Computer Self-Efficacy and e-Government Service Adoption: The Moderating Role of Age as a Demographic Factor

This article investigated the moderating role of age on the positive relationship between computer self-efficacy (CSE) and intention to use e-government services.The Technology Acceptance Model was used as the theoretical framework for this study while the data was analyzed with SPSS. The results showed that age as a demographic factor was significant and positively moderates the impact of CSE on the intention to use e-government services. Also, CSE was a significant predictor of the intention to use but age does not have a direct significant impact on the intention to use. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Evaluation of genetic markers for the analysis of THC levels of Cannabis sativa samples using principal component analysis – A preliminary study

Cannabis sativa is a worldwide commercial plant used for medicinal purposes, food and fiber production, and also as a recreational drug. Therefore, the identification and differentiation between legal and illegal C. sativa is of great importance for forensic investigations. In this study, principal component analysis (PCA), an exploratory data analysis technique, was tested to correlate the specific genotype with the concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the samples. C. sativa samples were obtained from legal growers in Piedmont, Italy, and from illegal drug seizures in the Turin region. DNA was extracted, quantified, amplified with a 13-loci multiplex STR and finally analyzed with an automated sequencer. The results showed a trend in the analyzed samples as they differed by their THC content and allele profiles. PCA yielded two clusters of samples that differed by specific allele profiles and THC concentrations. Further validation studies are needed, but this study could provide a new approach to forensic investigation and be a valuable aid to law enforcement in significant marijuana seizures or in tracing illicit drug trafficking routes.     

抗人同种异型G1m(3)单克隆抗体研制及特异性鉴定

用快速液相色谱仪从G1m（3）阳性人血浆中纯化IgG1蛋白，用其免疫BALB／C／小鼠．建立了一株分泌抗人G1m（3）单克隆抗体的细胞株（D7E8）。经抑制ELISA，直接ELISA及斑点ELISA分析，证明D7E8抗体具有G1m（3）单一特异性。其培养上清液效价为512倍，并初步应用于法医办案。     

脑络欣通对脑缺血再灌大鼠神经细胞凋亡率及NMDAR蛋白表达的影响

目的:研究脑络欣通对气虚血瘀脑缺血再灌注模型鼠神经细胞凋亡率及N 甲基 D 天冬氨酸受体(NMDAR)蛋白表达的影响.方法:采用饥饿、劳累、高脂饮食等多因素复制大鼠气虚血瘀模型,然后用线栓法阻断大鼠左侧大脑中动脉2 h再灌注6,24,72 h,复制局灶性脑缺血再灌注模型,用流式细胞仪和免疫组化法分别检测缺血半暗带神经细胞凋亡率和NMDAR蛋白表达.结果:与模型组比较,脑络欣通组神经细胞凋亡率和NMDAR蛋白表达显著减少(P＜0.01).结论:脑络欣通抑制NMDAR蛋白表达,是其抗脑缺血再灌注后神经细胞凋亡的机制之一.     

Routine Activities and Right-Wing Extremists: An Empirical Comparison of the Victims of Ideologically- and Non-Ideologically-Motivated Homicides Committed by American Far-Rightists

This study examines whether Criminology's Routine Activities Theory (RAT) and related Lifestyle Theory (LST) can account for variation between the attributes of victims of fatal ideologically motivated attacks (akin to terrorism) and the victims of non-ideologically motivated homicide incidents committed by far-Right extremists in the United States. This article makes four contributions. First, we empirically test Criminology theory in the context of terrorism by using routine activities to devise four core hypotheses to explain differences between the two types of victims. Second, our investigation uniquely includes a non-terrorist comparison group (i.e., victims of homicides committed by extremists for personal reasons like greed). Third, our study focuses on ideological victimization. Terrorism researchers have usually ignored victims because of the difficulty in accessing the necessary data. Finally, we also make a methodological contribution by showing that criminology can build upon the terrorism literature by utilizing open-sources. Using data from the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), the results of a multivariate analysis partially supported the hypotheses, showing that RAT and LST offer empirically supported theoretical constructs that have the ability to differentiate between ideological and non-ideological homicides.     

Contextualising emergency responses to famine among Turkana pastoralists in Kenya

The pastoralism of the Turkana has persisted in the challenging environment of northwestern Kenya for some 200 years. Yet many pastoralists find that they increasingly rely on food relief during droughts and famines. This article contextualises emergency responses to famine among Turkana pastoralists by considering their encounters with colonialism, development, and humanitarian interventions. It uses key informant interviews, participant observation, and content analysis, to analyse the benefits and challenges of a small-scale food relief programme. The article argues that such programmes can weaken the viability of pastoralism, and concludes with considerations for future policy and programming.     

