Moderating Factors in Adopting Local e-Government in Spain

This study analyses the factors that influence citizens' intention to use e-government activities offered by municipalities in Spain. For this purpose, we developed a straightforward user behaviour model that considers the components of the TAM and DOI models simultaneously, harnessing their synergies and factoring in the role of citizens' trust. We also examined the moderating role that population size can play in the model's behaviour. Among the results we obtained, it is important to note that user trust not only improved the model's fit, but also showed a significant effect on intention of use for all the population sizes that we analysed. The other significant relationship for all the samples linked ease of use to perceived usefulness. For the other relationships between variables, we observed the moderating role of size for the populations we considered.     

Identification and characterization of the new designer drug 4'-methylethcathinone (4-MEC) and elaboration of a novel liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) screening method for seven different methcathinone analogs

A fast and simple LC-MS/MS method was developed for screening mephedrone, butylone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), flephedrone, methylone and methedrone in bulk powder samples. Samples were separated on a reverse phase column using gradient elution with mixtures of water, acetonitrile and formic acid. After optimization a limit of detection of about 2ngmL(-1) was achieved using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Total run time was less than 8min. Typical fragmentation characteristics of the studied compounds are discussed. The method was successfully applied to several unknown bulk powder samples seized by the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard. One of the samples contained the new designer drug 4'-methylethcathinone (4-MEC), which was identified and characterized by LC-MS/MS, NMR, FT-IR and LC-TOF-MS techniques. The method is also deemed to be applicable for the screening of simple dosage forms such as tablets and capsules.     

First record of Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) on human corpses in Iberian Peninsula

This article presents the first record of Hermetia illucens larvae on a human corpse in Spain (the second case report in Europe). Prepupae of H. illucens, and other insects, were recovered from the dead body of a 72-year-old man in an advanced stage of decomposition. The body was located in Reus (NE Spain), in October 1998. This article provides additional biological data on experimental studies and an update on the geographic distribution of this species in the Iberian Peninsula.     

Assessment of age and sex by means of DXA bone densitometry: application in forensic anthropology

An effective way to reveal the history of drug abuse is to determine the parental drug and its metabolites in hair. Here, a quantitative HPLC-Chip-MS/MS method was developed for simultaneous measurement of ketamine and its metabolite norketamine in human hair. Ketamine and norketamine were extracted from hair by acid hydrolysis, and then enriched by organic solvent extraction. The chromatographic separation was achieved in 15 min, with the drug identification and quantification by a tandem mass spectrometer. The linear regression analysis was calibrated by deuterated internal standards with a R(2) of over 0.996. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) for ketamine and norketamine were 0.5 and 1 pg/mg of hair, respectively. The standard curves were linear from the value of LOQ up to 100 pg/mg of hair. The validation parameters including selectivity, accuracy, precision, stability and matrix effect were also determined. In conclusion, this method was able to reveal the present of ketamine and norketamine with less hair from the drug abusers, and which had the sensitivity of ～1000-fold higher than the conventional method. In addition, the amount of ketamine and norketamine being detected in different hair segments would be useful in revealing the historical record of ketamine uptake in the drug abusers.     

Alcohol and Domestic Violence: A Cross-Over Study in Residences of Individuals in Brazil

The objective of this study was to investigate psychological or physical violence associated with the use of alcohol, in residences of individuals in Brazil and, also describe the social characteristics of aggressors and victims. Therefore, this study expects to contribute to studies in Brazil that seek to clarify the relations between alcohol and violence in residences. A total of 454 respondents, 12–65 years old, were assessed, they were sorted by the Kish method, and the residences randomly. The SAMHSA questionnaire was utilized after translated and adapted to Brazilian conditions. 26% of the individuals reported psychological violence, and 16% reported physical violence. The study’s main results set the differences in the reports for physical violence (OR 7, 95% CI: 4–13) and psychological violence (OR 5, 95% CI: 3–8) in residences where someone arrived or became intoxicated with alcohol (P < 0.05). 50% of the aggressors were under the effects of alcohol, and 77% of the victims were relatives of their aggressors. Acts of violence are not necessarily associated with alcohol consumption. Men and women reported acts of domestic violence; psychological violence was the most prevalent form. Men are currently the primary aggressors, while women are primarily the victims     

The Relationship Between Mental Disorders and Types of Crime in Inmates in a Brazilian Prison

