Detection of genotype recycling fraud in U.S. immigrants

Abstract: Relationship testing laboratories provide genetic evidence to support or refute claims of kinship between U.S. citizen petitioners and potential immigrant beneficiaries. One female beneficiary presented a male amelogenin type and alleles at 15 autosomal loci that were identical to an alleged brother’s. Laboratory records showed that her alleged father had petitioned to have 15 children emigrate from Ghana. The petitioner’s 15 paternity indices exceeded 10⁵, but the children shared only four short tandem repeat (STR) profiles, suggesting fraudulent reuse of genotypes in this alleged pedigree (AP). To determine the extent of this “genotype recycling,” I examined the laboratory’s 555 APs from Ghana and 532 control APs from Nigeria. Seventeen Ghanaian APs (3.1%) but no Nigerian APs showed genotype recycling. Of 90 tested people in the 17 APs, 56 shared identical STR profiles with others in their AP. Of these 56 people, 10 were petitioners with unexpectedly high parentage indices. Seven of 56 had amelogenin types that disagreed with their declared genders. Database searches for identical multilocus genotypes in allegedly different people would best detect this fraud.     

最密切联系原则的地位思辨

对于最密切联系原则的地位,将其作为国际私法的基本原则或法律选择的基本原则或法律适用的补充原则都是值得商榷的。最密切联系原则作为一个系统,是有层次的,既是法律选择的指导原则又是法律选择的方法。最密切联系原则的客体应表述为既包括“法域”也包括“法律”,二者不可割裂,它是在立法和司法层面的综合表征,诠释了在不同阶段立法选择权与司法选择权的相互结合、相互补充。最密切联系原则指向国际条约或国际惯例容易为当事人所接受,也为法院提供了便利,且可以满足国际商业活动追求便利和效率的需要,因此有一定的可行性。     

论中国行政法理论研究的时代条件简

本文认为,一个国家现代行政法的客现存在是该国行政法开展理论研究的时代前提,而现代行政法的创制必须具备两个基本条件：一是国家实行以“依法行政”为核心的“法治”方略;二是行政法律关系主体的双方即行政主体和外部行政相对人具有独立的主体资格地位.纵现我国自辛亥革命以来所历经的旧民主主义革命时期、新中国建立后以1978年改革开放为分水岭的前后阶段等各个时期,“法治”理念是在曲折中得以不断提升,行政法律关系主体独立资格地位也在不断发展,但中国现代行政法及以其为研究对象的中国行政法理论研究的成熟期是在1978年改革开放之后.     

试论我国市场与政府在资源配置中的相互关系

党的十八届三中全会《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干重大问题的决定》提出经济体制改革的核心问题是处理好政府和市场的关系,使市场在资源配置中起决定性作用和更好发挥政府作用。本文认为要处理好政府与市场的关系,就必须要尊重市场规律,在此基础上转变政府职能,实现市场作用与政府作用的有机协调和配合,这样,才能在资源配置中发挥好市场与政府两方面的作用,实现新一轮经济改革的目标,为全面建成小康社会、实现中华民族伟大复兴提供体制条件。     

Policing terrorism and police–community relations: views of the Arab minority in Israel

Police involvement in counterterrorism has special ramifications on minority groups that may be viewed as presenting high risk to homeland security. Our public survey shows that the Jewish respondents in our sample expressed positive attitudes toward police involvement in mission of counterterrorism, while Israeli Arabs expressed more concern with the ramifications of police involvement in counterterrorism on its relations with the Arabs in particular. The results show that both communities recognized the central role that the police may play in dealing with terrorism, and they both expressed high levels of willingness to cooperate with the police to fight against terrorism.     

