DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS OVER 70 YEARS

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), a period in which the world has changed rapidly. China has played a significant role in that change through international relations and global governance. It has m oved from standing up to opening up to growing rich and strong.     

Statistical Modeling of the Case Information From the Ohio Attorney General's Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative

The Ohio Attorney General's Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative has resulted in nearly 14,000 kits being processed since the initiation of the project in 2012. A logistic regression model was fit to the data from 2500 SAKs in order to determine the probability of obtaining at least one Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) eligible DNA profile based on a number of predictor variables. The probability of obtaining at least one CODIS eligible DNA profile from an SAK varied as a function of (i) days to kit collection following a sexual assault; (ii) years to kit submission to the laboratory for testing following kit collection; (iii) the age of the victim; and (iv) the occurrence of victim‐reported consensual sex around the time of the assault and/or kit collection. These findings demonstrate the utility of the statistical modeling of data obtained from the “forklift” testing approach of sexual assault kits.     

‘C’ is for commercial collaboration: enterprise and structure in the ‘middle market’ of counterfeit alcohol distribution

This article utilising the work of Pearson and Hobbs [1] defines the middle market in counterfeit alcohol. Drugs markets have a resemblance to counterfeit alcohol markets in as much that they share the illicit nature of the product and the need to distribute the product at the ‘street’ level. Drawing on two case studies taken from a European regulator the article details the dynamics of the market, the enterprise actions of the actors and how law enforcement responses can, in certain circumstances, make the task of the distributors easier. The traditional notions of organised crime are challenged and organisation of counterfeit alcohol markets is viewed as being reliant upon those who have legitimate access to the market and are able to develop networks of commercial collaborators who by their position in the legitimate market are able to conceal their illicit actions.     

An extremely sensitive species-specific ARMS PCR test for the presence of tiger bone DNA

The survival of the tiger (Panthera tigris) is seriously threatened by poaching to provide raw materials for traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). Most highly prized are the tiger's bones, which are used in combination with other animal and plant derivatives in pills and plasters for the treatment of rheumatism and other ailments. Hundreds of patent remedies have been produced which claim to contain tiger bone, but proof of its presence is needed if legislation prohibiting the trade in endangered species is to be enforced.A highly sensitive tiger-specific real-time PCR assay has been developed to address this problem. Using primers specific to the tiger mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, successful amplification has been reliably achieved from blood, hair and bone as well as from a range of TCMs spiked with 0.5% tiger bone. Although capable of detecting fewer than 10 substrate molecules, the seven varieties of TCM pills and plasters tested showed no detectable trace of tiger DNA before spiking. Furthermore, sequencing several "tiger bone" fragments seized from TCM shops has shown that they actually originated from cattle and pigs. The potential effects of traditional bone preparation methods, evidence that much lower concentrations are used than alleged on TCM packaging, and substitution of bones from other species all suggest a low likelihood of detecting tiger DNA in patent medicines. Despite this, the basic methods have been thoroughly proven and can be readily applied to derivatives from other Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) protected species, providing a rapid and highly sensitive forensic test for species of origin. Potential applications to the monitoring of wild populations are demonstrated by the successful identification of shed hairs and faecal samples.     

About the Authors

Biography

About the Authors     

Perceptions of help resources for victims of intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) constitutes a major public health problem in the United States. This cross-sectional survey of 108 emergency department (ED) care providers and 146 ED visitors at three metropolitan EDs compared the beliefs of ED health care providers with those of community members about the relative benefits of the helpfulness of resources for IPV victims using hypothetical case scenarios. Although providers generally indicated that help resources were helpful in all scenarios, visitors were more discriminating, showing less support for resources in the lower-risk scenario. Regarding differences between groups, visitors selected police and attorneys more frequently than providers as a helpful resource, whereas providers selected shelters and counselors more frequently than visitors. Adjustment for previous experience with IPV did not change these results. Understanding the differences between health care providers' and community members' perceptions of resources for victims of IPV may improve the effectiveness of referral to IPV resources.     

Traditional versus social values as antecedents of racial stereotyping and policy conservatism

Recent studies of racial attitudes have focused on traditional values, such as individualism, as important antecedents of Americans' opinions on racial issues, with mixed results. We focus on another set of values that has its roots in an older research tradition examining the psychological sources of racial prejudice, which suggests that prejudice against blacks is part of a more encompassing set of values regarding one's acceptance of social diversity. We find that these social values—conformity and social intolerance—are much stronger predictors of racial stereotypes and racial policy attitudes than traditional values of individualism and equalitarianism. We also find these social values to condition an ethnocentric response toward international outgroups in a domain as diverse as foreign affairs, thus providing additional evidence of the pervasive and general nature of values related to a rejection of diversity. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for future research.The order of the authors' names was decided by the toss of a coin.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in San Francisco, August 30, 1990.     

Factors related to cigarette smoking during adolescent pregnancy

Previous research suggests that maternal smoking during pregnancy remains prevalent, particularly among adolescents. However, little is known about the factors related to smoking during adolescent pregnancy. The goal of the present study is to identify intrapersonal, familial, and peer factors that are related to smoking during adolescent pregnancy, and to determine the relative degree to which they affect this behavior. Interviews were conducted with 241 unmarried pregnant adolescents who planned to carry their pregnancies to term. Consistent with previous studies, 27% of the respondents reported daily smoking during pregnancy, and whites reported higher rates of use than members of other racial groups. Smoking during adolescent pregnancy was related to intrapersonal, familial, and peer factors. The results of a regression analysis suggest that perceived parental disapproval of smoking during pregnancy, friends' cigarette use, and race play a particularly important role in this behavior. The implications of these findings for preventive programs are discussed.Research reported here and the preparation of this report were supported by Grant DA-05208 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.Received M.A. in sociology from the University of Washington. Research interests include health behaviors, and the relationship between social stratification and health.Received Ph.D. in social welfare from the University of Washington. Research interests are in adolescent development, gender issues in adolescent development, and health promotion and problem prevention with children and adolescents. Received Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington. Research interests are adolescent problem behaviors, and particularly adolescent sexual decision making.Received M.S. in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Research interests: adolescent substance use, pregnancy and parenthood, and peer relations.