Identifying chop marks on cremated bone: a preliminary study

The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the effects of burning on hacking trauma inflicted with a cleaver and to assess the diagnostic potential of cleaver marks exposed to fire. Thirty pig forelimbs (radius and ulna) and 30 beef ribs were each subjected to five blows with a cleaver and five cuts with a knife prior to burning in an outdoor fire. Bones were deliberately agitated to ensure maximum cremation and induce fragmentation. Results indicate that hacking weakens bone, making fire-induced fragmentation more likely at the sites of trauma. Chop marks were easily identified on burned bone, their characteristics largely unaffected by cremation.     

Family formation and everyday travel in Britain since c.1850

This paper focuses on the extent to which everyday travel behaviour in Britain changes in relation to family responsibilities, and examines how this has altered over the past century and a half. It is argued that prior to the mid-twentieth century changes in the family such as increased child-care responsibilities barely influenced the modes of transport used for everyday travel, but that increasingly in the later twentieth century people adjusted their travel behaviour during the family formation phases of the life cycle. In particular, parents of young children have become more car-dependent and less likely to walk or cycle. Data are drawn from two separate projects, one that collected travel life histories from the past half-century as context for research on cycling in later life, and one that uses personal diaries to reveal everyday mobility strategies of people in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is argued that the observed changes are due not only to increased access to a wide range of different transport forms, especially the motor car, but also to changes in societal perceptions of risk and norms of travel behaviour. In conclusion, it is suggested that more awareness of past travel behaviours could aid the development and implementation of more sustainable transport policies in the UK.     

A Crisis of Empire: The Anglo–Ottoman Dispute Over the Aden Frontier, 1901–1905

The crises which accompanied the rise and decline of the European empires have not been the object of systematic study in the manner of superpower crises of the Cold War period. Many of the techniques used to study Cold War crises have broader scope, including the models of governmental politics and organisational process developed by Graham Allison. The application of the Allison models to the events surrounding the delimitation of the Aden frontier between 1901 and 1905 illuminates significant aspects of the Anglo–Ottoman confrontation: they explain the manner in which non-rational elements in the policy-making process transformed a relatively insignificant issue into a crisis situation. Such insights also require a detailed examination of the documentary record which in this instance reveals the discord amongst British policy-makers and the organisational imperfections of the bureaucracy. The frontier Commissioners, the Aden Resident, the Government of India, the metropolitan government in London and the embassy in Constantinople were involved in a series of factional squabbles over the Aden frontier, the resolution of which often required the coercion of the Ottomans by the deployment of warships along the Yemen coast. Coordination amongst these different elements in the bureaucracy also played a role in generating tensions between London and Constantinople. The case of the Anglo–Ottoman dispute over the Aden frontier suggests that the analysis of internal governmental politics and organisational processes can be applied successfully to crises of empire which predate the Cold War era.     

Network Characteristics and Organizational Structure of Chinese Drug Trafficking Groups

Unlike previous studies of drug trafficking groups that focused on the characteristics of individual members, this study examined the demographic and socioeconomic composition of drug trafficking groups and the types of relationships binding criminal networks. Through an analysis of 144 drug trafficking groups adjudicated in the intermediate and high courts in several provinces of China, this study found a high level of homogeneity in demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status among the offenders who formed the Chinese drug trafficking networks. Results also showed that most Chinese drug trafficking groups were small and lacked a vertical role structure. The concentration of men was associated with a higher likelihood of having a hierarchical role structure in the trafficking group.     

Asserting integrity in Mexico's civic sector

In societies where civic space is closing, integrity in the civic sector is critical for its sustainability. Where state regulatory frameworks are inadequate, or worse, manipulative, self-regulation can help defend the sector's integrity and strengthen the ability of civic associations to serve the public and contribute to democracy. This paper describes the strategic role in self-regulation of a particular type of third sector actor in Mexico, the coordinating body or civic network. A case study of the Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI) and its Accreditation in Institutionalization and Transparency project illustrates the contribution of NGO networks in service to the sector, and their key role in diffusion of norms of transparency and accountability within the civic sector and beyond.     

Making the Financial Sector Work for the Poor

This case study exploits matched firm–employee Tunisian data in order to underline the role played by within-firm human capital in worker remuneration. The estimated returns to human capital in wage equations remain unchanged when the dummies representing firm heterogeneity are replaced in the list of regressors with three firm variables: a textile industry dummy, within-firm mean education, and firm age. We find that part of what is usually considered as return to education may be due to within-firm externalities.     

The emergence of policy implementation analysis: The Wyatt v. Stickney decision

In recent years scholars have devoted substantial attention to the “implementation” phase of the policy-making process. Analytical efforts have focused on the identification of variable sets as they are associated with the outcomes of public policies and programs. This article will discuss these program implementation conceptualizations within the context of a landmark court decision. This court decision, Wyatt v. Stickney, impacted to a profound degree the lives of residents in institutions for the mentally retarded. Finally, based on the analysis of this case, the authors cite limitations and propose future directions for social policy implementation analysis as a scholarly emphasis.