Toward “hardened” accountability? Analyzing the European Union's hybrid transnational governance in timber and biofuel supply chains

The voluntary/mandatory divide is a constant feature of scholarly debates on corporate accountability for sustainability in global supply chains. A widely held assumption is that the addition of state authority to private transnational governance in global supply chains will “harden” accountability and, thus, promote more sustainable production. The state's ability to set legally binding requirements is expected to coerce companies into complying. The hybridization of private and state authority is seen to strengthen good practice in private authority. This empirical study questions these assumptions based on an analysis of two hybrid governance arrangements for sustainability in global supply chains: the EU's Timber Regulation (EUTR) and Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The results demonstrate that both EUTR and EU-RED yield sector wide efforts of compliance and to this extent can be seen as enhancing accountability in the sense of answerability. At the same time, we find that the policies in both cases are not more demanding, nor enforced strictly, the latter putting into question their potential to coerce companies. Further, a “hardening” of accountability is at least obscured as both EUTR and EU-RED have stripped private authority they employ in their hybrid transnational governance from the need to establish legitimacy with a broader audience. This makes legal compliance and cost-effectiveness the core factor for companies’ efforts to demonstrate compliance. Our findings hence question whether the EUTR and EU-RED have led to “hardened” accountability compared to private transnational governance, and ask for an empirical, more nuanced understanding of what there is to gain or lose from hybridizing private and state authority in transnational governance.     

Making the Case for Evaluation Partnerships in Child Protection Mediation Programs: Insights from a Case Study

Many jurisdictions have instituted child protection mediation programs (CPM) for the purposes of reducing the length of children's stays in out‐of‐home care and decreasing court system burden, and numerous studies have shown promising results. However, important implementation and sustainability problems persist. This article presents a case study's findings and retrospectively interprets underlying reasons for challenges the program faced in implementation. Study implications call for a more structured planning process, including early partnership with experienced court‐based evaluators to develop successful marketing and recruitment strategies that may encourage stakeholder endorsement and foster sustainability.     

Not as bad as it seems: EU and US democracy promotion faces China in Africa

The rise of China in Africa is often described as a major challenge to the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) democracy promotion policies. China is accused of providing important volumes of loans, development aid, trade and investments without “political strings” attached, thereby undermining the US and the EU's possibilities to set material incentives for reforms. This article investigates Ethiopia and Angola as two cases where one would expect that the growing presence of China has made it more difficult for the EU and US to support reforms. Empirical findings presented in this article go against this argument. In both countries, the EU and the US face substantial difficulties to make the respective government address governance issues. However, the presence of China has not made it more difficult for the US and the EU to implement their strategies. Instead the empirical analysis suggests that domestic factors in Ethiopia and Angola, notably the level of challenge to regime survival both governments face, influence both governments’ willingness to engage with the EU and US.     

A Proposed Scheme for Classifying Pediatric Rib Head Fractures Using Case Examples

Pediatric rib head fractures are typically described as “posterior” or “costovertebral,” terms lacking specificity. To resolve this issue, a scheme was developed to describe the location of rib head fractures observed in a pediatric forensic population. The scheme uses three anatomical landmarks, terminus (tip), tubercle, and costovertebral articular surface to divide the rib head into two subregions, costovertebral and costotransverse. Examples of five cases of infants with rib head fractures are presented using this scheme. Forty‐eight rib head fractures were observed in these infants with the following frequencies: 56% (three infants) at the terminus; 21% (three infants) in the costovertebral subregion; 21% (one infant) at the costovertebral articular facet; and 2% (one infant) in the costotransverse subregion. Due to the small number of cases assessed, statistical analyses could not be performed; however, the data demonstrate the variation in distribution of pediatric rib head fractures.     

