Ariel - Volume 8 Number 1

Executive Editor James W. Lockard, Jr. Issue Editor Michael J. Grimes Business Manager Neeraj K. Kanwal Managing Editor Edward H. Jasper University News Richard J. Perry World News William D.B. Hiller Opinions Elizabeth A. McGuire Features Patrick P. Sokas Sports Desk Shahab S. Minassian Managing Associate Brenda Peterson Photography Robert D. Lehman, Jr. Graphics Christine M. Kuhnl

Ariel - Volume 8 Number 4

Executive Editor James W. Lockard Jr. Issues Editor Neeraj K. Kanwal Business Manager Neeraj K. Kanwal University News Martin Trichtinger World News Doug Hiller Opinions Elizabeth A. McGuire Features Patrick P. Sokas Sports Desk Shahab S. Minassian Managing Editor Edward H. Jasper Managing Associate Brenda Peterson Photography Editor Robert D. Lehman, Jr. Graphics Christine M. Kuhnl

On ‘Organized Crime’ in the illicit antiquities trade: moving beyond the definitional debate

The extent to which ‘organized crime’ is involved in illicit antiquities trafficking is unknown and frequently debated. This paper explores the significance and scale of the illicit antiquities trade as a unique transnational criminal phenomenon that is often said to be perpetrated by and exhibit traits of so-called ‘organized crime.’ The definitional debate behind the term ‘organized crime’ is considered as a potential problem impeding our understanding of its existence or extent in illicit antiquities trafficking, and a basic progression-based model is then suggested as a new tool to move beyond the definitional debate for future research that may help to elucidate the actors, processes and criminal dynamics taking place within the illicit antiquities trade from source to market. The paper concludes that researchers should focus not on the question of whether organized criminals- particularly in a traditionally conceived, mafia-type stereotypical sense- are involved in the illicit antiquities trade, but instead on the structure and progression of antiquities trafficking itself that embody both organized and criminal dynamics

Genome-Wide Screening of Genes Whose Enhanced Expression Affects Glycogen Accumulation in Escherichia coli

Using a systematic and comprehensive gene expression library (the ASKA library), we have carried out a genome-wide screening of the genes whose increased plasmid-directed expression affected glycogen metabolism in Escherichia coli. Of the 4123 clones of the collection, 28 displayed a glycogen-excess phenotype, whereas 58 displayed a glycogen-deficient phenotype. The genes whose enhanced expression affected glycogen accumulation were classified into various functional categories including carbon sensing, transport and metabolism, general stress and stringent responses, factors determining intercellular communication, aggregative and social behaviour, nitrogen metabolism and energy status. Noteworthy, one-third of them were genes about which little or nothing is known. We propose an integrated metabolic model wherein E. coli glycogen metabolism is highly interconnected with a wide variety of cellular processes and is tightly adjusted to the nutritional and energetic status of the cell. Furthermore, we provide clues about possible biological roles of genes of still unknown functions

Beni culturali e sistema penale

Il volume comprende una serie di studi sui reati contro il patrimonio culturale e le relative tecniche di prevenzione e repressione. Si offre così al lettore un’agile ma completa panoramica delle questioni più attuali e rilevanti, a livello sia interno sia internazionale, in tema di tutela del patrimonio culturale da forme di aggressione (come il saccheggio di siti archeologici, il traffico di beni culturali, gli atti di vandalismo o le frodi nel mercato dell’arte) che negli ultimi anni attirano sempre più l’attenzione dei vari legislatori nazionali (a cominciare da quello italiano) e delle Nazioni Unite. La disamina degli illeciti è condotta seguendo la più avanzata impostazione interdisciplinare, che integra strettamente la prospettiva del diritto penale (sia vigente sia nelle sue linee di riforma) con l’analisi criminologica del fenomeno e con i profili della cooperazione internazionale, tanto nelle attività investigative e giudiziarie, quanto rispetto alle complesse questioni legate alla restituzione e al rimpatrio dei beni culturali contesi.This book is a collection of essays dealing with the topic of cultural heritage protection against offences which may impinge upon it. The problem is analyzed through a brief but complete overview of the most compelling and up-to-date questions related, at both national and international level, to the prevention and fight against crimes involving cultural property (such as looting of archaeological sites, illicit trafficking in cultural objects, episodes of vandalism, or frauds in the art market), which, of late, are an object of ever growing interest for national legislators (particularly for Italian lawmakers), as well as for international agencies such as UNESCO and UNODC. The issue is addressed according to an advanced inter-disciplinary approach, encompassing the criminal law perspective (attentive to possible reforms and new criminal policy strategies), together with a criminological evaluation of the phenomenon, a specific attention to the ways of enforcing more effective international police and judicial cooperation, as well as an overview of the main questions related to the return and restitution of disputed cultural objects

National Security vs Criminal law. Perspectives, Doubts and Concerns on the Criminalisation of Organised Crime in England and Wales

This paper will interpret and critically analyse the new offence for organised crime in England and Wales (Section 45 of the Serious Crime Act 2015) from a criminological perspective in light of evidence found in research in the country. It will argue that changes in the law relate to changes in political narratives rather than to variations in the criminal panorama of organised crime. It will discuss these changes within three perspectives, which address various levels of concern: a narrative perspective, which reflects on the overlapping of meanings in the use of the words ‘organised crime’; an evolution perspective, which reflects on the origins of the new participation offences with reference to both national and international pressures; a management perspective, which reflects on some of the immediate effects of the new offences of organised crime on the criminal justice system. This paper will conclude that political narratives have indeed influenced criminal policy, while there is no significant change in the phenomenon of organised crime to justify such narratives