Assessing the property value impacts of the dispersed subsidy housing program in Denver

This study tests the hypothesis that the acquisition of existing property by the public housing authority and its subsequent rehabilitation and occupancy by subsidized tenants significantly reduced the property values of surrounding single‐family homes in Denver during the 1990s. This assessment examined pre‐ and post‐occupancy sales, while controlling for the idiosyncratic neighborhood, local public service, and zoning characteristics of the areas in order to identify which sorts of neighborhoods, if any, experienced declining property values as a result of proximity to dispersed housing tenants. The analyses revealed that proximity to a subsidized housing site generally had an independent, positive effect on single‐family home sales prices. The most notable exception to this pattern occurred in neighborhoods more than 20 percent of whose residents were black. Proximity to dispersed public housing sites in these neighborhoods resulted in slower growth in home sales prices in an other‐wise booming housing market and suggest a threshold within “vulnerable” neighborhoods whereby any potential gains associated with rehabilitating existing units are offset by the increased concentration of poor residents. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

The challenge of DDR in Northern Uganda: The Lord's Resistance Army

Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have been fighting in northern Uganda for the past two decades in conflict which has devastated the region. The group is notorious for abducting children and young people. Over 20,000 have been taken since the war began and turned into soldiers and rebel ‘wives’. This is the context of Uganda's informal disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme. Rather than being an organised process set up to help consolidate peace at the end of war, it has largely been a necessary response to a flow of escaping former abductees, taking place within an on-going conflict. In 2006, the government of South Sudan began mediating peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government. Although the talks have yet to deliver, they have focused attention on managing an end to the conflict, including a formal programme of DDR to deal with those rebels remaining in the bush.

Based on primary research – undertaken in Gulu, Kitgum, Kira and Apac Districts of northern Uganda in August and September 2005 and March 2006 – this paper lays out the problems that have marred earlier attempts to reintegrate former LRA combatants – and looks at the challenges that lie ahead.     

High-quality Digital 3D Reconstruction of Microscopic Findings in Forensic Pathology: The Terminal Pathway of a Heart Stab Wound*

High-quality digital three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of microscopic findings have been used in anatomical and histopathologic research, but their use in forensic pathology may also be of interest. This paper presents an application of these methods to better characterize the pathway of a stab wound of the anterior surface of the heart in a case of suicide. A portion of the heart wall including the stab wound was serially sectioned for microscopic analysis along the full extent of the wound. Histologic sections were digitally acquired, and a 3D reconstruction was created with ImageJ software for 3D computer graphics. This showed a full-thickness wound path extending to the endocardial surface of the left ventricle, curvilinear in appearance. After correction for shrinkage, 3D reconstruction allowed estimation of the dimensions of the myocardial injury and comparison of the appearance of the wound with the suspected knife used. The curvilinear appearance was considered to reflect injury during myocardial contraction. Complete microscopic sectioning and 3D reconstruction may allow virtual sectioning through various orientations and also provide useful forensic information for selected injuries.     

The Role of Culture in Legal Languages,Legal Interpretation and Legal Translation

The aim of this short essay is to highlight and concisely explore—but not address in depth—some cultural aspects related to legal languages, legal interpretation and legal translation. We would like to consider briefly the following questions: How can elements of legal language, as exemplified by proper names and euphemisms, be connected with cultural (extra-linguistic) factors influencing language units’ formation? How can judicial discourse reflect the culture of a given justice system? How can the legal interpretation affect the degree of legal culture? Are theories of legal interpretation universal or applicable to specific legal cultures? What is the impact of culture on the context of legal translation? How can the cultural background affect the decision to use terms in translation? How does cyberculture impact legal translation?

     

Relationship Trajectories and Psychological Well-Being Among Sexual Minority Youth

Dating in adolescence plays an integral part in the development of sexual and social identities. This process is particularly salient for sexual minority youth who face additional obstacles to their identity formation due to their marginalized status. We investigated the influence of participating in a same-sex relationship (SSR) or an opposite-sex relationship (OSR) on sexual minority youths’ psychological well-being (i.e., symptoms of depression, anxiety and internalized homophobia, and self-esteem) in an ethnically-diverse sample of 350 youth (55% male) between the ages of 15–19 years, recruited from three GLBT drop-in centers in the New York City area. Using longitudinal data, we examined youths’ SSR and OSR over time. Multivariate regression analyses suggest that involvement in a SSR was positively associated with changes in self-esteem in males, and negatively correlated with changes in internalized homophobia in females. We discuss the implications for positive development in sexual minority adolescent populations.     

Mother-Adolescent Language Proficiency and Adolescent Academic and Emotional Adjustment Among Chinese American Families

This study examined the role of adolescents’ and mothers’ self-reports of English and heritage language proficiency in youth’s academic and emotional adjustment among 444 Chinese American families. Adolescents who were proficient in English tended to exhibit higher reading achievement scores, math achievement scores, and overall GPA. Mothers who were English proficient tended to have children with higher academic achievement and fewer depressive symptoms. Results also indicated that adolescents’ heritage language maintenance was associated with positive adjustment, particularly amongst foreign-born youth and for youth whose parents were highly proficient in the heritage language. Mother-adolescent match in heritage language proficiency was related to higher math achievement scores and overall GPA. Additionally, higher heritage language proficiency was associated with fewer depressive symptoms for foreign-born but not U.S.-born youth. Overall, the findings suggest that proficiency in both the English and heritage language may confer advantages to Chinese American youth.

Distance,services, and citizen perceptions of the state in rural Africa

In most poor countries, basic services in rural areas are less accessible and of lower quality than those in urban settings. In this article, we investigate the subnational geography of service delivery and its relationship with citizens' perceptions of their government by analyzing the relationship between service access, satisfaction with services and government, and the distance to urban centers for more than 21,000 survey respondents across 17 African countries. We confirm that access to services and service satisfaction suffer from a spatial gradient. However, distant citizens are less likely than their urban peers to translate service dissatisfaction into discontent with their government; distant citizens have more trust in government and more positive evaluations of both local and national officials. Our findings suggest that increasing responsiveness and accountability to citizens as a means of improving remote rural services may face more limits than promoters of democratic governance and citizen‐centered accountability presume.     

State of the world 2017: autocratization and exclusion?

This article presents evidence of a global trend of autocratization. The most visible feature of democracy – elections – remains strong and is even improving in some places. Autocratization mainly affects non-electoral aspects of democracy such as media freedom, freedom of expression, and the rule of law, yet these in turn threaten to undermine the meaningfulness of elections. While the majority of the world’s population lives under democratic rule, 2.5 billion people were subjected to autocratization in 2017. Last year, democratic qualities were in decline in 24 countries across the world, many of which are populous such as India and the United States. This article also presents evidence testifying that men and wealthy groups tend to have a strong hold on political power in countries where 86% of the world population reside. Further, we show that political exclusion based on socio-economic status in particular is becoming increasingly severe. For instance, the wealthy have gained significantly more power in countries home to 1.9 billion of the world’s population over the past decade.     

Public sector audit and influence the investment institutional background during a pandemic

The study purpose was to assess the impact of public sector audit on investment climate formation under the COVID-19 pandemic and to develop recommendations to improve its effectiveness. For this purpose, a multistage research project was developed with the participation of auditors from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The project was based on the primary information obtained in the course of expert interviews. Testing the methodological approach with experts from these countries allowed proving the main study hypotheses, according to which the public sector audit has an indirect positive impact on investment climate formation. Such an audit influences the main impact factors through improving public administration efficiency, the fight against corruption, and the provision of the regulatory framework. During the testing, the main directions for improving public audit for a more favorable investment climate were formulated. The developed methodological approach makes it possible to obtain an expert assessment of the impact of the public audit on investment climate formation. At the same time, partial use of statistical methods makes it possible to replicate the study in the form of an expert interview, which increases its attractiveness for researchers in conditions of shortage of qualified interviewers.     

Changes in Fingerprints and the Quantity of Material Forming the Print Depending on Hand Cleanliness,Gender, and Ambient Conditions

Impressions of friction ridges left on a surface are important evidence for identifying an individual and can be used to confirm his or her presence at the scene of an incident. Factors influencing the durability of fingerprints include the physiological characteristics and cleanliness of the individual, environmental factors, and time. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of atmospheric factors, gender, hand cleanliness and time on the width of friction ridge impressions and the amount of material forming the print. The research shows that factors such as gender, ambient conditions, and hand cleanliness affect the width of the ridge impressions and the quantity of material forming the print. The passage of time significantly reduces both the width of the ridge impressions and the quantity of the material forming the print.