How Reliable are Parenchymal Tissues for the Evaluation of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning? A Pilot Study

Dealing with burnt bodies, the forensic pathologist must first of all answer the question whether the victim was alive at the moment of the fire. This study aims at clarifying whether some human solid tissues may be reliably used for the forensic diagnosis of Co poisoning on burnt bodies providing no collectable blood during the autopsy. From 34 selected cases, both cardiac blood and parenchymal samples were collected to perform CO‐oxymeter, spectrophotometry, and gas chromatography tests: blood CO estimations (blood COHb% and blood[CO]) and parenchymal[CO] values have been compared with special focus on R values. The solid tissues having the best correlations with blood CO amount turned out to be the lung (R 0.84), the liver (R 0.83), the kidney (R 0.79), and the spleen (R 0.92).     

Metis,migrants, and the autonomy of migration

This paper interweaves an ancient conceptualization of movement and mobility with the paradigmatic case of early twentieth-century Chinese migration to the USA in order to explore migrants’ ability to both re-interpret institutional control of movement and generate identities that garner institutional and community acceptance. By not ‘settling’ migrants into the discourse of (undocumented) immigrants, the paper (i) develops a framework for the study of migrants–state interactions that goes beyond claims to citizenship and demands for rights and (ii) explores practices and means through which migrants gain access to restricted territories and maintain presence in otherwise unwelcoming communities. The paper argues that such practices explicate the autonomy of migration: a phenomenon that is constitutive to processes of political transformation and is critical to the study of state sovereignty, citizenship rights, and political agency.     

Internet gambling: Community flop or the Texas Hold'em poker rules1

Transformed by technology, the virtualisation of gambling has prompted administrations around the world to respond swiftly to the challenges posed by the new way of carrying out an age-old practice. However, approaches to regulation differ. Within the USA online gambling is prohibited by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 31 U.S.C. 5361-5367 (enacted in the USA in October 2006). This has been played out by the threats of extradition and arrests of senior executives in Texas and ultimately imprisonment for criminal infringements in among other places Las Vegas. By contrast the UK has implemented a regulatory regime through the Gambling Act 2005. The European Community has provided a regime somewhere between the two following recent European Court of Justice decisions (Plancanica 2 CMLR 25) finding against Member States operating state monopolies preventing the establishment of private providers in this specific sphere of commercial activity, contrary to Article 43TEC (right of establishment) and Article 49TEC (the right to provide services, this will of course also have the corollary of the right to receive services). The appropriateness of these responses leads the commentators back towards embryonic Internet governance discussions on cyber-paternalism and cyber-liberalism with online gambling as the case study.     

Development without a peasantry

The policies of the apartheid regime prematurely destroyed the peasantry in South Africa, leaving millions of people without land or jobs. The abrogation of racial laws that reserved 87 per cent of the land0 for whites makes it possible to launch policies addressing the needs of black farmers. Efforts to promote the emergence of black commercial farmers risk worsening conditions for much of the rural population. While it cannot neglect commercial agriculture and food security, South Africa also needs to revive peasant agriculture, which can play a role similar to that of the informal sector in urban areas.     

Simulating the impact of regulation changes on the market for prostitution services

The paper draws on recent research on the economics of prostitution focussing on the role of stigma in shaping the interaction between demand and supply and the resulting sub-markets in which this activity is typically organised. Here we extend the framework to consider the role of reputation and stigma in determining policy decisions regarding the regulation of prostitution and show how sub-optimal outcomes (from the point of view of the welfare of sex workers) may prevail.     

Project Trafficking: Global Unity in Addressing a Universal Challenge?

Trafficking in persons is often referred to as a global problem that can only be resolved through collaborative action involving the entire global community. Since the early 2000s, the United Nations (UN) has spearheaded efforts to lead the global anti-trafficking campaign and advocate for the humane treatment of trafficked persons. This paper examines the effects of various legal documents and advocacy campaigns to argue that, for the present moment, the UN-led anti-trafficking collaboration fails on both counts—end trafficking and provide protection and support to trafficked persons. It further argues that the global anti-trafficking unity is maintained at the expense of solving the actual problem: identifying someone to blame and criminalize takes precedence over resolving socio-economic conditions, which are often at the root cause of trafficking. An extreme emphasis on criminality and morality, while well aligned with states’ anti-immigration objectives and public outcries against illegal migration and prostitution, also leads to further ostracization of those in need of protection and options for reintegration.