Experimental Effect of Shots Caused by Projectiles Fired from Air Guns with Kinetic Energy Below 17 J

Pursuant to the Polish Weapons and Ammunitions Law (Legal Gazette No 53/1999 item 549 with subsequent amendments), air guns with kinetic energy of the fired projectiles below 17 J are not regarded as weapons. The aim of the study was to assess the potential effect of shots caused by projectiles of various mass and structure fired from air guns with kinetic energy below 17 J on human soft tissues. As a model of soft tissue, we used 20% gelatin blocks. After shooting, we measured the depth of gelatin block penetration by pellets fired from various distances and compared these results with autopsy findings. The results demonstrated that examined pneumatic guns may cause serious injuries, including damage to the pleura, pericardium, liver, spleen, kidneys, femoral artery, and thoracic and abdominal aorta. Experiment shown that gelatin blocks do not reflect fully the properties of the human body.     

RISING WITH THE TIDE WITHOUT FLIPPING THE BOAT — ANALYZING THE SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES OF FISCAL CAPACITY BUILDING IN CHINA

While many developing countries experience a short period of economic boom and then spiral quickly into periods of deficit, currency fluctuation, and indebtedness, China has been able to sustain rapid economic growth and maintain solid fiscal capacity for the past 30 years, even during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s and the global recession in the beginning of the 21st century. This article examines three key strategies behind China's fiscal success — its flexibility in adapting tax policies to the changing economic and social conditions, its success in realigning the intergovernmental fiscal relationship in 1994 and forcing subnational governments to become more entrepreneurial in revenue generation, and its pursuit of institutional reforms since the mid‐1990s to improve the government's capacity in budgeting and financial management. The article evaluates the implications of the Chinese experience for other developing countries and discusses the future challenges of fiscal reforms in China. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

以党的十八大精神为指导,进一步推进社会主义学院正规化建设

当前,全党全国都在深入学习贯彻党的十八大精神;而对我们统一战线的成员而言,以十八大精神为指导,进一步推进社会主义学院正规化建设,是其中的一项重要工作。文章从深入学习贯彻党的十八大精神,强化党外代表人士的政治共识;深入贯彻《2010-2020年党外代表人士教育培训改革和发展纲要》和《加强新形势下党外代表人士队伍建设的意见》精神,推进社会主义学院正规化建设迈上新台阶;加强领导,明确责任,切实推动党外代表人士教育培训改革和发展工作等三个方面进行阐述。     

生活质量与社会质量:一项有关理论和方法论的比较研究

生活质量理论和社会质量理论都采用社会指标进行社会测量,但其方法和侧重点各有不同。生活质量理论的视野有助于我们了解人们的生活状况及其水平的提高,而社会质量理论的视角则能够帮助我们认识社会结构和社会体系的特点。基于亚洲社会质量研究联合会所进行的社会调查数据,从这两个视野同时对资料展开分析,展示这两个理论在方法论上所具有的差异和特点,可以看出,我们在强调社会质量理论的运用时,不能低估生活质量所具有的政策意义。同时,由于中国正在经历着快速的收入差距的扩大,倡导社会质量理论对于我们提升社会和谐程度、增进人民福祉,具有直接的现实意义。所以,两种理论的导向和分析方法是相互补充而不是相互排斥的。     

The Hong Kong economy: Opportunities out of the crisis?

The Hong Kong economy has been heavily influenced by the ‘China factor’ and an imbalance in the property sector. Down the path of ‘Manhattanization’, a lopsided economic structure emerged in the pre‐1997 era, which would be inconsistent with the framework of ‘one country, two systems‘. While transition politics resulted in a lack of effective responses by the last colonial government, after the take‐over the SAR Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa unveiled a partial reform package with long‐term targets. His attempt met with the unanticipated consequences of the bursting of the local economic bubble and the East Asian financial crisis. The prospect of a structural reform for the Hong Kong economy is hanging in the balance. This paper looks at the factors that have been shaping the Hong Kong economy and speculates about the direction in which it may be heading in a time of global turbulence.     

Trade Structure and the Effectiveness of America's "Aggressively Unilateral" Trade Policy

When does America's "aggressively unilateral" trade policy work best to open overseas markets? This paper revisits the determinants and effectiveness of Section 301 of U.S. trade law and develops a modified two-level game model for understanding the conditions under which domestic interests and institutions support the use of aggressive negotiation tactics. It argues that a system-level variable, the structure of trade, systematically affects threat effectiveness by influencing both the level of unity among domestic interest groups and the degree of divided government in the sender of threats (the United States). America's sanction threats will enjoy more unified domestic support and hence be more credible when the dispute involves a country having a competitive trade relationship with the U.S. (such as Japan, Canada, and the European Union) rather than one having a complementary trade relationship with the U.S. (such as China, India, and Brazil). Statistical tests based on the universe of Section 301 cases concluded between 1975 and 1995 yield evidence in support of this contention.     

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.