The persistence of human scalp hair on clothing fabrics

This study reports the persistence behaviour of human scalp hairs under a number of different circumstances. The effects of artificial dyeing of hairs, the presence or absence of roots and different types of fabrics on the persistence of hair on a variety of garments were investigated. The garments were made from cotton, polycotton, cotton/acrylic, polyester and wool. The results indicated that neither artificial dyes nor the presence or absence of roots had statistically significant effects on the persistence of hair. In contrast, the type of fabric had a major impact and it was found that, generally, hairs persist longer on rougher fabrics. The rate of loss of hairs from non-woollen fabrics during normal wear was found to follow an exponential decay curve. In contrast, the rate of loss from the woollen garments was quite linear, indicating a constant, even loss, and thus suggests that a different process is involved in the persistence of hairs on woollen garments from that on non-woollen garments. The speed at which hair was lost from fabrics decreased in the order polyester, cotton/acrylic, polycotton, cotton, smooth wool, rough wool, so that wool gives the best chance of recovering samples of hair. Due to the uniqueness of each case, it is advised that caution be used when making any interpretations and before drawing any conclusions.     

Xenotransplantation: consent, public health and charter issues

There is a growing body of literature and commentary analyzing the ethical and public policy concerns associated with xenotransplantation. While this technology holds great promise to provide an almost limitless supply of organs for transplantation, there remains grave concern about possible public health ramifications. As a result, it has been recommended that patients who undergo xenotransplantations will need to agree, inter alia, to a lifetime of close health monitoring, participation in an international database and autopsy upon death. It has been suggested that this agreement would transform the nature of informed consent into a "binding contract." Though such draconian measures are understandable given the magnitude of the risks involved, would existing common law and legislation allow their implementation? This paper analyzes relevant Canadian consent and public health law in the context of the xenotransplantation. Canada is a country with a particularly rich body of informed consent jurisprudence--jurisprudence firmly rooted (rightly or not) in the ethical principle of autonomy. In this climate, many of the suggested monitoring strategies would find little support from Canadian law. Before xenotransplantations proceed, policy makers must be sensitive to the legal barriers which exist to the implementation [of] effective public health measures. Effective surveillance programs will require novel approaches to consent and the enactment of specific public health laws.     

Statecraft and Migration: A Research Note on American Strategies to Use Immigration in Foreign Policy from the Founding Era through the Early Twenty-First Century

How has the United States used migration as part of its statecraft and foreign policy? This question is significant because migration is an important contemporary transnational policy area for the United States; and because a state’s foreign-immigration policy nexus remains an under-explored vantage point for examining diplomatic and international history. This review article answers the question and lays conceptual and empirical ground in the area by examining the historical record and extant research to show that American leaders from the country’s founding through the early twenty-first century have used migration as an instrument of statecraft by primarily attempting to reach three foreign policy objectives: pleasing, harming, and bargaining with states. For each of these categories, the analysis explicates relationships between statecraft and migration for the United States, identifies policy instruments used by American leaders to influence migration for diplomatic and foreign policy objectives, and presents historical cases of American migration policies designed for foreign policy goals. The conclusion provides the research and policy implications of its findings.     

A Chinese Medicine Convert

正I have a confession,and it’s one that I’m sure my Chinese colleagues will berate me for:When it came to Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM),I was a bit of a doubter.I didn’t doubt that Chinese medicine could be effective.I just wasn’t sure that in this age of modern medicine,where pharmacies have come to resemble Hogwarts Potions Labs,     

“The greenery of well-engineered factory complexes”: Fiji's garment-led export industrialization strategy

Abstract

In February 1990 Navitilai Naisoro, the Sussex University-educated permanent secretary to the Fiji Ministry of Trade and Commerce, outlined to students at the University of the South Pacific in Suva his vision for Fiji's future. “My hope,” he said, “is that one day instead of seeing the greenery of sugar cane fields, we see the greenery of well-engineered factory complexes.” In 1990 he had every reason to believe that his dream was well on its way to fruition. As one of the self-proclaimed “New Fijian” economic managers appointed following the 1987 military coups, Naisoro had been at the forefront of a radical redirection in Fiji's economic policies. The coups had precipitated a massive currency devaluation of 35 percent, 12 percent inflation (unofficial estimates placed inflation at 26 percent), a new wage freeze, an upsurge in unemployment, and growing levels of poverty and destitution. Investment capital had dried up and the economy contracted, affecting Fiji's predominant import substitution industries in a way that high protective barriers could not assist.