内蒙古中西部地区汉族、蒙古族ApoB基因遗传多态性

目的研究内蒙古中西部地区汉族、蒙古族ApoB基因遗传多态性。方法选取内蒙古中西部地区汉族、蒙古族无关个体,采用聚合酶链反应一限制性片段长度多态性技术,判断样本中是否含有ApoB基因中的稀有等位基因：XbaI（x＋）和＆DRI（E-）,并计算其基因型频率、等位基因频率及相关的群体遗传学参数。结果内蒙古汉族群体中稀有等位基因XbaI（x＋）和＆0RI（E-）频率分别为2％和4．6％,而在蒙古族群体中没有检测出此两种稀有等位基因。结论ApoB基因XbaI和＆0RI位点的等位基因频率分布在不同种族中差异较大,具有种族鉴定的应用可能。     

Automated evaluation of approximate matching algorithms on real data

Bytewise approximate matching is a relatively new area within digital forensics, but its importance is growing quickly as practitioners are looking for fast methods to screen and analyze the increasing amounts of data in forensic investigations. The essential idea is to complement the use of cryptographic hash functions to detect data objects with bytewise identical representation with the capability to find objects with bytewise similar representations.Unlike cryptographic hash functions, which have been studied and tested for a long time, approximate matching ones are still in their early development stages and evaluation methodology is still evolving. Broadly, prior approaches have used either a human in the loop to manually evaluate the goodness of similarity matches on real world data, or controlled (pseudo-random) data to perform automated evaluation.This work's contribution is to introduce automated approximate matching evaluation on real data by relating approximate matching results to the longest common substring (LCS). Specifically, we introduce a computationally efficient LCS approximation and use it to obtain ground truth on the t5 set. Using the results, we evaluate three existing approximate matching schemes relative to LCS and analyze their performance.     

Solidarity and Social Networks: The Invisible Backbone That Ethiopians and Eritreans in Washington D.C. used to Transform Adams Morgan and U Street

Abstract

This research depicts the social networks that the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities use to establish and support ethnic and non-cultural businesses in Washington D.C. It also showcases the solidarity expressions that, behind-the-scenes, sustain and help strengthen these migrant-led businesses in the area. Furthermore, it describes the opportunity structure found in Washington D.C. that has allowed Ethiopians and Eritreans to open businesses and progress in neighborhoods such as Adams Morgan and U Street. The study uses ethnographic research comprised of participant observation and in-depth interviews to analyze 20 case studies of successful Ethiopian and Eritrean entrepreneurs in D.C. This paper describes the characteristics of an immigrant community that is underrepresented in the literature, especially regarding its entrepreneurship; it underscores the special role that family and kin play in supporting their entrepreneurship; and it makes visible the impact that Ethiopians and Eritreans have had in some areas of Washington D.C.     

Confidence in an election authority and satisfaction with democracy: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of a failed election in Sweden

Contemporary research on electoral integrity has focused on the functioning, evaluation, and legitimacy of electoral processes in emerging democracies. By contrast, this study investigates whether a failed election in a well-established democracy can affect individuals' evaluations of the electoral management body, the Election Authority, and whether those evaluations affect satisfaction with democracy. Using the case of a Swedish regional election in 2010 that had to be rerun due to procedural mistakes in the vote handling, we found that, in the short term, individuals’ confidence in the Election Authority was reduced after it was announced that the election had to be rerun because of the mistakes. Subsequently, this decreased confidence was strongly associated with less satisfaction with democracy at the regional and national level. As good news for the authority, after a successful rerun election, confidence rebounded to the levels prior to the failed election.     

Fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237

Novel synthetic opioids contribute considerably to the opioid epidemic, especially with the frequent emergence of structurally similar compounds. This case report describes a fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237. A 54-year-old Caucasian male was found deceased from an apparent drug overdose. A plastic container labeled “2MAP” and a cut straw were found in the decedent's backpack at the scene. A white substance found in the container tested positive for fentanyl by field testing. According to his medical history, the decedent was treated for a drug overdose 3 years prior to his death. With no diagnostic findings at autopsy, the case was submitted for toxicological analysis. An unknown substance was detected in peripheral blood and urine using gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorous detection (GC-NPD). Further testing was conducted using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) which confirmed the presence of 2-methyl AP-237 and potential metabolites in blood and urine. Quantitation by GC-NPD revealed concentrations of 2-methyl AP-237 in blood and urine at 480 ng/mL and 4200 ng/mL, respectively. The toxicological analysis also identified and quantitated alprazolam in the blood at 55 ng/mL. Additionally, the metabolism of 2-methyl AP-237 was investigated and three hydroxylated metabolites were identified in peripheral blood and urine. Limited literature is available for the detection and quantitation of 2-methyl AP-237 in postmortem specimens. Given the toxicological findings with unremarkable autopsy findings, this case is an example of a fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237.     

