Preparing NATO for the Future – Operating in an Increasingly Contested Environment

The global proliferation of precision-strike systems may be challenging the foundations of Western military-technological supremacy. Relatedly, the development of so-called Anti-Access and Area Denial (A2/AD) capabilities across the globe threatens to complicate Western freedom of military movement and access, and could give way to a more contested military-strategic environment. The twin challenges of precision-strike proliferation and A2/AD strongly impact NATO’s agenda, which revolves around strengthening deterrence and defence in Eastern Europe, and addressing the different threats emanating from the so-called Southern European neighbourhood. In order to address or mitigate such challenges, the Alliance needs to produce operational concepts and capabilities able to deliver deterrence and expeditionary warfare in a maturing precision-strike environment, one characterised by the emergence of A2/AD capabilities.     

4株猪瘟流行野毒株病毒结构蛋白E2基因的核苷酸序列分析

应用RT-PCR和nPCR扩增由4株甘肃省近期(1997-1998)猪瘟流行野毒株的E2基因,将其克隆到pGEMTEasy载体上,经转化、筛选、鉴定后,测出核苷核序列.4株流行毒株的E2基因核苷酸序列同源性为89.2%-99.7%,相应的氨基酸序列同源性为93.8%-99.0%.这4株流行毒株;与C-株(疫苗种毒)E2基因的核苷酸序列同源性为82.2%-84.3%,相应的氨基酸序列同源性为87.9%-90.2%,表明近期猪瘟流行毒株与C-株的gp55蛋白之间存在一定的差异.     

Brandom on Norms and Objectivity

The aim of this paper is to investigate Brandom’s conception of the objectivity of norms. In Making It Explicit Brandom supports a weak notion of objectivity based on his understanding of the perspectival structure of linguistic practices. In his following works, he resorts to the Hegelian notion of recognition, adding a historical dimension to his account. I contend that this notion of objectivity can be successfully defended against the objections raised by the commentators. In particular, it does not jeopardise the same possibility of communication, as claimed by Habermas and others, unless a strongly objective notion of communication is assumed. However, the paradigm shift from a strong to a weak understanding of objectivity entails a consequent revision of the conception of social criticism.     

Social history, (Neo-)revisionism and mapping the 1930s Spanish left*

Revisionist historians and their Neo-Revisionist/conservative fellow travellers identify the Spanish left as the main cause of the civil war (1936–1939) that culminated in the establishment of the Franco dictatorship. Such claims are possible because these historians distort both the history of the left and the nature of social protest and mass mobilisation during these years. In part, the reliance of Neo-Revisionist/conservative historians on the methods of traditional political history – combined with their stubborn aversion to social history – makes it impossible for them to understand the left. This article argues that only through social history is it possible to comprehend the complex and shifting nature of protest dynamics in the 1930s. Indeed, many of the conflicts that played out in the political arena during these years were conditioned by structural economic problems and social tensions that resulted in diverse forms of radical contestation among the grassroots of leftist movements. Social, and indeed cultural history, are, therefore, central to any analysis of the myriad forms of these protest energies that flowed from the bottom up to shape the orientation of the leftist organisations.     

Divergent fates: company unions and employee involvement committees under the railway labor and national labor relations acts

Well known is that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA, 1935) in the United States places a largely per se ban on nonunion employee representation (ER) groups which deal with employers over a term or condition of employment. Much less well known is that America’s other labor law, the Railway Labor Act (RLA, 1926), takes a different approach and permits employers to operate such councils and committees as long as they do not perform a collective bargaining function or interfere with workers’ free choice of a bargaining agent. Thus, under the RLA Delta Air Lines is able to operate what is today the closest living approximation to a 1920s-style ER plan while hundreds of other companies (e.g. Polaroid) under the jurisdiction of the NLRA have been forced over the years to disband similar groups on grounds they are a proscribed company union. No study to date has explored the history behind the RLA and NLRA’s divergent treatment of nonunion ER groups so this article takes a first look. The main part of the story covers the 1920–1935 period and examines the events, people, and experiences associated with company unions and ER in, respectively, the rail and manufacturing industries and why the legislative outcome in the former was a permissive stance on nonunion committees but prohibitive in the latter. The last part of the paper fast-forwards the RLA-NLRA story from the 1930s to contemporary law and practice in order to demonstrate how “history matters” when it comes to what employers can and cannot do with nonunion representation groups, such as works councils, participation and involvement committees, and dispute resolution forums.     

