Egorassisme as verswarende faktor by straftoemeting

Uit teks: In die saak R v White ([2001] Crim LR 576), wat onlangs voor die strafafdeling van die Court of Appeal (CA) in Engeland gedien het, was die feite kortliks soos volg: Die appellant, W, was ‘n passasier op ’n bus in London. Daar is aangevoer dat, toe hy van die bus afgeklim het, hy dreigende, smalende en beledigende woorde/gedrag teenoor die konduktrise, wat van Sierra Leone afkomstig was, gebruik/openbaar het en dat hy gevolglik skuldig was aan oortreding van artikel 31 van die Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (1998 c37) gelees met artikel 4 van die Public Order Act 1986 (1986 c64)

Die status van fiksies in ’n regstaat: opmerkinge oor ouderdomsgrense en die kind as dader en slagoffer in die strafreg

In the first instance, the origin of age limits in determining criminal liability and also in answering the question whether a child is a victim of a specific (sexual) crime is investigated. Secondly, the development by our courts and legislature of these rules concerning age limits in criminal law are scrutinised. Reference is made throughout to the position in other legal systems. Thereupon, the necessity of age limits in this regard is analysed and evaluated from a rational, constitutional and a general justice point of view. Rigid and unchangeable age limits are pointed out as being fictitious and are rejected as being in conflict with basic principles of rationality and constitutionality as well as general principles of justice

’n Analise van onlangse interpretasies van die nuwe uitgebreide penetrasiebegrip by verkragting in die Duitse reg

In this article, the origin and development of the penetration concept in rape is initially explained from a history of law and anthropo-legal perspective. Thereafter the current formulation of section 177StGB in Germany is analysed and recent interpretations by the courts and commentators are expounded. In contemporary German law the crime of rape only comes into play in determining a proper punishment. It , in fact, only constitutes an aggravated form of sexual assault. The penetration requirement in rape is extended to also encompass penetrative sexual acts of a similar nature aswell as other sexual conduct resulting in comparable humiliation to the victim. The South African Law Commission should take cognizance of recent developments in German law

Quantification of Mineral Composition and Total Protein Content in Sorghum [ (L.) Moench] Genotypes

Sorghum is a drought tolerant cereal and staple food which is a dietary source of protein and more than 20 minerals. The concentration of the mineral elements and protein content in sorghum varies due to genotypic and environmental influences and genotype by environment interactions. The objective of this study was to determine the contents of eight mineral elements (Ca, Fe, K, Mn, Na, P, Zn and Mg) and protein in sorghum genotypes. The analysis of variance showed significant differences in mineral and protein contents. There was a significant relationship between Zn and Fe and between protein and P and Zn. The principal component (PC) analysis showed that Fe, Mn, P, Zn and protein contributed largely to clustering of the genotypes in PC1; Ca, P and Mg to PC2 and Ca, K and Na to PC3. The presence of a considerable amount of compositional variability of mineral and protein contents among tested genotypes suggests that they can be a valuable source of genes for nutritional quality improvement of sorghum

Continuous measurements of greenhouse gases and atmospheric oxygen at the Namib Desert atmospheric observatory

A new coastal background site has been established for observations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the central Namib Desert at Gobabeb, Namibia. The location of the site was chosen to provide observations for a data-poor region in the global sampling network for GHGs. Semi-automated continuous measurements of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, atmospheric oxygen, and basic meteorology are made at a height of 21 m a.g.l., 50 km from the coast at the northern border of the Namib Sand Sea. Atmospheric oxygen is measured with a differential fuel cell analyzer (DFCA). Carbon dioxide and methane are measured with an early-model cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS); nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide are measured with an off-axis integrated cavity output spectrometer (OA-ICOS). Instrument-specific water corrections are employed for both the CRDS and OA-ICOS instruments in lieu of drying. The performance and measurement uncertainties are discussed in detail. As the station is located in a remote desert environment, there are some particular challenges, namely fine dust, high diurnal temperature variability, and minimal infrastructure. The gas handling system and calibration scheme were tailored to best fit the conditions of the site. The CRDS and DFCA provide data of acceptable quality when base requirements for operation are met, specifically adequate temperature control in the laboratory and regular supply of electricity. In the case of the OA-ICOS instrument, performance is significantly improved through the implementation of a drift correction through frequent measurements of a reference cylinder

Clinical and cost-effectiveness of contingency management for cannabis use in early psychosis: the CIRCLE randomised clinical trial

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance amongst people with psychosis. Continued cannabis use following the onset of psychosis is associated with poorer functional and clinical outcomes. However, finding effective ways of intervening has been very challenging. We examined the clinical and cost-effectiveness of adjunctive contingency management (CM), which involves incentives for abstinence from cannabis use, in people with a recent diagnosis of psychosis. CIRCLE was a pragmatic multi-centre randomised controlled trial. Participants were recruited via Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services across the Midlands and South East of England. They had had at least one episode of clinically diagnosed psychosis (affective or non-affective); were aged 18 to 36; reported cannabis use in at least 12 out of the previous 24 weeks; and were not currently receiving treatment for cannabis misuse, or subject to a legal requirement for cannabis testing. Participants were randomised via a secure web-based service 1:1 to either an experimental arm, involving 12 weeks of CM plus a six-session psychoeducation package, or a control arm receiving the psychoeducation package only. The total potential voucher reward in the CM intervention was £240. The primary outcome was time to acute psychiatric care, operationalised as admission to an acute mental health service (including community alternatives to admission). Primary outcome data were collected from patient records at 18 months post-consent by assessors masked to allocation. The trial was registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN33576045. Five hundred fifty-one participants were recruited between June 2012 and April 2016. Primary outcome data were obtained for 272 (98%) in the CM (experimental) group and 259 (95%) in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in time to acute psychiatric care (the primary outcome) (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.76, 1.40) between groups. By 18 months, 90 (33%) of participants in the CM group, and 85 (30%) of the control groups had been admitted at least once to an acute psychiatric service. Amongst those who had experienced an acute psychiatric admission, the median time to admission was 196 days (IQR 82, 364) in the CM group and 245 days (IQR 99, 382) in the control group. Cost-effectiveness analyses suggest that there is an 81% likelihood that the intervention was cost-effective, mainly resulting from higher mean inpatient costs for the control group compared with the CM group; however, the cost difference between groups was not statistically significant. There were 58 adverse events, 27 in the CM group and 31 in the control group. Overall, these results suggest that CM is not an effective intervention for improving the time to acute psychiatric admission or reducing cannabis use in psychosis, at least at the level of voucher reward offered

The Hungarian pear germplasm as source of genetic variability for breeding programmes

TheHungarian pear collection (Pyrus communis L.) consists of 423 genotypes distributed over seven genebanks inHungary. This is oneof themost extensive collections of native and cultivated pears found in Eastern Europe and includes a wide range of genotypes with small size fruit(referred to as “Miniature pears”). Based on the in situ and ex situ measures taken by governmental and other institutions for fruit tree conservationin Hungary, an overview is given on some activities regarding areas of Pyrus collection and genebanks where pears are collected and grown.Descriptions of traits of miniature pears found in Hungarian genebanks for the interest of genetic characterization and breeding are presented