Congressional Institutionalization: A Cross‐National Comparison

This article explains variations in levels of institutionalization across legislatures of the world. It construes institutionalization as an equilibrium outcome that emerges from beliefs and investments made by political actors. Drawing insights from work on US congressional institutionalization and congressional organization, and on comparative party system institutionalization, it provides an index to measure congressional institutionalization. Using this index, it explores the constitutional factors that affect levels of congressional institutionalization. The empirical results raise a warning with respect to building comparative implications from an excessive focus on one particular case.     

Development of a Questionnaire on Intentions to Engage in Dating Violence Among Puerto Rican Residents

Journal of Family Violence - This mixed-methods paper describes the development and preliminary validation of the Behavioral Intentions Questionnaire (BIQ), a multi-scale questionnaire developed to...     

Shades of Gray: A Liminal Interpretation of Organizational Legality-Illegality

ABSTRACT

We apply the concept of liminality to the analysis of legality and illegality in organizations. Considering the centrality of rules to modern organizations and the potential discrepancy between general rules and specific situations, people are often confronted with a dilemma: apply the rules even when they should not be applied or bend the rules to improve their applicability. If they do what they should do (adapt the rules to the circumstances), they will be doing what they should not do (disrespecting the rules). This double binding situation forces people to slip into a liminal space, betwixt and between, accepting the structure while, at the same time, challenging it. The situation of liminality must eventually be solved, but it confronts individuals with the limits of legality. The relationship between liminality and illegality is explored, and some implications for the control legal and illegal networks extracted.     

Potentially Lethal Behaviors Associated With Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder: Review of the Literature and Forensic Implications

Abstract:  Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is characterized by loss of the muscle atonia of REM sleep, with release of complex and violent behaviors that are often attempted dream-enactments. This study reviewed the literature on RBD with regard to potentially lethal behavior. A total of 39–41 clinical cases of RBD associated with potentially lethal behaviors to self and/or others were found, involving a child and adults of all age groups, that manifested as choking/headlock ( n  = 22–24), defenestration/near-defenestration ( n  = 7), and diving from bed ( n  = 10). A total of 80.8% ( n  = 21) were males; 19.2% ( n  = 5) were females; mean age was 65.6 ± (SD) 13.8 years (range: 27–81 years, and a child). (Gender/age data were not listed in the remaining cases.) An etiologic association of RBD with a neurologic disorder (or with pharmacotherapy of psychiatric disorders, n  = 4) was present in 21–23 patients. Thus, RBD carries well-documented, potential forensic consequences during RBD episodes that could possibly have been misinterpreted as suicidal or homicidal behavior.     

Between EU Constitution and Individuals' Self: European Citizenship

Law and Philosophy -     

Political liberalization in the People's Republic of China: Its linkage to the Mainland-Taiwan reunification

This article examines the impact of China's liberal political reforms on its reunification with Taiwan from the perspective of linkage theory. Through the liberalization of domestic politics, the post-Mao leadership has effected a fundamental change of regime type, transforming the Maoist totalitarian state to an established single-party regime. Because of this change, the Chinese Communists have increasingly considered China more as a developing country than a Marxist regime that needs a favorable regional and international environment for implementing its modernization programs. This has led to the emergence of a secular and stable China. The liberal tendencies in internal politics have produced four domestic-international linkages favoring China in the settlement of the Taiwan issues. Despite the presence of some negative linkages against China, it seems that the post-Deng leadership can take charge of the reunification issues as long as they can continue to make progress in institutionalizing its political system and in liberalizing its monolithic institutions.     

Computer-based production of comparison overlays from 3D-scanned dental casts for bite mark analysis

Bite mark analysis assumes the uniqueness of the dentition can be accurately recorded on skin or an object. However, biting is a dynamic procedure involving three moving systems, the maxilla, the mandible, and the victim's reaction. Moreover, bite marks can be distorted by the anatomic location of the injury or the elasticity of the skin tissue. Therefore, the same dentition can produce bite marks that exhibit variations in appearance. The complexity of this source of evidence emphasizes the need for new 3D imaging technologies in bite mark analysis. This article presents a new software package, DentalPrint (2004, University of Granada, Department of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Odontology, Granada, Spain) that generates different comparison overlays from 3D dental cast images depending on the pressure of the bite or the distortion caused by victim-biter interaction. The procedure for generating comparison overlays is entirely automatic, thus avoiding observer bias. Moreover, the software presented here makes it impossible for third parties to manipulate or alter the 3D images, making DentalPrint suitable for bite mark analyses to be used in court proceedings.