Results of the GEP-ISFG collaborative study on the Y chromosome STRs GATA A10, GATA C4, GATA H4, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS460 and DYS461: population data

The Spanish and Portuguese ISFG Working Group (GEP-ISFG) carried out a collaborative exercise in order to asses the performance of two Y chromosome STR tetraplexes, which include the loci DYS461, GATA C4, DYS437 and DYS438 (GEPY I), and DYS460, GATA A10, GATA H4 and DYS439 (GEPY II). The groups that reported correct results in all the systems were also asked to analyse a population sample in order to evaluate the informative content of these STRs in different populations. A total of 1020 males out of 13 population samples from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Macao, Mozambique, Portugal and Spain were analysed for all the loci included in the present study. Haplotype and allele frequencies of these eight Y-STRs were estimated in all samples. The lowest haplotype diversity was found in the Lara (Argentina) population (95.44%) and the highest (99.90%) in Macao (China). Pairwise haplotype analysis showed the relative homogeneity of the Iberian origin samples, in accordance with what was previously found in the European populations for other Y-STR haplotypes (http://www.ystr.org). As expected, the four non-Caucasian samples, Macao (Chinese), Mozambique (Africans), Costa Rica (Africans) and Argentina (Lara, Amerindians), show highly significant Phist values in the pairwise comparisons with all the Caucasian samples.     

Service Charters: Reshaping Trust in Government—The Case of Spain

Service charters are located at the intersection between public administration reforms and governance initiatives for improving citizen trust in governments. Service charters in Spain show the will to shift from a legal tradition to one that meets citizens' needs and makes government more accessible, transparent, and open to the public. The article examines the role and performance of service charters and the contribution of charters to change in Spanish public administration, to the empowerment of citizens in the improvement of service standards, and to citizen participation in the organization of public services. It aims to investigate the factors that drive the introduction of charters and the performance that can be obtained. To test the potential of service charters in Spain, we interviewed public-sector managers at the central level by applying the Delphi method and statistical techniques.     

Personal Identity Development in Hispanic Immigrant Adolescents: Links with Positive Psychosocial Functioning,Depressive Symptoms,and Externalizing Problems

The present study was designed to examine trajectories of personal identity coherence and confusion among Hispanic recent-immigrant adolescents, as well as the effects of these trajectories on psychosocial and risk-taking outcomes. Personal identity is extremely important in anchoring young immigrants during a time of acute cultural change. A sample of 302 recently immigrated (5 years or less in the United States at baseline) Hispanic adolescents (M_age?=?14.51 years at baseline; SD?=?0.88 years, range 14–17) from Miami and Los Angeles (47?% girls) completed measures of personal identity coherence and confusion at the first five waves of a six-wave longitudinal study; and reported on positive psychosocial functioning, depressive symptoms, and externalizing problems at baseline and at Time 6. Results indicated that identity coherence increased linearly across time, but that there were no significant changes in confusion over time and no individual differences in confusion trajectories. Higher baseline levels of, and improvements in, coherence predicted higher levels of self-esteem, optimism, and prosocial behavior at the final study timepoint. Higher baseline levels of confusion predicted lower self-esteem, greater depressive symptoms, more aggressive behavior, and more rule breaking at the final study timepoint. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of personal identity for Hispanic immigrant adolescents, and in terms of implications for intervention.     

Is there performance convergence in OECD public administration styles?

This article contributes to the assessment of the comparative evolution of the public sector performance, productivity and efficiency of 22 OECD countries in the first decade of this century. Overall results show that the average public sector productivity of Anglo‐Saxon countries is higher than that of European Continental and Nordic countries, but the inequality of the distribution of wealth is also bigger. Although the administrative culture of the countries studied influences the areas on which public policies are focused, there is more than one route to improve the performance and productivity of the public sector.     

