俄罗斯远东经济发展前景分析

俄罗斯远东地区是俄罗斯面向亚太的战略桥头堡,对俄罗斯在亚太地区的军事、政治、经济具有重要的影响。普京执政后,加强了对俄罗斯各联邦区的控制,远东地区经济进入了新的发展阶段。受地缘政治关系等因素的影响,投资不足问题一直是俄罗斯远东经济的"瓶颈"。预计俄罗斯仍将利用"能源牌"平衡与亚太近邻国家的关系。俄罗斯远东地区在这个前提下以资源开发为主线,如何最大限度地争取俄联邦的支持,努力发展与中国、日本、韩国等亚太国家的经贸关系,就成为决定经济发展前景的关键。     

Toward a more comprehensive understanding of violence against impoverished women

Research and knowledge of violence against impoverished women continues to be limited. To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of violence against impoverished women and therefore inform prevention and intervention efforts for this population, the authors report on recent (past 6 months) physical, sexual, and psychological violence among 898 women who were randomly sampled from temporary shelter settings (n = 460) and low-income housing (n = 438) in Los Angeles County. Women experienced notable rates of violence during the past 6 months (e.g., 23% of sheltered women and 9% of housed women reported physical violence). Perpetrators were diverse, particularly for the sheltered women, including sexual partners, family, and strangers. These findings, and others suggesting that the different types of violence are distinct and severe, may call for more comprehensive screening and intervention efforts to enhance the safety of impoverished women.     

Constitutional challenge to "medical inadmissibility" provisions in the Immigration Act

In a case with significant implications for people living with HIV/AIDS who wish to immigrate to Canada, in January 2002 a woman with multiple sclerosis launched a constitutional challenge to the "medical inadmissibility" provisions in the Immigration Act. The provisions state that any would-be immigrant may be denied permission to immigrate "if their admission would cause or might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demands on health or social services."     

Canada/US: bioterrorism highlights double standard for access to medicines

In September 2001, shortly after terrorist attacks in the United States, the issue of bioterrorism--and specifically fear about reported cases of anthrax in the US--led the Canadian Minister of Health to be concerned about the available stocks of the drug ciprofloxacin to treat this disease.     

Establishing safe injection facilities in Canada: legal and ethical issues

In the face of an ongoing and escalating health crisis among injection drug users in Canada, calls are coming from many quarters to initiate safe injection facilities as a way to reduce overdoses, the spread of bloodborne diseases, and other health and community problems associated with injection drug use. This article summarizes a paper on safe injection facilities released in early 2002 by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. The paper contributes to the policy discussion in Canada and sets out why and how the law should support the introduction of safe injection facilities.     

South Africa: TAC, COSATU and allies file complaint of excessive pricing

On 19 September 2002, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the Council of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (CEPPWA), and eight individuals (health-care workers and people living with HIV/AIDS) launched a complaint with the country's Competition Commission against two major transnational pharmaceutical companies. TAC and its allies allege that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has engaged in excessive pricing for its antiretroviral drugs Retrovir (zidovudine or AZT), 3TC (lamivudine), and Combivir (AZT/lamivudine), and that Boeringer Ingelheim (BI) has engaged in excessive pricing of its antiretroviral drug Viramune (nevirapine).     

UK: court upholds ban on condoms at psychiatric hospital

In September 2001, a gay man with hepatitis C held as a patient at a high-security psychiatric hospital applied for judicial review of the hospital's policy banning access to condoms for patients. His application was denied by the High Court on 30 October 2001.     

Reassessing the reliability and validity of self-report delinquency measures

Several issues related to the reliability and validity of self-report delinquency measures are raised and discussed. These include problems associated with the use of internal consistency as the measure of reliability, the level of reliability or precision required for different types of analyses, problems with the content validity of self-report measures, problems of overreporting and underreporting, problems with the use of official records as a validity check on self-reports, and the lack of any good criterion as a major obstacle in assessing the empirical validity of self-report measures. In the light of these problems, some cautions about the use of self-report measures are made.     

Equality and differentiation: Effects of group structure on allocations

Two studies using vignettes explore some conditions under which equity, equality, and need as allocation rules are taken into account by an outside allocator. Independent variables include information about success or failure of a work group, level of morale of the group, relative contributions of work group members, responsibility for outcome, and influence of one individual on others. Results suggest that differentiation based on both equity and need results from a focus on individual deserving while equality among status equals results from focus on group level factors. An interaction between outcome and contribution appears when group level factors are included; these effects also appear when there are two rather than only one target person differing from the rest of a group; an overreward effect depends on attributions of responsibility for outcome; and an influential member is seen as deserving even if a low contributor. No gender differences were found.