Voltammetric analysis of luminescent markers in gunshot residues

Currently, SEM-EDS is used to detect gunshot residue (GSR) from the presence of Ba, Pb, and Sb in the sample. However, the development of new nontoxic ammunition (NTA) has prevented conventional metals from being found. In this work, we aim to determine the presence of an inorganic luminescent chemical marker based on rare earth in gunshot residues using the technique of squarewave voltammetry (SWV). After firing, the luminescent complex [(Eu₂Zr)(btc)₃(Hbtc)_0.5.6H₂O], which is used as a chemical marker, can be detected under a UV lamp. An aqueous solution with 0.1 mol L⁻¹ KCl as supporting electrolyte can be easily collected on carbon paste electrode surfaces for SWV analysis A = 100 mV, f = 10 Hz, and step potential of 5 mV are required. The luminescent marker incorporated into the carbon paste electrode showed two anodic peak currents in the region of 0.4 V (vs Ag/AgCl) and at 0.75 V (vs Ag/AgCl) and also a cathodic one in 0.4 V (vs Ag/AgCl). SEM-EDS was able to analyze the same voltammetric results for conventional and nontoxic ammunition containing the luminescent marker. Therefore, voltammetry and SEM-EDS are valid for detecting the new residue marker in GSR. Despite this, the electrochemical method is still more advantageous because of its low cost and lack of expensive equipment and supplies in forensic laboratories.     

Child Suicide in the North of Portugal

Suicide in children is a rare finding and is probably motivated by acts of impulsiveness. This study aims to contribute to the characterization of child suicide in a forensic perspective in the Portuguese population. Data of forensic autopsies from 2004 to 2012 related to suicide victims under 18 years were reviewed. A total of 17 cases, with a male predominance (64.7%) and a mean age of 15.24 ± 1.348 for both genders, were registered. The leading suicide method was hanging (35.3%), and a suicide note was found in 41.2%. Psychological autopsy proved to be useful in promoting a better understanding of these incidents and their antecedents. This study also offers useful information, namely the implied risk factors, for future programs of suicide research and prevention.     

Gender Equality on the Boards of EU Companies: Between Economic Efficiency,Fundamental Rights and Democratic Legitimisation of Economic Governance

Currently, there is a large gap between the proportion of employed and well‐educated women and those sitting on the boards of EU companies. This gap should be significantly diminished because it is mandated by the EU fundamental right of equality between women and men (Article 23 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights), and by the need for democratic legitimisation of the EU and of its economic governance (Articles 2 and 3(3) TEU). However, the Commission's proposal for a directive on improving the gender balance among non‐executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges does not constitute an appropriate legal solution for this problem because it infringes the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity. There are many other instruments than compulsory gender quotas that can be used by EU institutions to promote more gender‐balanced boards of EU companies. The potential of such measures has not been utilised yet in full.     

Do Remittances Diminish Social Violence?

This paper represents the first attempt to formalise the relationship between remittances and social violence by developing a model that predicts that migrants’ remittances lead to the reduction of social violence in the recipient economy under the condition that remittances increase the average product of labour. Using homicide data as an indicator of social violence, we tested our model’s prediction. Controlling for the endogeneity problem with appropriate instruments, we found that remittances tend to reduce social violence. We performed sensitivity analysis on remittances in the empirical specification and found it robust with an unchanged negative sign.     

Portugal and the Straitjacket of the European Financial Crisis

The austerity program negotiated with the Troika (IMF-ECB-EC) and adopted by Portugal in 2011 is having a devastating impact on the Portuguese economy. Although the Portuguese government is clearly fulfilling the measures agreed with the Troika, the final outcome of the adjustment program is not entirely in its hands, but rather awaiting further EU decisions involving measures to stimulate economic growth, mutualisation of public debt and additional steps towards a federal Europe. As time goes by, the negative repercussions – in particular social and political instability, as well as the erosion of the Portuguese democratic regime – are inevitable if there is no light at the end of the tunnel.     

Disaffected democrats: Political attitudes and political action in Portugal

Three decades after the fall of the Portuguese authoritarian regime, support for democracy has become widespread among the mass public. However, similarities between Portugal and other more established democracies should not be overestimated. In most of the latter, several studies have found increasing political and civic activism on the part of pro-democratic and politically sophisticated citizens, who are nevertheless increasingly dissatisfied with democratic performance. However, the most prevalent and consequential attitudinal-behavioural syndrome in Portugal is less one of ‘democratic dissatisfaction’ than one of ‘democratic disaffection’, entailing low levels of political engagement and participation.     

The EU's security actorness: the case of EUMM in Georgia

This article addresses conceptually the European Union (EU)'s security actorness, explaining its meaning, identifying the factors that are constitutive to the concept, and analyzing whether the EU is a security actor in Georgia, through its increased presence and engagement in the country and its eventual implications for the South Caucasus. The article argues that the complementary nature of the different EU tools deployed on the ground and their comprehensive nature have contributed to the EU's consolidation as a security actor in the South Caucasus. However, and despite the successful assessments of the European Union Monitoring Mission in the context of common security and defense policy development, the mission's deployment and its contribution to regional stability are influenced to a great extent by the role and involvement of external players, in particular in this case, that of Russia.     

Feminist Research in Transitional Justice Studies: Navigating Silences and Disruptions in the Field

This paper will analyse what it takes to conduct feminist and sensitive research in countries that have seen mass human rights violations. Transitional justice research involves critical examination of difficult topics which raises a number of ethical and methodological issues for both the participants and the researchers. Although empirical research has been a facet of the studies produced in the field, researchers’ accounts of undertaking research in often politically sensitive environments is largely missing from published books and research reports. This paper is informed by personal experiences of doing research in wartime rape in the ethnically and politically divided country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I argue that the researcher’s profile and positionality directly affects the fieldwork and that fieldwork is a dialogical process which is structured by the researcher and the wider political processes in the country.     

STR data (AmpFlSTR profiler plus) from north Portugal

Allele frequencies for the nine STRs included in the AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus kit (D3S1358, VWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317 and D7S820) were estimated from a sample of 365-427 unrelated individuals born in north Portugal.