Regional distribution of cocaine in postmortem brain of chronic human cocaine users

We measured concentrations of cocaine and its major metabolites (benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methylester, norcocaine, and cocaethylene) in 15 autopsied brain regions of 14 human chronic cocaine users. Only slight differences were observed in concentrations of cocaine and its metabolites amongst the examined brain areas. Although it is likely that some postmortem redistribution of the drug must have occurred, our data are consistent with the possibility that behaviorally relevant doses of cocaine are widely distributed throughout the brain of humans who use the drug on a chronic basis. Consideration should therefore be given to the possible pharmacological and toxicological actions of cocaine in both striatal and extra-striatal brain areas in human users of the drug.     

The Curse of the Smile: Ambivalence and the ‘Asian’ Woman in Australian Multiculturalism

This article critiques Australia's official discourse of multiculturalism, with its rhetoric of ‘celebrating cultural diversity’ and tolerance, by looking at the way in which this discourse suppresses the ambivalent positioning of ‘Asians’ in Australian social space. The discourse of multiculturalism and the official, economically motivated desire for Australia to become ‘part of Asia’ has resulted in a relatively positive valuation of ‘Asia’ and ‘Asians’, an inversion from the racist exclusionism of the past. Against the self-congratulatory stance of this discourse, this article signals the operation of ambivalence at two levels: at the structural level, insofar as it points to the inherent contradictions in the idea of the ‘multicultural nation’ and its fantasy of a harmonious ‘unity-in-diversity’, and at the subjective level, in the sense that the ethos of multiculturalism doesn't erase the ambivalent relations of acceptance/rejection between majority and minority subjects. Several instances of such ambivalence pertaining to the positioning and representation of the ‘Asian’ woman are given.     

Heteroplasmy in Hair: Study of Mitochondrial DNA Third Hypervariable Region in Hair and Blood Samples*†

Abstract: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis has proved useful for forensic identification especially in cases where nuclear DNA is not available, such as with hair evidence. Heteroplasmy, the presence of more than one type of mtDNA in one individual, is a common situation often reported in the first and second mtDNA hypervariable regions (HV1/HV2), particularly in hair samples. However, there is no data about heteroplasmy frequency in the third mtDNA hypervariable region (HV3). To investigate possible heteroplasmy hotspots, HV3 from hair and blood samples of 100 individuals were sequenced and compared. No point heteroplasmy was observed, but length heteroplasmy was, both in C‐stretch and CA repeat. To observe which CA “alleles” were present in each tissue, PCR products were cloned and re‐sequenced. However, no variation among CA alleles was observed. Regarding forensic practice, we conclude that point heteroplasmy in HV3 is not as frequent as in the HV1/HV2.     

Faulty genes or faulty parents? Gender,family and survival in early and late childhood in the Netherlands, 1860–1900

According to the famous economist and Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen women have a significant biological advantage over men. Despite this fact women do not always live longer. In today's third world, but also in some areas in Europe at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century we find so-called excess female mortality. In this paper we examine child mortality in The Netherlands in general and gendered patterns of child mortality in particular. The focus is on differential mortality patterns by gender for infants, older children, and young adults up to age 20 in the second half of the 19th century. The analysis takes place at three levels. We start off with an exploration of sex differentials in mortality at the national level, based on the existing literature. We next examine gender differentials in mortality at the level of several Dutch communities, in the region called Twente, focussing on the differences between the city and the countryside. The final part of the analysis focuses on the micro level of the individual and his or her family in the rural community of Lonneker located in the Twente region. In this part of our study we make use of longitudinal individual level data which are analysed with event history methodologies. Our analysis clearly demonstrates that young women and girls in The Netherlands were not always in a position to fully capitalise upon their greater biological advantage and suffered instead considerable excess mortality. Especially in the rural parts of the country girls had lower survival chances. The individual level analysis confirms the importance of sex in explaining child and adolescent mortality. These gendered mortality risks can however not be attributed to social and economic household characteristics. The analysis also shows that, when death came, it literally affected the entire family. This phenomenon, better known under the label ‘death clustering’, may have been an effect of parental incompetence.     

