American Case Research Articles

Coos Bay Indians in the “Courts of the Conqueror”

This article is based on two American Indian cases that arose from aboriginal title claims to coastal Oregon in the U.S. Court of Claims, Coos Bay (1938) and Alcea (1946), both subsequently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The cases set important precedents in judicial Indian law on the eve of the Indian Claims Commission. Coos Bay and Alcea also caused the creation of two distinct tribes of Coos Bay Indians: the Coos tribe included in the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw (Coos Bay); and the Coos tribe included in the Coquille Indian Tribe (Alcea). The latter were the only Coos Indian plaintiffs eligible to join the Alcea victory after the Coos Bay loss in the Supreme Court. The division caused considerable enmity between the two tribes, an unfortunate result, which this article attempts to alleviate by examining the reasons behind the split.

Epidemiology of infective endocarditis in intravenous drug users

Recently, five North American studies have reported 471 persons who injected drugs intravenously (PWID) (25.34%) out of a total of 1858 patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and three European studies have reported 263 PWID out of 1225 patients with IE (21.46%). Both in North America and Europe the mean age of PWID with IE was 32-38 years and 41-44 years, respectively. Both in North America and in Europe Staphylococcus aureus was the leading cause of IE in PWID (67.30% and 66.15%, respectively). IE involves the tricuspid valve in 90% of cases and mitral and/or aortic valves in less than 15% of cases; the mortality rate is 2.0-2.5%. In North America and in Europe, streptococci caused IE in 10.61% and 10.64% of PWID, respectively, enterococci in 6.58% and 9.50%. Other etiologies accounted for 1-2%. Almost 6% of North American cases and almost 10% of European cases were polymicrobial. New episodes (25-32%) were mostly reinfections (up to 86.4%). PWID's in-hospital mortality was not significantly different from non-PWID's. Ten-year survival of PWID and non-PWID with IE was comparable in an American surgical study (69.5% vs 68.7%) and significantly different in a British study (43.8% vs 83.5%).

Caudillos y plebeyos: La construcción social del estado en América del Sur (Argentina, Perú, Chile 1830–1860)

Caudillos y plebeyos: La construcción social del estado en América del Sur (Argentina, Perú, Chile 1830–1860)

Making Drug use Dangerous for Black Men: Race, Drugs, Violence, and Criminal Justice

Differential treatment under the law has historically been the case for African Americans. The current study theorized that the War on Drugs, which was waged disproportionately in majority Black communities, had the unintended effect of making drug use riskier for Black men by limiting the supply of drugs to high-risk populations who commit far more serious and violent criminal offenses. A subsample of the Add Health data containing Black and White male survey participants were compared with respect to drug use, violence, and criminal justice involvement. Drug use was found to be less prevalent, overall, for Black men but its association with violence was greater for Black men than White men. Differential legal treatment for violence and drugs was found to be greater for Black men than White men and had diminishing returns for deterring violence and negative returns for drugs by predicting greater use. Accounting for differential legal treatment did not significantly reduce predicted racial disparities in violence or drug use. Implications of these findings are discussed.

ПРАВО ВЛАСНОСТІ НА МАЙНО, ПРИДБАНЕ У ФАКТИЧНИХ ШЛЮБНИХ ВІДНОСИНАХ: СВІТОВИЙ ДОСВІД ТА УКРАЇНСЬКА ПРАКТИКА

The article is devoted to the study of the topical issue of establishing the right of ownership of property acquired in a de facto marital relationship. The preconditions for the recognition of de facto marital relations as a separate institution of family and civil law are outlined. The main approaches to understanding the status of partners in actual marital relationships are studied. Gaps in national legislation and imperfections in certain legal norms have been identified, which determine the relevance of scientific research to solve this problem. The peculiarities of the norms of the Ukrainian civil legislation concerning the settlement of the researched problems are established. It is emphasized that the right of joint ownership of property acquired in a de facto marital relationship does not arise automatically, like the right of joint ownership of a legal spouse, on the basis of the fact of marriage registration, but is established on the grounds of civil law. The peculiarities of recognizing the right of ownership of property acquired by partners who are in a de facto marital relationship under US law have been studied. It is emphasized that American case law is based on the fact that adult citizens who voluntarily live together and are in a marital relationship, as competent as others, to enter into contracts that ensure respect for their earnings and property rights.

