Transparency and doubt: Understanding and interpretation in pragmatics and in law

Correspondence on this paper and offprint requests should be addressed to Professor Marcelo Dascal, Department of Philosophy, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel. We thank Dennis Kurzon for helpful remarks on an early draft.     

浅谈高校消防工作存在的问题及对策

消防工作关系到人民的生命和财产安全，关系到国家的稳定和发展。高校国家教育人才的基地，学生集体居住地，极易发生火灾，形成群死群伤，故高校消防工作是必不可少的，且责任重于泰山。     

Creatine phosphokinase in serum and cerebrospinal fluid, and microscopic findings in brain and heart in hypothermic rabbits

Signs of hypothermia injury were studied in rabbits cooled to a core temperature of 30 degrees C by immersion in ice water and thereafter rewarmed to 35 degrees C. Anaesthetized control rabbits were kept normothermic (37 degrees C) for a corresponding time (4 h). Creatine phosphokinase (CPK) activity increased 24 h after hypothermia to 20-fold in serum. In cerebrospinal fluid the activity was already significantly (5-fold) increased after hypothermia and was still as high at 24 h. Smaller increase was also found in the control normothermic rabbits both in serum (10-fold) and cerebrospinal fluid (2-fold). The values had returned to the initial level after 1 week. Small haemorrhages were observed in the brain at 24 h and slight scarring was seen in the myocardium of some rabbits which had lived 4 weeks following hypothermia. The results indicate that CPK can be a useful marker in the diagnostics of hypothermia death, especially in cerebrospinal fluid, which is less affected than blood by autolysis.     

Trends and Developments in Program Evaluation in General and Criminal Justice Programs in Particular

The paper first describes general trends in evaluation in (mainly) western societies. Why is evaluation growing, what are the characteristics of this ‘growth industry’ and what developments are occurring outside western societies? Trends in the evaluation of criminal justice programs in the USA, the UK and the Netherlands are then discussed. Two important developments are therafter highlighted: experimental evaluations and theory-driven evaluations. Both approaches are discussed, and some pros and cons are listed. Finally, the paper outlines some challenges for future work in the evaluation of criminal justice programs, stressing the importance of combining good designs with both program and social science theories.     

静态与动态——英汉用词差异及其翻译

英汉用词差异很大：英语倾向于多用名词、介词、形容词等呈静态词类,是一种静态的语言;汉语倾向于多用动词,叙述呈动态,是一种动态的语言。蕴藏在语言表面形态差异之下的是中西方思维、哲学观和文化心理的巨大差异。英汉两种语言的互译要充分尊重译入语的表达习惯。因此,词类静态动态灵活转换的翻译策略对提高译文质量有着重要意义。     

Racial Disparity in Police Stop and Searches in England and Wales

Data published by the United Kingdom’s Ministry for Justice clearly shows that, compared to persons who were White, members of racial minorities in England, particularly Blacks, were far more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. The question is whether such racial disparity in stops and searches could be justified by racial disparities in offending? Or whether the disparity in stop and searches exceeded the disparity in offending? This paper proposes a method for measuring the amount of excess in racial disparity in police stop and searches. Using the most recently published Ministry of Justice data (for 2007/08) for Police Areas in England and Wales it concludes that while in several Areas there was no excess to racial disparity in police stop and searches, there was, on the basis of the methodology proposed in the paper, evidence of such excess in some Police Areas of England and Wales.     

Legal and ethical issues in microbicides research and development in Canada

The Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) recently completed a report entitled Microbicides Development and Delivery in Canada: Legal, Ethical and Human Rights Issues. The report builds on Canadian and international experience and was written in consultation with Canadian community and international experts. It is available on the CAS website (www.cdnaids.ca) and from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Information Centre (www.aidssida.cpha.ca) as of September 2004. In this article the report's author, Anna Alexandrova, argues that Canada needs to develop a microbicides development and delivery strategy that addresses research and development issues, outlines possible roles for meaningful community participation, and provides guidelines on funding, promotion, licensing, and distribution.     

