Taiwan: An Internal Affair! How China’s Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy Interact on the Taiwan Issue?

Taiwan may be an internal affair but the domestic public opinion is not invited to participate very much in a debate and a decision-making process that have remained confined to the Chinese Communist Party and the military top leadership and, on purpose, involves a very small number of officials and experts. Conservative and nationalist forces do constrain Beijing’s Taiwan policy. And some leaders are tempted to use the Taiwan issue for unrelated domestic or foreign policy purpose. Nevertheless, what is striking is the potential for flexibility in China’s Taiwan policy. While Chinese local governments and companies’ increasing interests in business-as-usual in the Strait and the unbearable cost of any armed conflict tend to narrow the government’s options, concentration of power and the efficiency of the propaganda machine allow it to rather smoothly manage, in particular vis-à-vis the elites’ conservative opinion group as well as its own public opinion, this flexibility.     

Indigenous Land Policies,Culture and Resistance in Latin America

Considered here are three edited collections about Latin America that address a wide variety of key rural development issues arising from landholding. The latter include not just methodological approaches (anthropology, political economy) but also questions of identity (gender, indigenous) and sustainability (the environment). Two seemingly antithetical interpretations of the impact of neoliberal project on indigenous populations are in evidence: as economically disempowering, but as politically empowering. A possible synthesis of these contrasting positions is suggested.     

Glycated hemoglobin: a useful post-mortem reference marker in determining diabetes

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)) has been demonstrated to be a useful marker for long-term glucose control in diabetes. This parameter characterizes each non-enzymatic fixation of glucose on hemoglobin. It is a useful test in addition to periodic glycemia controls since it reflects the mean glycemia of the past 60 days. We studied the conservation of HbA(1c) at 4 degrees C as a function of time with different anti-coagulants and preservatives (3, 6 months, 1 year). A total of 106 tests were performed using the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method dedicated to the semi-automatic analysis of HbA(1c) (Bio-Rad) and we applied the method in forensic cases. Conservation at 4 degrees C was good for as long as 3 months in blood samples collected with fluoride and 6 months in samples collected in a dry or in a heparinized tube. In non-diabetic subjects, HbA(1c) reference values obtained from forensic samples were identical to those of living controls (3.5-6.25% of total hemoglobin). All positive HbA(1c) results were confirmed by a medical evaluation. This method was successfully applied to five forensic cases. In cases of increased acetonemia, acetone or isopropanol are easily measured. However, in some unexplained post-mortem circumstances, increased HbA(1c) permits to differentiate alcoholic or starvation ketoacidosis from the diabetic cases. Glycated hemoglobin should, therefore, be considered the forensic marker of choice in the post-mortem diagnosis of a diabetic disorder and demonstrates its usefulness in post-mortem validation.     

Scanning electron microscopy analysis of experimental bone hacking trauma

The authors report on their macro- and microscopy study of bone lesions made by a sharp force instrument (a single blade knife), and a sharp-blunt instrument classified as a chopping weapon (a hatchet). The aim of this work was to attempt to identify the instrument by analyzing the general class characteristics of the cuts. Each weapon was used on human bones. The results indicate that macroscopic analysis is more problematic. The microscopic analysis assessed that characteristics examined were effective in distinguishing sharp from sharp-blunt injury to the bone. The microscope facilitates analysis unachievable with macroscopic methods, some three-dimensional characteristics not visible to the naked eye being clearly defined with its use. Emphasis has been placed on the value of SEM as an anthropologist's tool in bone lesion injuries.     

Metal and metalloid multi-elementary ICP-MS validation in whole blood, plasma, urine and hair. Reference values

