Business and Culture

正Itraveled around Asia for business as CEO and business director together with my buyers between 1980 and 1993,in particular the annual trade fairs in China's mainland and Taiwan. In subsequent years I have returned to visit the same countries and the region privately in order to maintain acquaintances and to deepen my knowledge of Chinese culture.     

Developmental validation of RSID™-Semen: a lateral flow immunochromatographic strip test for the forensic detection of human semen

Abstract: Tests for the identification of semen commonly involve the microscopic visualization of spermatozoa or assays for the presence of seminal markers such as acid phosphatase (AP) or prostate‐specific antigen (PSA). Here, we describe the rapid stain identification kit for the identification of semen (RSID?‐Semen), a lateral flow immunochromatographic strip test that uses two antihuman semenogelin monoclonal antibodies to detect the presence of semenogelin. The RSID?‐Semen strip is specific for human semen, detecting <2.5 nL of semen, and does not cross‐react with other human or nonhuman tissues tested. RSID?‐Semen is more sensitive with certain forensic evidence samples containing mixtures of vaginal secretions and semen than either of the commercially available PSA‐based forensic semen detection tests or tests that measure AP activity that were tested in parallel. The RSID?‐Semen kit also allows sampling a fraction of a questioned stain while retaining the majority of the sample for further processing through short tandem repeat analysis.     

Fixation of cells for analysis by laser microdissection--comparative studies in forensic trace material

This paper is focused on the preparation of samples for laser microdissection (LM) in forensic casework. In forensic genetics, it is essential to preserve and separate cellular traces during sample preparation, as they are usually gathered in very small amounts and are often contaminated with undesired cells. This is made possible by laser microdissection, a technique developed to cut cells or tissue of a certain type from a microscopical specimen by UV laser and catapult them directly into a PCR reactor. This method minimizes the risk of getting inconclusive, mixed DNA profiles due to contamination by foreign DNA and also supplies information about the cellular origin of a DNA profile. A method for optimized fixation and staining of spermatozoa for laser microdissection was established. Four different fixation methods combined with two staining methods were tested on two different microscope slides. Moreover, the effect of a blocker pen to contain the specimen on the slide was investigated.     

A further experimental study of expressive voting

Do people vote in elections for reasons that have nothing to do with the possibility that their own vote may decide the result of the election? That is, do they vote for “expressive” reasons? There is no hard evidence in the real world which bears on this question. The nearest one can come to an answer is to ask people about why they have voted, but what people say they do is not necessarily the same as their behavior, which cannot be observed on this issue in real voting situations. The existence, or otherwise, of expressive voting is an important question, because the answer provides insights into explaining voter turnout (i.e. to help explain why people vote), as well as whether their vote ever changes as a result of a change in the probability that their vote will decide-the election (i.e. to help explain what people vote). By conducting an appropriate experiment, however, direct evidence of whether some people vote expressively may be obtained. This paper describes such an experiment, and gives clear evidence for the existence of expressive voting.