On democracy and debt

As we explained there is really little a priori reasoning for a clear prediction that authoritarian regimes will incur more foreign debt. In fact, some other empirical literature reveals that such regimes will face a higher supply price for such debt. Anderson presents a study of a single year using an admittedly crude measure of authoritarianism that finds that such regimes do issue more debt.This study provides a fuller examination of the empirical relationship between foreign debt and the nature of the polity's regime. Utilizing a continuous democracy variable and a continuous political liberty variable, it tests the relationship between debt and political variables. It finds little empirical support for the thesis that democracy or autocracy influence foreign debt levels. Generally the continuous variables are not significant if we use a linear in the logs specification. While a linear specification obtains results more consistent with the idea that level of democracy decreases debt, it also obtains results even less favorable to the idea that extreme forms of autocracy increase debt.     

Selective colorimetric determination of TNT partitioned between an alkaline solution and a strongly basic Dowex 1-X8 anion exchanger

The Meisenheimer anions formed from TNT in KOH solutions in alcohol or acetone were used in screening tests for TNT among possible nitro-explosives. The same reaction was used for the spectrophotometric assay of TNT in soil by CRREL (Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory of the U.S. Army) method, also known as Jenkins' method, but the color stability was too dependent on the solution composition and the water tolerance was low, necessitating complete drying of soil samples (which may cause partial analyte decomposition) prior to analysis. This study reports the development of a colorimetric method based on the solid phase extraction (SPE) of the Meisenheimer anion formed from TNT and aqueous NaOH into a strongly basic anion exchange resin Dowex 1-X8 (OH(-) form). The orange-red color that developed both in the solid resin and solution phases was persistent for at least 1h. The resin was let to swell in alcohol, washed first with 1M aqueous NaOH, and then with H(2)O before use. To 5 mL of 4-400 ppm TNT solutions in 1:1 (v/v) acetone-water, 0.5 mL of 5% NaOH was added, diluted to 50 mL with 1:1 acetone-water, and the resulting solutions (containing the orange-red Meisenheimer anion of TNT) were agitated at room temperature with 0.9 g resin for < or =50 min. TNT exhibited a reasonably constant distribution coefficient between the resin and aqueous phases. The absorbance of the filtered solutions was measured against a reagent blank at 500nm. The TNT-loaded resins were regenerated with 1M HCl containing sodium sulfite. The calibration line of filtrate absorbance versus analytical concentration was linear over two orders of magnitude between 0.4 and 40 ppm TNT in final solution. Unlike Jenkins' method, the method was tolerant to 100-fold (by mass) of common soil anions like sulfate, nitrate, and chloride. The basic advantages of the developed colorimetric method over the similar CRREL/Jenkins' method may be summarized as color stability, water and common ion tolerance, lowering of the LOD, and widening of the linear range. As opposed to Jenkins' method, the charge-transfer bands characteristic to colorimetric detection were not obscured by the presence of water. The method is suitable for on-site applications, because the color developed in heterogenous solution was stabilized, and the method can be easily practiced with a portable colorimeter to large numbers of samples.     

Europartis et politiques publiques: les sociaux‐démocrates et la quête d'une politique fiscale

La pertinence des Europartis dans la vie politique européenne constitue une préoccupation croissante auprès des praticiens et des chercheurs. Le rôle des Europartis dans le processus politique européen est un aspect important de cette préoccupation. Sur base des acquis de la littérature, le présent article proposera de nouvelles perspectives d‘analyse qui seront appliquées au cas du Parti des socialistes européens (PSE) et à sa quête d‘une politique fiscale. Nous défendrons la thèse que le PSE a contribué au succès de l‘agenda de l‘UE contre la compétition fiscale ‘dommageable’, et ce, malgré l‘échec de la mise en oeuvre de son programme fiscal. En outre, notre analyse théorique et empirique remettra en question les approches institutionnelle et cognitive de l‘intégration européenne.     

