Politics and the Adoption of Legislative Television: An Analysis of the U.S. House Vote on C-SPAN

The present study extends the work of Crain and Goff (1988) by examining the political determinants of the earliest decision to adopt legislative television on a permanent basis at the national level in the United States. Data on legislator and district characteristics are used to explain the 1977 vote to adopt C-SPAN coverage of proceedings in the U.S. House of Representatives. Logit regression results suggest that length of service and extremity of political views/ideologies had clear and significant effects on politicians' votes concerning the adoption of legislative television. As with Crain and Goff (1988), these measures capture some element of legislator self-interest.     

Refining the analysis of Y-chromosomal diversity in Alentejo (Portugal)

Sickle cell anemia (HBB*S) and glucose-6-phosphatedehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, present a clinal distribution in Portugal, being more frequent in the South and showing foci of high prevalence in some places from Alentejo such as Coruche and Pias. Since the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of G6PD deficiency alleles and HBB*S lead to conclude that Sub-Saharan Africa was the place of origin of many of them, it is likely that at least some were introduced in Alentejo by Sub-Saharan individuals whose presence in the region is known to have had considerable demographic impact. To evaluate the male mediated Sub-Saharan influence in present-day populations from Coruche and Pias, we have performed a high resolution analysis of 16 Y-STRs and 23 Y-SNPs in 91 males from Coruche and 54 from Pias. The results showed the absence of haplogroups of Sub-Saharan origin and a Y-chromosome composition basically not differing from those previously reported for other Portuguese mainland regions. Therefore, from the forensic point of view the studied populations can be dealt without special concerns.     

The United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning of 03-08-05]

Although the United Nation's Declaration on the Cloning of Human Beings has prohibited the cloning of human beings, the narration of the norm has not meant a strict and clear prohibition of the ban. Additionally, the text was not adopted by a wide majority of the member States and that means that it is a mere declaratory text that leaves open the debate on therapeutic cloning.     

Democratic Hegemony and American Hegemony

The emergence of an ‘American democratic empire’, rising from the global informational and transportation revolution, that has its epicentre situated on the territory of the United States (US), has produced a profound metamorphosis in world affairs. National power elites, including those in America, are confronting a dilemma. They are compelled to accept, favour and even defend the so-called globalisation process in order to avoid further erosion of their economic and political power. On the other hand, this process is also directly threatening this same power. The paradox is that the US is the main promoter and defender of last resort of the new global ‘order’, which at the same time is restricting its own margins for sovereign action. The ‘democratic empire’ is thus fostering the rise of a democratic hegemonism at the expense of a ‘US hegemonism’. This democratic hegemonism is a gradually rising—and fragile—consensus on a proliferating set of perceptions and values, stressing individual freedom, responsibility and political and social activism. This consensus arises from the material possibilities of a more individualistic way of life and the increasing capacity of single individuals or organised groups to participate in global and local political decision-making processes. This is a process that favours the empowerment of interest groups whose reference is no longer solely the nation-state. Hence, traditional power elites are progressively losing their ability to present themselves as the ultimate embodiment of a national ‘general interest’. The irony of the seemingly intractable contradiction between US hegemonism and democratic hegemonism is that the actual spreading of the logic of the latter is closely dependent on US power and willingness to defend its own national interest. The greatest challenge for the coming decades will be the construction of supranational governance institutions under democratic hegemony, so as to avoid a classic imperial self-isolation of the US—a situation that would trigger the inevitable demise of democratic hegemonism and, for the time being, of any order as such.     

Brand response analysis: a Peircean semiotic approach

The purpose of this article is to organise and simplify the concept of brand response. It is a development of the authors' semiotic approach to the concept of brand, which uses a triadic model based on the Peircean levels of analysis of the sign. The original model distinguishes three levels: identity, object and response. This article briefly describes the first two levels and goes into more depth with regard to brand response. From the theoretical point of view, the authors' approach inverts the survey method used to ascertain positioning, image and value of the brand. Firstly, brand response is associations occurring in the minds of the reporting agent. Associations create awareness, and not the other way round, which is the concept underlying the current theory of brand equity. From the point of view of practice, it is the authors' belief that the main contribution made by the triadic semiotic model applied to brand response is that of the importance of “firstness”, i.e. the most immediate response possible. It is with a concern for ease of application that this article hopes to contribute by making brand analysis and assessment more intelligible. This article should be seen as an exploration into the possibility of simplifying the analysis of brand response. Its originality lies in the effort to return to the very reason for the existence of branding. The authors are convinced that by choosing differentiation as the guiding principle of their approach they have valorised what is essential, which is sometimes lost in more complex modelling.     

危机幕后的东亚地区秩序分析

本文认为,东亚当前出现"大战不犯,小乱不断"状况的根源在于新旧嬗变中的地区秩序远未就域内各国的政治安排形成制度化设计,在于东亚地区秩序的"有气无力"。历史上,东亚地区秩序曾经历了天朝礼治秩序、条约秩序和冷战下"自主"秩序三种形态。依据历史脉络的梳理,本文认为有美国、中国、日本等七个要素影响着东亚地区秩序。为明确这些要素的特征及相互作用,本文提出了反映国家和国家关系总体形态的"锥体"模型。美国是影响东亚地区秩序的决定性变量,利用"锥体"模型,本文认为,美国现实主义的热情与贪婪,地缘战略的坚持与冷静,相互依赖的推动与困惑等特征共同勾画着东亚战略。中国的复兴是影响东亚地区秩序的突出变量,其显著特征在于整体性的成长。日本"正常化"是影响东亚地区秩序的另一主要变量,其特征在于日本自身的"二重性"。朝鲜半岛、台湾、东南亚由于其关键性和不稳定性而成为东亚地区秩序的缝合口。此外,俄罗斯要素也不可或缺。在美国要素与中国、日本等要素的复杂互动中,中美关系是东亚地区秩序的主轴,作为其中一方的中国,如何把握自身不断增长的力量至关重要。     

The assessment of intimate partner violence in Spanish women: the index of spouse abuse

We aimed to analyze the internal consistency and construct validity of the Spanish version of the Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA) in a representative sample of 8,995 women attending general practice in Spain in 2006-2007. The factor structure analysis shows that the ISA measures four intimate partner violence (IPV) dimensions: emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and controlling behavior. Cronbach alpha ranges from .82 (sexual factor) to .94 (emotional). Construct validity analysis shows that IPV is associated with poorer self-perceived health, higher psychological distress, and lower tangible social support. The ISA can help make more visible forms of gender violence in the intimate relationship that sometimes are not recognized as such, like sexual violence or controlling behavior. This can contribute to the development of specific interventions for women experiencing IPV, considering the specificities of the violent acts experienced.     

Scanning electron microscopy as an auxiliary method in the study of exhumed bones

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used in forensic science in many ways. The reports of cases in which SEM has been used as an auxiliary method in the investigation of exhumed bones are rare. In this article, we report an exhumation that was made to determine if a seized weapon could have been used in a homicide. We used SEM to analyze a fracture in the interior of the skull of the victim. The findings described in this article showed us that it is possible to develop new researches in this field.