Kuwait's economy,the economic status of the GCC in general and bilateral relations between the GCC and SADC

Focusing more on South Africa's international cultural‐political‐economic strengths and weaknesses than on current domestic affairs, as it moves away from apartheid, this article examines the new South Africa's chances for ascent (development) or descent (underdevelopment) within the world system. Politically, the State will remain weak by international standards. Economically, it is in decline, largely because it is uncompetitive internationally; and these negative trends well pre‐date the unrest and sanctions of the mid‐1980s. It is concluded that the new South Africa will be fortunate to maintain its present position in the medium‐term.     

Nepad: Questions of ownership

Is Nepad doing enough to ensure the buy in of the people whose support it needs to succeed?     

Quality of Service,Expectation, Satisfaction and Trust in Public Institutions: The Abu Dhabi Citizen Satisfaction Survey

Structural equation modelling was utilised to develop and test three models while exploring the causality effect of constructs. The models hypothesised that trust in the government was a result of interactions of several other forces: namely, citizens’ expectation, perception of service quality and satisfaction with these services. The article validates and replicates the findings on the question of causality between performance and trust. The findings were very consistent with the previous ones. The model incorporating citizen's demographic data provided the best fit. According to this model, citizen demographics, expectations and quality of services influence citizen satisfaction; and ultimately, citizen satisfaction influences trust in government. The perceived quality of all services provides significant standardised estimates. However, congestion in streets, parking facilities, parks and recreation and schools are the most salient drivers of citizen satisfaction. The variables of income, education level, years living in Abu Dhabi and marital status exert the highest influence on this satisfaction construct. Perception of quality of services has a significant effect on overall satisfaction; and overall satisfaction drives trust in local government officials. In addition, citizen expectation influences perceptions of the quality of service and overall satisfaction.     

论小额速裁程序的优化与完善

201 3年新民诉法推出了小额速裁程序,然而可供司法实践适用的规定匮乏。小额速裁程序实行一审终审,当以司法效率为重,保证底线正义。在司法运行中,小额速裁程序存在着适用条件不完善、启动机制不明确、审理程序不简化及救济程序缺失等问题,应当从严限定小额速裁程序的适用范围,法院享有启动权,简化和优化审判程序,设置判决异议程序,疏导当事人救济诉求,尽快健全与完善小额速裁程序。     

Autobrewing revisited: endogenous concentrations of blood ethanol in residents of the United Arab Emirates.

Endogenous ethanol concentrations in blood were determined by sensitive headspace gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in 1557 residents of the United Arab Emirates. The subjects were from 13 nationalities, of both sexes and of different age groups. There was no significant difference in blood ethanol concentration between nationalities or between sexes within and between nationalities. The data was pooled and the overall median, minimum, maximum, 25% percentile and 75% percentile were 0.04, 0.00, 3.52, 0.01 and 0.09 mg/dl respectively. The values of blood ethanol concentration as reported in this study indicate that they are far too low to have any forensic significance.     

A fatal case of oleandrin poisoning

The study presents a case of fatal poisoning with oleander leaves in an adult diabetic male. After repeated vomiting, and gastrointestinal distress the patient was admitted at the hospital with cardiac symptoms 1h after the ingestion. Urine samples were assayed immunochemically and by GC-MS for drugs of abuse and for general toxicological screen. Blood was analyzed for alcohol and volatiles by static head space GC-MS. Blood and oleander leaves were analyzed by LC-MS/MS for oleandrin and related compounds, the main cardiac glycosides of Nerium oleander. Oleandrin was detected by LC-MS/MS in the blood sample at a concentration of approximately 10 ng/ml. Another cardiac glycoside with pseudo-molecular ion of m/z 577, a likely structural isomer of oleandrin, was also detected in the blood and oleander leaves. However, by using the response as a function of concentration for oleandrin, this cardiac glycoside was roughly estimated at a concentration of approximately 10 ng/ml in the deceased blood. This would give a total fatal blood concentration of cardiac glycosides of about approximately 20 ng/ml in the deceased blood.     

论司马光的家训及其教化特色

在中国传统家训尤其是仕宦家训的发展历程中,如果就其对宋代及以后的影响而言,司马光的家训堪称第一。本挖掘了司马光家训里有关家庭伦理、家庭教育、家政管理中的积极见解,并对其教化特色作了分析,以便能对今天的家庭教育和家庭美德建设有所裨益。     

‘The Bedoun’: Kuwaitis without an Identity

The Bedoun (stateless/without nationality) in Kuwait constitute a controversial concurrent social, political and legal issue, which was and still is the subject of heated political debate, a vivid example of social conflict, and a platform of extensive legal deliberation concerning its thorny dimensions. The problem of Bedoun is not only politically and socially complex, but it has its problematic legal dimensions, which have made it, since the 1950s, a complex and chronic problem. The recent growing interest in addressing the issue and the extensive strife to determine its degree of complexity and entanglement could be ascribed to the margin of freedom enjoyed in Kuwait more than the rest of the Arabian Gulf states, since active social and political participation constitute the pillars of the democratic system in Kuwait, in light of the growing political and media freedoms and the focus on the Bedoun as a marginalized community legally, politically and socially. Therefore, the current problem of Bedoun constitutes the strongest internal concern for the Kuwaiti authorities and people after the external threats, especially because it has always been ignored or treated as a security issue at times. This study seeks to shed light on the issue of Bedoun to decipher its causes and its historical development until it became a pressing issue at government and community levels in the State of Kuwait. The study will avoid the complex legal and social complexities of the issue     

消费理论的行为化趋向

最近 2 0多年里 ,行为理论在消费理论方面的研究取得了重要进展 ,而主流消费理论也正朝着以行为分析为基础的方向发展 ,二者的相互融合将构成未来宏观消费理论发展的突出特征