Reviews

The article begins with an analysis of China's past in terms of the interplay between Confucian teaching, local, or folk, tradition and the impact of foreign culture. There then follows an examination of the current situation in terms of continuity and change, with particular emphasis on alienation and the rise of nationalism in a post-Marxist society. The article concludes with a critique of Wolf Totem.     

Moving beyond rethinking the ‘state of the state’: to the challenge of reshaping international contributions to peace operations

The need for an accurate understanding of the environment into which peace- and capacity-building missions are deployed cannot be overstated. Suppositions about the mission environment inform every facet of an intervention's design and implementation, in addition to expectations surrounding success. Yet this critical element continues to be misunderstood by those most in need of an accurate grasp, a condition which severely undermines the war to peace transition. Rather than continuing to assume that recipient ‘states’ are states in the Western sense of the term, we must instead focus our energies on how best to enable sustainable peace in the hybrid political orders which do in fact constitute these troubled places. After setting out the largely unrecognised characteristics of recipient societies, the article explores alternative forms of assistance with promise to complement such realities.     

Crack Propagation in Teeth: A Comparison of Perimortem and Postmortem Behavior of Dental Materials and Cracks*

Abstract: This study presents a new method for understanding postmortem heat-induced crack propagation patterns in teeth. The results demonstrate that patterns of postmortem heat-induced crack propagation differ from perimortem and antemortem trauma-induced crack propagation patterns. Dental material of the postmortem tooth undergoes dehydration leading to a shrinking and more brittle dentin material and a weaker dentin-enamel junction. Dentin intertubule tensile stresses are amplified by the presence of the pulp cavity, and initiates crack propagation from the internal dentin, through the dentin-enamel junction and lastly the enamel. In contrast, in vivo perimortem and antemortem trauma-induced crack propagation initiates cracking from the external surface of the enamel toward the dentin-enamel junction where the majority of the energy of the crack is dissipated, eliminating the crack’s progress into the dentin. These unique patterns of crack propagation can be used to differentiate postmortem taphonomy-induced damage from antemortem and perimortem trauma in teeth.