The Application of Flow Cytometry as a Rapid and Sensitive Screening Method to Detect Contamination of Vitreous Humor Samples and Avoid Miscalculation of the Postmortem Interval

Research into maximizing the speed, precision, and reliability of estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) has been a recurring object of investigation and methodologies based on the vitreous humor (VH) have provided good results. However, contamination from causes not readily apparent, such as blood, can occur, and thus lead not only to an erroneous estimation of PMI, but also interfere with the correct identification of other substances in the VH. We have developed a flow cytometry method which quantifies blood contamination and is able to detect erythrocytes in 1:750,000 dilution of contaminated VH which affects the results of hypoxanthine. It is an improvement on the previous more complex mass spectrometry method, being faster, more sensitive, and readily available. As such, it could be proposed for the rapid screening of appropriate samples by detecting and eliminating blood contaminated samples from PMI estimation.     

Covenant of Mayors: Reasons for Being an Environmentally and Energy Friendly Municipality

The Covenant of Mayors (CM) is the mainstream European movement involving local authorities who voluntarily commit to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources within their territories with the aim of reducing CO₂ emissions and meet the European Union objectives by 2020. One country that has a greater number of signatories of this agreement is Spain. This article analyzes which factors influence the decision of Spanish local authorities to join the ever‐growing movement. An empirical model is formulated to describe the behavior of Spanish local governments, this being a binary choice model which is a function of various political, economic, and technical factors. Among the prominent factors that influence this decision are population, availability of renewable energy, fiscal and environmental stress, citizens’ political preference, the contagion effect of neighboring municipalities, the existence of covenant coordinators, and finally, economic motivations.     

Online voting: a legal perspective

Casting a vote for the European Parliament from a cybercafe in India, a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocan, a weekend cottage in the Alps or plainly at home from your laptop computer? This article tackles this question from a legal point of view. It examines the basic principles surrounding online voting. Are the conditions for democratic elections – such as the freedom to vote without undue influence or coercion of any kind, the secrecy of the vote, the integrity, reliability and security of the ballot box, the verifiability and audit ability of the voting process and the principle of one person, one vote – sufficiently met or do we run into legal obstacles? Does the introduction of an electronic or even online voting process jeopardize the principles of non‐discriminatory access to the election process? And what about the anonymity? How can one guarantee that a vote over the Internet is cast by the legitimate voter, all the while guaranteeing his privacy? The last chapter of the article analyses the current state of affairs within the European Union. Is the introduction of online voting merely a science fictional feature or really within reach?     

Judicial Decisions Involving Questions of Private International Law

Netherlands International Law Review -