The Cultural Transfer In Legal Translation

This paper will first explore legal translation from the semiotics approach. The sign developing process demands that in legal translation linguistic units cannot be exchanged in isolation from the legal cultural concepts. Some scholars equate legal equivalence with the extent to which the same legal effect can be produced in the target text. This paper will show the difficulties of achieving the same legal effect in the target text in view of the indeterminacy of word meaning in the source text, and will conclude from the analysis the best way of translating a legal text.     

Population study of 11 Y-chromosomal STR loci in Singapore Chinese

In this study of 212 unrelated Singapore Chinese males, allelic frequencies and gene diversities of 11 Y-chromosome specific STR loci (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385a/b, DYS438 and DYS439) were established. A total of 184 haplotypes were observed in the 212 individuals studied, of which 165 (89.67%) were unique. The most common haplotype was observed in five (2.35%) individuals. The overall haplotype diversity for the 11 Y-STR loci was 99.81%, and the discrimination capacity was 86.79%.     

Impurity profiling of ecstasy tablets seized in Hong Kong by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

In Hong Kong, ecstasy tablets are more commonly known as "Fing Tau Yuen", literally meaning "Shake Head Pills". The tablets contain mainly amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) including 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), methamphetamine (MA) and/or ketamine. Adulterant such as caffeine was also detected in the tablets. This paper reports a study on the impurity profiles of ecstasy tablets from 89 seizures in Hong Kong from 2002 to early 2004. Tablet samples were extracted by diethyl ether under alkaline condition and then analyzed by gas GC-MS. The chromatograms obtained were compared. A total of 19 identified impurities were selected as markers for impurity profiling. They are different precursors, intermediates and by-products. The data matrices were examined by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and then the ecstasy tablets were classified into different groups. Cluster analysis of ecstasy tablets is shown to be capable of providing intelligence on clandestine laboratory networks.     

The Contraceptive Self-Efficacy Scale: Analysis in Four Samples

Previous research has established a relationship between Contraceptive Self-Efficacy (CSE), as measured by the 18-item CSE scale, and young women's contraceptive behavior (Bilodeau, Forget, and Tetreault, 1994; Heinrich, 1993; Levinson, 1986; Wright, 1992). In this paper, we continue to explore the scale and its relationship to contraceptive behavior with four diverse samples to establish generalizability and to set guidelines for use of the scale. A series of correlational analyses were conducted with each sample. A pattern of low correlations among CSE items across samples emerged, indicating that use of the total item set separately as the basis for CSE was warranted. Zero-order and partial correlations revealed which CSE items were correlated with contraceptive behavior as well as which items explained unique variance in contraceptive behavior for each sample. Regression analyses showed that CSE was significantly predictive of contraceptive behavior for all samples. These results are discussed in terms of scale properties and use in research and clinical settings. Educational implications are formulated as well.     

Fighting the Korean War in pacifist Japan: Korean and Japanese leftist solidarity and American Cold War containment

Where does “pacifist” Japan fit within the history of the Korean War? Was Japan simply the beneficiary of the wartime boom – a case best exemplified by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru’s characterization of the Korean War as “a gift of the gods”? When North Korean troops crossed the thirty-eighth parallel and launched a full-scale attack against South Korea, the U.S. occupation in Japan quickly transformed the pacifist nation into the indispensable rear base of United Nations military intervention in the Korean War. The Japanese Communist Party and leftist groups organized by zainichi Koreans (Korean residents in Japan) launched an antiwar movement to stop Japan from producing and sending arms to UN forces in Korea. The U.S. occupation responded with determined efforts to contain every antiwar voice emerging from the streets of the pacifist country. By examining the political dynamics of zainichi Korean and Japanese leftist solidarity and U.S. countermeasures, this article shows how the Korean War was fought in pacifist Japan. It also illuminates how the practice of Cold War containment was mutually linked on the ground between occupied Japan and South Korea.     

Multidimensional Impulsive Personality Traits Mediate the Effect of Parent Substance Use Disorder on Adolescent Alcohol and Cannabis Use

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Theory suggests that behavioral undercontrol mediates the effect of parental substance disorder on offspring substance use, but no studies have tested...     

His(Tory): why British History needs Conservatives

British academia today is overwhelmingly left-leaning in its political orientation and especially pro-Labour. This article examines what impact this is having on British political history. It begins by demonstrating just how recent this left-wing preponderance is and how, as late as the 1990s, there remained a strong grouping of right-leaning political historians. This, the article argues, helps in part explain the relative vibrancy of political history in that era compared to today. Turning to the advantages a larger number of conservative voices would bring to the sub-discipline, the article identifies how those on the right are more likely to subscribe to different methodological approaches, have different historical interests and be interested in different kinds of political questions from their left-leaning colleagues. Most of all, it stresses how political diversity would help historians of every persuasion better recognise the ideological frameworks that inform their own work.     

The Sisyphus’s Rock of Prosperity and Disparity in the Global Economy: Giovanni Arrighi and Apple Inc’s Tax Avoidance Strategies from Obama to Trump

The global value chain (GVC) perspective assumes that business firms’ occupation of high value-added nodes in the global production network can promote their countries’ socio-economic development. However, I argue that society-wide benefits that may follow from firms’ profit-maximizing activities are often ephemeral. Over time the middle class can shrink, and economic inequality can increase even when firms continue to move up to higher value-added niches and garner huge profit. I illustrate this disjunction between business activities and societal development with Apple’s strategies of tax avoidance and reduction from the Obama to the Trump administration. I then draw on the theoretical framework that Giovanni Arrighi sets out in The Long Twentieth Century and ideas from The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus to analyze the Apple case. As my analysis makes clear, the flawed assumption of the GVC perspective reveals its practitioners’ failure to recognize that within global capitalism, permanent and sustained societal affluence is unlikely, and what exists instead is a constant alternation between prosperity and disparity.     

Marketing barriers facing developing country manufactured exporters: A comment

In a recent interesting article, Lall [1991] has noted that conventional export theories tend to neglect the role of marketing barriers to new entrants. In this comment I try to further develop two main ideas. The first is that firms from developing countries may not have the incentive to maintain quality standards. The second is that consumers in developed countries may have a country of origin bias towards new products from developing countries.