Preserving Indigenous Paradigms in an Age of Globalization: Pragmatic Strategies for the Development of Clinical Legal Aid in China

This Essay uses the experiences of international efforts to promote clinical legal aid in China to explore one such unexpected consequence of globalization: international assistance\u27s understandable focus on more familiar kinds of legal aid institutions and activities can unintentionally impede the development of indigenous legal aid practices and institutions that might ultimately be better suited for the particular domestic environment. Part I of this essay will discuss international efforts to promote clinical legal aid in China, Part II will discuss reductive strategies for promoting legal development and the problems they present, Part III will discuss pragmatic strategies for promoting legal development and Part IV will provide an example from China to demonstrate the superior catalyzing potential inherent in pragmatic developmental strategies. The essay concludes that international development projects need to shift their focus from one of simply replicating successful foreign models (what we will call a reductive strategy) to one of promoting discovery of the indigenous developmental implications and possibilities inherent in the domestic environment (what we will call a pragmatic strategy)

Constitutional Listening

This article explores a particular methodology of comparative constitutional analysis that it calls constitutional listening. Derived from the interpretive principle of charity, constitutional listening involves interpreting constitutional discourse of other polities in their best light. This includes not simply polities whose constitutional structures and values resemble our own, but perhaps even more importantly, polities and constitutional systems whose values and structures seem alien to us. The value of this methodology, it is argued, lies in its ability to expand our understanding of the diversity of experiences that have gone into the human project of constitutionalism, and in the diversity of human possibilities that the project provokes. The utility of this methodology will be demonstrated by applying it to the debate surrounding the drafting of the Property Law in the People\u27s Republic of China ca. 2006–2007

Constitutional Listening

This article explores a particular methodology of comparative constitutional analysis that it calls constitutional listening. Derived from the interpretive principle of charity, constitutional listening involves interpreting constitutional discourse of other polities in their best light. This includes not simply polities whose constitutional structures and values resemble our own, but perhaps even more importantly, polities and constitutional systems whose values and structures seem alien to us. The value of this methodology, it is argued, lies in its ability to expand our understanding of the diversity of experiences that have gone into the human project of constitutionalism, and in the diversity of human possibilities that the project provokes. The utility of this methodology will be demonstrated by applying it to the debate surrounding the drafting of the Property Law in the People\u27s Republic of China ca. 2006–2007

On the limits of constitutional liberalism: in search of a constitutional reflexivity

Analyses of comparative constitutional law are frequently framed by a particular vision of constitutionalism that we call the 'structural-liberal' vision. This vision sees the purpose of constitutional as being one of limiting state power - its ‘liberal’ component - which is done through the construction of a particular set of institutional architectures - such as judicial constitutional review, judicial protection and enforcement of fundamental rights, separation of powers, rule of law, etc. - its 'structural component.' In this paper, we argue that such analyses are incomplete. The structural-liberal vision is but one of a number of ways of conceptualizing constitutionalism. It is the product of a particular time and place, and reflects the particular concerns and experiences of that time and place. Conversely, there are other kinds of important constitutional concerns and experiences that the structural liberal-vision renders invisible. These include processes of constitutional emergence and evolution, and symbiotic relationships between constitutionalism and other aspects of the regulatory environment (such as the economic structure of the state). In order to be complete, analyses of comparative constitutional law need to be more attentive to the distinctive concerns and experiences of the subjects of their attention. This involves allowing the subject system to speak for itself within the context of the larger, human discussion of constitutionalism - an analytic methodology that we call constitutional reflexivity

Introduction

Martin Loughlin’s Foundations of Public Law offers a radical reworking of public law scholarship, converting it into an interdisciplinary enquiry into the political character of the state. Bringing public law into conceptual and discursive interplay with political theory, political sociology and state theory, Foundations explores the core legal-political relation as it evolves with the evolution of the modern state. The project raises a number of questions that are critically interrogated in this special issue. Does Foundations neglect the emancipatory and normative potential of public law? Does it fully capture the material forces at work in conditioning the evolution of the state and its law? Does public law, at least in its administrative branches, depend upon a foundation at all? And, at its most basic, is an enquiry into the foundations of public law misguided in light of the plurality of its forms

The generation of shared cryptographic keys through channel impulse response estimation at 60 GHz.

