Youth and generation in South African history*

In recent years, “the youth” have captured (or perhaps recaptured) public attention in South Africa. This paper reflects on South Africa’s experience of generational conflict and places it in the broader context of South African history. After attempting to define “youth,” this paper makes two key points. First, far from being a recent development, generational tension has been a continuous feature of Southern African history since at least the late nineteenth century. Second, organized political mobilization is not the way this tension usually manifests itself. Mass youth politics is a specific phenomenon, which needs to be explained historically rather than assumed. The paper focuses on three historical examples to illustrate this: early migrant labor in South Africa, the formation of urban youth gangs, and the sustained youth uprising from 1976 until the early 1990s. It concludes with a tentative attempt to draw some parallels between that phase of rebellion and recent student upheavals.     

A paradigm shift for ethics committees and case consultation: a modest proposal

In conclusion, the expert-consultation model of ethics consultation is deeply imbedded in modern health care. The paradigm of consultant as expert rather than as community-enabler shapes the expectations and behaviors of healthcare personnel and institutions. This paradigm has also shaped the early stages of HEC development and ethics case consultation. It is time to shift paradigms and adopt one that derives more from the nature of ethics than from the nature of scientific medicine: the role of HECs should be to enable key professionals to carry out the ethical dimensions of patient care. When the HEC does review cases, it should be with the purpose of improving the institution, not of resolving individual cases. One consequence of this is that there will be more individual case reviews than before, but the function, emphasis, agents and locations will shift substantially. A second consequence is that the HEC will function more as an agent of social change by helping to harness the institution's resources. We judge both of these to be a welcome evolution in healthcare ethics.     

False-negative probability in the SEM/EDS automated discovery of iGSR particles: A Bayesian approach

The automated search software integrated with a scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDS) has been the standard tool for detecting inorganic gunshot residues (iGSR) for several decades. The detection of these particles depends on various factors such as collection, preservation, contamination with organic matter, and the method for sample analysis. This article focuses on the influence of equipment resolution setup on the backscattered electron images of the sample. The pixel size of these images plays a crucial role in determining the detectability of iGSR particles, especially those with sizes close to the pixel size. In this study, we calculated the probability of missing all characteristic iGSR particles in a sample using an SEM/EDS automated search and how it depends on the image pixel resolution setup. We developed and validated an iGSR particle detection model that links particle size with equipment registers and applied it to 320 samples analyzed by a forensic science laboratory. Our results show that the probability of missing all characteristic iGSR particles due to their size is below 5% for pixel sizes below 0.32 μm². These findings indicate that pixel sizes as large as twice the one commonly used in laboratory casework, that is, 0.16 μm², are effective for initial sample scanning, yielding good detection rates of characteristic particles that could exponentially reduce laboratory workload.     

冯友兰学术独立思想新探

冯友兰先生一生致力于高校教育,有着深刻的教育思想和丰富的教学经验,学术独立是贯穿其中的主线。冯先生在学术独立的维度、举措、意义等方面都有深刻的认识,对我们当下的高校改革有重要的现实意义。     

Der neue Amtsträgerbegriff im österreichischen Strafrecht

Mit Wirkung vom 1. 1. 2008 wurde der Begriff des Amtstr?gers in das ?sterr Strafrecht eingefügt und spielt seither eine entscheidende Rolle für die Korruptionstatbest?nde der §§ 304, 307 StGB. Die Legaldefinition des Amtstr?gers in § 74 Abs 1 Z 4a StGB ist allerdings sehr unbestimmt geraten. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die einzelnen Tatbestandsmerkmale des Amtstr?gers, arbeitet die damit im Zusammenhang stehenden Probleme heraus und zeigt die mitunter entstandenen, ungeplanten Rechtslücken auf. Zudem wird auf die Verletzung europarechtlicher Verpflichtungen durch die Ungleichbehandlung von Abgeordneten ?sterr Parlamente und Mitgliedern des Europ?ischen Parlaments eingegangen.     

论集资诈骗罪的认定与司法适用

集资诈骗罪认定的关键要素在于:主观上的非法占有目的和客观上的非法集资行为。主观上的非法占有目的判断不能从主观到主观,要有客观事实予以支撑。客观上非法集资行为的评价,监管部门的许可并非必要的因素,关键在于这种集资行为是否会对集资对象的财产以及财产利益带来具体的危害。     

Sex offender programmes: New technology coping with old ethics

Abstract

Sex offender treatment programmes offer new technologies for dealing with a serious social problem but demand the sacrifice of many traditional principles of mental health ethics, such as the therapist's obligation to give primacy to the client's interest and the therapist's duties to maintain confidentiality, use non-coercive treatment and offer a choice of therapies in all but exceptional circumstances. Recognizing that such programmes are, in fact, a form of punishment enables the formulation of more consistent and practical ethical guidelines for therapists attempting interventions with sex offenders. An example of how such guidelines could be developed uses a consequentialist justification for punishment which targets the protection of human rights, rather than crime prevention, as its goal.