Platforms for institutional change: assessing the potential of livelihood enhancement groups as community entry points in Zambia

To address the livelihood problems faced by the poor and vulnerable in Northern Province of Zambia, a novel collective action approach called livelihoods enhancement groups (LEGs) was used as a platform for facilitating research on development initiatives to generate change. Using focus group discussions and key informant interviews, this article assesses the potential of using the LEGs approach in generating change. The livelihood changes observed arose with the LEG as a platform through which different knowledge nodes interacted. Livelihood areas that LEGs affected included crop production, livestock production, nutrition, and access to credit.     

Pathological counterinsurgency: the failure of imposing legitimacy in El Salvador,Afghanistan, and Iraq

Many voices in the US policy community have suggested that El Salvador provided a model for US counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, based on the unsound contention that elections increased government legitimacy and effectiveness. The same flawed assessments were present in counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan – unfounded assumptions that elections would increase legitimacy and improve institutional performance and human rights records lead to inaccurate analysis and bad strategy. Indeed, the US experience calls into question the ability of even a great power to impose legitimacy on a partner in order to wage counterinsurgency. Assuming that elections will advance such legitimacy is a dangerous pathology.     

Evaluation of DNA Extraction Methods for Processing Fingerprint Powder-Coated Forensic Evidence

In unison, fingerprinting and DNA analysis have played a pivotal role in forensic investigations. Fingerprint powders that are available on the market can come in a range of colors and with specific properties. This study evaluated the efficiency of DNA extraction from samples coated with 3 brands of fingerprint powders: Lightning, Sirchie, and SupraNano, covering a range of colors and properties. A total of 23 fingerprint powders were tested using the Chelex, Promega DNA IQ™, and Applied Biosystems™ PrepFiler™ DNA extraction protocols. The DNA IQ™ and PrepFiler™ methods extracted higher yields of DNA in comparison to Chelex, which also accounted for better quality of PowerPlex x00AE; 21 DNA profiles recovered. There were no signs of degradation or inhibition in the quantification data, indicating that samples returning low DNA yield was due to interference during DNA extraction and not PCR inhibition. DNA profiles were recovered from the majority of fingerprint powders with only a single powder, Sirchie Magnetic Silver, failing to produce a profile using any of the methods tested. A link was observed between the DNA extraction chemistry, fingerprint powder property, that is, nonmagnetic, magnetic and aqueous, and the brand of fingerprint powder. Overall, the DNA IQ™ method was favorable for nonmagnetic fingerprint powders, while magnetic fingerprint powders produced more DNA profiles when extracted with the PrepFiler™ chemistry. This study highlights the importance of screening DNA extraction chemistries for the type of fingerprint powder used, as there is not a single DNA extraction method that suits all fingerprint powder brands and properties.     

Fentanyl Detection Using Eosin Y Paper Assays,

Eosin Y is a potential new color test for use in detecting illicit drugs that has not been extensively studied. In the present study, a variety of drugs of abuse and fentanyl analogues were tested to determine which drugs will bind to eosin Y, which functional groups are capable of binding and eliciting a color change, and a mechanism for eosin Y binding to fentanyl. Further, these agents were combined with common cutting agents and other drugs of abuse in order to determine the fentanyl detection limit in a drug mixture using an eosin Y test strip. Additionally, cobalt thiocyanate was used to determine whether the combination of cobalt thiocyanate and eosin Y has the potential to identify fentanyl. Through the testing performed, we concluded that (i) Eosin Y is capable of detecting low amounts of fentanyl down to 1%, (ii) Eosin Y binds to select tertiary amines to produce an orange to pink color change, and (iii) Eosin Y binds to the nonpiperidine ring nitrogen of fentanyl as a primary binding site and the piperidine ring nitrogen as a secondary binding site. While the cobalt thiocyanate assay detected 1% fentanyl in some of the mixtures, eosin Y detected 1% fentanyl in all mixtures. Finally, eosin Y was able to detect fentanyl in forensic case samples containing heroin and various cutting agents. Based on our results, eosin Y has the potential to screen for fentanyl and fentanyl analogues and can detect fentanyl in low amounts when mixed with common cutting agents.     

Real Solutions for Fake News? Measuring the Effectiveness of General Warnings and Fact-Check Tags in Reducing Belief in False Stories on Social Media

Political Behavior - Social media has increasingly enabled “fake news” to circulate widely, most notably during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. These intentionally false...     

Why candidate divergence should be expected to be just as great (or even greater) in competitive seats as in non-competitive ones

Basic Downsian theory predicts candidate convergence toward the views of the median voter in two-candidate elections. Common journalistic wisdom, moreover, leads us to expect these centripetal pressures to be strongest when elections are expected to be close. Yet, the available evidence from the US Congress disconfirms this prediction. To explain this counterintuitive result, we develop a spatial model that allows us to understand the complex interactions of political competition, partisan loyalties, and incentives for voter turnout that can lead office-seeking candidates, especially candidates in close elections, to emphasize policy appeals to their voter base rather than courting the median voter.     

Forensic isoscapes based on intra-individual temporal variation of δ18O and 206Pb/207Pb in human teeth

Isotopic signatures used in the georeferencing of human remains are largely fixed by spatially distinct geologic and environmental processes. However, location-dependent temporal changes in these isotope ratios should also be considered when determining an individual’s provenance and/or trajectory. Distributions of the relevant isotopes can be impacted by predictable external factors such as climate change, delocalisation of food and water sources and changes in sources and uses of metals. Using Multi-Collector Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) analyses of ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb in tooth enamel and dentin from a population of 21 ± 1-year-old individuals born circa 1984 and isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) of δ¹⁸O in their enamel, we examined the expected influence of some of these factors. The resulting adjustments to the geographic distribution of isotope ratios (isoscapes) found in tooth enamel and dentin may contain additional useful information for forensic identification, but the shifts in values can also impact the uncertainty and usefulness of identifications if they are not taken into account.

KEY POINTS

• Isoscapes of ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and δ¹⁸O used for geolocation are not static.
• Within a few years, the enamel and dentin of a person may exhibit measurable differences in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb even without changing locations.
• Changes in climatic patterns tied to rising temperatures are more significant than the direct effect of increasing temperature on δ¹⁸O fixed in tooth bioapatite.
• Third molar (M3) enamel mineralisation includes material incorporated from before formal amelogenesis takes place.

     

Land Reform in El Salvador and the Chapultepec Peace Accord

The focus of this article is on the land transfer programme (PTT) carried out in El Salvador over the past decade as a result of the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accord. Building on the agrarian reforms of the 1980s, the PTT beneficiaries were smallholders created by the state and drawn from ex-combatants on both sides (the FMLN, the military) in the war. Among the issues considered are the forms of tenure that resulted, and the agrarian debt incurred. Also examined is the socio-economic profile of the PTT beneficiaries, together with their assessment of the positive/negative impact on their lives of the reform programme. Finally, the achievements and failures of the PTT are evaluated in terms of the wider national/international context, and the resulting contradiction between the objectives of the agrarian reform and the determinants of global markets.