An Alu-based, MGB Eclipse real-time PCR method for quantitation of human DNA in forensic samples

The forensic community needs quick, reliable methods to quantitate human DNA in crime scene samples to replace the laborious and imprecise slot blot method. A real-time PCR based method has the possibility of allowing development of a faster and more quantitative assay. Alu sequences are primate-specific and are found in many copies in the human genome, making these sequences an excellent target or marker for human DNA. This paper describes the development of a real-time Alu sequence-based assay using MGB Eclipse primers and probes. The advantages of this assay are simplicity, speed, less hands-on-time and automated quantitation, as well as a large dynamic range (128 ng/microL to 0.5 pg/microL).     

Feminist legal theory and practice: rethinking the relationship

This article aims to contribute to the question of how to conceptualise the relationship between theory and practice in feminist scholarship in law. It looks in detail at the implications of different issues raised in a recent debate between Anne Bottomley and Ngaire Naffine on the existence of a “legal feminist orthodoxy”. I critique the dominance of ethics over politics and join Bottomley in her attack upon “the ethics of respect for the other”, albeit from a different position. I then look at the ways in which the problem of “essentialism” is being rethought from a feminist perspective.     

Improving the effectiveness of Ugandan water user committees

This article outlines issues affecting the functionality of Ugandan water user committees responsible for managing communal water and sanitation (WASH) services. Research undertaken demonstrated that their effectiveness is compromised by poor understanding of their rights and responsibilities by stakeholders within and outside the committees. Following the research, a handbook was produced that explained the rights and responsibilities in a form that is accessible to all community members. Preliminary feedback from committees that have used the handbook suggests that it has the potential to improve the functionality of the water user committees, thereby helping to improve the local management of WASH services in Uganda.     

The Role of Immigration: Race/Ethnicity and San Diego Homicides Since 1970

Objectives

The temporal variation in homicide is examined by studying trends in race/ethnic specific killings (e.g. Blacks, Latinos and Whites). Two substantively important issues are also addressed—a closer examination of the role community heterogeneity plays in homicide levels and the treatment of immigration as an endogenous social process.

Methods

Data are reported homicides in the city of San Diego, California over the period 1960–2010. The address of each killing is geocoded into 341 census tracts.

Results

We find that neighborhoods experiencing increases in the foreign-born population tend to be less violent. White and Latino homicide victimization was reduced significantly as a product of increases in the neighborhood concentration of foreign-born individuals. Supplementary analyses did not find empirical evidence that the influx of foreign-born individuals could (or should) be considered a disruptive social process. Over the past five decennial census periods, the exponential increase in immigration in this border city is not associated with an increase in homicide victimization.

Conclusions

When examined through a wider temporal lens than is typically employed, and accounting for the endogeneity of immigrant residential settlement, we find no support for the claims that immigration is a crime generating social process.

     

A hidden cost of war: the impact of mobilizing reserve troops on emergency response times

This paper analyzes a hidden cost of war: the effect of the mass mobilization of reserve troops on the response times of domestic emergency services to accidents. We provide a statistical examination of this linkage following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and find that mobilization significantly increases response times to accidents in the United States. These mobilization-related costs are exacerbated by both legal restrictions and issues of replacing highly specialized human capital.     

Ruling the Sea: Managing Maritime Conflicts through UNCLOS and Exclusive Economic Zones

Two primary mechanisms for managing competitive interstate claims to maritime areas are evaluated: the creation of private ownership of maritime zones in the form of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and the creation of a global institution, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to establish standards for maritime claims and dispute resolution procedures. Analyses of maritime claims in the Western Hemisphere and Europe from 1900 to 2001 show that declared EEZs help states reach agreements over maritime conflicts in bilateral negotiations, while membership in UNCLOS prevents the outbreak of new maritime claims and promotes third-party management efforts of maritime conflicts. Neither mechanism influences the probability of militarized conflicts over maritime areas.     

Asymmetrical information in the provision of human services: an empirical investigation of contract failure theory

In this article, we empirically investigate the validity of the contract failure arguments as applied to a segment of the child care industry. However, prior research has focused upon actual quality differences between nonprofit and for-profit providers whereas the theory is concerned with consumers' perceptions of quality differences. In the current study, we examine both consumers′ perceptions and actual performance in testing the theory. In general, the data provide support for contract failure.     

Book reviews

Foreign Policy Making in Developing States: a comparative approach. Edited by Christopher Clapham, Farnborough (UK): Saxon House. 1978. 148 pp. £8.50.

Tariff Protection and Growth in Developing Countries. Mona Fouad Attia, Rotterdam: Rotterdam University Press. 1976. 251 pp.

Exports of Manufactures from Developing Countries. A H M Mahfuzur Rahman, Rotterdam: Centre for Development Planning, Rotterdam University Press. 1973. 140 pp.

Policy Reform in Developing Countries. Bela Balassa, Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1977. 176 pp. £9.00. £5.95 pb.

