Intergroup Prejudice in Multiethnic Settings

This article examines how out-group perceptions among Asian Americans, blacks, Latinos, and whites vary with the racial composition of their surroundings. Previous research on the contextual determinants of racial attitudes offers mixed expectations: some studies indicate that larger percentages of proximate out-groups generate intergroup conflict and hostility while others suggest that such environments promote interracial contact and understanding. As most of this research has been directed at black-white relations, the applicability of these theories to a multiethnic context remains unclear. Using data that merge the 1992–1994 Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality and 1990 Census, we find that in neighborhood contexts, interethnic propinquity corresponds with lower levels of out-group prejudice and competition, although intergroup hostility is higher in metropolitan areas with greater minority populations. Further tests suggest that these results do not occur from individual self-selection; rather ethnic spatial and social isolation bolster negative out-group perceptions. These findings suggest the value of residential integration for alleviating ethnic antagonism .     

More than a primitive imperialism: The colonial government and the social relief of Hong Kong in the early twentieth century

The implication of the social relief of Hong Kong in the early twentieth century has not been stressed sufficiently by researchers on social administration. The post‐colonial historiography, which would likely be dominated by Chinese communist historians, most probably will reinforce the reductionist view ‘British imperialist was indifferent to the social relief for Hong Kong grassroots’ to fit in the political correctness of the upcoming hegemony. This documentary analysis shows a different picture to the above common sense. Based on the new picture, we try to unveil the danger lurking in the anti‐imperialist nationalism, and suggest a possible new understanding of the history of Hong Kong's social welfare development.     

The use of a packed column for the determination of bupivacaine in human plasma by gas chromatography: an application in a pharmacokinetic study of bupivacaine.

The method involves a single extraction of the drug and the internal standard, etidocaine, from alkalinized plasma with n-hexane. The gas chromatograph is equipped with a glass column (2.0 m x 2 mm) packed with 3% W/W SP2250 on Chromosorb W, (80/100 mesh) and a nitrogen sensitive detector. The method can accurately measure plasma bupivacaine concentrations down to 0.01 micrograms ml-1 using a sample size of 0.5 ml. The day-to-day variation of bupivacaine at 2.0 micrograms ml-1 is 6.90% (n = 10). The calibration graph is linear over the range 0.1-4.0 micrograms ml-1. The method is accurate, fast and sensitive and has been applied in a pharmacokinetic study of bupivacaine.     

Legislation

On Sunday, 6 August 2006, at 2.30 a.m., the Hong Kong Legislative Council, after a prolonged and at times litigious debate, passed the Interception of Communications Surveillance Ordinance (ICO) in Hong Kong with a vote of 32–0. The ICO is the first successful attempt to regulate the interception of citizens' private communications by the Hong Kong government. A review of the literature shows that there has been no comprehensive, systematic and critical assessment of the IOC since its passage. This article provides a critical assessment of ICO, with a twist. Instead of evaluating the ICO based on preconceived and conventional Western jurisprudential principles and foreign legal practices, the article assesses ICO with reference to prevailing (Chinese‐Hong Kong) cultural standards from within, i.e. that of Qing‐Li‐Fa (QLF).     

The last governor,Asian values and China's uniqueness

Chris Patten, East and West — The Last Governor of Hong Kong on Power, Freedom and the Future (London: Macmillan, 1998), 304 pp.     

Knowing When to Salute

Due to a strong “Can Do” spirit and a well-engrained, albeit simplistic, notion of civilian control over the military, senior military leaders are disinclined to publicly share their disagreement with emerging national security policy. Many senior officers mistakenly believe that there are no alternatives other than just silently executing, resigning, or retiring when confronted with bad policy formulation. There are, however, options available to senior uniformed leaders when confronted with policy formulation that they, in their professional opinion, believe is flawed. Depending on the degree to which the civilian authorities are receptive to military advice and the magnitude of the threat to national security involved in the policy, senior military leaders can choose among many alternatives to widen the policy debate.