This cross‐sectional study conducted in prisons in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, investigated the association between the presence of psychiatric disorders in 462 prisoners and the types of crimes committed by them. Psychiatric diagnosis was obtained by means of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Mini‐International Neuropsychiatric Interview. A statistically significant association was found between some psychiatric disorders and specific groups of crime: lifelong substance addiction with sex crimes and homicide; antisocial personality disorder with robbery and with kidnapping and extortion; borderline personality disorder with sex crimes; and lifelong alcohol addiction with fraud and conspiracy and with armed robbery and murder. It was concluded that the mental disorders considered more severe (psychosis and bipolar disorder) were not associated with violent crimes, suggesting that the severity of the psychotic disorder may be the factor that has caused psychosis to be associated with violent crimes in previous studies.     

Is There an Informative Effect of Law? An Experimental Test

Debates on how the law affects citizens' behaviour have traditionally focused on two mechanisms: deterrence and perceptions of legitimacy. In recent years, some scholars have suggested that the law may also affect compliance through expressive mechanisms that reveal information about the world (for example, by eliciting the risks associated with a particular behaviour). Dharmapala and McAdams have called this the informative effect of law. However, to date very little empirical evidence of the existence of such an effect has emerged. In this article, we present the results of an experiment that tests for three different hypotheses as to how this effect may be produced. Our findings show that legislators' sincerity or their access to expert knowledge is not sufficient to produce information effects. Instead, we suggest an ‘asymmetry’ hypothesis: the fact that a law is passed or rejected has an asymmetrical information effect on subjects' risk perceptions.     

Rethinking cross-border Euregionalism as self-organising system

Studies of cross-border regions in the European Union have struggled conceptually with an apparent ambiguity of Euregionalism: namely that cross-border regions seem to be the manifestations of reterritorialising state governance on the one hand, but have clearly failed to substantially challenge the Westphalian state territorial system on the other. The aim of the present paper is to develop a conceptual framework that helps us understand this paradoxical nature of cross-border regions. To this end, we draw on the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann and the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, and propose to regard Euregionalism (and regionalisms more generally) as a self-organising system. Self-organisation entails the process in which self-referential communication, rather than a set of actors, employs spatial concepts, such as the region, to enable system-specific entanglements with physical space, either short-lived or enduring, and possibly – but not necessarily – involving governance.     

Effectiveness of cognitive remediation for female inmates: a pilot study

There is considerable evidence that neurocognitive deficits are frequent among incarcerated offenders. However, current correctional programming does not directly seek to remediate deficits in offenders’ neurocognitive deficits. In this pilot project, we sought to treat neurocognitive deficits in incarcerated Portuguese adult women offenders (n?=?28) using cognitive remediation to target cognitive flexibility, memory, and planning. Statistically significant positive changes, with medium to large effect sizes, were discovered across several neurocognitive domains, including attention, speed of processing, verbal learning and memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning. We also found a decrease in the negative emotional states of depression, anxiety, tension/stress, and on disturbed behavior in prison. Cognitive remediation has the potential to enhance the neurocognitive functioning of incarcerated women. Controlled research is needed to establish cognitive remediation fully as an intervention for the treatment of neurocognitive deficits of incarcerated women.     

Haplotypic blocks of X-linked STRs for forensic cases: study of recombination and mutation rates

In complex kinship cases, markers situated in haplotypic blocks may provide additional clues to other unlinked markers. We have established a protocol to amplify six X-chromosome microsatellites, located in two haplotype blocks, using PCR with fluorochrome-labeled primers and capillary electrophoresis. The segregation stability was explored in 92 unrelated families with individuals from three generations. Sixty-one different haplotypes were found in the DXS10079-DXS10074-DXS10075 block in the grandfathers and 96 in the mothers, with estimated haplotype diversities of 0.9828 and 0.9842, respectively. Fifty and 73 different haplotypes were found in the DXS6801-DXS6809-DXS6789 block in the grandfathers and the mothers, with estimated haplotype diversities of 0.9711 and 0.9742, respectively. We observed 10 between-cluster and one within-cluster recombinations in 99 female meioses. The overall per-locus mutation rate was 0.0034. This protocol allows for the characterization of the alleles of two sets of linked markers of the X-chromosome that can be useful in complex forensic cases.