Chinese law and development: implications for US rule of law program

China is emerging as an alternative source for law and development for low-income and middle-income states. This is despite its conventional reluctance to engage in policy export abroad and, more immediately, its slowing economy, calcified rule, and a somewhat deprioritized foreign policy in the post-COVID era. A number of supply and demand factors account for the increasingly important role of law in its global development. On the supply side, against the backdrop of the decade-old “Belt and Road Initiative” and newer initiatives including the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, China is becoming increasingly assertive in offering “Chinese-style modernization” to host states in the Global South, part of which includes policy and law diffusion. Specifically, the Party-State has endorsed what is called “foreign-related ‘rule of law’” which is a bi-directional policy initiative that seeks to both integrate more foreign law into the Chinese legal system and also incorporate more Chinese law into foreign and international law. Beyond the political bluster and political signalling, there is evidence of such initiatives affecting legal practice and institutions. Legal organs are creating transnational networks with lawyers, judges, and businesspeople in host states to mitigate investment risk, share resources, and problem solve. Some of these networks have led to the establishment of legal institutions which, even if primarily symbolic, may gain traction over time. On the demand side, which is arguably more salient, host states value Chinese industrial policy, governance strategies, and digital ecosystem as facilitative of China’s economic growth model, of which law and regulation is part. Hence, host states borrow from Chinese law, policy, and standards. Even where China is not intentionally seeking to export its law, by the sheer size of its economic footprint in smaller states, the Chinese presence may have unintended effects on the domestic legal system. In the long run, these innovations may promote South-South solidarity but they may just as likely support the commercial and geo-strategic interests of Chinese enterprises which may have aggregate effects on access to justice, procedural transparency, and human rights in vulnerable states. How should US promoters of rule of law respond to Chinese law and development? While it is still early days for China’s legal development abroad, US policymakers should start thinking now about how to confront Chinese law and development, how to work with host states on building local knowledge about Chinese law, and where the US may even learn from China’s experimental efforts

Pengaruh Jenis Nasabah Dan Frekuensi Pencairan Pembiayaan Terhadap Profit Margin Di Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat Syariah (BPRS) Sarana Prima Mandiri Pamekasan

Bank is a financial institution whose main activities to collect funds and distribute funds to the community. Factors that very influence in the bank's success in obtaining profit is by increasing the disbursement frequency of financing and client's types as one of the factors that influence the amount of profit margin obtained bank. Based on that, then there are two problems who became a study principal in this research as follows: first: Is there any influence of customer type and financing liquefaction frequency towards Profit Margin in BPRS Sarana Prima Mandiri Pamekasan; second, which is the most influential variable on the Profit Margin in BPRS Sarana Prima Mandiri Pamekasan. This Research uses a quantitative approach with research type is multiple linear regression. The amount of data used in this research as many as 20 data taken from published reports of Quarterly Bank Indonesia and published reports BPRS Sarana Prima Mandiri in January 2011 until December 2015. The research results of T Test of the respective T count X1 amounted to 3.184 and variable X2 amounted to 2.475 and T table amounted to 2.101, (X1 = 3.184> 2.101 and X2 = 2.475> 2.101), it can be concluded the results of the partial test (T test) shows that all variables X (Customer type and financing liquefaction frequency) effect on variable Y (Profit Margin) partially significantly ≤ 0.05 X1 (Customer type) greater influence than X2 (financing liquefaction frequency) T count X1 greater exceeds X2. Equation Y = ( -16.387) 0.399X1 + 0186 + X2 + e, based on multiple regression analysis, the regression coefficient obtained shows, customer type (b1 = 0.399) become the largest independent variables that influence Profit Margin (Y). While base testing the determinant coefficient using the program SPSS acquired adjusted R2 amounted to 0.732 or 73.2% means variable of Customer Type Financing and financing liquefaction frequency affect toward the profit margin amounted to 73.2% while the rest 26.8% influenced by other variables that are not proposed in this research

Ventromedial Prefrontal and Anterior Cingulate Cortex Adopt Choice and Default Reference Frames during Sequential Multi-Alternative Choice

