published an article, “Holocaust Minimization, Anti-Israel Themes, and Antisemitism: Bias at the Journal of Genocide Research” (JGR) in the Journal for the Study of Antisemitism. His specific allegations are bundled together in a single sentence: “minimization of the Holocaust, delegitimization of the State of Israel, and repeat[ing] common themes of contemporary antisemitism”. We write as the authors of articles and contributors to the JGR attacked by Charny. His allegations are false and we reject them. This article shows how they are based on distortions, misquotations, and falsifications of our work.

Lack of specific allegations ends expelled student's lawsuit

Lack of specific allegations ends expelled student's lawsuit

Lawsuits & Rulings

Due Process: Online prof's alleged jesting justifies nonrenewal Sexual Assault: Lack of specific allegations ends expelled student's suit Direct Threat: University revises conditions applied to returning students after suicide attempt

Police officer gender and excessive force complaints: an Australian study

ABSTRACTIssues of force and excessive force remain prominent in policing in most jurisdictions. This study addresses the relationship between officer gender and force-related allegations, and adds to the growing literature on women in policing and strategies to reduce police-citizen conflict. The study utilised six years of Queensland police data from 2007/2008 to 2012/2013 involving 4974 force-related complaint files and 11,493 allegations, to explore gender patterns while also considering rank, length of service, age, sub-type of allegation, and complaint outcomes. The main finding was that females made up 26% of employed officers, but only 16% of officers receiving complaints and 15% of officers subject to specific allegations. In addition, females had significantly fewer repeat complaints, fewer single subject officer complaints, and complaints against females reduced more quickly with length of service. The findings support the case for significant benefits from improved female representation in policing. At the same time, the paper includes a number of qualifiers regarding support for female officers and optimal management of use of force training and procedures.

“Russia Accuses Fleet Street”

An interesting but under-researched area of journalism studies is the relationship between journalists, particularly foreign correspondents, and the intelligence services during the cold war. The aim of this paper is to consider whether there is any evidence to back up specific allegations made in the Soviet era press in December 1968 that in the post–Second World War period named leading British journalists working for the national newspapers had a covert relationship with the British Secret Intelligence Service that involved their recruitment as agents and the use of intelligence-derived material in their articles in the press. The paper raises questions about the methods of researching such alleged activities. Is it possible in the absence of files from the secret intelligence services to undertake a serious study of such activities? Does the development of digital sources and archives open new fields of detailed study? It also reveals the potential historical significance of the role journalists played in the reporting of key events and policy issues during the cold war.

Do I Think BLS Data are BS? The Consequences of Conspiracy Theories

While the willingness of people to believe unfounded and conspiratorial explanations of events is fascinating and troubling, few have addressed the broader impacts of the dissemination of conspiracy claims. We use survey experiments to assess whether realistic exposure to a conspiracy claim affects conspiracy beliefs and trust in government. These experiments yield interesting and potentially surprising results. We discover that respondents who are asked whether they believe in a conspiracy claim after reading a specific allegation actually report lower beliefs than those not exposed to the specific claim. Turning to trust in government, we find that exposure to a conspiracy claim has a potent negative effect on trust in government services and institutions including those unconnected to the allegations. Moreover, and consistent with our belief experiment, we find that first asking whether people believe in the conspiracy mitigates the negative trust effects. Combining these findings suggests that conspiracy exposure increases conspiracy beliefs and reduces trust, but that asking about beliefs prompts additional thinking about the claims which softens and/or reverses the exposure’s effect on beliefs and trust.

Torture allegations as events data

The Ill-Treatment and Torture (ITT) Data Collection Project uses content analysis to measure a number of variables on more than 15,000 public allegations of government ill-treatment and torture made by Amnesty International (AI) from 1995 to 2005. The ITT specific allegation (SA) event data use the torture allegation as the unit of observation, thus permitting users to manipulate them for a wide variety of purposes. In this article, we introduce the ITT SA data. We first describe the key variables in the SA data and report a number of bivariate descriptive statistics to illustrate some of the research questions that might be usefully investigated with the data. We then discuss how we believe the ITT SA data can be used to study not only AI’s naming and shaming behavior, but also states’ (lack of) compliance with the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). We conclude with an empirical analysis using the SA data that investigates the effect of domestic political institutions on formal complaints, investigations, and adjudication of torture allegations. We show that legislative checks are positively associated with complaints, investigations, and trials; elections and freedom of speech are positively associated with investigations and trials; and powerful judiciaries are associated only with investigations.

