Modelling the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness for policy development

Counter‐knowledge refers to flaws in citizens' mental models arising from utilization of rumours, inappropriate knowledge structures, outdated routines or procedures. When counter‐knowledge is applied to civil servants, it may result in problems of efficiency, equity and motivation. This paper examines the relationship between counter‐knowledge and open‐mindedness to model a framework for improving city marketing and policy development. This study tested two measurement models. While the theoretical model represents the effect of counter‐knowledge on city marketing and that the latter has a negative effect on open‐mindedness, the alternative model involves that counter‐knowledge has a positive indirect impact on open‐mindedness. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 203 Spanish city halls. The results show a potential positive indirect effect of counter‐knowledge on open‐mindedness through city marketing programmes. This paper clarifies the existing literature, which tries to contribute to the discussion of city marketing, and helps us to obtain meaning out of the relationship between counter‐knowledge, city marketing and open‐mindedness. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Bureaucratic Origins of Migrant Poverty: The Texas Cotton Industry, 1910–1930

Migrant poverty resulted from the bureaucratization of Mexicans as a cheap source of labor for the Texas cotton industry from 1910 to 1930. State and federal employment programs and policies designed to maintain an organized and efficient labor market bureaucratized the divisions of labor that segregated Mexicans in seasonal low-wage agricultural work. While the implementation of labor legislation solved the temporary labor needs of large-scale cotton farmers, it exacerbated the working and living conditions of Mexican migratory workers. The welfare of Mexican migrants worsened as state managers integrated the recruitment and distribution of this labor force into the organizational structure of the Texas cotton industry.     

Exu is not Satan – the dialogics of memory and resistance among Afro-Brazilians

ABSTRACT

In 2000s Brazil, an unprecedented number of Brazilian afrodescendentes (Afro-Descendants) have been mobilizing to secure rights and resources for the Brazilian black population. From carnival parading in ‘cultural’ groups to electoral campaigning, from consciousness-raising education to antiracist community outreach, black activists have been aggressively taking a critical stance toward the discursive fabric of Brazilian race relations and national identity. Placing examples of their discursive struggles over Afro-Brazilian history and culture under the lens of intertextual and heteroglossic relations, I illustrate black activists’ efforts to dispute what they see as misconceptions about black people and blackness that have found their way into the dominant narrative conceptions of Brazilian society. In doing so, I argue, they are accomplishing something of broader social significance: They are revising not only the history and collective memory of race relations in Brazil but blackness itself.     

Juvenile Facial Growth and Mimicry: A Preliminary 3D Study

Studies focused on facial development during childhood have been conducted by means of 3D technology to provide modifications of anthropometric parameters. Facial mobility was also considered. This study proposed a 3D approach to facial growth changes. Facial surface data of 6 subjects were acquired in T1 (age 7–14 years) and after 7 years (T2), in rest position, and during voluntary movements, by a 3D laser scanner. Linear and angular measurements on rest position scans at T1 and T2 were compared. Each mimic scan was superimposed with the corresponding rest scan. Displacement of significant anthropometric points was measured for each facial gesture and at T1 and T2 statistically compared. Vertical measurements were those most influenced by aging. Some measurements of central facial area were consistent over time. The pattern of soft tissues displacement for each expression was consistent in T1 and T2. These results may be helpful for missing children identification.     

Book Reviews

Matthew Amengual, Politicized Enforcement in Argentina: Labor and Environmental Regulation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Figures, tables, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, 286 pp.; hardcover $99.99, ebook $80. Matthew C. Ingram, Crafting Courts in New Democracies: The Politics of Subnational Judicial Reform in Brazil and Mexico. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Maps, figures, tables, appendixes, bibliography, index, 392 pp.; hardcover, $110. Russell Crandall, The Salvador Option: The United States in El Salvador, 1977–1992. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Photographs, maps, figures, list of organizations, bibliography, index, 698 pp; hardcover $99.99, paperback $39.99, ebook $32. Luis Fernando Angosto‐Ferrández, Venezuela Reframed: Bolivarianism, Indigenous Peoples and Socialisms of the Twenty‐First Century. London: Zed Books, 2015. Appendix, bibliography, index, 312 pp.; paperback, ebook. Fábio de Castro, Barbara Hogenboom, and Michiel Baud, eds., Environmental Governance in Latin America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Tables, figures, map, bibliography, index, 350 pp.; hardcover $31, ebook. Eduardo Alemán and George Tsebelis, eds., Legislative Institutions and Lawmaking in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Figures, tables, notes, bibliography, index, 296 pp.; hardcover $90, ebook. Joseph S. Tulchin, Latin America in International Politics: Challenging U.S. Hegemony. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2016. Bibliography, index, 235 pp.; hardcover $60. Kevin P. Gallagher, The China Triangle: Latin America's China Boom and the Fate of the Washington Consensus. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Tables, figures, bibliography, index, 256 pp.; hardcover $27.95, ebook.     

