Regime Consolidation and Female Status in a Fledgling Theocracy: Khomeini's Vilayet-e-Fiqh, 1979–89

The Iranian Revolution, through Khomeini's consolidation measures, quickly morphed into an ‘Islamic Revolution’. Khomeini's regime abrogated popular legislation such as the Family Protection Laws of 1967 and 1975, which protected the rights of females, as the clerics sought to institute Shariah (Islamic) laws in an ‘Islamic Republic’. The historical record reveals that the precipitous legal transformation from secular to Shariah law under Ayatollah Khomeini's personal tutelage placed females in a dangerous predicament. Regressive gender policies, however, served to mobilize females to push back against the new social paradigm which had emerged under the rubric of Velayat-e-Fiqh. This article examines this misogynistic trajectory during Khomeini's rule and how it served to galvanize many Iranian women to ‘gender activism’.     

Participation via collective action in government and NGO schools in Pakistan

Parent-teacher associations (PTAs) or school management committees (SMCs) are an important way of realising participation via collective action to improve schooling. Field visits, a literature review, and a small sample survey are the three sources used to explore the status of SMCs/PTAs that have been established by provincial governments and NGOs in Pakistan. My main finding is that to make participation effective in schooling, public-sector reforms need to be carried out to alter the power relations between parents, teachers, and government officials. In general, NGO schools performed only marginally better than government schools in engendering participation.     

Functioning Achievements in Urban Bangladesh: A Comparison with Rural Areas

In view of the differences in the nature and concept of poverty across rural and urban regions, this article argues that a nationwide standardised poverty reduction strategy package may not be equally effective in these two regions. This article examines the limitations of existing poverty assessment approaches used in Bangladesh and identifies various indicators that are responsible for the achievement of higher level functioning in urban regions in contrast to rural areas. The methodology of the study is based on 917 samples of poor persons with microcredit collected from nine districts of Bangladesh. Significant differences have been observed in the indicators of poverty for rural and urban areas. The results from our participatory study reveal that the urban poor are more inclined towards social functioning achievements such as voting, decision-making at both household and work levels, having a voice at local meetings and co-operatives, whereas the rural poor are still demanding the most basic requirements.     

Validation of the InnoXtract™ DNA extraction method for bone,teeth, and rootless hair

Forensic casework samples often include human hairs, teeth, and bones. Hairs with roots are routinely processed for DNA analysis, while rootless hairs are either not tested or processed using mitochondrial DNA. Bones and teeth are submitted for human remains identifications for missing persons and mass disaster cases. DNA extraction from these low templates and degraded samples is challenging. The new InnoXtract DNA extraction method utilizes magnetic beads that are optimized to bind small DNA fragments, as small as 100 base pairs, to purify high-yield DNA from compromised samples. This validation study evaluates InnoXtract's ability to obtain amplifiable DNA from samples such as rootless hairs and skeletal remains. Studies performed include sensitivity, stability, repeatability, reproducibility, non-probative samples, and comparison to standard organic extractions. Sensitivity studies demonstrate average yield recoveries ranging from 53% to 100% and 73% to 85% for the InnoXtract hair and bone methods, respectively. Studies demonstrate consistent results across a range of sample types, such as insulted and un-insulted bone and teeth, as well as hair shafts from donors of various ages, gender, race, and hair characteristics. The InnoXtract bone method outperformed organic extraction. The method was successfully automated on a MagMAX™ Express-96, with recoveries over 70% relative to the manual version. InnoXtract has the potential as an automated high-throughput, high-yield bone extraction method with 6 h of total extraction time for up to 96 samples. The validation study results demonstrate that the InnoXtract kits produce high-yield and high-quality DNA from compromised bone, teeth, and hair shaft samples.