What Determines Foreign Policy in Latin America? Systemic versus Domestic Factors in Argentina,Brazil, and Mexico, 1946–2008

Is it domestic politics or the international system that more decisively influences foreign policy? This article focuses on Latin America's three largest powers to identify patterns and compare outcomes in their relations with the regional hegemon, the United States. Through a statistical analysis of voting behavior in the UN General Assembly, we examine systemic variables (both realist and liberal) and domestic variables (institutional, ideological, and bureaucratic) to determine their relative weights between 1946 and 2008. The study includes 4,900 votes, the tabulation of 1,500 ministers according to their ideological persuasion, all annual trade entries, and an assessment of the political strength of presidents, cabinets, and parties per year. The findings show that while Argentina's voting behavior has been determined mostly by domestic factors and Mexico's by realist systemic ones, Brazil's has a more complex blend of determinants, but also with a prevalence of realist systemic variables.     

West Turns East at the End of History

Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990, Octavio Paz was Latin America's great poet, essayist and critic whose most enduring work was The Labyrinth of Solitude . We would often meet in the late afternoon over scotch on ice at his apartment on Reforma in Mexico City, the warm afternoon rain pounding against the windows of his book-lined study, gazing out toward the Angel of Independence column in the center of that daunting megalopolis.
Over the years, we collaborated on several issues of Vuelta , a small but influential journal like NPQ . Paz believed that "the most important things can be said at the margins beyond the entertainment and commercial imperatives of the mass media."
Though petty literary politics sometimes intruded, Paz was a truly magnanimous soul whose entire life was an exploration. Everything interested him, from Surrealism to the Indian caste system (he was the Mexican ambassador to India before resigning in 1968 to protest the student massacre at Tlatelolco). He liked to quote Baudelaire, saying that poets were universal translators because they translate the language of the universe—stars, water, trees—into the language of man.
Paz died in 1998. We held this conversation in 1992. It also appeared in Vuelta as "La Transformacion del Tiempo: El Encuentro de Oriente y Occidente."     

Are bar associations anticompetitive? An empirical analysis of recommended prices for legal services in Spain

The European Commission Report on Competition in Professional Services found that recommended prices by professional bodies have a significant negative effect on competition since they may facilitate the coordination of prices between service providers and/or mislead consumers about reasonable price levels. Professional associations argue, first, that a fee schedule may help their members to properly calculate the cost of services avoiding excessive charges and reducing consumers’ searching costs and, second, that recommended prices are very useful for cost appraisal if a litigant is condemned to pay the legal expenses of the opposing party. Thus, recommended fee schedules could be justified to some extent if they represented the cost of providing the services. We test this hypothesis using cross-section data on a subset of recommended prices by 83 Spanish bar associations and cost data on their territorial jurisdictions. Our empirical results indicate that prices recommended by bar associations are unrelated to the cost of legal services. Therefore, we conclude that fee schedules are not playing the role of providing useful cost information to practitioners and therefore this efficiency justification is weak.     

Death following crude oil aspiration

This is a report on three deaths following oil aspiration by workers in petrol tankers. Lung aspiration was demonstrated by the presence of a yellowish-brown material in the alveolar spaces, which was difficult to identify by optic microscopy. Volatile hydrocarbons from petroleum were identified in lung samples by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.     

Stature Estimation from Postmortem CT Femoral Maximum Length in Contemporary Danish Population

Stature estimation methods for Danish adult population have generally relied on Trotter and Gleser’s and Boldsen’s regression equations that are based on the skeletal remains of recent war dead American Whites, Terry Skeletal Collection, and Danish archaeological medieval skeletal materials, respectively. These equations are probably not suitable for stature estimation in contemporary Danish forensic cases. Furthermore, because postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) is now routinely performed at Danish forensic departments, equations based on PMCT, rather than measurements of defleshed bones, are needed. The aim of this study was to develop new equations for adult stature estimation based on PMCT femoral measurement. Maximum femoral length was measured on the PMCT images of 78 individuals (41 males and 37 females) aged 23–45 years. The measurement accuracy was tested on dry bones, and all the measurements were included in the inter- and intra-observer analyses. Both analyses results demonstrated the reliability of the method and data. Comparison between the living stature of the individuals and the estimates based on the equations by Trotter and Gleser and Boldsen demonstrated the unreliability of the previous equations to some extent. New regression equations were then developed and validated on a different sample of 18 Danish forensic cases. Comparisons of all the equations indicated that both the sets of previous equations underestimated the stature in the new validation dataset. The new equations developed in this study provide a reliable alternative for stature estimation in modern Danish forensic cases.     

