The Lucille N. Austin Memorial Lecture, October 10, 1995

Dr. Augusta Souza Kappner addresses the trends of the day in social welfare and education policy.https://educate.bankstreet.edu/books/1007/thumbnail.jp

Perks and Pitfalls of City Directories as a Micro-Geographic Data Source

Historical city directories are rich sources of micro-geographic data. They provide information on the location of households and firms and their occupations and industries, respectively. We develop a generic algorithmic work flow that converts scans of them into geo- and status-referenced household-level data sets. Applying the work flow to our case study, the Berlin 1880 directory, adds idiosyncratic challenges that should make automation less attractive. Yet, employing an administrative benchmark data set on household counts, incomes, and income distributions across more than 200 census tracts, we show that semi-automatic referencing yields results very similar to those from labour-intensive manual referencing. Finally, we discuss potential applications in economic history and beyond

The Political Economy of Populist-Nationalism in Argentina, 1943-55: Peronism as a Transitional Stage in the Development of a Dependent Industrial Economy

Focusing on the Peronist period from 1943 to 1955 as the high point of a transitional process between two patterns of dependency on foreign capital, the study explores the dynamics underlying the pendular cycle so characteristic of Latin American political life–the dialectical movement between some variant of populist rule and that based on military power as a means of repressing popular aspirations. Peronism emerged in the context of contradictions within a developmental pattern based on an alliance of the export producing, landowning oligarchy with foreign, primarily British, commercial and financial groups. The developmental model promoted by the Peron government in turn, was geared principally to urban labor and local capitalists producing for the domestic market. The coalition Peronism was based on could only be held together under conditions allowing for increased wages along with higher profits for national capitalists. In the absence of such advantageous conditions, a populist-nationalist regime is driven by its commitment to pursue development within the framework of capitalist social relations to cut back on the consumption levels of its popular base. Such policies result in increased working class militance which undermines capitalist accumulation. This brings the military to power. The military rulers then use the coercive power of the armed forces to back up an economic project serving the interests of the oligarchy and multinational industrial and financial capital. Whereas populist-nationalism used material incentives to gain stable labor relations, the military enforces labor peace through intimidation, torture and murder. This forceful restructuring of the foundation of the nation\u27s economic life not only harms the working class and popular sectors, but also erodes the position of bourgeois sectors based on the production and distribution of wage goods. The stage is set for the reemergence of some variant of populist-nationalism as a formula for exercising state power. Finally, military repression will return once the new regime is unable to provide material benefits for its popular base while also meeting the increased demand from foreign capital for whatever surplus the Argentine economy is able to generate

Contingent Fee Litigation in New York City

Since 1957, New York courts have required contingent fee lawyers to file closing statements that disclose settlement amounts, lawyers\u27 fees, an accounting of expenses, and other information. This Article provides a preliminary analysis of these data for the period 2004- 2013. Among this Article\u27s findings are that settlement rates in New York state courts are very high (84%) relative to previous studies; that very few cases are resolved by dispositive motions; that litigated cases and settled cases have almost exactly the same average recovery; that median litigation expenses, other than attorney\u27s fees, are 3% of gross recovery; that claims are disproportionately from poor neighborhoods; and that attorneys\u27 fees are almost always one-third of net recovery, which is the maximum allowed by law

How DNA Barcodes Complement Taxonomy and Explore Species Diversity: The Case Study of a Poorly Understood Marine Fauna

