DNA双股螺旋结构与迅猛发展的法庭科学——纪念人类DNA双股螺旋结构发现50周年

自1953年Watson和Crick发表DNA双股螺旋结构,它为人类生命科学,尤其是法庭科学的发展带来了历史性的变化。法庭科学从个体识别和亲子鉴定的排除到认定,经历了DNA指纹图、AMP-FLP及SNP的3个阶段。同时线粒体DNA的应用也在广泛开展。另外数据库的建设和完善成为法庭科学的发展方向。总之,DNA双股螺旋结构对法庭科学革命性变化起了决定性的作用。     

Sex determination from the talus of Koreans by discriminant function analysis

The aims of this study were to investigate the sex discriminating potential of the talus in Koreans and compare this with other analyses in different populations. Statistical analyses were performed using data from nine measurements acquired from 140 tali (70 men, 70 women). The talus of Koreans is dimorphic between sexes in all measurements (p < 0.01). Discriminant function equations were generated by univariate, multivariate, and stepwise methods with a range of accuracy from 67.1 to 87.1%. Stepwise equations of other populations did not discriminate the sex of the Korean sample as accurately as each equation's own accuracies. The variables with high accuracy in this study are useful for sex determination of Koreans on the basis of confirmation of population specificity.     

Genetic and chemical components analysis of Papaver setigerum naturalized in Korea

Of the 110 species of genus Papaver, only Papaver somniferum and P. setigerum are controlled poppies in Korea. All poppy samples share similar morphology therefore it is important to check if they contain controlled substances such as morphine and codeine for forensic purpose. Since the alkaloid content of Papaver plants varies according to their growing stage, chemical components analysis alone is not enough to identify exact species. In 2010, hundreds of poppy plants suspected to be P. somniferum were found in Jeju Island, South Korea. They had a slightly different but overall similar appearance to P. somniferum. Using GC-MS analysis, codeine, rhoeadine, papaverine, protopine, noscapine, setigeridine and trace amounts of morphine were detected in these samples. Although their chemical components were different from what has been described in literatures for P. setigerum, they could be assumed to be P. setigerum based on their morphological features and GC-MS results. Also, chromosome numbers using their seeds showed 2n=44 and the numbers were in accordance with those of P. setigerum. Nucleotide substitution or insertion/deletion of ITS (internal transcribed spacer), 18S rRNA (ribosomal RNA), rbcL (large subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase), trnL-trnF IGS (intergenic spacer), trnL intron and psbA-trnH were assessed as universal genetic markers for P. setigerum. Also, genetic analysis using six target genes involved in the biosynthesis of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, including TYDC (tyrosine/dopa decarboxylase), SAT (salutaridinol-7-O-acetyltransferase), BBE (berberine bridge enzyme), COR (codeinone reductase), CYP80B1 ((S)-N-methylcoclaurine 3'-hydroxylase) and NCS (norcoclaurine synthase) were tested as Papaver-specific genetic markers by the existence of their PCR products. From the results, the sequences of the 6 universal genetic markers and 6 Papaver-specific genetic markers for P. setigerum were identified and then Genbank accession numbers of them were registered in NCBI. Also, the trnL intron and psbA-trnH nucleic acid sequences of the 7 Papaver species were identified and registered.     

The Well-Ordered Society under Crisis: A Formal Analysis of Public Reason vs. Convergence Discourse

A well-ordered society faces a crisis whenever a sufficient number of noncompliers enter into the political system. This has the potential to destabilize liberal democratic political order. This article provides a formal analysis of two competing solutions to the problem of political stability offered in the public reason liberalism literature—namely, using public reason or using convergence discourse to restore liberal democratic political order in the well-ordered society. The formal analyses offered in this article show that using public reason fails completely, and using convergent discourse, although doing better, has its own critical limitations that have not been previously recognized properly.     

