The Australian Experience of Electoral Bribery: Dealing in Electoral Support

This article explores state and federal Australian cases from the past thirty years — legal judgments, inquiries and political scandals — which implicate the law and concept of electoral bribery. Specifically it examines deals involving preferences and arrangements made between politicians and “third parties” such as lobby groups and the media. It shows that, defying assumptions that it died out a century ago, electoral bribery remains a thorny ethical and legal concept, particularly given evolving norms and electioneering practices. If bribery is to be a workable ethical or legal concept for judging contemporary electoral conduct then it needs to deal with horizontal relations between political actors rather than, as it traditionally has, to focus upon vertical relations between politicians and electors characterised by the former's efforts to buy the latter's votes.     

Validation of an ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) method for the detection of heroin and cocaine on incriminated material

The validation of a qualitative ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) procedure for the detection of trace amounts of heroin and cocaine on incriminated material using a vacuum cleaner for sampling is presented. The limit of detection, the limit of decision, selectivity and robustness were determined. As an approach, robustness was determined using ionizational interferences and matrix effects. By using this simple sampling procedure, a positive result for incriminated clothes needs a contamination of 250ng cocaine and 1000ng heroin, respectively.     

The Potential of High-throughput Metagenomic Sequencing of Aquatic Bacterial Communities to Estimate the Postmortem Submersion Interval

Human remains can be discovered in freshwater or marine ecosystems, circumstances where insects and other invertebrates have infrequently been used for understanding the time of postmortem submersion. In this study, the identification and succession of epinecrotic bacterial communities on vertebrate remains were described during decomposition in a temperate headwater stream during two seasons (summer and winter). Bacterial communities were characterized with 454 pyrosequencing and analyzed at phyletic and generic taxonomic resolutions. There was a significant increase in genera richness over decomposition during both seasons. Additionally, multivariate statistical modeling revealed significant differences in bacterial communities between seasons at both taxonomic resolutions and siginificant genera differences among sampling days within each season, suggesting a succession of these communities. These data are the first to describe aquatic bacterial succession using high-throughput metagenomic sequencing on vertebrate remains submerged in a freshwater habitat, and provide initial evidence for their potential use in forensic investigations.     

Pharmaceutical error resulting in fatal diabetic ketoacidosis

A 41-year-old male with a 25-year history of diabetes mellitus requiring 25 to 30 units of neutral protamine hagedorn (NPH) insulin daily was found dead at home. Recent history revealed that he was well until the last four days of life when he had the onset of nausea, vomiting, and anorexia coinciding with procurement of a new bottle of insulin from his pharmacist. Pertinent autopsy findings included coronary and aortic atherosclerosis, a peptic ulcer, and diabetic glomerulopathy. Chemical analysis of the vitreous humor, including glucose (813 mg/dL) and acetone (40 mg/dL), revealed that he died of diabetic ketoacidosis. Further investigation revealed that the pharmacist had accidentally substituted regular insulin, with a duration of action of up to 6 h as opposed to 24 to 28 h, for NPH. Cultures of blood and of the regular insulin yielded no growth. Analysis of this case emphasizes the importance of obtaining a careful medical and medication history and the usefulness of vitreous electrolytes when investigating a sudden death in a diabetic.     

关于西方节日对大学生影响的调查分析--以清华大学为例

◎大学生对于西方节日的了解程度◎大学生对于西方节日的基本态度◎西方节日对于大学生的影响近年来,西方节日在青年群体中日益流行,特别是在大学校园,各种各样的西方节日越来越受到大学生们的欢迎和重视。在很多大学校园里,真正让人感觉到有过节气氛的往往不是中国的传统节日而恰恰是某些西方节日,譬如圣诞节和情人节。这一问题曾经引发了很多人的关注,对于大学生过洋节的现象很多人表示难以理解,当然也有一部分人表示支持。那么大学生们对待西方节日究竟是一种什么样的态度?西方节日为什么能够在大学生中受欢迎?西方节日到底给大学生们带…     

Contracting Public Sector Services: A Meta-Analytic Perspective of the International Evidence

The performance framework adopted for this review includes five dimensions — economic, social, democratic, legal and political issues. This article presents summary findings from a statistical (meta-analytic) review of the performance measurements found in the available international literature on privatisation and contracting-out government services… This enables an assessment to be made of the extent to which reform objectives appear to have been achieved in practice. The article discusses the gains which result from contracting reforms, and the extent to which these gains accrue to various stakeholders — whether community, customers, the organisation or government.     

所外就医管理方式探索研究

所外就医是劳教所对劳动教养人员所内患严重疾病,因工或其他原因造成严重损伤,劳动教养管理所的医疗单位不具备医疗条件或短期内无法治愈的,劳教所按照条件和程序给予办理所外就医证明,由其亲属领回到社会医院接受治疗。近年来,对所外就医劳教人员如何进行有效管理,防止他们在外重新违法犯罪,一直困扰着劳教单位,也是一个严峻而亟待解决的课题。笔者就如何建立健全所外就医劳教人员的管理方式谈谈自己的观点,供同仁们参考。众所周知,所外就医劳教人员是患有严重疾病才准许到所外去接受社会医院治疗的。其在外治疗期间折应抵劳教期限,也就是…