Although damage to the medial frontal cortex causes profound decision-making impairments, it has been difficult to pinpoint the relative contributions of key anatomical subdivisions. Here we use function magnetic resonance imaging to examine the contributions of human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during sequential choices between multiple alternatives— two key features of choices made in ecological settings. By carefully constructing options whose current value at any given decision was dissociable from their longer term value, we were able to examine choices in current and long-term frames of reference. We present evidence showing that activity at choice and feedback in vmPFC and dACC was tied to the current choice and the best long-term option, respectively. vmPFC, mid-cingulate, and posterior cingulate cortex encoded the relative value between the chosen and next best option at each sequential decision, whereas dACC encoded the relative value of adapting choices from the option with the highest value in the longer term. Furthermore, at feedback we identify temporally dissociable effects that predict repetition of the current choice and adaptation away from the long-term best option in vmPFC and dACC, respectively. These functional dissociations at choice and feedback suggest that sequential choices are subject to competing cortical mechanisms

Religiosity and Islamic Banking Product Decision: Survey on Employees of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia

The objective of this research is to examine the religiosity on Islamic banking product decision. A survey method was employed using a sample of 2.627 employees at different level of education, level of income, gender, age, marital status, length of service, work location (provincial based), ownership of conventional banking products as well as ownership of sharia banking products among employees of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia. The study also developed valid and reliable scales for religiosity and selection of sharia banking product. The findings of the study revealed that dimensions of religiosity affected understanding of Islamic Banking Concept and also affected Bank Selection Criteria. Future research is required to investigate private employees and semi government employees, even in military institutions to find different figure of religiosity and preference of sharia banking products, by identifying the specific areas of religiosity that have particular impact in determining the sharia banking products.DOI: 10.15408/etk.v16i1.437

Human Factor IX Binds to Specific Sites on the Collagenous Domain of Collagen IV

The primary region of factor IX that mediates binding to bovine aortic endothelial cells resides in residues 3-11 of the N-terminal region known as the Gla domain. Recently, it was proposed that the observed binding to endothelial cells is actually a measure of the interaction between factor IX and collagen IV (Cheung, W. F., van den Born, J., Kuhn, K., Kjellen, L., Hudson, B. G., and Stafford, D. W. (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 93, 11068-11073). To confirm that factor IX binds to collagen IV and to examine the specificity of this interaction, we used scanning force microscopy to examine factor IX binding to collagen IV. We imaged collagen IV in the presence and the absence of factor IX and observed specific interactions between factor IX and collagen IV. Our results demonstrate that factor IX binds to collagen IV at specific sites in the collagenous domain approximately 98 and approximately 50 nm from the C-terminal pepsin-cleaved end

Awareness regarding eye donation among stakeholders in Srikakulam district in South India

Background There is a huge need for the availability of transplantable donor corneas worldwide to reduce the burden of corneal blindness due to corneal opacity. Voluntary eye donation depends on the awareness levels of various stakeholders in the community. This study aimed to assess the awareness level regarding eye donation among various stakeholders in Srikakulam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Methods 355 subjects were selected from the district using multi stage random sampling. A pre tested semi structured questionnaire was used to collect information regarding each individual’s awareness, knowledge, and perception regarding eye donation. Each response was scored individually and a total score was calculated. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with willingness towards eye donation and increased awareness levels. Results Of the 355 subjects interviewed, 192 (54%) were male and 163 (46%) were female. The mean age of the stakeholders was 35.9 years (SD ±16.1) and all the study subjects were literate. Ninety-three percent of subjects were aware of the concept of eye donation. Knowledge levels were similar among the teaching community and persons engaged in social service, but lower among students (p < 0.05). Among the stakeholders, there was considerable ambiguity regarding whether persons currently wearing spectacles or suffering from a chronic illnesses could donate their eyes. Older age group (p < 0.001), female gender (p < 0.001) and education (p < 0.001) were associated with increased knowledge levels. 82% of the subjects were willing to donate their eyes and this was unaffected by gender or geographical location (rural vs urban). Conclusions Awareness levels and willingness to donate eyes are high among the stakeholders in Srikakulam district in India. The services of stakeholders could be utilized, in conjunction with other community based eye donation counselors, to promote awareness regarding eye donation among the general population

