Will Inflation Increase Crime Rate? New Evidence from Bounds and Modified Wald Tests

This paper employs the modified Wald (MWALD) causality test to re-examine the relationship between crime and its determinants (inflation and unemployment) in the United States from 1960 to 2005. Bounds test approach is employed to investigate the existence of a long-run relationship. The empirical evidence suggests that inflation and crime rates are cointegrated with a positive relationship. Moreover, the causal link is from inflation and unemployment to crime.     

猪瘟病毒石门株E2蛋白的单抗制备及抗原表位鉴定

用猪瘟病毒石门株E2(SM-E2)的BC区原核表达蛋白为抗原免疫BALB/c小鼠,应用杂交瘤技术制备单抗,测定其效价并鉴定抗原表位。结果表明,制备了1株持续、稳定分泌抗SM-E2的单克隆抗体2B10,效价在1∶600～1∶1 000之间。单抗2B10能与常规SDS-PAGE转膜的SM-E2蛋白发生反应,表明其识别的是线性表位,并且该单抗只能识别石门毒株,而不能与C株疫苗及2型流行毒株发生反应。点突变E2蛋白ELISA分析结果表明,该单抗不与707、709、711、713和714位突变蛋白发生反应,表明单抗2B10识别的线性表位为707I-X-P-X-G-X-G-G714。该单抗对猪瘟病毒抗原多样性分析和致病机制研究有一定的应用价值。     

猪瘟病毒NASBA-ELISA检测方法的建立与应用

为建立猪瘟病毒NASBA-ELISA检测方法,以猪瘟病毒(CSFV)E2基因为研究对象,利用Prim-er 5.0和Blastn生物软件,设计并合成了特异的核酸序列依赖扩增(NASBA)引物和探针。经条件优化,确定的最佳扩增反应条件为42℃,反应1.5h。临床检测结果显示,用该方法可特异地扩增CSFV E2基因约155bp的目的片段,而对TGEV、PRRSV、PCV2、PPV、PEDV、APP和PK-15正常细胞等核酸的检测均为阴性,可最低检出1×100～1×101 copies/μL,其灵敏度比RT-PCR略高。应用该方法对采自重庆部分地区猪场的125份样品进行了检测;结果,猪瘟病毒阳性检出率为5.6%,NASBA-ELISA法与RT-PCR法的检出符合率为94.4%。结果表明,NASBA-ELISA方法可应用于CSFV的快速鉴别检测。     

Allele frequency distribution based on 17 STR markers in three major Dravidian linguistic populations of Andhra Pradesh, India

Allele frequencies for 15 tetranucleotides and 2 pentanucleotides repeat loci were determined in 317 unrelated, healthy individuals of Andhra Pradesh, India, belonging to three pre-dominant endogamous populations namely, Kappu Naidu, Kamma Chaudhary and Kapu Reddy. Adherence to the expectations of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was confirmed for all loci with few exceptions, which were not significant after applying Bonferroni's correction. Statistical parameters of forensic interest; observed heterozygosity, probability of homozygosity, probability of extact test, power of discrimination, match probability, polymorphism information content, power of exclusion and mean paternity index were determined for all loci. The present study reveals that Penta E and D2S1338 are the most informative loci in all the studied populations. The combined power of discrimination was greater than 0.976, whereas the cumulative power of exclusion gave an expected value of 0.9999 for all the tested microsatellite loci. No difference was observed in the discriminatory power of 15 loci in studied populations on comparison with other populations of India. Population differentiation tests revealed significant differences between the studied and neighboring populations at several loci. Analyzed parameters indicate the utility and efficacy of the studied 17 STR systems as a powerful tool in forensic human identification, paternity testing and human population genetic studies.     

Expanding the R&;E tax credit to drive innovation,competitiveness and prosperity

The research and experimentation (R&E) tax credit has long been the subject of criticism. Some argue that if the goal is more research and innovation, it’s better to increase direct federal funding of research. Others argue that the credit is not effective, that companies would do the research in any case. Some object the very notion of using tax policy to influence private sector behavior, preferring instead a more “neutral” tax code. Still others, including Tassey in this volume, point to what they see are a host of design flaws in the current credit, including that its incremental nature reduces its effectiveness. I will argue here that most of these arguments are mistaken. To promote innovation in a global economy both direct funding and indirect tax incentives are needed. The credit, while it can be improved, has been shown to be effective in stimulating research. Moreover, far from distorting the market, the credit corrects for a market failure where firms are unable to capture all of the benefits of corporate research, leading them to under invest in research. Finally, while reform and expansion are needed, it would be a mistake to shift to a completely flat credit. However, several important changes should be made including doubling the current value of the credit, modifying the Alternative Simplified Credit to become incremental, and expanding the flat credit for collaborative R&D.

The Role,Benefits, and Concerns of Digital Technology in the Family Justice System

Digitalization is increasing across family justice systems around the world. What are the benefits? What will be the impact on professional practice and legal representation? What are the concerns for those who may be digitally disadvantaged? How much can justice itself become digital?     

“Scientific independence”, capacity building,and the development of UNESCO’s science and technology agenda for Africa

Abstract

This article analyses the shifting rationales for scientific collaboration in the work of the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the science sector in Africa from the late colonial period through to the era of capacity building. Focusing on the late colonial period and the post-independence decades of “national science” in Africa, it analyses UNESCO’s role in science policy, engineering training, and natural resources research. It demonstrates that in the era of national science UNESCO’s activities were couched in the language of independence: developing capacities in the sciences was regarded as the key to obtaining “scientific independence” to match the recently obtained political independence. This marked a significant change from the 1950s when UNESCO based its operations in Africa on collaborations with the European colonial powers. The article argues that the link between scientific independence and political self-determination gave way as UNESCO rebranded scientific capacity-building activities as efforts in the pursuit of an unclearly-defined common good.     

“三个代表”是建党治国的指南

江泽民“三个代表”重要思想的提出是面对考验和挑战的决策回应 ,是顺应时代发展潮流的战略决策 ;是对马克思主义政党学说的继承和发展是党建理论的创新 ,是有务实性、时代性、战略性和系统性的鲜明特点 ;“三个代表”是共产党建党治国的行动指南 ,我们的任务是努力把“三个代表”的“应然性”要求 ,落实到行动中去 ,使之成为“实然性”。     

青海牦牛病毒性腹泻病毒的分离与鉴定

采集青海省泽库县某牧户疑似牦牛病毒性腹泻病牛的样品,将RT-PCR检测为阳性的样品处理后接种MDBK细胞,并盲传至第10代,检测每一代细胞中牛病毒性腹泻病毒的E0基因。通过分离株接种细胞后产生的病变效应观察、免疫荧光试验、电镜观察、RT-PCR扩增以及序列分析鉴定了该病毒。结果表明,盲传的每代细胞中均可检测到E0基因;接毒后的细胞在盲传至第7代时出现明显的细胞病变;免疫荧光试验中能观察到细胞内发出的特异性荧光;经浓缩、纯化的病毒在电镜下呈直径为40～60nm的病毒粒子,将其命名为QHZK株。对克隆的E0基因测序后提交至GenBank(登录号:JF927789),并将获得的序列与其他国内外分离株的E0序列比对,同源性为73.6%～98.2%;系统进化分析表明该分离株属于牛病毒性腹泻病毒1b亚型。