State Sovereignty and Use of Outer Space for Applied Purposes

In the now commonplace phrase "exploration and utilization" of outer space, the emphasis is increasingly being placed on the second term, "utilization." This is no denigration of the role of basic research in space, which will continue to occupy a place of the highest importance in clarifying the true picture and laws of the world around us. It is a totally justified attempt to compel space to serve man as soon as possible and to assist in solving many terrestrial problems. Communications, meteorology, navigation, the study and protection of terrestrial resources and of the environment - these are the principal spheres of human economic activity, which today are already inconceivable without utilization of the resources of space technology.     

When you reach a fork in the road, take it: science and product development as linked paths

There is a simple underlying message in this discussion, which has three parts. First, science has the capacity to generate new knowledge and harness that knowledge in the cause of developing products and technology that can reduce disease burdens among developing nation populations. Second, intellectual property is a tool to use in order to insure that new knowledge is not expropriated and exploited in a manner that threatens the ability to provide products and technology to poor people at an affordable price. Third, and finally, academic scientists need to understand that they can stride both pathways of the R&D road, remaining involved in generating basic knowledge while participating in the application of that knowledge towards product development and, through the use of best practice IP management, making it available in resource-poor environments. In order for this to happen, academia needs to maintain bridges to the private sector, while assiduously avoiding financial conflicts of interest, a topic not discussed in this paper. Academic scientists, whether already established or still completing their education, need access to training modules that allows them to define the challenges of the high disease burdens in the third world in human, and not just in consumption or dollar, terms. They also need education regarding the problems they work on, in order to engage them in the technology transfer from academia to the private sector; promote collaboration with scientists in the developing world; provide them with enough insights into the process and how it operates so that they know about the terms of any agreements with the private sector that would prevent poor people from accessing the ultimate product; and finally "reward" them in the academic system by advancement based on applied and field-based international translational and operational applied research. If these education programs develop and expand to increasing numbers of people in the research sector of academia, the number of people taking both paths described here will substantially increase. With that, the amount of research relevant to improving the health status--and indirectly, development--of developing countries will have been substantially increased.     

Coming to terms with facial reproduction

The process of building human faces by applying clay to skulls to generate leads for identification of unknown human remains is plagued by the use of a number of terms which are already used for other purposes. Reconstitution, reconstruction, restoration, death mask, moulage, and sculpture have all been used, but each is used in another context in forensic science. "Facial reproduction" is suggested as a term which is not already in use in forensic science, which is precise, and which would thus be preferred over any of the other terms.     

论生态人的要点和意义

生态人是处于生态系统之中的人,是日常人,是人的社会性和自然性的统一体现。生态人在人类生态系统中既可以是主体也可能成为客体。理性生态人是追求人与人和谐相处和人与自然和谐相处的人。构建生态人模式采用的是"主、客一体化的研究范式"及个人主义与整体主义相结合的方法论。生态人模式和理念的确立,可以为公民环境权的正当化、可实施化提供理论根据,为建设"五型社会"的法律夯实法理基础;有利于环境法与生态伦理接轨,增强环境资源法的正当性和有效性,引入生态系统方法和综合生态系统管理,促进环境资源法的生态化;有利于扩大法律调整对象的范围,促进当代法律和法学的进步和变革。     

Creating the Perfect Human Race: How Far Will We Go for Designer Families?

Genetic modifications in humans is a fast‐advancing field of science, with very little legal regulation. Scientists recently have developed a technique, clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeat (CRISPR), which will forever change this field. Before CRISPR, all methods were too expensive and time consuming to facilitate editing human genes. CRISPR is faster and cheaper, making it a very real possibility for all. Since the discovery of CRISPR, research on human embryos has begun, with a success rate showing that creating a genetically perfect family is very real. In 2015, all federal funding for human genome modifications was banned, leaving little federal control. This Note proposes a model statute that allows for research while providing restrictions to prevent harm.     

