Strategic cooperation for transnational adaptation: lessons from the economics of climate change mitigation

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - The literature on climate adaptation has so far conceptualized it as a domestic issue, to be governed somewhere between the...     

The political feasibility of potent enforcement in a post-Kyoto climate agreement

To be effective, a post-Kyoto climate agreement must secure significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions by all (key) emitters. Potent participation and compliance enforcement will be required to make it in every key emitter’s best interest to participate in, and comply with, an agreement which specifies deep emissions reductions for all its signatories. This article considers the conditions under which potent enforcement would likely be politically feasible. Based on assessments of the current political landscape, and on the sets of constraints that characterize negotiations over enforcement systems, the article firstly finds that neither type of enforcement would be politically feasible if agreement is sought among all key emitters. Secondly, because participation enforcement is perceived as less legitimate than compliance enforcement, the coalition of countries prepared to accept the former is likely smaller than the coalition prepared to accept the latter. Thirdly, participation enforcement likely places stricter requirements on the coalition’s membership and size. Thus, while compliance enforcement should in principle always be politically feasible among some coalition, reaching agreement on participation enforcement is less likely. To the extent that participation enforcement is politically feasible, however, an agreement which enforces the cooperation of all key emitters may be attainable.     

Governing borderless climate risks: moving beyond the territorial framing of adaptation

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Despite the increasing relevance of cross-border flows of goods, capital and people in shaping risks and opportunities today,...     

In the light of equity and science: scientific expertise and climate justice after Paris

The Paris Agreement is built on a tension between the common goal of limiting warming to 1.5 °C and the differentiation that follows from the principle of equity. Scientific expertise is commonly seen as providing important means to overcome this tension, for example in the Agreement’s “global stocktake”, which is said to be undertaken “in the light of equity and the best available science”. This raises the question of how scholarly communities best can contribute to deliberations on equitable differentiation in the effort required to meet common temperature goals. To discuss this question, the paper looks to the literature within Science and Technology Studies on the role of science in policymaking, where disagreement exists over the merits of “heating up” controversies through politicization, versus “cooling down” issues by seeking consensus. It assesses two cases in which scientific expertise has engaged with questions of equitable effort-sharing in international climate politics: The “Bali Box” of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, and the “Civil Society Equity Review” undertaken prior to COP21 in Paris. Based on a comparison of the two cases, it is argued that scientific contributions should not shy away from highlighting conflicts in values and interests, and that “heating up” discussions about climate justice may be a valuable contribution to overcoming the tensions of the Paris Agreement.     

Developing a new scoring method to evaluate human decomposition in a humid,continental (Dfb) climate in Quebec

The published literature shows a lack of methods to evaluate the patterns and extent of decomposition of human remains and to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI) in humid, continental (Dfb) climates such as Quebec. The aim of this study was to address this gap in the current knowledge base by providing the first observations from human corpses studied under controlled conditions in Quebec. A 12-month study was conducted at the site for Research in Experimental and Social Thanatology; the first human taphonomy facility in Canada. Six human donors with known time of death were deposited across spring (n = 1), summer (n = 3), and autumn (n = 2) 2021. The lack of suitability of the total body score method to evaluate the extent of decomposition at the facility prompted the development of a new scoring system based on the macromorphoscopic changes observed. The scoring system was applied to the donors to evaluate decomposition throughout seasons. All donors followed comparable decomposition trajectories, regardless of the season of deposition. Eighty-five percent of taphonomic patterns appeared in the first 25 experimental days or 5000 Kelvin accumulated degree days (350 ADD). Extensive desiccation of tissues was observed at a median of 21 experimental days across donors, resulting in a plateau within decomposition with no extensive skeletonization. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first published report of experimentally observed desiccation in such a form in a Dfb climate. This study provides new data on the types of decomposition patterns to expect in forensic investigations in southern Quebec and comparable climates.     

Analysis of the suicide cases (by hanging) according to the data of forensic medical expertise in Iakutsk

The paper contains a detailed analysis of suicides through hanging for a period of 5 years (1996-2000) based on the data of the Yakutsk. Forensic Medical Bureau. The above data point at the most important concurrent factors, which can be helpful in the prevention of suicides.     

