Identification and analysis of smallholder producers’ constraints: applications to Tanzania and Uganda

This article puts forward a method for the analysis of constraints faced by developing countries’ smallholder producers. It is consistent with theories of constraints, efficient in terms of cost and researchers’ time, and accessible to a non-technical audience. A hybrid of workshop discussion and individual data collection, it also draws on data and analyses available in most developing countries. The article presents an application to smallholder livestock systems in Tanzania and Uganda, reporting results and analysis relating constraints to households’ characteristics and conditions, and their stated goals. While limitations are identified, it is proposed for application in other development fields.     

The Enjoyment of Rights and Freedoms: A New Conception of the 'Ambit' under Article 14 ECHR

Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as applied by the UK judiciary under the Human Rights Act 1998, is in danger of becoming as 'parasitic' as it is often described. Judges have inappropriately narrowed the scope of the 'ambit' of other Convention articles, and thus limited the number of claims to which Article 14 can apply, by defining it according to considerations more properly weighed in a justification analysis incorporating proportionality. The emerging approach departs from Strasbourg jurisprudence, and fails to give full effect to the language and intent of Article 14. This trend need not continue. This article begins the process of fashioning a new conception of the ambit of Convention articles: one that could change the fortunes of Article 14 cases in the UK, but that flows naturally from the precedents of the European Court of Human Rights, and gives effect to the spirit of the HRA.     

Zimbabwe black population data on the six short tandem repeat loci – CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, D3S1358, VWA and FGA

Allele frequencies for six tetrameric short tandem repeat (STR) loci CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, D3S1358, VWA, and FGA were determined in a Black African sample population from Zimbabwe. All loci are highly polymorphic and meet Hardy-Weinberg expectations. An inter-class correlation test analysis detected only one departure from independence out of 15 pair-wise comparisons of the six loci (i.e., CSF1PO/VWA loci, P=0.026). The allele frequency data at four of the six STR loci in the Black African sample population are similar to African American data.     

Whose Safety Net? Home Insurance and Inequality

Drawing on prior theoretical and empirical work that has begun to constitute the insurance field as a distinct sociolegal research project, this study uses quantitative and qualitative data collected following Hurricane Andrew in 1992 to explore distributional questions within that field. Survey results show that higher income, age, and education were associated with having home insurance and that Hispanics and blacks were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have insurance. The study provides the first quantitative evidence of bias in the insurance claims process by documenting a statistically significant and substantial ethnic difference in the timing of insurance payments. The qualitative research helps to explain the difference in the timing of insurance payments as the product of unconscious bias by insurance adjusters. The study concludes by proposing market-structuring regulation to reduce the inequality encountered.     

State and local law enforcement response to transnational crime

This report, using the results of the survey and new research, identifies some next steps to providing State and local law enforcement with tools to identify and respond to transnational crime.... The second section [excerpted here] is a literature review of the current state of the field in identifying and responding to transnational crime at the State and local level. This section provides a context for the interpretation of the results of this study....