Urbs and Civitas: Stone Order and Civil Order Collapsing in Some Cinematographic Examples

The assimilation of the architectural sign to the linguistic one, is the way that allow us to analyze the architectural element of the city, according to the symbolic and conventional way, but giving to the architectural sign an iconic value that we could read through reconstruction of city in films. It is possible if we consider city as artwork seen according to the definition of Lynch. There is a temporal and special dimension, the urban dimension, which would otherwise not be ‘visible’ to the naked eye or perceivable with hearing. City as an artwork can be read for more reasons, through the cinema in the translation of an architectural semiotics that finds a double correspondence of Urbs and Civitas, in the real building of the city and in its re-construction. In this contest, some Italian movies of Rossellini, De Sica, Antonioni, for example, beyond the traditional interpretations, can give us indications about the moments and ‘points’ of collapse that we can find in ‘signs’ and ‘singular points’. It’s in these points that we found the signs of evolution, breakdown and collapse of relationship between Urbs and Civitas.

     

Passive Drip Stain Formation Dynamics of Blood onto Hard Surfaces and Comparison with Simple Fluids for Blood Substitute Development and Assessment,

The spreading dynamics of blood dripping onto hard surfaces is compared to two spreading models. Samples of human blood, porcine blood, and Millipore^® water were dripped onto cardboard, foamcore, and glass surfaces in low velocity passive drip simulations. Final stain diameter, the total number of spines and scallops, and angle of impact were measured and analyzed. Spreading is best predicted by applying the concept of effective viscosity to the Scheller and Bousfield (R² = 0.91) and Roisman (R² = 0.89) spreading models. In the tested conditions, blood spreads with Newtonian tendencies; however, has quantifiable differences in stain appearance to Newtonian fluids like water. This is encouraging for the development of water‐based fluids as synthetic blood substitutes (SBSs). The work presents an assessment platform to quantify and score the performance of simple water‐based fluids using final stain diameter (6 points) and number of spines and scallops (6 points) at six dripping heights between 20 and 120 cm. The angle of impact of a stain alone is not a sensitive measure of SBS performance, but stain formation scores the SBS's performance with another 1 point. Together these features generate a quantitative relative ranking system, of a maximum possible 13 points, that can be used to support the use of a particular fluid for the creation of a drip stain. The performance of twenty simple fluids in the simulated dripping assessment test is described.     

A response to “what happened to patrol operations in Kansas City?”

Larson's review raises several points concerning the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. The authors of the evaluation of that experiment respond to each of Larson's criticisms. With reference to Larson's two major points, this response demonstrates that (1) neither Larson's models nor his data are adequate to make statements about “typical patrol intensities” in major American cities and (2) patrol visibility in the reactive areas was markedly decreased over the one-year period of the experiment.The authors agree with Larson and have consistently urged that great caution should be used in generalizing the results of the experiment. The Technical Report itself presents results cautiously and conservatively. Also, large amounts of data comparing Kansas City with other cities are presented in the Report to enable readers to place the kansas City experience in perspective.The authors also agree with Larson that the results of the experiment indicate that police administrators can be more flexible in the allocation of officers than they have been previously. That Larson reaches this conclusion indicates that, despite his minor criticisms of the study which are responded to herein, he basically accepts the results of the experiment.     

Variability and Similarity of Gait as Evaluated by Joint Angles: Implications for Forensic Gait Analysis

Closed‐circuit television (CCTV) footage is used in criminal investigations to compare perpetrators with suspects. Usually, incomplete gait cycles are collected, making evidential gait analysis challenging. This study aimed to analyze the discriminatory power of joint angles throughout a gait cycle. Six sets from 12 men were collected. For each man, a variability range VR (mean ± 1SD) of a specific joint angle at a specific time point (a gait cycle was 100 time points) was calculated. In turn, each individual was compared with the 11 others, and whenever 1 of these 11 had a value within this individual's VR, it counted as positive. By adding the positives throughout the gait cycle, we created simple bar graphs; tall bars indicated a small discriminatory power, short bars indicated a larger one. The highest discriminatory power was at time points 60–80 in the gait cycle. We show how our data can assess gait data from an actual case.     

