Corporations at a crossroads: How multilevel governance interactions shape participation and effort in private governance regimes

This article argues that the interactions between firm agency in corporate management and the multilevel governance structures in which firms operate condition firms' participation and effort in private governance regimes. Empirically, I examine the Fortune Global 500 firms' decisions about participation and the extent of participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project during 2011–2015. Given firms' strategic considerations, the efficacy of corporate management structures and practices is conditioned by domestic regulatory and global regime contexts, and this efficacy varies across developed and developing countries. In developed countries, corporate, domestic, and global governance positively reinforce each other as drivers of private regulation on climate change. These governance levels are complements not substitutes. By contrast, the main drivers of participation and effort in developing countries are corporate management structures and practices, the stringency of domestic regulatory institutions, and their interactions. This article's results are robust to alternative specifications, including an alternative modeling approach.     

Internal validation of reduced PCR reaction volume of the Qiagen Investigator® Argus X-12 QS Kit from blood samples on FTA cards

The onus of proof in criminal cases is beyond any reasonable doubt, and the issue on the lack of complete internal validation data can be manipulated when it comes to justifying the validity and reliability of the X-chromosomal short tandem repeats analysis for court representation. Therefore, this research evaluated the efficiency of the optimized 60% reduced volumes for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using the Qiagen Investigator® Argus X-12 QS Kit, as well as the capillary electrophoresis (CE) sample preparation for blood samples on Flinder's Technology Associates (FTA) cards. Good-quality DNA profile (3000–12,000 RFU) from the purified blood sample on FTA card (1.2 mm) were obtained using the optimized PCR (10.0 μL of PCR reaction volume and 21 cycles) and CE (9.0 μL Hi-Di™ Formamide and 0.3 μL DNA Size Standard 550 [BTO] and 27 s injection time) conditions. The analytical and stochastic thresholds were 100 and 200 RFU, respectively. Hence, the internal validation data supported the use of the optimized 60% reduced PCR amplification reaction volume of the Qiagen Investigator® Argus X-12 QS Kit as well as the CE sample preparation for producing reliable DNA profiles that comply with the quality assurance standards for forensic DNA testing laboratories, while optimizing the analytical cost.     

收集和运用商业贿赂犯罪证据需要注意的问题

商业活动中的贿赂犯罪不仅严重阻碍和破坏社会主义市场经济的正常运行和健康发展,而且还败坏社会风气,造成国家税收流失,社会危害性极为严重。认定商业贿赂犯罪的关键和核心是证据问题。商业贿赂犯罪证据有自身的特点,在收集和运用上也有较强的规律性和特点。     

Islamic reformation discourses: popular sovereignty and religious secularisation in Iran

Disputes over the outcome of the June 2009 presidential election in Iran rapidly developed into a contest about the legitimacy of the Islamic state. Far from being a dispute between religious and non-religious forces, the main protagonists in the conflict represented divergent articulations of state–religion relations within an Islamic context. In contrast to the authoritarian legitimisation of an Islamic state, the Islamic reformation discourse is based on secular-democratic articulations of state–religion relations. This article focuses on the ideas of four leading Iranian religious scholars who advocate a secular-democratic conceptualisation of state authority. Disputing the religious validity of divine sovereignty, they promote the principle of popular sovereignty based on Islamic sources and methods. This reformist conceptualisation is rooted in the notion that Islam and the secular-democratic state are complementary.     

Blowfly Larval Tissues as a Secondary Detector for Determining Paraquat-Related Death in Rabbit Carcass

Paraquat poisoning is commonly associated with suicide or homicide in Malaysia. In a case involving advanced body decomposition, pathological analysis regarding the cause of death may become difficult or almost impossible. Insects serve as common alternative matrix for poison detection in forensic analysis. Paraquat detection via secondary bioaccumulation in fly larvae tissue has never been reported. In this study, tissues from blowfly larvae collected from a rabbit carcass with paraquat poisoning were analyzed for secondary bioaccumulation. Larvae samples were collected and analyzed using liquid–liquid extraction. The detection was performed via reduction of quaternary ammonium presence in paraquat and analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with selected ion monitoring mode (SIM mode). GC-MS showed the elution of reduced paraquat was at retention time 12.8 min. Blowfly larvae tissue has proven useful as a secondary detector in paraquat-related deaths.