Sequential monitoring of burials containing small pig cadavers using ground penetrating radar

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) was used to monitor 12 pig burials in Florida, each of which contained a small pig cadaver. Six of the cadavers were buried in sand at a depth of 0.50-0.60 m, and the other six were buried in sand at a depth of 1.00-1.10 m to represent deep and shallow burials that are generally encountered in forensic scenarios. Four control excavations with no pig interment were also constructed as blank graves and monitored with GPR. The burials were monitored for durations of either 13 or 21 months, and were then excavated to correlate the decomposition state of the cadaver with the GPR imagery. Overall, this study demonstrated that it may be difficult to detect small cadavers buried in sand soon after they are skeletonized because the area surrounding the body, or the grave, may not provide a strong enough contrasting area to be detected by GPR when compared to that of the surrounding undisturbed soil. Also, depth of burial appears to influence grave detection because bodies that are buried at deeper depths may be detected for a longer period of time due to reduced decomposition rates.     

Coronary artery aneurysms in a young adult

Coronary artery aneurysms are an extremely rare cause of death at any age, but particularly so in young adults. A case is described of a young and previously fit man who died suddenly following thrombosis within one of multiple coronary artery aneurysms. He had had a childhood illness with symptoms consistent with an episode of unrecognized infantile polyarteritis nodosa. It is suggested that many cases of aneurysm of the coronary arteries in young adults, where atherosclerosis has been excluded, may in fact be due to previous polyarteritis, rather than of congenital origin as is usually claimed.     

Bringing Practitioner Experience into the Classroom: The United Nations Intensive Summer Study Program

Diplomatic practitioners and policy makers represent an important, although frequently neglected, resource for teaching about international relations. The insights and stories provided by practitioners regarding key processes and events are often able to inspire our students to engage complex material and to play a much more active role in their own learning. While it is possible to argue that any type of practitioner contact is beneficial in terms of going beyond the material covered in textbooks, there are definite challenges associated with how to most effectively integrate these experiences with overall student learning. What type of format is most conducive to providing students with an insider's view? What type of preparation is required before contact with practitioners? How can student learning be evaluated in terms of assignments and debriefing activities? And finally, are traditional student feedback mechanisms appropriate for a course that involves a substantial practitioner component? This article investigates each of these challenges in the course of discussing one mechanism for bringing practitioner experience into the classroom, the United Nations Intensive Summer Study Program.     

Correctional officers and the use of force as an organizational behavior

During the past 30 years, bureaucratic managerialism has reshaped how prison staff maintain order. Policies and graduated disciplinary models have replaced coercive methods, reducing disciplinary use of force by prison staff against incarcerated people. Managerialism, however, disguises deep problems in the interpretation and enforcement of use-of-force policies. Drawing on 131 semistructured interviews with Canadian correctional officers (COs), I show how managers and prison staff interpret and negotiate policies to justify using force to maintain order. Although COs frame policies and management supervision as significant checks on their actions, they also suggest that inconsistencies in policy interpretation and implementation facilitate certain kinds of use-of-force decisions, which I define as “construction” and “outsourcing.” I conclude by discussing the broader organizational implications of these findings.