Die Schweizer Lokalparteien im Wandel. Aktuelle Entwicklungstendenzen gefährden die politische Stabilität

Den Lokalparteien kommt in der Schweiz nicht nur eine grosse Bedeu-tung zu, sondern sie haben auch entscheidend zur politischen Stabilität des Landes beigetragen. Nicht zuletzt dank den direktdemokratischen Einrichtungen haben sie sich bereits relativ früh herausgebildet und ei-ne grosse Verbreitung gefunden. In den letzten Jahren macht sich der politischen Wandel jedoch auch bei den Lokalparteien bemerkbar. In den kleineren Gemeinden verlieren die Lokalparteien an Bedeutung und immer mehr Parteilose nehmen Einsitz in die Gemeindeexekuti-ven. In den mittleren und grösseren Gemeinden finden sich demgegen-über vor allem gemeindespezifische Gruppierungen und kleinere Par-teien, welchen den traditionellen Parteien Konkurrenz machen, wobei die Vormachtstellung der vier Bundesratsparteien noch kaum gefährdetist. Im Hinblick auf die Zukunft der Parteien werden die Entwicklun-gen auf kommunaler Ebene nicht unwichtig sein. Ein Bedeutungsver-lust der Lokalparteien und eine Lockerung des Verhältnisses zwischen den Lokalparteien und ihren übergeordneten Parteiorganisationen wird die politische Stabilität der Schweiz wesentlich beeinträchtigen.     

Parental criticism and young adolescent self-disclosure: A cross-cultural study

Criticism by mothers and fathers, as well as young adolescents' perceptions of parental criticism and their self-disclosure to parents, was assessed for a sample of 80 families. Of these, 40 were resident in Australia (20 Anglo-Australian and 20 Greek-Australian) and 40 were resident in Greece (20 professional and 20 working-class). There were no differences between the groups in amount of criticism by parents nor in adolescents' perceptions of criticism. Greek- and Anglo-Australian adolescents disclosed significantly less to parents than did the Greek adolescents. For Greek-Australian adolescents there was an inverse relationship between self-disclosure on a number of topics and perceived levels of parental criticism. The results were interpreted in terms of cultural differences between the groups and adaptive behaviors of the Greek-Australian adolescents.This research was supported by a University of Melbourne grant to the first author.Received Ph.D. from University of Melbourne. Research interests include the social context of adolescent development.Received Ph.D. from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. Research interest is in cognitive development through the life span.Received Ph.D. from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. Research interest is in cognitive development through the life span.     

Suspicious circumstances on discovery of the cadaver

The authors report on three autopsy cases in which the findings at the death scene gave rise to the suspect of non-natural, in two cases even violent causes of death. The medico-legal and criminalistic investigations led to surprising results: Death was due to acute intoxication with narcotics, supposed delirium tremens and a suicide attempt in the presence of bronchopneumonia. External force was ruled out in all three fatalities by cooperative work of police investigators and forensic medicine.     

Before Identity, Gender and Human Rights

This is the beginning of an exploration of before as the thesis ‘before’ (temporally) and ‘be-fore’ (spatially) difference. Before denotes the origin and the desired destination. Before (in the double sense of ‘before’ and ‚be-in-the-fore’) opens up a space of pre-difference, of origin and of forgotten memory, as well as a space of desire, objective, illusion of teleology, unity, completion. Applied to the two domains of Human Rights and Sex/Gender, the space of ‘before’ yields two slightly different vistas: in human rights, a premodern, functionally undifferentiated society which had to invent human rights as its safeguards of functional differentiation. In Sex/Gender, ‘before’ brings a self-referential construction: that of ipseity, as the form of identity beyond comparison that does not play with id but with ipsum. Ipseity is inoperable but not useless. It is inoperable because it cannot be observed from anywhere without suffering rupture. It is not useless because it offers a ground for the reconceptualisation of difference, both through awe and desire.     

The Contribution of Local Public Infrastructure to Private Productivity and its Political Economy: Evidence from a Panel of Large German Cities

This paper proposes a simultaneous-equation approach to theestimation of the contribution of infrastructure accumulationto private production. A political economy model for theallocation of public infrastructure investment grants isformulated. Our empirical findings, using a panel of largeGerman cities for the years 1980,1986, and 1988, suggest thatcities ruled by a council sharing the State (`Bundesland')government's current political affiliation were particularlysuccessful in attracting infrastructure investment grants.With regard to the contribution of infrastructure accumulationto growth, we find that public capital is a significant factorin private production. Moreover, at least for the samplestudied, we find that simultaneity between output and publiccapital is weak; thus, feedback effects from output toinfrastructure are negligible.     

Cerebral hemorrhage after the consumption of amphetamine

Cerebral hemorrhages are rare complications that occur after the consumption of amphetamine; the mortality rate is estimated at 50 %. It is assumed that cerebral hemorrhages are caused by amphetamine-induced hypertensive crises coinciding with pre-existing vascular alterations (congenital vascular malformations, vasculitis). In the present case report, a 40-year-old man, who is said to have regularly consumed hashish, heroin and speed, died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage located in the region of the basal ganglia shortly after the intravenous administration of amphetamine and heroin. In the course of the post-mortem investigation, neither vascular malformations nor vasculitis could be detected in the brain. Even if the evidence for the existence of such alterations was missing, this does not exclude their presence for certain. Other potential amphetamine-induced vascular alterations are discussed.     

Forensic interpretation of Y-chromosomal DNA mixtures

The mathematical concept previously introduced for the forensic interpretation of DNA mixtures using non-associated genetic markers has been adapted to the assessment of haplotypes. Such calculus is required, for example, when Y-chromosomal markers are used in forensics. In addition to outlining the general mathematical framework, we devise two approaches to its practical computational implementation, involving either the inclusion-exclusion principle of probability theory or a recursion in the number of unknown contributors invoked. The two approaches scale differently, depending upon the complexity of the case and the diversity of the markers used. The performance of Y-chromosomal microsatellites (Y-STRs) as a means of trace donor discrimination has been assessed by simulation, using the derived formulas. Based upon data from the Y-chromosomal Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD), the exclusion chance of a non-contributor is shown to vary between 95% in the case of two contributors, and 70% for five contributors. With only one additional contributor, half of all contributing suspects would yield a log-likelihood ratio in favour of donorship of 1.61 or higher, although the median drops to 0.66 with four additional contributors. It must be emphasised that these estimates of the discriminatory power of Y-STRs are likely to be conservative since the simulations involved only haplotypes known to occur in YHRD.     

Radiologically determined DMF index variations for forensic age estimation of young adults

The eruption and mineralization of third molars are the main criteria for dental age estimation of living people involved in criminal proceedings. Since the development of third molars is usually completed by the age of 19 or 20 years, this feature cannot be used to ascertain whether a person has attained the forensically relevant age of 21 years. This study examined whether the DMFT index or the third molar DFT index could supply reliable information enabling conclusions to be drawn about whether a person has reached the age of 21. To this end, 650 conventional orthopantomograms of German subjects aged 18 to 30 years were evaluated. The DMF index variations considered were found to be unsuitable for determining whether a person is over 21 because they displayed a weak correlation with age and considerable individual scatter. A high indicative value can only be attributed to a third molar DFT index of 4, although this is rarely observed in the relevant age group. An X-ray examination of the medial clavicular epiphyseal cartilage is, therefore, strongly recommended when assessing whether a person has attained 21 years of age.