Intellectual property (IP) protection versus IP abuses: The recent development of Chinese IP abuse rules and recommendations for foreign technology-driven companies

This paper will focus on the recent development of the Chinese IP abuse legislation and its potential impact on IP protection and the operation of technology-driven foreign enterprises in China. Firstly, it will provide a brief overview of the TRIPS's requirements on IPR abuse and technology transfer, and the recent development of IP abuse laws at the domestic level, particularly in the US and the EC. Secondly, by drawing a comparison with similar laws in the US and the EC, this paper will critically examine the recent development of the Chinese laws regarding technology transfer and IP abuse prevention, including both the recently enacted Anti-Monopoly Law 2008 (AML) and other prior-AML regulations. Thirdly, the paper will examine both opportunities and potential risks these laws may bring to foreign IP holders/technology-driven companies when operating in China, particularly focusing on the impact of the IP-related provision in the AML. Recent development in antitrust litigation in which Microsoft is a party, including the recent anti-monopoly investigation against Microsoft in China, will also be examined. Lastly, it will provide some practical suggestions for foreign IP holders and technology-driven companies to operate in China, such as useful defences against potential IP abuse claims, and other strategies for flexibly applying the IP abuse rules and better participating in future IP abuse legislative process in China.     

Using the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program to further understand the relationship between drug use and gang membership

In this paper, we examine the relationship between drug use and gang membership using data from the Arizona Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program, which collects both self‐report and hard measures (i.e., urinalysis) of drug use. Our analyses revealed that self‐reported recent drug use (i.e., drug use in the past three days) and urinalysis outcomes were similarly associated with the gang‐membership variables. These findings suggest that self‐reported data obtained from gang members is a particularly robust method for gathering information on their recent behavior. Additionally, our results were supportive of the social facilitation model, showing that current gang members were significantly more likely to use marijuana and cocaine compared with former gang members. The implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Analysing the sexual abuse of children by workers in residential care homes: Characteristics,dynamics and contributory factors

Abstract

This article analyses why workcrkhild s m l abuse occurs in residential children's homes. The importance of previously documented features, such as inadequate complaints and whistle blowing procedures, and poor vetting, training and supervision of stafi arc acknowledged. This exposition, however, concentrates on the tactics abusers employ to groom, entrap and silence children, whilst simultaneously controlling and silencing non-abusive staff. The success of these tactics is then contatualised within notions ojwebcrian rational-legal bureaucratic and charismatic power. as well as the location ofsomeabusers within entrenched pedophilenetworks. Contributory jactors, such as the enclosed and institutionaliscd nature of many settings and the inadequate, gendcrcd and haophobic manner in which stafloften deal with both sexuality and sexual abuse issues are also m i n e d and analyscd, as arc children's own gendcred prc-conceptions. Important theoretical constructions utiliscd include Goffman's theory of 'total institutions', the social construction ofchildhood, includingchitdhoodasdity and the concept of'organisation sexuality'.     

Evaluating the risk of child abuse: the Child Abuse Risk Assessment Scale (CARAS)

The present study developed the Child Abuse Risk Assessment Scale (CARAS), an actuarial instrument for the assessment of the risk of physical child abuse. Data of 2,363 Chinese parents (47.7% male) living in Hong Kong were used in the analyses. Participants were individually interviewed with a questionnaire assessing their perpetration of child abuse and some theoretically or empirically tested factors associated with child abuse. Using the split-half validation procedure, the 5-factor, 64-item CARAS was created and validated. When applying to the second half of the split sample, the CARAS had a sensitivity of 81.9%, a specificity of 77.8%, and an overall accuracy of 78.1%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was .91. Overall, our findings showed that the CARAS is a simple, systematic and validated instrument identifying at-risk population of child maltreatment in Chinese societies.     

