Establishment of the measurement uncertainty of 11-nor-D9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid in hair

The quantitative analysis of 11-nor-D(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (THCCOOH) in hair requires a sensitive method to detect a low-pg level. Before applying the method to real hair samples, the method was validated; in this study, we examined the uncertainty obtained from around the cut-off level of THCCOOH in hair. We calculated the measurement uncertainty (MU) of THCCOOH in hair as follows: specification of the measurand, identification of parameters using "cause and effect" diagrams, quantification of the uncertainty contributions using three factors, the uncertainty of weighing the hair sample, the uncertainty from calibrators and the calibration curve, and the uncertainty of the method precision. Finally, we calculated the degrees of freedom and the expanded uncertainty (EU). The concentration of THCCOOH in the hair sample with its EU was (0.60 ± 0.1) × 10(-4)ng/mg. The relative uncertainty percent for the measurand 0.60 × 10(-4)ng was 9.13%. In this study, we also selected different concentrations of THCCOOH in real hair samples and then calculated the EU, the relative standard uncertainty (RSU) of the concentration of THCCOOH in the test sample [u(r)(c0)], the relative uncertainty percent, and the effective degree of freedom (v(eff)). When the concentrations of THCCOOH approached the cut-off level, u(r)(c0) and the relative uncertainty percent increased but absolute EU and v(eff) decreased.     

Y-chromosome STR haplotype profiling in the Korean population

Allele and haplotype frequencies of seven Y-chromosome STR loci were determined from a sample of 330 unrelated males in the Korean population.     

Genetic variation at eight STR loci in the Korean population

The frequency distributions of eight STR loci were surveyed in 510 unrelated individuals from the Korean population     

The Effects of Political Risk on Different Entry Modes of Foreign Direct Investment

Although numerous studies document the effect of political institutions on foreign direct investment (FDI), few works in the political economy literature have investigated the link between political institutions and the mode of entry chosen by investors, be it mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, or greenfield investments. Using panel data for 111 developing countries covering 1980–2006, we find that countries with political institutions that uphold good governance tend to attract higher levels of mergers and acquisitions, as opposed to joint ventures and greenfield investments, because such institutions help to mitigate the special risks faced by merger and acquisition investors. Our findings provide a nuance for understanding the different effects of political institutions based on the particular mode of entry.     

Latino Immigrant Acculturation and Crime

Recent debate on the future of immigration policy in the United States has spawned much discussion on social costs and consequences for immigrants, such as employment, education, health care, and most notably, crime. Although recent Latino immigrants are often portrayed as outsiders in popular media, their successful acculturation into the American way of life may present more crime-related risk rather than less. This study examines arrest records for Latinos in two southwestern American cities to determine the extent to which Latino acculturation is related to arrests and convictions for both misdemeanors and felonies after controlling for certain legal and extra-legal factors. Results indicate that acculturation is consistently and positively associated with all four crime-related outcomes in this sample. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

International environmental law as a complex adaptive system

Complex adaptive systems are a special kind of self-organizing system with emergent properties and adaptive capacity in response to changing external conditions. In this article, we investigate the proposition that international environmental law, as a network of treaties and institutions, exhibits some key characteristics of a complex adaptive system. This proposition is premised on the scientific understanding that the Earth system displays properties of a complex adaptive system. If so, international environmental law, as a control system, may benefit from the insights gained and from being modelled in ways more appropriately aligned with the functioning of the Earth system itself. In this exploratory review, we found evidence suggesting that international environmental law is a complex system where treaties and institutions self-organize and exhibit emergent properties. Furthermore, we contend that international environmental law as a whole is adapting to exogenous changes through an institutional process akin to natural selection in biological evolution. However, the adequacy of the direction and rate of adaptation for the purpose of safeguarding the integrity of Earth’s life-support system is questioned. This paper concludes with an emphasis on the need for system-level interventions to steer the direction of self-organization while maintaining institutional diversity. This recommendation stands in contrast to the reductionist approach to institutional fragmentation and aims at embracing the existing complexity in international environmental law.     

