STR Data for the AmpFlSTR Identifiler loci in three ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, Indian) of the Malaysian population

Allele frequencies for the 15 STR loci in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler kit were determined and compared for the three main ethnic groups of the Malaysian population comprising 210 Malays, 219 Chinese and 209 Indians. Blood was placed on FTA paper and DNA was purified in-situ.     

New judicial interpretation of PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law issued

The Supreme People's Court of China has announced the firstjudicial interpretation of the PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law(‘the Law’), to clarify the ambiguities in the applicationof the Law. Issues covered include passing off by the use oftrade names, packaging or trade dress of well-known products,or the use of the business name or personal name of anotherenterprise or individual, false or exaggerated advertising,and unauthorized use of trade secrets.     

Federalism Revised: The Promise and Challenge of the No Child Left Behind Act

Federalism in education has undergone significant changes since the Winter Commission. During the early 1990s, federal policy makers faced the challenge of organizational fragmentation and policy incoherence in public education. In the last 15 years, the intergovernmental system has evolved from one that is predominantly compliance‐driven to one that is performance based, as suggested by the congressional adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. While the former is often characterized by images of “picket fence” federalism and administrative silos, the latter remains very much a work in progress, with the promise of raising academic proficiency. This paper first examines the paradigm shift and then considers emerging politics in intergovernmental relations. The author explores the ways in which state and local policy makers are altering the rules governing education service provision in response to performance‐based federal expectations.     

试论公权力与私权利之间的法律平衡--关于制定《传染病隔离法》的思考

2003年春夏之际,一场始料不及的瘟疫——“非典型性肺炎”席卷了我国大江南北。通过各级政府和全社会公民的良性互动,目前疫情已经得到了阶段性的控制。回首抗击“非典”的日日夜夜,少数人借“非典”之机大发不义之财;而更多的公民则为了控制疫情积极配合政府采取的应对措施。有法可依,依法办事,切实保障每一位公民的基本权利,这是法治国家政府在防治严重传染病过程中面临的重要问题。这场瘟疫不仅考验了科学,而且也考验着政府的应急能力及其法律是否完善。在我国缺乏《紧急状态法》的前提下,政府为了应对突发性公共卫生事件而采取了(包括“隔离”等限制公民人身自由在内的)一系列行政强制措施。政府行政权力的底线是尊重和保障人权,而不能随意压制公民、法人和其它组织的私权利。“塞翁失马,焉知非福。”尽早出台《传染病隔离法》等相关法律,从立法和执法中寻求公权力和私权利之间的动态平衡未尝不是抗击“非典”给我们带来的启示。     

Lingering environmental pessimism and the role of government in Hong Kong

Based on data from two opinion surveys conducted in 2000 and 2008, this study shows that Hong Kong people have been consistently highly aware of the seriousness of different environmental problems and relatively pessimistic about the future resolution of these problems. Such pessimism is arguably related to their lack of confidence in the government's enforcement of environmental protection. Through an analysis of the environmental policy‐making and enforcement agency and three selected enforcement cases, the study further finds that the people's lack of confidence can be traced to the government's failure to bring about a comprehensive, integrated, far‐sighted environmental strategy with sophisticated institutional support and detailed enforcement mechanisms. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Community Support and Diversionary Measures for Juvenile Offenders in Hong Kong: Old Legacy, New Age

This paper begins by examining the arguments that led to the change of emphasis from residential training and detention to community-based measures in Hong Kong. Police cautioning and community support services are introduced. An evaluation of the services provided found that the majority of respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with them. It is likely that the services exerted positive influences on the respondents’ deviant behaviour, family values and sense of social responsibility, but one-fifth of them continued to commit deviant acts. Parents’ participation was not high. Young offenders rarely took responsibility for the offence they committed or understood the harm they had done to victims, and victims were not involved in deciding the intervention plan. The conclusions raise issues about the future for Hong Kong. They consider new diversionary strategies for responding to young people and debate the values that should underpin them.

A high-throughput urinalysis of abused drugs based on a SPE-LC-MS/MS method coupled with an in-house developed post-analysis data treatment system

A rapid urinalysis system based on SPE-LC-MS/MS with an in-house post-analysis data management system has been developed for the simultaneous identification and semi-quantitation of opiates (morphine, codeine), methadone, amphetamines (amphetamine, methylamphetamine (MA), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)), 11-benzodiazepines or their metabolites and ketamine. The urine samples are subjected to automated solid phase extraction prior to analysis by LC-MS (Finnigan Surveyor LC connected to a Finnigan LCQ Advantage) fitted with an Alltech Rocket Platinum EPS C-18 column. With a single point calibration at the cut-off concentration for each analyte, simultaneous identification and semi-quantitation for the above mentioned drugs can be achieved in a 10 min run per urine sample. A computer macro-program package was developed to automatically retrieve appropriate data from the analytical data files, compare results with preset values (such as cut-off concentrations, MS matching scores) of each drug being analyzed and generate user-defined Excel reports to indicate all positive and negative results in batch-wise manner for ease of checking. The final analytical results are automatically copied into an Access database for report generation purposes. Through the use of automation in sample preparation, simultaneous identification and semi-quantitation by LC-MS/MS and a tailored made post-analysis data management system, this new urinalysis system significantly improves the quality of results, reduces the post-data treatment time, error due to data transfer and is suitable for high-throughput laboratory in batch-wise operation.