Outstanding ethical-legal issues on biobanks. An overview on the regulations of the Member States of the Eurobiobank project.

EuroBiobank (EBB) was created in 2001. This is a network of European biological banks made up by 7 member States. The purpose of the network is to ease the access to the biological resources of the human being in patients who suffer uncommon diseases. This study deals mainly with the ethical-legal debate that has arisen in those States, as well as the existing legal regulation and the proposed recommendations for its possible solution. Likewise, there is a special mention about the informed consent, the possible use in the future of the samples in relation to its commercial use as industrial property rights and to Directive 2004/03 that was adopted by the European Parliament 31 March, 2004.     

Czech Republic

European Journal of Political Research -     

Borda Count Versus Approval Voting: A Fuzzy Approach

In this paper we consider a fuzzy variantof the Borda count taking into accountagents' intensities of preference. Thisfuzzy Borda count is obtained by means ofscore gradation and normalization processesfrom its original pattern. The advantagesof the Borda count hold, and are evenimproved, providing an appropriate schemein collective decision making. In addition,both classic and fuzzy Borda counts arerelated to approval voting, establishing aunified framework from distinct points ofview.     

Sites of power,instruments of public intervention: the Palace of Congress and the construction of federal power in Argentina, 1880–1916

SUMMARY

This article intends to provide an analysis of the process of building a house for the Argentine congress between 1880 and 1916. After the presidential campaign and revolution of 1880, Argentina entered a new political era that saw the definition of a political system under the hegemony of the Partido Autonomista Nacional and the consolidation of the federal state. The defeat of porteño militias in 1880 represented the end of the project of a national state controlled from Buenos Aires and the transformation of the city into the federal capital of the country. This new role meant that the city now needed buildings to accommodate new functions, a house for parliament among them. This article explores the significance of building the Palace of Congress as part of a broader plan by politicians, urban planners and bureaucrats to place symbols of republican greatness in central areas of the new capital. This study also focuses on the parliamentary debates that discussed the allocation of public funding for the construction of congress and the importance of giving the new capital examples of monumental architecture as a way to underscore its new political status. Finally, this article analyses the impact of the debates in congress and in the press about allegations of embezzlement and corruption that surrounded the building of the Palace of Congress.     

Election through complaint and controversy for political power in Chile, 1874–1925

SUMMARY

This article offers reflections on the power relations between the executive and legislative branches of the Chilean state by examining the way political parties leveraged the electoral system to balance the weight of each branch in the configuration of government. The period from 1874 to 1924 is framed by a cycle of reforms to Chile’s 1833 constitution that were pushed through by liberal sectors to limit the power of the executive under the country’s presidential regime, efforts that contributed to a final breakdown of the presidential regime following civil war in 1891. That year the victorious revolutionary forces implemented a parliamentarian system that remained in place until it was overthrown by a military coup. The literature on this process has studied the use of legislative manoeuvres such as obstruction, accusation and filibuster by political parties to weaken the executive power. Little has been written, however, about the way parties exploited the rules and procedures of the electoral system and, specifically, the use of official complaints and the process known as calificación (qualification) by which congress audited final election results. This article will help fill that void, focusing on understanding how both practices worked and the effects that the election reforms of 1874, 1884 and 1890 had on them.     

Spanish Validation of the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory (BCAP)

The Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) is a widely used instrument to assess the potential for child abuse. The brief version of the CAP (BCAP) is a proven time-efficient screener tool. This investigation aims to propose a Spanish BCAP version by analyzing the factor structure of its Abuse Scale (aim 1) and, if needed, developing a valid BCAP Lie Scale (aim 2). Study 1 comprised 205 mothers with problems coping with their children’s behavior recruited from family support and treatment programs. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal consistency, and convergent validity were conducted. Study 2 applied an experimental between-subject design to assess a convenience sample of the Spanish population (N?=?260) with 124 participants in Condition 1 (honest) and 136 in Condition 2 (lie). Differences between conditions were analyzed. Study 1: CFA showed adequate fit indices for the seven-factor model (RMSEA?=?.04 CFI?=?.98, TLI?=?.98). Internal consistency and convergent validity were adequate for the Abuse Scale. Findings also showed that the BCAP Lie Scale does not accomplish the main requirements to detect participants answering in a socially desirable way. Study 2: A new set of six items showing significant differences between conditions (U =?15,481.00, z =?11.14, p <?.001, r =?.77) is proposed to compose the Lie Scale. The findings support that the Spanish BCAP is a valid instrument to assess mothers recruited from Child Protection Services. The new BCAP Lie Scale could be useful to select valid inventories. Further research with more representative samples is recommended.

     

Effect of incarceration on criminality in the state of Minas Gerais,Brazil

Crime, Law and Social Change - Criminality is a major factor in reducing the well-being of the Brazilian population. As a result, many researchers and governments strive to discover what can reduce...     

Are ivory antiques actually antique?

Crime, Law and Social Change - Twenty-five samples of ivory artefacts were analysed using a radiocarbon dating method. These artefacts were part of a collection of 77 items seized during a wildlife...