Four multi-elementary metal and metalloid quantification methods using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were developed and validated in human whole blood, plasma, urine and hair by means of a single preparation procedure for each sample. The ICP-MS measurements were performed using a Thermo Elemental X7CCT series and PlasmaLab software without a dynamic reaction cell. With this procedure 27-32 elements can be simultaneously quantified in biological matrices: Li, Be, B, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Pd, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Te, Ba, W, Pt, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi, U. Whole blood, plasma and urine samples (0.4 ml each) were diluted with purified water, acid, triton X100 and butanol. Rhodium was used as internal standard. The urine sample results were corrected for enzymatic creatinine determination. Twenty-five milligrams hair samples were acid mineralized after a decontamination procedure and diluted as previously described for biological fluids. To be validated, each element had to show linearity with a correlation coefficient higher than 0.99. The intra-assay and inter-assay inaccuracy, measured as the variation coefficient, were below 5 and 10% respectively. Global performance was assessed by a quality control program. Our laboratory is a registered participant of the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (Sainte-Foy, Canada) inter-laboratory comparison program for whole blood, urine, and beard hair of non-occupationally exposed individuals spiked with selected elements. In our study multi-element metal and metalloid analysis was assessed for 27 elements in whole blood, 27 elements in plasma, 30 elements in urine and 32 elements in hair, from 0 to 25, or 250 to 1000 ng/ml, depending on the element. Quantification limits ranged from 0.002 ng/ml (U) to 8.1 ng/ml (Al) for whole blood, from 0.002 ng/ml (U) to 7.7 ng/ml (Al) for plasma, from 0.001 ng/ml (U) to 2.2 ng/ml (Se) for urine, and from 0.2 pg/mg (Tl) to 0.5 ng/mg (B) for hair. Normal values were determined in whole blood (n=100), plasma (n=100), urine (n=100), and hair (n=45) of healthy volunteers, leading to approximately 10,000 analyses. All results are presented and discussed. Clinical toxicology and forensic toxicology applications are also reported. ICP-MS has made significant advances in the field of clinical biology, particularly in toxicological analysis. This is due to the use of extremely effective equipment that permits better clinical and forensic toxicological analysis of metal and metalloid status of each individual patient.     

Scanning electron microscopy analysis of experimental bone hacking trauma of the mandible

The authors report on a macroscopic and microscopic study of human mandible bone lesions achieved by a single-blade knife and a hatchet. The aim of this work was to complete the previous data (scanning electron microscopy analysis of bone lesions made by a single-blade knife and a hatchet, on human femurs) and to compare the lesions of the femur with those of the mandible. The results indicate that the mandible is a more fragile bone, but the features observed on the mandible are quite similar to those previously observed on the femur. This work spells out the main scanning electron microscopy characteristics of sharp (bone cutting) and blunt (exerting a pressure on the bone) mechanisms on human bone. Weapon characteristics serve to explain all of these features.     

Culture in Action: Nicaragua's Revolutionary Identities Reconsidered

Rather than assume revolutionary subjectivity during insurrectionary conditions as an ideological historical given, I begin my inquiry into revolutionary action by considering the "contextual point" from the actual participants. "Culture in Action" challenges the notion that revolutionary actors are ipso facto ideologically defined during pre-overthrow conditions. Building on the social movement, revolution, and other pertinent literature as well as using interview data, secondary sources, and historical analysis, I demonstrate that the majority of Sandinista sympathizers were able to transform their social-political reality, not through Marxist-like ideology, but through the radical use of pre-existing idiomatic currencies, with Christian idioms and folkloric Sandinismo as the central vocabularies that helped embodied revolutionary subjecthoods. The piece seeks to shed light on the historico-cultural conditions within which revolutionary actors are constituted, and as such sets out to demonstrate the disruptive potential of culture. An attempt is also made to explore the relationship between idiom and ideology.     

Integration without Reunification

The United States, the third actor in what is still too often perceived as a bilateral and 'internal' dispute, will likely continue to prevent the direst of scenarios from taking place in cross-Strait relations: Taiwan independence, Taiwan's forced absorption by China, or even war. This outside constraint as well as the rapid development of multiple relations across the Strait hopefully will narrow the options available to Beijing and Taipei in the future. Nevertheless, while economic integration and cultural affinities may ease the development of a form of political integration, a formal unification that would solve the sovereignty issue and result in the dissolution of the Republic of China seems unlikely, even after the People's Republic of China democratises. More likely, a particular formula recognising that Taiwan is part of China but not 'mainland China' may be worked out by the two governments when Beijing eventually finds it to be both an interest and politically acceptable to formalise the 'integration without reunification' situation.     

On intelligence and crime: a comparison of incarcerated sex offenders and serious non-sexual violent criminals

The impact of low IQ on crime has been a focus of debate for several decades now. Although sociologists have virtually removed it from the list of possible factors influencing crime, the impact of IQ on crime continues to generate a significant amount of scientific research and a substantial number of publications. The purpose of this study is to assess intellectual levels and to compare two groups of incarcerated criminals. Using MANCOVA and ANCOVA procedures, 261 sex offenders and 150 non-sexual violent criminals were compared on IQ subscales. The results show significant differences on vocabulary, comprehension, arithmetic, mental math computations, object assembly, letter-number sequencing, and perception subscales, as well as on performance IQ and total IQ. The impacts of penal filtering and sample composition are hypothesized to explain differences between the two subgroups. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.