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility in Profit- and in Non-Profit-Organizations

Corporate Governance governs corporations. To discuss the law and economics of corporations, their performance on the market and management control by legislation and government, is to discuss Corporate Governance. Now, Corporate Governance is being challenged by a new concept to conceive the role of corporations in the world and to control their managers: this is the concept of Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR). This concept focuses on other than merely profit centered functions of corporations; rather, performance of corporations is measured by criteria of good corporate citizenship. In the Non-Profit sector, corporations also play a major role, although organizations in this sector typically differ from business corporations in several aspects. Yet, deficits of transparency and control of NPO are being discussed here as well. The tendency is to draw from the concept of corporate governance to develop appropriate remedies. Furthermore, the discussion of Corporate Social Responsibilty has also made its way to the NPO sector.     

Child malnutrition and mortality in China and Vietnam in a comparative perspective

Under the traditional socialist central planning system, economic growth in China and Vietnam was unstable and not very satisfactory. Yet, both countries achieved a remarkable progress in the area of human development. Later, under the market socialist model, China and Vietnam achieved very high rates of GDP growth, and malnutrition declined significantly. Yet, income distribution and the provision of key public services deteriorated in both countries. Progress in reducing child mortality in China was relatively slow, before improving in the early 2000s. Although Vietnam is much poorer than China, and has been growing less fast, its record in this area was markedly better. We show that this apparent paradox is due mainly to the fact that the negative side-effects of market-oriented reforms have reached a more advanced and alarming stage in China than in Vietnam. Our results also suggest that an additional factor is constituted by a relatively better status of women in Vietnam with respect to China. However, we also warn that signs are emerging in Vietnam too, indicating that it is entering a stage of development where the social problems now evident in China are starting to manifest themselves on a large and worrying scale. Our policy conclusions advocate in favour of re-establishing (in a new form, compatible with the maintenance of the economic dynamism of the market socialist system) some positive features of the pre-reform socialist model, among which universal public provision of basic public services is paramount.

Community violence in context: risk and resilience in children and families

Although some community violence research has examined the context of community violence, including the social, economic, and structural organization of neighborhoods, more needs to be learned about family, school, and community-level factors that may promote and lessen the incidence and prevalence of community violence. In addition, further research is needed on various social, environmental, and contextual factors hypothesized to protect youth from exposure. This article (a) reviews and examines the relation between neighborhood context and risk of violence exposure, (b) reviews current literature on predictors of community violence and mental health and behavioral consequences for children and families adversely affected by community violence, (c) examines sources of resilience and community strengths that extend beyond the individual, (d) discusses the contributions and limitations of current conceptualizations of risk and resilience, and (e) highlights directions for future research. Information from this review can inform community and government efforts to lessen community violence through prevention and treatment.     

Ghosting phenomenon in static and dynamic footprints in India and the United States

Ghosting is the phenomenon that exists when a footprint has a lighter area around the tip of one or more toes or a shadow-like area at the back of the heel. To date, ghosting has been considered primarily a finding of dynamic (walking) footprints, rather than static (standing) footprints. The prevalence of ghosting in static footprints is unknown, and research on its presence in static and dynamic footprints from the same participant is sparse, as are studies on its occurrence in different geographic populations. This study is among the first to evaluate the occurrence of ghosting in the static and dynamic footprints from a particular individual with participants in two geographic populations.A combination of both inkless and ink footprint collection systems were used to obtain a total of 206 bare footprints from 103 adult participants from the United States and India. The data comprised 103 static and 103 dynamic footprints.Ghosting occurred significantly in static footprints, though less frequently than in dynamic footprints. Ghosting in static footprints was seen most often at the first toe, followed by the third and second respectively. This aspect appeared least at the heel. In dynamic footprints, it occurred most at the first toe, followed by the second and fourth toes, and then the third toe and the heel. The prevalence of ghosting in footprints from the United States and India differed in their locations, notably at the first and second toes in the static footprints and at the heel in the dynamic footprints.     