Nuclear Proliferation and the Near‐Nuclear Countries. Edited by Onkar Marwah & Ann Schultz, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger. 1975. 350 pp £11.60. (Distributed in UK by John Wiley)

Sociology and Development. Edited by E de Kadt and G Williams, London: Tavistock Publications Ltd. 1974. (Reprinted 1976). 374 pp. £4.25.

An Introduction to the Sociology of Rural Development. Norman Long, London: Methuen &Co Ltd. 1977. 221 pp. £3.25 pb.

Growing out of Poverty. Elizabeth Stamp, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1977. 165 pp. £4.25.

The United Nations System: coordinating its economic and social work. Martin Hill, Cambridge University Press. 1978. 252 pp. £13.50.

The United Nations in Bangladesh. Thomas W Oliver, Princeton University Press. 1978. 231 pp. US$20.

International Money: issues and analysis. Andrew Crockett, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons. 1978. 250 pp. £3.95 pb.

The Failure of World Monetary Reform 1971–74. John Williamson, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons. 1977. 221 pp. £3.25.

The International Monetary Tangle: myths and realities. Guillaume Guindey, Oxford: Blackwells. 1977. 121 pp. £7.85.

Research and Development Abroad by US Multinationals. Robert Ronstadt, New York: Praeger. 1977. 150 pp. £11.25.

International Migration and Dependence. Stephen Adler, Farnborough (UK): Saxon House. 1977. 235 pp. £8.50.

The Seventh Enemy: the human factor in the global crisis. Ronald Higgins, London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1978. 303 pp. £5.95.

The Disintegrating West. Mary Kaldor, London: Allen Lane‐Penguin Books Ltd. 1978. 219 pp. £5.50.

The Changing Face of the Third World: regional and national studies. Edited by Josef Nyilas, Budapest: Department of World Economy, Karl Marx University of Economic. Sciences. 1978. 431 pp.

Interdependent Development. Harold Brookfield, London: Methuen. 1977. 233 pp. £3.30.

Oil Companies in the International System. Louis Turner, London: George Allen &Unwin. 1978. 222 pp. £8.50.

Venezuela's Oil. Romullo Betancourt, London: George Allen & Unwin. 1978. 275 pp. £3.95.

Namibia Old and New. Gerhard Tötemeyer, London: C Hurst & Company Ltd. 1978. 257 pp. £9.50.

Buying Time in South Africa. CIS Anti‐Report No. 21, London: Counter Information Services. 1978. 56 pp. £0.95 pb.

Revolutionary Pressures in Africa. Claude Ake, London: Zed Press Ltd. 1978. 109 pp. £6.50.

The Guerilla Reader: a historical anthology. Edited by Walter Laqueur, London: Wildwood House. 1978. 246 pp. £5.95.

Negotiating Third World Mineral Agreements: promises as prologue. David N Smith and Louis T Wells Jr., Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger Publishing Company. 1975. 266 pp. £10.80. (Distributed in the UK by John Wiley)

Economic Growth and Distribution in China. Nicholas R Lardy, Cambridge University Press. 1978. 244 pp. £12.

The Peasant and the Raj: studies in agrarian society and peasant rebellion in colonial India. Eric Stokes, Cambridge University Press. 1978. 308 pp. £12.50.

Women of the World: illusion and reality. Urmila Phadnis and Indira Malani, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. 1978. 283 pp.

Message from the Village. Perdita Huston, New York: Epoch B Foundation. 1978. 120 pp. US $3.95.

Living Black. Kevin Gilbert, London: Allen Lane ‐ the Penguin Press. 1977. 305 pp. £7.00.

The Economics of the Arab World. Yusif A Sayigh, London: Croom Helm. 1978. 726 pp. £35.

The Determinants of Arab Economic Development. Yusif A Sayigh, London: Croom Helm. 1978. 181 pp. £12.95.

The Arabs’ New Frontier. Robert Stephens, London: Temple Smith (second revised edition). 1976. 279 pp. £5.50.

Emergency in Perspective; reprieve and challenge. Sachchidanand Sinha, London: Books from India Ltd. 1977. 122 pp. £3.75.

Inside India Today. Dilip Hiro, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1976. (reprinted 1978) 293 pp. £3.95 pb.

The Essential JP: the philosophy and prison diary of Jayaprakash Narayan. Edited by Satish Kumar, Dorchester (UK): Prism Press. 1978. 153 pp. £4.95.

Women of Vietnam. Arlene Eisen Bergman, San Francisco: People's Press. 1975 (revised edition). 255 pp. £2.95.. (Distributed in the UK by Zed Press)

Land and Labour in Latin America. Edited by Kenneth Duncan and Ian Rutledge with the collaboration of Colin Harding Cambridge Latin American Studies, Cambridge University Press. 1977. 535 pp. £17.50.

Secession: the legitimacy of self‐determination. Lee C Buchheit, New Haven: Yale University Press. 1978. 260 pp. £12.60.