Species identification of Papaver by metabolite profiling

This paper analyses and discusses arguments that emerge from a recent discussion about the proper assessment of the evidential value of correspondences observed between the characteristics of a crime stain and those of a sample from a suspect when (i) this latter individual is found as a result of a database search and (ii) remaining database members are excluded as potential sources (because of different analytical characteristics). Using a graphical probability approach (i.e., Bayesian networks), the paper here intends to clarify that there is no need to (i) introduce a correction factor equal to the size of the searched database (i.e., to reduce a likelihood ratio), nor to (ii) adopt a propositional level not directly related to the suspect matching the crime stain (i.e., a proposition of the kind 'some person in (outside) the database is the source of the crime stain' rather than 'the suspect (some other person) is the source of the crime stain'). The present research thus confirms existing literature on the topic that has repeatedly demonstrated that the latter two requirements (i) and (ii) should not be a cause of concern.     

On the Argument of Infinite Regress in Proving Self-awareness

In PV 3.440ab and 473cd–474ab, Dharmakīrti raises the argument of infinite regress (anavasthiti) twice. The argument originates from the same argument stated by Dignāga in his Pramā?asamuccaya 1.12ab1, in which the fault of infinite regress is called ani??hā. In Pramā?asamuccayav?tti 1.12b2, Dignāga presents another type of argument of infinite regress (anavasthā) driven by memory, which is elucidated by Dharmakīrtian commentators. The arguments were criticized by Kumārila Bha??a and Bha??a Jayanta and even more intensively so by two modern scholars, Jonardon Ganeri and Birgit Kellner. In this paper, I first examine the source of the arguments—Pramā?asamuccayav?tti 1.12 and its translation, based on which I provide my interpretation of the two models of arguments of infinite regress. I then offer my response, according to Dharmakīrti and his commentators, to Ganeri’s and Kellner’s critiques. By doing so, I attempt to identify the essence of these arguments is and find out to what extent one can defend the infinite regress argument in Dignāga’s and Dharmakīrti’s theory.     

Building sustainable free legal advisory systems: Experiences from the history of AI & law

The enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI) as a source of solutions to problems is not new. In law, from the early 1980s until at least the early 2000s, considerable work was done on developing ‘legal expert systems.’ As the DataLex project, we participated in those developments, through research and publications, commercial and non-commercial systems, and teaching students application development. This paper commences with a brief account of that work to situate our perspective.The main aim of this paper is an assessment of what might be of value from the experience of the DataLex Project to contemporary use of ‘AI and law’ by free legal advice services, who must necessarily work within funding and other constraints in developing and sustaining such systems. We draw fifteen conclusions from this experience, which we consider are relevant to development of systems for free legal advice services. The desired result, we argue, is the development of integrated legal decision-support systems, not ‘expert systems’ or ‘robot lawyers’. We compare our insights with the approach of the leading recent text in the field, and with a critical review of the field over twenty-five years. We conclude that the approach taken by the DataLex Project, and now applied to free legal advice services, remains consistent with leading work in field of AI and law.The paper concludes with brief suggestions of what are the most desirable improvements to tools and platforms to enable development of free legal advice systems. The objectives of free access to legal information services have much in common with those of free legal advice services. The information resources that free access to law providers (including LIIs) can provide will often be those that free legal advice services will need to use to develop and sustain free legal advisory systems. There is therefore strong potential for valuable collaborations between these two types of services providers.     

“Seoul will become a sea of fire…”

Abstract

Seoul, 19 March 1994: People watching the evening news are terrified. The network stations repeatedly show Park Yong Soo, the North Korean representative at the eighth working-level meeting between North and South Korea at Panmunjom, retorting angrily to Song Yong Dae, his South Korean counterpart. “Seoul is not far from here,” he declares, “If there is a war, it will become a sea of fire.” The next day disturbing headlines splash across the morning and evening newspapers: “Seoul will become a sea of fire.”     

Sustaining economic development in South Korea: Lessons from Japan

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, culture has come to be recognized as a significant regional development resource in China. This paper raises the question of whether cultural strategies of development have ameliorated or exacerbated the government's increasing inability to provide for the public's basic needs. Specifically, it asks: what are the implications of China's cultural strategies of regional development for local-level governance? Three case study villages in Guizhou are examined, each revealing different ways that villages have engaged state development strategies, each with different outcomes. I argue that cultural strategies of development in China introduce a capital logic that greatly influences village governance. Cultural strategies create economic value where none before existed and thus initiate new struggles over ownership among villagers, state actors and entrepreneurs. The privatization of cultural resources has presented new challenges to village governance even while it has been promoted as both an answer to the fiscal challenges faced by many rural communities and a key to the establishment of a new kind of rural citizen.