Dual examinations for identification of urine as being of human origin and for DNA-typing from small stains of human urine

Concurrent methods for identification of urine as being of human origin, and for DNA-typing from small stains of human urine were examined. A urine stain was extracted with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and the extract was filtered using a Centricon-100 device. The filtrate was subjected to electrospray ionization liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (ESI-LC-MS) for identification of human urine and a DNA-typing sample was obtained by dialfiltration of the residue using a DNA purification kit. After the purified residue was treated with an AmpflSTR Profiler PCR amplification kit, the DNA-types were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis using a Genetic Analyzer. It was possible to identify a urine stain as being of human origin, and complete DNA profiles could be successfully obtained from a urine stain which had been created by 50 microL of female urine. Serial analyses of urine stains found at a crime scene provide effective information for forensic investigation. This method is recommended for stain identification and for DNA-typing from a urine stain.     

Methylation-Based Age Prediction Using Pyrosequencing Platform from Seminal Stains in Han Chinese Males

Various methods have been performed to predict an unknown individual's age from biological traces in forensic investigations. A considerably accurate age prediction for the semen donor can help narrow down the search in a sexual assault case. The aim of this study was to develop an assay for age prediction from seminal stains in Han Chinese males. We built a sperm-specific linear regression model using bisulfite pyrosequencing. Validations were conducted with a Mean Absolute Deviation from the chronological age (MAD) of 4.219 years in liquid semen, 4.158 years in fresh seminal stains, 4.393 years in aged seminal stains, and 3.880 years in mixed stains, respectively. Furthermore, our strategy enables accurate age prediction using a forensic casework sample. The strategy indicated that we produced an accurate and reliable age prediction tool for the semen donors in Han Chinese males for forensic purposes.     

马克思主义公有制理论与新时代中国社会主义公有制的新形式

马克思、恩格斯后来大大拓展了《共产党宣言》中的公有制理论,他们不仅寄希望于工人在必要时用暴力夺取国家政权,也寄希望于发达国家的工人用和平手段达到自己的目的,并认为在发达国家"旧社会可能和平地长入新社会"。他们注重经过社会所有制达到共产主义。在《资本论》中,马克思提出"重新建立个人所有制"的设想,认为资本主义将被自己内部的社会主义因素自我否定,社会主义公有制由此而产生。当前中国的一种新的公有制形式正在蓬勃发展,民营企业中许多股份制企业表现出新公有制特征,它们不仅率先实行现代企业制度,且职工人人持股。它们对生产资料占有方式和对企业利润的分配基本公正,职工的劳动价值得到体现。随着改革的深化、市场经济的健全,更多的新公有制企业将会成长起来。同时,广大农民随着产权的改革与落实,会在新的合作过程中建立新的公有制。新时代,新公有制与社会主义有着广阔前景。     

The efficiency and effectiveness of municipally owned corporations: a systematic review

Municipally owned corporations (MOCs) are increasingly utilised to provide local public services, but little remains known about their efficiency and effectiveness. In this article, we offer a typology of MOCs, explore the variables that affect their behaviour, and perform a systematic review of public administration articles published between 2001 and 2015 on their efficiency and effectiveness. We find that MOCs are often more efficient than local bureaucracies in the provision of services such as refuse collection, water distribution, and transit services, although they also have high initial failure rates. We conclude that municipally owned corporations are a viable means for delivering some local public services for localities capable of initiating and managing complex contracts. In light of the scarcity of literature on this topic, our conclusions remain tentative, and we encourage additional research into this growing phenomenon.     

The Paradox of Weakness in European Trade Policy: Contestation and Resilience in CETA and TTIP Negotiations

Over the last decade, trade negotiations with Canada and the United States met with considerable resistance from non-governmental organisations (NGO). Moreover, the negotiation mandates given to the European Commission were so broad as to include topics falling under so-called mixed competence of the EU and the member states, necessitating not only ratification by the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, but also member states’ parliaments. At some point, these two factors almost seemed to paralyze the EU as a trade negotiator. In the end, however, the EU concluded an agreement with Canada, renegotiated its agreement with Mexico (while also concluding agreements with Singapore and Japan amongst others), while negotiations with the US were suspended. Three factors can account for this puzzling combination of apparent incapacity and blockage and surprising resilience of EU trade policymaking. First, the NGO contestation campaigns did not muster pan‐European but rather only varying degrees of support. Second, in addition to scrutiny by the European Parliament, consensus decision-making in the Council fosters accommodation of the demands of all member states. This leads to a low degree of negotiating autonomy on the part of the European Commission, yet large bargaining power for the European Union, as long as the other side wants agreement. Finally, a recent ruling by the Court of the EU facilitated the decoupling of agreements on portfolio investment and investment arbitration (one of the most difficult hurdles), from all other matters of trade and regulatory cooperation, making it easier to reach agreement.     

构建我国污点证人制度分析

污点证人制度是指如果有犯罪污点的人为了国家的利益而作证,就可以免受刑事追诉或被给予刑事上的从轻、减轻或者免除处罚待遇的一种刑事司法措施。其产生的法理基础是“任何人不得自证其罪”的法治原则。污点证人制度目前为一些国家和地区所承认,我国引入污点证人作证豁免制度具有合理性和可行性。     

Methodological Challenges for National and Multi-sited Comparative Survey Research

This paper will examine the ways in which ‘textbook’survey research methods need to be adapted and refined for researchwith forced migrants, and the ways in which cross-national contexts,as well as research within one national context with forcedmigrants from different communities, affect the utilizationof survey methods. Linked to this, the ways in which surveydesign issues need to be sensitive to the diversity betweenand within countries and communities will be explored. The paperwill draw on two surveys, one a UK national survey and the othera multi-sited comparative survey in the UK and South Africa,to explore access to forced migrants in different contexts andthe appropriateness of different modes of data collection betweenand within countries and communities (e.g. paper self-completion,face-to-face interviews and web-based surveys). The impact ofpolitics, language and literacy, gender, and immigration status,especially irregular and insecure statuses, will be examined.     

论杂散居民族工作与民族团结

文章通过对杂散居民族的特点及问题的分析,提出在新时期加强民族工作与民族团结的对策措施。     

An Opposing View of Scotland's Ballot Paper Problem: Arbuthnott and the Government had the Right Idea

The May 2007 Scottish Parliament election used a different ballot format from the one used in the previous elections, one that combined the regional and constituency votes onto one ballot paper (two separate papers were used before). Because there were many more invalid votes in 2007, the problem was blamed on the two‐vote ballot paper, which was recommended by the Arbuthnott Commission to prevent misunderstandings about what the two votes were for. Other places that use the mixed‐member proportional (MMP) electoral system tend to use a two‐vote ballot paper, with Germany and New Zealand seeing low levels of invalid votes. While the decision to revert to two separate papers in future Scottish Parliament elections might reduce the number of invalid votes, the price could be more confusion about the proportional nature of the electoral system unless public education improves significantly.     

Political ontology,constituent power,and representation

In this piece, I discuss some aspects of the tension between democracy and constitutionalism in light of Pettit’s attempt to think popular control of government by way of a mixed constitution and the introduction of an alternative concept of representation.