The role of environmental factors in the causation of sudden death in infants: two cases of sudden unexpected death in two unrelated infants who were cared for by the same babysitter

We report two cases of sudden unexpected death in two unrelated African American female infants, 2 months and 4 months old. Both infants were attended to by the same babysitter in the same apartment and died 39 days apart in the same bed and in the same bedroom. The autopsy of the first infant revealed sudden unexplained death in an infant. Toxicologic analysis for carbon monoxide (CO) was not performed because it was not suspected. When the second infant died, investigation into the ambient air quality within the apartment revealed high levels of CO emanating from a poorly ventilated and defective hot water heater, which was located across a hallway from the bedroom where the two babies died. CO saturation levels in the postmortem blood samples of the two babies were elevated and were similar (13% and 14%). Nicotine and cotinine were not detected in the blood sample of the two infants. Cherry-red livor mortis was absent. Acute CO intoxication was determined to be the underlying cause of these two unexpected deaths. These two cases underscore the need to integrate ambient air analysis and postmortem CO analysis as routine components of the comprehensive death investigation of infants who die suddenly and unexpectedly.     

论“碳政治”博弈的国际法治理

围绕哥本哈根国际法进程而展开的碳政治博弈,因《哥本哈根协议》的无约束力而造成零和博弈的结果,也使未来国际法进程面临＂双轨＂抑或＂三轨＂并进的机制选择,同时,气候变化的国际法治理仍将针对＂共同但有区别责任＂的适用而展开,国际社会如能经由＂人类共同关切事项＂明确＂共同责任＂的内涵,通过实质性公平原则而认同＂区别责任＂的要旨,推动《哥本哈根协议》的落实和发展,将在＂霸权缺失＂下的＂碳政治＂博弈中,以＂软法＂特有的张力和灵活性,维护＂共同但有区别的责任＂的国际法地位,并弥合各方分歧,促进＂为今世后代保护全球气候＂的可持续发展目标的实现。     

国际“碳政治”博弈与中国的对策

作为一种新型国际政治,"碳政治"一词伴随全球变暖问题而出现,为国际政治舞台增添了新的博弈因素。需要指出的是,我们欢迎"碳政治"这一新型国际政治,但反对把国际气候问题政治化。把国际气候问题政治化、寻求实现其他目的,无助于切实解决气候变化问题给人类社会带来的挑战。     

影响我国碳金融发展的原因分析

与西方发达国家较为完善的碳金融发展相比,我国碳金融发展相对比较滞后,造成这种状况的原因主要有：一是对碳金融的认识有待深化;二是碳金融的综合配套政策不完备;三是碳金融市场分割现象严重;四是中介服务机构发育不完善。对这些原因进行深入分析,有利于排除碳金融发展的障碍,开创我国碳金融发展的光明前景。     

论关税优先权的清偿顺位

我国法律中关税优先权的定性模糊,由此导致实践操作中存在诸多困难。分析表明,关税优先权应当区分为物权性优先权与债权性优先权。在纳税人欠缴关税所涉及的特定物上,关税优先权为物权性优先权,关税应当优先于抵押权和质权而受偿;对于特定物之外的其他财产,关税优先权为债权性优先权,关税应劣后于抵押权和质权而受偿。至于医疗费用、丧葬费用、工资等,基于生存权、人道主义等特殊考虑,可以依据法律之例外在清偿关税前受偿。     

Right target; wrong tactics: the trump administration upends East Asian order

President Donald Trump initiated a tariff war claiming that the ultimate target was mercantile Chinese economic practices. Numerous countries share such concerns about China. Yet the Trump administration’s approach is wrong for at least three big reasons. First, tariffs avoid addressing the most fundamental complaints about China while they undermine the longstanding and beneficial global liberal trade order. Second, the U.S. approach has been unilateral rather than multilateral, weakening America’s bargaining position while alienating close allies. Third, the Trump administration escalates what is an economic challenge into an existential threat, ignoring numerous benefits from Chinese policies as well as ignoring multiple areas where China has been a powerful global partner. Middle powers in Asia have acted collectively and individually to bolster the global trading system and avoid the worst consequences of the Trump actions while seeking to avoid making permanent binary choices between the United States and China. Beyond the immediate problems, the Trump tariff wars are creating, they also generate damaging second order effects that are undermining domestic and regional policies conducive to enhanced American strengths and an economically less mercantilist China.     

浅析影响碳素墨水显现胶带指纹的若干因素

为提高胶带粘面指纹的显现质量,便于后期针对该指纹的检验鉴定,通过对胶带粘面指纹显现过程中的各个环节进行测试、对比,可以寻找出一些影响显现效果的因素。经过实验发现,在胶带剥离阶段及对胶带的浸泡、显现阶段,各种不同的实验材质、环境、手法均会对指纹显现效果产生影响。     

Diesel fumes do kill: a case of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning directly attributed to diesel fuel exhaust with a 10-year retrospective case and literature review*

While it is known that diesel fuel combustion engines produce much lower concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) than gasoline engines, these emissions could certainly generate lethal ambient concentrations given a sufficient amount of time in an enclosed space and under suitable environmental conditions. The authors report a case of CO poisoning which was initially referred for autopsy as a presumed natural death of a truck driver found in the secure cab of a running diesel tractor trailer truck. Completion of the preliminary investigation ascribed death to complications of ischemic heart disease (IHD), pending toxicological analysis that included quantification of CO. When the toxicology results showed lethal blood COHbg, the cause of death was re-certified as CO intoxication secondary to inhalation of (diesel) vehicular exhaust fumes. Because of the unique source of fatal CO intoxication in this case, the contributory IHD and the possible contaminants in the putrefied blood, a 10-year retrospective review was conducted on all nonfire related CO deaths autopsied (n = 94) at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Louisville, KY from 1994 to 2003. For validation of the COHbg detection method used by the Kentucky Office of Forensic Toxicology (KYOFT), blood samples from these cases along with controls were submitted to three laboratories using various analytical methods yielding no statistically significant differences. Lastly, an extensive literature review produced no scientifically reported cases of fatal CO poisoning attributed to diesel fuel exhaust.     

WTO的"游戏规则"与中国税制改革

WTO是当今世界上唯一管理多边贸易以促进贸易自由化的国际组织。加入WTO,将直接影响并促进中国税制改革的进程。     

“Industrial Defence Against the Whole World”: Deakinite New Protection as Narrative of Global Modernity

As it evolved towards the New Protection program from 1906, Deakinite protectionism manifested as a historicised narrative of modernity: an attempt to impose a rationale of nation-building over the heterogeneous and unstable impact of new economic relations and technologies, and the tense dynamics of competition between nations. History was invoked by actors fashioning the nation-building task in post Federation Australia as they claimed to make decisive breaks with past practice, reflected in innovative government strategies and social reforms. The anxieties and opportunities stimulated by global industrial modernity defined New Protection policy, evident in the formation of political narrative and parliamentary legislation, and government intervention in the conduct of business enterprise and industrial relations. The objectives and contradictions of New Protection were clarified in the political narratives and policy interventions constructed to secure the future of the Sunshine Harvester enterprise and its workforce.