Die Bundesrepublik als Sanierungspflichtige einer Rüstungsaltlast

In jüngerer Zeit sind Entscheidungen ergangen, die sich mit der Haftung für so genannte militärische Altlasten oder Rüstungsaltlasten befassen ¹ . Zu dieser Frage hat sich Verfasser anlässlich der Sanierung einer solchen Altlast im Jahre 2000 gutachtlich geäußert ² . An ihn ist jüngst der Wunsch herangetragen worden, die relevanten Teile des Gutachtens zu publizieren. Da diese Teile unverändert aktuell sind, kommt Verfasser dem Wunsch nach. Er schildert stark verkürzt zuerst den Sachverhalt, der zu der Rüstungsaltlast führte, weil es sich um eine immer wieder auftauchende Konstellation handelt. Dann werden die entscheidenden Rechtsfragen beantwortet. 1) Z.B. BVerwG, NVwZ 2004, 1125=DVBl. 2004, 1032ff.; OVG Lüneburg, Urt. v. 21. 4. 2004 – 7 LC 97/02 und 98/02, NuR 2004, 684 und 687.2) Auftraggeber war das Land Hessen. Verfasser ist Herrn Wolf vom staatlichen Umweltamt Marburg zu großem Dank für die Überlassung von Material und vielen Hinweisen verpflichtet.—Auf der Grundlage dieses Gutachtens hat der Bund dem Land Hessen einen großen Teil der Sanierungskosten bezahlt.—Die Sanierung der Altlast ist mittlerweile erfolgreich abgeschlossen.     

Sequence analysis of STR polymorphisms at locus ACTBP2 in the Taiwanese population

A highly polymorphic sequence structure is reported in the human beta-actin related pseudogene 2 (ACTBP2) (SE33) locus in members of the Taiwanese Han population. A total of 100 unrelated members of the Taiwanese Han population were used in the study. Alleles that shared the same size but differ in their sequence are described to allow for inter laboratory sharing of data. PCR products amplified from this locus were separated by single-strand conformation polymorphism electrophoresis, the single-stranded DNA bands were excised from the gels, a second amplification performed, and then the PCR products were sequenced. All the alleles differed by either 2 or 4 bp. Sequence variations were observed as deletions or insertions in the repeat units AG (or AA) and AAAG. Additionally, transitions in the flanking regions were recorded. A total of 27 alleles with 71 associated genotypes were recorded if the alleles were defined by size, but 68 alleles with 88 associated genotypes were noted with the alleles were scored on the basis of sequence variation. The power of discrimination (Pd) of this single locus was 0.9874 making the human ACTBP2 a good alternative marker for individual identification and paternity testing.     

Legitimacy‐Building in the Macau special administrative region: Colonial legacies and reform strategies

The retrocession of Macau to Mainland China's sovereignty since December 20, 1999 has initiated an unprecedented process of legitimacy‐building in the new Special Administrative Region. The Chief Executive, Edmund Ho, has implemented a multiplicity of reform strategies for the sake of consolidating his legitimacy. The twilight of the Portuguese colonial era was plagued by a rapid deterioration in law and order and the persistence in public maladministration, thus weakening the departing colonial regime's performance legitimacy seriously. As such, the political environment was conducive to Ho's herculean efforts at establishing his performance legitimacy. While the new Chief Executive's procedure legitimacy was enhanced by his election from an Election Committee composed of political elites, Ho's performance legitimacy has been buttressed by depoliticisation, economic development, civil service reforms, and new constitutional conventions. The abolition of the Municipal Councils in 2000 ran the risk of delegitimising the Ho regime. Yet, such delegitimisation was by no means serious given the relatively weak political opposition. Still, in the face of a more active and assertive citizenry, political reforms will have to be pondered and implemented by the post‐colonial regime in Macau. It will be necessary for the Macau government to utilise democratic reforms in a bid to preempt the increasingly vociferous demands for more participatory channels. The case of Macau corroborates the existence of a dialectical process of legitimisation, which has been strengthened mainly by depoliticisation and economic development, and delegitimisation, which is looming in the midst of a steadily growing political activeness on the part of the Macau people.     

The Study of Public Administration in Hong Kong and Macao: Evolutionary Paths and Implications

Comparatively speaking, the birth and the growth of public administration programmes, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in Hong Kong and Macao have been a response to the increasing need for the training of students and civil servants in the discipline of public administration. Since the 1990s, the proliferation of Master of Public Administration (MPA) programmes in both the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions can be explained by the demand for local people to govern the two places in accordance with the principle of ‘one country, two systems’. The content of various MPA programmes also reflects the changing political and administrative circumstances; its public administration focus has been accompanied by core courses training students from a variety of disciplines, ranging from public finance to economics, from public policy analyses to globalization, and from regional planning to a deeper understanding of mainland Chinese government and politics. In both Hong Kong and Macao, some graduates from both the Bachelor and Master programmes have joined the civil service or enhanced their skills in public sector management and governance. Although the medium of instruction varies from one university to another, their programme objective shares one thing in common: the imperative of training existing civil servants and students to join the governments of Hong Kong and Macao. This paper compares and contrasts the development of public administration programmes in Hong Kong and Macao and examines its theoretical implications for the changing relations between politics and public administration.     

Neo‐nationalism and Neo‐Atlanticism in Italian foreign policy

The European Union has low expectations for the international climate regime after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol effectively expires. The United States is not thought likely to sign up to new binding international commitments, whereas EU countries have experienced unexpected difficulties in implementing existing commitments. As a consequence, the European Union may be prepared to settle for a surprisingly weak follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, the European Union will pursue bilateral and regional climate agreements with like-minded countries, parallel to the UN framework and possibly independently of it. Collectively, such agreements could produce an international climate regime that is more robust than what could be agreed at the consensus-based UN level. Nevertheless, the European Union will continue to support the UN process as the only legitimate forum for international negotiations on climate change.     

The Structure of Utility in Spatial Models of Voting

Empirical models of spatial voting allow legislators' locations in a policy or ideological space to be inferred from their roll‐call votes. These are typically random utility models where the features of the utility functions other than the ideal points are assumed rather than estimated. In this article, we first consider a model in which legislators' utility functions are allowed to be a mixture of the two most commonly assumed utility functions: the quadratic function and the Gaussian function assumed by NOMINATE. Across many roll‐call data sets, we find that legislators' utility functions are estimated to be very nearly Gaussian. We then relax the usual assumption that each legislator is equally sensitive to policy change and find that extreme legislators are generally more sensitive to policy change than their more centrally located counterparts. This result suggests that extremists are more ideologically rigid while moderates are more likely to consider influences that arise outside liberal‐conservative conflict.     

Estimation of Gestational Age from Tooth Germs: Biometric Study of DentaScan Images

Abstract: The few available studies on fetal age estimation concern very small samples, and statistical analysis is sometimes inadequate. In this survey, we used germs of deciduous teeth to estimate fetal age. Forty‐nine fetuses and 40 mandibles were scanned, and observations and measurements were made on DentaScan images. After checking their repeatability and reproducibility (analysis of variance), we defined thresholds using Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis to calculate the probability that a fetus was over or below a predefined age threshold. The forensic threshold which is of particular interest in France is 22 weeks amenorrhea. Relationships between fetal age and deciduous germ measurements were then sought by multiple linear regression. The thresholds gave very good results: 91.84% of good probability for the threshold of 22 weeks amenorrhea with no chance of error. The most precise age evaluation obtained nevertheless gave a range of ±4.6 weeks amenorrhea, so greater accuracy is still needed.