Automated comparison of firearm bullets

Fired bullets bear striation marks that can be thought of as a "fingerprint" left by the firearm. This new comparison approach is based on an automated extraction of a "signature" encompassing the relevant marks from an image. To this end, multiple pictures of the bullet are recorded first by using different illumination patterns, and a high quality image is generated by means of fusion techniques. After a preprocessing, the image intensities are filtered along the striations direction, yielding a compact representation of the marks. A non-linear filter selects the striae of interest. The actual comparison takes place by cross-correlating the signatures obtained this way. Finally, an assessment strategy is proposed to objectively evaluate the performance of the system. As demonstrated with an image database of real bullets, the proposed approach outperforms a state-of-the-art commercial system.     

Embryonal genetic diagnosis and reproductive freedom in assisted procreation]

This article analyses the repercussions that the Preimplantational Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) has in the bioethical as well as legal fields in relation with the so-called "reproductive freedom" of the couple. Besides analysing the legal situation of this technique in Spain as well as other surrounding States, the article studies the problems associated with some scenarios of PGD, such as the use in the selection of sex, for therapeutic purposes for third parties, in relation with diseases of a possible late onset, multifactorial or of a variable phenotype expression and for the selection of embryos affected by a disease or disability. All are based on real clinical cases.     

Modelling the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness for policy development

Counter‐knowledge refers to flaws in citizens' mental models arising from utilization of rumours, inappropriate knowledge structures, outdated routines or procedures. When counter‐knowledge is applied to civil servants, it may result in problems of efficiency, equity and motivation. This paper examines the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness to model a framework for improving city marketing and policy development. This study tested two measurement models. While the theoretical model represents the effect of counter‐knowledge on city marketing and that the latter has a negative effect on open‐mindedness, the alternative model involves that counter‐knowledge has a positive indirect impact on open‐mindedness. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 203 Spanish city halls. The results show a potential positive indirect effect of counter‐knowledge on open‐mindedness through city marketing programmes. This paper clarifies the existing literature, which tries to contribute to the discussion of city marketing, and helps us to obtain meaning out of the relationship between counter‐knowledge, city marketing and open‐mindedness. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coastal Tourism in a Context of Neoliberal Development: Social Change in Mancora,Peru

The case of Mancora, Northern Peru, illustrates a process of neoliberalisation through which conceptions of place, local identities and the recent history of the place have been reformulated due to the rapid expansion of global tourism. In this former fishing village, tourism development altered local conceptions of place, allowing the emergence of contrasting projects for converting it into a beach resort. This process brought about a context governed by land conflicts and tension between local authorities, where local inhabitants reshaped their identities and the recent history of the place in order to gain or maintain ownership over valuable natural resources.     

After the Madrid Bombings: Internal Security Reforms and Prevention of Global Terrorism in Spain

Approaching the Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004 from a security perspective, the occurrence of these highly lethal blasts made it evident not only a major intelligence failure, but also serious problems in the coordination between law enforcement agencies and deficiencies in international cooperation to prevent such deadly manifestations of global terrorism. As a result, governmental measures adopted in Spain immediately afterwards to reform the internal security structures and thus more adequately face the persisting risks and threats associated with that phenomenon, paid particular attention to increasing intelligence capabilities, advancing antiterrorist coordination and strengthening collaboration with relevant nations, alongside other initiatives aimed at preventing and countering al-Qaeda related terrorist activities. Overall, those measures enjoyed a high degree of legitimation among citizens.     

Brands as semiotic molecular entities

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the understanding of how brands are a phenomenon endowed with signs and meanings. From the background of Peirce's process of representation a model is developed that characterises brands as a network with three semiotic dimensions. Signs of brands spread out in the markets and establish relations of dependence between different elements. Brands can be defined through the wholeness of these semiotic elements and their relations, resembling a molecule. Thus, it is proposed that brands can be regarded as tridimensional molecule-shaped networks of semiotic elements that evolve through continuous processes of representation. The implications of the model are discussed and the article ends with suggestions for future research.     

Social perceptions on genomics in four Latin American countries. Ethical-legal implications]

The authors analyze under an ethical and legal perspective the consequences and anxieties generated by the human genome project in the population of four Latin American countries: Argentine, Chile, México and Perú, through bibliographical analysis and interviews done to biomedical researches, lawyers and legislators, students and lay civilians.     

Civil and criminal sanctions against blackmail: an economic analysis

The rationale behind the legal prohibition of blackmail and its effects have worried lawyers, economists and philosophers. The paper tries to offer a new perspective on the issue by introducing a simple game-theoretic model of the blackmail interaction under three alternative legal regimes: blackmail as a legally enforceable contract, blackmail as a voidable contract, and criminal blackmail. We show that the first two are substantially equivalent, and are unable to prevent a successful blackmail equilibrium outcome. Making blackmail a crime can instead alter this result for some parameters of the model.We also explore the justification for criminalizing blackmail and find it, in line with previous Law and Economics literature on blackmail (Ginsburg and Shechtman (1993), Coase (1988)), in the correction (albeit incomplete) of misaligned incentives to acquire information and the revelation and no revelation outcomes involved in the blackmail transaction. This justification could be undermined by the advantages of what seems to be a superior legal regime in terms of efficiency: no legal regulation of blackmail. This hands-off system can also destabilize, in a one-shot interaction, the successful blackmail outcome. In plausible dynamic interactions, however, it fails to do so and, in fact, its effects actually resemble those of blackmail as an enforceable contract. This result might explain why most legal systems stick to the criminalization of blackmail.