Blowfly Larval Tissues as a Secondary Detector for Determining Paraquat-Related Death in Rabbit Carcass

Paraquat poisoning is commonly associated with suicide or homicide in Malaysia. In a case involving advanced body decomposition, pathological analysis regarding the cause of death may become difficult or almost impossible. Insects serve as common alternative matrix for poison detection in forensic analysis. Paraquat detection via secondary bioaccumulation in fly larvae tissue has never been reported. In this study, tissues from blowfly larvae collected from a rabbit carcass with paraquat poisoning were analyzed for secondary bioaccumulation. Larvae samples were collected and analyzed using liquid–liquid extraction. The detection was performed via reduction of quaternary ammonium presence in paraquat and analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with selected ion monitoring mode (SIM mode). GC-MS showed the elution of reduced paraquat was at retention time 12.8 min. Blowfly larvae tissue has proven useful as a secondary detector in paraquat-related deaths.     

Moving Up the Value Chain in ICT: ASEAN Trade With China

The rise of China increased competition for foreign direct investment and exports for the ASEAN economies. It also increased ASEAN trade with China. But, are ASEAN countries able to move up the value chain in their trade with China? The objectives of this article are to examine upgrading in the information and communications technology (ICT) value chain through changes in the product quality of parts and components (PNC) exports from ASEAN to China and the influence of these changes on their ICT trade with China. The main findings indicate that there is little or no product upgrading in the most important SITC 776 sub-component of the PNC exports from the four major ASEAN economies (ASEAN-4) to China after 2005. It is also found that improvements in product quality are more apparent for SITC 772 but this product group constitutes a small share in total manufactured exports from the ASEAN-4 to China. Lastly, with little or no product upgrading, exporters from the ASEAN-4 have shifted to exports of non-PNC goods to China. This shift has enabled the overall ICT exports from the ASEAN-4 to China to continue to grow for the period of this study.     

Regional institutions: State withering or consolidation. the case of the Arab summits

The European Commission has spelled out its policy ambition for EU energy cooperation with the southern neighbourhood with plans for the establishment of an ‘Energy Community’. Its communications make clear that an Energy Community should be based on regulatory convergence with the EU acquis communautaire, much in the same vein as the existing institution carrying the same name; the Energy Community with Southeast Europe. It is puzzling that the Commission insists on repackaging this enlargement concept in a region with very different types of relationships vis-à-vis the EU, especially when considering the lukewarm position of key stakeholders in the field. According to them, any attempt to introduce a political integration model in this highly sensitive issue area in the politically fragmented MENA region might run the risk of hurting the incremental technical integration process that has slowly emerged over the past few years.     

A Theoretical Perspective on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts

This article develops an economic model of human trafficking and migration-debt contracts. A key feature of the theoretical model is the payment of additional sums beyond the initial contracted price to alter the trafficker's queue order. These bribes are shown to be related to the level of effort applied by the trafficker. The types of data needed to rigorously test the model are discussed, together with policy implications.     

The establishment of the Judicial Appointments Commission in Malaysia to improve the constitutional method of appointing the judges of the superior courts: a critical study

The Judicial Appointments Commission was established in Malaysia in 2009 to ensure unbiased selection of judicial candidates for the consideration of the Prime Minister, who has the final say regarding the appointment of judges to the superior courts. But the provisions concerning Prime Minister’s power to appoint the majority of the members of the Commission and his unfettered power of removing four of the five appointed members without assigning any reason, have calculatedly been devised for ensuring the selection of judicial candidates having right political patronage in accordance with the covert wishes of the Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Prime Minister’s power of rejecting the Commission’s recommendations of multiple candidates renders the undertaking of a lengthy process of selection unproductive and useless. Thus the Judicial Appointments Commission has become a superfluous body with an ineffective modus operandi to attain the stipulated objectives of improving and complementing the constitutional method of appointing judges to the superior courts. Since the Federal Constitution of Malaysia has not empowered the Parliament to enact a law providing for the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission, it also appears that the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 is an invalid piece of legislation.     

Analysis of energy consumption and indicators of energy use in Bangladesh

Rapid growth in the demand for commercial energy in Bangladesh poses serious development constraints in recent years. Per capita energy consumption of Bangladesh is one of the lowest in the world (252 kgoe in 2005). This paper undertakes an empirical investigation to find out the trends in energy intensities by comparing the energy consumption per capita and energy consumption per GDP for agriculture, industry, commercial, and transport sectors of Bangladesh and investigate their conditions over the long run. Only 43% of total population has access to electricity facility. Though natural gas provides two-third of the nation’s commercial fossil fuel supply, only 4% households have access to natural gas networks. Biomass fuels are estimated to account for about 73% of the country’s primary energy supply. The daily electricity output totals around 3800 MW against the demand of 6000 MW, leaving a supply crunch of 2200 MW. Natural gas has so far fuelled more than 90% of the power plants of the country. Hydro-electricity contributes only 3% of the total energy supply in Bangladesh. More than 90% of the oil and petroleum products are imported. The country has a substantial potential for coal, most of which has yet to be explored. Overall energy intensity increased approximately twofold from 1980 to 2005. The findings of the study show that change in energy intensity is due to structural effect, while increase in aggregate energy consumption is due to both the activity effect and structural effect. Renewable energy sources will largely mitigate the dire energy crisis in rural areas of Bangladesh. Over 400,000 Solar Home Systems (SHSs) have been installed so far, benefiting over 4 million rural people. More fiscal and other incentives should be included in the recently formulated Renewable Energy Policy to investors for rapid development of clean energy. In addition, regional cooperation should be enhanced specially in case of hydro-power and natural gas. Finally, coal based power plant should be set up as early as possible.