Lesbian and Gay Immigrants' Post-Migration Experiences: An Integrative Literature Review

This integrative literature review synthesizes recent empirical knowledge about lesbian and gay immigrants' post-migration experiences. Twenty-four studies with various designs are included. The literature shows that those immigrants encounter some opportunities but also many challenges on economical, social and identity levels, thus soliciting coping strategies. Results are synthesized under five topics: the delicate situation in which they find themselves for revealing their lesbian or gay sexual orientation; the racist and homophobic discrimination they can experience; their renegotiation of socioeconomic status; the identity and affiliation challenges they have to overcome; and the hardships that can impact their health.     

War over framing: base politics in South Korea

When do anti-base movements manage to influence policy, and when do they fail to do so? Base scholars have largely overlooked what I argue is a significant factor that can shape public and government response to anti-base movements: political opportunities associate with framing efforts by key actors involved. Based on two cases of anti-base movements in South Korea, I show how framing battles between activists and media shape political opportunities afforded to anti-base movements and can ultimately influence movement success.     

You Win Some, You Lose Some: Constitutional Reforms in Chile's Transition to Democracy

Chile's 1989 constitutional reforms constituted a trade-off: the military gave up protected democracy provisions but acquired greater autonomy. The democratic opposition could accept or reject, but not modify, constitutional changes proposed by the outgoing dictatorship. This study addresses a very limited time period in the transition to democracy: the moment after the transition has been secured and transitional rules have been established. The dynamics of this period differ markedly from those in the larger democratic transition. The approach in this study complements alternative explanations of why the 1989 reforms benefited the outgoing dictatorship more than the incoming democratic government. Although the outgoing regime granted several opposition demands by reducing restrictions on political pluralism and eliminating barriers to political party activity, it also secured provisions that made the military more independent of civilian authorities than originally conceived in the 1980 Constitution.     

The effects of death qualification on jurors' predisposition to convict and on the quality of deliberation

This study provides a straightforward test of the proposition that people who are permitted to serve on juries in capital cases (death-qualified jurors) are more likely to convict a defendant than are people who are excluded from serving on capital juries due to their unwillingness to impose the death penalty (excludable jurors). A sample of 288 subjects classified as death-qualified or excludable under theWitherspoon standard watched a 2 1/2-hour videotape of a simulated homicide trial including the judge's instructions, and gave an initial verdict. Death-qualified subjects were significantly more likely than excludable subjects to vote guilty, both on the initial ballot and after an hour's deliberation in 12-person juries. Nine juries were composed entirely of death-qualified subjects (death-qualified juries), while 10 contained from 2 to 4 excludable subjects (mixed juries). On postdeliberation measures, with initial death-penalty attitudes controlled, subjects who had served on the mixed juries were generally more critical of the witnesses, less satisfied with their juries, and better able to remember the evidence than subjects from the death-qualified juries, suggesting that diversity may improve the vigor, thoroughness, and accuracy of the jury's deliberations.     

Multiple regression models for age estimation by assessment of morphologic dental changes according to teeth source

The aims of this study were twofold: (1). to measure parameters that contribute significantly to estimates of dental age, using a combination of classic methods and a computer-assisted image analysis procedure to avoid the bias inherent in observer subjectivity; and (2). to develop new mathematical regression models for age prediction according to postmortem interval. Two different populations were studied. Forty-three permanent teeth (Group I), extracted for valid clinical reasons, were taken from patients 25-79 years of age. The other population group (Group II) was composed of 37 healthy erupted permanent teeth obtained from human skeletal remains (age 22-82 years) with a postmortem interval ranging from 21 to 37 years. Morphologic age-related changes were investigated by measuring variables on intact and half-sectioned teeth. Multiple regression analyses were performed with age as the dependent variable for each sample source. In fresh extracted teeth, the variables that made the greatest contributions to predictions of age were dental attrition, dentin color, and translucency width, the latter measured with a computer-assisted image analysis method. In teeth from human skeletal remains, the variables that made the greatest contributions to age calculation were cementum apposition, pulp length measured by computer-assisted image analysis, dental attrition, root translucency, and dental color. We conclude by recommending different regression models to calculate age depending on the postmortem interval.     

Comparative study of efficiency of dental methods for identification of burn victims in two bus accidents in Spain

This article deals with the usefulness and limitations of dental identification methods of human burn victims of two buses accidents in Spain. The first accident happened in Bailen in 1996 and involved 28 badly burned Spanish victims. In the second, in Illescas in 1997, 8 Japanese and 2 Spanish victims lost their lives. In both accidents, postmortem forensic procedures for identification were used, including external and internal examination, routine photographs, and dental examination. Dental identification was established in 57% of the cases in the Bailen accident and 80% in the Illescas accident. The success rate of dental identification varies considerably depending on the nature of the accident, the nationality and country of residence of the victims, the incidence of dental treatment, the availability of adequate dental records, and the degree of dental injuries. A discussion of procedures and methods for identification recommended when dealing with burn victims is included.