Getting Real or Staying Positive: Legal Realism(s), Legal Positivism and the Prospects of Naturalism in Jurisprudence

The relationship between Legal Realism and Legal Positivism has been a recurrent source of debate. The question has been further complicated by the related difficulty of assessing the internal relationship between the two main original strands of Legal Realism: American and Scandinavian. This paper suggests considering American and Scandinavian Realism as instantiations of forward‐looking and backward‐looking rule skepticism respectively. This distinction brings into sharp relief not only the fundamentally different relationship between each of these two Realist schools and Legal Positivism but also their equally different potentials as starting points for naturalizing jurisprudence.     

Estrangement and Empowerment in Scheingold's The Political Novel

This essay develops an understated argument in Stuart Scheingold's The Political Novel (2010), namely, how narratives of estrangement serve to empower re‐imagination without reinforcing the false promises of modernism. I argue that Scheingold's earlier work in The Politics of Rights and on cause lawyering provides guidance for understanding the character of empowerment to which Scheingold points in his latest work. In addition, I examine three film narratives that treat the “mournful legacy of the twentieth century”—Pan's Labyrinth, Life Is Beautiful, and Everything Is Illuminated. Emergent in these narratives, I suggest, is a way that storytellers point to empowerment by highlighting the largely overwhelming constraints that limit the agency promised by modernism and the strategic, though contingent, choices characters make to confront and cope with their own estrangement.     

Institutionalizing inequality in the courts: Decomposing racial and ethnic disparities in detention,conviction, and sentencing*

A significant body of literature has examined racial and ethnic inequalities in sentencing, focusing on how individual court actors make decisions, but fewer scholars have examined whether disparities are institutionalized through legal case factors. After finding racial and ethnic inequalities in pretrial detention, conviction, and incarceration based on 4 years of felony court data (N = 83,924) from Miami-Dade County, we estimate nonlinear decomposition models to examine how much of the inequalities are explained by differences in criminal history, charging, and for conviction and incarceration, pretrial detention. Results suggest that inequality is greatest between White non-Latinos and Black Latinos, followed by White non-Latinos and Black non-Latinos, ranging from 4 to more than 8 percentage points difference in the probability of pretrial detention, 7–13 points difference in conviction, 5–6 points in prison, and 4–10 points difference in jail. We find few differences between White non-Latinos and White Latinos. Between half and three-quarters of the inequality in pretrial detention, conviction, and prison sentences between White non-Latino and Black people is explained through legal case factors. Our findings indicate that inequality is, in part, institutionalized through legal case factors, suggesting these factors are not “race neutral” but instead racialized and contribute to inequalities in court outcomes.     

An initial evaluation of stable isotopic characterisation of post-blast plastic debris from improvised explosive devices

A number of two-way radios, similar to those which have been employed to initiate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), were acquired from a commercial supplier and grouped into four pairs. Samples of plastic material were collected from five distinct regions of each radio and analysed by Infrared and Raman spectroscopy to identify the nature of the material. One radio of each pair was then subjected to detonation with a commercially available plastic explosive. The combination of radio and explosive was considered to be representative of the components of an IED. Following detonation, fragments were recovered and, where possible, identified as specific sampling points of the radio.A combination of δ²H and δ¹³C stable isotopic analysis of material from each of the five sampling points was found to provide a pattern which was characteristic of a given radio and provided a means to associate pairs of radios. When few fragments were recovered, no positive association could be made between the fragments and the paired, undamaged radio. This was attributed, in part, to manufacturing variation in the radios. However, when three or more post-blast fragments were recovered it was possible to associate these with the paired, undamaged radio with a high degree of certainty.     

