Sex,gender, and promotion in executive office: Cabinet careers in the world of Westminster

This article provides the first analysis of gendered promotion issues for cabinet ministers using most-similar systems design for three “Westminster-style” governments: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Using individual-level data and controlling for biographical, institutional, and country effects we find, in common with earlier literature, that women are more likely to be given less prestigious cabinet posts and be assigned to “feminine” portfolio. Using both sequence and event history analysis, we see the careers of men and women starkly diverge. We find that women are less likely to be promoted than men but find no relationship between prestigious portfolio and promotion. However, feminine portfolio assignments decrease the promotion prospects for women yet increase them for men.     

Some issues concerning women in senior management: a case study from Ghana

This article considers issues concerning women's managerial careers in the Ghanaian Civil Service, which have emerged from an analysis of data collected in Accra as part of a Government of Ghana project supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Development. This examined the position and status of Women in Public Life in Ghana and was known as the WIPL project. Within this project, information was collected from women civil servants, and it is this which is presented here. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

UK Abortion Law: Reform Proposals,Private Members’ Bills,Devolution and the Role of the Courts

UK abortion law remains unsettled, and subject to on‐going controversy and reform. This article offers a comprehensive critique of all reforms implemented or proposed since 2016. It examines reforms proposed in both Houses of Parliament and contextualises them within a public law analysis, showing both that the complex parliamentary processes relating to Private Members’ Bills have frustrated reform attempts, and that these attempts have been contradictory in their aims between the two Houses. Secondly, it examines the unique positions of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to show the extent to which devolutionary settlements have influenced both reforms and executive involvement. Finally, it examines the potential impact of the courts on abortion law following Re Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's Application for Judicial Review, showing that the Supreme Court's reframing of the debate in human rights terms is likely to affect abortion law, not only in Northern Ireland, but in the whole of the UK.     

Analyzing and Interpreting Lime Burials from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939): A Case Study from La Carcavilla Cemetery

Over 500 victims of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) were buried in the cemetery of La Carcavilla (Palencia, Spain). White material, observed in several burials, was analyzed with Raman spectroscopy and powder XRD, and confirmed to be lime. Archaeological findings at La Carcavilla's cemetery show that the application of lime was used in an organized way, mostly associated with coffinless interments of victims of Francoist repression. In burials with a lime cast, observations made it possible to draw conclusions regarding the presence of soft tissue at the moment of deposition, the sequence of events, and the presence of clothing and other evidence. This study illustrates the importance of analyzing a burial within the depositional environment and taphonomic context.     

Application of Enhanced Point Estimators to a Sample of In Vivo CT‐derived Facial Soft Tissue Thicknesses

Facial approximations based on facial soft tissue depth measurement tables often utilize the arithmetic mean as a central tendency estimator. Stephan et al. (J Forensic Sci 2013;58:1439) suggest that the shorth and 75‐shormax statistics are better suited to describe the central tendency of non‐normal soft tissue depth data, while also accommodating normal distributions. The shorth, 75‐shormax, arithmetic mean, and other central tendency estimators were evaluated using a CT ‐derived facial soft tissue depth dataset. Differences between arithmetic mean and shorth mean for the tissue depths examined ranged from 0 mm to +2.3 mm (average 0.6 mm). Differences between the arithmetic mean plus one standard deviation (to approximate the same data points covered by the 75‐shormax) and 75‐shormax values ranged from ?0.8 mm to +0.7 mm (average 0.2 mm). The results of this research suggest that few practical differences exist across the central tendency point estimators for the evaluated soft tissue depth dataset.     

Quantitative assessment of the percent fat in domestic animal bone marrow

Measurement of the amount of fat in femoral bone marrow can provide a quantitative assessment of the nutritional status of an individual animal. An analytical method is presented for quantitating the percent fat in bone marrow from three domestic species: bovine, canine, and equine. In this procedure, fat is extracted from bone marrow using pentane, and the percent fat recovered is determined gravimetrically. Based on analyses from adult animals (normal body condition scores), the average percentage of fat in the bone marrow was >80%. In cases in which animals have been diagnosed as emaciated or exhibit serous atrophy of fat (body scores of 1 or 2), the femoral bone marrow fat was less than 20%. In domestic animals, bone marrow fat analysis can be a useful, quantitative measure that, when used in conjunction with all other data available, can support a diagnosis of starvation or malnutrition.     

Marine bacterial succession as a potential indicator of postmortem submersion interval

The process of decomposition of bodies in the marine environment is poorly understood and almost nothing is currently known about the microorganisms involved. This study aimed to investigate the microbes involved in decomposition in the sea and to evaluate the potential use of marine bacterial succession for postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) estimation, for which there is currently no reliable method. Partial pig remains were completely submerged during autumn and winter and were regularly sampled to document marine bacterial colonisation and the changes in community composition over time. Five stages of decomposition were recognised, some of which exhibited characters specific for partial carrion. Marine bacteria rapidly colonised the submerged remains in a successional manner. Seasonal differences were observed for the rate of decomposition and also for several groups of colonising bacteria. Marine bacteria specific for particular PMSIs were identified. This study provides an insight into the involvement of saprophytic marine bacteria in the decomposition of mammalian remains in the sea and is the first to explore the use of marine bacterial colonisation and succession as a novel tool for PMSI estimation. We propose that with further study, marine bacterial succession will prove useful for determination of the length of time a body may have been immersed in a marine environment.     

Detention and treatment down under: human rights and mental health laws in Australia and New Zealand

Mental health law reform in recent decades has drawn on the international human rights movement. The entering into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on May 3 2008 has been hailed by some as signalling a new era in relation to how domestic mental health laws should be reformed. Both Australia and New Zealand have ratified the CRPD and Australia has acceded to its Optional Protocol. New Zealand and the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria have statutory bills of rights which have an interpretive effect, but are unable to render other statutes invalid. Drawing on the results of interviews conducted with fifty-two representatives of consumer and carer organisations, lawyers, and mental health professionals across Australia and New Zealand, this paper examines the current thinking on human rights and mental health laws in these countries and outlines what changes, if any, may be brought to domestic legislation in light of the Convention.     

The Defense Lawyer in the Scales of Chinese Criminal Justice

Western critics are keenly interested in the defense lawyer as an advocate within the human rights movement in China and fear that under the impact of state persecution the defense lawyer is becoming an ‘endangered species’. This article argues that, while there are significant problems, there has also been progress in Chinese lawyering reform that ties together greater professionalism with a new emphasis on due process. The revised Lawyers’ Law of 2007 is an important new benchmark in lawyer reform. This law has challenged the limited dimensions of earlier reform. This law, itself, has been challenged in bureaucratic resistance that is deploying outdated criminal procedural law to negate the reforms supporting the new process and protected lawyer–client relations. The National People's Congress has supported the latter, arguing that it represents the latest in reform and is, therefore, superior to the more restrictive provisions of the 1996 Criminal Procedural Law and supporting public security regulation.