A nine-year follow-up study on the predictive validity of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire for predicting violent and nonviolent recidivism

The effectiveness of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) in providing estimates for predicting violent and nonviolent recidivism over a 9-year period is examined. The SAQ is a quantitative risk/need instrument consisting of 72 items that compose eight subscales. There were 657 federally sentenced Canadian male offenders who completed the SAQ prior to their release and were followed up for 9 years (108 months) at 4-month intervals. Consistent with previous predictive studies, the results presented here demonstrate that the SAQ has adequate predictive validity.     

高等职业院校法学课程项目化改造的问题及对策研究[1]

课程项目化是法学教育本质的遵循，职业技能培养的需要，人才培养目标实现的载体，学生和教师能力提升的有效途径。但从目前看，法学课程项目化教学存在教师传统学科式教育观念根深蒂固、具有形式化倾向、体系性不足、有效教学监控体系欠缺以及师资队伍与项目化教学要求不相适应等问题。应促进法学教师教学观念的更新，合理设计法学课程项目化教学体系并加强项目化教学实施的保障。     

Beyond Weber: Conceptualizing an alternative ideal type of bureaucracy in developing contexts

The study of public administration in developing countries requires that we look beyond the Weberian model as the only ideal type of bureaucracy. When we assume that there exists only one gold standard of public administration, all other organizational forms that do not conform to the Weberian ideal are dismissed as corrupt or failed. Drawing on neo‐institutional economics, I introduce an alternative ideal type of bureaucracy found in contemporary China. This model, which I call bureau‐franchising, combines the hierarchical structure of bureaucracy with the high‐powered incentives of franchising. In this system, public agencies can rightfully claim a share of income earned to finance and reward themselves, like entrepreneurial franchisees. Yet distinct from lawless corruption, this self‐financing (or prebendal) behavior is sanctioned and even deliberately incentivized by state rules. Although such a model violates several Weberian tenets of “good” bureaucracy, it harnesses and regulates the high‐powered incentives of prebendalism to ameliorate budgetary and capacity constraints that are common in developing countries like China.     

关于农民经济合作组织法律地位的思考

农民经济合作组织是市场主体集合中的重要组成部分,其市场主体的法律地位可以从其承担的职能、产权性质以及法律性质三个维度进行分析。从其承担的职能来看,农民经济合作组织应该为成员农民的农业生产提供非赢利服务,在不影响这一职能的前提下,可以基于该组织在农业服务领域的优势,向社会提供适当赢利性服务;从其产权性质来看,农民经济合作组织的产权性质是指农民以入股形式参与的、资本和劳动相结合的股份合作性质的组织;从其法律属性来看,只有规模和组织化达到一定程度,承担职能比较复杂的农民经济合作组织才能获得法人资格,否则都被视为合伙性质的企业。     

Power,Powerlessness and Petroleum: Indigenous Environmental Claims and the Limits of Transnational Law

Environmental disasters, particularly oil spills, increasingly involve a complex intermingling of the national, international and often the transnational. Traditional responses to seeking remediation have pursued the legal path of class action suits against multinational corporations. This article examines one such historic case, Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc., in which residents of Ecuador's Amazonian rainforest brought suit against Texaco in US federal courts through the legal opening provided by the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789. Dominant analyses of this case have centered on the failed promise of this law to serve as a human rights tool and view this failure in terms of the sovereigntist limitations on an emerging cosmopolitan order. Against these analyses, this article offers an alternative approach that shifts the focus from the limitations of the law towards a perspective on power. Bringing to bear political science's power debate to develop this perspective on power, the article highlights what analytical tools from this debate are translatable or which are not for understanding the power relations of the Aguinda case. Through this exercise, this article aims to prod a reconsideration of dominant theories of power, developed in a frame of the nation-state, and to provoke their redevelopment to better engage with the complex and dynamic flows of power in cases of environmental justice and politics across borders.