An Unusual Case of Strychnine Poisoning

Strychnine‐related death has been described since the 19th century. This alkaloid was discovered in 1818. Historically, strychnine was used by the South‐East Asian autochthones on their arrows. However, its production was modified by legislation, which was used to protect people against accidental intoxications. Here, we present the case of a 69‐year‐old man who was found dead at home. During the autopsy, we found a blue substance in the stomach. Toxicological analysis measured strychnine at 0.29 μg/mL in the blood sample, which is a relatively low level in comparison with the results given in the literature. However, histologic examination and toxicological findings permitted the conclusion of strychnine poisoning.     

Aortic Dissection and Sudden Unexpected Deaths: A Retrospective Study of 31 Forensic Autopsy Cases

Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is the most common cause of sudden unexpected death related to aortic diseases. A retrospective study of 31 sudden unexpected deaths caused by AAD was conducted at Xi'an Jiaotong University Forensic Center from 2001 to 2012. We summarized the forensic characteristics of AAD and assessed the clinically diagnostic accuracy of AAD. The characteristics of sudden unexpected death due to AAD were male predominant (male: female = 6.7:1), relatively young with the mean age of 44, and predominance of type A dissection (77.4%). Cardiac tamponade was the most frequent cause of sudden death (87.1%). Of the 31 cases, 26 (83.9%) patients were not recognized clinically and were misdiagnosed with acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, cholecystitis, acute gastroenteritis, renal/urinary lithiasis, or acute pancreatitis. In summary, AAD can be difficult to recognize, diagnosis is therefore sometimes delayed or missed. The medicolegal death investigation can help physicians have a better understanding of AAD.     

A New Method to Pair‐match Metacarpals Using Bilateral Asymmetry and Shape Analysis

Matching pairs of skeletal elements is of fundamental importance when re‐associating skeletons from commingled settings. This study presents a new method that combines the use of traditional anthropometric size measurements and the analysis of shape, through geometric morphometrics, to form pairs from commingled settings. We tested the hypothesis that shape asymmetry among individuals is smaller than between individuals that share similar dimensions. The metacarpals were measured in their maximum length, and absolute means of asymmetry between right and left metacarpals were calculated. To analyze the shape characteristics, two‐dimensional landmarks were recorded from digital images of 111 metacarpals. The specimens were analyzed using generalized Procrustes analysis and multivariate statistics. The accuracy of pair‐matching bones using a combined method was of 100%, showing that the incorporation of geometric morphometrics techniques—in the assessment of shape in physical anthropology—is of particular use when comparing the shape differences/similarities between individuals.     

Establishing the Limits of TrueAllele® Casework: A Validation Study

The limits of the expert system, TrueAllele^® Casework (TA), were explored using challenging mock casework profiles that included 17 single‐source and 18 two‐, 15 three‐ and 7 four‐person DNA mixtures. The sensitivity (ability to detect a minor contributor) of the TA analysis process was examined by challenging the system with mixture DNA samples that exhibited allelic and locus dropout and other stochastic effects. The specificity (ability to exclude nondonors) was rigorously tested by interrogating TA derived genotypes with 100 nondonor profiles. The accuracy with which TA estimated mixture weights of contributors to the two‐person mixtures was examined. Finally, first‐degree relatives of donors were used to assess the ability of the system to exclude close relatives. TA demonstrated great accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. TA correctly assigned mixture weights and excluded nearly all first‐degree relatives. This study demonstrates the analysis power of the TrueAllele^® Casework system.     

Evaluation of Implementation of the Kentucky Court Rules of Procedure and Practice: An Approach to Assessing the Impact of Court Reform Efforts

This article describes a Supreme Court of Kentucky court improvement initiative designed to promote uniformity and improved court practice with an ultimate goal of the improvement of outcomes for children and families through implementation of Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice. Twelve jurisdictions were purposely selected to exhibit a range of family and non‐family court jurisdictions, rural and middle‐sized locations. This article focuses on the results of court case file review related to indicators of due process and timeliness. Implications for court evaluation and reform activities are discussed.