The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Intimate Partner Violence Advocates and Agencies

Relatively few studies have considered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intimate partner violence (IPV) advocates or the agencies where they work. In this study, based on United States IPV advocates’ experiences working with survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted interviews to explore: 1) personal challenges and resilience working as IPV advocates during the COVID-19 pandemic; 2) how agencies adapted to the pandemic to support IPV survivors and advocates; and 3) specific needs and challenges of culturally-specific agencies. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 53 IPV advocates from June to November 2020. Participants were included if they worked directly with survivors, identified as an IPV advocate, worked at a US-based agency, and spoke and understood English. We created a sampling matrix to ensure adequate representation from IPV advocates serving survivors from communities which have been marginalized. Interviews were conducted through a virtual platform by a trained member of the research team. We used an inductive thematic analysis approach, with weekly coding meetings to resolve discrepancies in coding. Five themes emerged from the data: 1) IPV advocates described how working as an IPV advocate during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted them personally; 2) agencies developed new methods of addressing IPV advocates’ needs; 3) agencies developed new solutions to address pandemic-related client needs; 4) transitioning advocacy work to virtual formats created challenges but also opportunities and; 5) pandemic limitations and impacts compounded pre-pandemic challenges for culturally specific agencies. IPV advocates are frontline workers who have played essential roles in adjusting services to meet survivor needs during the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously coping with pandemic impacts on themselves and their agencies. Developing inter-agency collaborations and promoting advocates’ safety and wellbeing during future public health crises will help support IPV survivors.

     

Mental health, quality of life, and health functioning in women veterans: differential outcomes associated with military and civilian sexual assault

The present study examined psychiatric, physical, and quality-of-life functioning in a sample of 270 women veterans receiving outpatient treatment at a Veterans Affairs medical center. Participants were interviewed regarding their civilian (CSA) and military sexual assault (MSA) histories, and data regarding quality of life and health outcomes were obtained through structured interviews and questionnaires. Women veterans with CSA histories reported significantly poorer physical, psychiatric, and quality-of-life functioning compared to those without a history of sexual assault. Furthermore, women veterans with an MSA history demonstrated additional negative consequences above and beyond the effects of CSA. The study sample was comparable to a national random sample of women veterans who access care in the Veterans Affairs healthcare system, increasing the generalizibility of the results.     

(In)-Equality in the Allocation of R&D Resources for Rare Diseases

This paper analyses the allocation of R&D investments within rare diseases and identifies the characteristics of rare diseases that appear to lead R&D resources. Rare diseases affect less than 1 in 2000 citizens. With over 7000 recognised rare diseases and 350 million people affected worldwide, rare diseases are not so rare when considered collectively. Rare diseases are generally underserved by drug development because pharmaceutical industries consider R&D investments in rare diseases too costly and risky in comparison with the low expected returns due to the small population involved. We use data on rare diseases research from Orphanet along with academic publications per rare disease from bibliographic databases. We test the existence of inequalities in R&D investments within rare diseases and identify the disease characteristics that appear to lead R&D investments using dominance tools and bilateral tests. We show that rare diseases in children and with a smaller prevalence, such as ultra-rare diseases, are underserved by R&D. R&D investments appear to be concentrated in more profitable research areas with potentially larger sample size and adult population.

     

Assessing the relationship between R&D subsidy,R&D cooperation and absorptive capacity: an investigation on the manufacturing Spanish case

Private companies want to eliminate outgoing spillovers while policymakers seek to maximize them. With subsidized R&D cooperation agreements both agents partially achieve their objectives. For this reason, in Europe, policymakers grant subsidies for R&D activities with the condition of establishing R&D cooperation agreements. This study explores the relationship of complementarity between R&D subsidy, R&D cooperation and absorptive capacity in the context of its contribution to labor productivity of enterprises. The data used comes from the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC), managed by the Spanish National Statistics Institute. We selected manufacturing companies in the period 2008–2013. We evaluate the existence of complementarity through the systems approach and the interaction approach. The econometric technique that we used to estimate the coefficients of our empirical model was maximum-likelihood random effects. As a consequence of the low absorptive capacity of Spanish manufacturing firms we find that R&D subsidies and R&D cooperation agreements are not complementary variables, i.e., receiving public subsidies as a result of establishing R&D cooperation agreements has a lower impact on productivity than the sum of the individual impacts of R&D cooperation and R&D subsidies. In consequence, this result calls into question the convenience of using subsidized R&D cooperation agreements as a tool for promoting innovation in EU countries as there are notable differences between the companies in these countries in terms of absorption capacity.     

The governance of the financial action task force: an analysis of power and influence throughout the years

The international fight against money laundering illustrates changes in global governance as a result of the increasingly cross-border nature of crime and the need it creates for all involved to cooperate. The economic priorities and security concerns that surround it contributed to the strong evolution of global governance in this area and the status of anti-money laundering as a shared problem. The creation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), its expansion and cementation throughout the years, is a good example of the many forces working together to responding to the demands of emerging criminal threats and trends. It offers a good illustration of how relationships in global governance have influenced FATF’s priorities and action and ultimately the way in which illicit financial flows are tackled. This analysis offers an overview of FATF’s network across time taking into account the role of states, international organisations, and the private sector in the decision-making processes. It argues that Great Powers – a small, but aligned, group of states of global economic relevance – are responsible for FATF’s direction and the international efforts against illicit financial flows. It suggests, however, that unlike what could be expected, their power is declining following the rise of private sector influence through resourceful, organised and transnational actions e.g. on information sharing.     

