Testing EU Foreign Policy in the Middle East

Since 2011, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been confronted with increasing challenges stemming from the Arab uprisings. Internally, they have had to face popular mobilisation and discontent, triggering a mixed reaction, including economic handouts, patronage, limited political and economic reforms as well as military intervention and repression. Externally, they have actively intervened in support of the protest movements in Syria and Libya and enthusiastically facilitated President Saleh's departure from Yemen. At first sight these responses may seem schizophrenic. Upon closer inspection, however, managing instability by shoring up friendly regimes on the inside and expanding the GCC's influence outside represent two sides of the same coin.     

Finding Politics in Cinema: The Portuguese Democratic Transition

Taking into account the political and social transformations initiated by the 1974 April revolution and the process of democratic transition, this article analyzes the political context and issues registered in documentary films in the period 1974–76. In their own way, documentary films carried a certain cultural praxis and social memory through the variety of symbols, beliefs, values, attitudes, and discourses that lay within these documentaries, allowing us to evaluate the dynamics of both power and legitimacy implicit in political culture. This article will focus on the cultural and political implications of documentary films on political theory in regards to the Portuguese democratic transition.     

量化分级管理制度信息公示的法理分析

量化分级管理制度作为卫生部监督管理餐饮服务行业和公共场所的一项重要举措已取得显著的成效,也成为我国建设法治国家、践行社会主义法治理念的一个具体着眼点。量化分级管理的信息公示作为一个重要的行政管理监管方法,有着其坚实的法理基础。本文从量化分级管理的信息公示与政府信息公开的关系入手,从主权在民和公民知情权这两个重要理论方面分析量化分级信息公示的法理内涵,为加快建立诚信社会,落实我国依法治国、执法为民、公平正义的法治理念做贡献。     

鹿结核病流行株融合基因Rv3872-Rv3874-Rv3875的原核表达

以本实验室保存的鹿体内分离并鉴定的结核病流行株为模板,利用重叠延伸剪接技术设计融合基因的引物,扩增融合基因Rv3872-Rv3874-Rv3875,构建重组表达质粒pGEX-4T-1-Rv3872-Rv3874-Rv3875;重组表达质粒被转化入大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)后,IPTG诱导表达,并采用谷胱甘肽琼脂糖亲和层析方法对目的蛋白进行纯化。基因测序结果显示,融合基因Rv3872-Rv3874-Rv3875的序列与GenBank中序列的符合率为99.89%。SDS-PAGE分析显示,融合基因在大肠杆菌中成功被诱导表达,获得以可溶形式表达的融合蛋白,该蛋白的分子质量约为60ku。Western-blot鉴定结果显示,纯化好的融合蛋白能与鹿结核病的阳性血清发生反应,说明该融合蛋白具有良好的反应原性,这一结果为它在鹿结核病血清学诊断中的应用奠定了试验基础。     

Alleged Biological Father Incest: A Forensic Approach

Paternal incest is one of the most serious forms of intrafamilial sexual abuse with clinical, social, and legal relevance. A retrospective study was performed, based on forensic reports and judicial decisions of alleged cases of biological paternal incest of victims under 18 years old (n = 215) from 2003 to 2008. Results highlight that in a relevant number of cases: victims were female; the abuse begun at an early age with reiteration; the alleged perpetrator presented a history of sexual crimes against children; sexual practices were physically poorly intrusive, which associated with a forensic medical evaluation performed more than 72 h after the abuse, explain partially the absence of physical injuries or other evidence—these last aspects are different from extrafamilial cases. In conclusion, observations about paternal incest are likely to exacerbate the psychosocial consequences of the abuse and may explain the difficulty and delay in detect and disclose these cases. Few cases were legally prosecuted and convicted.     

Psychological and behavioral adjustment in female youths with high or low psychopathic traits

The aim of the present study was to analyze the role of psychopathic traits in female juvenile delinquency. Using a sample of 236 young females from the Juvenile Detention Centers of the Portuguese Ministry of Justice and schools in the Lisbon area, a group of female youths with high psychopathic traits (n = 118; M = 15.84 years of age; range = 14–18 years of age) and a group of female youths with low psychopathic traits (n = 118; M = 15.77 years of age; range = 14–18 years of age) were formed based on the Portuguese version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device-Self-report (APSD-SR). The results showed that young females with high psychopathic traits start engaging in criminal activities and come into contact with the justice system earlier in life; exhibit higher levels of behavioral problems, conduct disorder, delinquent behaviors and serious criminality; and demonstrate lower levels of self-esteem and pro-social behavior. The importance of some variables in predicting group membership (high versus low psychopathic traits) was established through a binary logistic regression. Our findings reinforce the importance of the psychopathy construct for the early identification of potentially high-risk female youths and for the assessment of female youths who have already come into contact with the judicial system.     

可持续发展视角下的地方环境资源保护法制建设研究——以黑龙江省大庆市为例

可持续发展是体现现代文明注重长远发展的一种经济发展模式,为保护地方所辖地域的环境资源,建设生态宜居型城市,可持续发展必须成为地方政府保障城市经济建设的基本战略方针。而针对地方环境资源目前所面临的严峻形势,建立健全与现阶段经济社会发展相适应的生态环境法制体系成为亟待解决的焦点问题。     

和谐与秩序: 亲属拒证权的理论之维简

刑事诉讼中赋予犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的亲属以拒证权是程序正义的内在要求,也是我国法律文化的优良传统与现代世界各国诉讼立法的普遍做法,但由于历史、政治等原因亲属拒证权一直未见于我国现行的刑事诉讼法。可以通过对东西方容隐法制的比较与分析,抽象出两者共通的和谐与秩序的价值追求,以期为当今中国建立起符合实际的亲属拒证权规则提供可资参评的理论支撑与根本理念。     

Interest groups in Brazil: a new era and its challenges

This article provides general and specific insights into Brazil's developing interest group system. In doing so, it presents a theoretical foundation for understanding this group activity, past and present. The general insights of the role of interest groups under limited political participation and authoritarian regimes down to the 1980s plus the period of democracy since then, provide background for the specific insights of the article. The specifics focus on three aspects of Brazil's contemporary interest group activity: (1) utilization of a neo-institutional analytical approach for understanding the interest group environment; (2) an analysis of the types of lobbying activity that takes place in Brazil today, including a case study; and (3) an assessment of the level of development of the group system by placing it in a comparative perspective with both advanced liberal democracies and other Latin American countries. The findings show that Brazil is, indeed, taking on many of the characteristics of a developed interest group system; but its past, its political culture, its political economy, and, paradoxically, its new-found status as an international power, work to present several challenges to its group system and thus to a full democratization of the country. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How Does the Criminal Justice System Operate from an Empirical Point of View? An Analysis of the Netherlands Case

This study analyzes how the Dutch criminal justice system works from an abstract and a practical perspective. Using data collected through quantitative (police and prosecution databases) and qualitative (interviewing of key participants familiar with the databases and observation of some ongoing trials) procedures, it identifies the main features of this system as well as the main problems that researchers might have when working with data recorded by the police and the prosecution service. This is a methodological paper that intends to contribute with the data analysis research in this field.