Who’s Socialising Whom? Regional Organisations and Contested Norms in Central Asia

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) represent competing sets of international norms in Central Asia. The contestation between these sets of norms has not led to a complete polarisation between members of the two organisations, however. Instead, the OSCE has used a range of discursive tactics to reduce political contestation, downplaying some contested issues and seeking shared discourses on security threats. This article explores these tactics and suggests that these discursive shifts may eventually threaten the normative identity of the OSCE and lead to the acceptance of a more hybrid set of security-related norms in the region.     

Comparative Analysis of the HV1 and HV2 Regions of Human Mitochondrial DNA by Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract:  Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) was evaluated as a sequencing-independent means of detecting the presence of sequence differences in pair-wise mixtures of nonconcordant amplicons of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). A total of 920 pair-wise combinations of HV1 and HV2 mtDNA amplicons from 95 individuals were assayed by DHPLC for sequence concordance/nonconcordance. For the 72 combinations of amplicons from different individuals who shared identical DNA sequences, DHPLC assays consistently indicated sequence concordance between the samples. This was in 100% agreement with sequencing data. For the 849 combinations of amplicons which differed in sequence, DHPLC detected the presence of sequence nonconcordance in all but 13 assays to yield 98.5% concordance with sequencing. Thus, DHPLC can be used to detect a diversity of sequence differences (transitions, transversions, insertions, and deletions) in the mtDNA D-loop. Accordingly, DHPLC may have utility as a presumptive indicator of mtDNA sequence concordance samples, as a screen for heteroplasmy/situational mixtures, and as a means for the physical fractionation of the individual contributors to an mtDNA mixture prior to sequencing.     

The violent and sexual victimization of college women: is repeat victimization a problem?

Little attention has been given to repeat violent and sexual victimization among college women. Using two national-level data sets, the authors find that a small proportion of college women experience a large proportion of violent and sexual victimizations. Women are more likely to experience repeat sexual victimization than repeat violence incidents. Repeat victimization tends to happen in the same month of the initial victimization, and the most likely next type of victimization is by far the same type of victimization. Comparing incident-level characteristics of repeat incidents to single incidents, there are few differences, with the exception that, in a larger proportion of single incidents, women took self-protective action. Implications for prevention and educational programs are discussed.     

Leaving Home, Attending College, Partnership and Parenthood: The Role of Life Transition Events in Leisure Pattern Stability From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Few researchers have examined the role that life transition events play in the maintenance of or change in leisure behaviors across the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. This study examines the role that leaving home, going to college, having a committed partner, and becoming a parent played in intraindividual change and stability in leisure patterns. The data were from the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions (MSALT), and were collected during the final year of high school and 3 years following high school. Results suggest that transition events are particularly useful in predicting female leisure pattern stability or change; going to college and leaving home were generally predictive of the maintenance of a stable leisure pattern, while becoming a partner and becoming a parent were predictive of change. For males, the most useful predictor of stability or change was leaving home. However, the nature of the relation of the transition events to pattern stability or change depended on the type of initial leisure pattern.     

PARALLEL IMPORTATION AND SERVICE QUALITY: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF COMPETITION BETWEEN DVDS AND CINEMAS IN NEW ZEALAND

Investigations into the causes and effects of parallel importinghave concentrated on price discrimination, but arbitrage canalso occur on non-price dimensions. Using a natural experimentin the New Zealand film distribution industry between May 1998and November 2001, we examine the effect of parallel importingon quality as it relates to the timing of the availability offilm media. We demonstrate that (a) cinema revenues were underminedas consumers substituted viewing films on parallel importedDVDs for the cinema format and (b) that studios responded tothe threat of parallel imported DVDs by bringing forward therelease of films into New Zealand cinemas. The reduced delaybetween US and New Zealand cinematic release dates is shownto be consistent with the introduction of competition when timingis a dimension of quality and choice. We conclude that parallelimportation of DVDs almost certainly resulted in a net increasein welfare in New Zealand.     

The Space of Law and the Law of Space

This essay investigates the interconnections between early Greek cosmology and legal theory. In particular, it demonstrate that spatial and legal concepts developed hand in hand, and that it would be mistaken to assume that legal terminology in cosmology, and/or spatial terminology in legal texts, are best read metaphorically. This state of affairs may be contrasted with contemporary legal theory, which often employs spatial terms metaphorically. The principal authors I␣consider are Solon, Anaxamander, Heraclitus and Parmenides. The essay concludes that justice and space/place were, for the Early Greeks, often equated—that distinct differing meanings for the two were not yet clearly established, and so, in a sense, there was both a spatial component to law, and a legal component to space.