On the Cypriot States of Exception

This article explores the politics of exceptionality in Cyprus. It focuses on the postcolonial constriction of Cypriot statehood—the framing of the sovereign itself as an exception—and how the emerging discourse of exceptionality unfolded a spiral of states of exception on the ground. Looking in and across a variety of Cypriot sites and regimes (north, south, sovereign base areas and buffer zone) the article examines what claims of exceptionality legitimate in political and everyday life as well as their ironic and paradoxical effects. Finally, it looks at how the Cyprus case informs debates on current theorizations of exceptionalism.     

Forensic evaluation of 13 STR loci in the Roma population (Gypsies) of Greece

Allele frequencies have been calculated in 13 STR loci in a Roma (Gypsy) population sample from Greece. The data can be used in forensic cases. The comparison of the allele frequencies between the Roma and the Greeks showed significant differences for the majority of the loci. Furthermore comparison to another Romany population sample was performed.     

A Forensic Exploration of the Microsoft Windows 10 Timeline

The Microsoft Windows operating system continues to dominate the desktop computing market. With such high levels of usage comes an inferred likelihood of digital forensic practitioners encountering this platform during their investigations. As part of any forensic examination of a digital device, operating system artifacts, which support the identification and understanding of how a user has behaved on their system provide a potential source of evidence. Now, following Microsoft's April 2018 build 1803 release with its incorporated “Timeline” feature, the potential for identifying and tracking user activity has increased. This work provides a timely examination of the Windows 10 Timeline feature demonstrating the ability to recover activity‐based content from within its stored database log files. Examination results and underpinning experimental methodologies are offered, demonstrating the ability to recover activity tile and process information in conjunction with the Windows Timeline. Further, an SQL query has been provided to support the interpretation of data stored within the ActivitiesCache.db .     

The redenomination risk of exiting the Eurozone: An estimation based on the Greek case

Changing a country's currency involves a redenomination risk arising due to assets and liabilities that are impossible to redenominate because of contracts governed by foreign law. Depreciation or appreciation of the new currency could, therefore, result in losses or gains, thus creating a risk for economic agents. The risk can be estimated by splitting the economy into public, private, banking and central banking sectors, and summing up exposed aggregate assets and liabilities. This method is applied to Greece showing that exiting the EMU would certainly entail forbidding redenomination losses for the Greek public sector, leading to default. Surprisingly, however, the impact on the private and the banking sectors would actually be positive (gain). The impact on the Bank of Greece would be ambiguous depending primarily on the legal status of TARGET2 liabilities. It is notable that even the Bank of Greece possesses a significant cushion in the form of bonds under foreign law. In all, the redenomination risk for the Greek economy is modest, with the exception of the public sector.     

IoT forensics: Exploiting log records from the DAHUA technology CCTV systems

CCTV surveillance systems are ubiquitous IoT appliances. Their forensic examination has proven critical for investigating crimes. DAHUA Technology is a well-known manufacturer of such products. Despite its global market share, research regarding digital forensics of DAHUA Technology CCTV systems is scarce and currently limited to extracting their video footage, overlooking the potential presence of valuable artifacts within their log records. These pieces of evidence remain unexploited by major commercial forensic software, yet they can hide vital information for an investigation. For instance, these log records document user actions, such as formatting the CCTV system's hard drive or disabling camera recording. This information can assist in attributing nefarious actions to specific users and hence can be invaluable for understanding the sequence of events related to incidents. Therefore, in this paper, several DAHUA Technology CCTV systems are thoroughly analyzed for these unexplored pieces of evidence, and their forensic value is presented.     

Social pressure, surveillance and community size: Evidence from field experiments on voter turnout

Citizens participate in elections, at least partly, because they perceive voting as a social norm. Norms induce compliance because individuals prefer to avoid enforcement mechanisms—including social sanctions—that can be activated by uncooperative behavior. Public visibility, or surveillance, increases the likelihood of norm-compliant behavior and applies social pressure that impels individuals to act. Some scholars have linked social pressure to community size, advancing the notion that pressure to conform to social norms is heightened in smaller, less populous communities in which citizens interact frequently and where monitoring behavior is less onerous. Others argue that even highly-populated communities can exhibit “small world” properties that cause residents to be sensitive to social pressure. In this paper, I analyze data from a recent field experiment designed to test the impact of social pressure on voting taking interactions with community size into account. The findings I report suggest community size does not moderate the impact of social pressure.