NGO strategies beyond aid: Perspectives from Central and South America and the Philippines

Though unevenly spread, many developing countries are experiencing a decline in aid flows. This paper explores and compares NGDO responses in regions and countries in or entering a 'beyond-aid scenario'. The comparison shows that, despite a diversity of contexts and histories, the quest for self-sustainability has become a common and dominant concern. Within a framework of options, examples show what is being attempted in terms of NGDOs altering their resource profile and the problems they encounter in doing so. Emerging evidence suggests that NGDOs are more likely to sustain themselves if they (a) look beyond finance to adopt an integrated, capacity-based approach to sustainability and internal organisational reform and (b) put effort into making good their 'relational deficit' with a wider array of domestic constituencies.     

The Making of Policy: Institutionalized or Not?

This article attempts to build bridges in the formal study of policymaking across polities of different degrees of institutional development. It explores the reasons why policymaking is fairly institutionalized in some polities but not in others. It suggests extending standard models of institutionalized policymaking to allow for a wider set of actions, including the threat of violence or of damage to the economy. It engages the discussion of institutions as rules and institutions as equilibria, delivering multiple equilibria with different degrees of institutionalization. The likelihood of institutionalized policymaking increases as the cost of alternative political actions increases, as the damage these alternatives cause decreases, and as the economy becomes wealthier. In cases in which the distribution of de jure political power is more asymmetric, it is more likely to observe use of alternative political technologies as well as low degrees of institutionalization.     

Age estimation by pulp/tooth ratio in lower premolars by orthopantomography

Accurate age estimation has always been a problem for forensic scientists, and apposition of secondary dentine is often used as an indicator of age. Since 2004, in order to examine patterns of secondary dentine apposition, Cameriere et al. have been extensively studying the pulp/tooth area ratio of the canines by panoramic and peri-apical X-ray images. The main aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between age and age-related changes in the pulp/tooth area ratio in monoradicular teeth, with the exception of canines, by orthopantomography. A total of 606 orthopantomograms of Spanish white Caucasian patients (289 women and 317 men), aged between 18 and 75 years and coming from Bilbao and Granada (Spain), was analysed. Regression analysis of age of monoradicular teeth indicated that the lower premolars were the most closely correlated with age. An ANCOVA did not show significant differences between men and women. Multiple regression analysis, with age as dependent variable and pulp/tooth area ratio as predictor, yielded several formulae. R(2) ranged from 0.69 to 0.75 for a single lower premolar tooth and from 0.79 to 0.86 for multiple lower premolar teeth. Depending on the available number of premolar teeth, the mean of the absolute values of residual standard error, at 95% confidence interval, ranged between 4.34 and 6.02 years, showing that the pulp/tooth area ratio is a useful variable for assessing age with reasonable accuracy.     

Ecological inequality in assessing well-being: Some applications

Claims to the inadequacy of GDP growth as an indicator of well-being improvement are widespread. Yet the notion of well-being is very broad, hence difficult to quantify, so alternative indexes (e.g., ISEW, GPI) may also be deficient. This article approaches well-being from a multi-dimensional perspective which, unlike earlier attempts to incorporate inequality and environmental variables, focuses especially on “ecological inequality,” or inequality in the distribution of the social cost associated with resource depletion. A methodology for assessing well-being improvements is developed, one which includes an accounting for ecological inequality, and is applied to four countries: Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The variability in the results strongly suggests that in addition to depending on the subjective perspective of the policymaker regarding the relative importance of the income growth realized by different population groups, well-being assessments depend critically on the existing ecological distribution. More research into quantifying ecological distribution is therefore warranted. Absent significant progress in this area, sensitivity analysis such as that conducted here may inform policy better than GDP or alternative well-being indexes or aggregates.     

Court in Argentina holds that HARRODS trade marks cannot co-exist

In October 2007, the Chamber I of the Federal Civil and CommercialChamber of Appeals, Buenos Aires, dismissed the appeal of theplaintiff (Harrods Limited) and declare not undue the oppositionfiled by the defendant (Harrod's BA), thus concluding the latestepisode in the dispute-laden relationship between these companies.     

Frontal sinuses for identification: quality of classifications, possible error and potential corrections

Many studies have examined the characteristics of the frontal sinuses and their use for forensic purposes, particularly when an individual is edentulous. One of the most widespread classification systems is that proposed by Yoshino et al. The aim of this study was to improve the performance of Yoshino's method for identifying unknown skeletal remains by replacing the first two morphological items, frontal sinus size and bilateral asymmetry, by SOR1 = left frontal sinus area/left orbit area, and SOR2 = right frontal sinus area/right orbit area. According to the bivariate distribution of SOR = (SOR1, SOR2) and available data, we also estimated the probability of positive misclassification.     

Technology Competitiveness in Emerging Markets: The Case of the Brazilian Polymer Industry

The Brazilian polymer industry (plastics, rubbers, fibers, adhesives, paints, and varnishes) is the fastest growing segment of the Petrochemical Chain. Since the polymer industry is characterized as science based, the capacity to create technology is vital for its long-range survival in the market. This paper analyzes how Brazilian polymer firms maintain their technological competitiveness, explains the main modes of technology transfer, and evaluates the degree of technological dependence of this industry. The methodology consisted of a database built with data from the Brazilian Patent Office. To confirm the findings, interviews were conducted with staff members from seven Brazilian polymer firms. The data base analysis and the interviews reveal that, in spite of the fact that Research and Development (R&D) and technological innovation have a fundamental role in their competitiveness, the firms are technologically dependent upon foreign suppliers.     

Toxicological Analysis of Opiates from Alternative Matrices Collected from an Exhumed Body

In this case study, the body of a 45‐year‐old man was exhumed after 1 year at the request of the public prosecutor to assess whether the death was caused by drug consumption. Toxicological analyses were performed on several matrices, including liver, kidney, and the alternative matrices hair and teeth. The systematic toxicological analysis (STA), which consisted of basic and acid liquid/liquid extraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) analysis, showed the presence of opiates in each of the matrices analyzed. Subsequently, to confirm and quantify the presence of opioids, samples of each of the matrices were subjected to solid‐phase extraction and specific GC‐MS analysis. The case presented demonstrates the possibility of drug detection in an exhumed body that has been buried for 1 year, despite the problems of quantitative interpretation of the data, and that toxicological results could be useful along with other forensic evidence.