2,4,6-Tri(2′-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine for determination of iron(II), Iron(III), and total iron contents on human palms

When iron-based tools, such as knives or guns, are held, traces of iron can transfer to the skin. However, no previous studies have been published regarding the effect of the elapsed contact time on the transfer of iron species with different valences to the palm. Compared with 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine (PDT), 2,4,6-tri(2′-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TPTZ) was found to exhibit a higher sensitivity to iron(II) spectrophotometrically. This work employed 2,4,6-tri(2′-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TPTZ) and UV spectrophotometry to determine the amounts of iron(II), iron(III), and total iron transferred to human palms from iron tools. It was found that the palmar moisture level was an important factor in determining the amounts of total iron, including iron(II), transferred to the palm. For identical contact times, the amounts of total iron transferred to the palm was proportional to the palmar moisture, and the difference between the maximum and minimum amounts was 12 μg per hand. However, the amounts of iron(II) transferred to the palm gradually decreased over time for low palmar moisture levels, but steadily increased over time for high palmar moisture levels. Additionally, for average levels of palm moisture, the amounts of iron(II) and iron(III) transferred to the palm gradually decreased and increased, respectively, with longer contact times. Notably, this research could serve as a theoretical basis and guide for the detection of trace iron species with different valences on human palms for criminal investigations.     

The Responsibility to Protect at Ten: Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Abstract

Far from having faded away, ten years after its formal adoption, the responsibility to protect (R2P), is arguably more relevant than ever. In the current overall context of protection crises, heightened in severity by the emergence of violent extremists, R2P has changed the way in which the international community characterises situations that involve protection failures, and has raised expectations about what should occur when atrocity crimes have been committed or are imminent. UN member states now agree that prevention is at the core of R2P, that international action should employ the full range of diplomatic, political and humanitarian measures, and that military force should only be considered as a measure of last resort. While there is continued contestation about particular aspects of R2P – as there is over much older normative advancements, such as human rights – R2P has helped to forge political consensus and build new institutional capacity to prevent and respond to atrocity crimes.     

Responsibility to Protect: Russia’s Approaches

Abstract

Russia’s predominantly suspicious and even negative attitudes toward R2P are closely related to its traditional attachment to the notion of sovereignty, but its reluctance to ‘bless’ the use of force with R2P also serves as a pretext to cover various instrumental goals. Russia’s more assertive foreign policy has exacerbated this trend. Disagreements stem from differences between Russia and the West both in their conceptual approaches to security and in their assessments of specific cases. In particular, Russia has an existential concern over possible application of R2P by extra-regional actors in its immediate post-Soviet vicinity. However, in the conflicts around South Ossetia (2008) and Crimea / Southeastern Ukraine (2014-), there was a noticeable trend to refocus R2P-related arguments in support of Russia’s own actions. By and large, R2P continues to be perceived as a Western attempt to establish certain rules of behaviour which require caution and prudence. Nevertheless, more positive attitudes do not seem impossible. To play a prominent role in the evolving international system, Russia will have to make the R2P segment of its foreign policy more salient and overcome the lag in promoting this concept as a working tool indispensable for cooperative and responsible leadership.     

The discursive construction of intervention: selves,democratic legacies,and Responsibility to Protect in French discourse on Libya

This article analyses French executives' and lawmakers' legitimisations of the intervention in Libya with the aim of understanding the discursive construction of intervention. It investigates the arguments in favour of intervention and the oppositions they were confronted with. To these arguments belong a re-evaluated democratic legacy of France, an identification with the Libyan people, and a debate on Responsibility to Protect and the rule of law in world politics, which have a broader relevance for French actorness abroad. The article applies the Essex School discourse theory and techniques from Interpretive Policy Analysis on executive speeches and parliamentary documents for structuring the debate and for estimating the strength of ideas in their interdiscursive configuration. An ideal-typical explanation of the legitimisation of intervention and of the choice of one policy over another is made. The article argues that going to war in Libya equated to a question of cultural appropriateness.     

In Defense of the Responsibility to Protect: A Response to Weissman

This article defends the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine (adopted by the United Nations in 2005) against critiques by Fabrice Weissman in this journal, and against similar criticisms of humanitarian intervention and human rights norms made by postmodern thinkers in the Nietzschean tradition, such as Alain Badiou and Anne Orford. I argue against Weissman that R2P can be effective in stopping or preventing mass atrocities, and in particular that opposition to military intervention in Syria during the 2013 debates was a terrible mistake. Moreover, the moral ground for humanitarian aid efforts is the same as the basis for forceful rescue from mass slaughter, ethnic cleansing, and persecution (when other conditions of just war can be met). Weissman's critiques misinterpret just war theory on key points and rely on inflated rhetorical strategies inspired by extreme forms of cultural and moral relativism that are intellectually bankrupt—both in blaming “Western imperialism” for most crimes against humanity committed by tyrants, and in leaving hundreds of thousands without the only protection that could prevent their murder and exile. These extreme positions and the strained rhetorical devices used to defend them do not deserve the wide respect they command in some parts of academia.