A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV: The Trial of Raphaël Lévy, 1669, by Pierre Birnbaum, translated by Arthur Goldhammer

A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV: The Trial of Raphael Levy, 1669, by Pierre Birnbaum, translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture. Stanford, California, Stanford University Press, 2012. iii, 178 pp. $60.00 US (cloth). Pierre Birnbaum's study of a ritual murder trial in seventeenth-century France succeeds in achieving what good microhistories do best: it exposes readers to the fate of a relatively unknown historical event/figure in order to force us to reevaluate our understanding of the past. Birnbaum excavates a criminal trial in which a Jew was accused of kidnapping and killing a young Christian boy in 1669. The defendant, Raphael Levy, was executed even though he steadfastly maintained his innocence. Birnbaum convincingly argues that Levy's trial and execution need to be remembered by the French today. Like the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer wrongfully accused of treason in the late nineteenth century, Levy's experience and its erasure from mainstream historiography reveals how anti-Semitism can contaminate modern French political culture. Raphael Levy, a Jew living in the French borderlands near Metz, was accused of having murdered young Didier Le Moyne in order to extract his blood to perform an occult Jewish ritual. Such ritual murder accusations were a rare but regular occurrence in late medieval Germany, but until now historians have not recognized their existence in France. During the course of Levy's trial, the specific allegations of a single murder quickly mushroomed into more general accusations of Jewish desecration of the Host. This second set of charges resulted in several prominent Jews of Metz being imprisoned and interrogated. In the end, Levy was burnt at the stake in January 1670, but the others were spared by the timely intervention of Louis XIV who explicitly denied the existence of Jewish blood rituals and ordered that all defendants be exonerated. Birnbaum constructs a forceful and dramatic narrative of these harrowing events. The strength of his analysis lies in linking this seventeenth-century trial to twentieth-century political culture. Birnbaum demonstrates that Levy's trial has been largely forgotten by historians, but occasionally deployed by French anti-Semitic writers to malign the Jewish people. Nevertheless, as a specialist in twentieth-century politics and Jewish history, Birnbaum's relative lack of knowledge about the seventeenth century results in some errors: early modern French courts did not prosecute 100,000 witches and current research about the French monarchy under Louis XIV belies his blithe statements about rational bureaucracy. More importantly, Birnbaum missed opportunities to strengthen his central argument that anti-Semitism has a long history in France. A richer religious context would have helped readers to understand why Jews were particularly vulnerable to harassment in the late seventeenth century. Birnbaum notes a rise in criminal accusations against Jews in Lorraine during the 1660s and 1670s; at one point during the Levy trial, Christian crowds sought to attack and expel all Jews from Metz. …

Al Qaeda's Sharia Crisis: Sayyid Imam and the Jurisprudence of Lawful Military Jihad

Militant Islamist Sayyid Imam's legal critique of Al Qaeda's anti-U.S. mass casualty terrorism holds great potential utility for counterterrorist messaging strategy. In this article, a jihad–realist Islamist theological–jurisprudential methodology is first defended as the means most productive for delegitimizing Al Qaeda among high value, religiously motivated recruits. Second, Sayyid Imam's specific allegations and detailed Sharia proofs against Al Qaeda are presented. Finally, implications are drawn for U.S. counterterrorist messaging focusing especially on the utility of wielding this theological–juridical approach as compared to other “counternarrative” approaches, and the vital need to accurately characterize Islamism and its relation to terrorism.

Politics of Cinema in Hashemite Iraq

Abstract Hashemite Iraq was better integrated into the global cinema that other Arab countries. Baghdad audiences loved film noir, and the US succeeded in displacing the UK as a source of newsreels, as well. During the Cold War’s first decade, Hollywood continued to pump inexpensive productions and aged celluloid through Iraq, including films made under US government contracts. Local viewers responded thoughtfully to such films, engaging themes such as responsibility and guilt. Against this general background, specific allegations that testing of weapons delivery systems for germ warfare continued after the end of the Korean War, are assessed in the light that public health authorities reported a series of outbreaks of meningitis among audiences in Baghdad cinemas.

