Global Collective Memory: Conceptual Difficulties of an Appealing Idea

The idea of “collective memory” has attracted substantial attention since Maurice Halbwachs’ path-breaking work in the 1920s. Recently we have started to notice references, at an increasing pace, to a global(ised) version of collective memory. This essay argues that “global collective memory”, especially in light of Halbwachs’ original understanding, is not a particularly strong or promising concept. First, the essay discusses three kinds of memory, namely individual, organisational, and institutional, and juxtaposes them with the idea of collective memory. Then it turns more specifically to a discussion of the global scale, and suggests that the intricate connections between these different types acquire a new degree of complexity when transposed to the global level due to the questions of politics and identity. The essay suggests further that a global memory, conceptualised with reference to its institutional rather than collective characteristics, may well be in the making.     

Spatial analysis of violent crimes in Metro Manila,Philippines

Spatial patterns of murder and physical injury in Metro Manila, Philippines were visualised through conditional choropleth maps. Relationship of both crime rates with some demographic variables were investigated while accounting for possible spatial autocorrelation using spatial lag models. Results show that both crime rates tend to cluster in the northern cities of Metro Manila. Furthermore, significant spatial lag coefficients were found only for physical injury rates, with values ranging from 0.49 to 0.62, signifying a positive city-level spatial dependence of physical injury rates in Metro Manila. Moreover, some demographic covariates, such as population density, percentage of young males, education, marriage, and immigration were found to be associated with both crime rates. These results could serve as useful indicators of crime incidence; thus it is recommended that crime monitoring systems include them to aid in resource allocation and program planning for better crime prevention and security management.     

Specific forms of human trafficking in Slovenia: overview and preventive measures

Abstract

Paper presents a research study on specific forms of human trafficking in Slovenia. The research indicates that the vulnerability of migrant workers in Slovenia results from their social vulnerability and deteriorating social conditions in the countries of origin. Employers are aware of these conditions and take advantage of the situation, which results in planned recruitment of workers in countries of origin. Furthermore, cases of human trafficking for the purpose of forced criminality and forced begging, as well as trafficking in children, are also indicated in the research. However, in the time period under review the Slovene police detected only a few underage victims of crimes that can be considered as trafficking. No evidence of trafficking in human organs, tissues and blood was found, but the research unveiled some cases indicating illegal intercountry adoptions. The research results and recommendations can guide further action and the planning of preventive activities.     

Forearm bones and sexual variation in Turkish population

Forensic anthropologists are aware that there are considerable differences between human populations and therefore develop study models for each skeletal population. The purpose of this study was to analyze forearm bones obtained from forensic settings in Turkey. The sample consists of 42 males and 38 females with an average age of 40 and 36 years, respectively. Numerous measurements were taken from the radius and ulna including lengths (in millimeters), midshaft diameters, and epiphyseal breadths (0.01 mm). Individuals with any anomaly and pathology were not included in the investigation. A stepwise analysis, when applied to individual bones, selected only length and midshaft transverse dimension in the radius and length only in the ulna. When the length was excluded from the statistic, head diameter and distal breadth of the radius and distal minimum head and midshaft anteroposterior diameters of the ulna provided the best predicting functions. Classification results were 92% for the radius and 91% for the ulna. For the incomplete bones, the accuracy rates were about 92% and 83%, respectively. In conclusion, a sex determination was made, in different rates of accuracy, in the human skeleton. Correct assessment can vary among populations. Dimorphism in our region forearm bones is greater than American whites. This supported the hypothesis that human variation is diverse, and population difference should be taken into account when osteometric standards are applied to others. Further studies are needed to understand why the forearm is more dimorphic in Turks.     

公司法语境下的重大资产出售定位——兼评《公司法》第75条、第105条和第122条

对重大资产出售的界定,应采取质与量相结合的标准:在质的方面,要求出售标的必须是经营性资产;在量的方面,要求出售标的须达到净资产总额的一定比例以上,且动摇了公司的存续基础。在公司拥有单一营业的情况下,出售行为只须满足质的标准,即可构成重大资产出售;在公司拥有多项营业的情况下,出售行为还须满足量的标准,方可构成重大资产出售。我国现行立法对重大资产出售的界定尚不准确,因而值得探讨。     

Labor migration,ethnic kinship,and the conundrum of citizenship in Turkey

This paper explores the ambiguous purchase that claiming Turkish ethnicity has in Bulgarian Turkish migrants' attempts to access formal and social citizenship. I suggest that despite the new Citizenship Law, which appears to eliminate ethnic privilege, the emphasis on Turkish ethnicity continues to play a significant role in the migrants' attempts at inclusion. I seek to resolve this seeming tension between, on the one hand, the continuing significance of ‘Turkishness’ in migrants' discursive claims, and, on the other hand, the failure of most of these claims to materialize in practice by addressing the question of social and economic capital. Although ethnic belonging continues to be an important facet of citizenship, social class makes a significant difference in determining who qualifies as a citizen and has access to social citizenship. I thus argue that we need to expand the current terms of the debate on the inclusiveness of citizenship in Turkey, which revolve around ‘denationalization’ and ‘postnationalism,’ to include questions of class-based exclusion.     

STR data for the AmpFlSTR identifier loci from an old settlement in northwestern Turkey

The polymorphism of 15 STR loci has been studied in a population sample of 193 healthy unrelated individuals from the population of Duzce, a city in the northwestern Turkey. The most valuable loci, from forensic point of view according to their power of discrimination values, were D2S1338, D18S51, FGA, and D19S433 where CSF1PO appeared to be the least powerful one. From paternity point of view, FGA, D21S11 were found to be the loci with highest exclusion value whereas D3S1358 and TPOX were the locus with the lowest exclusion.     

An Exploration of the Historical Background of Criminal Record Checking in the United Kingdom: From the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Century

Potentially preventable crimes resulting from failures in criminal record checking and recording emerged as problematic in the eighteenth century and have continued up until the present day. Ranging from child abuse to murders, reports suggest that if criminal records had been evident, in some cases unlawful acts may have been prohibited. The historical background to the emergence of criminal record collection and checking in the United Kingdom (UK) is analysed from the mid-eighteenth century. This time period is chosen because it marks a pivotal change in the treatment of criminals, crimes and the start of the policing system in the United Kingdom. As a result of growing societal concerns over public safety and changes in the legal system, the approach in which criminal records have been utilised in employment decision-making has evolved most rapidly in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The recording, storing and sharing of criminal record information has received most attention only in the past decade. Developments in recruitment-vetting procedures for the protection of vulnerable persons have only emerged in the last 50 years to manage such crimes in the United Kingdom. In 2002 the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) was established in the United Kingdom to ensure safer recruitment decisions could be made in society. However, the question remains whether or not these practices have been and are effective.     

Malawi

Democracy in Malawi is relatively new, due to the late introduction of a multiparty system in the mid‐1990s. Now it has all the systems in place but has been slow to make them effective.     

Social Capital and Hygiene Practices among the Extreme Poor in Rural Bangladesh

We investigate the effect of social capital on hygiene practices pertaining to lives of the extreme poor in rural Bangladesh. Analysing a unique survey dataset for 5,600 extreme poor households, we document a significant positive effect of social capital on sanitary latrine use and wearing shoes/sandals at home for hygiene. We account for the endogeneity of social capital by instrumental variable estimation. Our findings emphasise the role of social capital in preventing common diseases through improving hygiene practices for the extreme poor, who usually lack access to medical services in the event of illness, which has important policy implications.