Contribution for an African autosomic STR database (AmpF/STR Identifiler and Powerplex 16 System) and a report on genotypic variations

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest, for 17 STRs included in the AmpF/STR Identifiler (CSF1PO, D2S1338, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, FGA, TH01, TPO and VWA) and Powerplex 16 System (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, FGA, Penta D, Penta E, TH01, TPO and VWA) were estimated from a sample of 135-144 unrelated individuals from Mozambique. No deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed with the exception of the FGA locus (using the Bonferroni correction for the number of loci analysed, the departure observed at this locus was not significant). Comparative analyses between our population data and other African databases, namely Promega's African-Americans, AB Applied Biosystems African-Americans and two other population samples from Mozambique and Guiné Bissau, are presented and discussed. Genotype inconsistencies between both commercial kits (for D16S539 and D8S1179) and other genotypic variations (three-banded allele patterns for TPO) are also reported.     

Bone Mineral Change During Experimental Calcination: An X‐ray Diffraction Study

The effects of calcination (400–1200°C) on pig bones have been studied using powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and secondary modifications, such as color change and weight loss. The characterisation by powder XRD confirmed the presence of the crystalline phase of hydroxyapatite, and comparison of the results obtained at different temperatures suggested that at 650°C, all the organic components and carbonate substitutions were completely removed. Accordingly, these samples were white. In addition, the crystallinity degree and the crystallite size progressively increased with the calcination temperature until 650°C, remaining stable until 1200°C. Below 650°C, bone samples presented organic compounds, resulting in background noise in the diffractogram and gray or black color. In addition, impurities in the lattice correspond to low crystallite sizes.     

Soil Fungi: Their Potential use as a Forensic Tool

As a grave is an anomalous environment and differs from its surroundings, criminal investigators employ different techniques for locating, recovering, and analyzing clandestine graves. In this study were identified the fungi found in the soil under corpses in decomposition with an aim at relating the copresence of human remains and different fungal species. Were isolated the fungi in three ways: soil washing, serial dilutions, and moist chamber growth. Dichotomomyces cejpii, Talaromyces trachyspermus, Talaromyces flavus, and Talaromyces sp. were the representative species found—with those belonging to the ammonia group, whose fungi are the first in the succession of cadaver decomposition directly in the ground. The mycobiota found at the present study area clearly differs to mycobiota identified in control sample and from previously described species for other areas of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Further forensic examples of this type are needed to develop fully the detailed use of mycology as a forensic tool.     

Public and private: change and continuity in economy through two meta-fields in society

The current literature on comparative political economy does not seem to consider unifying under a single theoretical framework the analysis of continuity and change in different economic systems. On the one hand, major comparative works derive their theoretical propositions from dynamics in the Western world. On the other, studies that are focused on national trajectories of development are concentrated in cross-national comparisons involving countries with similar characteristics in what concerns strategies of development. In this paper, I argue that all fields in the world of social action are pervaded by two major fields, hereby dubbed ‘meta-fields’: public and private. Both are in a ‘double movement’ to shape each other's boundaries through the definition of social and property rights that regulate access to human capabilities and capital. Public and private are meta-fields because they constrain human action and the organization of social configurations on state and non-state levels.     

Are bar associations anticompetitive? An empirical analysis of recommended prices for legal services in Spain

The European Commission Report on Competition in Professional Services found that recommended prices by professional bodies have a significant negative effect on competition since they may facilitate the coordination of prices between service providers and/or mislead consumers about reasonable price levels. Professional associations argue, first, that a fee schedule may help their members to properly calculate the cost of services avoiding excessive charges and reducing consumers’ searching costs and, second, that recommended prices are very useful for cost appraisal if a litigant is condemned to pay the legal expenses of the opposing party. Thus, recommended fee schedules could be justified to some extent if they represented the cost of providing the services. We test this hypothesis using cross-section data on a subset of recommended prices by 83 Spanish bar associations and cost data on their territorial jurisdictions. Our empirical results indicate that prices recommended by bar associations are unrelated to the cost of legal services. Therefore, we conclude that fee schedules are not playing the role of providing useful cost information to practitioners and therefore this efficiency justification is weak.     

How Bureaucracies Listen to Courts: Bureaucratized Calculations and European Law

The European Court of Justice, and courts in general, were key actors in the creation of the European Union (EU). However, they cannot change major policy without political supporters to lobby and litigate for implementation. We argue that part of the resolution of this apparent paradox comes from complementing existing work on the activities of EU courts and litigants with a focus on a third actor: implementing bureaucracies, whose effect on law and politics has not been a focus of studies of EU legal development. Their calculations about whether to pay attention, lobby, and comply shape the impact of the law. Those calculations are variable and patterned; when and how bureaucracies listen to courts varies in predictable ways. We find evidence for this proposition in the case of EU health care services law, both in the secondary literature and in empirical studies of France and Spain.     