Lucy Pickering,Eric Friginal and Shelley Staples (eds): Talking at Work: Corpus-Based Explorations of Workplace Discourse (Communicating in Professions and Organizations)

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Prevention science,drug abuse prevention,and Life Skills Training: Comments on the state of the science

There has been tremendous growth in the field of prevention science over the past two decades. The defining features of contemporary prevention science are high quality empirical research using rigorous and well-established scientific methods, careful hyphothesis testing, and the systematic accumulation of knowledge. One area where substantial progress has been made is in our understanding of the etiology and prevention of tobacoo, alcohol, and illicit drug abuse. In this paper, we review the growth in prevention as a scientific enterprise, discuss advances in drug abuse prevention research, and review the effectiveness of one approach to the problem of adolescent drug abuse, the Life Skills Traning (LST) program, and the methodological strengths of the LST evaluation research. In addition, we provide a response to criticism regarding two types of data analysis in evaluation research, and show that these analyses can help address a number of important research questions with implications for theory and practice. First, the analysis of high fidelity subsamples can address research questions about the importance of program implementation fidelity; and second, composite measures of concurrent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use (i.e., polydrug use) are useful in testing research questions about program effects on more serious levels of drug involvement. With an increasing number of ramdomized controlled trials underway, the field of prevention science is contributing to a new generation of evidence-based approaches and policies that, if widely utilized, offer the potential of reducing the mortality and morbidity associated with a number of major health and social problems.     

Analysis of 8 STR of the X-chromosome in two Italian regions (Umbria and Sardinia)

Eight X-chromosome STR were investigated in two groups of individuals from two Italian regions, Umbria and Sardinia. These two regions have a very different history. Umbria, situated in the centre of Italy and without defensive natural barriers, in the course of the centuries has been object of many invasions and appropriations by foreign people. On the contrary, Sardinia, an island in the centre of the Mediterranean sea, has endured a minor number of foreign invasions. The ChrX markers were amplified in a pentaplex (DXS6789, DXS7423, DXS6807, DXS101, DXS8377) and a triplex (DXS10074, DXS10075, DXS10079) that represents a haplotype. The DNA was extracted from 200 blood samples using the QIAmp DNA Minikit (Qiagen™). Amplification products were detected on an ABI PRISM 310 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems), using the same dye labels, run conditions, standard (GeneScan 500 Liz) and matrix file of AmpFlSTRIdentifiler. Statistical analyses for all the loci and intergroup comparisons between the two regional groups of individuals were performed.     

Asylum Claims and Drug Offences: the Seriousness Threshold of Article 1F(b) of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the UN Drug Conventions

Asylum claims lodged by individuals who were involved in drugactivities prior to their entry into the country of asylum raisecomplex questions as to whether they have committed a seriousnon-political crime under Article 1F(b) of the 1951 Conventionand thus shall be excluded from refugee protection. The 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic Substances (Trafficking Convention) —which is the relevant international framework for drugs in thefield of international criminal law — indiscriminatelyconsiders all forms of supply related drug offences as ‘seriouscriminal offences’, irrespective of individual criminalresponsibility. This conflicts with the complex nature of thedrug industry particularly in countries affected by armed conflictand proportionality considerations inherent to Article 1F(b). Articles 31 and 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treatiesprovide a possibility to reconcile the ambiguous wording ofthe Trafficking convention with Article 1F(b) by means of interpretation.Offences for personal consumption as the least serious drugoffences do not reach the seriousness threshold of Article 1F(b).Trafficking offences in turn attain the seriousness thresholdonly if aggravating circumstances prevail over mitigating circumstances,and if there are no grounds for rejecting individual responsibilityor defenses to criminal liability. International, large-scaleactivities carried out by transnational organized criminal groupsare factors that make drug offences most serious.     

Risk Technology in Sentencing: Testing the Promises and Perils (Commentary on Hannah-Moffat, 2011)

The target article is a critique of the movement toward using structured risk assessment tools to inform decisions about sentencing. In this commentary, I analyze (a) the conditions under which it may be more or less fair to use well-validated risk assessment tools in this manner and (b) the extent to which doing so is likely to exacerbate, ameliorate, or have no effect on existing racial and other biases in sentencing. I recommend a policy-relevant research agenda that would specifically test whether and how adding well-validated risk assessment tools to the routine sentencing process alter the severity or nature of sentences. This agenda would also evaluate the extent to which these tools are implemented in “real world” settings faithfully enough to bridge the usual divide between science and practice.     