Assessing risk markers in intimate partner femicide and severe violence: a new assessment instrument

The aim of this study is to develop a scale to predict intimate partner femicide and severe violence. The sample consists of 1,081 batterer men who were reported to the police station. First, the most significant differences between the severe violence group (n = 269) and the less severe violence group (n = 812) in sociodemographic variables are determined. Both aggressors and victims of the severe violence group have a higher rate of immigration. Second, the proposed 20-item scale is derived from a larger 58-item scale, where only the most discriminative items between severe and nonsevere intimate partner violence are taken into account. Psychometric properties of reliability and validity are rather good. Cutoff scores have been proposed according to sensitivity and specificity. This easy-to-use tool appears to be suitable to the requirements of criminal justice professionals and is intended for use in safety planning. Implications of these results for further research are discussed.     

Skeletal indicators of pregnancy and parturition: a historical review

Over a century of scientific literature has documented the research and analysis relating to the possible skeletal evidence of pregnancy, parturition, and childcare, yet today, there still exists variation in methodology and interpretation. Historical perspective facilitates understanding of the growth and development of the theories and research currently available to the forensic science community. Review of the relevant literature clearly indicates that specific skeletal alterations are not exclusively connected to obstetrical events. Although parturition and related events have been shown to leave various alterations on bone, the research record also demonstrates that other factors can contribute to the same or similar changes. Additionally, such alterations can often be found in nulliparous women and men and are frequently absent in parous and multiparous women. This literature review calls for the continued exploration of skeletal alterations for determining parity status in human skeletal remains.     

Licences in OHIM practice

Legal context: Despite the commercial importance of licences, the Regulation40/94 contains relatively few provisions on licences. As faras these refer to licences granted to CTMs or their recordalat OHIM, they are beyond the scope of the article, which dealswith the case law emanating from OHIM in inter partes proceedings,where licences have played a role. Key points: This article considers the legal requirements licensees mustmeet when filing opposition and cancellation proceedings beforeOHIM. It reviews when use under licence is regarded as genuineuse, or valid for the purpose of establishing acquired distinctivenessor reputation. It also deals with OHIM decisions regarding licenseesfiling the licensors' trade marks in their own names. Practical significance: With respect to the standing of licensees as opponents or applicantsfor invalidity, this article explains the procedural requirements,mentioning also points to be considered when drafting trademark licences. The article also explains to what extent a licenceneed be proven where the opponent or cancellation applicanthas not used the earlier mark himself but wishes to rely onuse made by someone else. On the issue of a licensee filingthe licensed mark in his own name, the article gives an introductionto the criteria applied by OHIM and deals with his fiduciaryposition, resulting in a greater likelihood of his having actedin bad faith.     

Recovery Rates of Human Fetal Skeletal Remains Using Varying Mesh Sizes

Human fetal skeletal elements of different gestational ages were screened with multiple mesh sizes (6.4 mm [1/4 inch], 3.2 mm [1/8 inch], 2.0 mm, and 1.0 mm) to determine their recovery rates. All remains were previously macerated, and no significantly damaged elements were used. The 6.4 mm mesh allowed a large loss of elements (63.2% overall), including diagnostic elements, while no diagnostic elements were lost when the 1 mm mesh (0.2%) was used. When using the 3.2 mm mesh, 16.2% of the bones were lost, including some diagnostic elements (primarily tooth crowns), while 7.5% were lost using the 2.0 mm mesh. The authors recommend that the potential loss of information incurred when utilizing larger mesh sizes be taken into consideration when planning recovery methods where fetal remains may be encountered and that a minimum of 1.0 mm mesh be utilized in recovery contexts known to include fetal remains.