多重置换扩增在含抑制物检材中的应用

目的研究多重置换扩增(multiple displacement amplification,MDA)在含抑制物检材中的抗抑制能力,与磁珠法纯化检材相比较,证明其在法医学中的应用及意义。方法将不同浓度血红素和腐殖酸与样本DNA进行混合,分为MDA处理组、磁珠法处理组和空白对照组,PCR-STR单基因座D3S1358扩增联合聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳检测,并应用Amp F詛STR誖IdentifilerTMPlus试剂盒联合毛细管电泳检测。结果血红素质量浓度大于1 ng/μL或腐殖酸质量浓度大于0.1 ng/μL时,空白对照组经单基因座STR检测不能得到扩增产物;磁珠法处理组血红素质量浓度大于100 ng/μL或腐殖酸浓度大于1 ng/μL时,不能够得到扩增产物;MDA处理组各浓度抑制物均能成功扩增,完全不受抑制物影响。结论 MDA技术可消除血红素及腐殖酸的抑制作用,其抗抑制能力优于磁珠法纯化DNA,具有一定的法医学应用意义。     

Large-scale land acquisitions,state authority and indigenous local communities: insights from Ethiopia

The convergence of diverse global factors – food price volatility, the increased demand for biofuels and feeds, climate change and the financialisation of commodity markets – has resulted in renewed interest in land resources, leading to a rapid expansion in the scope and scale of (trans)national acquisition of arable land across many developing countries. Much of this land is on peripheral indigenous peoples’ territories and considered a common property resource. Those most threatened are poor rural people with customary tenure systems – including indigenous ethnic minority groups, pastoralists and peasants – who need land most. In Ethiopia large areas have been leased to foreign and domestic capital for large-scale production of food and agrofuels, mainly in lowland regions where the state has historically had limited control. Much of the land offered is classified by the state and other elites as ‘unused’ or ‘underutilised’, overlooking the spatially extensive use of land in shifting cultivation and pastoralism. This threatens the land rights and livelihoods of ethnic minority indigenous communities in these lowlands. This article argues that recent large-scale land acquisitions are part of state strategy for enforcing political authority over territory and people. It examines the implications of such strategy for indigenous ethnic minority groups, focusing particularly on the Benishangul-Gumuz region.     

Displacement,resettlement, and livelihood restoration: safeguard standards in practice

This article presents a case study of development practice based on the author’s experience of designing a livelihood restoration plan and monitoring its implementation. The plan was based on safeguard standards of a multilateral development bank that funded a private sector renewable energy project on land belonging to a vulnerable community in Central India. Illustrating the challenges faced in implementing and monitoring this plan and the reasons for its failure, the article argues that a complex set of institutional and individual relationships determine the way in which safeguard policies are translated into practice by diverse and interrelated actors.     

Comparison of two whole genome amplification methods for STR genotyping of LCN and degraded DNA samples

The analysis of LCN or highly degraded DNA samples presents a challenge for forensic science. Improving the quantity and/or quality of samples would greatly increase the profiling success rate from LCN and degraded samples. Whole genome amplification (WGA) is one method that has such potential. Two commercially available WGA kits, GenomePlex and GenomiPhi, were investigated for use on LCN and degraded DNA samples. Both kits amplified genomic DNA, producing microgram quantities from sub-nanogram templates. Profiling success of LCN DNA samples was increased, with improvements of over 700% from 10pg template DNA compared to non-WGA-amplified control samples. The amplification success with degraded DNA was also improved by WGA. Degraded DNA was simulated using restriction enzymes to demonstrate that the application of WGA can result in the typing of STR loci that could not previously be amplified. An increase in artefacts, such as stutter alleles and amplification biases, were observed in many samples. Results show that WGA is capable of increasing both the quality and quantity of DNA, and has the potential to improve profiling success from difficult samples in forensic casework.     