How to Know the Truth: Accommodating Religious Belief in the Law of Libel

While religious pluralism, liberty and equality are now general cultural and legal expectations in the UK, the history of interplay between religious identities is one of intellectually - and sometimes physically - violent discord. Today, religious frictions persist as an inevitable facet of a plural society. Both low-level antipathies and serious religious disputes are driven by such factors as long-standing and incipient factionalism within religious groupings, more or less aggressive secularist critique, and resentment among some faiths of the proselytizing zeal of others. From time to time, the law of libel is invoked to resolve disputes engendered by religious difference, notwithstanding that it is inherently difficult for any purportedly neutral, secular law properly to adjudicate between competing conceptions of the righteous and the good. This paper proceeds in four parts. First, we outline the basic features of English libel law to underpin the subsequent discussion. Secondly, we suggest a typology of criticism of religious faiths and their adherents, and indicate how each type of allegation would be countenanced by the law. Thirdly, we criticize the approach adopted by the English courts to one type of allegation: those that involve specific allegations of fact but which rest on questions of religious doctrine. We find that by abjuring any role on grounds of non-justiciability and deference to religious modes of dispute resolution, the courts may systematize the disadvantage of already marginalized groups. Finally, we suggest a conceptually and jurisprudentially preferable manner for the resolution of such cases that would properly ensure the neutrality of libel law as between disparate views on questions of religious faith.

The Compatibility of Unexplained Wealth Provisions and ‘Civil’ Forfeiture Regimes With Kable

This paper considers the growing use of forfeiture regimes in Australian law to deal with suspected criminal offending. Increasingly, these regimes apply in the absence of a conviction against the person whose property is to be confiscated; indeed the person need not have been charged with any crime, and an actual acquittal on a charge is no bar to the proceedings being brought. These regimes include unexplained wealth provisions, which often contain a reverse onus of proof, requiring the person whose property is liable to be confiscated to prove the lawfulness by which they acquired property, rather than for the prosecutor to prove the truth of an allegation of criminality. These regimes raise the important question of where the true boundary is between proceedings that are 'criminal' in nature and proceedings that are 'civil' in nature, or whether the existing boundary lines no longer serve us well. In addition, I argue that by asking the court to make a confiscation order in the absence of any specific allegation of criminality or proof that a criminal offence has been committed, these regimes offend the Kable principle, by departing significantly from traditional judicial process, and imposing what is in essence 'punishment', a criminal response, to a proceeding that is dressed up as being 'civil' in nature.

Malpractice: Nurse Practitioners and Claims Reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank

The purpose of this manuscript is to review the past 4 years of malpractice allegations against nurse practitioners. Specifically, the article covers 5 areas: states with the highest litigation rates, top 5 allegation groups, specific malpractice allegations, severity of injury as a result of alleged malpractice, and mechanism of payment. The data for this study were derived from the National Practitioner Data Bank as of December 2010.

Neglect of medical evidence of torture in Guantánamo Bay: a case series.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, the government authorized the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques that were previously recognized as torture. While the complicity of US health professionals in the design and implementation of US torture practices has been documented, little is known about the role of health providers, assigned to the US Department of Defense (DoD) at the US Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO), who should have been in a position to observe and document physical and psychological evidence of torture and ill treatment. We reviewed GTMO medical records and relevant case files (client affidavits, attorney-client notes and summaries, and legal affidavits of medical experts) of nine individuals for evidence of torture and ill treatment and documentation by medical personnel. In each of the nine cases, GTMO detainees alleged abusive interrogation methods that are consistent with torture as defined by the UN Convention Against Torture as well as the more restrictive US definition of torture that was operational at the time. The medical affidavits in each of the nine cases indicate that the specific allegations of torture and ill treatment are highly consistent with physical and psychological evidence documented in the medical records and evaluations by non-governmental medical experts. However, the medical personnel who treated the detainees at GTMO failed to inquire and/or document causes of the physical injuries and psychological symptoms they observed. Psychological symptoms were commonly attributed to "personality disorders" and "routine stressors of confinement." Temporary psychotic symptoms and hallucinations did not prompt consideration of abusive treatment. Psychological assessments conducted by non-governmental medical experts revealed diagnostic criteria for current major depression and/or PTSD in all nine cases. The findings in these nine cases from GTMO indicate that medical doctors and mental health personnel assigned to the DoD neglected and/or concealed medical evidence of intentional harm.

Perception ? Reality: Analyzing Specific Allegations of NBA Referee Bias

The 2007 gambling scandal involving a National Basketball Association (NBA) referee, coupled with the NBA’s follow-up investigation, put allegations of basketball referee bias in the spotlight. This paper analyzes specific allegations of bias by Miami Heat coach and general manager Pat Riley against NBA referees Steve Javie and Derrick Stafford. In the course of analyzing every referee who officiated a Miami Heat during a nine-year period, neither Javie nor Stafford exhibited systematic bias that had an adverse effect on the Miami Heat. In fact, the Heat performed slightly better than predicted when Javie officiated their games. The results provide real-world empirical evidence consistent with “confirmation bias,” a theory grounded in the finding that individuals with a vested interest in certain self-justifying outcomes may reach generalized conclusions unsupported by actual evidence.