Globalization and Prison Privatization: Why Are Most of the World's For-Profit Adult Prisons to Be Found in the American South?

For a generation, students of comparative public policy and international politics have argued that global market discipline and the increasing mobility of international "best practices" have given rise to policy convergence at the global level. This paper uses the American case to investigate some of the forces thought to have given rise to the spread of private prisons. It finds that while there are prisons in a number of countries, the evidence of convergence is thin and seems to suggest that the core of the prison privatization is in the American South. It then examines several theories—the political economy of the prison boom and overcrowding, globalization theory, the politics of the new right and the idea of a "prison-industrial complex"—that have been used to explain prison privatization and the extent to which they are consistent with the empirical pattern. Each takes us some way to understanding that pattern, but none can provide a clear theoretical mapping.     

Why chads? Determinants of voting equipment use in the United States

This paper provides an empirical study of the determinants of voting equipment choice in the United States. We document that, in contrast to widespread belief, voting machines of older types, such as lever and punchcard systems, are not used in counties with lower income – and newer machines, such as optical scanners and electronic machines, are not used in – richer counties. We provide an economic explanation for this and other regularities of voting equipment usage in the United States. In our economic framework (a) the adoption of a new technology is more likely in richer and larger counties, but (b) the adoption of a new technology is less likely the more advanced is the technology already adopted in the county. The adoption of more advanced optical and electronic machines in the 1980s and 1990s was less likely in richer and larger counties that had already mechanized and computerized in previous decades than in poorer and smaller – and hence not yet computerized counties. Estimates of historical determinants of voting equipment choice support our hypothesis. In particular, the probability of using punchcard machines in the 1990s is positively related to a county’s income in the 1960s, when punchcard machines were first introduced. When the effect of past income is controlled for, the effect of more recent levels of income on the probability of using punchcard machines becomes negative.     

The pastoral home school: rural,vernacular and grassroots literacies in early Soviet Mongolia

Literacy before and after the 1921 People's Revolution in Mongolia has been largely represented by socialist historiography and post-socialist urban perspectives, which have rendered unofficial and non-pragmatic literacies invisible. This study explores rural, vernacular and grassroots literacy theories to recontextualize the pre-revolutionary category of Mongolian home schooling and to offer a new perspective – pastoral literacy – which enables historians and other researchers of Central Asia to represent the literacy practices of non-urban semi-nomads more accurately and vividly. This study applies the pastoral literacy perspective to literacy narratives extracted from University of Cambridge Oral History of Twentieth Century Mongolia interviews and demonstrates that pastoral home schooling was a socially and culturally salient domain for acculturating young Mongolians into the 1960s. Mongolian pastoral home schooling consisted largely of personal, male teacher–student relationships, authoritative teaching models, alphabet-based curricula, as well as texts and materials adapted from dominant religious and state literacies.     

Qualification for design right: 'springing interests'

Legal context. An unregistered design can qualify for protectionunder the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 in a numberof ways. However, as the European Community expands the qualificationprovisions in the Act come into conflict with Community lawand the European Convention of Human Rights. This article setsout those issues and seeks a solution to them. Key points. This article begins by examining how a design qualifiesfor protection, by reason of the designer, the commissioneror the employer; or alternatively by reason of the person whofirst markets it. It then looks at the impact of new membersjoining the European Community and how this might create springinginterests in design right. It then tries to reconcile the rightin the EC Treaty not to be discriminated against on the groundsof nationality with the right to quiet enjoyment of propertyunder the ECHR. Practical significance. This article considers the ownershipof design right and springing interests. It will therefore beof interest to anyone who owns a design right by reason of thedesign being first marketed in the United Kingdom.     

Combating Asymmetric Threats: The Interplay of Offense and Defense

The overarching objective of this analysis is to examine the ways and means by which the United States could take the asymmetric battle-space and win against the ever-changing array of threats posed by nation-states and non-state actors. Today's security challenges are predominantly hybrids: offense and defense; symmetric and asymmetric; synchronous and asynchronous; regular and irregular; geographically-focused and globally-ubiquitous. This reality requires multi-dimensional thinking, nuanced approaches, and nimble, decisive execution guided by a new strategic paradigm. Fighting on the enemy's terms, scoring short-term wins at unjustifiably high costs in lives, treasure and lost opportunities is simply unacceptable.     

Saliva identification in forensic samples by automated microextraction and intact mass analysis of statherin

The enzyme α-amylase has long been a commonly targeted protein in serological tests for saliva. While being especially abundant in saliva, α-amylase is detectable in vaginal secretions, sweat, fecal matter, breast milk and other matrices. As a result, assays for α-amylase only provide a presumptive indication of saliva. The availability of mass spectrometry-based tools for the detection of less abundant, but more specific, protein targets (e.g., human statherin) has enabled the development of high confidence assays for human saliva. Sample throughput, however, has traditionally been low due to multi-step workflows for protein extraction, quantitation, enzymatic digestion, solid phase cleanup, and nano-/capillary-based chromatography. Here, we present two novel “direct” single-stage extraction strategies for sample preparation. These feature immunoaffinity purification and reversed-phase solid-phase microextraction in conjunction with intact mass analysis of human statherin for saliva identification. Mass analysis was performed on the Thermo Scientific Q-Exactive™ Orbitrap mass spectrometer with a 10-min analytical run time. Data analysis was performed using Byos^® from Protein Metrics. Two sample sets were analyzed with a population of 20 individuals to evaluate detection reliability. A series of casework-type samples were then assayed to evaluate performance in an authentic forensic context. Statherin was confidently identified in 92% and 71% of samples extracted using the immunoaffinity purification and solid phase microextraction approaches, respectively. Overall, immunoaffinity purification outperformed the solid phase microextraction, especially with complex mixtures. In toto, robotic extraction and intact mass spectrometry enable the reliable identification of trace human saliva in a variety of sample types.     

Which law applies? A reply to Professor Torremans

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

‘A book may be good for nothing; or there may be onlyone thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?’(Samuel Johnson) This section is dedicated to the review ofideas, articles, books, films and other media. It will includereplies (and rejoinders) to articles, the evaluation of newideas or proposals, and reviews of books and articles both directlyand indirectly related to intellectual property law.

In a recent article,¹ Professor Torremans argues that the countryof origin (sometimes called the lex originis) should be thelaw applied to authorship and ownership of copyright.² There is no doubt that several countries do apply the countryof origin to initial ownership and authorship of copyright works.Citing both the Austrian and Belgian Codes on Private InternationalLaw as examples,³ Professor Torremans also mentions the decisionof the US Second Circuit of Appeals in . . . [Full Text of this Article]