Global Ethics and Nanotechnology: A Comparison of the Nanoethics Environments of the EU and China

The following article offers a brief overview of current nanotechnology policy, regulation and ethics in Europe and The People’s Republic of China with the intent of noting (dis)similarities in approach, before focusing on the involvement of the public in science and technology policy (i.e. participatory Technology Assessment). The conclusions of this article are, that (a) in terms of nanosafety as expressed through policy and regulation, China PR and the EU have similar approaches towards, and concerns about, nanotoxicity—the official debate on benefits and risks is not markedly different in the two regions; (b) that there is a similar economic drive behind both regions’ approach to nanodevelopment, the difference being the degree of public concern admitted; and (c) participation in decision-making is fundamentally different in the two regions. Thus in China PR, the focus is on the responsibility of the scientist; in the EU, it is about government accountability to the public. The formulation of a Code of Conduct for scientists in both regions (China PR’s predicted for 2012) reveals both similarity and difference in approach to nanotechnology development. This may change, since individual responsibility alone cannot guide S&T development, and as public participation is increasingly seen globally as integral to governmental decision-making

Predicting Precedent: A Psycholinguistic Artificial Intelligence in the Supreme Court

Since the proliferation of analytic methodologies and ‘big data’ in the 1980s, there have been multiple studies claiming to offer consistent predictions for Supreme Court behavior. Political scientists focus on analyzing the ideology of judges, with prediction accuracy as high as 70%. Institutionalists, such as Kaufmann (2019), seek to make predictions on verdicts based on a thorough, qualitative analysis of rules and structures, with predictive accuracy as high as 75%. We argue that a psycholinguistic model utilizing machine learning (SCOTUS_AI) can best predict Court outcomes. Extracting sentiment features from parsed briefs through the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), our results indicate SCOTUS_AI (AUC = .8087; Top K=.9144) outcompetes traditional analysis in both class-controlled accuracy and range of possible, specific outcomes. Moreover, unlike traditional models, SCOTUS_AI can also predict the procedural outcome of the case as one-hot encoded by remand (AUC=.76). Our findings support a psycholinguistic paradigm of case analysis, suggesting that the framing of arguments is a relatively strong predictor of case results. Finally, we cast predictions for the Supreme Court docket, demonstrating that SCOTUS_AI can be practically deployed in the field for individual cases

Maladjusted: The Misguided Policy of "Trade Adjustment Assistance"

Through much of the post-World War II era of trade liberalization, organized labor and freetraders struck a grand bargain: negotiated agreements that lower tariffs in the United States would be accompanied by extra welfare benefits available to people who lose their jobs because of import competition. As many free traders see it, such programs can help mollify the opposition to new trade agreements and as such are a sacrifice worth making. But that bargain has broken down. The new Democratic majority in Congress has given only half-hearted support for new trade agreements and has so far refused to grant President Bush new authority to negotiate and submit them to Congress without the risk of deal killing amendments. The Trade Adjustment Assistance program is a relic of the past that reflects a different economy in a different political setting. The very existence of trade adjustment assistance perpetuates the myth that freeing trade creates special "victims" who deserve special programs simply because of the reason for their unemployment. But for every worker who is displaced because of competition from imports or "off-shoring," 30 others lose their jobs for other reasons such as changes in technology and tastes, and domestic competition. Studies have suggested that workers displaced because of import competition were equally successful at finding new jobs as other unemployed workers. Systemic changes that help workers adjust to new opportunities, such as increasing the portability of health insurance and retirement savings, and increasing labor market flexibility to create new jobs, would be more fitting policy prescriptions for a free society and a dynamic, service-oriented economy

Competition of the mechanisms : how Chinese home appliance firms coped with default risk of trade credit?

