The modern holy shroud

Testimonies disclosed that a 44-year-old pedestrian was struck head-on by a truck while she was roaming on the motorway; at the time of collision, the truck was travelling at a speed of about 90 km/h. In the second phase of the collision, the pedestrian was projected about 100 m before her body was run over by the truck and then by a car. The autopsy revealed extensive mutilations, making it impossible to verify the testimonies of witnesses to the collision as regards the pedestrian's position at the moment of the first impact. However, the reports produced by the technical expert and the forensic pathologist were able to confirm the testimonies, based on an impact zone on the front panel of the cab of the truck, where part of the pedestrian's face was reproduced like a "modern holy shroud".     

German Views of the Political System

The article analyses Germans' views of democracy in a longitudinal perspective, especially since unification. It is shown that most Germans in both parts of the country strongly support the idea of democracy although many are at the same time dissatisfied with its practice. This dissatisfaction rests on different motives, ranging from high normative democratic ideals over differences between the normative concept of democracy and the implemented one, including misconceptions of what democracy should or can be to anti-democratic attitudes. At present, Germany faces all these motives of dissatisfaction with democracy, yet in different strata and parts of the society. On the one hand, support for democracy suffers somewhat from declining interest in politics in general, which makes citizens unrealistic about political possibilities and their limits. On the other hand, feelings of economic deprivation, especially in the eastern part, still motivate sceptical views on the western kind of democracy and even in smaller parts of the public an alienation from the democratic credo. Growing inequalities throughout the whole of Germany, especially growing poverty in the lowest social strata, will cause additional systems stress, if it is not moderated by the social welfare system. Thus, the country needs more education in democratic politics for the citizens and more responsive politics on the side of the politicians including more open political structures for citizens' demands and participation.     

Mitochondrial DNA control region population data from Macedonia

Mitochondrial DNA sequences of the entire control region were analyzed in 200 unrelated individuals from Macedonia. A total of 163 different haplotypes were found as determined by 177 polymorphic sites. The probability of a random match was calculated as 1:121 (0.83%). The basic phylogenetic structure of the Macedonian population as derived from its haplogroup distribution is in agreement with other West-Eurasian populations. Upon publication, the population data are going to be available in the EMPOP database (www.empop.org) [W. Parson, A. Dür, EMPOP—a forensic mtDNA database, FSI:Genetics 1 (2) (2007) 88–92; W. Parson, A. Brandstätter, A. Alonso, N. Brandt, B. Brinkmann, A. Carracedo, et al., The EDNAP mitochondrial DNA population database (EMPOP) collaborative exercises: organisation, results and perspectives, Forensic Sci. Int. 139 (2–3) (2004) 215–226.].     

The Emotional Dimension in Legal Regulation

This article argues that the study of legal regulation can be further developed through an analysis of emotions because it can bring into sharper focus the social nature of regulation. The article illustrates this point by discussing the notion of regulatory law as an emotional process. It then suggests various ways in which an analysis of emotions can promote understanding of a key issue in legal regulation, the role of structure and agency. The article concludes with a brief discussion of how existing social science research methods can be adapted to the study of emotions.     

Electronic Resources and the Study of Political Elites in Russia

Developments in the information society in Russia have led to the creation of an abundance of online primary texts by political actors and institutions. This article surveys a large selection of official electronic texts with the aim of encouraging more extensive use of online sources and easing researchers' navigation of Russian politicians' use of the internet. While the authors do not claim that online data can replace the insights gained from elite interviews, the article suggests that online texts could be used more extensively as a valuable addition to existing methods applied to the study of Russian political elites.     

Enhancing the clean development mechanism through sectoral approaches: definitions, applications and ways forward

Grave concerns with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have increasingly surfaced in the international climate policy arena. The sectoral approaches described in this paper may be a way to address some of the shortcomings of this Kyoto mechanism. The paper outlines the criticisms that have been raised against the CDM as well as the conflicting interpretations of a sectoral approach and examines in how far it might resolve the mechanism’s perceived shortcomings. Furthermore, it outlines issues that need to be resolved when implementing a sectoral approach: distributing costs and benefits, defining the sector and its baseline, ensuring additionality and tackling procedural issues. A sectoral approach can enable countries to guide their structural development but it also opens up a gap between public and private investment that needs to be addressed before conflicts arise. Sectoral CDM activities may be able to lower transaction costs for projects that otherwise cannot compete in the CDM market and might even pave the way to sectoral greenhouse gas limitation targets in developing countries by establishing the necessary infrastructure for data collection. However, a sectoral CDM cannot be mistaken for a panacea. Some of the mechanism’s problems remain, which highlights the need to establish additional instruments to support Southern countries in furthering sustainable development and embarking on a low-emission trajectory.