Turning the tide? The emergence of national urban policies in Africa

It is widely believed that national urban policies in Africa are rare. This is a concern bearing in mind the formidable challenges posed by urbanisation in the context of low incomes and weak institutions. The paper unpacks the concept of urban policy and what it means for the way in which cities grow. It considers the situation in five countries with different approaches. The evidence indicates increasing interest in steering urban growth through coordinated actions on land, housing and infrastructure. The positive developmental arguments seem to carry more weight than the threats of disaster if squalor and social unrest are not addressed. Yet the appropriate policy responses are not clear-cut and there are many dilemmas faced. Capacitating city governments to plan and invest in networked infrastructure appears to be one of the priorities.     

A database of mitochondrial DNA hypervariable regions I and II sequences of individuals from Slovakia

In order to identify polymorphic positions and to determine their frequencies and the frequency of haplotypes in the human mitochondrial control region, two hypervariable regions (HV1 and HV2) of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 374 unrelated individuals from Slovakia were amplified and sequenced. Sequence comparison led to the identification of 284 mitochondrial lineages as defined by 163 variable sites. Genetic diversity (GD) was estimated at 0.997 and the probability of two randomly selected individuals from population having identical mtDNA types (random match probability, RMP) for the both regions is 0.60%.     

EVAR FOR ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSM IN ELDERLY PATIENTS,AND THE BIOETHICAL ISSUES THAT COULD GENERATE

Open repair is likely to be more cost-effective than EVAR on average in patients considered fit for open surgery. EVAR is likely to be more cost- effective than open repair for a subgroup of patients at higher risk of operative mortality. These results are based on extrapolation of mid-term results of clinical trials. But how does that affect on patients who are older than 80 years. Late survival depends very much on the patient＇s age at the time of surgery. The life expectancy in this group of patients who undergo successful Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm （AAA） open repair or EVAR is not as good as that of the age-matched general population. At this age, life expectancy is six years or more over patients who are older than 85 years, life expectancy is just five years. On the other hand, annual/one year risk of rupture in patients with AAA diameter six to seven cm is 10%-20%. At the same time, total cost of endograft implantation is at least 10,000 euro per patient, which is still extremely expensive for many countries in transition. Regarding all these facts, some countries （in transition） are forced to reassess ethical point of endovascular treatment. Simplified they haven＇t enough endografs for all patients. Vascular surgeon in this situation has need to decide how, when and who needs by priority this expensive graft. Of course, this is not medical question, but for sure question that encumbers vascular surgeons from countries in transition. Should we consider octogenarians as the first group of patient who will endure this problem？ How to decide who needs endograft as priority and who does not？ Finally, who is better candidate for endovascular, open surgical or medicament treatment from financial point of view？ These are just some of the questions, which are still open and encumber many vascular surgeons from countries with poorer healthcare system.     

Parallel Paths A Comparison of CSR Firms and Social Enterprises

Corporate social responsibility （CSR） is the incorporation of environmental and social responsibilities into the business activity, in line with the economic responsibility that firms have traditionally focused on. The social entrepreneur is a type of entrepreneur who seeks to resolve a social or environmental problem through the application of a business model, motivated by the aim of helping others and pursuing positive social change. A key aspect of social entrepreneurship （SE） is therefore the creation of social wealth. Both concepts pursue positive social change, but unlike social entrepreneurs, the objective of a responsible firm is not to solve social issues created by others, rather to understand and limit the social and environmental impacts of their profit-generating activities. In recent decades, research on CSR has grown considerably, whereas SE has only begun to receive serious academic attention quite recently. Crucially, few studies have tried to link and differentiate the two areas. Due to the increasing interest in both concepts nowadays, the need to clarify the similarities and differences between them is greater than ever, and is the principal aim of this work.     

中国的警民合作:监控摄像头、社区效能与警务

鉴于目前有关中国警民合作的研究较少,且有关监控摄像头对该合作之影响的认识发掘不足,本研究调查了监控摄像与社区集体效能、警察公正性及警察效力在民众与警察合作的意愿的形成中所存在的相互作用.本研究基于收集自中国某一南方城市751名居民的面对面调查采访数据,利用普通最小二乘法(OLS)回归分析,调查中国警民合作意愿的重要相关因素.结果 显示,视频监控、集体效能、警察公正性及警察效力对合作意愿产生了积极的影响.值得注意的是,对于居住在集体效能水平高的社区的人以及认为警察公正性水平低的人而言,监控摄像头对其合作的促进作用最为显著.调查结果证实了正式与非正式社会控制在决定民众合作意愿方面所存在的关联,并重申了检验其理论交互效应的必要性.调查结果还有助于我们了解民众在中国背景下依靠视频监控决定其是否协助警察的深层原因.