A Review of: “Alfred G. Gerteiny. The Terrorist Conjunction: The United States,the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,and Al-Qa'ida”

Since the advent of the Good Friday peace agreement, violence associated with dissident Irish Republican groups continues to present major security challenges. While there has not been a tragedy on the scale of the 1998 Omagh bombing, the level of violent dissident Republican (VDR) activity has risen steadily in frequency since then, and in 2010 reached unprecedented levels. This article presents findings from the VDR Project at the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at Pennsylvania State University. The research is based on the extensive identification, collection, and analysis of open source material examining the nature and extent of VDR activity from 1997 to 2010. The project analyses data on VDR activity across this period as well as the individuals taking part in these violent events. The data suggests that while originally recruitment was predominantly southern based it is now more focused on Northern Ireland. Analysis of the data also indicates that the VDR leadership continues to recruit individuals with skill-sets to serve the movement's aims.     

Economic crisis and elections: The European periphery

This paper introduces the articles in the symposium which address the issue of democratic accountability and economic voting in polities on the European periphery. The economic crisis that hit the world economy in 2008 has severely challenged the capacity of governments to steer the national economy and has had a strong impact on their electoral support. The papers discuss whether economic voting and democratic accountability are increasing or, on the other hand, they could be depressed by globalisation and by shifts of ruling competence from the national to the supranational European arena.     

The integration hypothesis: How the European Union shapes economic voting

Whereas economic perceptions influence the national vote in Western European countries, globalization, or international openness, conditions the influence of economic perceptions on that national vote. But how do attitudes toward the EU itself influence the economic vote? After establishing the presence of a national economic vote in Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal) we test the hypothesis that heightened perception of European Union economic responsibility reduces the magnitude of the national economic vote coefficient. These tests are carried out on current (2009) survey data, via logistic regression analysis of fully specified voting behavior models, estimated country-by-country and in a data pool. Clearly, the national economic vote diminishes, to the extent the EU is held responsible for the economy.     

The globalised network of a dirty game: match-fixing,illegal betting and transnational organised crime in Italian football

This paper examines the role of illicit networks and transnational crime organisations in fostering match-fixing and illegal betting in the globalised world. The goal is to identify the characteristics of these illicit phenomena and their basic structures and functions. Social network analysis was conducted to explore the scandal known as Calcioscommesse that came to light in Italy between 2011 and 2013. Attention is focused on brokers and crime syndicates that operate in Italian football, with the objective of comprehending their relations, functions and balances of power; this research clarifies the roles of the collective and individual actors in transnationally promoting match-fixing and illegal betting.     

Genetic profile of the Açores Archipelago population using the new PowerPlex 16 system kit

Allele and haplotype frequencies of 16 chromosome STR loci, 15 of them included in the Kit PowerPlex16 System from Promega were determined in a sample of unrelated males from the A?ores Archipelago. All subjects were subjected to an interview in order to make sure that their ancestors belonged to the same island at least back to three generations. This way we intended to look for possible inter-islands differences. PowerPlex16 includes STRs not studied before in the A?ores population. The Kit includes two new allele markers (Penta D and Penta E), which proved to be extremely useful for paternity testing (PD=0.921 and 0.971, respectively). The study revealed that the A?ores population is considerable different from the previous studied Madeira population, but does not differ from that of the north Portugal. Nevertheless, some loci presented alleles not previously reported for Portugal.     

Bringing the Past Back in: How Attitudes towards the Democratic Transition Influence the Portuguese Voter

Abstract

This article analyses the way in which attitudes towards the transition to democracy explain party identification and ideology in Portugal. This question is important because the transition to democracy in Portugal was a turbulent process marked by a rupture with the past and institutional fluidity. It has also conditioned the main political parties’ relationships with the electorate and each other since 1974. I compare the same explanatory model results from two surveys, conducted in 2004 and 2014, respectively, to understand the extent to which perceptions about the transition help characterise the Portuguese voter over the last decade.     

The Effect of Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol®) on the Development of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and its Implications for Forensic Entomology

This study investigated the potential effects of flunitrazepam (known as “date rape drug”) on the developmental cycle of Chrysomya megacephala, an important forensic species, and their possible implications for the calculation of the PMI. A 1050 C. megacephala eggs were divided into five groups with seven replications each. The eggs were placed on artificial diet prepared with four drug concentrations of flunitrazepam (4, 8, 16, and 32 ng/g), besides the control group (prepared with water). Were evaluated the potential effects on development time, weight gain, and mortality during the cycles. The drug had no significant effect on development time or mortality although it did affect the weight of the pupae and adults (Kruskal–Wallis, p < 0.05). The result can be deduced that the determination of the postmortem interval is not affected.