Chronic disease and disadvantage: the new politics of HIV infection

HIV infection is now perceived as the end stage of a chronic disease that is spreading most rapidly among blacks and Hispanics. The politics of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s were dominated by four interacting factors: fear and fascination; who had the disease and to whom it seemed to be spreading; the endemic problems of United States social policy; and the impact on policy of advances in scientific knowledge. This paper analyzes the political history of each of these factors and describes the dominant policies of the federal government and the states regarding HIV in the areas of surveillance, prevention, research, and financing. Four uncertainties will have a profound influence on the future politics of the HIV epidemic: how the states and the federal government will address the general problems of paying for the care of people with chronic diseases and providing access to care for the uninsured and the underinsured; the number and distribution of the sexual behaviors that transmit infection with HIV and the effectiveness of policies to persuade people to modify these behaviors; precisely who uses addictive drugs and the effectiveness of measures to change their behavior; and the natural history of the virus.     

Streifenlichttopometrie (SLT): a new method for the three-dimensional photorealistic forensic documentation in colour

By means of the new method of Streifenlichttopometrie (SLT) it is possible to record the complete body surface of casualties in a practically photorealistic fashion, i.e. three-dimensionally and in colour. In comparison with the classic method of Photogrammetry Streifenlichttopometrie (SLT) is remarkably faster (10,000 points/s instead of 1 point/s) and in addition the colour of every point measured upon the corpse's surface is instantly recorded. Taking into consideration the resolution required and the qualities of the camera system the body surface is recorded in 'patches', i.e., areas of a defined extension (in the present case 500 mmx500 mmx200 mm) which are marked with a body fixed reference frame to grant the exact matching of the data after the recording process. Length, perimeter, square and volume of the body segments and injuries can be determined. Furthermore the natural colour of the wounds can be used for an immediate classification according to the intensity of the impact forces. In addition the 3-D coordinates of the body surface including the wounds can be transferred into an animated computer simulation for the reconstruction of the traumatic events.     

The global stocktake: design lessons for a new review and ambition mechanism in the international climate regime

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - The pledge-and-review architecture of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change has been praised as a new model of global...     

Possible difficulties in molecular-genetic expertise in cases with insufficiently high individual significance of the results (as exemplified by a complex case with disputable maternity)

Molecular genetic technologies used in forensic medical expert evaluations help quantitatively evaluate the significance of coincidence or non-coincidence of signs in personality identification and in expert evaluation of kinship identification (disputable paternity or maternity). The level of validity of evidences, which can be considered necessary and sufficient, is the principal problem in such cases. Analyzing a complex case with disputable maternity, the authors discuss problems illustrating the necessity of attaining a high level of validity of the results for drawing a justified expert conclusion. Only high validity standard can rule out errors in interpretation of the results, otherwise the significance of the detected complex of signs can be insufficient for an unambiguous solution of an expert task.     

火器伤损伤程度的法医学鉴定(附63例报告)

目的 探讨火器损伤的致伤特点及活体损伤程度鉴定的有关问题。方法 ６３例火器损伤主要按火器枪弹种类及数量分为四组,Ⅰ组：霰弹损伤;Ⅱ组：气枪损伤;Ⅲ组：军用枪损伤;Ⅳ组：射钉枪与爆炸损伤,对其进行前瞻与回顾性分析总结。结果 Ⅰ组损伤多见于斗殴,损伤部位以四肢部多见,异物存留、损伤程度明显高于其它各组;Ⅱ组损伤多见意外,不易造成异物存留;损伤程度轻于其它各组;Ⅲ组损伤多见抢动劫与杀人,损伤部位多见头部     

A method for researching the fauna in the forensic medical expertise on a corpse

Process of fauna investigation in medicolegal examination of putrefactive and skeletonized bodies is subdivided into several stages connected with collection of evidence material at the scene of cadaver discovery, with laboratory analysis, getting of additional data, evaluation of investigation results and reasoning of conclusions.