Harmonization of private law on a global level

The Vienna Sales Convention (1980) follows in large measure the American Uniform Commercial Code: Article 2 on Sales. Is this to imply that the Contracting States to the Vienna Sales Convention really prefer American sales law? This paper answers this question in the negative, and argues instead that the United States’ economic leverage with other countries is the key factor influencing developments pertaining to private law on a global level.We explain why it may be useful to harmonize rules of private law on a global level and which rules should be chosen for a uniform law. We show that the choice between two legal arrangements may lead to a coordination problem. Next we argue that the coordination problem is solved in favor of the jurisdiction whose economy is less dependent upon the economies of other jurisdictions than the other way around. We use our model to discuss the harmonization of sales law on a global level in the twentieth century.     

Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in three major population groups in Bulgaria.

A total of 280 unrelated males from the three largest population groups in Bulgaria: Bulgarians, Bulgarian Turks and Gypsies, were analyzed for seven Y-chromosome STRs (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392 and DYS393). Comparison of the allele frequency distributions revealed significant differences between the three ethnic groups which were confirmed with haplotype analysis. This permits us to suggest that population differentiation should be taken into account in forensic case analysis and paternity testing in Bulgaria.     

Belgian population data for 15 STR loci (AmpFlSTR SGM Plus and AmpFlSTR profiler PCR amplification kit)

The allele and genotype distributions for 15 STR loci included in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus and AmpFlSTR Profiler kits (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, USA) were determined in a sample of 222 unrelated individuals of Belgian origin.     

瑞那神父《两个印第安那的历史》（1970）中的中国：模糊与脆弱的模式

瑞那神父《欧洲在两个印度居住和经商的政治与哲学史》的第一版于1770年问世，是关于殖民的第一部全球史。东方印度的部分尤其吸引我们的注意。瑞那对亚洲进行了大量的介绍，中国和印度是其中的主要部分。在瑞那看来，与印度相反，中国无论如何不能成为殖民的目标。中国历史是一个真正的例外。虽然中国的产品和商业会引起所有欧洲强权的垂涎，但却又是不可企及的。如果中国是一个政治模式，这种政治模式却带有很大的模糊性。十八世纪末的中国模式不仅是风雨飘摇，而且有可能遭到根本的颠覆。我们的想象也许在法国大革命前夕受到这种模糊中国的深刻影响。     

Development of a novel miniSTR multiplex assay for typing degraded DNA samples

A multiplex PCR was developed for the analysis of the sex-determining gene Amelogenin, four conventional STR (short tandem repeat; THO1, D18S51, D21S11 and FGA) loci with a reduced amplicon size and four miniSTR loci (D1S1677, D2S441, D10S1248 and D22S1045). A concordance study in a population of 198 Belgians revealed no differences for the conventional STR loci while a sensitivity study showed a reproducible DNA profile with as low as 30 pg of input DNA.