Neil MacCormick's Second Thoughts on Legal Reasoning and Legal Theory. A Defence of the Original View

This paper offers a diachronic reconstruction of MacCormick's theory of law and legal argumentation: In particular, two related points will be highlighted in which the difference between the perspective upheld in Legal Reasoning and Legal Theory and the later writings is particularly marked. The first point concerns MacCormick's gradual break with legal positivism, and more specifically the thesis that the implicit pretension to justice of law proves legal positivism false in all its different versions. The second point concerns MacCormick's acceptance of the one‐right‐answer thesis and the consequent thinning of the differences between MacCormick's theory of legal reasoning and that of Ronald Dworkin and of Robert Alexy. The intent, however, is not only to describe this change in MacCormick's thought, but also to attempt a defence of the original view that we find in Legal Reasoning and Legal Theory.     

Effects of kinetic energy and firearm-to-target distance on fracture behavior in flat bones

This research implements a fractographic approach to investigate the relationships between kinetic energy, firearm-to-target distance, and various aspects of fracture behavior in gunshot trauma. Gunshot experiments were performed on pig scapulae (n = 30) using three firearms generating different muzzle (initial) kinetic energies, including a 0.32 pistol (103 J), 0.40 pistol (492 J), and 0.308 rifle (2275 J). Specimens were shot from two distances: 10 cm (n = 15) and 110 cm (n = 15). Features evaluated in fractographic analysis such as cone cracks, radiating cracks, crack branching points, and circumferential cracks could be easily identified and measured in flat bones and allowed for statistical comparison of crack propagation behavior under different impact conditions. Higher-energy bullets produced more radiating cracks, more crack branching points, and longer fracture lengths than lower-energy bullets. Distance had no significant effect on fracture morphology at the distances tested. That quantitative measures of crack propagation varied with energy affirms that kinetic energy transfer is important in determining the nature and extent of fracture in gunshot wounds and suggests it may be possible to infer relatively high- versus relatively low-energy transfer using these features. Ranges obtained with the three firearms exhibited considerable overlap, however, indicating that other variables such as bullet caliber, mass, and construction influence the efficiency of energy transfer from bullet to bone. Therefore, fracture morphology cannot be used to identify a specific firearm or to directly reconstruct the muzzle (initial) kinetic energy in forensic cases.     

The Single‐Party Dictator's Dilemma: Information in Elections without Opposition

The literature on authoritarian institutions points to nationwide elections as a mechanism for learning about the preferences of citizens. In using elections in this way, however, authoritarians face a trade‐off between gathering reliable information and guaranteeing electoral victory. In this article, we explore how single‐party regimes manage this trade‐off and the particular types of information available to them. Using candidate‐level data from Vietnam, we demonstrate that single‐party regimes, in particular, forsake information on overall regime support and strength of opposition in favor of information on the popularity of local notables and the compliance of local officials with central mandates. In addition, we show that ex ante electioneering is less risky than ex post fraud at achieving these goals.     

Legislative Productivity in the 93d–105th Congresses

We exploit a large new dataset in order to revisit the determinants of “legislative success” in Congress. Previous studies have focused on one or (rarely) two Congresses. Ours is the first study based on panel data, allowing us to better measure such causal effects as how a member's productivity increases when they become a committee chair or their party attains a majority. While corroborating several previous findings, we also differ on several important points—e.g., whereas the most sophisticated previous study finds greater seniority and committee leadership posts boosting productivity in neither party, we find them boosting productivity in both.     

The Problem with Pretending: Rāmānuja’s Arguments Against <Emphasis Type="Italic">Jīvanmukti</Emphasis>

In his Brahmasūtrabhāṣya 1.1.4, Rāmānuja argues that the knowledge of the liberated person precludes ignorance and its effects, and therefore precludes the possibility of jīvanmukti (embodied liberation). The Advaitin replies that the knowledge of the liberated is consistent with a certain kind of karma that prolongs embodiment, hence jīvanmukti is possible. In his Bhagavadgītābhāṣya 2.12, however, Rāmānuja points out that even if the jīvanmukta (embodied liberated person) still experiences appearances, he does not count them as reasons for acting, and therefore does not act. Hence Rāmānuja’s objection to jīvanmukti is both conceptual and practical, and it is the practical problem that is the more difficult to resolve.     