Migration and Cognitive Health Disparities: The Arab American and Refugee Case.

This study investigates whether the year of arrival to the United States (U.S.) and birthplace relate to postmigration cognitive difficulties among foreign- and U.S.-born Arab Americans in later life. We analyzed 19 years (2000-2019) of data from the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Samples (weighted N = 393,501; ages ≥ 50 years). Cognitive difficulty was based on self-reported data, and weighted means, percentages, adjusted prevalence estimates, and adjusted odds ratio were calculated. Controlling only for demographics, foreign-born Arabs reported higher odds of cognitive difficulty compared to U.S.-born Arabs across all arrival cohorts (p < .001). After accounting for economic and integration factors, those who arrived between 1991 and 2000 had higher odds (odds ratio [OR] = 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.00, 1.19, p < .01), while those who arrived after 2001 had lower odds (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.78, 0.97, p < .001) of cognitive difficulty. Lacking English proficiency (OR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.82, 1.98, p < .001) was related to higher odds, whereas not being a U.S. citizen was significantly associated with lower odds (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.52, 0.94, p < .001) of cognitive difficulty. Yet, results varied by birthplace. Migrants born in Iraq consistently reported the highest odds of cognitive difficulty across all arrival cohorts. Migration history and birthplace may be important factors explaining cognitive disparities among the diverse group of Arab migrants and Arab Americans. Future research examining mechanisms underlying these associations and the impact of migration on cognitive health is needed to address cognitive disparities in migrants.

Trauma of bone and soft tissues in South American mummies-New cases provide further insight into violence and lethal outcome.

There exist numerous reports on violence in South American populations which shed a particular light on life and living conditions in those historic communities. Most studies have been performed on collections of isolated skulls. Whole-body investigations especially on well-preserved mummified human remains are rare. In the present study we investigated three South American mummies predating the Colonial Spanish period. The “Marburg” man lived between 996 and 1147 CE and was buried in typical burial bundle. The analysis of the textiles, ceramics and fishing tools associated with his naturally mummified body suggests that he most likely originated from the Arica region in Northern Chile and was possibly part of a fishing community. The “Delémont” natural mummies belong to an adult male and an adult female, respectively. The mummies, the textiles and grave goods were investigated. The ceramics suggest a provenance from the Arequipa region, supposing that all the artifacts were originally associated with the two mummies. The Delémont male mummy is 14C dated between 902 and 994 CE and the “Delémont” female mummy 14C dated between 1224 and 1282 CE. All mummies underwent Multidetector Computed Tomography which showed evidence of trauma, some of which were interpreted as evidence of interpersonal violence. An interdisciplinary approach was applied with the particular intention to identify trauma sequels and to evaluate their paleo-forensic potential. Evidence of violence was identified in the two male individuals. Our study provides evidence that the interdisciplinary investigation of well-preserved human remains may detect much more frequent traces of intentional trauma than previously thought. Particularly, trauma against the body may not be identified in studies on skulls alone, and trauma residues of internal organs/soft tissues will only be seen in mummies. We therefore add further evidence of two cases of (lethal) trauma in pre-colonial South-American male individuals.

Comment on “How Inequality Affects Trust in Institutions: Evidence from Indonesia”

