Quo vadis Japanese ODA? New developments in Japanese aid policies

Japan positioned itself in a special situation among the aid donor countries. This paper presents the trends in Japanese Official Development Aid policies in the new Millennium, provides an overview and discussion of the characteristics of Japanese ODA, and examines the different views and critiques that have arisen regarding Japan’s development aid policies. The paper’s goal is to highlight and interpret the latest developments and reforms of Japan’s ODA administration and strategies, its strengths and weaknesses, and to understand how ODA is becoming a more strategic, a stronger political, diplomatic and foreign policy tool in the hands of the Japanese government.

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The numerical Hatze-model: also qualified for calculations on children?

The aim of this study was to find out whether the Hatze-model, which is specifically designed for adults, is suitable for calculations on children as well. By means of that program it is possible to calculate various parameters of the human body. After the collection of data and analysis of the results according to Hatze it becomes evident that this model provides good results only for the calculation of the total body mass. As regards the body segments, there are significant under- and overestimations. The same applies to the calculation of mean body density. Indeed there is a significant gender dimorphism indicating that girls have a higher fraction of body fat than boys. However, the values are far below those described in the literature. Due to the formula, the values of the centres of gravity are linear and congruent in both sides of the body. Interpretation of the results is difficult, as there are no valid reference values. Furthermore the program is not able to take characteristic shapes and proportions of children into account. For this reason 88% of the children are defined as either pregnant or obese. In summary, the study shows that the present model should not be used to calculate children and the human models have to be designed specifically for children.     

Preventing suicide in prisons, part I. Recommendations from the International Association for Suicide Prevention Task Force on Suicide in Prisons

In 2000 the Department of Mental Health of the World Health Organization (WHO) published a guide named Preventing Suicide. A Resource for Prison Officers as part of the WHO worldwide initiative for the prevention of suicide. In 2007 there are new epidemiological data on prison suicide, a more detailed discussion of risk factors accounting for the generally higher rate of suicide in correctional settings in comparison to the general population, and several strategies for developing screening instruments. As a first step, this paper presents an update of the WHO guide by the Task Force on Suicide in Prisons, created by the International Association for Suicide Prevention. A second paper, by the same Task Force, will present some international comparisons of suicide prevention services in correctional facilities.     

Pretrial publicity,judicial remedies,and jury bias

Although past research has established pretrial publicity's potential to bias juror judgment, there has been less attention given to the effectiveness of judicial remedies for combatting such biases. The present study examined the effectiveness of three remedies (judicial instructions, deliberation, and continuance) in combatting the negative impact of different types of pretrial publicity. Two different types of pretrial publicity were examined: (a) factual publicity (which contained incriminating information about the defendant) and (b) emotional publicity (which contained no explicitly incriminating information, but did contain information likely to arouse negative emotions). Neither instructions nor deliberation reduced the impact of either form of publicity; in fact, deliberation strengthened publicity biases. Both social decision scheme analysis and a content analysis of deliberation suggested that prejudicial publicity increases the persuasiveness and/or lessens the persuasibility of advocates of conviction relative to advocates of acquittal. Acontinuance of several days between exposure to the publicity and viewing the trial served as an effective remedy for the factual publicity, but not for the emotional publicity. The article concludes by discussing the potential roles of affect and memory in juror judgment and evaluating the available remedies for pretrial publicity.     

Application of the Suchey-Brooks method to three-dimensional imaging of the pubic symphysis

Age determination is a major field of interest in forensic anthropology. Among the different methods based on macroscopic skeletal study, the Suchey-Brooks method, which analyzes the pubic symphysis, is one of the most reliable. We applied the Suchey-Brooks method to three-dimensional computed tomographic reconstructions of the pubic symphysis. We demonstrated excellent agreement between the results of analysis of bone samples and those of the three-dimensional images, in particular regarding ridges of the articular surface and delimitation of the extremities. The accuracy of age estimation did not significantly differ (Wilcoxon test) between the Suchey-Brooks method applied to bones and the same method applied to CT images. Using high-quality images, this approach seems as reliable as the standard Suchey-Brooks method and offers several advantages: no bone preparation, no damage to bone material, and the possibility of application to living individuals.     

