Everything Is Relative,Including the “Absoluteness” of the Current,Restrictive Pollution Exclusion

Although insurers like to call the most recent versions of the pollution exclusion “absolute,” insureds should not necessarily agree—just as many courts have not agreed—that the exclusion is “absolute.” Instead, insureds should examine the precise language of the exclusions at issue, which may on their face provide a basis to argue that a potential for coverage exists. Further, whether the release at issue is made up of “pollutants” or constitutes “pollution” can only be judged by the circumstances of each case. Ultimately, an insured stands to gain if it can demonstrate that some aspect of the underlying claim, no matter how small, remains potentially covered under at least one policy. To avoid a duty to defend, an insurer must conclusively establish that all potential for coverage is excluded. Even a sliver of potential coverage is enough to trigger an insured's right to call upon an insurer to defend the entire underlying action, a right that itself could be worth millions of dollars in attorney's fees and investigation costs.     

Claiming the Right to Health in Brazilian Courts: The Exclusion of the Already Excluded?

The aim of this article is to test a widespread belief among Brazilian legal scholars in the area of social rights, namely, the claim that courts are an alternative institutional voice for the poor, who are usually marginalized from the political process. According to this belief, social rights litigation would be a means (supposedly “a better means”) of realizing rights such as the right to health care, since supposedly both the wealthy and the poor have equal access to the courts. To probe the consistency of this belief, we analyzed the socioeconomic profiles of plaintiffs in the city of Sao Paulo (Brazil) who were granted access to specific medications or medical treatments by judicial decisions. In this study, the justiciability of social rights has not proven to be a means of rendering certain public services more democratic and accessible.     

Memory Laws: An Escalation in Minority Exclusion or a Testimony to the Limits of State Power?

The article addresses the tension between nation‐state memory and the law through “memory laws.” In contrast to laws that ban genocide denial or a positive perception of a violent past, I focus on laws that ban a negative perception of a violent past. As I will show, these laws were utilized for a non‐democratic purpose in the last decade or more: They were proposed in order to limit public debate on the national past by banning oppositional or minority views, in contrast to the principles of free speech and deliberative democracy. Their legislation in such cases also stands in opposition to truth‐telling efforts in the international arena. I compare two cases of memory legislation, in contemporary Russia and Israel, and evaluate their different impacts on democratic public debates in practice. A third case of “failed legislation” in France compliments the analysis by demonstrating not only the capacity but also the limitation of state power to silence or control public debate using the law. Although national laws often reflect majority culture and memory, I propose that memory laws in Russia, Israel, and France present an escalating degree of minority exclusion—from omission to active banning.     

Forensic Investigation of a Shawl Linked to the “Jack the Ripper” Murders

A set of historic murders, known as the “Jack the Ripper murders,” started in London in August 1888. The killer's identity has remained a mystery to date. Here, we describe the investigation of, to our knowledge, the only remaining physical evidence linked to these murders, recovered from one of the victims at the scene of the crime. We applied novel, minimally destructive techniques for sample recovery from forensically relevant stains on the evidence and separated single cells linked to the suspect, followed by phenotypic analysis. The mtDNA profiles of both the victim and the suspect matched the corresponding reference samples, fortifying the link of the evidence to the crime scene. Genomic DNA from single cells recovered from the evidence was amplified, and the phenotypic information acquired matched the only witness statement regarded as reliable. To our knowledge, this is the most advanced study to date regarding this case.     

“Electronic transport records”: Assessing the contribution of the Rotterdam Rules to e-commerce

The Rotterdam Rules is the first international maritime carriage of goods Convention that officially acknowledges electronic records of contracts of carriage and has devoted a separate chapter to their regulation. This paper aims to assess the impact of the Rotterdam Rules on facilitating the conclusion of maritime contracts electronically. Whether articles 8 and 10 of the Rotterdam Rules provide an effective mechanism for electronic cargo documentation, and in which ways will be investigated. Where the impact of these provisions of the Rotterdam Rules on electronic commerce is judged unsatisfactory more efficient and trustworthy ways of transforming the Rules to make them a more effective springboard for paperless trade will be suggested.     

“The big sleep: Elucidating the sequence of events in the first hours of death to determine the postmortem interval”

Recent developments on postmortem interval estimation (PMI) take an advantage of the autolysis process, pointing out to the analysis of the expression of apoptosis and autophagy genes towards this purpose. Oxidative stress plays a role in this signaling as a regulatory mechanism and/or as a consequence of cell death. Additionally, melatonin has been implicated on apoptosis and autophagy signaling, making melatonin a suitable target for PMI determination. The aim of this study was to investigate the early PMI through the analysis of the expression of autophagy genes as well as oxidative stress and melatonin receptor. Our results demonstrated a rapidly increased on the expression of autophagy genes according to the expected sequence of events, then a marked decrease in this expression, matched with the switch to the apoptosis signaling. These results revealed potential candidates to analyze the PMI in the first hours of death, helping to estimate the time-since-death.     

