Are the Popes Leaving Behind Just War and Embracing JustPeace?

Since the mid-nineteenth century a significant, though not yet complete, shift in both the politics and the teachings of popes regarding war and peace has occurred, in an increasingly pacifist direction. More specifically, the emphasis of the papal office has noticeably changed from endorsing violence and war toward embracing the essential coupling of peace and justice, holistic peacebuilding, and active nonviolence.

Moving beyond the tendency in academic literature to focus solely upon the Catholic Church’s teaching on just war, this essay demonstrates how the papacy went through a transformation in their attitudes to war and peace since the accession of Pius IX (r.1846–1878). Mapping developments from the mid-nineteenth century down to the time of this writing in March 2018, this essay demonstrates that while the contemporary popes have left intact certain aspects of the teaching of just war, they nonetheless lend a large measure of support to JustPeace outcomes, defined by the authors as combining peace and social justice in a mutually enhancing and creative tension.     

Building a regional adaptation strategy for Amazon countries

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - The IPCC has predicted that the Amazon rainforest will suffer strong consequences from a changing climate in the near future....     

Literacy and State–Society Interactions in Nineteenth-Century France

Modern states are distinguished by the breadth and depth of public regulation over private affairs. This aspect of state capacity and state power is predicated on frequent and dense encounters between the state and the population it seeks to control. We argue that literacy in the language of state administration facilitates state–society interaction by lowering the transaction costs of those encounters. We support this claim with evidence drawing upon detailed historical data from nineteenth-century France during a crucial period of state and nation building. Focusing on the specific domain of French marriage regulations, we find that increasing literacy predicts greater popular involvement with local authorities across French regions over time. These results demonstrate that literacy plays an important role in political development not solely by enhancing loyalty to the state, as the literature has recognized, but also by lowering linguistic and human capital barriers to state–society interaction.     

Does Stimulating Physical Activity Affect School Performance?

This paper investigates whether encouraging children to become more physically active in their everyday life affects their primary school performance. We use data from a field quasi-experiment called the Active Living Program, which aimed to increase active modes of transportation to school and active play among 8- to 12-year-olds living in low socioeconomic status (SES) areas in the Netherlands. Difference-in-differences estimations reveal that while the interventions increase time spent on physical activity during school hours, they negatively affect school performance, especially among the worst-performing students. Further analyses reveal that increased restlessness during instruction time is a potential mechanism for this negative effect. Our results suggest that the commonly found positive effects of exercising or participating in sports on educational outcomes may not be generalizable to physical activity in everyday life. Policymakers and educators who seek to increase physical activity in everyday life need to weigh the health and well-being benefits against the probability of increasing inequality in school performance.     

Preparation of Artificial Blood from the Extract of Legume Root Nodules,and the Creation of Artificial Latent Fingermarks in Blood Using Artificial Blood,

Distribution of homogeneous fingermarks in blood is essential for conducting proficiency tests in forensic science. Hence, the artificial blood was prepared using the root nodule extract of Glycine max plants. The reactivity of the artificial blood with widely used human blood detection reagents was tested. Artificial latent fingermarks in blood were printed using an inkjet cartridge case filled with artificial blood solution. The artificial latent fingermarks in blood were developed with amino acid‐sensitive reagents and could obtain development as prominent as the image of the master fingermark saved on the computer. Therefore, it has been confirmed that the extract of legume root nodules can be used as artificial blood, and the artificial blood can be used for the preparation of artificial latent fingermarks or footmarks in blood.     

New pitfall for the pharmaceutical industry

Legal context This article reviews the Commission decision thatfined AstraZeneca 60 million for abuse of Article 82 EC. Itlooks at the decision in the context of the EU legal frameworkfor pharmaceuticals and considers the legal basis for the Commissiondecision. Key points The article highlights the key points of the allegedabusive practices that do not appear to be consistent with theEU regulatory legal framework and the ECJ jurisprudence in particular,read in conjunction with the principle of commercial freedom. Practical significance The Commission decision (if upheld bythe courts) would have an significant impact on the way thatpharmaceutical companies run their business. This would constitutean unprecedented interference with the principle of commercialfreedom afforded to pharmaceutical companies and specificallyrecognised by the ECJ.     

Species identification of Kachuga tecta using the cytochrome b gene

A DNA technique has been established for the identification to species level of tortoises. The test on the shell of the animal was used to identify samples from the species Kachuga tecta. A total of 100 tortoise shell specimens collected from the National Council of Agriculture (COA), Taiwan, were used in this study. Primer pairs were designed to amplify partial DNA fragments of cytochrome b within the mitochondrial genome. The DNA data showed that among the 100 samples, there were four distinct haplotype DNA sequences, within which there were a total of 90 variable sites. Between haplotypes I and II, there was only 1 nucleotide difference at position 228. Between haplotypes I and III, 65 nucleotide differences were observed; haplotypes I and IV, 62 nucleotide differences; and haplotypes III and IV, 56 nucleotide differences were observed. There were 66 and 63 nucleotide differences between haplotypes II and III and haplotypes II and IV respectively. All four haplotypes were compared with the DNA sequences held at the GenBank and EMBL databases. The most similar species were K. tecta (haplotype I and II), Morenia ocellata (haplotype III) and Geoclemys hamiltonii (haplotype IV), and their respective mtDNA similarities were 99.5%, 99.3%, 89.9% and 99.5%. However, as haplotype III was only 89.9% homologous with M. ocellata, it would seem that this haplotype shows only a limited relationship with a similar species registered currently in these databases. The method established by this study is an additional method for the identification of samples protected under Convention International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and will improve the work for the preservation of the endangered species.     

Evaluation of antisera for bloodstain grouping. I. ABH, MN, and Rh

Sixty-eight different commercially available blood grouping antisera and lectins with ABH, MN, and Rh D, C, E, c, and e specificities were serologically evaluated for their applicability to bloodstain antigen determination. The characteristics of the antisera were determined with red cells, with fresh bloodstains, and with series of aging bloodstains. The Rh antisera were tested under a variety of serological conditions and with bloodstains on various substrata. Additionally, studies on optimization of absorption-elution procedure variables were carried out, and some data on the storage characteristics of red cells and blood grouping antisera were gathered.