Fearing the Ghosts of State Officialdom Past? Russia's Archives as a Tool for Constructing Historical Memories of Its Persia Policy Practices

The overarching task of this article is to directly present the main crucial venues – a prototype road map of Russia's study of Persia in the context of foreign policy – to the students of Russia and its relations with Persia, as well as, more specifically, to researchers of Russia's late Imperial and early Soviet policy towards Middle East and Oriental studies therein. Simultaneously, taking into consideration the equivocal and quite often controversial nature of conducting archival research in Russia, it is worth knowing that a scholarly activity, seemingly conventional and rather straightforward in the West, can turn into an adventurous quest in present-day Russia, hampered by various factors. So the article also touches upon the current condition of the archival industry in present-day Russia, with the emphasis on the traditionally most burning issue in this field, namely the unjustifiably excessive secrecy, underpinned by the discourse of protecting Russian state interests, which can turn out to be an unexpected obstacle to research into a period even dating back a hundred years.     

Elimination of Bioweapons Agents from Forensic Samples During Extraction of Human DNA

Collection of DNA for genetic profiling is a powerful means for the identification of individuals responsible for crimes and terrorist acts. Biologic hazards, such as bacteria, endospores, toxins, and viruses, could contaminate sites of terrorist activities and thus could be present in samples collected for profiling. The fate of these hazards during DNA isolation has not been thoroughly examined. Our goals were to determine whether the DNA extraction process used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police eliminates or neutralizes these agents and if not, to establish methods that render samples safe without compromising the human DNA. Our results show that bacteria, viruses, and toxins were reduced to undetectable levels during DNA extraction, but endospores remained viable. Filtration of samples after DNA isolation eliminated viable spores from the samples but left DNA intact. We also demonstrated that contamination of samples with some bacteria, endospores, and toxins for longer than 1 h compromised the ability to complete genetic profiling.     

Real reform begins within: an organizational approach to health care reform

Health care systems are under pressure to control their increasing costs, to better adapt to evolving demands, to improve the quality and safety of care, and ultimately to ameliorate the health of their populations. This article looks at a battery of organizational options aimed at transforming health care systems and argues that more attention must be paid to reforming the delivery mechanisms that are so crucial for health care systems' overall performance. To support improvement, policies can rely on organizational assets in two ways. First, reforms can promote the creation of new organizational forms; second, they can employ organizational levers (e.g., capacity development, team-based organizations, evidence-informed practices) to achieve specific policy goals. In both cases organizational assets are mobilized with a view to creating complete health care organizations -- that is to say, organizations that have the capacity to function as high-performing systems. The challenges confronting the development of more complete health care organizations are significant. Real health care system reforms may likewise require implementing ecologies of complex innovation at the clinical, organizational, and policy levels. Policies play a determining role in shaping these new spaces for action so that day-to-day practices may change.     

区域经济发展趋势

一、区域经济发展回顾与展望在全球经济蓬勃发展的态势推动下 ,本地区的经济也在复苏。预计2004年的全球产量将增加5个百分点 ,全球贸易总额(包括商品与服务)将增加8.8 %(国际货币基金组织2004)。中国经济迅猛发展推动了全球经济的增长 ,同时美国、日本和欧盟的经济复苏也起到了一定的作用。预计2004年东南亚的GDP的增长率将达到6.2 % ,整个东南亚的GDP将增长7.3 %(亚洲发展银行2004)。区域经济之所以蓬勃发展 ,主要是因为主要经济体(即美国和日本)工业生产增加 ,中国的经济发展使得需求持续上升 ,以及信息通讯技术产业(简称IT产业)好转…