国家间信任的生成:进程导向的社会网络分析

信任是影响社会行为体互动的重要变量,但现有国际关系领域的信任研究大多注重经验分析,一般的理论探讨也常常忽视国家间信任的生成问题。本文就现有研究的主要路径进行了梳理和评介,并尝试从社会关系网络的角度建构一个国家间信任生成的研究框架。这一框架沿袭了进程建构主义的基本思路,主要观点为:嵌入在国际社会网络中的信任来源于国家间关系,以关系为本位的网络形塑了信任,信任反过来强化或削弱关系网络;在信任建构的进程中,信任规范得以产生、扩散和内化,进而影响国家的属性和行为;但由于关系网络本身是动态性的,特别是相互关系中存在不对称依赖,这使得信任具有社会资本的分配资源功能。     

Relief Program Sheds Light on the Needy

As the widening gap between the rich and poor has become a major byproduct of China’s nonstop economic growth over the past decades,the improvement of the disadvantaged group’s livelihood has become a top government concern.While numerous cities are working out their plans for"livelihood improvement projects,"local governments are making efforts to establish a sustainable mechanism that provides prompt,adequate relief to the needy.Licheng District in Jinan,capital of Shandong province,sets an example.     

中国入世后,工会面临的挑战及其应对

工会是站在工人一方 ,通过对劳动价格的议价来调节供给与需求关系的。经济全球化削弱了工会的调节能力。企业跨国经营是资本对付工会的现代手段。经济全球化使工会在更高层次上凸现了各国工会的竞争 ,也为中国工会发展提供了新的机遇。产业结构调整必然伴随结构性失业。政府也为此付出了巨大的机会成本。利用WTO缺陷 ,维护企业正当权益也是维护工人的利益。工会也应该研究世界经济和国际贸易规则 ,培养自己的专门人才 ,规避不利于工会及工人的风险。     

Experimental designs in the optimisation of ultrasonic bath-acid-leaching procedures for the determination of trace elements in human hair samples by atomic absorption spectrometry

Experimental designs were used for the optimisation of acid-leaching procedures assisted by ultrasonic energy for the extraction of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn and Zn from human hair samples. A Plackett-Burman 2(7) x 3/32 design for seven factors ([HNO3], [HCl], [H2O2], acid/oxidant solution volume, exposure time to ultrasounds, temperature of the ultrasonic bath and hair particle size) was used in order to choose the variables affecting the acid-leaching process. The variables [HNO3], [HCl] and temperature of the ultrasonic bath were found to be the most important parameters for the acid-leaching procedure, and these variables were optimised by a response surface design (central composite design 2(3) + star) which involved 16 experiments. Optimum values in the 3.7-4.2 M range were found for [HNO3], while optimum values between 3.0 and 3.5 M were found for [HCl]. The optimum temperature of the ultrasonic bath was between 80 and 90 degrees C. An acid digestion induced by microwave energy (details given) was used to obtain the total metal concentration and also for comparative purposes. Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg and Zn were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) using a conventional air/acetylene flame, while Mn was determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) under optimised conditions. Two different reference materials, IAEA-085 International Atomic Energy Agency, Monaco) and NIES No. 13 (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan), with certified metal contents for some of the elements investigated, were used in order to verify the accuracy of the methods.     

Embracing austerity? An ethnographic perspective on the Latvian public’s acceptance of austerity politics

ABSTRACT

Latvian austerity policy following the 2008 economic crisis has been touted as a success story by some and critiqued as a socially costly experiment by others. It has remained a puzzle, however, how such harsh socio-economy policies were possible without causing sustained popular protests. Drawing on ethnographic research at an unemployment office in Riga in the aftermath of the crisis, this article considers austerity as a political and moral phenomenon. I argue that welfare policies played an important role in disciplining the parts of the population most adversely affected by the crisis by framing post-crisis precarity as a matter of individual responsibility. Furthermore, this disciplining worked because it was underpinned by a particular moral discourse that I call ‘a discourse of freedom.’ Thus, this historically and culturally-shaped moral economy helped not only secure the implementation of post-crisis austerity in a way that yielded little sustained public resistance but also helped legitimate it.     

Allele frequencies for 15 autosomal STR loci and admixture estimates in Puerto Rican Americans

Allelic frequencies of 15 short tandem repeats (STR) markers (CSF1PO, FGA, THO1, TPOX, VWA, D3S11358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, D19S433 and D2S1338) were determined using the AmpFl STR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit in Puerto Rican American individuals (N=205) from Massachusetts. The FGA, D18S51 and D2S1338 loci had a high power of discrimination (PD) with values of 0.967, 0.965 and 0.961, respectively. Significant deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg (HW) equilibrium were not detected. An important genetic contribution of Caucasian European (76.4%) was detected in Puerto Rican Americans. However, comparative analysis between Puerto Rican American and other neighboring populations from United States mainly with African and Caucasian Americans, revealed significant differences in the distribution of STR markers. Our results are important for future comparative genetic studies of different American ethnic groups, in particular a cultural group called Hispanic-Americans and should be helpful for forensic and paternity testing.     

Virological analysis in the diagnosis of sudden children death: a medico-legal approach

Infections are considered to be an important cause of unexpected death in children. It has also been assumed that respiratory viruses are involved in the genesis of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The Spanish National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences act as the forensic reference centre for Spain. We analyse the experience of this centre in the virological study of 64 cases of sudden children death where viral serology, virological cultures, herpesviruses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and electron microscopy were performed. According to pathological findings, death could only be attributed to an adenovirus infection in one amygdalitis with upper airways stenosis and asphyxia. Human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) was detected by PCR in one case with pathological findings characteristic of SIDS. Recent infection by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) were also detected. Meanwhile, 85.9% of the cases yielded negative viral results. Twenty-eight infants were finally categorised as SIDS. Pathological findings of infection were detected in 12 patients despite the negativity of viral analyses. Although viral infection is an uncommon cause of sudden children death, a complete microbiological investigation will help to solve the puzzle of SIDS. Definitive guidelines for microbiological analyses need to be updated whilst new pathogens are discovered or new techniques are implemented in order to clarify unsolved cases.