Economic development strategies in the American states

Economic development has always been a moving target. Not surprisingly, there is growing evidence that the shape of economic policy and practice is significantly changing in many American states on the eve of the 21st Century. This article reviews the evolution and transformation of state economic development as well as its multidimentional character. The evolution includes roughly three broad, overlapping phases: a period when states focused on attracting businesses, a period when they focused on developing existing businesses, and a period when states refined and sharpened the strategies they already had in place. This article also offers evidence that a new, fourth phase is emerging in economic development. It is called cluster-based economic analysis and strategy development. This new approach has states addressing new issues, using new analytical tools, and experiencing new kinds of results.     

TRANSPARENCY POLICY INITIATIVES IN LATIN AMERICA: UNDERSTANDING POLICY OUTCOMES FROM AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Access to public information contributes to the strengthening of democratic institutions and confidence in the political system, of particular importance where government calculi have traditionally favored secrecy rather than transparency. This article compares recent access initiatives in Mexico and Argentina to provide understanding of the forces working to promote or discourage policy adoption. Using an institutional perspective, data from interviews with legal and media analysts, media professionals, public officials and members of non-government organizations were examined, and relevant literature was analyzed. In Mexico, key pressures in the form of press coverage and political opposition were necessary to push the initiative through Congress. In Argentina, such influences were largely absent.     

The Rhetorical Syllogism (Enthymeme) in Judicial Argumentation

The thesis here expounded can be divided in three parts: in the first place, it is supposed that the syllogism is not the rhetorical way, and less still the logical way, indeed used to reach the decision in the legal proceedings monopolized by the modern State. At the most, it can be seen as a form of presenting a decision that has already been reached by other means. It sure constitutes a highly functional procedure, effective and legitimating. It is generally not a conscious strategy on the part of the so called official legal agents (judges, prosecutors, state attorneys, lawyers, plaintiffs), which seem to believe that the decision before the concrete case is in fact produced by the previous general norm enunciated by the system. If there would be a chronological order, the general norm comes afterwards. In the second place, the judicial discursive structure seems to be rather enthymematic than syllogistic, because not all the effectively used norms are revealed, many of them staying not only out of question but also hidden. Finally, it is suggested that, in the atmosphere of faking dogmatic law in which acts the underdeveloped State, those implicit norms are not just presupposed as evident, but they are also uncertain, being rendered to manipulation.     

The Karimojong from Uganda: Genetic characterization using an X-STR decaplex system

The Karimojong, an African group from the Karamoja region of Northeast Uganda, were genetically analysed using a decaplex system for X chromosome short tandem repeats (X-STRs). A total of 255 individuals (117 males and 138 females) were genotyped for the following loci: DXS8378, DXS9898, DXS7133, GATA31E08, GATA172D05, DXS7423, DXS6809, DXS7132, DXS9902 and DXS6789. Allele frequencies and parameters for forensic evaluation were calculated for each STR. No association was found between any pairs of loci studied. DXS6789 was the most polymorphic marker in this sample, followed by DXS6809, with gene diversities of 84.79% and 83.94%, respectively. The less discriminating locus observed was DXS7133, with a gene diversity of 39.79%. High overall values of power of discrimination were obtained for female (1 in 1.8 × 10¹⁰) and male samples (1 in 1.6 × 10⁶), as well as high power of exclusion in father/mother/daughter trios (99.9997%), in father daughter duos (99.9862%) and in half sisters with same father (99.0331%). These results confirm the potential of this 10-plex in parentage testing and in human identification.     

Y chromosome microsatellite genetic variation in two Native American populations from Argentina: Population stratification and mutation data

Two Native American populations from North and northwest regions of Argentina (Toba and Colla) were analyzed for 17 Y chromosome short tandem repeat loci (Y-STRs), namely, DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and GATA H4.1. Over 357 allele transfers, two one-step mutations could be detected at DYS456 and GATA H4.1 loci. A new 16.1 ‘micro-variant’ allele was observed for DYS385, characterized by an insertion at the fifth GAAA repeat. We also observed two alleles at the DYS448 locus in three samples (two from Toba and one from Colla). A total of 34 and 16 different haplotypes were detected for Toba and Colla, respectively, the former with a haplotype diversity value of 0.9769 ± 0.01, whereas 0.9497 ± 0.02 for the latter. Significant population differences were observed between Colla and Toba, at least in part, due to a more prevalent European input in the Colla. In agreement with this observation is the fact that the genetic distances between Colla and Iberian populations are lower than those observed between Iberian and any other Native American population. The results of multiscaling dimensional analysis and genetic distances (Rst) among Native American population samples also reflect this fact. The data show the existence of clear population stratification in the Argentina, a fact that should be taken into account in forensic casework.     

SEM/EDS analysis and characterization of gunshot residues from Brazilian lead-free ammunition

The exposition to heavy metal-rich airborne due to fire practicing has forced to the development of heavy metal-free environmental ammunition primers all over the world. Here we characterize the GSR elements present in the Brazilian lead-free ammunition produced by Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC) and commercialized by MagTech in the U.S. and Europe under the name CleanRange centerfire cartridges. Both first and second generations of CleanRange in calibers 9 mm Luger, .40 S&W, .380 AUTO and .38 SPL were analyzed and compared to regular Brazilian CBC ammunition by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy. Differences in composition and morphology of GSR particles from the two generations of CleanRange were observed. The first generation ammunition (found in Europe) presented spherical particles, being strontium the only unique element detected. The second generation (found in the U.S.) produced irregular particles composed mostly by potassium, aluminum, silicon and calcium. We can conclude that identification of GSR derived from CBC second generation lead-free ammunition in suspects' hands may be impossible without the addition of a distinct metallic taggant in the primer composition by the manufacturer.     

Influence of environmental variables on fear of crime: Comparing self-report data with physiological measures in an experimental design

Objectives

Self-reports and questionnaires have been the preferred research methods in the criminological field of “fear of crime” (FOC) since its rise in the 1960s. Our study had two main goals: (1) to measure the physiological indicators of fear in real time and (2) to compare these data with those obtained through self-reports, designed also to measure the emotion of fear.

Methods

An experimental study was conducted over the course of a week during late February 2016 in Aarhus (Denmark), in which the focus was on traditional environmental variables in the field of FOC (i.e., poor lighting conditions).

Results

Our results support the ideas that: (1) the absence of good luminosity in an open public space in an urban setting elicits physiological reactions of arousal that can be taken as indicators of experiences of fear and (2) heart rate appears to capture aspects of the emotion of fear that are not reflected in data obtained through self-report questionnaires.

Conclusions

This study, introducing a pioneering approach to the study of FOC, presents great potentials in complementing traditional methods in the crime sciences. The many challenges we faced are significant and reported with the hope that subsequent literature will build upon. We propose that traditional methods and new measurements could be combined to advance research in the field by allowing researchers to more unambiguously constrain the interpretation of their data. This becomes particularly relevant in a field like FOC, which has long suffered from irreconcilable results stemming from different investigations.