Appealing (but not Necessarily Winning) to Improve Your Social Status

In this article, I argue that litigants identify the appellate courts as offering a powerful and public arena where litigants' claims are placed (at least temporarily) on an equal footing with the current state of the law. In this context, the initiation of appeals is treated as synonymous with receiving endorsements from the appellate courts that the litigants' original claims had sufficient merit to deserve better treatment than they had received previously from either the opposing parties or the trial courts. These actions work to raise appellants' social status, and I propose that such activity is one additional reason why some litigants might appeal.     

The latin american business environment: patent protection issues

Considers the issue of patent rights in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Reviews both theoretical and empirical literature on fitting patent systems to national circumstances. Data are considered shedding light on trade flows and capital formation, two areas impacted by strong or weak protection. Recommends a general hybrid system for Latin American nations, meeting GATT standards while remaining adaptable to individual country needs.     

Successful DNA typing of ultrafiltered urines used to detect EPO doping

Endogenous and exogenous erythropoietin (EPO) present in urine can be distinguished according to their isoelectric profiles. This methodology requires urine samples to be concentrated about 200 to 1000 times with manipulations that should remove most of the cells occurring in the original sample. In this study, we tried to obtain DNA profiles from 10 ultrafiltered urines (retentates) in order to evaluate whether a formal genetic identification was technically feasible. No nuclear DNA profiles could be established from retentates, despite 34 PCR-cycles amplifications. Contrastingly, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) profiles were obtained for 9 out of the 10 retentates. Apart from some particularities, retentate mtDNA profiles were all distinct and matched mtDNA profiles of corresponding reference samples.     

College education requirements for police entry level and promotion: A study

Administrators of law enforcement agencies are increasingly caught up in conflicts between demands to increase educational standards for police officers and the need to justify those increased standards based upon job relevance. On the one hand, national commissions suggest four year degree prerequisites for entry level into police work; on the other hand, police administrators are reluctant to impose rigid higher educational requirements because of possible negative ramifications such as a limited recruitment pool, rapid officer turnover, and court mandates to prove the job relevance of a college education. This study addresses these concerns by reviewing current empirical studies and relevant court decisions which add insight into this topic and which will, hopefully, assist administrators in making decisions regarding college educational requirements for hiring and promotion.     

Pre-nuptial Agreements the end of romance or an invaluable weapon in the wealth protection armoury?

Media attention directed at high profile divorce cases has emphasizedthat trust assets may be included in divorce settlements andthe advantages which pre-nuptial and similar agreements canplay in achieving acceptable and less traumatic settlements.This article examines the role that pre-nuptial agreements andsimilar measures can play in achieving an acceptable settlement.