Hungarian population data of eight X-linked markers in four linkage groups

The X chromosomal STR markers DXS10135 and DXS8378 in linkage group 1, DXS7132 and DXS10074 in linkage group 2, HPRTB and DXS10101 in linkage group 3, and DXS10134 and DXS7423 in linkage group 4 were studied in the Hungarian population. After genotyping unrelated men (219) and women (165), forensic efficiency parameters were calculated. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium could not be detected. There were several microvariant and rare alleles were sequenced: four in locus DXS10135 (alleles 17.1, 18.1, 20.1 and 26.1), one in locus DXS10074 (alleles 11), three in locus DXS10101 (alleles 26, 34.2 and 35) and five in locus DXS10134 (alleles 35.3, 37.2, 38.2, 39.2, 41).     

Dangerised youth: the politics of security and development in Timor-Leste

International organisations, the national government and civil society alike have identified youth as a potential threat to the stability of the young state of Timor-Leste over the last decade. In this article, I ask how these actors define the danger of youth and what reasons they identify for the potential threat of young citizens for the society and state. Guided by a theoretical framework of Critical Security and Development Studies, I argue that while political manipulation as reason for youth violence was a prominent part of the security discourse in the years after the crisis in 2006, the discourse on the danger of youth in very recent international and national documents has been depoliticised. Despite decreasing numbers of youth-related violence, the threat construction has not vanished; rather, the language on youth has been adapted to the existing international discourse on violent youth as a threat to successful development. In this way, international and national actors have sustained the image of a society in need of management.     

Should Government Go It Alone or With a Partner? A Comparison of Outcomes from a Work Release Program Using Different Policy Tools

This article compares labor market outcomes from two different approaches to a work release program in Illinois: direct provision by a government and a purchase‐of‐service (POS) contract between government and a public charity. Significantly better employment and earnings outcomes were associated with the POS contract. To better understand the reasons for the success of the POS contract, the authors further examined the specific terms of the contract, organizational expertise, and the political context of POS contracts. The results are organized according to the main theoretical assertions. Findings add to the weight of evidence that contractors, like public charities, can be valuable government partners for addressing challenging social policies and programs.     

Bribery and public procurement: an experimental study

A procurement contract is granted by a bureaucrat (the auctioneer) who is interested in a low price and a bribe from the provider. Procurement is thus a multi-dimensional bidding contest with one-dimensional type space (the privately known cost). The optimal price and bribe bid is derived based on an iid private cost assumption. In the experiment, bribes are negatively framed to capture that society is better off if bribes are rare or low. Although bid prices are lower than predicted, behavior is qualitatively in line with the linear equilibrium prediction. When bribes generate a negative externality, there is a significant increase in the variability of the data.     

Inducing state compliance with international fisheries law: lessons from two case studies concerning the Republic of Korea’s IUU fishing

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Despite the expansion of international fisheries law, fish stocks are still threatened by illegal, unreported and unregulated...     

Trading with the enemy? The futility of US commercial countermeasures against the Chinese challenge

This paper examines whether the US is in a position to adopt restrictive commercial measures against China in order to complement military balancing. It focuses on the necessary condition for serious economic measures against an adversary: the state needs to be sure that it can effectively diminish the adversary's economic performance more than its own. This essay suggests that Washington cannot ascertain that this necessary condition is met in its relations with China. Thus, it might be better for the US to avoid restricting trade with China in any meaningful way, even though bilateral security rivalry intensifies.     

Scheduling of new psychoactive substance the Swiss way: A review and critical analysis

Since the introduction of the European Early Warning System in 2005, >700 new psychoactive substances (NPS) have been listed. This review article presents for the first time the Swiss narcotic law in perspective of scheduling of NPS, and compares it to the regulations of the German speaking neighbours Austria and Germany.The Swiss way is a fast and effective way for scheduling NPS, with the purpose to restrict drug trafficking and for controlling the NPS drug market: the legal basis for scheduling substances of abuse is the “Law about narcotics and psychotropic substances” (BetmG, SR 812.121), which includes the “narcotic law directory (BetmVV-EDI, SR 812.121.11) suitable for listing all controlled substances. The BetmVV-EDI, SR 812.121.11 contains seven indices, with index e specifically designed for the fast scheduling of NPS. Newly appearing NPS can either be controlled under a structure analogues definition or by listing single substances. The list of single substances is updated at least once per year, and structure analogues definitions can be implemented, in order to keep track with new developments on the NPS market. The latest version from November 30th 2018 contains ten different structure analogue definitions and 207 single substances. Requirements to list NPS are their appearance on the NPS market, suspected psychotropic effects and their suggestions by Forensic professionals. As soon as substances are newly placed, on Schedule I of the 1961 Convention or Schedule II of the 1971 Convention by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the World Health Organization they can easily be transferred from index e to index a-d of the BetmVV-EDI, SR 812.121.11. The Austrian law uses a structure analogue and single substances approach (introduced in 2012, one update in 2016), whereas the German NPS law (established in 2016, no update yet) only lists two structure-analogue-definitions. All three legislations have defined which core structures, kinds and sites of substitutions are regulated.     

A Simple Method of VNTR D1S80 Locus Allelic Ladder Construction for Capillary Electrophoresis‐based Genotyping

VNTR D1S80 locus genotyping has been largely replaced in forensics by STR. As the statute of limitations on murder cases was abolished in the Republic of Korea in July 2015, the demand for re‐analysis of DNA from unresolved murder cases has increased. The National Forensic Service includes several recorded D1S80 genotypes as crucial clues. Here, we re‐established the D1S80 analysis system using capillary electrophoresis and confirmed the reproducibility of the system by comparison with the genotypes of eight DNA samples that had been analyzed using PAGE in 2006. In addition, we created an allelic ladder via new methodology using flanking region sequences. A single DNA sample (K562) and seven primers were used for the new ladder, which contains 12 alleles. Although artificial owing to the use of the flanking region rather than repeat unit reduction, the method is rapid and simple, and could be applicable in any laboratory.     

SS: Germany’s federal election in september 2009 – Elections in times of duress – Introduction

This paper introduces the special symposium. It provides (1) an overview of the broad campaign themes; (2) introduces several questions pertinent to German electoral politics; (3) highlights the broader theoretical implications of this symposium for the research literature.