The traumatic impact of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the potential protection of optimism

This study examined the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on graduate and undergraduate students and the role of optimism in posttraumatic distress. A sample of 457 students who attended courses at three schools of social work (Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Washington) participated in the study. A quarter of them had a known person as an immediate victim of the attacks. Multivariate analysis showed that posttraumatic stress disorder symptom scores were positively related to personal loss and two types of previous trauma reactivated by the attacks, and levels of initial negative emotional response. Optimism and its interaction with personal loss were inversely associated with posttraumatic stress disorder symptom scores.     

Hope, meaning, and growth following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

Positive psychologists found the increase of seven character strengths that encompass the so-called theological virtues, including hope and spirituality, in Americans after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Little is known about how they may affect post-September 11, 2001, mental health. Using multivariate analysis, this study investigated the relationship of hope and spiritual meaning with depression and anxiety in a sample of 457 students 3 months after September 11, 2001. Both characters contributed to lower levels of symptoms. In qualitative analysis, of 313 answers to an open-ended question regarding personal change, four categories emerged. The first three were consonant with other studies on posttraumatic growth (PTG), including changes in the self or behavior, relationships, and worldviews. The fourth category unique to September 11, 2001, was changes in political views. These findings offer further credence to the study of positive aspects resulting from violence-related trauma and highlight the needs for addressing the nature of traumatic events and PTG.     

Inter-organisational technology/knowledge transfer: a framework from critical literature review

This paper aims to provide, through a literature analysis, a solid theoretical foundation that allows identifying the critical factors for technology/knowledge transfer. The literature review allowed to summarize the main contributions collected, to identify the main critical factors for technology/knowledge transfer and to frame them in a simple framework, carrying out a rationalization and classification. We built a reference framework, called “model of technology/knowledge transfer”. The proposed structure considers six categories related to the actors involved (sources, recipients and intermediaries), the relationship between them, the object of the transfer, the channels and mechanisms and the reference context. The factors represent all the main parameters and levers to consider in the design and implementation of an activity of technology/knowledge transfer. This can direct also future research by deepening these factors or the relationship among them.     

Word on the Street: The Persistence of Leftist-dominated Protest in Europe

Classic studies of protest politics have traditionally defended the dominant left-wing orientation of protesters. However, some recent research has highlighted the general spread of protest by the increasing participation of right-wing individuals. Has this process meant an ‘ideological normalisation’ of protesters? The present article tackles this question by examining competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between ideology and political protest. Through a hierarchical multilevel design, the article tests whether left-wing (or right-wing) supporters are more likely to stay at home when left-wing (right-wing) parties are in power and whether they intensify their protest activities when they are more distant from the government’s ideological position. The article shows that left-wing individuals protest more under right-wing governments than under left-wing governments and yet, they are the group which protest the most also under left-wing governments. Both party mobilisation and values appear to be behind these individuals' greater propensity to participate regardless of the governments' ideological orientation.     

Uses of the NIST 26plex STR assay for human identity testing

Ongoing work at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has focused on the characterization of 26 autosomal STR loci for human identity testing. These 26 loci are in addition to the existing 13 U.S. core loci and those found in PowerPlex16 and Identifiler commercial STR typing kits. The amplification of the 26 loci has been optimized for degraded extracts in unique miniplex panels and also for reference samples as a single reaction 26plex assay. A study has been performed comparing genotypes obtained with the 26plex primers to those with miniplex panels for allele drop out and concordance. The forensic utility of the 26plex assay was evaluated for situations where additional loci are beneficial. The utility of this large multiplex was also tested in a case involving DNA extracted from degraded bone samples. The 26plex can serve as a low-cost assay (compared to commercially available kits) useful for both sorting comingled remains and providing additional markers for increased statistical support for samples that require “non-trio” family references for human identification.     

Decentralisation and regional cabinet size: the Spanish case (1979–2015)

This article explores under what conditions regional governments tend to have larger or smaller cabinets. The main contention is that cross-regional variation in cabinet size is partly explained by the dynamics set up by the multilevel system of government, mainly territorial decentralisation, multilevel government (in)congruence or the existence of nationally distinct regions. The hypotheses are tested with a new and original dataset built upon the Spanish case (1979–2015). Findings show that regions with more welfare state policies, especially when the region’s economic capacity is high, and nationally distinct regions tend to have bigger executives. In contrast, decentralisation in the form of basic state functions and government incongruence do not have a significant effect. Results have important implications for our understanding of sub-national territorial institutions and their interaction with decentralisation dynamics.     

The Spanish electoral cycle of 2019: a tale of two countries

Abstract

In 2019 alone, Spanish citizens went to the polls at least four times – two general elections, European elections, local elections and, for some, regional elections. Moreover, in the 2016–19 legislature, the country witnessed a successful vote of no confidence that replaced a Conservative prime minister with a Socialist one; experienced an important constitutional crisis over the 2017 referendum on Catalan independence; observed the emergence for the first time of a viable far-right party; and ended with the first coalition government in the modern democratic history. The November 2019 election, the last in this long electoral cycle, left a fragmented and polarized political landscape and a left-wing cabinet – PSOE and Podemos – that does not have a majority in the chamber. This article presents the background, the results of the different elections and discusses how and why Spanish politics experienced a radical transformation likely to have an impact in the next years.     

On the margins of soy farms: traditional populations and selective environmental policies in the Brazilian Cerrado

In the Cerrado, the expansion of soybean cultivation since the 1990s has coincided with the strengthening of environmental regulations. We analyze how the two main environmental policies – Protected Areas and the Forest Code – have played out at the ground level in western Bahia state. These policies in Cerrado have not been designed to curb the expansion of this agricultural frontier. These norms have, on the contrary, accommodated this expansion because the way environmental managers selectively choose environmental problems and publicize them through specific information systems depreciates traditional fire-dependent production systems. These ‘politics of selection’ are likely to increase competition for resources in the margins of soybean agriculture, which is where traditional populations have now become confined.