China and the WTO: the theory and practice of compliance

Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December2001, attention has turned to the issue of whether or not Chinais a responsible member of the organization and how compliantChina is with WTO rules. This article discusses the difficultiesfaced by China, as a responsible rising power, in trying toadjust itself to global trading norms. It examines the theoryof compliance in international relations from the perspectivesof neo-realism, liberal institutionalism and social constructivism,and then tests these perspectives by examining the mechanismsused to gauge China's compliance, both bilaterally by the UnitedStates and multilaterally through the Dispute Settlement Mechanismand the Transition Review Mechanism of the WTO. The result ismixed: different opinions exist as to how compliant China hasbeen but, on the whole, most monitors agree that China has triedhard to comply with WTO requirements in various areas, thoughmuch remains to be done. The most severe tests will come inthe next few years when China's financial and service sectorswill have to face fundamental changes to the way they operate.     

Comparison of heart mass in seizure patients dying of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy to sudden death due to some other cause

Proposed mechanisms by which sudden unexplained death syndrome in epilepsy (SUDEP) occurs include cardiac dysrhythmias. We hypothesized that individuals dying of SUDEP would have enlarged hearts compared with normal, increasing the risk of sudden cardiac death should the autonomic nervous system initiate a dysrhythmia. We performed a retrospective case-control study in a medical examiner population, comparing the mean heart mass in a group of individuals who died of SUDEP to a group of individuals with epilepsy who died suddenly due to some unrelated cause (non-SUDEP). We found no significant difference in the mean heart mass between the 2 groups when analyzing the unadjusted data. Upon stratifying the cases by age, however, we found a significant reduction in the frequency of SUDEP in individuals 40 or more years of age with an increased heart mass compared with those younger. This reduced frequency disappeared when cases where the cause of death was indeterminate between SUDEP and heart disease were reclassified from non-SUDEP to SUDEP. With increasing age, the likelihood of finding a cause of death that competes with the possibility of SUDEP increases, making SUDEP appear to be a phenomenon of the young. The inclusion of seizure deaths evaluated in a medical examiner office in studies of SUDEP would provide the benefit of a more certain diagnosis in each given case. Moreover, the inclusion of cases from the medical examiner population would stem attrition in a clinical study due to loss to follow-up.     

The use of an electrostatic detection device to identify individual and class characteristics on documents produced by printers and copiers--a preliminary study

The market is inundated with inkjet printers, laser printers, and photocopiers, which are often used in criminal activities. Many of these office machines are built by various manufacturers, hence they are constructed with different hardware designs (e.g. "rolling" and "grabbing" mechanisms) that have changed over the years due to technological advances. Examinations of printed documents that involve the chemical analysis of ink colorants and the identification of physical machine defects such as trash marks are essential for the forensic examiner, but new techniques are needed to more closely identify a machine model or group of models. An electrostatic detection device (EDD) provide forensic examiners with a nondestructive method to examine indentations on a document. In this work, an EDD is used to detect latent physical markings left on documents by printers and photocopiers. Seventeen inkjet printers, 12 laser printers, and 3 photocopy machines were used to produce test documents. Physical markings were detectable in the large majority of the documents and were reproducible 100% of the time.     

Twelve tongues, one voice: An evaluation of European political cooperation

Abstract. Traditional integration theories disagree over the scope of the main foreign policy instrument of the European Union (EU), the so-called European Political Cooperation (EPC). While intergovernmentalism suggests that EPC actions are weak, neofunctionalism maintains that cooperation within the EPC framework is characterised by strong measures. In this article, we present a game-theoretic and statistical analysis of these conflicting propositions and show that European foreign policy making is much more diversified than predicted by the predominating theoretical approaches. A signalling game demonstrates that the exploitation of uncertainty by a possible profit-seeker outside the organisation can cause inadequate EPC decisions. The formal model also explores the extent to which joint interest in closer foreign policy coordination can help to overcome diverging national policy preferences. The empirical test of some game-theoretic hypotheses shows that European foreign policy making has become more intensive. The increasing number of declarations is, however, also a sign of the proliferation of non-committing statements. Logit regressions reveal a close relationship between the economic salience of an EPC target nation to the European Union and the intensity of an EPC reaction.     

Rule and policy spaces and economic progress: Lessons for Third World countries

Despite greater rates of capital accumulation, per capita growth rates among Third World nations (particularly, Africa) are much lower than among the advanced, capitalist nations. In this paper I examine the critical roles of the rule space and policy on economic growth. Empirically, nations with poor institutions and policies grow at about a fifth of the rate of nations with good institutions and policies.     

The relationship between identity status,locus of control,and ego development

Based upon the assumption that identity status, locus of control, and ego stage development are interrelated psychological mechanisms that screen and filter social stimuli, a comparison of the three psychological constructs was completed using 294 college students. Identity achievement students were found to be more advanced in their ego stage development and level of internality, while diffusion students were less advanced. Contrary to expectations, no evidence was found for intraindividual development based upon cross-sectional data.Research interests are personality and social development of adolescents, interpersonal attraction, and family relations.Received her M.S. in human development from Utah State University.