Rehabilitation and resettlement: a study of prolific offender case management in Birmingham, United Kingdom

In 2004, the U.K. Home Office launched the Prolific and other Priority Offenders strategy in England and Wales. This includes a rehabilitative programme with the most prolific offenders case managed throughout their involvement in the criminal justice system. The strategy is a coordinated response by local partnerships, with the aim to reduce reoffending and overall crime rates. This article is based on a review of work in Birmingham to integrate the requirements of the new strategy into existing structures and offender management programmes. Although many of the management structures and referral processes needed for the new strategy were already well developed, there were concerns over communication and clarity of roles. Consistent identification of prolific offenders across all police areas was required. Once targeted, offenders needed equality of access to services. A clear exit strategy was also needed with clear rehabilitation and resettlement criteria for offenders leaving the Prolific and other Priority Offenders strategy.     

Distrusted Partnership: Unpacking Anti-Americanism in Turkey

The decline of US-Turkey relations has been one of the most striking developments within NATO and the broader Western alliance. This article sheds light on this distrusted partnership by studying anti-American sentiment in Turkish public opinion since the Arab uprisings of the 2010s. Employing a typology of anti-Americanisms introduced by Keohane and Katzenstein, it examines views of the United States and US-Turkey relations in the Turkish media and among the public, and it explores the conditions under which the declining relations could be reset. In particular, it shows how the ruling Justice and Development Party exploits anti-US opinion, the Turkish media's role, the stances of Turkish opposition groups, and the long-term consequences for the strained bilateral relationship.     

The Condition of the Ottoman Mine Labour and Its Impact on the Republican Period

In the Ottoman state, mining was important for the conduct of war, mints, public works, crafts industry, and financing the centralized administration system. In the republican period, mines were also important in the state's industrialization project, and they were used to subsidize the developing industries through provision of low-cost raw materials. These policies of the Ottoman and Turkish states had serious consequences for mine labour. Analysis of the Ottoman mining industry in the classical and post-classical periods, and also during the Turkish Republican period, highlights a range of emerging patterns. These include the strict control of the production by the state, the common practice of subcontracting, the role of foreign capital in the history of mining, the village-based division of labour around the mines, the use of peasant cultivator miners, the exploitation of unfree labour, the lack of investment, and traditional labour-intensive working conditions. The concept of ‘development and persistence’ is invaluable in explaining the longevity and extent of these practices stemming from historical circumstances, and we can see the persistence of some of these practices during the Republican period, despite the changes in the political regime and economic development. Throughout, the miners have been in a vulnerable position in relation to the state, exacerbated by their ambiguous peasant-miner position as wage labourers.     

A Systematic Study to Understand the Effects of Particle Size Distribution of Magnetic Fingerprint Powders on Surfaces with Various Porosities

This study intends to design magnetite (Fe₃O₄)‐based magnetic fingerprint powders with different particle size distributions. It also investigates the influence of particle size distribution on the visualization of latent fingermarks with as little background staining as possible on the surfaces with various porosities in a systematic way. Two strategies were used to prepare the magnetic fingerprint formulations for this study: milling of coarse magnetite particles for different durations, and mixing of sieved fine particles with different size ranges with coarse particles. Particle size analyses of the prepared magnetic powders, optical microscopy‐based roughness analysis of the surfaces and SEM measurements of the visualized fingerprints and representative powders were performed. Mag2 of the formulations prepared through milling and Mag5 and Mag6 of the formulations prepared through sieving and mixing were more successful in the development of latent prints than the rest of the solutions.     

Automated region segmentation on cartridge case base

One of the significant problems encountered in criminology studies is the successful automated matching of fired cartridge cases, on the basis of the characteristic marks left on them by firearms. An intermediate step in the solution of this problem is the segmentation of certain regions that are defined on the cartridge case base. This paper describes a model-based method that performs segmentation of the cartridge case using surface height image of a center fire cartridge case base. The proposed method detects the location of the cartridge case base center and specific circular contours around it iteratively by projecting the problem to a one-dimensional feature space. In addition, the firing pin impression region is determined by utilizing an adaptive threshold that differentiates impression marks form primer region surface. Letters on the cartridge case base are also detected by using surface modeling and adaptive thresholding, in order to render the surface comparison operation robust against irrelevant surface features. Promising experimental results indicate the eligibility of the proposed method to be used for automated cartridge case base region segmentation process.