Anti-Tamil Riots and the political crisis in Sri Lanka

Abstract

“Have a taste of Paradise” says the advertising blurb of Air Lanka, the national airline. But on July 24, 1983, the island paradise for tourists turned into a veritable hell for its Tamil-speaking inhabitants, with fire and smoke engulfing the capital city of Colombo. Within days, rioting spread throughout Sri Lanka in a wave of assaults against the Tamils in almost all the towns and plantation areas. For nearly a week, mob rule prevailed and lynching was the order of the day.     

印度-中国经济交往的制约因素（节译）

本文概述了印度一中国经济交往的战略意义，讨论了主要的制约因素及相关问题。     

Mandibular ramus: an indicator for sex in fragmentary mandible

Mandible is the hardest and most durable bone of the skull exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism. Especially ramus of mandible is subjected to greater stress than any other bone of the skull because of the process of mastication. This study has been performed to establish the osteometric standards for practical use in forensic context over Indian population using mandibular ramus. The sample consists of 116 mandibles of Northern Indian population (M:F; 92:24, mean age 37.4 years), collected from the Department of Forensic Medicine, IMS, BHU, Varanasi. Osteometric informations about five metric parameters (coronoid height, projective height, condylar height, and maximum breadth and minimum breadth of ramus) were taken with sliding calipers. These parameters were subjected to different discriminant function analysis using SPSS 16.0. All parameters showed significant sexual dimorphism (p < 0.001 in all cases) with an overall accuracy of 80.2%, and coronoid height was the single best parameter providing an accuracy of 74.1%.     

Identification of the source of ivory idol by DNA analysis

In this study, we describe a forensic case dealing with the identification of the source of the processed ivory object by DNA analysis. Two pieces of Lord Krishna's idols from a shop were confiscated by an investigating agency of the Indian government and forwarded to us to identify the source of its origin. We succeeded in isolating DNA from both processed ivory idols by using the phenol/chloroform DNA extraction method. The extracted DNA was subjected to PCR amplification using an elephant-specific mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop marker. DNA sequence analysis of the amplified fragment of mtDNA D-loop region confirmed that the idols were consistent with Asian elephant with 99% similarity.     

Food security and access and benefit sharing laws relating to genetic resources: promoting synergies in national and international governance

Are the national laws regulating access to genetic resources that countries have enacted in exercise of their sovereign rights accorded by the Convention on Biological Diversity jeopardising food security by failing to take into account the distinctive features of genetic resources for food and agriculture? If so what can be done about it? What are the obstacles to doing so? And how can they be overcome, especially in the context of the present ongoing negotiations for an international regime on access and benefits sharing under the biodiversity convention? This article examines the impact of the national access laws and other instruments on the free access and exchange of these genetic resources and hence on the maintenance of agricultural biological diversity upon which food security hinges so critically. It highlights the obstacles that stand in the way of developing countries facilitating access to their genetic resources and proposes a multilateral non-market-orientated approach to overcome them.     

Mutation in the STR locus D21S1 1 of father causing allele mismatch in the child

We analyzed a case of paternity dispute with 15 autosomal STR loci and found a mismatch in one of the alleles of the locus D21S11 in the child. The composition of the alleles of this locus in the mother, suspicious father, and child were 29/32, 29/29, and 29/30, respectively. The combined paternity index (2.4 x 10(10)) and paternity probability (0.9999) suggest that the suspicious father is the biological father of the child. Further analysis of 6 Y chromosome STR loci revealed matching of all the Y chromosomal alleles of the child with that of the suspicious father. Since there was a perfect match of all the paternal alleles inherited (15 autosomal and 6 Y chromosomal) in the child with that of the suspicious father except the allele D21S11, it is suggested that this might be a case of mutation. Cloning and sequencing of all the alleles of the locus D21S11 of the suspicious father, mother, and the child helped in determining that the suspicious father contributed the mutated allele.     

中印关系中的美国因素

中国、美国和印度之间的三边关系近来比较引人注目。冷战期间三方中的两方经常联合起来反对第三方,中印在经历短期的友好以后,也曾相互开战,之后美国因素逐步变得重要。随着国际格局的演变,中国和印度都在积极与美国发展关系,同时中印之间的关系也在不断改善。当前在恐怖主义的共同威胁和全球化的推动下,过去那种对抗和遏制的模式将不会再现,三个国家将更加紧密地结合。尽管中印关系中的美国因素依然重要,但在现实中其作用正在降低。     

Institutional duration and growth in Africa

We argue that there are strong reasons to believe that continuous competitive, multiparty elections produce different growth dynamics than first competitive elections. We test this conjecture by looking at the effects of competitive elections and their endurance on growth rates in African countries from 1970 to 2001. We find that initial competitive elections do not offer a growth dividend over having no elections at all, although noncompetitive elections may result in a growth penalty. However, over time, countries that hold competitive elections slowly begin outperforming those without them—especially those that hold noncompetitive elections. Africa’s poor growth experience may therefore be related less to an unwillingness to experiment with democracy, than to an inability to consolidate democratic reforms once in place. Karen E. Ferree is assistant professor of political science at University of California, San Diego. She specializes in the study of elections in new democracies, especially those in Africa. Her work has examined the political economy of elections as well as the role of ethnicity in elections. Smita Singh is Special advisor to Global Affairs at the William and Flora Hewlett Foudation. Her research interests include the political economy of development and violence in Africa and Southeast Asia. We wish to thank Robert Bates for support and advice at all stages of this project. Thanks also to Macartan Humphries, Naunihal Singh, two anonymous reviewers, and the editors atStudies in Comparative and International Development for helpful comments.