From Middle Powers to Entrepreneurial Powers in World Politics: Brazil's Successes and Failures in International Crises

This article uses the concept of entrepreneurial powers to discuss how and under what circumstances Brazil successfully accomplishes its goals in international crises. The concept of entrepreneurial power focuses on systematic evidence of middle‐power behavior and its relation to foreign policy tools. Brazil resorts to three agency‐based foreign policy tools that are the substance of its entrepreneurial power. These instruments are always mediated by a structural condition, the dominant power pivotal position in the crisis. This study applies qualitative comparative analysis methodology to 32 international crises since the early 1990s in which Brazil played a role. It finds that for regional crises, the use of only one agency‐based tool is sufficient for success, regardless of the dominant power position; and for global crises, the use of only one agency‐based tool is a necessary and sufficient condition for Brazil to accomplish its goals, despite the dominant power position on the issue.     

The 2019 Portuguese general elections

Abstract

The 2019 Portuguese general elections have led to the formation of another minority government of the Socialist Party. Right-wing parties suffered a resounding defeat. The election had two key consequences. First, after four years of contract parliamentarism with an extreme-left party, the Socialists returned to their historical position of pivotal party in the system. Socialist leader Costa refused to replicate alliances with parties to his left. Second, the 2019 election witnessed the emergence of three new parties, Chega, Iniciativa Liberal and Livre. The election of Chega marks a watershed moment in Portuguese democratic history, as for the first time an extreme-right populist party has gained representation in the country.     

What are the best quorum rules? A laboratory investigation

Public Choice - Many political systems with direct democracy mechanisms have adopted rules preventing decisions from being made by simple majority rule. The device added most commonly to majority...     

Voltammetric determination of Δ9-THC in glassy carbon electrode: An important contribution to forensic electroanalysis

Teeth are recently drawing attention for their potential as biological modeling investigation samples due to their ability to be collected and their slow substance metabolism. There is no active metabolism of elements after the completion of dentin. Dentin is surrounded by enamel and cementum, and is not affected by the oral environment. Therefore, the amount of trace elements in dentin may change with age, and this is considered to be a reliable biological load index. The objectives in this study are to demonstrate concentrations of elements in the dentin of healthy Japanese subjects by sex and age, and to reveal the relationship between element levels and age. 121 healthy teeth samples were extracted due to periodontal disease or orthodontic treatment. Each tooth was sliced from the crown to the root apex into 0.5-1mm thickness, then enamel, cementum, and the pulp were removed; the dentins were used as samples. The concentration of 10 trace elements (B, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Mo, Cd, and Pb) in the dentin was measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The differences Co and Pb in the dentin between men and women were significant (p<0.01). Significant positive correlation was observed between B, Co, Cu, Zn, Sr and Pb concentrations in the dentin and age (p<0.001). The results of the present study suggest that human dentin is an appropriate substance for relativity with sex and age at further future research.     

Fatal intoxication with tianeptine (Stablon)

Tianeptine (Stablon), although structurally similar to tricyclic antidepressants, acts by enhancing the reuptake of serotonin. A fatal case is presented involving a 26-year-old man, found lying in bed with a "mushroom of foam" around his mouth. Empty blister packs of Stablon and a suicide note were found next to the body. A liquid-liquid extraction procedure with n-hexane: ethyl acetate and n-hexane: 2-propanol, followed by LC-DAD-MS analysis, using positive mode electrospray ionization was performed. The detection limit was 0.001 microg/mL. The toxicological results revealed the following tianeptine concentrations in the post-mortem samples: blood 5.1 microg/mL; urine 2.0 microg/mL; liver 23 microg/g; stomach contents 22 mg. Femoral blood analyses also revealed an ethanol concentration of 0.53 g/L. The present method was also developed and validated for the other post-mortem specimens, since no previous published data had confirmed the post-mortem distribution of tianeptine. The absence of other suitable direct causes of death (macroscopic or histological) and the positive results achieved with the toxicological analysis led the pathologist to rule that death was due to an intoxication caused by the suicidal ingestion of tianeptine in combination with alcohol.     

Y chromosome STR haplotypes in the Caribbean city of Cartagena (Colombia)

Haplotype data were obtained from a sample of 173 unrelated male individuals from Cartagena (Colombia), for 16 Y-chromosome STRs (DYS19, DYS385, DYS389 I, DYS389 II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS460, DYS461, DYS635, GATA H4 and GATA A10). No shared haplotypes were observed, demonstrating the usefulness and informative power of these Y-STRs in male lineage identification in Cartagena. Genetic distances were calculated using previously published haplotype data and the lowest values were found for the comparisons with samples of Iberian origin.     

Social Norms and the Paradox of Elections’ Turnout

People vote although their marginal gain from voting is zero.We contribute to the resolution of this paradox by presentinga model for equilibrium configuration of attitudes regardingthe decision to vote. Each individual is seen as an element ofa social network, within which pairs of individuals expressideas and attitudes, exerting mutual influence. We model therole of such networks in propagating the mutual influenceacross pairs of individuals. We show that it may suffice thata small set of individuals have a strong feeling about showingup to vote to generate a significant turnout in elections.     

Regulating factory safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry

This paper examines how far the workplace inspection program established under the 2013 Accord on Fire and Building Safety has served to improve safety in Bangladesh garment factories, and the extent to which its operation has been influenced by factors that the literature suggests are important in shaping the outcomes of private regulatory initiatives. The findings suggest that such regulation can generate positive outcomes, even in the absence of strong public regulatory support. They also caution against discounting the role of compliance‐based enforcement strategies, while highlighting the importance of their adequate resourcing and transparency. Some support is also offered for the argument that such regulatory initiatives could directly influence the market dynamics that shape supplier working conditions.     

Knowledge flows,the influence of national R&amp;D structure and the moderating role of public–private cooperation

This paper analyses country-specific determinants of knowledge flows with a view to uncover the role of cross-organizational interactions. Using a sample of some 600,000 patents from the EU27 member states in the period 1990–2007, we take backward citations as dependent variable and find that technological sophistication and research size have a positive effect on knowledge flows. While a national bias towards applied research and development has a negative impact, individual public–private cooperation has a moderating effect due to the generation of scientific knowledge by public institutions. The present study contributes to the debate concerning the direction of R&D investments and provides empirical support to policies aimed at the enhancement of public–private cooperation.