Transitional Justice in a Transnational World: The Ambiguous Role of Law

In situations of military, political or economic transition, the reassessment of the role of law in the transition process becomes a crucial site of a people\u27s or a nation\u27s negotiating the past, present and future. Allusions to a tabula rasa or an annee zero after traumatic collapses of societal order, however, turn into ill-fated attempts to address the challenges of confronting the past when building the future. The law\u27s concern with nations that struggle with transition expresses itself through hybrid concepts such as transitional or post-conflict justice, restorative justice, or reconciliation. This paper revisits these instantiations and places them in the context of an increasingly transnational discourse on transitional justice. In light of the wealth of law and non-law responses to past injustice around the world today, transitional justice emerges as a form of transnational legal pluralism, highlighting the parallels of regulatory challenges confronting transition and established regimes alike

Genomic Sequencing and Comparative Analysis of Epstein-Barr Virus Genome Isolated from Primary Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Biopsy

Whether certain Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) strains are associated with pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is still an unresolved question. In the present study, EBV genome contained in a primary NPC tumor biopsy was amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and sequenced using next-generation (Illumina) and conventional dideoxy-DNA sequencing. The EBV genome, designated HKNPC1 (Genbank accession number JQ009376) is a type 1 EBV of approximately 171.5 kb. The virus appears to be a uniform strain in line with accepted monoclonal nature of EBV in NPC but is heterogeneous at 172 nucleotide positions. Phylogenetic analysis with the four published EBV strains, B95-8, AG876, GD1, and GD2, indicated HKNPC1 was more closely related to the Chinese NPC patient-derived strains, GD1 and GD2. HKNPC1 contains 1,589 single nucleotide variations (SNVs) and 132 insertions or deletions (indels) in comparison to the reference EBV sequence (accession number NC007605). When compared to AG876, a strain derived from Ghanaian Burkitt's lymphoma, we found 322 SNVs, of which 76 were non-synonymous SNVs and were shared amongst the Chinese GD1, GD2 and HKNPC1 isolates. We observed 88 non-synonymous SNVs shared only by HKNPC1 and GD2, the only other NPC tumor-derived strain reported thus far. Non-synonymous SNVs were mainly found in the latent, tegument and glycoprotein genes. The same point mutations were found in glycoprotein (BLLF1 and BALF4) genes of GD1, GD2 and HKNPC1 strains and might affect cell type specific binding. Variations in LMP1 and EBNA3B epitopes and mutations in Cp (11404 C>T) and Qp (50134 G>C) found in GD1, GD2 and HKNPC1 could potentially affect CD8+ T cell recognition and latent gene expression pattern in NPC, respectively. In conclusion, we showed that whole genome sequencing of EBV in NPC may facilitate discovery of previously unknown variations of pathogenic significance

The impact of contextual factors on nursing outcomes and the role of placebo/nocebo effects

Introduction: Placebo and nocebo effects represent one of the most fascinating topics in the health care field. Objectives: the aims of this discussion paper were (1) to briefly introduce the placebo and nocebo effects, (2) to elucidate the contextual factors able to trigger placebo and nocebo effects in the nursing field, and (3) to debate the impact of contextual factors on nursing education, practice, organisation, and research. Methods: a narrative review was conducted based on the available evidence. Results: Placebo responses (from Latin \u201cI shall please\u201d) are a beneficial outcome(s) triggered by a positive context. The opposite are the nocebo effects (from Latin \u201cI shall harm\u201d), which indicates an undesirable outcome(s) caused by a negative context. Both are complex and distinct psychoneurobiological phenomena in which behavioural and neurophysiological changes arise subsequent to an interaction between the patient and the health care context. Conclusion: Placebo and nocebo concepts have been recently introduced in the nursing discipline, generating a wide debate on ethical issues; however, the impact on nursing education, clinical practice, nursing administration, and research regarding contextual factors triggering nocebo and placebo effects has not been debated to date

Emending the Teacher : From Marcus the "Magician" to Valentinus and Back

akzeptierte Manuskriptversio

A new methodology for measuring land fragmentation

The presence of land fragmentation can indicate that an existing land tenure structure is problematic. It can be a major problem in many regions because it restricts rational agricultural development and reduces the opportunities for sustainable rural development although in some cases, it can prove beneficial and desirable for social and environmental reasons. Whilst policies to counter land fragmentation require reliable measurement of the situation, current fragmentation indices have significant weaknesses. In particular, they ignore critical spatial variables such as the shape of parcels as well as non-spatial variables such as ownership type and the existence or absence of road access for each land parcel. Furthermore, there is no flexibility for users to select the variables that they think appropriate for inclusion in the fragmentation index, and no variable weighting mechanism is available. The aim of this paper is to introduce a new 'global land fragmentation index' that combines a multi-attribute decision-making method with a geographic information system. When applied to a case study area in Cyprus, the new index outperforms the existing indices in terms of reliability as it is comprehensive, flexible, problem specific and knowledge-based. The methodology can be easily applied to assess the quality of any existing system for which evaluation criteria can be defined with values ranging from the worst to best conditions

Bailouts and the optimal taxation of bonus pay

Little undermines the case for a market economy more than the perception that there is injustice in the rewards that it generates. In that sense, the recent financial crisis is a body blow, and has spawned a series of noisy but so far largely ineffectual campaigns for radical change from the Left (e.g., the Occupy Wall Street movement). But the greatest clamor for reform should come from those who support the market system. When push came to shove, it was the government that came to the rescue of financial institutions and public money that proved to be the cornerstone of the financial system. And there is a more than respectable case that a sizeable transfer of resources from public to private hands have enriched workers in the financial sector at the expense of citizens at large. And this is put into sharp relief by the observation that a good deal of the increase in inequality that has been seen in recent years is due to bonus pay in the financial sector and beyond