Concordance study between the AmpFlSTR MiniFiler PCR amplification kit and conventional STR typing kits

The AmpFlSTR MiniFiler polymerase chain reaction amplification kit developed by Applied Biosystems enables size reduction on eight of the larger STR loci amplified in the Identifiler kit, which will aid recovery of information from highly degraded DNA samples. The MiniFiler Kit amplifies CSF1PO, FGA, D2S1338, D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, and D21S11 as well as the sex-typing locus amelogenin. A total of 1308 samples were evaluated with both the MiniFiler and Identifiler STR kits: 449 African American, 445 Caucasian, 207 Hispanic, and 207 Asian individuals. Full concordance between Identifiler and MiniFiler Kits was observed in 99.7% (10,437 out of 10,464) STR allele calls compared. The 27 differences seen are listed in Table 1 and encompass the loci D13S317 (n = 14) and D16S539 (n = 10) as well as D18S51 (n = 1), D7S820 (n = 1), and CSF1PO (n = 1). Genotyping discrepancies between the Identifiler and MiniFiler kits were confirmed by reamplification of the samples and further testing using the PowerPlex 16 kit in many cases. DNA sequence analysis was also performed in order to understand the nature of the genetic variations causing the allele dropout or apparent repeat unit shift.     

Genetic data of 4 X-chromosomal short tandem repeats in a North of Portugal population

POPULATION: One hundred unrelated females and 100 unrelated males, autochthonous, healthy, from the North of Portugal.     

Haplotype frequencies of 16 Y-chromosome STR loci in the Barcelona metropolitan area population using Y-Filer kit

Haplotype frequencies for 16 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci, included in the Y-Filer kit, were determined in 247 unrelated healthy individuals from the Barcelona metropolitan area (Catalonia, NE Spain). After PCR amplification and denaturing PAGE electrophoresis, DYS456, DYS389I, DYS390, DYS389II, DYS458, DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS393, DYS391, DYS439, DYS635, DYS392, Y GATA H4.1, DYS437, DYS438 and DYS448 loci were typed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance in our population of the 16 loci of the Y-chromosome present in the new Y-Filer commercial identification kit, and acquire haplotype frequencies for mathematic processing of the forensic diagnosis in our geographical working area. In this sample, all haplotypes were unique. From the forensic point of view, the combined polymorphisms of the Y-Filer kit provide a high diagnostic efficiency.     

Age assessment by magnetic resonance imaging of the knee: a preliminary study

The authors developed an original magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) staging system for epiphyseal fusion of growth plate maturation of the knee and evaluated its reliability and validity for age assessment of living individuals. A total of 290 MRI scans of the knee were reviewed retrospectively in patients aged from 10 to 30 years old (138 males, 152 females). Five original MRI stages were defined to assess the degree of maturation of the distal femoral and proximal tibial epiphyses. Intra-observer variability was excellent and inter-observer variability was good, demonstrating the reliability and the validity of this original MRI staging system. In both sexes, the changes of growth plates (proximal tibial or distal femoral) were associated with age (p<0.001). Our results agreed with classic data on skeletal maturation of the knee, with globally earlier maturation in females than in males, and also earlier maturation of the proximal tibial epiphysis than of the distal femoral epiphysis. MRI of the knee is an efficient non-invasive method of age assessment, without the disadvantage of X-ray exposure. Further studies with larger groups are needed to support our results.     

Human Dignity and Socio-Economic Rights

The South African Constitution numbers among a very few constitutions around the world which include justiciable socio-economic rights. One of the controversies surrounding judicial enforcement of such rights is the extent to which it is appropriate for courts to engage in policy choices in relation to the use of state resources in light of the doctrine of the separation of powers. The South African Constitutional Court has responded by developing an approach to adjudication of socio-economic rights in which the role of the court is to determine the reasonableness or otherwise of measures taken by the legislature and executive to implement such rights. However, the South African Constitution is also notable for its identification of human dignity as an underlying value and the explicit duty placed on the courts to interpret the rights protected under the Bill of Rights in conformity with this value. This article scrutinises the socio-economic rights jurisprudence of the South African Constitutional court in light of the Constitutional commitment to human dignity. It questions whether reasonableness review in socio-economic cases successfully balances human dignity with the appropriate degree of deference to the legislature and executive, in compliance with the doctrine of the separation of powers.