Violence Against Migrant Women: The Istanbul Convention Through a Postcolonial Feminist Lens

This article examines the recent Council of Europe Convention on violence against women (VAW) through the lens of postcolonial feminist critiques. The article argues that, while there is certainly cause for optimism, the Convention still falls into some of the traps identified by postcolonial feminists. The Convention largely circumvents the stigmatising risks that arise from framing certain VAW forms primarily as a problem of some ‘cultures’. Yet dangers linger in the Convention’s approach to ‘honour’ as an unacceptable justification for VAW. Inherent risks also remain in the vulnerability frame through which the Convention views migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeker women. Applied uncritically, these approaches risk re-inscribing images of inherently powerless women victimised by their non-European ‘cultures,’ reminiscent of colonial times.     

Exploring psychological features in adolescents who assault their parents: a different profile of young offenders?

This study aimed to explore some psychological features of adolescents who have been reported by their parents for being violent towards them, analysing how they differ from other young offenders and from non-offender adolescents. Concretely, the presence of clinical diagnosis was explored and whether these juveniles received some psychological/psychiatric treatment. Moreover, this study examined substance use and some variables that characterise the social-cognitive style of these juveniles, along with the level of self-esteem. Information concerning clinical diagnosis and psychological/psychiatric treatment was extracted from the young offenders’ legal files. Measures included the social-cognitive subscale from the attitudes and social-cognitive strategies questionnaire (AECS), Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and a structured interview to assess substance use. Results indicated that juveniles who assaulted their parents present a different profile when compared to the other groups, as they showed a higher presence of psychopathology and more social-cognitive difficulties. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the design and implementation of specific treatments with these aggressive adolescents.     

Predicting law enforcement confidence in going ‘hands-on’: the impact of martial arts training,use-of-force self-efficacy,motivation, and apprehensiveness

ABSTRACT

In law enforcement, there are situations allowing officers to gain control of suspects by going ‘hands-on,’ or physically placing someone in custody beyond simple handcuffing. While much empirical attention is placed on more lethal use-of-force (UOF) measures, little is known about going hands-on. This is concerning considering when force is used, it is almost always with the use of hands, fist or feet only. The purpose of this pilot study is to examine whether martial arts training (MAT) and UOF self-efficacy predict confidence in going hands-on, after accounting for perceived motivation and apprehensiveness. It draws from an online survey, and a non-random subsample of 1,064 un-ranked patrol duty officers in the USA. Results indicate that MAT and high perceived UOF self-efficacy safely predict confidence in going hands-on, even after accounting for perceived motivation and apprehensiveness. Nonetheless, apprehensiveness, but not motivation, remains a strong predictor of not being confident in going hands-on.     

Genetic analysis of the skeletal remains attributed to Francesco Petrarca

We report on the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis of the supposed remains of Francesco Petrarca exhumed in November 2003, from the S. Maria Assunta church, in Arquà Padua (Italy) where he died in 1374. The optimal preservation of the remains allowed the retrieval of sufficient mtDNA for genetic analysis. DNA was extracted from a rib and a tooth and mtDNA sequences were determined in multiple clones using the strictest criteria currently available for validation of ancient DNA sequences, including independent replication. MtDNA sequences from the tooth and rib were not identical, suggesting that they belonged to different individuals. Indeed, molecular gender determination showed that the postcranial remains belonged to a male while the skull belonged to a female. Historical records indicated that the remains were violated in 1630, possibly by thieves. These results are consistent with morphological investigations and confirm the importance of integrating molecular and morphological approaches in investigating historical remains.     

Measuring the economic impact of research joint ventures supported by the EU Framework Programme

The objective of this paper is to analyse the effects of international R&D cooperation on firms?? economic performance. Our approach, based on a complete data set with information about Spanish participants in research joint ventures supported by the EU Framework Programme during the period 1995?C2005, establishes a recursive model structure to capture the relationship between R&D cooperation, knowledge generation and economic results, which are measured by labour productivity. In the analysis we take into account that the participation in this specific type of cooperative projects implies a selection process that includes both the self-selection by participants to join the consortia and the selection of projects by the European Commission to award the public aid. Empirical analysis has confirmed that: (1) R&D cooperation has a positive impact on the technological capacity of firms, captured through intangible fixed assets and (2) the technological capacity of firms is positively related to their productivity.