The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade — How lasting were its benefits?

In 1981, Nicaragua was awarded a UNESCO prize in recognition of the success of the 1980 National Literacy Crusade (CNA) through which, it was claimed, three quarters of the country's illiterate had been taught to read and write. This article reports the follow-up of several women graduates of the CNA. It finds that, a decade later, a significant proportion of them are no longer able to read or write; and that of those who can, many had previously attended formal schooling as children for several years. An assessment of national census and survey figures suggests that about 9 per cent of the population became literate solely as a consequence of Nicaragua's ambitious adult-education interventions in the 1980s. Other benefits, such as the impact on child health and survival, have yet to be quantified.     

Biotechnology and relevant aspects of the New Biosafety law]

On 24 March 2005, the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil approved the New Law on Biosecurity. This law has very diverse aspects, ranging from the genetically modified organisms to the genetic manipulation of human embryos or the liberalisation of the transgenic soy crops during 2004-2005. This article tries to analyse and criticise the content of the law, highlighting the genetic research and experimentation, the GMOs and their effect in the environment and the criminal responsibility derived from such actions. Likewise, it leaves rooms for the reader to reach his/her own conclusions. The author poses the moral dilemma on whether it is legitimate to make governmental decisions solely taking into account the economic and political interests, leaving aside the opinion of society.     

Immigration and Terrorism: A Constructed Connection

In the aftermath of 9/11 several European countries intensified their counter-terrorism policy. This article refers to the Spanish response to the terrorist attacks in the USA and Madrid, with special attention paid to the consequences that (illegal) immigrants faced in relation to their rights. This collective is often depicted in public opinion as “folk devils” in the terminology of the Moral-Panics Theory. Using the latter as a model, this paper establishes that the connection between counter-terrorism policy and more restrictive legislation for foreigners is a construction, which is either insufficient or not satisfactorily explained by the social actors who propose it. The result is a policy that limits the immigrants’ liberty without necessarily making the rest safer.     

A Preliminary Evaluation of the Spanish Parent–Child Aggression Acceptability Movie Task in Spain

The current study presents a preliminary evaluation of a Spanish adaptation of an implicit analog procedure, the Parent–child Aggression Acceptability Movie task (Spanish Parent-CAAM). Based on Social Information Processing theory, Spanish Parent-CAAM scores were expected to relate to self-reported PCA attitudes, negative child attributions, and child abuse risk in Spanish students; 245 undergraduates in Spain completed the Spanish Parent-CAAM along with self-report measures of PCA attitudes, negative children attributions, inclination to punish misbehavior, and child abuse risk. Findings indicate Spanish Parent-CAAM scores were significantly related to explicit measures of PCA, attributions of intentional child misbehavior, propensity to punish such misbehavior, and increased child abuse potential. Results are considered within the cultural context of Spain’s corporal punishment ban and PCA attitudes.     

Determination of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in Postmortem Samples in Ectopic Pregnancies

Increased human chorionic gonadotropin levels (HCG) can be detected in femoral blood, bile, and vitreous humor collected during autopsy of pregnant women using a standard kit designed for living patients. In the study herein, the concentrations of HCG were measured in postmortem serum, vitreous, bile, cerebrospinal, and pericardial fluids in 4 cases of fatal ectopic pregnancy and 40 controls using a quantitative electrochemiluminescence immunoassay designed for living patients. No false‐negative cases were identified in any of the analyzed samples in any of the ectopic pregnancy cases. No correlations were found between total HCG levels in postmortem serum and the other tested specimens. The results of this study would suggest that higher HCG in bile, vitreous, pericardial, and cerebrospinal fluids may confirm the existence of ectopic pregnancy and therefore identify other situations in which this hormone is increased, although gestational age cannot be reliably estimated using these values.     

Forensic databases,a perspective from the penitentiary centers of Spain

Scientific and technological progress in the field of forensic genetics is very useful in the resolution of criminal cases, but it entails the need for a deep ethical reflection, as the individual Fundamental Rights may be violated.This project aims to collect and compare the opinion of prisoners and prison officials on what characteristics the country's forensic database should have. In this context, 210 subjects were surveyed, 101 of them prisoners and the rest prison officials, from three different Spanish penitentiary centers.Among the results obtained, most prisoners and officials consider the national DNA database to be useful, and additionally, a 40% of the participants would support the integration of the profiles of the entire population. 64% considered it ethical to use the DNA profiles of the database as a tool for familial searching. Despite this, half of the respondents are concerned about the future uses of the DNA database.Integrating the opinion of these analyzed groups with other relevant judicial, scientific and ethical convictions, ensures the regulation between security and individual’s Human Rights.     

Contributions of the dark triad to moral disengagement among incarcerated and community adults

Previous research has revealed a strong association between moral disengagement (MD) and criminal behaviour. However, few studies have attempted to examine the contribution of dark personalities to MD. This study aims to first analyse the differences between forensic and community samples in the use of MD strategies and then replicate the factorial structure of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen scale in an incarcerated sample as a pre-condition to examine the relationship between dark triad (DT) traits (i.e. Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) and MD. The sample comprised 160 incarcerated and 160 community adults. Comparisons between these two groups demonstrate that the incarcerated sample scored higher in MD and DT than the community sample. Furthermore, different MD strategies were related to each of the DT traits in the forensic and community samples. The results of exploratory factor analysis for the incarcerated sample indicate adequate fit indices for a bifactorial model of the DT (a latent factor of the shared variance of these constructs named the global DT and three specific latent factors for each component of the DT). The SEM analysis for this bifactorial model and MD disclosed direct and significant relationships between the global DT and MD in the incarcerated adults, while the Machiavellianism factor was directly and significantly related to MD in the community adults. These results highlight the relevance of cognitive (i.e. MD) strategies in forensic contexts, especially in incarcerated adults who present high levels of this DT profile.     

Responsible research and innovation training programmes: implementation and evaluation of the HEIRRI project

Responsible research and innovation, or RRI, is a concept that aims to bring together society and science for a better future. There are six key elements of RRI: public engagement, gender equality, science education, open access, ethics and governance. Higher Education Institutions and Responsible Research and Innovation (HEIRRI) project aimed to bring the concept of RRI into the educational system. Using state-of-the-art review of good practices, HEIRRI team developed 10 training programmes on RRI for different higher education institution educational levels, including a summer school and a massive open online course (MOOC). We conducted pilot of the trainings and evaluated participants' experiences. Satisfaction with HEIRRI training programmes on responsible research and innovation was high, both for participants and for the trainers, and trainings raised awareness of RRI. Participants' feedback was used to identify areas that need improvement and provided for recommendations for final versions of the HEIRRI training programmes. In order to equip researchers with skills to recognize and apply RRI values, RRI should be included in their education. HEIRRI training is suitable for a range of different disciplines, including forensic science, and is free to use and adjust for specific contexts (available from: https://rri-tools.eu/heirri-training-programmes).