From the kitchen to the bedroom: frequency rates and consequences of sexual harassment among female domestic workers in Brazil

Sexual harassment has been investigated mostly in developed countries. The authors examined frequency rates and consequences of sexual harassment among female domestic workers in Brazil. Twenty-six percent had been sexually harassed at work during the past year. Live-in workers were at significantly greater risk for experiencing sexual harassment than those residing in their own homes, when controlling for participants' age, race, and social class. Women residing in their employers' residences used more alcohol and drugs than their counterparts. Harassed women had significantly higher self-esteem impairment and anxiety and depression than nonharassed women. Nonharassed women residing in their own homes had the best physical well-being. Concerning participants' worst sexually harassing experiences, the perpetrators were likely to be men (75%), who also engaged in more severe types of sexual harassment than female perpetrators. The emotional reactions to such incidents were significantly more negative when perpetrated by men than by women. Implications for foreign in-home workers employed by Europeans and North Americans are discussed.     

The impact of Federal Alcohol and Drug Abuse block grants on state and local government substance abuse program expenditures: the role of federal oversight

Are the federal Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ADA) block grant funds substituting for or supplementing state and local government spending on substance abuse? Using panel data on state and local government substance abuse programs, this study explores the fiscal effects of the ADA block grant money and the increased enforcement (after 1989) of federal restrictions on state spending of ADA block grants. The findings here reveal that for the current period, the federal ADA grant has no statistically significant effect on state and local government substance abuse spending both before and after 1989, and the increased enforcement of federal restrictions on the ADA grants after 1989 does not change this result. An additional finding is that lagged ADA grants have had a large effect on substance abuse spending both before and after 1989--a feature of the program not considered in previous studies.     

论我国《能源法》的制定——兼评《中华人民共和国能源法》(征求意见稿)

作为全球第二大能源生产国和消费国,中国正面临着十分复杂的能源形势和安全问题,因而制定一部《能源法》是十分必要的。《能源法》应当将保障能源供应与安全、优化能源结构、提高能源效益、降低能源消耗、保护环境作为其立法宗旨。《能源法》应当定位于能源领域的综合性立法,主要对涉及能源安全、能源效率、能源管理、能源环境保护等全局性的问题和其他单行能源法不予调整的问题加以规范,发挥宏观管理和对各单行立法加以协调和拾遗补缺的作用。由国家能源领导小组办公室等组成的《能源法》起草小组起草的《能源法》(征求意见稿)已经取得令人瞩目的成就。如果能够进一步听取意见,去粗取精,相信能够成为一部科学和实用的《能源法》。     

Detection of the synthetic drug 4-fluoroamphetamine (4-FA) in serum and urine

4-Fluoroamphetamine (4-FA) was detected in the blood and urine of two individuals suspected for driving under the influence (DUI). The test for amphetamines in urine subjected to immunoassay screening using the CEDIA DAU assay proved positive. Further investigations revealed a 4-FA cross-reactivity of about 6% in the CEDIA amphetamine assay. 4-FA was qualitatively detected in a general unknown screening for drugs using GC/MS in full scan mode. No other drugs or fluorinated phenethylamines were detected. A validated GC/MS method was established in SIM mode for serum analysis of 4-FA with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1 ng/mL and a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 5 ng/mL. Intra-assay precision was approx. 4% and inter-assay precision approx. 8%. Applying this method, the 4-FA serum concentrations of the two subjects were determined to be 350 ng/mL and 475 ng/mL, respectively. Given the pharmacological data of amphetamine, 4-FA psychoactive effects are to be expected at these serum levels. Both subjects exhibited sympathomimetic effects and psychostimulant-like impairment accordingly.     

Internet-initiated incitement and conspiracy to commit child sexual abuse (CSA): The typology,extent and nature of known cases

Abstract

This paper presents the first research on cases where offenders initiate contact with other individuals over the internet and incite, or conspire (IIIC) with, them to commit child sexual abuse (CSA). Interviews and record searches were carried out among local police services in the UK. IIIC cases were found to be diverse in terms of their typology but rare with regard to the extent of known cases. They were similar to other CSA in relation to victim and offender characteristics but were distinct with regard to offenders’ modi operandi. IIIC cases should be viewed as an additional and serious category of internet-related CSA, and one about which there needs to be much more awareness and research.