BACKGROUND: The species boundaries of some venerids are difficult to define based solely on morphological features due to their indistinct intra- and interspecific phenotypic variability. An unprecedented biodiversity crisis caused by human activities has emerged. Thus, to access the biological diversity and further the conservation of this taxonomically muddling bivalve group, a fast and simple approach that can efficiently examine species boundaries and highlight areas of unrecognized diversity is urgently needed. DNA barcoding has proved its effectiveness in high-volume species identification and discovery. In the present study, Chinese fauna was chosen to examine whether this molecular biomarker is sensitive enough for species delimitation, and how it complements taxonomy and explores species diversity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 315 specimens from around 60 venerid species were included, qualifying the present study as the first major analysis of DNA barcoding for marine bivalves. Nearly all individuals identified to species level based on morphological traits possessed distinct barcode clusters, except for the specimens of one species pair. Among the 26 individuals that were not assigned binomial names a priori, twelve respectively nested within a species genealogy. The remaining individuals formed five monophyletic clusters that potentially represent species new to science or at least unreported in China. Five putative hidden species were also uncovered in traditional morphospecies. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present study shows that DNA barcoding is effective in species delimitation and can aid taxonomists by indicating useful diagnostic morphological traits, informing needful revision, and flagging unseen species. Moreover, the BOLD system, which deposits barcodes, morphological, geographical and other data, has the potential as a convenient taxonomic platform

The Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Six Heterodont Bivalves (Tellinoidea and Solenoidea): Variable Gene Arrangements and Phylogenetic Implications

BACKGROUND: Taxonomy and phylogeny of subclass Heterodonta including Tellinoidea are long-debated issues and a complete agreement has not been reached yet. Mitochondrial (mt) genomes have been proved to be a powerful tool in resolving phylogenetic relationship. However, to date, only ten complete mitochondrial genomes of Heterodonta, which is by far the most diverse major group of Bivalvia, have been determined. In this paper, we newly sequenced the complete mt genomes of six species belonging to Heterodonta in order to resolve some problematical relationships among this subclass. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The complete mt genomes of six species vary in size from 16,352 bp to 18,182. Hairpin-like secondary structures are found in the largest non-coding regions of six freshly sequenced mt genomes, five of which contain tandem repeats. It is noteworthy that two species belonging to the same genus show different gene arrangements with three translocations. The phylogenetic analysis of Heterodonta indicates that Sinonovacula constricta, distant from the Solecurtidae belonging to Tellinoidea, is as a sister group with Solen grandis of family Solenidae. Besides, all five species of Tellinoidea cluster together, while Sanguinolaria diphos has closer relationship with Solecurtus divaricatus, Moerella iridescens and Semele scaba rather than with Sanguinolaria olivacea. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: By comparative study of gene order rearrangements and phylogenetic relationships of the five species belonging to Tellinoidea, our results support that comparisons of mt gene order rearrangements, to some extent, are a useful tool for phylogenetic studies. Based on phylogenetic analyses of multiple protein-coding genes, we prefer classifying the genus Sinonovacula within the superfamily Solenoidea and not the superfamily Tellinoidea. Besides, both gene order and sequence data agree that Sanguinolaria (Psammobiidae) is not monophyletic. Nevertheless, more studies based on more mt genomes via combination of gene order and phylogenetic analysis are needed to further understand the phylogenetic relationships in subclass Heterodonta

A history of invasion: COI phylogeny of Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum in Europe

The Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum – synonym Venerupis philippinarum (Adams and Reeve, 1850) is now one of the top 5 most commercially valuable bivalve species worldwide. Originally from the Indo-Pacific region, it has been introduced in many countries for fisheries and aquaculture, including estuarine environments along Atlantic and Mediterranean European coasts. Yet despite its commercial value and widespread distribution, the precise origins of stocks remain speculative and the genetic diversity of introduced populations is poorly known. Thus, the aim of this work was to collect mtDNA COI (Cytochrome oxidase I) gene sequences from 5 European countries with Manila clam stocks and compare them with native Asian populations to evaluate their genetic diversity and identify possible routes of invasion. The COI gene sequencing supported a strong founder effect in the European populations with 3 main haplotypes occurring at high frequencies, derived from Japan. However, high haplotype diversity was also observed due to the occurrence of 10 rare haplotypes. This supports hypotheses (i) there have been additional, previous unrecorded, introductions as previously hypothesized by analysis of 16S rDNA, and (ii) there has been a limited loss of genetic diversity in introduced populations, as previously suggested by microsatellite data. This is the first genetic comparison of Manila clam populations introduced in to Europe with native clams. Genetic data herein presented are fundamentally important for the traceability of clam products and stock management programmes and will also inform discussion on the potential resilience of exploited Manila clam populations