Forensic ethnic identification of crania: the role of the maxillary sinus--a new approach

Forensic pathologists may be asked to identify the ethnic group and gender of a cranium of unknown origin. An analysis of the maxillary sinus--its volume, shape, and dimensions in dried crania of different ethnic and gender groups (European and Zulu male and female)--was conducted to establish a new approach. A variation in maxillary sinus volume may mean a variation in anatomic landmarks between the groups. Ethnic and gender variations in the shape of the maxillary sinus of the crania were investigated. This research was further extended to predict the gender and ethnic group from an unknown cranium to make this research valuable to the fields of forensic pathology and anthropology. Helical, multislice computed tomography was performed using 1-mm coronal slices. The area for each slice was obtained by tracing the outline of each slice. The computed tomographic machine calculated a volume by totalling the slices for each sinus. Advanced computer methodology including a neural network was designed and applied to search for classification patterns in data. A discriminant analysis was performed to improve classification results. Ethnic and gender variations were found in the different groups, and the predictive role of the maxillary sinus in ethnic classification was established. It was found that European crania had significantly larger antral volumes than Zulu crania, and males had larger volumes than females. Dimensions of European sinuses were larger than those of Zulu sinuses. The medial antral wall of the sinus allowed for ethnic classification. The discriminant analysis allowed for a very successful 90% ethnic prediction, while gender prediction was ultimately 79%. The measurements taken and the formulae created in this research will be valuable to those in the field who are seeking to ethnically classify a cranium into one or another ethic group. This research aims to be an aid in identification, as well as a starting point for other scientific studies based on other ethnic groups. Perhaps its true value will lie in confirming ethnicity by adding to existing criteria. It must be noted that this classification is based on actual measurements and therefore eliminates the some of the subjectivity present in current methods of ethnic classification.     

Sexual dimorphism in the crania and mandibles of South African whites

Numerous studies have clearly demonstrated that skeletal characteristics vary by population. To date, there are no metric cranial criteria for South African whites. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish population specific standards for sex determination from the skull. A total of 12 standard cranial and five mandibular measurements were taken from 44 male and 47 female skeletons of known sex and race from the Pretoria and Dart collections. These were subjected to SPSS discriminant function analysis. Bizygomatic breadth was the most dimorphic dimension. Five functions were developed from the complete cranium, vault, face, mandible and bizygomatic breadth. Dimensions from the complete cranium provided the best accuracy. In the mandible, bigonial breadth was the most dimorphic of the measurements taken. Average accuracies ranged from 80% (bizygomatic breadth alone) to 86% (cranium). These accuracies are similar to those obtained by researchers on other groups (e.g., 84% in Japanese crania and about 86% in American whites and blacks). Diagnostic accuracy, however, is lower than that obtained from the South African femur and tibia.     

Evaluation of non-metric variation in the crania of black and white perinates

Reports in the literature suggest that diagnostic differences in craniofacial morphology between blacks and whites arise very early in development. These reports, however, have not been consistent regarding which traits are diagnostic and have failed to provide forensic anthropologists with a reliable method of assessment. In an effort to clarify the situation, 13 non-metric craniofacial traits were scored and analyzed statistically in a sample of 70 black and white perinatal specimens obtained from the Smithsonian's fetal osteology collection. Chi-square analysis revealed significant (p<0.05) differences in the distribution of five of the 13 non-metric traits examined. Compared with black perinates, white perinates more frequently possessed a relatively narrow supraoccipital portion of the occipital bone, a prominent anterior nasal spine, "deep" subnasal margins, an elongated vomer, and semi-circular temporal squamae. When these five traits were entered into a stepwise logistic regression, temporal squamous shape, vomer shape and subnasal margin definition were found to be predictive of race (79.1% overall correct classification). An independent sample of 39 black and white perinates was then used to validate the results; overall, 67.5% of the validation sample could be classified correctly. Reasons for the disparity in correct classification rates between the initial and follow-up sample are provided. Results of the present study may be useful for anthropologists who encounter unidentified cranial material from this age range.     