人体基因财产权研究——“人格性财产权”的证成与施用

按照经典权利理论中人/物、人格权/财产权的二元界分逻辑,人体基因作为整全的人身的组成部分,处于人格权的保护之下,被禁止用于谋利性交易。然而,随着基因科技的发展及基因的产业化应用,人/物的界限被内移到了人自身,人体基因也日益外化而具有独立的经济价值。当基因科技的施为力量已在某种程度上消弭了经典权利理论所依仗的人/物二元界分的基础时,试图非此即彼地以人格权或财产权来界定人体基因的法律属性,都不会实现关于基因利益的公平分配和确保人格不被减等的结果。问题的出路,似乎在于在人格权和财产权的混同处,提出一个新的人格性财产权的范畴界定人体基因的法律属性,并综合运用人格权和财产权的保护机制来保障基因资源提供者的利益。     

Identifying sex chromosome abnormalities in forensic DNA testing using amelogenin and sex chromosome short tandem repeats

Forensic DNA laboratories worldwide have begun using multiplexed STR systems to decrease analysis time and increase sample throughput. The loci used in these systems are basically "nonsense" regions of human DNA. However, due to the chromosome on which some of these loci are located, various genetic abnormalities can sometimes be detected. This paper will show one such abnormality--Klinefelter's Syndrome--and the process used to show the possibility of this defect in two undiagnosed males using peak height ratios at the Amelogenin locus, and X-Y STRs.     

The iceperson cometh: cryonics, law and medicine

The "New Biology" has already made profound impact on the law. Cryonics and genetic engineering represent technological triumphs. The natural, organic process of dying is being replaced by a humanly engineered technological process for living. The dying phase of life is prolonged until biological knowledge is available to reverse the dying phase and restore the living phase. Both cryonics and genetic engineering in their attempts to replace the organic process with the technological process disturb the delicate balance of the triad of life which each individual experiences--faith, health, and justice. Since law is a basic tool to achieve justice among human beings, how should it respond to the health argument of the cryonics' physician who views death as a disease which is curable? How should the law respond to the faith questions surrounding the cryonics patient? What am I? A block of ice. Who am I? A living, comatose patient or a dormant, static body with the possibility of a reverter. Why am I? A new human being now endowed with immortality through the triumph of life over death founded on man's current faith in the God called Technology. Cryonics through its unbalancing of the traditional triad of life poses formidable challenges to the major institutions of faith, health and justice. The practitioners in these institutions: clergy, physicians and lawyers must now reassess the rules of the game of life be they religious, medical or legal. This article offers insights to begin this reassessment.     

骨龄自动化评估的研究进展

骨龄是反映人体生长发育的一项重要指标,能够较为客观地反映个体生长发育水平及成熟度。传统的人工骨龄评估通常是将左手腕X线片与参考标准进行比较,从而获得相应的骨龄值,该方法既耗时又存在观察者间的差异。近年来,随着计算机科学的不断发展,促使骨龄评估开始由传统的人工评估向自动化评估转变。虽然骨龄自动化评估的研究已相当多,但大部分仍处于实验阶段。本文综述了近年来国内外学者在骨龄自动化评估方面的相关研究与进展,以期为相关研究人员提供参考与研究思路。     

单核苷酸多态性分析方法

SNP是第三代遗传标记,在法庭科学及其领域中具有重要作用。当前,已建立了许多SNP分析方法,本文介绍变性高压液相色谱法、时间飞行质谱熔解曲线法、熔解温度曲线法、等位基因特异扩增结合熔解曲线法、分子信号和TaqMan等新的SNP分析方法。     

西方心理学的分裂与整合主义的困境

西方心理学在研究课题,研究方法,指导思想和组织机构等方面存在着严重的分型现象,面对这种分裂现象,不少心理学家为之焦虑,提出各种解决方案,其中以美国心理学家斯塔茨等人所倡导的整合主义最为引人注目,整合主义站在自然科学的立场上,试图以贯彻客观性原则,严格遵循客观方法来作为统一心理学的方式,由于整合主义的基础是传统的实证主义和行为主义,因而整合主义受到了不少批评,面临着尴尬的困境,心理学的整合只能是多元化的整合,这种整合是建立在共同基础上的,同时又允许多样化成分的存在,多元化和多样化的成分之间是可比的,和谐的,而不是矛盾,冲突的,通过释义学式的对话,增进相到的了解,这种基础是可以建立的。     