Sample Mining and Data Mining: Combined Real-Time and Retrospective Approaches for the Identification of Emerging Novel Psychoactive Substances

Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are synthetic drugs that pose serious public health and safety concerns. A multitude of NPS have been identified in the United States, often implicated in forensic investigations. The most common and effective manner for identifying NPS is by use of mass spectrometry and the true utility lies within nontargeted acquisition techniques. During this study, a liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) assay was developed, validated, and implemented for forensic toxicology testing. A SCIEX TripleTOF™ 5600 + with SWATH^® acquisition was used. Resulting data were compared against an extensive library database containing more than 800 compounds. The LC-QTOF-MS assay was applied to the reanalysis of biological sample extracts to discover emergent NPS. More than 3,000 sample extracts were analyzed, and more than 20 emerging NPS were detected for the first time. Among these were isopropyl-U-47700, 3,4-methylenedioxy-U-47700, fluorofuranylfentanyl, N-methyl norfentanyl, 2F-deschloroketamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-alpha-PHP, eutylone, and N-ethyl hexedrone.     

鸡白细胞介素-2受体基因γ链的转录分析与表达

以脾单个核细胞总RNA为模板,对鸡白细胞介素-2受体基因γ链(chIL-2Rγ)进行了RT-PCR,获得了一1 047 bp的开放阅读框,编码由348个氨基酸残基组成的分子质量为37.8 ku的蛋白多肽。预测的鸡IL-2Rγ多肽链中包含4个保守半胱氨酸残基、1个WSXWS基序和7个N连接的糖基化位点。鸡IL-2Rγ与其他动物IL-2Rγ在氨基酸水平上的同源性仅为21.4%~38.2%。RT-PCR检测发现,鸡IL-2RγmRNA分布于大脑、小脑、脊髓、腔上囊、脾、胸腺、骨髓、盲肠扁桃体、腺胃、肌胃、空肠、卵黄囊憩室、回肠、盲肠、直肠、心脏、肾、肺、肝、骨骼肌和皮肤,而在十二指肠和睾丸中没有检测到其转录。构建了鸡IL-2Rγ胞外区的原核重组表达载体,进行了表达和鉴定。     

信用证欺诈例外原则的问题分析

信用证是国际贸易中重要的信用结算工具,由于信用证独立抽象的原则,银行只审单而不管实际的货物,导致国际贸易中利用信用证进行欺诈的案件屡屡发生。因此,各国纷纷采取信用证欺诈例外原则来进行补救,但信用证欺诈例外原则的滥用则会损害合法受益人及善意第三方在信用证项下的利益,因此,对欺诈原则应适当地适用,以发挥其最佳效用。     

叶下珠水提物对裸鼠人肝癌移植瘤HBx和VEGFR3表达的影响

目的 探讨乙型肝炎病毒x基因（hepatitis B virux x gene, HBx）和血管内皮生长因子受体3（vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3, VEGFR3）基因与乙型肝炎相关肝癌的相关性,以及叶下株水提物（aqueous extract of phyllanthus urinaria L, AEP）对HBx和VEGFR3蛋白表达的干预作用。方法 将60只Balb/c-nu裸鼠随机分为10组。分别复制转染HBx、氯霉素乙酞转移酶（chloramphenicol acetyltransferase,CAT）和VEGFR3基因的HepG2肝癌细胞的裸鼠皮下移植瘤模型,用AEP进行干预,以生理盐水、环磷酰胺（cyclophosphamide,CTX）作为对照,共治疗6周。观察模型复制后不同时间各组裸鼠的移植瘤生长状况,采用酶联免疫吸附试验检测各组裸鼠血清甲胎蛋白（alpha fetal protein, AFP）水平,采用Western blot方法检测移植瘤组织中HBx和VEGFR3蛋白表达水平。结果 肝癌移植瘤模型复制成功。各组裸鼠体质量均随着时间显著增长。实验结束时,接种HepG2-HBx细胞的各组中,AEP处理组肿瘤质量显著低于CTX处理组（P＜0.05）,其AFP水平显著高于NS处理组（P<0.05）,其移植瘤组织中HBx表达水平显著低于NS组（P<0.05）。接种相同肝癌细胞的各组中,AEP处理组VEGFR3表达水平最低,但与CTX组VEGFR3表达水平比较,差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）;AEP组和CTX组VEGFR3表达水平显著低于NS组（P＜0.05）。对于相同的处理因素,接种HepG-HBx细胞和HepG-CAT细胞的裸鼠移植瘤组织中VEGFR3表达水平均显著低于接种HepG-VEGFR3细胞的裸鼠（P＜0.01）。结论 AEP通过直接抑制HBx蛋白和VEGFR3蛋白表达,及通过抑制HBx蛋白表达而间接抑制VEGFR3蛋白表达,达到对肝癌移植瘤生长的抑制作用。     

《鹿特丹规则》下无单放货解决机制：从凭保函放货到凭指示放货

《鹿特丹规则》对无单放货问题设计了新的解决机制，通过使特定条件下的无单放货合法化，试图减轻承运人的负担，平衡船货双方的利益。采取规范分析的方法，对这一机制进行解构，论述其给各当事方的法律地位所带来的变化，认为对现有制度进行改良可能是更好的选择。