The Crime Reduction Effects of Public CCTV Cameras: A Multi‐Method Spatial Approach

Public Closed Circuit TeleVision (CCTV) initiatives have been utilized as methods of monitoring public space for over two decades. Evaluations of these efforts to reduce crime have been mixed. Furthermore, there has been a paucity of rigorous evaluations of cameras located in the USA. In this analysis, crime in the viewshed of publicly funded CCTV cameras in Philadelphia, PA, is examined using two evaluation techniques: hierarchical linear modeling and weighted displacement quotients. An analysis that incorporates controls for long‐term trends and seasonality finds that the introduction of cameras is associated with a 13% reduction in crime. The evaluation suggests that while there appears to be a general benefit to the cameras, there were as many sites that showed no benefit of camera presence as there were locations with a positive outcome on crime. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Role of Play and Humor in Creative Conflict Management

In this article, I draw on the theories of three scholars whose works have not typically been part of the negotiation and conflict resolution canon (Arthur Koestler, Edward T. Hall, and Gregory Bateson) to develop the beginnings of a new model for creative and constructive conflict transformation that features playfulness and humor as its key components. I explore the connections between Koestler's theory of bisociation in the act of creation, Hall's ideas about the cultural construction of emotional responses, and Bateson's theories about the role of play and humor in human communication. All three authors focused particularly on body language and on the cognitive impact of emotions. Drawing on their theories and the connections between them, I suggest the theoretical underpinnings of a model for approaching conflict in which displacements and surprises, playfulness, humor, and "punch lines" can serve to reframe issues and open up new avenues for consensus building and resolution.     

The utility of whole genome amplification for typing compromised forensic samples

Biological evidence has become invaluable in the crime laboratory; however, it may exist in limited quantity and/or quality. Given this, the ability to amplify total DNA obtained from evidence, in an unbiased manner, would be highly advantageous. Methods for whole genome amplification (WGA) have the potential to fulfill this role, resulting in a virtually unlimited supply of DNA. In the research presented, two WGA methods, improved primer extension preamplification and multiple displacement amplification (MDA), were tested using commercial kits. Control DNA, artificially degraded DNA, and DNA from fresh blood, aged blood, hair shafts, and aged bones underwent WGA, followed by short tandem repeat and mitochondrial DNA analysis. The methods did amplify DNA, but performed poorly on forensically relevant samples; the maximum amplicon size was reduced, and MDA often resulted in extraneous bands following polymerase chain reaction. Taken together, WGA appears to be of limited forensic utility unless the samples are of a very high quality.     

Globalisation and the foreignisation of space: seven processes driving the current global land grab

The current global land grab is causing radical changes in the use and ownership of land. The main process driving the land grab, or ‘foreignisation of space’, as highlighted in the media and the emerging literature is the production of food and biofuel for export in the aftermath of recent food and energy crises. However, there are several other processes driving the land rush. In this article I argue that an analytical framework that focuses on only one or two processes that drive the global land grab offers a narrow perspective on this complex process. It will be unable to take into account the full range and extent of agrarian and social changes that occur in light of the land grab and their strategic implications for poor people's livelihoods. An important starting point is to identify the broad processes driving the current land rush, and trace their structural and institutional origins. To do so, I identify and examine seven factors that are giving rise to radical changes in landownership and land use in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Finally, ‘codes of conduct’ as proposed by several quarters in the context of global land grab are unlikely to work in favour of the poor.     

权力的分解、位移与下沉——写在1982年《宪法》实施三十周年之际

30年来,1982年《宪法》实施的历程本质上就是国家权力关系调整与权力秩序变革的历程。在这一历程中,最具标志性意义的即为权力的分解、位移与下沉。其中,权力的分解乃促使国家集中型权力秩序模式向国家社会分享型权力结构模式演变的内在驱力;权力的位移系引领单一完整型权力秩序模式向多元分散型权力结构模式演进的制度诱因;权力的下沉则是推助中央集权型权力秩序模式向地方层级分权型权力结构模式变迁的核心要素。     

Population displacement in the baltic region in the twentieth century: from ‘refugee studies’ to refugee history

This article explores how Baltic migration, and particularly the experience of forced migration, relates to broader comparative and methodological issues and debates in the emerging field of refugee history. Attention is given to the impact of two world wars and their aftermath in the Baltic, with particular emphasis on the ways in which refugees from the Baltic and elsewhere have related their experiences. The article concludes by drawing attention to the multiple readings of population displacement that historians need to entertain.