China and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Prospects and Challenges

This article looks at China's engagement with internationalhuman rights treaties and the extent to which this is bringingunderstanding of, and compliance with, international human rightsnorms as a background to China's possible ratification of theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).It explores, in respect of two particular articles in the ICCPR,Article 14 and Article 6(2), where China stands with its currentdomestic legislation and practice in terms of conformity andargues that there still needs to be significant legal reformin the area of fair trial issues and the use of death penaltybefore ratification is possible. Finally, it looks at the stateof civil and political rights in China and the problem of democracyand concludes that although China will unquestionably ratifythe ICCPR, change will still be gradual.     

Recent developments in medical law

The most spectacular aspect is the extremely rapid expansion of medical law. Even if there is a close connection between developments in medicine and in law, the question must be asked as to what extent new discoveries and advances in medicine play a dominant role here, and to what extent the emphasis is on the further development of law. How advances in medicine can give rise to new legal problems was most impressively demonstrated some time ago by the discussion about cerebral death. In view of the progress made in the field of re-animation and intensive care, the current question is whether or not the physician's duties and rights to maintain life should be limited in hopeless cases when patients are incapable of making decisions themselves. This is demonstrated in particular by the discussion about the binding character of "patient testaments" in which healthy subjects declare that they do not want treatment under such circumstances. The decisive factor will continue to be the presumptive will of the patient at the respective time, and this will have to be ascertained considering all circumstances prevailing at that time. New questions with regard to the ethical and legal limitation of the technically feasible also arise from the possibility of culturing embryos from legal abortions or extracorporally fertilized ova to obtain transplants, and from the possibility of implanting extracorporally fertilized ova into the uterus, perhaps that of a "hired childbearing wet-nurse." In addition to ethical and legal problems, questions of parentage would arise here similar to those already of current interest in connection with artificial heterologous insemination. For physicians practicing these methods, questions concerning liability and the limitation of professional secrecy vis-à-vis the semen donor might become the issue of law suits in the near future. Current problems of "unsuccessful sterilization" and nonperformance of an abortion through the physician's fault although abortion was indicated for eugenic reasons are, on the other hand, primarily due to the fact that the law--possibility even for acceptable reasons--establishes legal obligations for the physician which, in the last analysis, aim at preventing human life from coming into being.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Human Genome and Patent

The first phase of the Human Genome Project came to an end by the summer of 2000. We have a fairly complete and accurate listing of all the genes in a typical human being. Apart from the tremendous impact that this knowledge will have on health care, it also represents a patent rush where both private and public institutions are trying to gain temporary control, through patents, over the use and reproduction of genetic information. This paper introduces the reader to issues involving the patent ability of genes, the tests used by patent offices to award patents. The ownership of the human genome--and the access to the tools and databases necessary to make sense out of the millions of bits of information that make up the estimated 100,000 human genes--constitutes one of the hottest debates in the public policy arena not just in the field of science but sociology, politics, law and ethics.     

From fragile to smart consumers: Shifting paradigm for the digital era

The use of digital technologies, functioning thanks to data processing, has been conquering many sectors of the world economy and it is possible that, in the near future, only a few markets will still be excluded from this industrial revolution. Therefore, even if one chose unreasonably to disregard the many innovations that the digital economy has brought about, its development seems quite inexorable, although it is true that this new stage in human progress raises some concerns. In particular, many worry about the millions of passive and powerless digital consumers who, facing a few huge and influential companies without any education or awareness, could succumb and find themselves poorer, victimized, and manipulated. The paper proposes to react to this state of affairs without further fueling the fear of the digital revolution and without the thought that regulation can be used only as a shield to protect fragile digital consumers. Rather, by taking inspiration from some regulatory actions undertaken by the European Union, the paper bears in mind that regulation can be used as a sword in the hands of consumers to finally assign them a lead role in digital markets. New rules to empower consumers and to make them take autonomous and independent decisions as to the management of their personal data as well as to the merits of digital firms can be envisaged. After all, one of the cultural roots of Western societies is that every individual should be enabled to be faber ipsius fortunae.     

