An Assessment of the Utility of Universal and Specific Genetic Markers for Opium Poppy Identification

Abstract: The proper identification of illicit plants such as Papaver somniferum L (opium poppy) is important for law enforcement agencies. The identification of opium poppy was presently tested using 10 genetic markers that are universal for all plants or specific to a few poppy plants. The genetic distances of universal markers such as nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS), 18S rRNA, plastid rbcL, and trnL‐trnF intergenic spacer (IGS) of 14 species included in the Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae family were acquired by sequence comparisons. Both the ITS region and trnL‐trnF IGS showed high levels of interspecific divergence. Six Papaver genera‐specific markers were developed from coding regions involved in morphine biosynthesis. Three markers (TYDC, NCS, and BBE) produced amplicons only in opium poppy, providing a presence/absence test for opium poppy, while three additional markers (CYP80B1, SAT, and COR) were genus specific. These 10 markers might be useful for the forensic DNA analysis of opium poppy.     

我国刑法立法的发展方向

在世界近、现代刑法发展的历史中,存在古典刑法和实证刑法两种不同类型的刑法。古典刑法和实证刑法看似两个学派理论争论的产物,实则根源于社会发展的需要。我国刑法目前处于古典刑法的发展阶段。在我国刑事立法政策逐渐走向成熟的过程中,必须注意防止刑法现代化的议题模糊我国刑法发展的目标。应以保持我国古典刑法基本品格不变为主,根据需要和可能,逐渐地、适当地引入实证刑法制度的内容。在刑法理论上,要正确消化和吸收实证刑法理论,某种意义上也就是犯罪学理论为刑法和刑法学提供的理论立场和观点;要注意防止古典刑法教条主义的不当影响,根据社会发展过程中出现的问题。改变刑法典一统刑法制度的格局,分散建立不同的制度。     

Government regulations and FDI: a historical perspective of mexico

This article analyzes the development of foreign investment regulations and their impact on FDI flows in Mexico. The study covers the evolution of sectoral and aggregate investment patterns from the independence period to the 1994 Peso crisis and its aftermath. The pattern followed by FDI in Mexico has paralleled the transformation of the Mexican economy itself, focusing initially on the extractive and agricultural sectors, then on manufacturing activities, and recently on the services sector. Mexico has continuously reformed and modernized its regulatory system in order to adapt to internal political changes and changes in the world economic environment. Recent economic reforms and liberalization of FDI regulations have had a major positive impact on capital inflows, but more needs to be done, especially in the area of financial services in order to achieve a higher level of economic efficiency and to prevent financial breakdowns like the one experienced in 1994.     

以高度的文化自觉推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣

当今世界,文化在国家综合实力中扮演着越来越重要的角色,已成为国家软实力的核心表现。以高度的文化自觉推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣,是全面建成小康社会、实现民族伟大复兴的应有之义和必然要求;自觉坚持中国特色社会主义文化发展道路,是推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣的根本前提;自觉坚持以社会主义核心价值体系引领文化建设,是推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣的理论依据;自觉加强对文化建设战略地位的认识,是推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣的实践动力。     

Determinants of Financial Transparency in Government

ABSTRACT

The search for enhanced transparency and accountability in government organizations has inspired studies to identify the key factors that facilitate greater disclosure of public financial information. With the advantages provided by the meta-analysis technique, applied to a sample of studies, we identify the most significant factors and incentives underlying the decisions adopted by public managers on policy strategies regarding information transparency and public responsibility. Our study shows the variables analyzed to be positively associated with the disclosure of public financial information, but also that this depends on the context in which the research is carried out. The most influential variables were the moderator variables of the administrative culture and of the measurement unit for the variables.     

Medical aid as protest: acts of citizenship for unauthorized im/migrants and refugees

This article examines organized efforts by citizens to provide medical aid to unauthorized migrants in Germany. A case study of an activist organization in Berlin highlights how prevailing forms of governance through citizenship are disrupted. Three major themes are explored. First, historical contingencies and policy realities explain why, given examples of grassroots protest by migrants in other settings, efforts in Germany have been driven primarily by citizens. Second, migrants' biolegitimacy shapes specific ideas of relative deservingness. As a result, advocacy for some groups, such as survivors of torture or refugees from specific geopolitical settings, is more highly valued than that which addresses needs of unauthorized labor migrants. Finally, although their sustained efforts have resulted in challenges to policy and called into question prevailing notions of citizenship, medical activist organizations have become increasingly institutionalized, which may jeopardize their goals. As this case illustrates, the distinctive ethics associated with providing medical care has the ability to disrupt the scaling of citizenship by the state by treating noncitizens – especially ‘illegal’ noncitizens – ostensibly as citizens, thus protesting citizenship as the exclusive organizing principle of German society.     

DISCUSSION - Agricultural Policy Reform and Rural Livelihoods in Central Mexico

This contribution examines the impact of profound changes to agricultural policy implemented since 1988 on the livelihoods of Mexico's rural population. Detailed studies in four villages show that rural incomes are very unevenly distributed within communities leaving half of households in poverty. During the last decade key factors affecting village economies have been international and national, rather than specific changes to farm policy. Most changes have been to the detriment of the communities studied, but peasant households have adapted and survived, at a price. If the worst fears about the consequences of economic liberalisation have not been realised, neither have the hopes. Depressed markets for basic goods and services have limited the growth of the rural economy. Private investment and provision of services have not been stimulated.     

甘肃省区域经济发展差异性分析

针对甘肃省经济发展的整体特征,该文选取2009年甘肃省14个市州的数据,采用因子分析法——聚类分析法,对甘肃14个市州的发展水平进行实证分析,依据实证结果可将14个市州发展水平划分为发达、次发达、一般和落后四个发展梯度,针对不同的梯度提出了缩小区域间发展差距的对策和建议.     

The Spanish Parliament and legislative delegation (1844–1849)1

A study of executive power and the legislative elaboration process during the reign of Isabel II leads to an understanding of one of the government's distinctive features. During the rule of the Moderate Party (1844–1854), and despite the fact that according to the Constitution of 1845 the legislative initiative lay with the king and the parliament, the ministerial initiatives prevailed over parliamentary proposals by means of legislative delegation. The lack of constitutional regulation brought about the existence of several types of delegation. Contemporaries noted their excessive use arising from the fact that it was very easy to govern with this system and, above all, because they were granted to all governments without political distinction. A paradigmatic illustration of the use of delegation is the Spanish Penal Code of 1848. This was because of the scope of its contents (the code put an end to the Ancien Regime in Spain) and because it had a structure and a scientific orientation which were going to exert a recognised influence, not only on Spain's subsequent Spanish Penal Codes until reaching the one in force from 1995, but also in Latin America. The Penal Code was equally important, because it clearly shows how the chambers themselves were not only unable to limit the government's capacity to introduce law, but even enlarged it by conferring upon the latter extraordinary powers for its future reform, limited by the only condition that the government had to inform the chambers once the reforms had been completed. An analysis of parliamentary debates allows us to understand the position of the moderate and progressive parties towards this practice.