North Korea's Internet strategy and its political implications

Abstract

During recent years, the role of information technology in shaping politics and social movements in the digital age is drawing increasing scholarly attention. There is, however, little such literature on North Korea as the country remains almost completely cut off from the Internet. Since the mid-1990s, the DPRK government has strategically developed its information and communication technology and has subsequently built a domestic intranet. Although North Korea keeps a minimal presence on the web, there are signs that the country is taking small and cautious steps to allow some social elites to take advantage of the Internet in order to leapfrog its economic development. Indeed, a high-profile defector indicated that North Korea will most likely start allowing wider but limited internet access in the near future. This paper examines North Korea's intranet and Internet policies and explores their political implications by drawing upon first-hand data from Korean sources and existing literature as well as by juxtaposing the North Korean case with other communist regimes such as China and Cuba in terms of their attempts to control and manipulate the Internet. It shows that the DPRK government is likely to learn from the Chinese and Cuban experiences and adopt a ‘Mosquito-Net’ model in controlling the Internet in an effort to attract foreign investment while keeping out information deemed threatening by the regime.     

Foreign aid: An instrument for fighting communism?

In this paper, we test the argument that the sizeable reduction in aggregate aid levels in the 1990s was due to the end of the Cold War. We test two different models using a dynamic econometric specification on a panel of 17 donor countries, spanning the years 1970–97. We find aid to be positively related to military expenditures in the former Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, but not in the 1990s, suggesting that the reductions in aid disbursements are driven by the disappearance of an important motive for aid. We also study the effect on aid allocation, but here we do not find any robust effects of the end of the Cold War.     

Industrial concentration in Europe

The European Union has been trying to achieve its long-term goals through partnerships and cooperation with other like-minded global actors. Africa (through its regional institutional body, the African Union) has been the first and only multilateral entity with which the EU has forged a long-term partnership. Despite its rhetorical language, the Africa--EU Strategic Partnership is unlikely to upgrade the political and economic interaction between the two partners. In the past few years, serious rifts have grown between the EU and its African counterparts concerning trade agreements and development policies. Moreover, new actors have made significant inroads in Africa, providing an alternative to its long-standing dependence on Europe.     

大鼠弥漫性轴索损伤后Homer1蛋白表达的研究

目的:观察大鼠弥漫性轴索损伤(DAI)后Homer1蛋白的表达规律。方法:将45只SD大鼠随机分为对照组及DAI组,后者按DAI后处死大鼠的时间不同分为30min、1h、3h、6h、12h、24h、72h、7d组。建立大鼠DAI动物模型,运用免疫组织化学技术及图像分析方法观察脑组织Homer1蛋白的表达。结果:损伤后30min,Homer1蛋白染色阳性细胞数增多,染色增强(P<0.05),随着损伤时间的延长,阳性细胞数及阳性表达范围逐渐扩大,于伤后24h达到高峰(P<0.01),随后逐渐下降。对照组可见少量Homer1蛋白表达。结论:Homer1蛋白是大鼠DAI后的灵敏指标,在不同时间段表达具有时序性变化规律,对于早期诊断DAI及损伤时间的推断具有一定的参考价值。     

CDK5的表达与脑损伤时间推断的相关性研究进展

细胞周期蛋白依赖激酶5(cyclin-dependent kinase 5,CDK5)是CDK家族中一类不直接调控细胞周期的蛋白。CDK5通过靶蛋白的磷酸化在神经细胞的发育、修复及退行性变等方面发挥着不可替代的作用。脑损伤是指暴力作用于头部造成的脑组织器质性损伤,由于损伤发生后机体启动应激及修复机制,脑组织中变化的多种蛋白及酶类物质可作为损伤时间判定的指标。本文就CDK5的分布、活性机制、生理作用及其脑损伤研究与其作为脑损伤标志物可能性的研究进展进行综述。     

Concordance Between the AmpFℓSTR® MiniFiler™ and AmpFℓSTR® Identifiler® PCR Amplification Kits in the Kuwaiti Population

Abstract:  The AmpFℓSTR^® MiniFiler™ polymerase chain reaction amplification kit, developed and supplied by Applied Biosystems, complements the AmpFℓSTR^® Identifiler^® polymerase chain reaction amplification kit (Applied Biosystems, Warrington, U.K.) by improving the success rate when profiling DNA that is degraded or contains inhibitors. Before applying the MiniFiler™ kit to casework, the profiles from 200 unrelated Kuwaitis were compared to Identifiler^® profiles. Concordance was observed for 99.875% (1598 of 1600) of the compared STR loci. The two discordant profiles displayed allelic dropout: one at the D13S317 locus due to nonamplification of allele 10 in the MiniFiler™ profile, and one at the D18S51 locus due to nonamplification of allele 18 in the Identifiler^® profile.     

Validation of the AMPFℓSTR® MiniFilerTM PCR Amplification Kit for Use in Forensic Casework*

Abstract: The AmpF?STR^® MiniFiler^TM PCR Amplification Kit is designed to genotype degraded and/or inhibited DNA samples when the AmpF?STR^® Identifiler^TM PCR Amplification Kit is incapable of generating a complete genetic profile. Validation experiments, following the SWGDAM guidelines, were designed to evaluate the performance of MiniFiler. Data obtained demonstrated that MiniFiler, when used in conjunction with Identifiler, provided an increased ability to obtain genetic profiles from challenged samples. The optimum template range was found to be between 0.2 and 0.6 ng, with 0.3 ng yielding the best results. Full concordance was achieved between the MiniFiler kit and Identifiler kit except in a single case of a null allele at locus D21S11. Numerous instances of severe heterozygous peak imbalance (<50%) were observed in single source samples amplified within the optimum range of input DNA suggesting that caution be taken when attempting to deduce component genotypes in a mixture.     

Niederlassungsbewilligungen aus humanitären Gründen: Antragsrecht des betroffenen Einzelnen verfassungsrechtlich erforderlich

§11 Abs3 NAG schafftkeine M?glichkeit der Antragstellung auf Erteilung eines humanit?ren Aufenthaltstitels. Auf Grund der Art 8 iVm 13 MRK und aus rechtsstaatlichen Erw?gungen muss neben einer Erteilung von Amts wegen auch ein Antragsrecht des in seinen subjektiven Rechten Betroffenen auf Erteilung eines humanit?ren Aufenthaltstitels vorgesehen sein.