Out on a Limb: Appointing a Parenting Coordinator with Decision‐Making Authority in the Absence of a Statute or Rule

This Article addresses the issue of whether a court may appoint a Parenting Coordinator (PC) with decision‐making authority in the absence of a statute or court rule. The Article identifies possible sources of authority for the appointment of a PC with decision‐making authority in a state with no authorizing statute or court rule. It also provides a paradigm for constructing an appointment that allows for the benefits of Parenting Coordination but does not delegate decision‐making authority to an extent that it would constitute an impermissible delegation of judicial authority.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Where a court seeks to appoint a PC with decision‐making authority in the absence of an authorizing statute or court rule, the court may find some authority allowing the appointment in (1) its equitable authority over child custody and visitation, (2) its authority to enforce its own orders, or (3) its authority to appoint other extrajudicial assistants such as a special master or mediator.
• Where a court seeks to appoint a PC with decision‐making authority in the absence of an authorizing statute or court rule, the court must craft an appointment that delegates enough decision‐making authority to the PC for parenting coordination to be effective yet, at the same time, not so much decision‐making authority as to render the appointment an impermissible delegation of a judicial function, specifically:
  • The PC's role should be limited to assisting the parties in implementing custody and visitation terms already decreed by the trial court.
  • A PC should be appointed only if the parties to the divorce consent to the appointment or if the trial court makes a finding that the case is a high‐conflict case.
  • The parties must have the opportunity for the trial court to meaningfully review any decision of the PC so that the trial court retains ultimate decision‐making authority.

     

Early adopters of the magical thinking cap: a study on do-it-yourself (DIY) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) user community

Among currently available technologies, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is one of the most promising neuroenhancements because it is relatively effective, safe, and affordable. Recently, lay people have begun to build—or purchase—the tDCS device to use it at home for treatment or as a cognitive enhancer. The tDCS device is currently not covered by the existing regulatory framework, but there are still significant potential risks of misusing this device, and its long-term effects on the brain have not been fully explored. Thus, researchers have argued the need for regulations or official guidelines for the personal use of tDCS. However, until now, no systematic research on the do-it-yourself (DIY) tDCS user community has been done. The present study explores the basic demographic characteristics of DIY tDCS users as well as why and how they are using this device through a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews, and a content analysis of web postings on the use of tDCS. This preliminary but valuable picture of the DIY tDCS user community will shed light on future studies and policy analysis to craft sound regulations and official guidelines for the use of tDCS.     

Legal ‘Elasticity’ and ‘Sidestepping’ in European Crisis Management of Financial Markets

This paper explores the roles played by law in crisis management of financial markets and some possible consequences. Three questions are raised ‐‐about the ‘elastic’ use of law, about ‘sidestepping’ existing legal order by invention of new structures and about redistributive consequences. These questions are appraised empirically in relation to three areas of financial market law: public support given to banking from 2008 onwards; English case law concerning derivatives contracts when confronted with Lehman‐style insolvencies; and the European Stability Mechanism, which during summer 2015 was being primed in relation to Greece. On the first two case studies, law, having been mightily stretched, did not break. Likewise, legal sidestepping, as epitomised by the European Stability Mechanism, may result in a less coherent legal structure; however such incoherence may be not be fatal to the ensemble. On all three fronts, redistributive questions remain controversial, but controversy in itself does not undermine legal structures. A particular form of theory, the Legal Theory of Finance, is discussed in light of the case studies. Such theory may have an unfulfilled longing to discern law‐like regularities (ironically chasing economics).     

Global democracy in a society of peoples

This paper explores the political structures suitable for the realization of John Rawls’ The Law of Peoples (1999). In particular, it explores whether Rawls’ principles and fundamental foundations recommend establishing global institutions and, if so, whether, and in what sense, these institutions should be democratic. It is often suggested, either implicitly or explicitly, that The Law of Peoples would operate through the bilateral and multilateral interactions of, ideally conceived, nation-states. This paper argues, on the contrary, that it would advise a series of democratic global institutions. The case is developed with respect to the idea of a global institution with the remit of regulating international trade and applied, in the contemporary context, to the World Trade Organization (WTO).