Justifying grounds for multicultural policies in Korea: universal human rights versus benefits of diversity

Multicultural policies often deviate from the principle of equal opportunity since it assumes exclusive policy target groups with extra budget and appropriate organization. If this is so, by what rationale can multicultural policies be justified? Why should we accept such unequal treatment as a procedural method to achieve a more equal society as the final goal? This paper examines justifying logic for multicultural policies that inevitably have an arbitrary aspect of state intervention. This paper first differentiates two kinds of logic, namely universal human rights and the benefits of diversity, which provide supporting rationale for the implementation of multicultural policies. We can witness from the US history that the benefits of diversity have increasingly become the main logic justifying affirmative action instead of liberal discussions on social justice and universal human rights of the 1960s. Korea also shows such a shift towards a utilitarian justification which has focused heavily on the benefits of diversity. However, the utilitarian rationalization for multicultural transition can be easily withdrawn when the benefits of ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity disappear, suddenly leading to unexpected discriminatory situations. In this context, this paper argues that discussion of normative justification is required, and such discussions need to be internalized among the citizens of a political community.     

‘We care about you,but …’: the politics of EU trade policy and development

The European Union (EU) is one of the most important markets for developing countries, and trade policy has long been one of its most important instruments for promoting development. There is, however, a paradox at the heart of the relationship between the EU's trade policy and development. On the one hand the EU's trade as development policy has undergone a paradigm shift, the objective shifting from supporting the former colonies of the EU's member states to addressing poverty and with a greater emphasis on reciprocal liberalization. On the other hand, the EU's conventional trade policy initiatives—particularly its market access objectives in the Doha Round and in commercially motivated bilateral trade agreements—have adverse consequences for developing countries, as does its tendency to adopt stringent product regulations. We argue that this paradox is explained by differences in how much traction the emphasis on the development implications of trade has had in the EU's various trade policy subsystems.     

Russo–Japanese Rivalry Over Korean Buffer at the Beginning of the 20th Century and its Implications

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia and Japan could not reach a lasting compromise over Korea. Several rounds of diplomacy for Korean neutrality or spheres of influence did not result in any lasting agreement. Due to the mutual suspicion and opportunistic searches for expansion into Korea and Manchuria, they could not reach an enduring understanding on Korea. Korea also could not play a role as an independent buffer state due to its own weakness. In conjunction with Japan’s consistent efforts to establish an exclusive control over the whole of Korea, war broke out in 1904 and Korea became a protectorate of Japan. The developments in the Far East at the beginning of the 20th century hold implications on current northeast Asian security as well.     

Emotions and the British Government’s Decision for War in 1914

ABSTRACT

Recent years have witnessed increasing interest amongst international historians in the impact of emotions on foreign policy decisions as part of a broader movement usually known as the ‘emotional turn’. This trend is associated with findings from the field of neuroscience that cognition and emotion—rather than operating independently—remain inextricably bound together in human decision-making. Most work thus far has concentrated on American foreign policy since 1945, but this analysis broadens the focus to consider the impact of emotions on British decision-makers, especially Cabinet ministers, as they debated whether to go to war in 1914. It shows that despite a tendency by the protagonists themselves to interpret their actions in rational terms, sufficient evidence of emotions exist in the written record to allow a fresh approach to the July Crisis. Whilst emotions must be seen as acting alongside rational mental processes, rather than regularly over-powering them, a focus on the subject helps explain different approaches taken by individual ministers, why the majority came to approve intervention in the conflict, and how Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, partly by appearing to control his feelings, minimised resignations over the fateful decision. It also allows a new view about why the Cabinet decided to go to war on 4 August in defence of Belgium, despite deciding just a few days earlier that the question of fulfilling the 1839 guarantee of Belgian neutrality was ‘one of policy than of legal obligation’.