The roles of foreign aid and education in the war on terror

This paper presents a theoretical framework and some empirical results showing that the level of foreign aid received reduces the supply of terrorist attacks by recipient countries, as does the recipient country’s level of education. Due account is taken of endogeneity problems in producing these results. They suggest that Western democracies, which are the main targets of terrorist attacks, should invest more funds in foreign aid with a special emphasis on supporting education.     

The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries: Increasing FDI through International Trade Agreements?

The flow of foreign direct investment into developing countries varies greatly across countries and over time. The political factors that affect these flows are not well understood. Focusing on the relationship between trade and investment, we argue that international trade agreements—GATT/WTO and preferential trade agreements (PTAs)—provide mechanisms for making commitments to foreign investors about the treatment of their assets, thus reassuring investors and increasing investment. These international commitments are more credible than domestic policy choices, because reneging on them is more costly. Statistical analyses for 122 developing countries from 1970 to 2000 support this argument. Developing countries that belong to the WTO and participate in more PTAs experience greater FDI inflows than otherwise, controlling for many factors including domestic policy preferences and taking into account possible endogeneity. Joining international trade agreements allows developing countries to attract more FDI and thus increase economic growth.     

Detection of diatoms in blood by a combination of membrane filtering and chemical digestion

An improved method for detecting diatom in blood is reported. Blood of cadavers was obtained by cardiac puncture at inquest or from the left atrium directly at autopsy. The blood was hemolyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and filtered through membrane filter (47 mm in diameter and 5 microns in pore size). When the blood was putrefied, two or three pieces of membranes filters were needed because of choking membrane pore. The membrane filters were digested with fuming nitric acid and diluted with distilled water. The diluted solution was filtered through membrane filter (25 mm in diameter) again. After drying the membrane filter was immersed in oil. Diatoms on the membrane filter were clearly observed microscopically.     

The association between childhood sexual abuse and sexual coercion in men: a test of possible mediators

ABSTRACT

We examined the associations between childhood sexual abuse (CSA), childhood physical abuse (CPA), sexual domain variables, antisocial tendencies, and sexually coercive behaviour in a non-forensic sample of 173 heterosexual men. CSA was associated with paraphilic interests and experiences, a more extensive sexual life history, and early antisocial tendencies. CPA was associated with paraphilic interests and experiences, more self-reported delinquency, higher sensation seeking, and early antisocial tendencies. Sexual domain variables (e.g. number of sexual partners, sexual interest in sadomasochism) mediated the link between CSA and sexually coercive behaviour, but antisocial domain variables (e.g. delinquency, sensation seeking) did not. Of the two sexual domains examined, extensive sexual life history rather than paraphilias mediated the association between CSA and sexually coercive behaviour. These results suggest CSA and CPA are associated with both sexual and antisocial outcomes, and that, for some victims of CSA, having an extensive sexual life history may account for the association between CSA and sexually coercive behaviour later in life.     

Militarism,states and resistance in Africa: exploring colonial patterns in stabilisation missions

ABSTRACT

The article explores how stabilisation missions reproduce the patterns that constituted colonial states. Following African historiography, the article argues that stabilisation’s militarised approach to neutralising resistance, its racialisation of targets and its aim to constitute and reform state authority evoke how colonial states were forged by the inseparable relationship between authority, force, race, production and resistance. However, it will be shown that those patterns cannot be fully understood without an account of the broader structure of coloniality and imperialism. In so doing, the article aims to contribute to bring together different literatures on contemporary peace-building interventions and contemporary militarism by examining the relation between militarism, coloniality and imperialism. It focuses on the Democratic Republic of Congo to show how an intensified use of force against resistance, added to frames that see Congolese politics as deviant, has guided the goal of restoration of state authority, and with it, different economic reforms, all of which have reinforced the military and economic power of national and international elites, without reporting significant benefits to the population at large.     

Dermestes maculatus (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) development under fluoxetine effect using two drug administration models

Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, commonly used for the treatment of a variety of psychopathological conditions. As such, fluoxetine may be expected to appear in clinical and forensic cases. Dermestes maculatus De Geer (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) has been recognized as a relevant component of the insect fauna associated with decomposing human and animal remains. Experiments were conducted to study the effect of fluoxetine on developing D. maculatus using two‐drug administration models: a non‐living animal model (pork muscle) and a living one (Sus scrofa L. pigs). We assessed the duration of immature stages and total life cycle, as well as morphological parameters (body length, cephalic width, and weight). The effect of fluoxetine was studied at an overdose concentration: In the non‐living animal model the drug was mixed with macerated pork muscle (2000 mg/kg) and in the living animal model, pigs were given the drug orally (833 mg/kg). A control was used for each model. Daily observations were performed from the beginning to the end of the experiments. GC‐MS was used for drug detection and quantification. There were no statistically significant differences in the duration of immature stages, life cycle, larval mortality, morphological parameters, or sex ratio, between treatment and control, regardless of the drug administration model. Given that fluoxetine had no detectable effect on the development of D. maculatus, detection of this drug in forensic situations would not compromise the accuracy of PMI estimations.     

Authoritarian Regimes and Their Permitted Oppositions: Election Day Outcomes in Cuba

Electoral opposition to long‐established authoritarian regimes may be loyal or rejectionist. Loyal oppositionists vote to send a selective signal to rulers; rejectionist oppositionists vote blank or void the ballot in full disapproval. In Cuba, the number of candidates equals the number of seats, yet voters may vote blank, void, or selectively (choosing some but not all candidates on the ballot), although the Communist Party has campaigned for all candidates. This article uses a unique dataset for Cuba's 2013 National Assembly elections to study aggregate opposition outcomes. It shows the emergence of a loyal opposition, which sometimes votes for and sometimes against Communist Party candidates. The rejectionist opposition, stable over time, never votes for Communist Party candidates; it is found where the Communist Party behaves monopolistically. This combined opposition has better national‐level political information; it comes from more educated or larger urban areas or areas closer to Havana.     

Confirmatory Factor and Smallest Space Analyses on the Belief in a Just World Scale

Social Justice Research - A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used on the Belief in a Just World Scale (BJW; Lucas, Zhdanova & Alexander in J Individ Diff 32:14–25, 2011) to test...     

The multiple faces of the entrepreneurial university: a review of the prevailing theoretical approaches

The Journal of Technology Transfer - The importance and the definition of an entrepreneurial university (EU), together with the factors that lead to its existence, have been widely discussed in the...     

Detracking America's schools: Equity at zero cost?

Schools across the country are ending the practice of grouping students based on ability, in part, because of research indicating that tracking hurts low-ability students without helping students of other ability levels. Using a nationally representative survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, (NCES) we reexamine the impact of tracking on high school student achievement through the estimation of a standard education production function. This approach allows us to control for the possibility that track is correlated with factors such as class size and teacher education. In addition, we address the possibility that there are unobserved student or school characteristics that affect both achievement and track placement. Our results indicate that abolishing tracking in America's schools would have a large positive impact on achievement for students currently in the lower tracks, but that this increase in achievement would come at the expense of students in upper-track classes.