Anti-globalization movements: The developments in Asia

The development of neo-liberal globalization and its socio-economic effects has led to the strengthening of social resistance and protest against it both in the 'North' or 'West' and in the 'South' and--to a lesser extent--in the 'East'. This resistance appears in the form of the so-called 'anti-globalization' or 'globalization-critical' movements. As these are international in their origin and nature, it is not easy to separate the anti-globalization movements of Asia from those of other continents. Nevertheless, Asia has its own movements, which are stronger than we in Europe might think. This article gives a comprehensive view of the different organizations of Asia by theme: neo-liberalism, speculative capital, environment, ownership of land, children's and gender emancipation, peace and imperialism. It also includes some commentary on debates within the movement.     

Fingerprint Change: Not Visible,But Tangible

Hand–foot syndrome, a chemotherapy‐induced cutaneous toxicity, can cause an alteration in fingerprints causing a setback for cancer patients due to the occurrence of false rejections. A colon cancer patient was fingerprinted after not having been able to use fingerprint recognition devices after 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy. The fingerprint images were digitally processed to improve fingerprint definition without altering the papillary design. No evidence of skin toxicity was present. Two months later, the situation returned to normal. The fingerprint evaluation conducted on 15 identification points highlighted the quantitative and qualitative fingerprint alteration details detected after the end of chemotherapy and 2 months later. Fingerprint alteration during chemotherapy has been reported, but to our knowledge, this particular case is the first ever reported without evident clinical signs. Alternative fingerprint identification methods as well as improved biometric identification systems are needed in case of unexpected situations.     

Financial regionalism in East Asia： The “Multilateralization” of the Chiang Mai Initiative

The 2008-2009 financial crisis prompted the ASEAN＋3 countries＇ decision to enhance the Chiang Mai Initiative （CMI） and to make it multilateral （CMIM）. The CMI network of bilateral swaps arrangements is going to be substituted by a regional reserve pooling arrangement worth US$120 billion. The aim of this work is to analyse the CMIM, putting it in the wider context of the growing role of Asia in the world economy and of the acceleration of its integration process. We will also assess the impact of the CMIM on the role of the IMF as global provider of financial assistance and as guarantor of international financial stability.     

Differentiating fragmented human and nonhuman long bone using osteon circularity

Distinguishing between human and nonhuman bone is important in forensic anthropology and archeology when remains are fragmentary and DNA cannot be obtained. Histological examination of bone is affordable and practical in such situations. This study suggests using osteon circularity to distinguish human bone fragments and hypothesizes that osteons will more closely resemble a perfect circle in nonhumans than in humans. Standard histological methods were used, and circularity was determined using an image analysis program, where circularity was controlled for by Haversian canal measurements. Homogeneity was first tested for multiple variables within human and nonhuman samples. No significant differences were found between human sexes (p = 0.657) or among nonhuman species (p = 0.553). Significant differences were found among intraskeletal elements of both humans (p = 0.016) and nonhumans (p = 0.013) and between pooled samples of humans and nonhumans (p < 0.001). Results of this study indicate that osteon circularity can be used to distinguish between fragmented human and nonhuman long bone.     

Rights as a Divide‐and‐Rule Mechanism: Lessons from the Case of Palestinians in Israeli Custody

Critics have highlighted the complicity of human rights law in mass disempowerment and domination—a criticism equally applicable to child law. This article investigates this issue, as evidenced by three recent developments that Israel has justified by invoking these legal frameworks: an increased separation of Palestinian adults and children in Israeli custody; the Israeli legal system's growing preoccupation with “rehabilitating” the now‐segregated Palestinian children; and the Israeli authorities' ever‐diminishing interest in such rehabilitation for adult Palestinian prisoners. By canvassing the legal architecture, judicial rationalizations, adverse effects, and sociopolitical context of these developments, this article foregrounds their divide‐and‐rule logic and structure of driving a generational wedge between Palestinians and potentially weakening their political ties, solidarity, and resistance.     

Voluntary contributions with imperfect information: An experimental study

This paper uses a two-person linear voluntary contribution mechanism with stochastic marginal benefits from a public good to examine the effect of imperfect information on contributions. Estimates of individual risk preferences are obtained using data from second-price auctions over lotteries. The results show that limited information about the value of the public good significantly lowers average contributions in all periods but the last. Moreover, the results support the interpretation that subjects bid “as if” they were risk averse, and suggest that “as if” risk-averse behavior is negatively correlated with willingness to contribute.