During the transition period from a planned economy to a market economy in 1990s of China, there was a considerable accrual of deferred payment, and default due to inferior enforcement institutions. This is a very common phenomenon in the transition economies at that time. Interviews with home electronics appliance firms revealed that firms coped with this problem by adjusting their sales mechanisms (found four types), and the benefit of institutions was limited. A theoretical analysis claim that spot and integration are inferior to contracts, a contract with a rebate on volume and prepayment against an exclusive agent can realize the lowest cost and price. The empirical part showed that mechanisms converged into a mechanism with the rebate on volume an against exclusive agent and its price level is the lowest. The competition is the driving force of the convergence of mechanisms and improvement risk management capacity.China, Electronic industries, Corporate accounting, Industrial management, Trade credit, Distribution channel strategy, Contract, Convergence of mechanisms

Financing firms in India

The authors examine the legal and business environments, financing channels, and governance mechanisms of various types of firms in India and compare them to those from other countries. Despite its English commonlaw origin, strong legal protection provided by the law, and a democratic government, corruption within India's legal system and government significantly weakens investor protection in practice. External financing of firms has been dominated by nonmarket sources of financing, while the characteristics of listed firms are similar to those from countries with weak investor protection. The evidence, including results based on a survey of small and medium-scale private firms, shows that alternative financing channels provide the most important source of funds. The authors also find that informal governance mechanisms, such as those based on reputation, trust, and relationships are more important than formal mechanisms (such as courts) in resolving disputes, overcoming corruption, and supporting growth.Banks&Banking Reform,Corporate Law,Financial Intermediation,Governance Indicators,Small Scale Enterprise

Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon : an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding

Acknowledgements We would like to thank Laura Whitehouse, John Carman, Oliver Grimm, Julie Lund, Bjørnar Olsen, two anonymous reviewers, and the editor for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. We also thank Alex Woolf for providing us with a copy of his forthcoming article on the Vikings in Ireland. Lastly, we are grateful to Luke Glowacki, Shane McFarlane, and Ryan Schacht for their insights about raiding and OSRs. Needless to say, all remaining errors are our own. Funding BR and MC are supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through a Partnership Grant (895-2011-1009) awarded to the Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortium (www.ubc/hecc/cerc). MC is also supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, and Simon Fraser University. NP is supported by a Swedish Research Council grant for "The Viking Phenomenon" project (2015-00466).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

To Recycle e-Waste or Not: Understanding Consumers' Intention from the Lens of Behavioral Theories

The study was conducted to explore and understand factors that determine consumers' intention to recycle e-waste from the lens of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Behavioral Reasoning Theory (BRT). A cross-sectional survey was designed and data was collected from 339 respondents who used an extensive number of electronic devices. The findings suggest positive attitudes towards recycling; social norms and perceived behavioral control are significant to the intention to recycle e-waste. In addition, attitude is explained by two determinants; reasons for recycling and environmental value. Finally, environmental value is also significant in explaining reasons for and reasons against recycling. The study is important for theoretical and managerial implications in describing consumers' acceptance of e-waste recycling by considering the values that promote the act, and the risks that prohibit them from acting positively. Likewise, the findings would help in building an impactful environmental protection regulation for the sustainability agenda

The Death Knell For the Death Penalty and the Significance of Global Realism to its Abolition from Glossip v. Gross to Brumfield v. Cain