Regionalizing the infrastructure turn : a research agenda

An interdisciplinary ‘infrastructure turn’ has emerged over the past 20 years that disputes the concept of urban infrastructure as a staid or neutral set of physical artefacts. Responding to the increased conceptual, geographical and political importance of infrastructure – and endemic issues of access, expertise and governance that the varied provision of infrastructures can cause – this intervention asserts the significance of applying a regional perspective to the infrastructure turn. This paper forwards a critical research agenda for the study of ‘infrastructural regionalisms’ to interrogate: (1) how we study and produce knowledge about infrastructure; (2) how infrastructure is governed across or constrained by jurisdictional boundaries; (3) who drives the construction of regional infrastructural imaginaries; and (4) how individuals and communities differentially experience regional space through infrastructure. Analysing regions through infrastructure provides a novel perspective on the regional question and consequently offers a framework to understand better the implications of the current infrastructure moment for regional spaces worldwide

Testing for Fictive Learning in Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

We conduct two experiments where subjects make a sequence of binary choices between risky and ambiguous binary lotteries. Risky lotteries are defined as lotteries where the relative frequencies of outcomes are known. Ambiguous lotteries are lotteries where the relative frequencies of outcomes are not known or may not exist. The trials in each experiment are divided into three phases: pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment. The trials in the pre-treatment and post-treatment phases are the same. As such, the trials before and after the treatment phase are dependent, clustered matched-pairs, that we analyze with the alternating logistic regression (ALR) package in SAS. In both experiments, we reveal to each subject the outcomes of her actual and counterfactual choices in the treatment phase. The treatments differ in the complexity of the random process used to generate the relative frequencies of the payoffs of the ambiguous lotteries. In the first experiment, the probabilities can be inferred from the converging sample averages of the observed actual and counterfactual outcomes of the ambiguous lotteries. In the second experiment the sample averages do not converge. If we define fictive learning in an experiment as statistically significant changes in the responses of subjects before and after the treatment phase of an experiment, then we expect fictive learning in the first experiment, but no fictive learning in the second experiment. The surprising finding in this paper is the presence of fictive learning in the second experiment. We attribute this counterintuitive result to apophenia: “seeing meaningful patterns in meaningless or random data.” A refinement of this result is the inference from a subsequent Chi-squared test, that the effects of fictive learning in the first experiment are significantly different from the effects of fictive learning in the second experiment

Reply to: On the statistical foundation of a recent single molecule FRET benchmark

In their ‘Matters Arising’ manuscript, Saurabh et al. discuss two issues related to single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) experiments: the use of the Gaussian noise approximation and spectral crosstalk. Their arguments are based on simulations obtained with parameters that differ significantly from the typical conditions measured experimentally, and, thus, from the regime included in the original study (Götz et al.1). In addition, they make claims about our multi-lab blind study that we would like to rectify. In Table 1, we provide a list of specific statements made by Saurabh et al. with our respective explanations.In our reply, we will discuss three points, summarized here and detailed below. 1.smFRET trajectories from typical surface-tethered experiments are well described by Gaussian noise models (mean photon counts are >50 per data point). Non-Gaussian Poisson noise only becomes relevant for smFRET data with extremely low photon counts, which is generally avoided by increasing the laser power and/or integration time of the experiment. 2. Spectral crosstalk correction is relevant for determining correct FRET efficiencies and FRET-derived distances, but it does not impact the kinetic rate derivation, which is the focus of Götz et al. 3. The study of Götz et al. compares the strengths and weaknesses of currently available kinetic tools to draw lessons for further development. It does not “favor” any approaches or “lead to bias” etc. as incorrectly stated by Saurabh et al. Saurabh et al. are welcome to conduct dedicated studies on the specific features they propose to extend the work of Götz et al