高技术立法规制问题的哲学探讨

近代以来 ,科学技术得到了迅猛的发展 ,而技术无疑是我们这个时代最引人注目的社会现象之一。由此导致体外受精 (试管婴儿 )技术、克隆人技术、人体基因重组技术等一系列高技术的出现。其中 ,任何一项高技术一旦运用于社会 ,就不单纯是一个技术问题 ,必定转化为社会、环境、法律、伦理、生态等问题。这不仅对社会、人们的观念造成极大冲击 ,也对人类生存提出了严峻挑战。如何利用法律 ,有效规范高技术就提到了议事日程。我国现有的科技法由于对科学、技术的本质没有深入的认识及立法的粗糙性 ,很难完成高技术时代的历史使命。因此 ,有必要从科技所涉及的最基本问题入手 ,经过哲学分析 ,对我国如何有效规制高技术提出立法建议     

Desert,Bell Motion,and Fairness

In this critical review, I address two themes from Shelly Kagan’s path-breaking The Geometry of Desert. First I explain the so-called “bell motion” of desert mountains—a notion reflecting that, ceteris paribus, as people get more virtuous it becomes more important not to give them too little of whatever they deserve than not to give them too much. Having argued that Kagan’s defense of it is unsatisfactory, I offer two objections to the existence of the bell motion. Second, I take up an unrelated issue—the relation between comparative and non-comparative desert. I argue that, given a certain disaggregationist view of comparative desert, it is possible that comparative desert is not satisfied, even if non-comparative desert is perfectly so. Unlike my objections to the bell motion, this possibility adds further complexity to an already complex Kaganian account of desert.     

自然界是对象性的人——对人与自然之间伦理关系的再思考

在目前的生态伦理学研究中,人类中心主义和非人类中心主义围绕着“人与自然之间是否存在伦理关系”这一问题展开了激烈的争论。这种争论的一个误区是无不将自然理解为自然物,结果造成了生态伦理的形而上学危机。自然或自然界并不仅仅是自然物,它还是对象性的人,是人本身。据此,人与自然之间必然存在直接的伦理关系。此伦理关系表现为:人自身的异化必然导致人对自然恶和自然对人恶;扬弃自我异化,人与自然界完成本质统一,自然界便成为人的自然界,人亦成为自然界的守护神。     

Diagnostic values of polysomnography in forensic medicine

A man accused of a first-degree murder of a two-year-old girl claimed that he had not been conscious during the time of the alleged murder. The possibility that he may have committed the crime while "sleepwalking" was raised. The forensic psychiatrist looked to the sleep disorders facility to conduct polysomnographic investigation of the accused in order to investigate the possibility that he had a parasomnia. Overnight sleep recordings with video surveillance carried out for two consecutive nights showed no evidence of parasomnia. On the basis of the full assessment, the final report of the forensic psychiatrist did not support a legal defense of non-insane automatism and "sleepwalking" was withdrawn as a possible defense by the lawyer of the accused.     

Objectivity versus political and moral commitment? For science and partisanship in criminology

Conclusion Though this essay has been concerned with the possibility of value-neutral inquiry in criminology, its central purpose has been much broader. It has been argued, controversially, that not only is it impossible to sustain the fact/value distinction in social science, but that such a finding does not commit us to a science that is merely ideologically contingent relativism. In this view, it is possible (and necessary) to conceive of a social scientific enterprise that can apprehend an objective material reality that exists independent of our consciousness of it without succumbing to the pretense of value-neutrality. Because the argument that has been made here is a quite unusual one, it cannot hope to claim finality for its findings. However, if it begins the process of provoking debate and discussion on these issues, it will have accomplished its purpose.I wish to acknowledge the helpful comments of two anonymous reviewers. Though I did not follow their advice in every instance, to the extent that this essay is a better product, it is due largely to them.