Democratic Oversight in Fragile States: The Case of Intelligence Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In most transition countries the main aim of ‘democratizing intelligence’ is to weaken the authoritarian governmental structures by introducing more transparency, legality and oversight. In Bosnia and Herzegovina however, the state-building efforts driven by international parties combined formal democratization processes such as independent oversight with the strengthening and operational capacity building of previously weak-to-non-existent intelligence structures. In parallel with the descent into war when Yugoslavia collapsed in the early 1990s, the State Security Service (SDB) in the Republic of Bosnia had split into three ethnically-based outfits answering to the political and military leaders of war. ‘Democratization’ of intelligence in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the establishment of a unified, state-level Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA) in 2004 has followed its own unique path reflecting the fragmented nature of politics in Bosnia and the leading role of international organizations in proposing and effectuating institutional reforms. Nevertheless, in terms of habits, operational methods and values many Bosnian intelligence officers went through similar adaptations and transitions as their colleagues in countries where institutions at the time of democratic transition were too strong and authoritarian rather than, as in the case of Bosnia, being deemed too weak and ineffectual.     

The EU’s Multilevel Parliamentary (Battle)Field: Inter-parliamentary Cooperation and Conflict in Foreign and Security Policy

The Treaty of Lisbon has been dubbed ‘the Treaty of Parliaments’, as it upgraded the position of both the European Parliament and of national parliaments within the institutional system of the EU. However, the implementation of the new Treaty also brought to the surface the uneasy relationship between the European and national parliamentary spheres in a number of domains. Drawing on the notion of ‘parliamentary field’, this article accounts for this growing divide by highlighting the competitive dynamics that may emerge from a mismatch between formal constitutional authority and the actual parliamentary capital that parliaments enjoy. The article examines this proposition within the domain of foreign and security policy, where the process of establishing a new inter-parliamentary mechanism for scrutinising policy has placed the European Parliament and the national parliaments visibly at odds.     

Populist Radical Right Parties in the Nordic Region: A New and Distinct Party Family?

The Nordic countries are no longer characterized by a stable five‐party system. Not only have small Christian parties and Green parties emerged in most countries, so‐called ‘populist radical right parties’ have also been increasingly successful in recent decades. This article examines to what extent the populist radical right parties in the Nordic countries represent a new party family. Based on various and original data, including archive material, interviews with key representatives, party manifestos and expert surveys, the processes of deciding party names, the development of transnational linkages and ideological transformation are analyzed. The article demonstrates that even though the Danish People's Party, the True Finns and the Sweden Democrats have different historical legacies, they have converged ideologically (i.e., socioeconomically centrist and socioculturally authoritarian), adopted similar names and are on the verge of becoming a more formalized transnational actor. The Progress Party in Norway is better seen as a hybrid between a populist radical right party and a more traditional conservative party. The findings challenge several classifications in the extensive literature on populist radical right parties. Most importantly, the True Finns should be included as a populist radical right party, whereas the Norwegian party should be treated more carefully. Furthermore, Nordic populist radical right parties are no longer – if they have ever been – so‐called ‘neoliberal populists’. Finally, the findings suggest a re‐freezing of the Nordic party systems in which a phase of divergence has been replaced by a phase of convergence.     

Participatory communication for development in practice: the case of community media

Since it emerged, the field of communication for development has undergone a constant process of redefinition. Since the 1990s, the importance of participation in social and communicative processes has been stressed, and studies carried out during those years focused on participation as an important component to be considered. The so-called community media are privileged forces driving the participatory communication for development approach. Since their emergence and up to the recent studies, community media have been characterised by the centrality of citizenship participation in the creation of widespread messages, and in the processes of social change that they promote.

Communication participative pour le développement dans la pratique : le cas des médias communautaires

Depuis son apparition, le domaine de la communication pour le développement a traversé un processus constant de redéfinition. Depuis les années 1990, l'importance de la participation aux processus sociaux et de communication a été soulignée, et des études effectuées durant cette période-là se sont concentrées sur la participation comme élément important à prendre en compte. Ces « médias communautaires » sont des forces privilégiées qui impulsent l'approche participative pour la communication pour le développement. Depuis leur naissance et jusqu'aux récentes études effectuées, les médias communautaires se sont caractérisés par la position centrale de la participation citoyenne à la création de messages généralisés, et aux processus de changement social qu'ils promeuvent.

Comunicación participativa para el desarrollo en la práctica: el caso de los medios comunitarios

Desde que inició, el ámbito de la comunicación para el desarrollo ha experimentado un proceso constante de redefinición. A partir de los años noventa, ha comenzado a insistirse en la importancia de participar en los procesos sociales y comunicacionales. Los estudios realizados durante esa década, se centraron en la participación como componente primordial que debía ser tenido en cuenta. Los llamados medios comunitarios constituyen fuerzas privilegiadas que impulsan el enfoque de la comunicación participativa para el desarrollo. Desde que iniciaron sus actividades y hasta las últimas investigaciones realizadas al respecto, los medios comunitarios se caracterizaron por la significación otorgada a la participación ciudadana en la creación de mensajes de amplia difusión y en el proceso de cambio social promovido por dichos mensajes.

Comunicação participativa para o desenvolvimento na prática: o caso da mídia comunitária

Desde que surgiu, a área de comunicação para o desenvolvimento tem passado por um processo constante de redefinição. Desde a década de 1990, a importância da participação em processos sociais e comunicativos tem sido ressaltada e estudos têm sido realizados durante estes anos tendo como foco a participação como componente importante a ser considerado. A chamada mídia comunitária constitui-se em forças privilegiadas que dirigem a comunicação participativa para a abordagem de desenvolvimento. Desde o seu surgimento até estudos recentes, a mídia comunitária tem se caracterizado pela ênfase na participação dos cidadãos na criação de mensagens disseminadas e nos processos de mudança social que elas promovem.