Validation of the Short Amplicon Multiplex Q8 Including the German DNA Database Systems*

Abstract: We have developed a concept to enable the analyzing of degraded stains with limited DNA template quantity. Therefore we have constructed a short tandem repeat (STR) multiplex including the German DNA database systems (Q8). The amplicon lengths are smaller than 280 bp. For the validation of Q8 over 50 degraded samples were investigated. Amplifications were performed with “low copy number” PCR, the number of PCR cycles was increased to 33 and the reaction volume was decreased to 12.5 μL. Compared with the MPX2 and Nonaplex kit, the average success rate was increased using the Q8 kit by approximately 20% and 30%, respectively. The efficiency of a sensitive STR multiplex with reduced amplicon lengths was confirmed in comparing the success rates of Q8 for typing degraded samples and samples with limited amount of DNA template while partial profiles were observed with the majority of the samples using commercially available kits.     

Developmental validation of a Cannabis sativa STR multiplex system for forensic analysis

A developmental validation study based on recommendations of the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) was conducted on a multiplex system of 10 Cannabis sativa short tandem repeat loci. Amplification of the loci in four multiplex reactions was tested across DNA from dried root, stem, and leaf sources, and DNA from fresh, frozen, and dried leaf tissue with a template DNA range of 10.0-0.01 ng. The loci were amplified and scored consistently for all DNA sources when DNA template was in the range of 10.0-1.0 ng. Some allelic dropout and PCR failure occurred in reactions with lower template DNA amounts. Overall, amplification was best using 10.0 ng of template DNA from dried leaf tissue indicating that this is the optimal source material. Cross species amplification was observed in Humulus lupulus for three loci but there was no allelic overlap. This is the first study following SWGDAM validation guidelines to validate short tandem repeat markers for forensic use in plants.     

Characterization of 26 miniSTR loci for improved analysis of degraded DNA samples

An additional 20 novel mini-short tandem repeat (miniSTR) loci have been developed and characterized beyond the six previously developed by our laboratory for a total of 26 non-CODIS miniSTR markers. These new markers produce short PCR products in the target range of 50-150 base pairs (bp) by moving the primer sequences as close as possible-often directly next to the identified repeat region. These candidate loci were initially screened based on their small amplicon sizes and locations on chromosomes currently unoccupied by the 13 CODIS STR loci or at least 50 Mb away from them on the same chromosome. They were sequenced and evaluated across more than 600 samples, and their population statistics were determined. The heterozygosities of the new loci were compared with those of the 13 CODIS loci and all were found to be comparable. Only five of the new loci had lower values than the CODIS loci; however, all of these were much smaller in size. This data suggests that these 26 miniSTR loci will serve as useful complements to the CODIS loci to aid in the forensic analysis of degraded DNA, as well as missing persons work and parentage testing with limited next-of-kin reference samples.     

“十一五”时期山西道路交通安全发展研究

“十一五”时期,山西省正处于经济持续高速发展时期,重视道路交通安全问题,才能使道路交通更好地服务于经济建设。山西道路交通安全的发展分析研究,必须在全面系统分析历年来山西省道路交通事故发生、发展规律与特点的基础上,提出有针对性的预防与减少交通事故的具体对策,而且要结合山西省经济发展的特点,制定较为科学、综合性的安全管理规划。     

野田内阁加入TPP的战略意图探析

TPP是一种旨在实现贸易、投资及人员往来等全面自由化的高水平自由贸易协定。野田内阁意图通过TPP提升日本企业的国际竞争力,推动国内农业的结构性改革,重振日本经济;在对外关系上,则欲借此修复巩固日美同盟,配合美国牵制中国的战略布局,并在未来亚太经济一体化的进程中占据有利位置。基于上述战略意图,尽管遭到日本国内长期依赖财政补贴及贸易保护的农业部门和希望继续维持现有医疗保障体系的医师会等团体的坚决反对,以致日本面临政治分裂的风险,野田仍作出了参加TPP谈判的政治决断。     

Conservation in Context: Toward a Systems Framing of Decentralized Governance and Public Participation in Wildlife Management

Governance scholars have long championed the adaptive utility of decentralized management institutions, in part due to their ability to bring diverse stakeholders into decision‐making processes. However, research into the link between decentralization and participation often looks at policy design but bypasses important system feedbacks that shape sustained participation over time. To paint a more robust picture detailing how decentralization and participation are related, this paper uses a complex systems framework to explore interacting structural, operational, and cultural components of decentralized wildlife governance institutions in the United States and Botswana. Through this comparative analysis, I argue that the landscape of public participation in decentralized governance institutions appears to be significantly impacted by three factors: 1) how decentralization processes occurred, 2) where in the process of decision making participation is situated, and 3) perceptions of power distribution between groups with competing interests.     

The Space Between: Demonization of Opponents and Policy Divergence

Prior research on policy conflicts indicates a tendency among policy actors to misperceive the influence of actors engaged in policy debates based on the degree of distance between their relative policy positions. This research develops a measure for assessing the degree and direction of the misperception effect. This measure is then utilized as a dependent variable to assess the relationship between theoretically relevant factors and the degree to which actors will exaggerate the influence of their opponents and allies. The research uses original survey data of policy actors engaged in the debate over hydraulic fracturing in New York. The results indicate misperceptions of relative influence are prevalent and most associated with the experience of a policy loss and holding relatively extreme policy beliefs. The findings provide new insight into factors that influence the demonization of political opponents. These insights are timely in the context of polarized debates over environmental and energy policy in the United States.     

Who is the enemy now? Islamophobia and antisemitism among Russian Orthodox nationalists before and after September 11

In this article Verkhovsky focuses on Russian nationalist groups who base their ideology on the Russian Orthodox tradition. These Russian Orthodox nationalists should be distinguished both from those nationalists for whom Orthodoxy is clearly overwhelmed by the ideological demands of ethno-nationalism, as well as from those who use Orthodoxy simply as a popular symbol of national identity. Orthodox nationalists, moreover, are fairly independent of the Moscow Patriarchate and its ideology. The ideology of Orthodox nationalism focuses both on its principal enemy, the Antichrist, and on those enemies subordinate to the Antichrist: Jews, Catholics, the West, the New World Order and so on. In the mid-1990s Islam had no obvious place among this set of hostile forces. The Moscow Patriarchate and moderately nationalist politicians, relying to some extent on Eurasianist ideas, saw the relationship between Orthodoxy and Islam in Russia as a harmonious one, and, on the whole, Orthodox nationalists did not disagree, although individuals occasionally claimed that the Jews, using the West, were setting Islam against Orthodox Russia. The situation began to change during the second Chechen war, when Orthodox nationalists began to issue warnings of an Islamic threat. This was related not only to the situation in former Yugoslavia and in Chechnya, but also to an increase in the immigration of Muslims to ethnically Russian regions of the country. For Orthodox nationalists, this Islamic threat was part of the larger threat coming from the Jews and the West. Islam, they claimed, was being used as a tool by the Antichrist not only because it was a flawed religion, but because it, being less godless than the West, would produce radical Islamism as a synthesis of western technology and eastern passion. In the intense debates that followed in the wake of the attacks of 11 September 2001 most Orthodox nationalists in Russia supported adopting a neutral position in the supposed ‘clash of civilizations’ between Islam and the West.     

透视党领导改革开放三十年的一个视角——十一届三中全会以来的历届历次中央全会

研究十一届三中全会以来党的历届历次中央全会，并以中央全会为主线和脉络串并党走过的改革开放三十年，应该是客观地评判和把握党领导改革开放三十年发展的一个常规的但又往往容易被人忽视的视角。