Suryahadi et al. (2022) address the challenging task of identifying how income inequality affects trust in others, organizations, and institutions through a cross-section analysis of Indonesia. As previous studies have suggested, the extent of trust is considered an important factor for economic development, for example, by reducing transaction costs. This has led many social scientists to analyze the determinants of trust, but few studies have shed light on the impact of inequality on trust (Gustavsson & Jordahl, 2008; Barone & Mocetti, 2016). The importance of the topic seems to be even greater under the current Covid-19 pandemic. It has been noted that low trust in governments may lead to vaccine hesitancy (SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy, 2014), which might have lowered the coverage of Covid-19 vaccination in many countries. In order to identify the effects of income inequality on various aspects of trust, Suryahadi et al. construct an impressive dataset comprising various surveys, such as the World Value Survey, the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas), Village Census (PODES), and village-level data on estimated poverty and inequality (PovertyMap). Using the informative dataset, Suryahadi et al. reveal statistically significant negative correlations between district-level inequality and trust in political and state institutions. On the other hand, they also find that higher village-level inequality has a negative effect on trust in strangers. The estimation results are intuitively consistent, and Suryahadi et al. provide a useful perspective on the relationship between inequality and trust in Indonesia, though there appear to be some issues that still need to be cleared up. First, their cross-section analysis might induce an endogeneity problem. Suryahadi et al. employ ordinary least squares results with reference to endogeneity test outcomes (Suryahadi et al.'s table A.2), which depend on the assumption that their instrumental variable is valid and strong. As Suryahadi et al. are cautious about the results of their analysis, I am still afraid that the inequality variables correlate with the error term (endogeneity). For example, I am concerned that Suryahadi et al. do not control for ethnic diversity among villages in the empirical specifications, while ethnic heterogeneity displays a strong negative correlation with the extent to which people trust each other (Gustavsson & Jordahl, 2008; Jordahl, 2009). Second, in line with the literature, Suryahadi et al. assume that respondents are well acquainted with the objective level of income inequality in their districts and villages. In other words, this means that the subjective perception of inequality is supposed to coincide with, or at least be proportional to, the objective inequality index, but it seems questionable to make such a simple assumption. Hu (2017) suggests that objective inequality and subjective inequality are not correlated and shows a statistically significant nonlinear relationship between subjective inequality and general trust. Third, linked to the above comment, it appears that there is room for consideration as to which inequality index is appropriate for the analysis. Previous studies have used inequality indices such as the percentile ratio, top income shares, and the standard deviation of logs in addition to the Gini coefficient, and it is suggested that the estimation results may be sensitive to the choice of indicators (Gustavsson & Jordahl, 2008). If such alternative inequality indices are available for Indonesia, it may be worth trying them to check the robustness of the estimation results. Fourth, Suryahadi et al. show that while Indonesia's Gini ratio increased at the national level in the 2000s, trust in government organizations and institutions remained flat or increased slightly over the same period (Suryahadi et al.'s figure 3). This simple relationship between disparity and trust seen in the time series data seems to contrast with the results of their cross-sectional analysis, which shows a negative correlation between inequality and trust. It would be useful if Suryahadi et al. could explain the reason for this. Fifth, in contrast to Zmerli and Castillo (2015) who explore Latin American cases, Suryahadi et al. find a negative correlation between higher inequality and trust in the central government rather than trust in political parties (Suryahadi et al.'s figure 5). This may be brought about by differences in model specifications, but it would be helpful if Suryahadi et al. can elaborate on the possible reason behind the differences. Finally, one of their main challenges for the future will be the search for another appropriate instrumental variable that will allow them to reveal causal relationships between inequality and trust. The information-rich dataset they have constructed will make it possible to identify the causal inference and contribute to the literature.

Religious-based discrimination in the commercial context on the basis of sexual orientation: A comparative perspective

This paper considers how three jurisdictions, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, have sought to reconcile freedom of religion with equality rights, particularly in the commercial context, and particularly in relation to sexual orientation. The recent decisions of the United Kingdom Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court form the backdrop for that discussion. It is argued that the former made piecemeal, and misleading, use of American case law, and a fuller consideration of that jurisdiction’s position was warranted, and would have led to a different view of the recent American decision. It argues that the United Kingdom Supreme Court was in error in viewing a message on a cake ordered from a baker as an example of the baker's expression, leading it to an incorrect conclusion at odds with statutory mandates in the commercial sphere around refusals of service. Both high court decisions risk undermining progress on the equality front.

34374 Three North American cases of cutaneous pemphigus vulgaris in patients without history of mucosal disease

Pemphigus is a group of autoimmune blistering diseases including pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF). Lesion morphology has been explained by the desmoglein compensation hypothesis (DCH), which uses the epidermal distribution of desmoglein (Dsg) proteins and autoantibody profile. The DCH theorizes 3 types of lesion morphology: mucosal PV, mucocutaneous PV, and cutaneous PF. While the DCH has been supported in the literature, logical inconsistencies have been identified and published in multiple small-scale studies.

