Human Rights and Modern Liberalism: a Critique

The idea of human rights has become one of the central moral notions of both the theory and practice of international politics. While its foundation and future in the practice of politics looks bright, it is an idea that still causes great trouble at the theoretical level. What are human rights? Why do we have them? To what should we attribute the authority of their moral claims? The theorist Michael Freeman has suggested one theory that by addressing such questions may serve as a foundation for human rights. His theory, however, ends by begging the questions it set out to answer.     

Spatial variation of refractive index in a pane of float glass.

In the statistical interpretation of forensic glass evidence it is standard practice to make the assumption of homogeneity of the refractive index (RI) of the source glass, or of localized homogeneity. However, the work of Locke and Hayes showed that, for toughened windscreen glass, this assumption might not be true. This work is well cited, but there appears to have been little follow-on published research. Furthermore, the toughening process is something known to affect the refractive index, and is a process that float glass does not undergo. Float glass is a major component of casework in New Zealand and for that reason it would be interesting to know whether the findings of Locke and Hayes apply when dealing with float glass. In this paper we describe an experiment similar to that of Locke and Hayes, systematically examining the variation of RI in a pane of float window glass. It was found that, although there were no systematic differences in refractive index, there were observable differences across the pane.     

Necessity for Legislation on China’s Recycling Economy and Regulatory Framework Analysis

In China, the necessity for legislation on recycling economy (RE) first lies in the difference in the conceptions applied to define it. Three schools in theory are prevailing at present: affirmative, negative, and replaceable. The paper insists that RE is of unique implication for China. A practical need for legislation exists; however, those rational parts in both negative and replaceable schools should be given full consideration. The necessity for RE legislation rests not only upon requirements for social and economic development but also upon economic globalization and the internalization of environmental protection. China’s RE legislation should learn from foreign countries, meet actual needs of the country, make sure to coordinate with clean production law, and make recommendations and options for legislative modes, principles, and systems. This paper is on the basis of Zhou Ke, Cao Jianqun, ”Necessity for Legislation on China’s Recycling Economy and Regulatory Framework Analysis”, Xinhua Digest (half monthly), Vol. 11, 2005(in Chinese)