Apprehension and Application of the Confession Provision ＂Amendment 8th of the Criminal Law＂

《刑法修正案（八）》第8条规定了坦白从宽情节,这是我国刑事立法上首次确认坦白从宽制度。坦白从宽法定化是落实宽严相济刑事政策,实现司法公正、提高司法效率,走出司法尴尬境地之必然产物。坦白,是指犯罪嫌疑人除构成自首以外的如实供述自己罪行的情形。坦白的主体是＂犯罪嫌疑人＂,可以包括犯罪单位。坦白的成立条件包括：被动归案;如实供述自己的已被司法机关掌握的罪行或者如实供述司法机关虽未掌握、但与已掌握的罪行属同种罪行。坦白从宽是原则,不从宽是例外。避免特别严重后果的发生可以从四个方面进行认定。     

A Review of Sex Disparities in the “Key Players” of the Capital Punishment Process: From Defendants to Jurors

Extralegal disparities between defendants sentenced to the death penalty and those who receive life without parole disturb even the most resolute advocates of capital punishment. Extensive bodies of research document extralegal factors influencing death penalty outcomes. Although studies largely focus on race and ethnicity, a growing body of research considers the impact of sex on the capital sentencing process. This paper reviews the extant research on the impact of the sex of the victim, defendant, attorney, juror, and judge on capital case outcomes. Women’s scarcity on death row and a previously documented “female victim effect” condemning male defendants who kill female victims, particularly for those committing crimes of sexual degradation, suggests that death row policies and their implementation chivalrously protect female defendants and victims. Conversely, a limited amount of research documents a “domestic discount,” or greater leniency for death-eligible crimes commonly victimizing women than for those victimizing acquaintances or strangers. Although opinion polls document greater support for the death penalty among men than women, juror sex inconsistently predicts sentencing outcomes in the literature. Minimal research on judge and attorney sex finds female judges more liberal in death penalty sentencing than male judges and inconclusive relationships between attorney sex and adjudication. Findings in the research on sex and death penalty outcomes support the existence of a “sex effect” and inform recommendations for future research to expand the body of literature.     

“The Right to Self-determination”: Right and Laws Between Means of Oppression and Means of Liberation in the Discourse of the Indigenous Movement of Ecuador

The 1970s and 1980s meant an ethnic politicization of the indigenous movement in Ecuador, until this moment defined largely as a class-based movement of indigenous peasants. The indigenous organizations started to conceptualize indigenous peoples as nationalities with their own economic, social, cultural and legal structures and therefore with the right to autonomy and self-determination. Based on this conceptualization, the movement developed demands for a pluralist reform of state and society in order to install a plurinational state with wide degrees of autonomy and participation for indigenous nationalities. A part of those demands was the double strategy to fight for legal pluralism while already installing it at the local level. Even if some degrees of legal pluralism have been recognized in Ecuador since the mid-1990s, in practice, the local de facto practice prevails until today. Another central part of the demand for plurinationality is the representation of indigenous peoples in the legislative organs of the state, developing since their first appearance in the 1940s in a complex way. This article will analyze the development of right-based demands within the discourse of the indigenous movement in Ecuador, the visions of the implied state-reform and the organizational and political background and implication they have. Based on an analysis of the central texts of the indigenous organizations, conceptualizations of rights and laws and their appropriation within an autonomist discourse and a local practice will be highlighted.     

Can the Body Change the Score? Application of Sensory Modulation Principles in the Treatment of Traumatized Adolescents in Residential Settings

There is a compelling need for varied “trauma specific” treatment models for children and adolescents with complex trauma in residential treatment whose affect and behavioral dysregulation disrupts daily living and impedes treatment engagement. This conceptual paper introduces exploratory applications of sensory motor approaches to the treatment of affect and behavioral dysregulation. Sensory Integration, a specialization within occupational therapy (Ayres 1972, 2004) provides knowledge of the sensory motor systems and strategies for sensory modulation that addresses arousal regulation, which underlies this dysregulation. The article describes three clinically supported approaches to the use of sensory modulation in residential treatment sites: use of sensory rooms; use of sensory integration occupational therapists at residential treatment sites; and a trauma psychotherapy that utilizes sensory motor strategies to improve regulation and support trauma processing.     

Using the Strategy Tripod to Understand Strategic Management in the “Evaluation-Friendly” Organizations of Cultural and Creative Industries

Abstract

This article provides a new conceptual framework based on the Strategy Tripod to understand challenges and orientation that affect performance evaluation in the organizations of cultural and creative industries (CCI). The analysis is built on a quantitative study carried out in Estonia. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to assess the ability of different variables to predict performance evaluation. The new conceptual framework provides a holistic understanding of the uncertain environment and its impact on strategic management in “evaluation-friendly” organizations in CCIs. It adds new insight into theoretical and managerial discussions on how and why strategic management in CCIs is practiced.     

The Contribution of the “Dutch School” in Public Finance to the Theory of Personal Income Taxation (1870–1920)

Hansen's dissertation (1996) is an impressive, highly valuable, and thorough study on the problems of income taxation in Germany. These problems were also extensively discussed in Dutch economic literature around 1900. Several authors took part in the discussion, and some were also involved as politicians. They are referred to as the Dutch School in public finance. The discussions in the Netherlands were of a distinctive character as far as the tax rate (progression) is concerned. With regard to the tax base (the concept of income) there is in the case of the reform of the income tax in 1915, via in particular Treub, close affinity to that thinking in Germany, that is so eminently analyzed by Hansen.