The case of the disappearing activists: the fight for freedom of speech in China

Pu Zhiqiang’s recent suspended jail sentence is a reminder of China’s disturbing crackdown on dissidents and activists. The human rights lawyer was detained in 2014 for nineteen months after attending a gathering commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. He received a three year suspended sentence on 22 December 2015 for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and “inciting ethnic hatred”. The sentence was based on seven messages Pu had sent on the Chinese social media website ‘Weibo’, criticizing Chinese government officials and their management of the ethnic conflict in Xinjiang

Friendly Science: Medical, Scientific, and Technical Amici Before the Supreme Court

This Article examines the participation of medical, scientific, and technical organizations, as well as individuals in a medical, scientific, or technical capacity, as amici before the Supreme Court. This examination is limited to organizations’ and individuals’ participation as parties on amicus curiae briefs. Part II discusses the general role of amici before the Supreme Court, as well as scientific and technical information currently presented to the Court. This Part then briefly introduces and critiques the Court’s use of scientific and technical information as “legislative facts”— legally significant facts that transcend a particular dispute yet are still relevant to the legal reasoning involved in the dispute—providing examples of cases where the Court has used “legislative facts” both inside and outside the context of science. This Part argues that there are two reasons why the scientific and technical amici participation is important when the Supreme Court adjudicates in technical and scientific areas. First, the information and expertise—especially regarding the scientific process as well as particular scientific facts—provided by scientific and technical amici are necessary for the Court to appreciate fully the consequences at stake in a particular case. Second, the information and their expertise are necessary for the public to contextualize the Court’s rulings. Part III describes what parties are considered scientific or technical amici within the scope of this paper, and lays out the methodology used to conduct research on those parties’ amicus briefs. Part IV explores actual amicus curiae briefs of medical, scientific, and technical amici. This Part addresses the characteristic factors examined for each amici participant and each amicus brief and also presents the results of this study of ninety-two medical, scientific, and technical organizations and individuals that have been amici before the Supreme Court in the last decade. Particularly, this study exposes the relative predominance of medical organizations as amici and the relative absence of medical, scientific and technical amici in environmental cases. Part V of this Article then considers possible explanations for the disparity between medical, scientific, and technical amici participation. These explanations include the nature of the Supreme Court docket and varying levels of attorney familiarity with scientific and technical amici. The relative absence of scientific and technical amici in environmental cases is especially notable because environmental cases have similar characteristics to health and medical cases in which the Court found scientific and technical, as well as medical amici participation useful. Consequently, this Article addresses the value that scientific and technical organizations add as amici in environmental cases. In particular, it examines the role that they did play in informing the Court about scientific issues in American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. EPA, as well as additional roles that they could have played. In American Trucking, amici briefs by scientific organizations will aid the Court by presenting critical information about the nature of risk assessment, although more participation would have been helpful for the Court’s full resolution of the scientific issues involved. Part VI concludes that scientific and technical amici can participate in ways valuable to the Court when the dispute allows these amici to present information relevant to their technical or scientific expertise. Because environmental cases frequently involve scientific and technical matters, this Article urges scientific and technical organizations to increase their participation as amici in these cases to enable the Court to maintain a consistent level of informed decision making in all environmental cases involving scientific and technical issues

DEMAND FOR WILD BLUEBERRIES AT FARM AND PROCESSOR LEVELS

The wild blueberry crop harvested in Maine and eastern Canada has increased considerably in recent years. The purpose of this study is to understand the recent trends in demand for wild blueberries with particular attention to the effects of production and the marketing of wild and cultivated blueberries. A price response model was developed to analyze farm-gate price and the processor price, using annual data from 1978 through 1997. Key explanatory variables in the model include quantity of wild blueberries, real per capita disposable income, the quantity of processed cultivated blueberries, and carry-over stocks of frozen blueberries.Demand and Price Analysis,

A PROFILE OF THE SPECIALTY FOOD RETAILING INDUSTRY IN THE EASTERN U.S.

This study investigated product introductions, marketing and distribution patterns among specialty food retailers in the eastern U. S. Based on 547 responses to a mailed survey, the results portray specialty food retailers as an extremely diverse group ranging from those who carry small specialty food sections within standard grocery or department stores to those who exclusively sell specialty foods. Respondents reported that new introductions account for about 22% of their total specialty food sales and that on average, they introduce about 23 products in a typical year. When evaluating new products, their most important considerations are quality followed by uniqueness.Agribusiness,

A STUDY OF CONSUMERS AT A SMALL FARMERS' MARKET IN MAINE: RESULTS FROM A 1995 SURVEY

This study was based on a survey of customers who shopped at a small farmers' market during the summer/fall market season of 1995. Information from a survey completed by 239 shoppers was used to develop a profile of the primary consumer group, defined as those who shop regularly at the market and spend the most per visit. Comparisons between survey data and census data for the local population showed that primary shoppers at the market had higher education, higher annual household income, tended to be slightly older, and were more likely to be employed women. For the most part, the respondents were loyal, weekly shoppers who patronized the market because of the high quality of the products. Most reported that they were willing to pay more for produce at the farmers' market.Consumer/Household Economics,

RESTAURANT AND SUPERMARKET LOBSTER PRICE PERCEPTIONS, RESPONSES, AND STRATEGIES

Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis,

DETERMINANTS OF CONSUMERS' PURCHASE DECISION FOR MAINE ROUND WHITE POTATOES

Potatoes are marketed by type (i.e. round white, russet, red, etc.), rather than by variety. However, the round white varieties currently marketed by the Maine potato industry are known to differ considerably in terms of product characteristics. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that consumer acceptance of potatoes in home use varies by variety and to quantify how their level of acceptance and other characteristics impact their repurchase decision. A discrete choice model was used. The results indicated that consumers do differentiate round white potato varieties based on the performance of the potatoes in home use. Their willingness to repurchase the round white potatoes is affected by the variety used and the overall serving quality of the potatoes in home use.Consumer/Household Economics,