Energy communities in sustainable transitions - The South American Case

Energy communities (ECs) have become an attractive scholarly target in the last years since they promote more sustainable, democratic, and decentralized electrical systems. Thus, a new research line around the alignments established by the European Union (EU) has arisen. Nevertheless, Latin American initiatives and academic works still lack a standard distinctness, being widely spread, despite commonalities. This study examines regional projects from a critical perspective to fashion a novel framework around South American ECs' experiences. Literature indicates a variety of cases in the region, primarily off-grid isolated ventures that satisfy basic human needs, employing hydropower, solar, wind, biomass, and biogas technologies. Notably, Brazil indicates more profound advancements in on-grid ECs within urban settlements.

Case Analysis of Countervailing Investigation

With the continuous development of China in the field of world trade, the disputes between China and the United States in the trade of agricultural products are also increasing. Anti dumping and countervailing have gradually become important means in the trade disputes between China and the United States. In 2016, China continued to impose anti-dumping duties on imported white feather broiler products originating in the United States, and agricultural trade friction once again became a new focus of bilateral trade between China and the United States. This paper takes the American white feather chicken case as an example to analyze the countervailing investigation.

Charter movement controversy: an American public charter school case study

ABSTRACT Controversy is intensifying with the rapid spread of charter schools and their domination of the education reform agenda. As charter enrolment increases in the USA, inequities in education worsen. This article contributes to the debate on contemporary education policy by critically examining charter issues from the US literature and stakeholder data. We add insights to research on charter controversy from public discourse and stakeholder groups. Our narrative animates pros and cons in the charter debate through stakeholders’ eyes, in effect contributing voices from the field. A case study of a public charter school in Virginia provides a revealing prism for understanding charter schools. Content analysis was performed on data from nine interviews held during the pandemic with founding members (parents, etc.). As found, the charter narrative of success and struggle around public perception, racial equity, segregation, funding, approval, effectiveness, and accreditation was a school story. Charter policy effects on social groups – parents, teachers, community members, and leaders – in their association with the charter’s evolution were identifiable. The conflicting views resonate with polarising tensions nationwide. Regarding international implications of the analysis, the move to privatise and reform public education through independent schools with autonomy continues to impact European countries.

What’s Up, Latin America? Between Competition, Data and Consumer Protection

Abstract There is no doubt as to the growing importance of personal data to companies. Along with this fact, there is an exponential growth of data concentration on the hands of the biggest global technology companies. Regulators around the world are taking action in digital markets, either through legislation or judicial enforcement, to address the implications of data concentration. This article analyzes a true paradigm shift in the collaboration between antitrust, data protection and consumer authorities in handling the case of changes to WhatsApp’s privacy policy in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. We analyze how the institutional arrangements favored (or not) a more connected and integrated role of different authorities in the investigation of abuses of dominant position, which resulted in a stronger message for actors in the digital market. Institutional factors, such as operational and enforcement capabilities, are also analyzed with regard to the ability and effectiveness of the authorities in these countries to intervene. This article attempts to bring critical considerations in the evaluation of Latin American cases compared with international evolution to drive some useful lessons for future enforcement.

The 1st online academic salon on monkeypox virus by Chinese Association for Laboratory Animal Sciences (2022, June 10th, Beijing, China).

The 1st online academic salon on monkeypox virus by Chinese Association for Laboratory Animal Sciences (2022, June 10th, Beijing, China).

A Japanese case of the reincarnation type with written records made before verifications: A child claiming to have fought on the battleship Yamato

This paper reports a case of the reincarnation type in which a child claims to have past-life memories and exhibits behaviors appropriate to the person he appears to be referring to as his past-life personality. The case has the following three interesting characteristics. First, it is a fairly strong Japanese case in the sense that it has many of the characteristic features of cases of the reincarnation type. Second, the child's statements were recorded and the investigation started before the possible identification of the previous personality was made. Third, in a number of ways, it is comparable to the case of James Leininger, one of the best-known American cases: The child claimed to have fought in the Second World War and have been killed in a battle; had unusual knowledge about a battleship with which he claimed to have been affiliated; and repeated in a play the crucial scene of the battle in which he claimed to have died.

School Shooters: Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Bullying, and Social Media.

