A preliminary investigation into the comparison of dissolution/digestion techniques for the chemical characterization of polyurethane foam

Due to their widespread use in domestic and commercial premises, polyurethane foams, as either fragmented or bulk foam, are types of evidence commonly found at crime scenes. The traditional approach to determining the evidential value of polyurethane foam (PF) involves comparing recovered and control fragments under low and high magnification, under various lighting conditions, as well as the comparison of their respective dye spectra. As with most forms of trace evidence, chemical comparison is also desirable. In this work, two approaches to chemically comparing foam fragments were investigated, i.e. inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP–OES) analysis of the Tin (Sn) content in different foam types; and gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC–FID) analysis of soluble components in PFs mobilized by dichloromethane. Seven different foam types were studied and their Sn content was found to be different. They also produced characteristic GC–FID chromatographic profiles whose compounds were identified with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis. This study suggests that incorporating chemical data obtained from GC–FID/GC–MS and ICP–OES into a case involving PF could be advantageous, as this will enable the forensic scientist to broaden the comparison between control and recovered fragments, and further assess the strength of the evidence. However, ICP–OES analysis is a destructive technique with a relatively short sample turnaround time, whilst GC–FID analysis is more time-consuming and non-destructive, requiring corroboration with GC–MS data. The values of these two analytical techniques in the forensic chemical characterization of PFs are discussed.     

Declining Fertility Rates in Japan: An Ageing Crisis Ahead

The two key impediments to addressing the ageing crisis of Japan are: electoral politics which avoid making hard decisions painful to voters (especially the hiking of the consumption tax), and even more insidious, the norms of Japanese corporations and patriarchal society which discourage women from marrying and producing babies while holding onto a career and aspirations of their own. If Japan’s ageing problem were to persist in the long run, then a concomitant decline in its manufacturing capacity (which underpins its export-dependent economy) and a diminution of its political weight in its international affairs can be anticipated.     

Business incubators and the networks of technology-based firms

This paper looks to broaden understanding about the networks of firms located in Business Incubators (BIs). To achieve this objective, a framework for understanding the networks of incubator firms was constructed. We argue that networks at incubators can be seen in two dimensions. In the first dimension, we define incubator firm networking activities in terms of resource type, i.e. tangible and intangible resources. In the second dimension, we define networks of incubator firms as external and internal. Internal networks refer to the relationship among tenants while external networks refer to the firm’s relationship with other institutions such as a university and/or research centre. Networks of firms located at the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus in the United Kingdom were investigated using a tenant survey. Findings show that incubator firms develop more networks to access intangible resources than tangible resources. The analysis explored and compared types of networks for highly innovative firms and medium to low innovative firms and found differences in their networking activity. With regards to policy recommendations, this study shows network support for incubator firms can be improved. It also shows that those concerned with developing BI policy need to recognize and appreciate that not all incubator firms have the same needs. This should be taken into account when developing network support.     

Designing China's civil service system: general principles and realities

In examining how Chinese policy makers and law drafters defined problems and formulated solutions, this article seeks to address two questions. First, the authors consider the extent to which China's civil service system has embraced principles and features of Western civil service systems. Second, the authors illustrate the political nature of the attempt to establish a civil service system, which severely limits a rational policy design in China. As a result of the political regression since June 1989, the present civil service system has experienced little change.     

The legal constitution: United Kingdom parliament and European court of justice

Membership of the EC has transformed the legal status of the UK parliament. Prior to British accession, Acts of Parliament were the supreme law of the land, unchallengeable in any court. This paper argues that EC membership raised the courts ‐ national as well as European ‐ above parliament and that at the time of accession parliamentarians were almost wholly unaware of this fundamental change. The author links MPs’ ignorance to the highly political, rather than legal, nature of the British constitution and traces the evolution of their constitutional understandings. Identifying a new dynamic interplay between British judiciary and parliament, the study argues that the creeping hegemony of law within constitutional politics merits continuing analysis by legislative scholars.     

In Defense of “Pure” Legal Moralism

In this paper I argue that Joel Feinberg was wrong to suppose that liberals must oppose any criminalization of “harmless immorality”. The problem with a theory that permits criminalization only on the basis of his harm and offense principles is that it is underinclusive, ruling out laws that most liberals believe are justified. One objection (Arthur Ripstein’s) is that Feinberg’s theory is unable to account for the criminalization of harmless personal grievances. Another (Larry Alexander’s and Robert George’s) is that it cannot account for public decency laws. I shall reject both of these underinclusiveness objections in favor of one that focuses on the “free floating evil” of corpse desecration. Liberals need “pure” legal moralism (PLM) to explain their support for a criminal ban on mistreatment of the dead. I also argue that while deterrence is plausibly regarded as the primary rationale for criminalizing and punishing wrongs like murder or rape, it is not plausibly regarded as any part of the rationale for criminalizing free floating evils. The point of punishing corpse desecrators has to be either retribution or the promotion of virtue/discouraging of vice. Finally, I consider Feinberg’s reason for rejecting all PLM, namely, that competent adults have a right to personal sovereignty or autonomy, and the state’s duty to respect that right trumps the desirability of punishing or reducing the vice associated with harmless immorality. I argue that Feinberg’s argument here fails because it exaggerates the right’s strength and scope.     

Financial inclusion and green economic performance for energy efficiency finance

Economic Change and Restructuring - Financial inclusion is fundamental for increasing the nation’s performance and green economy has emerged as one of the dominant factors to ecological...     

Trade mark invalidated on ground of copyright infringement

The Registrar of Trade Marks ordered invalidation of a registeredtrade mark that was a copy of the whole of the applicant's mark‘MAX BRENNER & Device’, where use of the disputedmark was liable to be prevented by the applicant's earlier copyrightunder the provisions of the Copyright Ordinance.