The Elusive Goal in Democratic Chile: Reforming the Pinochet Labor Legislation

Despite major attempts by the three governments of the post-Pinochet era, the promised reform of the labor legislation inherited from the military regime remains essentially incomplete. This study attempts to explain why, and addresses some of the consequences of this delay for Chilean organized labor, examining particularly the variables of consensus politics and employer concessions.     

The role of counterintelligence in countering transnational organized crime

Summary TOC behaves like or assumes the structure and the operations of a secret orga-nization. Powerful TOC organizations grow in symbiosis with the security structures of their host countries. In recent years, the way in which criminals in organized groups think has made them very successful. They are serious about their ‘business,’ and those who would defeat them must understand this. Counterintelligence personnel are especially well-equipped for this task because they are trained to deal with secret structures. Therefore it is worthwhile and necessary to attempt to gain more and better knowledge of TOC by employing the approach and methods of counterintelligence. This approach has after all been quite successful in the past in countering hostile intelligence and security services.     

On Prison and Therapy

This paper analyzes the choice of punishment levels where therapy and pure imprisonment are the two types of treatment. The incidence of a repeat offense depends on the offender's criminal energy in a stochastic fashion. Therapy increases the depreciation rate of criminal energy. A combination of the two treatment types is never chosen since they constitute strong substitutes.     

Die ostasiatische Moderne – eine Moderne „eigener“ Art?

The article casts doubt on the claim of Eisenstadt and other culturalists that East Asia constitutes a distinct modernity, one that differs fundamentally from Western modernity. Following a brief reconstruction of key modernization theoretical premises against which this claim is directed, it compares the five largest Western countries with the currently most advanced exemplars of East Asian modernity. The findings show that the two regions are remarkably similar in virtually all respects that matter from a modernization theoretical viewpoint. The article then goes on to assess the relevance of the evidence held against modernization theory by Eisenstadt and his followers. As it turns out, this evidence presents no challenge to modernization theory whatsoever. Moreover, its epistemological status is dubious given that multiple modernists lack a sufficiently worked-out theory of modernity in whose light the social theoretic significance of empirical observations could be assessed. Drawing upon the differentiation theoretical tradition, an alternative approach is outlined that addresses multiple modernists’ substantive concerns without falling into the trap of essentializing diversity. However, utilizing this approach for the comparison between Western and East Asian modernity subverts the very idea of a uniform West against which the notion of a distinctly East Asian modernity is posited.     

Zwangsheirat oder Scheidung: Zu Logiken und Realitäten im israelisch-palästinensischen Verhältnis

Ohne Zusammenfassung Ich danke Eva Wegner für die Hilfe bei der Fertigstellung dieses Kommentars.     

New alleles and mutational events at 14 STR loci from different German populations

The molecular origin of DNA mutations and the mutation rates were analyzed at 14 short tandem repeat (STR) loci with samples from trio cases derived from 10 different German population samples. STR loci comprised of D2S1360, D3S1744, D4S2366, D5S2500, D6S474, D7S1517, D8S1132, D10S2325, D12S391, D18S51, D19S246, D20S480, D21S226, and D22S689. In a total of 488 meioses, 16 isolated genetic inconsistencies in 8 different STRs were observed, whereas no mutations were found at the other loci. The data of five mutations suggested the presence of silent or null alleles due to sequence variation in primer binding site. This could be confirmed for four suspected cases by the use of alternative primer sets and by DNA sequence analyses. Furthermore, this study revealed nine new allelic variants at five different loci.     

Ethyl sulphate and ethyl glucuronide in vitreous humor as postmortem evidence marker for ethanol consumption prior to death

To clarify the circumstances of death, the degree of inebriation is of importance in many cases, but for several reasons the determination of the ethanol concentration in post-mortem samples can be challenging and the synopsis of ethanol and the direct consumption markers ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulphate (EtS) has proved to be useful. The use of a rather stable matrix like vitreous humor offers further advantages. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of ethanol and the biomarkers in the robust matrix of vitreous humor and to compare them with the respective levels in peripheral venous blood and urine. Samples of urine, blood from the femoral vein and vitreous humor were taken from 26 deceased with suspected ethanol consumption prior to death and analyzed for ethanol, EtS and EtG. In the urine samples creatinine was also determined. The personal data, the circumstances of death, the post-mortem interval and the information about ethanol consumption prior to death were recorded. EtG and EtS analysis in urine was performed by LC-ESI-MS/MS, creatinine concentration was determined using the Jaffé reaction and ethanol was detected by HS-GC-FID and by an ADH-based method. In general, the highest concentrations of the analytes were found in urine and showed statistical significance. The mean concentrations of EtG were 62.8mg/L (EtG100 206.5mg/L) in urine, 4.3mg/L in blood and 2.1mg/L in vitreous humor. EtS was found in the following mean concentrations: 54.6mg/L in urine (EtS100 123.1mg/L), 1.8mg/L in blood and 0.9mg/L in vitreous humor. Ethanol was detected in more vitreous humor samples (mean concentration 2.0g/kg) than in blood and urine (mean concentration 1.6g/kg and 2.1g/kg respectively). There was no correlation between the ethanol and the marker concentrations and no statistical conclusions could be drawn between the markers and matrices.     

Regioselective synthesis of isotopically labeled Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A (THCA-A-D(3)) by reaction of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-D(3) with magnesium methyl carbonate

For the reliable quantification of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A (THCA-A), the biogenetic precursor of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in biological matrices by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS(/MS), an isotopically labeled internal standard was synthesized starting from Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-D(3) (THC-D(3)). Synthesis strategy was based on a method reported by Mechoulam et al. in 1969 using magnesium methyl carbonate (MMC) as carboxylation reagent for the synthesis of cannabinoid acids. Preliminary experiments with THC to optimize yield of the product (THCA-A) resulted in the synthesis of the positional isomer tetrahydrocannabinolic acid B (THCA-B) as a byproduct. Using the optimized conditions for the desired isomer, THCA-A-D(3) was prepared and isolated with a yield of approx. 10% after two synthesis cycles. Isotope purity was estimated to be >99% by relative abundance of the molecular ions. The synthesized compound proved to be suitable as an internal standard for quantification of THCA-A in serum and hair samples of cannabis consumers.