Measuring Economic Integration in Developing Countries: The Case of Central America

This article builds a composite index, the Central American Integration Index (IIC-AMPI), to measure economic integration. This index utilises a robust methodology and conceptual framework. The study shows that IIC-AMPI is responsive to variable changes and resistant to outliers. The findings indicate that the Deep Integration Process initiative dominates the current integration trend, as seen in the regional average score from 2015 to 2017, aligning with Guatemala and Honduras. Nicaragua demonstrates the most consistent progress, while Panama lags behind. The evidence supports the Customs Union as Central America's future integration path, highlighting the index's ability to capture the dynamic reality of economic integration.     

Meeting development goals: evidence from the Civil Society Education Fund

In recent years, the Civil Society Education Fund has supported national education civil society coalitions (NECs) in low-income countries so that they put pressure on governments and donors to implement the Education for All agenda and the Millennium Development Goal on education. This article draws on literature on global governance as well as on an extensive evaluation of the CSEF to explore the actual contribution of this initiative to the activity of NECs. The article highlights the achievements and shortcomings of the CSEF and includes a set of practical recommendations on the role of global civil society in international development processes.     

Which territorial embeddedness? Territorial relationships of recently internationalized firms of the soybean chain

This contribution focuses on the territorial relationships established by companies of Argentinian origin that have extended their scope of action to other MERCOSUR countries (mainly Brazil) in the first stages of the soybean chain. Although some features of grain production and particularly of soybean enable a temporary commitment of these firms with local spaces, they develop some kind of foundations as a necessary condition to operate. A relevant side of their forms of territorial embeddedness is the strong selectiveness of local spaces and actors promoted by their behavior. Some local actors are in fact included; in the long term, however, their capacity to capture value is constrained since they are not able to control the terms and conditions of their incorporation.     

What is the best sample for determining the early postmortem period by on-the-spot flow cytometry analysis?

The level of degradation of DNA as a means for determining the time of death has been proposed as a valid adjunct to the classic thanatochronologic methods. The twofold aim of this work was to determine which organ might reveal both a correlation between the percentage of degradation of the DNA and the time lapse since death, and would be easiest to sample and yield the most reproducible results even in technically unfavorable situations such as on-the-spot investigations at the scene of death. A comparison of the spleen, blood, and liver showed that hepatic tissue best meets these specific needs because it shows a virtually linear correlation between the time elapsed since death and the level of degradation of the DNA, and it can easily be sampled at the scene of death by use of a common biopsy needle.     

Methodological development: structured outcome assessment and community risk monitoring (SORM)

This paper describes an effort to develop a clinical tool for the continuous monitoring of risk for violence in forensic mental health clients who have left their institutions and who are dwelling in the community on a conditional release basis. The model is called Structured Outcome Assessment and Community Risk Monitoring (SORM). The SORM consists of 30 dynamic factors and each factor in SORM is assessed in two ways: The current absence, presence or partial och intermittent presence of the factors, which is an actuarial (systematized and 'objective') assessment. Secondly, the risk effect, i.e. whether the presence/absence of factors currently increases, decreases or is perceived as unrelated to violence risk, is a clinical (or impressionistic) assessment. Thus, the factors considered via the SORM can be coded as risk factors or protective factors (or as factors unimportant to risk of violence) depending on circumstances that apply in the individual case. Further, the SORM has a built-in module for gathering idiographical information about risk-affecting contextual factors. The use of the SORM and its potential as a risk monitoring instrument is illustrated via preliminary data and case vignettes from an ongoing multicenter project. In this research project, patients leaving any of the 9 participating forensic hospitals in Sweden is assessed at release on a variety of static background factors, and the SORM is then administered every 30 days for 2 years.