Doxepin and nordoxepin concentrations in body fluids and tissues in doxepin associated deaths

Body fluids and tissues in eight doxepin (Dox)-related deaths were investigated in order to prove whether the individual concentration of Dox, the concentration sum of parent drug and its active metabolite N-desmethyldoxepin (NDox) or the concentration ratio Dox/Ndox valuably contribute to making a cause of death determination. Individual case histories were shortly described. Dox and NDox concentrations were determined by LC–MS/MS. Dox concentration measured from two cases was well within a concentration range considered therapeutic, whereas subtherapeutic dosing may have occurred in another two cases. There were two cases of fatal Dox ingestion, as well as a case of high dosage and advanced putrefaction, respectively. The liver concentration sum may be more useful if a fatal ingestion cannot be clearly separated from a person's medication usage. High concentrations could be observed in lung tissue, and combined concentrations of Dox and NDox may also be helpful in making a cause of death determination. There was a trend to a higher concentration sum in the brain with increasing combined levels in blood. Overall, the sum of the absolute figures allows a more accurate interpretation in Dox-related deaths as compared to the molar concentration ratio which may be helpful in acute ingestion. Determination of the N-desmethyl metabolite along with its parent is recommended and analysis should include more than a single specimen.     

Privacy Remedies and Costs in the UK: Uncertainties in Access and Relief

Due to the global and pervasive nature of the Internet, the increasingly intrusive nature of reporting by tabloids, the high cost of bringing privacy actions, and the difficulty and complexity involved in removing private information from the World Wide Web, privacy costs and remedies are under scrutiny in the United Kingdom. This article examines some of the proposed changes in this area including the availability of injunctions, pre-publication notification, levels of damage awards, opportunities for alternative dispute resolution, conditional fee agreements/success fees, and potential global solutions that may have an impact on the United States. The article argues that due to the nature of privacy claims initiated from information on the Internet, damage fee levels should be increased as well as the use of mediation and conditional fee agreements.     

抵押权物上代位理论与实务问题研评

抵押权物上代位理论基础因学者们分析问题的角度和重点不同有三种通说,即物权说、价值权说、公平说.物权说简单地将抵押权物上代位归结于法律为保护抵押权所作出的特别规定,从而其功能受到较大的局限;价值权说与公平说,均通过揭示抵押权的本质特性--价值权性,而说明抵押物的变形物或替代物,克服了物权说的上述缺陷.抵押权物上代位无论解读为抵押权的延长,还是新成立的质权,均不是问题的实质所在.当抵押物的变形物是可以特定化的物的情况下,抵押权代位于该物上;当抵押物的变形物是保险金、赔偿金、补偿金等无法特定化物的情况下,抵押权代位于其请求权之上.而现实判例能否拓展抵押权代位物的范围是本文探讨之重点,也是司法实务亟待实现的路径.     

Age and aging in organized crime in Israel

The paper explores the relevance of age and aging in the functioning of organized crime groups in Israel, with a focus on group leaders. Age is connected to two social variables, family and ethnicity. Discussed is the role of age in two clusters: 1) Jewish organized crime groups from Europe, the former Soviet Union and Muslim-majority cultured countries and 2) Israeli Muslim Arab organized crime groups. What part age and aging play in both groups is discussed.     

科学与法律领域的真相

审判过程并非仅仅是为了“查明真相”。自从美国的法律系统开始使用科学证人以来，法律领域就面临着混乱的局面。自从Frye规则到Daubert标准再到KumhoTire标准，乃至发展为修改后的《联邦证据规则》702条，尽管法律系统经历了上述诸多努力，人们仍然不会相信法律系统能够从科学信息中获得预期的收益。科学主张和理论或真或假，它们的真或假是一个客观的问题。法律裁决可以断定法律真理为真．也可以断定“所谓的科学真理”为真。只有科学命题所描述的自然界现象和事件的性质——而非有关证据可靠性的法律裁决。也非法庭上的论证和交叉询问——能够证明真的科学命题为真，证明假的科学命题为假。