Union Citizenship—Metaphor or Source of Rights?

After nearly ten years of introducing Union Citizenship as a concept into Community law it seems time to draw a preliminary evaluation of its importance in reshaping the legal and social positions of citizens living in the EU, more precisely in its Member States. The balance sheet is however mixed: On the one hand, the prevalent position in legal doctrine seems to be that Union citizenship is merely a derived condition of nationality, while on the other side certain fundamental rights are based on criteria other than citizenship/nationality alone. The European Charter on Fundamental Rights will not overcome this dilemma. This can be shown in conflictual areas which are in the centre of discusion in the paper, namely the (limited!) use of the concept of citizenship to extend existing free movement rights in the new case law of the Court of Justice, the resistance towards granting 'quasi-citizenship' rights to third country nationals lawfully resident in the Union for a longer period of time, and the yet unsolved problem of imposing 'implied duties' based on a doctrine of ' abus de droit ' upon citizens paralleling the rights granted to them. As a conclusion the author is of the opinion that the question asked for in the title can be answered in the positive only to a limited extent. Citizenship appears to be a sleeping fairy princess still be be kissed awake by the direct effect of Community law.     

Short term impact of Tribulus terrestris intake on doping control analysis of endogenous steroids

Tribulus terrestris is a nutritional supplement highly debated regarding its physiological and actual effects on the organism. The main claimed effect is an increase of testosterone anabolic and androgenic action through the activation of endogenous testosterone production. Even if this biological pathway is not entirely proven, T. terrestris is regularly used by athletes. Recently, the analysis of two female urine samples by GC/C/IRMS (gas chromatography/combustion/isotope-ratio-mass-spectrometry) conclusively revealed the administration of exogenous testosterone or its precursors, even if the testosterone glucuronide/epitestosterone glucuronide (T/E) ratio and steroid marker concentrations were below the cut-off values defined by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). To argue against this adverse analytical finding, the athletes recognized having used T. terrestris in their diet. In order to test this hypothesis, two female volunteers ingested 500 mg of T. terrestris, three times a day and for two consecutive days. All spot urines were collected during 48 h after the first intake. The (13)C/(12)C ratio of ketosteroids was determined by GC/C/IRMS, the T/E ratio and DHEA concentrations were measured by GC/MS and LH concentrations by radioimmunoassay. None of these parameters revealed a significant variation or increased above the WADA cut-off limits. Hence, the short-term treatment with T. terrestris showed no impact on the endogenous testosterone metabolism of the two subjects.     

Experimental tests for the validation of active numerical human models

The development of numerical human models is a topic of current interdisciplinary research. In the field of automotive safety these models can be applied for the optimization of protection systems. In forensic research human models can be used for the investigation of injury mechanisms and for the prediction and reproduction of injury patterns. However, up to now human models have been validated on the basis of PMHS tests without considering the effects of muscle activity. This paper shows two experimental volunteer test set-ups for the generation of experimental validation data. In a pendulum set-up the influence of muscle activity on the human kinematics was investigated. A drop test set-up was developed for the analysis of the effects of muscle activity on impact response characteristics of muscle tissue. Experimental results, presented in this paper, can be used for the validation and optimization of active numerical human models.     

"对欧洲一体化和东亚合作的再思考"会议综述

为研究欧洲和亚洲的新形势和地区一体化进程的最新进展,亚欧基金会(ASEF)、外交学院(CFAU)与中国国际关系学会(CNAIS)于2006年11月13-14日在中国北京共同组织了为期两天的题为“对欧洲一体化和东亚合作的再思考”的会议。来自39个亚欧会议成员国的近70名学者、政府官员和记者与会。会议开幕式由外交学院常务副院长秦亚青教授主持,中国外交部国际司吴海龙司长和亚欧基金会执行主席赵源一(Wonil Cho)大使致开幕词。欧洲委员会驻华代表团团长赛日·安博(Serge Abou)大使发表了主旨演讲,论述了欧洲地区一体化进程中政治和制度层面的问题…