Employer–employee relationships at Lonmin Platinum: A developing South African perspective

Abstract

More than ever, companies are confronted with the importance of developing and maintaining relationships with their strategic stakeholders, such as employees. These relationships should be aimed at balancing the interests of the company with the interests of said stakeholders. Managing relationships with stakeholders is difficult in itself and even more so within the complex context of the South African mining industry. The aim of this article is to determine guidelines that could be used to ascertain employer–employee relationship type and relationship quality in the mining sector. In 2004, a quantitative questionnaire survey was conducted with a stratified quota sample of 508 company employees as part of a commissioned stakeholder perception survey. In addition, qualitative focus-group sessions were conducted to contextualise and clarify the quantitative results. The research indicated that the employer–employee relationship at Lonmin Platinum could be classified as an exchange, rather than a communal relationship. Employees generally perceived the quality of their relationship with the company in a negative way. Employees from all job levels had low levels of trust in the company. This study contributes to a growing body of research aimed at trying to understand the nature of employer–employee relations within large companies in a developing society, where companies are faced with the challenge of communicating to and managing diverse workforces.     

An integrated crisis communication framework for strategic crisis communication with the media: A case study on a financial services provider

Abstract

In order for organisations to survive in an ever-changing milieu in the current business environment, sufficient crisis communication and management practices need to be in place. Despite this, organisational crises are often inefficiently managed, which could be ascribed to the lack of strategic management of crises (Kash & Darling 1998: 180). This article explores the lack of strategic crisis communication processes to ensure effective crisis communication with the media as stakeholder group. It is based on the premise that the media are one of the main influencers of public opinion (Pollard & Hotho 2006: 725), thereby necessitating the need for the accurate distribution of information. Furthermore, the study focuses specifically on the financial industry, which is arguably more sensitive and thus more prone to media reporting because financial services providers manage people's money (Squier 2009). A strategic crisis communication process with the media is therefore proposed, facilitated through an integrated crisis communication framework, proposing a combination of integrated communication (IC) literature, with emphasis on Grunig's theory of communication excellence, to build sustainable media relationships through two-way communication; and a crisis communication process that has proactive, reactive and post-evaluative crisis communication stages, thereby moving away from seeing crisis communication as a predominantly reactive function.     

略论刑事诉讼中的公正与效率——以不起诉制度为范本

现代法治国家,公正与效率无疑是刑事诉讼法追求的两种价值,刑事诉讼的基本制度无不体现着此两种价值的冲突与融合.中德两国的刑事诉讼法均将公正摆在优先于效率的位置,但我国刑事诉讼法却更加突出了实体公正的重要性,忽视了诉讼效率的因素.文章以中德两国的不起诉制度为比较范本,进一步分析刑事诉讼中公正与效率的关系,从而在刑事诉讼的制度构建与实践中实现两者关系的合理定位.     

The impact of questioning style on the content of investigative interviews with suspected child sexual abuse victims

Abstract

This study explored the influence of question type and interviewer style on the quantity and quality of responses offered by children in interviews for suspected sexual abuse. The analysis covered 36 investigative interviews conducted by polia officers under the Memorandum of Good Practice with children aged 4–7, 8–11 and 12–14 years. The dependent measures were the temporel length of children's answers and the number of criteria derived from Criteria Based Cornent Analysis (CBCA) they contained. Only 2% of all questions were open-ended, but just 3% were judged leading. Open questions were most effective with 12–14 year olds but not with younger children who provided nose information in response to specific yet not leading or closed questions. Longer answers containing move CBCA criteria were associated with interviews containing many affirmative utterances and verbal affirmations and a brief rapport. The implications of these findings for interview theory and practice are briefly discussed.     

Just trust me and you’ll make a fortune – relationships between offenders and victims of human trafficking

ABSTRACT

Despite the increasing amount of research on human trafficking, certain aspects of the phenomenon have remained less studied. For many years, research had focused on trafficking for sexual exploitation and men-exploiting-women cases. Recently, the body of literature has become more diverse, and different forms of trafficking have been recognised. However, the trafficking research has largely ignored the notion of intersectionality, although intersectionality has been applied in several studies, for example, on domestic violence. This article deals with the relationships between offenders and trafficked persons. The study asks what is the nature of the relationships between them. Furthermore, the intersectional approach is applied to analyse what factors make trafficked persons prone to exploitation and, on the other hand, keep them in the exploitative situation. The study also focuses on the power relations between the parties involved. The data consists of trafficking in human beings court judgments from the Finnish courts. The intersectional analysis focuses particularly on the close reading of two cases. The analysis shows that many intersecting factors are linked to the victimisation of trafficked persons. Furthermore, the exploitative relationships between offenders and trafficked persons display many features of unequal distribution of power.