Since 2013 there have been at least 421 recorded incidents of gunfire on school grounds METHOD: This study used a critical review of national and local media news reports of 25 American male school shooter cases from 2013 to 2019. Approximately 88% of school shooters had at least one social media account, and 76% posted disturbing content of guns and threatening messages. Over 72% of shooters had at least one reported adverse childhood experience, and 60% reported being bullied in-person or online DISCUSSION: Professionals who work with adolescents are front-line providers who routinely assess student safety. Social media use is often underassessed, demonstrating a knowledge gap that may reveal insights into the perspective and well-being of adolescents. Inclusion of questions on social media, adverse childhood experiences, and experiences of bullying by pediatric nurses and others may be proactive measures that can help identify, protect, and intervene with at-risk students.

Using crowdsourced imagery to assess cultural ecosystem services in data-scarce urban contexts: The case of the metropolitan area of Cali, Colombia

Sustainable urban and metropolitan planning is increasingly benefiting from differentiated assessments of ecosystem services. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are particularly relevant for urban residents’ mental and physical health, yet, quantification and mapping of CES are often challenging, especially so in the Global South. The use of social media data (SMD), which has recently gained importance for assessing CES at larger spatial and temporal scales, provides a promising entry point for mitigating this informational gap in land-use planning. However, its application is mainly limited to European and North American cases and rarely applied to data-scarce urban regions in the Global South, with South America as no exception. Addressing this geographical gap, this study assesses CES of urban green spaces in the city of Cali, Colombia, based on 1,686 crowdsourced and geolocated photographs, and compares those results with a metropolitan scale CES potential assessment based on expert opinions performed in a previous study. Despite some important limitations primarily related to Flickr as a data source, we demonstrate the utility of this approach, especially for understanding the fine-scale generation of CES by small green spaces located within the urban fabric that are overlooked in the metropolitan scale expert-based assessment. These green spaces are highly relevant as inner-city pockets for CES production, especially in the form of “existence value” and “aesthetic experiences”, in contrast to green areas highlighted by experts at the metropolitan scale that serve primarily recreational purposes. Our results indicate the large potential of SMD-based CES assessment approaches for informing urban planning processes in the Global South.

Incidence of Hepatitis E Infection in American Patients With Suspected Drug-Induced Liver Injury Is Low and Declining: The DILIN Prospective Study.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection rarely causes icteric hepatitis, yet 10%-40% of adult Americans have serological evidence of previous infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, presentation, and outcome of acute and previous HEV infection in a large cohort of patients with suspected drug-induced liver injury (DILI). Serum samples from 2012 patients enrolled in the DILI Network were tested for anti-HEV immunoglobulin G (IgG). Those with detectable anti-HEV IgG underwent testing for anti-HEV IgM; those with detectable anti-HEV immunoglobulin m (IgM) were tested for HEV RNA. Anti-HEV IgG was detected in 407 (20%) patients and associated with increasing subject age and earlier year of enrollment. The median age of seropositive subjects was more than a decade higher than seronegative subjects (59.8 vs 48.7 years). The overall prevalence of anti-HEV declined from 22% (2004-2011) to 18% (2012-2019), suggestive of a cohort effect. The frequency of acute hepatitis E (median ALT = 1231 IU/L) also decreased from 3% (2004-2008) to 1.2% (2009-2013) to 0.6% (2014-2019). These results suggest that acute HEV infection is usually subclinical and was much more frequent in this cohort before 2004. Acute HEV infection accounts for less than 1% of suspected American DILI cases and is more frequent in older men. Previous HEV infection is also most commonly seen in older individuals. Clinicians should consider testing for unsuspected acute HEV infection in older adult patients with acute hepatocellular DILI and jaundice.

Budget-Constrained Rail Electrification Modeling Using Symmetric Traffic Assignment: A North American Case Study

We consider a budget constrained rail network electrification problem with associated changes in costs of energy usage (via path gradient and curvature), operations, and long-term maintenance. In particular, we consider that freight flows on such a network form a user equilibrium. Interactions between electric and diesel trains on the same corridor are represented with nonseparable link performance functions, which nevertheless have a symmetric Jacobian. This bi-level formulation is solved for the North American railroad network using a genetic algorithm (GA), incorporating domain-specific insights to reduce the number of solutions which must be considered. We analyze solution characteristics and decision-making implications. Results show that broad connectivity would be beneficial for most impact. Increasing demand shifts electrified corridors towards the more populous east and gulf coasts, while increased operational costs results in electrification of routes through mountainous terrains.