Assessment of Wear‐Related Features of the Kerf Wall from Saw Marks in Bone*†

Abstract: Analyses of saw marks in bone may yield important information about the class characteristics of saws used in postmortem dismemberments, yet little research has been directed at identifying saws’ individualizing characteristics. This study adds to existing saw mark analysis methodologies by examining wear‐related features of kerf walls using light‐ and environmental scanning electron microscopy. A crosscut saw and hacksaw were used to create sequences of 30 cuts in bone; these sequences reveal patterns of progressive loss of fine details of kerf wall morphology with increasing saw blade wear, because of the rounding of sharp points and edges. Nevertheless, diagnostic kerf wall features used to establish class characteristics persist despite these wear‐related changes. Unsuccessful attempts at statistical analysis of wear‐related changes, based on striae width and density, suggest these patterns are not readily quantifiable. Additionally, despite the scanning electron microscope’s superior imaging capabilities, it provided few practical, methodological gains over traditional light microscopy.     

Innovation capacity in the healthcare sector and historical anchors: examples from the UK,Switzerland and the US

Innovation is an integral part of economic development in developed economies. In the post 2008 period, a key policy agenda is that of sustainable development, which calls for innovation in all aspects of value-chains. In this paper, we focus on innovation from the biotech—pharma perspective to see whether or not this will lead to a sustainable future for the regions where there are clusters of firms in this sector. We examine data from a recently completed European Union study of innovation in the Healthcare sector from the UK and Switzerland, countries with an historical base in pharma, to understand how innovation pathways vary at the regional level in the broader life sciences, which incorporate biotech and more. Innovation in the healthcare sector in two regions, Oxfordshire in the UK and Zurich in Switzerland are compared. We contextualize our discussion by drawing on studies that focus on the sector in the US, specifically Boston. The analytical framework comprises three elements: innovation systems and national and regional economic development theories are the first two, followed by approaches which consider organizational or institutional activity. This framework is used to help explain and understand the complexity of how innovation is organized at the sub-national level. The overall context is that it is increasing becoming a condition for government financing of research that it has more immediate application in industry or have the possibility of commercialisation (e.g., translational research).     

Interpreting perimortem blast trauma from skeletal remains: Complications and considerations

Blast trauma results from highly variable events that can lead to similar effects in the skeleton. Clinical literature, which largely focuses on soft tissue, provides limited efficacy for interpreting fully skeletonized cases. Interpretation of skeletal blast trauma is hampered by the low number of fully skeletonized case studies and experimental replication studies, which mainly use nonhuman proxies. The purpose of this study is to discuss fracture patterns on two individuals from WWII as a means to better understand and identify fracture patterns associated with blast trauma. Existing clinical and anthropological criteria are reviewed and applied to two World War II cases, both presumed to exhibit blast trauma based on historical contexts. These case studies exhibit combinations of complicated and extensive signs of blunt-force and projectile trauma, reflecting the diversity of skeletal trauma resulting from blast-related events. This analysis emphasizes the arguably impossible task of establishing a diagnosis based on the available literature and lack of prior knowledge about specific losses. Ultimately, analysts must consider the totality of skeletal trauma, combining biomechanical theory and relevant clinical and anthropological literature to arrive at useful yet defensible assessments of trauma. However, refined criteria and additional studies are needed to assess complicated trauma from blast-related events in anthropological contexts.     

Who is Punished? Conditions Affecting Voter Evaluations of Legislators Who Do Not Compromise

In American politics, legislative compromise is often seen as a necessary and desirable aspect of policymaking, yet people also value politicians who stick to their positions. In this article, we consider these conflicting expectations of legislators and ask two intertwined questions: what conditions lead people to punish legislators for not compromising (when legislative action is at stake) and, conversely, what conditions leave people more willing to overlook a legislator’s unwillingness to engage in compromise? Relying on previous research, we suggest that legislator gender, legislator partisanship, and issue area may all affect which legislators are punished for not compromising. Relying on two national experiments, we demonstrate that the extent to which lawmakers are punished for not compromising is conditional on the intersection of the three factors in this study. In general, our results suggest that people may be most willing to overlook unwillingness to engage in compromise when party, gender and issue ownership align than when party, gender, and issue ownership are at odds.     

Spreading the Word: feminist print cultures and the Women's Liberation Movement

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the significance of print cultures to the Women's Liberation Movement. It highlights feminist interventions into a male-dominated publishing industry through women's writing, publishing and political commitment, with shifts towards feminist publishing cultures, both emboldened by the WLM and empowered by separatist networks. The construction and publication of feminist magazines was a significant aspect of feminist print cultures and activism. This article discusses the different publishing hinterlands of three important feminist magazines: Shrew, Spare Rib and Womens Voice. Arguing that whilst their concerns were overlapping, their distinctive approaches represented the diversity of print activism of the WLM.     

Legislative Institutions as a Source of Party Leaders' Influence

Legislators' actions are influenced by party, constituency, and their own views, each weighted differently. Our survey of state legislators finds that legislator's own views are the strongest influence. We also find that institutions are an important source of party leaders' influence. Legislators in states where members rely more on party leaders—states without term limits, with less professional legislatures, and where the majority party controls the agenda—put more weight on leaders' preferences. Beyond direct party influence, the views of party leaders are preemptively incorporated into legislators' preferences when the rules of the legislature make party leaders more powerful.