How the Indashyikirwa Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Programme in Rwanda Influenced Parenting and Violence against Children

There is increasing interest in working at the intersections of intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children (VAC), especially in the family, yet few programmatic strategies exist or have been evaluated to assess the combined impact of strategies on both types of violence. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the influence that Indashyikirwa—a programme designed to reduce IPV in Rwanda— had on VAC in the families of couples participating in the programme. Indashyikirwa included a 21-session couples’ curriculum, safe spaces for IPV survivors, and community activism against violence. In addition to reductions in IPV, a randomized control trial found significant reductions in parent’s reports of children witnessing IPV, parents’ attitudes condoning harsh physical punishment of children, and parents’ use of corporal punishment as discipline. This paper uses qualitative data to better understand how and why the couples’ curriculum influenced parenting and VAC. Twenty-eight participants (fourteen male-female couples) were individually interviewed at three time points, once before and twice after the couples’ curriculum implementation. Six men and six women who completed the curriculum and subsequently carried out activism were also interviewed at two time points. The data were analyzed thematically. Pathways motivating couples’ attitude and behavior changes towards children included reflecting on the consequences of IPV for children and appreciating the benefits for children of non-violent, gender equitable households. This analysis suggests that working with co-habiting couples presents a viable strategy for working to prevent IPV, VAC and promote more gender equitable family dynamics.

     

Following the price: identifying cocaine trafficking networks in Colombia

ABSTRACT

International cocaine trafficking has been well-studied, but little is known about cocaine flows within Colombia, the largest producer and exporter of cocaine in the world. Using a unique dataset on the monthly wholesale prices of cocaine across 32 municipios in 2016, this paper estimates patterns of flows of cocaine within Colombia. For the 496 possible resulting pairs of municipios, price differentials are used to infer direction of flow, and price correlations are used to infer connectedness. Among the new findings, 38 suspected municipio-to-municipio flows that are new to the literature are identified. Interestingly, cocaine is inferred to flow through two distinct networks: one that originates in Buenaventura and the other in three points in southern and eastern Colombia. These networks may correspond to distinct criminal trafficking systems, a finding that has potential implications for drug control policies and measures.     

Framing innocents: the wrongly convicted as victims of state harm

We adapt the victimology of ‘state harms’ framework outlined by Kauzlarich et al. (Critical Criminology, 10(3), 173–194, 2001) to understand the post-exoneration experiences of 18 death row exonerees. Kauzlarich et al. develop six points of commonality shared by most victims of state crime. Application of this framework to death row exonerees highlights the role the state plays in creating and exacerbating the harms they suffer. This analysis also lays a foundation for further theoretical inquiry into the wrongful conviction of the innocent as a form of state crime.     

Deportation of Suspected Terrorists with ‘Real Risk’ of Torture: The House of Lords Decision in Abu Qatada1

This note discusses the House of Lords' decision in RB (Algeria) (FC) and another v Secretary of State for the Home Department; OO (Jordan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department that the real risk of third‐party foreign torture evidence does not meet the required standard of unfairness so as to prevent the deportation of suspected terrorists under Article 6 ECHR. It considers three key issues that were raised by this case: Parliament has deliberately restricted the right of appeal from SIAC to the Court of Appeal on questions of fact; the procedure of using closed material by SIAC in the assessment of safety on return is unequivocally permitted by statute; and the conclusions by SIAC that diplomatic assurances contained in Memoranda of Understanding do not give rise to points of law and, therefore, are beyond review by the appellate courts.