Methods to generate private keys based on wireless channel characteristics have been proposed as an alternative to standard key-management schemes. In this work, we discuss past work in the field and offer a generalized scheme for the generation of private keys using uncorrelated channels in multiple domains. Proposed cognitive enhancements measure channel characteristics, to dynamically change transmission and reception parameters as well as estimate private key randomness and expiration times. Finally, results are presented on the implementation of a system for the generation of private keys for cryptographic communications using channel impulse-response estimation at 60 GHz. The testbed is composed of commercial millimeter-wave VubIQ transceivers, laboratory equipment, and software implemented in MATLAB. Novel cognitive enhancements are demonstrated, using channel estimation to dynamically change system parameters and estimate cryptographic key strength. We show for a complex channel that secret key generation can be accomplished on the order of 100 kb/s

The Effect of Globalization on Domestic Legal Services

Globalization, in the context of this panel, refers to international, trans-border processes which are not regulated by the international legal framework, either private law or public international law. These processes, these unregulated influences, are having both positive and negative effects and affecting aspects of culture and society which had previously been considered domestic or wholly domestic concerns. This is creating a tension within both the domestic and international environments, and it is this particular tension that this panel seeks to address. E. Clinton Bamberger, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Maryland Law School, will speak about how domestic systems in one country can serve as surrogates or supplements, providers of access to justice, for persons denied access to justice in their own country. Lucie White, Professor of Law, Harvard will talk about how legal aid is affected when different cultures and different communities immigrate or immigrant communities are set up in a country. Filipe Gonzalez Morales, Director, Public Interest Action Program, Deigo Portales University, Chile, will talk about how globalization and other forces are coming together and affecting developing economies of scale in providing legal aid across national borders. Dorchen Leidholdt, Director, Center for Battered Women's Legal Services, Sanctuary for Families, New York will talk about how globalization and enlarging immigrant communities in New York City have affected her work in providing protection for battered women

Mouse TRIP13/PCH2 Is Required for Recombination and Normal Higher-Order Chromosome Structure during Meiosis

Accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis requires that homologous chromosomes pair and become physically connected so that they can orient properly on the meiosis I spindle. These connections are formed by homologous recombination closely integrated with the development of meiosis-specific, higher-order chromosome structures. The yeast Pch2 protein has emerged as an important factor with roles in both recombination and chromosome structure formation, but recent analysis suggested that TRIP13, the mouse Pch2 ortholog, is not required for the same processes. Using distinct Trip13 alleles with moderate and severe impairment of TRIP13 function, we report here that TRIP13 is required for proper synaptonemal complex formation, such that autosomal bivalents in Trip13-deficient meiocytes frequently displayed pericentric synaptic forks and other defects. In males, TRIP13 is required for efficient synapsis of the sex chromosomes and for sex body formation. Furthermore, the numbers of crossovers and chiasmata are reduced in the absence of TRIP13, and their distribution along the chromosomes is altered, suggesting a role for TRIP13 in aspects of crossover formation and/or control. Recombination defects are evident very early in meiotic prophase, soon after DSB formation. These findings provide evidence for evolutionarily conserved functions for TRIP13/Pch2 in both recombination and formation of higher order chromosome structures, and they support the hypothesis that TRIP13/Pch2 participates in coordinating these key aspects of meiotic chromosome behavior

Dysregulation of neuronal iron homeostasis as an alternative unifying effect of mutations causing familial Alzheimer's disease

The overwhelming majority of dominant mutations causing early onset familial Alzheimer's disease (EOfAD) occur in only three genes, PSEN1, PSEN2, and APP. An effect-in-common of these mutations is alteration of production of the APP-derived peptide, amyloid ß (Aß). It is this key fact that underlies the authority of the Amyloid Hypothesis that has informed Alzheimer's disease research for over two decades. Any challenge to this authority must offer an alternative explanation for the relationship between the PSEN genes and APP. In this paper, we explore one possible alternative relationship - the dysregulation of cellular iron homeostasis as a common effect of EOfAD mutations in these genes. This idea is attractive since it provides clear connections between EOfAD mutations and major characteristics of Alzheimer's disease such as dysfunctional mitochondria, vascular risk factors/hypoxia, energy metabolism, and inflammation. We combine our ideas with observations by others to describe a "Stress Threshold Change of State" model of Alzheimer's disease that may begin to explain the existence of both EOfAD and late onset sporadic (LOsAD) forms of the disease. Directing research to investigate the role of dysregulation of iron homeostasis in EOfAD may be a profitable way forward in our struggle to understand this form of dementia

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely