Arab Spring constitution-making: polarization,exclusion, and constraints

What determines the balance that democratizing constitutions strike between majority empowerment and individual rights? Some constitutions deliberately handicap state power to forestall threats to liberty, while others try to empower the government to hold the country together. We answer this question in the context of post-Arab Spring constitution-making, hypothesizing a U-shaped relationship between polarization among politically significant factions and net majority-empowering provisions in constitutions of new democracies, a relationship mediated by breadth of inclusion in the constitutional drafting process. We test the hypothesis through a controlled case comparison of Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, the three Arab-majority countries in which protestors successfully toppled authoritarian regimes.     

An Objective Corruption Risk Index Using Public Procurement Data

In order to address the lack of reliable indicators of corruption, this article develops a composite indicator of high-level institutionalised corruption through a novel ‘Big Data’ approach. Using publicly available electronic public procurement records in Hungary, we identify “red flags” in the public procurement process and link them to restricted competition and recurrent contract award to the same company. We use this method to create a corruption indicator at contract level that can be aggregated to the level of individual organisations, sectors, regions and countries. Because electronic public procurement data is available in virtually all developed countries from about the mid-2000s, this method can generate a corruption index based on objective data that is consistent over time and across countries. We demonstrate the validity of the corruption risk index by showing that firms with higher corruption risk score had relatively higher profitability, higher ratio of contract value to initial estimated price, greater likelihood of politicians managing or owning them and greater likelihood of registration in tax havens, than firms with lower scores on the index. In the conclusion we discuss the uses of this data for academic research, investigative journalists, civil society groups and small and medium business.     

How management team composition affects academic spin-offs’ entrepreneurial orientation: the mediating role of conflict

This research has been designed with the purpose of analysing the influence of both the composition of academic spin-offs’ management teams and the potential conflict emerged within such teams on the degree of entrepreneurial orientation exhibited by academic spin-offs. To this end, we have used the upper echelon theory as theoretical background and have analysed the impact of the proportion of non-academic managers within management teams, the heterogeneity of such teams with respect to the age and main educational area of their managers, as well as the potential mediating role of the conflict emerged. Drawing on a database of 167 Spanish academic spin-offs, results show, on the one hand, that the presence of non-academic managers within management teams is a key factor in the academic spin-offs' exhibitions of higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation and, on the other hand, that conflict fully mediates the relationship between management teams' age heterogeneity and entrepreneurial orientation.     

Recent Evolution of Public Sector Structure in Latin America: Describing and Explaining Shifts in Autonomy Trends in Colombia and Venezuela

This article has two objectives. The first objective is to review and assess the recent evolution of agency design in Colombia and Venezuela. More specifically, we study the agencies' formal autonomy in these two countries since the year 1999 when Venezuela experienced a major change in government policy towards socialism. Thus, we attempt to explore how this policy change is reflected in the formal autonomy of agencies. Our second objective is to test if, despite the differences in policy choices the two countries have taken in the recent years, there are theoretical factors related to the agencies' design that can explain the level of formal autonomy of the agencies. The results show two main elements: first, even though the patterns of formal agency autonomy in Colombia and Venezuela differed before Venezuela's latter policy change, the differences between these two countries have increased since 2000. This indicates that each country's policy preferences may account for the differences. Second, for both countries, we found that, despite the differences, agency level factors such as the primary tasks that are performed by the agencies and the policy sector in which they are active have had an impact on their level of formal autonomy. However, the results indicate that these relationships do not follow the predictions that have been made based on the different theoretical perspectives. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Might Makes Right: War-Related Payments in Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT

This article explores the patterns of distribution of material reparations (compensation) for victims and veterans in post-1995 Bosnia and Herzegovina. Drawing on bottom-up approaches to reparative justice and critical peacebuilding, it explains the existing material reparation schemes in Bosnia as outcomes of the post-war transition and interests of the main transitional actors. It first explores the different approaches to war-related compensation for victim and veteran groups and then demonstrates that veterans have formed powerful pressure groups, drawing on extensive political and economic resources. Their organizations have been receiving socioeconomic support in exchange for electoral endorsement and public political support. As victims are fragmented ethno-nationally, by categories, and also lack capacities, their means to leverage the authorities for change are limited, even when matched with NGO and international support. This paper argues that unless material reparation is distributed in a transparent and consistent manner, it may create additional social cleavages and tensions.     

Modification of the Marmarou and Foda model of diffuse axonal injury (DAI) improves percentage survival of rats at 24 h and increases the amount of DAI identified

More than two decades ago, Marmarou published a valid model for producing diffuse axonal injury (DAI) in rats. Since then, both mild and severe injuries have been obtained by researchers using the original method and a weight of 450 g. However, the diffuse brain injuries produced in rats were only similar to those seen in humans when the rats sustained severe brain injuries. In these cases, rat mortality in the original article was around 50%, and the cause of death was prolonged apnea post-impact. Rat survival after impact is critical for studying the progression of DAI. In order to explain the cause of death in human victims with cranial trauma who do not show gross brain injury, testing for the presence of DAI is essential. Thus, in order to minimize local and cervical injuries to increase rat survival, attention should be paid to the following aspects: a wider head protector disc should be used, the head of the rat should be elevated at the time of impact, and the foam bed should be soft enough to allow the movement caused by acceleration. With our modified method, rat survival increased by 30% compared to the original model (80% versus 50%). Moreover, 85.7% of rats demonstrated DAI after 24 h of survival. With these modifications, injuries appear in the same locations as in humans; thus, the method is suitable for the study of traumatic DAI in humans.     

Bite Mark Analysis in Foodstuffs and Inanimate Objects and the Underlying Proofs for Validity and Judicial Acceptance

Even though one of the first bite mark cases was Doyle v. State in 1954 (a bitten cheese case), the research has focused on bite marks inflicted in human skin. As published Papers, Case Reports, or Technical Notes can constitute precedents which are relied upon in making the legal arguments and a considerable amount of case law exists in this area, we present a systematic review on bite mark analysis in foodstuffs and inanimate objects and their underlying proofs for validity and judicial acceptance according to Daubert rulings. Results showed that there is vulnerability in these procedures, and it is essential to demand for focus scrutiny on the known error rates when such evidence is presented in trials. These kinds of bite marks are well documented; however, there has been little research in this field knowing that the protocols of analysis and comparison are the responsibility of the forensic odontologists.     

Problem-based learning and international commercial dispute resolution in the Indian Ocean

One of the primary challenges for a law lecturer is to take students beyond their own assumptions about the parameters of a subject and provide them with new opportunities for exploration and a broader vision to enhance learning. A significant feature of law as a discipline of study in higher education that has the potential to impact on the curriculum and the way in which it is taught is the academic/vocational divide. Problem-based learning (PBL) activities make classroom settings unpredictable and surprising, and learning to deal with such uncertainty prepares students for one of the most crucial aspects of professional life: the ability to make judgements in a context of uncertainty. This article analyses the integration of PBL within an LLM module on International Commercial Dispute Resolution. The logic of using PBL in this module is to ensure that the more abstract and less engaging aspects of the course are learned in relation to a close involvement with problems that are highly relevant to students’ more concrete ideas of what the course is about and what competence would mean within it. The experience of the students with the PBL activities, captured in reflective narratives and anonymous questionnaires, is also discussed.     

Fatal Hemorrhage from an Arteriovenous Fistula

In this study, we present two cases of sudden deaths of people with end‐stage kidney with arteriovenous fistulas for long‐term hemodialysis treatment. This procedure is associated with a number of known complications. While stenosis, thrombosis, and infection are well known, lethal hemorrhage from arteriovenous fistula is much less commonly encountered. Inspection of the bodies at the scene of the death by a medical examiner suggested that the deaths were due to exsanguination. Autopsies revealed visible defects on the front wall of the arteriovenous fistulas. Microscopic examination showed wall necrosis with infiltration of various inflammatory cells. Deaths were due to exsanguination from the ulcerated arteriovenous fistulas in patients with chronic renal failure. Further investigation revealed that complications in the area around the arteriovenous fistulas were known and were being treated until a sudden rupture of the vessels and hemorrhage from the arteriovenous fistulas resulted in the deaths.