Methamphetamine body packer: acute poisoning death due to massive leaking of methamphetamine

We encountered three methamphetamine (MA) body packers presenting simultaneously, one of whom died. Three Nigerian men (39, 35, and 37 years old) who attempted to smuggle were found to contain 35 (498 g), 21 (292 g), and 5 packages (73 g) of methamphetamine hydrochloride (MA-HCl) in their stomachs, respectively. Packages were wrapped with plastic film and Scotch tape. The 39-year-old man died with acute poisoning from c. 20 g of MA-HCl that had leaked from the packages into the stomach. His plasma MA concentration was 8.6 microg/mL when he was hospitalized (17 h before his death). Autopsy findings showed extreme pulmonary congestion and edema as well as moderate hepatic edema and several petechiae. Quantitative analysis was performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Extremely high concentrations of MA and its metabolite amphetamine (AP) were found in cardiac blood (63.5 microg/mL and 1.2 microg/mL), urine (4,518 microg/mL and 72.4 microg/mL), gastric contents (8,490 microg/mL and 16.9 microg/mL), and in all other autopsy samples. These high concentrations confirmed that the cause of death was acute MA poisoning. Furthermore, impurity-profiling analysis of the seized MA revealed that the MA smuggled by the three suspects originated from the same batch.     

The demographic and agricultural development of the Kokand oasis during the Russian Imperial era: nomad immigration and cotton monoculture

ABSTRACT

This study investigates oasis expansion in the precolonial period and agricultural evolution in the colonial period using village-level statistics from the early twentieth century. This survey illustrates that the Kokand oasis in the Ferghana Valley initially appeared in the central part, where the Sart population settled by the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Uzbek and Karakalpak tribes migrated to the valley peripheries, while the Kyrgyz semi-nomads settled in the alluvial fan. It is not surprising that such a migratory process created a mosaic-like ethnic distribution. Furthermore, this study suggests that the pattern coincided with a variety of agricultural practices, and presents two contrasting models of cotton monoculture under the Russian Empire. The main area occupied by the Sarts presents a general model of canal-irrigated cotton planting in Central Asia, while the Karakalpaks’ cotton planting using groundwater in the periphery suggests multiple courses of nomad sedentarization.     

Can Luck Egalitarianism Serve as a Basis for Distributive Justice? A Critique of Kok-Chor Tan’s Institutional Luck Egalitarianism

This paper examines whether Kok-Chor Tan’s institutional luck egalitarianism is successful as a pluralist luck egalitarian theory of justice and morality. In recent years, pluralist luck egalitarianism has become a salient theory of justice. Tan’s pluralist proposal for institutional luck egalitarianism is attractive because it seems to refute the metaphysical and practical challenges against luck egalitarianism. This paper demonstrates that, although Tan’s institutional luck egalitarianism is indeed a most sophisticated systematic pluralist theory of justice and morality, his argument fails because the application of luck egalitarianism to the domain of distributive justice and to the basic institutions of society is not justified from the luck egalitarian point of view. This paper concludes that Tan’s institutional luck egalitarianism does not succeed in demonstrating that his theory is an outstanding achievement of luck egalitarianism.     

The possibility of cooperation in an n-person prisoners' dilemma with institutional arrangements

We investigate how cooperation is possible among self-interested individuals in an n-person prisoners' dilemma from the viewpoint of institutional arrangements. Assuming that individuals create by their free consent an institutional order to enforce an agreement of cooperation, we present a noncooperative game model in which individuals have negotiations for creating an enforcement agency and also for cooperation in advance of taking actual actions. The noncooperative solution of our institutional arrangement game shows that the probability of each individual participating in negotiations monotonically decreases and converges to zero as the number of individuals becomes larger and larger. Our noncooperative game model for institutional arrangements is applied to an environmental pollution problem and some numerical results are given.The research for this paper was started when I stayed at ZiF, University of Bielefeld, in 1987–88 to participate in the Research Project Game Theory in the Behavioral Sciences. Financial support and warm hospitality from ZiF is gratefully acknowledged. I am grateful to Hartmut Kliemt, Elinor Ostrom, James Rhodes and Koichi Suga for their very helpful suggestions and discussions. Of course, any remaining errors are of mine. Financial support by the Murata Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.     

Detection of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in fabric urine stains older than five years

Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is used in clinical medicine as a particularly important indicator to determine pregnancy. In this study, it was necessary to determine whether the urine spots on car seat fabric from a murder 5 years previously were from a pregnant woman. The HCG in the dried urine spot on a car seat was detected using an immunochromatography kit. It was found that the HCG in urine can be detected for much longer periods of time than the previously reported period of approximately 6 months.     

规制改革、市场准入与国际市场竞争

本文节选自世界经合组织 (ORCD)就规制改革问题 ,对十几个国家考察后所撰写的研究报告。作者在文章中指出 ,为减少各国间的贸易壁垒 ,提高各国企业的国际竞争能力 ,在一个国际框架内进行规制改革十分重要。世界经合组织已就此问题在某些领域作了初步探索。     

Sex identification of bloodstains by radioimmunoassay of sex hormones

A forensic application is reported for the sex determination of subjects whose dried bloodstains are analyzed by radioimmunoassay for testosterone and progesterone. Blood specimens of ten males and 15 females were collected, prepared as bloodstains, and then assayed at four-different time intervals for testosterone (T) and progesterone (P) contents up to 3 months later. The ratio of the two hormone contents ($\text{P}\text{T}$) was used to establish the sex origin of the dried blood specimens.     

From Ancient to Modern Times: A Retrospective of Japan's Relationship with the Middle East

After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, interest in the Middle East and Islam has surged in Japan as well as the rest of the world. This marks the third time in modern history that there has been such a surge in interest in the region. The first oil crisis in 1973 and the Gulf War in 1991 had prompted the other occasions. On the previous occasions, the interest had been fleeting and had not had any lasting effect on the economic and political trends of Japan. In this article, Akira Mizuguchi, senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute of Japan, reflects on Japan's relationship with Islam. In a world of increasing globalization, the role of the nation state is changing. He considers whether Japanese interests within the framework of the nation state should determine strategies for energy, which has an enormous impact on economic activity. Also, he ponders on the best way to respond to the various social problems arising from the increase in multicultural friction.