Measuring and explaining the marriage boom in the developed world

Using aggregated data from 25 developed countries over a lengthy period of time, this article presents a measure of the marriage boom observed in the twentieth century and an explanation for its causes. One of my main conclusions is that even though it basically developed after the Second World War, its origins are to be found before it. I found that, contrary to the views of some scholars, this boom was not a short-lived phenomenon, but actually lasted for 90 years on average. Using panel data analysis techniques, I am able to show that the rise in women’s education, state spending on social benefits, and larger percentages of people employed in the primary sector tended to discourage marriage. I also found a quadratic relationship between the nuptiality index and the per capita income and mortality rates.     

Impact of aging on fingerprint ridge density: Anthropometry and forensic implications in sex inference

The variation in the epidermal ridge's width between the sexes, during various growth stages, and among different populations has been previously assessed. However, the changes that occur with aging are barely known.The goal of this study was to analyse the degree of variation in epidermal ridge width due to aging. So that, fingerprint ridge density was estimated to establish their relationship with body and hand size changes that typically occur in adulthood.In this study, a sample of 213 adults of both sexes from a Spanish native population of different age ranges—18–30?years old (“junior” group) and 50–66?years old (“senior” group)—was used. Ridge density was assessed in three counting areas of the distal phalanx of each finger (radial, ulnar, and proximal). Height, weight, and a set of anthropometric measurements for both hands were also taken.Our results show that ridge density is higher in females than males throughout adulthood and decreases with aging in the radial and ulnar areas (as the hands widen) but not in the proximal region. Thus, a relationship between hand dimensions and ridge density was found.The data indicate that aging changes may conceal the recognized sex differences in ridge density, and so a better understanding of the topological variations in the epidermal ridge width throughout the life cycle and the factors involved would facilitate the interpretation of the differences between the sexes and different age groups.     

Ink dating part II: Interpretation of results in a legal perspective

The development of an ink dating method requires an important investment of resources in order to step from the monitoring of ink ageing on paper to the determination of the actual age of a questioned ink entry. This article aimed at developing and evaluating the potential of three interpretation models to date ink entries in a legal perspective: (1) the threshold model comparing analytical results to tabulated values in order to determine the maximal possible age of an ink entry, (2) the trend tests that focusing on the “ageing status” of an ink entry, and (3) the likelihood ratio calculation comparing the probabilities to observe the results under at least two alternative hypotheses. This is the first report showing ink dating interpretation results on a ballpoint be ink reference population.In the first part of this paper three ageing parameters were selected as promising from the population of 25 ink entries aged during 4 to 304 days: the quantity of phenoxyethanol (PE), the difference between the PE quantities contained in a naturally aged sample and an artificially aged sample (R_NORM) and the solvent loss ratio (R%). In the current part, each model was tested using the three selected ageing parameters. Results showed that threshold definition remains a simple model easily applicable in practice, but that the risk of false positive cannot be completely avoided without reducing significantly the feasibility of the ink dating approaches. The trend tests from the literature showed unreliable results and an alternative had to be developed yielding encouraging results. The likelihood ratio calculation introduced a degree of certainty to the ink dating conclusion in comparison to the threshold approach. The proposed model remains quite simple to apply in practice, but should be further developed in order to yield reliable results in practice.     

Between Renewal and Stability: Party System Change from a Multi-Level Perspective in Brazil (1998–2018)

The growth of the far right and election results in Brazil are often associated with national or large-scale events. The multi-level features of these developments, namely party competition at the sub-national level, are overlooked in the literature. This article argues that changes in the Brazilian national party system – those observed from Bolsonaro's election, mainly – are rooted in sub-national political dynamics. Through a comparative and longitudinal analysis of multi-level executive and legislative elections, we find that, although there are distinct patterns of competition between the national-sub-national and within-country levels, this difference is not evident in volatility.     

Changes in the Rules of the Lawmaking Process and the Success of Presidential Bills: Chile, 1990–2018

This article assesses the effect of changes in the lawmaking process on the success of the president’s legislative agenda, distinguishing between within-term success (bills that passed during the term) and overall success (including bills that passed after the president left office). With the 2064 presidential bills introduced in seven terms (1990–2018) in Chile’s presidential system, we assess the impact of changes in lawmaking rules on within-term (59.9%) and overall success (70.6%). Changes that decrease attributions of the president and create more opportunities for executive-legislative bargaining—including concurrent elections—increase the chances of success of presidential bills. The use of presidential urgency motions, an agenda-setting tool, makes bills more likely to pass, but the issuance of many urgency motions undermines the bill’s chances to succeed. Presidential bills introduced early in the term and those on issues where there is more policy convergence are more likely to pass.