Gender Gap and Turnout in the 2003 Federal Elections

We examine the gender gap in turnout in Switzerland by analysing the 2003 federal elections. Despite being a standard component in electoral studies, the gender variable is, in most cases, only used as a control variable and its effects and interaction are too often under‐analysed. We focus on individual‐level factors by looking at three types of explanations for the gender gap: (1) resources, (2) political motivations and attitudes, and (3) social capital and integration. Our analysis, based on binomial logistic regression models, shows that compositional and conditional effects play an important role in explaining the persistent gender gap in Swiss electoral turnout.     

Is the time of suicide a random choice? A new statistical perspective

The problem of the time distribution of suicide has aroused the interest of many authors, but their findings often appear uncertain and contradictory. These inconsistencies can be partially explained by both the choice of the sample and the statistical method used for the analysis. In this study, in order to reveal expected and unexpected periodicities in the time distribution of suicides, we analyzed a small but complete and very homogeneous sample of suicides which occurred in the Mountain District of the Metauro River Valley in Italy in the period 1960-1994. A recent circular statistics technique, the "maximization of mean vector length" was used. We found no significant weekly and lunar patterns, but significant seasonal and intraseasonal cycles, with peaks in March and at the beginning of each season. The superposition of these two significant cyclic trends was also studied.     

Forensic Entomology and the Estimation of the Minimum Time Since Death in Indoor Cases

Eight cases that occurred indoors in which the insects played an important role in the mPMI estimation are presented. The bodies of socially isolated people and old people living alone were discovered in central Italy between June and November. mPMI ranged from a few days to several weeks. Insects were collected during the body recovery and the postmortem. Climatic data were obtained from the closest meteorological stations and from measurements performed on the site. Sarcophagidae and Calliphoridae species were present in 75% of the cases with Lucilia sericata and Chrysomya albiceps collected in 50% of the cases. Chrysomya albiceps was always found in association with Lucilia species. Scuttle flies (Phoridae) were found in 37.5% of the cases, confirming the ability of these species in indoor body colonization. We show that if sealed environment may delay, the insect arrival dirty houses may create the environment where sarcosaprophagous insects are already present.     

Article gazette 2520–3619

The European Union and the Constitutional Treaty

Dalla Convenzione alla Costituzione ; rapporto 2005 della Fondazione Istituto Gramsci sul‐l'integrazione europea / a cura di Giuseppe Vacca. ‐ Bari : Dedalo, c2005. ‐ 325 p. ‐ (Nuova biblioteca Dedalo ; 283). ‐ISBN 88–220–6283–3

European foreign policy: from rhetoric to reality? / Dieter Mahncke, Alicia Ambos and Christopher Reynolds, eds.. ‐Bruxelles : P.I.E.‐Peter Lang, c2004. ‐381 p. ‐ (College of Europe studies,‐ 1). ‐ ISBN 90–5201–247–4

European neighbourhood policy : political, economic and social issues / edited by Fulvio Attinà and Rosa Rossi. ‐ Catania: Jean Monnet Centre “Euro‐Med”, 2004. ‐168 p.

European political economy : political science perspectives / Leila Simona Talani. ‐Aldershot : Ashgate, c2004. ‐ xii, 235 p. ‐ ISBN 0–7546–3651–8

European regulatory agencies / Giacinto della Cananea (ed.). ‐ [Paris] : ISUPE Press, 2004. ‐ XX, 219 p.

La Grande Europe / edité par Paul Magnette. ‐ Bruxelles : Editions de L'Université di Bruxelles, c2004. ‐ 403 p. ‐ (Etudes européennes). ‐ ISBN 2–8004–1332–8

Il rilancio dell'Europa : il progetto di Jacques Delors / Claudio Giulio Anta. ‐ Milano : Franco Angeli, c2004. ‐ 250 p. ‐(Collana “Gioele Solari” / Dipartimento di studi politici dell'Università di Torino ; 41). ‐ ISBN 66–464–5549–5

Al servicio de Europa : innovation y crisis en la Comisión Europea / Ángel Viñas. ‐Madrid : Editorial Complutense, c2004. ‐ XXIV, 572 p. ‐ IBN 84–7491–778–6

Storia dell'integrazione europea : dalla guerra fredda alla Costituzione dell'Unione / Bino Olivi, Roberto Santaniello. ‐ Bologna : il Mulino, c2005. ‐ 347 p. ‐ (Le vie della civiltà). ‐ ISBN 88–15–10479–8

Trattato che adotta una costituzione per l'Europa : firmato a Roma il 29 ottobre 2004 / Servizio Affari internazionali del Senato della Repubblica. ‐ Roma : Senato della Repubblica, 2004. ‐ XCII, 510 p.

LA costituzione europea: riflessioni sul contribu‐to italiano / a cura di Francesco Tufarelli. ‐ Roma Philos Edizioni, c2004. ‐ 175 p. ‐ (La cittadinanza europea. Quaderni ; 3). ‐ ISBN 88–86589–43–3

Il progetto di trattato‐costituzione : verso una nuova architettura dell'Unione Europea / a cura di Lucia Serena Rossi. ‐ Milano : Giuffrè Editore, c2004. ‐ XVI, 314 p. ‐ISBN 88–14–10925–7

Un popolo per l'Europa unita : fra dibattito storico e nuove prospettive teoriche e politiche / a cura di Corrado Malandrino. ‐Firenze : Leo S. Olschki editore, 2004. ‐ X, 251 p. ‐ (Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. studi ; 44). ‐ ISBN 88–222–53620

L'Unione Europea tra processo di integrazione e di allargamento / a cura di Giorgio Bosco, Francesco Perfetti, Guido Ravasi. ‐ Milano : Edizioni Nagard, c2004. ‐ 341 p. ‐ (Fondazione europea Dragàn ; 21). ‐ISBN 88–85010–79–2     

Crossing the boundary: Peasants,shepherds, and servants in a western Alpine community

In the historical and anthropological literature, western Alps servants were widely assumed to be few in number, and the importance of the institution of service therefore negligible. This study combines historical-demographic and ethnographic methods to investigate whether this was true of a community in the Italian western Alps with a mixed population of peasants and transhumant shepherds. Surprisingly, a valuable 1951 census reveals that seemingly small numbers hide what was actually a normal phase in the life course of peasant sons whom shepherds recruited to work as servants. Distinct patterns of life-cycle and lifetime service seem to have coexisted in the same community. The evidence also confirms that in southern Europe, as some recent studies have pointed out, the institution of service often was not just the circulation of young men and women between households but an asymmetrical exchange between different socioeconomic groups. Otherwise rigid social and cultural boundaries were thereby crossed.