Population frequency for the short tandem repeat loci D18S849, D3S1744, and D12S1090 in Caucasian-Mestizo and African descent populations of Colombia

Blood samples from 489 unrelated Caucasian Mestizo and 252 individuals of African descent in Colombia were amplified and typed for three short tandem repeat (STR) markers (D12S1090, D3S1744, and D18S849). All markers conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations in both populations studied. In addition, heterozygosity, mean exclusion chance, polymorphism information content, discrimination power, and the assumption of independence within and between loci were determined. The mean exclusion chance for all three STR markers is 0.9750 in the Caucasian Mestizo population and 0.9731 in the African Colombian Population. The discrimination power is 0.999925 and 0.999911 in the Caucasian Mestizo and African Colombian respectively.     

Teenage pregnancy and neonatal behavior: Effects in Puerto Rico and Florida

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neonatal behavior and prenatal and perinatal risk factors in infants of teenage and older mothers in Puerto Rico and Mainland United States. The sample included approximately 300 newborn infants;half were examined in Puerto Rico, the other half in Florida, using the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. Comparisons by maternal age and the number of obstetrical complications showed that for the Puerto Rican group, infants with fewer obstetrical complications were better able to regulate their crying and active states. Infants of teenage mothers with fewer complications had a higher level of arousal than infants of older mothers with fewer complications. Infant behavior in the Mainland sample did not vary by maternal age or complications. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the combination of biomedical variables significantly predicted neonatal behavior in both cultures. Mother's age was not separately correlated with neonatal behavior, but was repeatedly combined with other variables in the significant regressions. The findings suggest that infants of teenage mothers may differ from infants of older mothers, particularly in the organization of state behavior, and that the effects of maternal age on neonatal behavior are increased in the presence of biological outcome factors.This article is based on a final report to the NICHD Center for Population Research, Contract N01-HD-7283.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Main research interests are determinants of neonatal and infant development, assessment of preterm and at risk infant.Received Ph.D. from Harvard University. Main research interests are sociocultural aspects of development, teenage pregnancy, infant temperament and psychophysiology.Received M.A. from University of Florida. Main research interests are prenatal and prenatal factors on development, maternal obstetric medication, and behavioral teratology.     

The impact of ideological positions and personal attributes of candidates in intraparty competition: A study under the Swiss open-list PR System

Intraparty preference voting systems offer different incentives for candidates to cultivate a personal vote, but little is known about how the candidates' policy positions affect their electoral success in intraparty competition. This article analyses the effect of candidates' ideological positions and personal attributes on their preference vote share in the 2015 and 2019 Swiss Lower House elections. We used candidate survey data combined with official election statistics. Our findings demonstrate that the ideological distance between candidates' positions and their party's median position is of minor importance for their electoral success when compared to their personal attributes. However, ideological distance between candidates and their party's median position reduce their preference vote share.     

Determination of Inorganic Ion Profiles of Illicit Drugs by Capillary Electrophoresis

A portable capillary electrophoresis instrument with dual capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) was used to determine the inorganic ionic profiles of three pharmaceutical samples and precursors of two illicit drugs (contemporary samples of methylone and para‐methoxymethamphetamine). The LODs ranged from 0.10 μmol/L to 1.25 μmol/L for the 10 selected cations, and from 0.13 μmol/L to 1.03 μmol/L for the eight selected anions. All separations were performed in less than 6 min with migration times and peak area RSD values ranging from 2 to 7%. The results demonstrate the potential of the analysis of inorganic ionic species to aid in the identification and/or differentiation of unknown tablets, and real samples found in illicit drug manufacture scenarios. From the resulting ionic fingerprint, the unknown tablets and samples can be further classified.     

Police Personnel Affective Profiles: Differences in Perceptions of the Work Climate and Motivation

The affective profile model was used to investigate individual differences in police personnel perceptions about the working climate and its influences on motivation. The Positive Affect, Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was used to assign police personnel, sworn and non-sworn (N = 595), to four affective profiles: self-fulfilling, low affective, high affective, and self-destructive. The work climate was assessed using the Learning Climate Questionnaire (Management Relations and Style, Time, Autonomy and Responsibility, Team Style, Opportunities to Develop, Guidelines on How to do the Job, and Contentedness). Motivation was evaluated using a modified version (to refer specifically to the individual’s work situation) of the Situational Motivation Scale (intrinsic motivation, external regulation, identified regulation, and amotivation). Self-fulfilling individuals scored higher on all work climate dimensions compared to the other three groups. Compared to low positive affect profiles, individuals with profiles of high positive affect scored higher in intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. Self-destructive individuals scored higher in amotivation. Different aspects of the work climate were related to each motivation dimension among affective profiles. Police personnel may react to their work environment depending on their affective profile. Moreover, the extent to which the work influences police personnel’s motivation is also related to the affective profile of the individual.     

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.     

Performance measures in tax administration: Chile as a case study

The article proposes a set of tax administration performance measures and contrasts them with measures actually used by the Chilean tax administration agency. The goals assumed for the tax administration agency (TA) are to maximize tax revenue collection and provide quality services to taxpayers. Ideal performance measures (PMs) would measure the deviation of actual outcome from a best‐practice standard, given the value of all variables affecting organisation performance that are outside management control. The key challenge is to build and calculate these best‐practice outcomes. In Chile the PM in use, for the first goal, is the ratio of actual to potential tax revenue collection. This PM does adjust revenue collection for variations in the tax structure and rate, but it fails to control other variables that affect performance such as the TA budget and per capita income. The PM in use, for the second goal, is taxpayer satisfaction measured through sample surveys. This seems the appropriate PM, as quality of taxpayer services depends directly on the TA efforts to improve them. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Avoidable causes of death and their effects on life expectancy. A socio-demographic interpretation. The case of the northern frontier, 1980-1990

"This study forms part of [a] research project on the health-disease-death process along the [Mexican] Northern Frontier--a by-product of the socio-economic structure of a specific social formation that determines disease and death--to support regional and sectorial design of policies and actions for the improvement of health conditions for its population.... An important finding is a 4.1 year increase of life expectancy due, among other causes, to a slight decrease in avoidable death causes, although these still produce about 50% of deaths." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Southern Green Cultural Criminology and Environmental Crime Prevention: Representations of Nature Within Four Colombian Indigenous Communities

Critical Criminology - This exploratory study develops a “southern green cultural criminology” approach to the prevention of environmental harms and crimes. The main aim is to...