The Supreme Court’s jurisprudence regarding the death penalty, whether or not cruel, has most certainly been unusual in the annals of criminal punishment. In the short span of four years, the Court foreclosed and then reopened this form of punishment in Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v. Georgia. One year later the Court would categorically exclude the punishment for the rape of an adult. Five years later the Court would again preclude the punishment, for any defendant convicted of felony-murder who did not participate or share in the homicidal act or intent. In 1986 the Court would struggle with the Orwellian issue of whether and how a person must be competent to be executed in Ford v. Wainwright. In 1989, in two cases decided on the same day, the Court refused to find that the “mentally retarded” or juveniles were categorically exempt from the death penalty, in opinions that both embodied the “national consensus” test for death penalty restrictions and questioned its exclusivity as the determinate measure of cruel and unusual punishment. In the decade that followed, the ground began to shift under the Court’s jurisprudence in a number of ways. Coalitions opposed to the death penalty in specific instances and in general expanded to encompass international human rights advocates dedicated as amicus curiae or pro bono counsel to highlight the United States’ growing isolation in its official acceptance of the punishment. In 2002, the landmark case of Atkins v. Virginia would invigorate categorical exclusions from the death penalty, recognizing that the “mentally retarded” could not be subject to the harshest form of punishment. Roper v. Simmons would add juvenile offenders to the categorical exclusions. In 2008, rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim’s death, was added as an offense which did not qualify for the death penalty. In a span of four years, the Court would expand protection of juvenile offenders from life without parole, first for non-homicidal offenses, then for any offense. In addition, the Court found itself mired after Furman in what one commentator has described as “an unparalleled level of constitutional micromanagement” as to how the death penalty can be imposed procedurally and when it can be imposed based on the nature of the offense and the status of the offender. For the October 2015 term, the Court granted certiorari in a consolidated trio of cases and an additional case raising such procedural issues. The Montgomery v. Louisiana decision on January 25, 2016 applied the prohibition on life without parole for juvenile offenders retroactively, releasing prisoners who had spent their entire “adult” lives behind bars. Against this backdrop, the Court’s 2015 decision in Glossip v. Gross is a notable victory, as it were, for the death penalty. In the almost inevitable 5-4 split, the Court refused to find that the specific method of execution, a three-drug protocol begun with midazolam, constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The decision is at best a Pyrrhic victory for the death penalty, however, given the specificity of the method in question. More importantly, the majority opinion was largely eclipsed by Justice Breyer’s dissent, joined by Justice Ginsburg, which called for total abolition of the death penalty. This article also seeks to demonstrate that the opinion exemplifies the need for what might be termed “global realism” in recognizing that consideration of international legal norms and political realities is unavoidable in the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence. The method of execution itself was the unavoidable result of a refusal of drug suppliers outside the U.S. to continue supplying drugs for execution purposes, and Justice Breyer’s dissent brought to the forefront once again the isolation of the United States’ acceptance of the death penalty. Glossip v. Gross, thus, may be the beginning of the end of the death penalty due to a confluence of a shift in constitutional legal analysis from the “national consensus” analysis to proportionality and penological purposes served, empirical evidence that there is no national consensus in favor of the death penalty, a renewed recognition of the unreliability of decision-making whatever procedural prerequisites the Court imposes, and an overdue, forthright recognition of the significance of international norms and practices in determining “evolving standards of decency” under the Eighth Amendment. This recognition is explicit in Justice Breyer’s dissent, but also fundamental to evaluating what Justice Kennedy’s position might be on abolishing the death penalty, notwithstanding his joining the five justices in Glossip v. Gross

The Power of Protest Messages: An Information Model on Protest Participation in China}

This project explores how protest messages affect audiences\u27 decision to join policy oriented protests in an authoritarian context. By proposing an information model, I argue that citizens\u27 participation is affected by the behaviors of the government and the protesters included in the protest message. Such effects are moderated by (1) the partially free media environment that selectively displays certain behaviors and hides the others; and (2) individuals\u27 personal attributes that influences their interpretation of the messages. I used a survey experiment and a comparative text analysis of social media posts and news articles to test the information model. I found that government concession (responsiveness) can produce positive effects on audiences\u27 participation willingness while protesters\u27 violence generates negative effects. The propaganda media outlets selectively highlight government responsiveness in news about domestic protests so that, counter-intuitively, they become more mobilizing than non-propaganda outlets. Moreover, citizens\u27 high government trust lead them to pay more attention to the government behaviors, while low trust lead them to be more susceptible to protesters\u27 behaviors. Finally, the government repression remains uninfluential at this information level. These findings explain how citizens decide to participate by perceiving the macro socio-political conditions. It also explains the mechanism that protests diffuse at the individual level. Finally, it contributes to our understanding of ``the dictator\u27s dilemma\u27\u27 between responsiveness and increasing social demands in autocracies

What Could ASEAN Learn about Bankruptcy Law from ASEAN Partner Countries, China and Japan?

By 2021, Japan will have the third-largest economy in the world, behind China, which is currently the world's second-largest economy. China accounts for 17.9% of the global gross domestic product (GDP), while Japan accounts for 5.4 percent. In 2022, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia Pacific countries, such as Australia, will establish the RECP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), becoming the world's largest free trade area cooperative bloc. On the other hand, it brings within several investment risks. Undertakings succumbing in the financial hardships or financial default will be manifested. Diverse legal systems result in different approaches to resolving defaulted businesses. For businesspeople, this disparity in the legal system creates legal uncertainty. The goal of this study is to describe how the bankruptcy system works in RCEP member countries and what ASEAN nations may do to improve their bankruptcy laws. The normative legal method is used in this study. This method compares the legal systems of the top ASEAN countries and other RCEP members. This analysis concludes that ASEAN bankruptcy legislation can be improved by using current systems from other ASEAN and RCEP nations. When faced with bankruptcy, the consistency of regulations is supposed to give legal certainty for corporate actors. This will also provide investors from other countries with a sense of security