Sexual dimorphism in human browridge volume measured from 3D models of dry crania: A new digital morphometrics approach

Sex estimation from the human skull is often a necessary step when constructing a biological profile from unidentified human remains. Traditional methods for determining the sex of a skull require observers to rank the expression of sexually dimorphic skeletal traits by subjectively assessing their qualitative differences. One of these traits is the prominence of the glabellar region above the browridge. In this paper, the volume of the browridge region was measured from digital 3D models of 128 dry crania (65 female, 63 male). The 3D models were created with a desktop laser scanner, and the browridge region of each 3D model was isolated using geometric planes defined by cranial landmarks. Statistical analysis of browridge-to-cranium volume ratios revealed significant differences between male and female crania. Differences were also observed between geographically distinct populations, and between temporally distinct populations from the same locale. The results suggest that in the future, sex determination of human crania may be assisted by quantitative computer-based volume calculations from 3D models, which can provide increased objectivity and repeatability when compared to traditional forensic techniques. The method presented in this paper can easily be extended to other volumetric regions of the human cranium.     

有限责任公司股东优先购买权问题研究

有限责任公司股东优先购买权的法理基础在于期待权和有限责任公司的理论。股东优先购买权是一项法定权利 ,是股东基于股东资格而享有的请求权 ,其行使须依法定程序。股东优先购买权的效力及法律保护须考虑公司资本利益和股东有限责任原则的衡平以及如何防止股权转让自由的滥用。     

医疗损害证明责任分配规则研究

证明责任在医疗损害赔偿纠纷中发挥着风险分配的重要作用,我国近十年的立法充分利用证明责任分配规则来体现立法政策的转变。早期立法体现的证明责任倒置规则导致了大量的非合理性医疗行为,这在更大范围内损害患者的利益。《侵权责任法》矫正了这种倾向,《侵权责任法》根据各种具体情形,规定了更为详细的归责要件,相应地,证明责任分配规则也更加详细具体,较好地分配了医疗风险,平衡了医患双方的诉讼负担。     

Applicability of Latent Dirichlet Allocation to multi-disk search

Digital forensics practitioners face a continual increase in the volume of data they must analyze, which exacerbates the problem of finding relevant information in a noisy domain. Current technologies make use of keyword based search to isolate relevant documents and minimize false positives with respect to investigative goals. Unfortunately, selecting appropriate keywords is a complex and challenging task. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) offers a possible way to relax keyword selection by returning topically similar documents. This research compares regular expression search techniques and LDA using the Real Data Corpus (RDC). The RDC, a set of over 2400 disks from real users, is first analyzed to craft effective tests. Three tests are executed with the results indicating that, while LDA search should not be used as a replacement to regular expression search, it does offer benefits. First, it is able to locate documents when few, if any, of the keywords exist within them. Second, it improves data browsing and deals with keyword ambiguity by segmenting the documents into topics.     

Bilateral fractures of the coronoid processes: differential diagnosis of intra-oral gunshot trauma and scavenging using a sheep crania model

Approximately half of the skeleton of an adult male (minus the cranium) was found in a forested part of Greater Vancouver, Canada, in August 2000 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Authorities ruled the death as suicide. The only compelling signs of perimortem trauma were symmetrically fractured coronoid processes of the mandible, which can be attributed to a gunshot in the mouth. However, the remains had also been scavenged by canids, raising a problem in differential diagnosis. Could canid scavenging produce bilateral fracturing of the mandible indistinguishable from gunshot wounds to the mouth? We found that canid scavengers could not mimic the type of damage to the mandible caused by intra-oral gunshot wounding using a sheep model (n = 20). Bilateral fracturing of the coronoid processes was found to be characteristic of intra-oral gunshot wounding, while canid scavengers typically ignore this region of the mandible.     

新生权利的经济解释与法律配置——以户外广告发布权为例

权利本质上是分配稀缺资源的规则,法律中的产权规范正是伴随着资源稀缺程度的加剧而不断发展演化。户外广告发布权正是在此背景下从所有权的权利束中分离出来,并逐步成为一种可独立交易的权利类型。该权利自产生以来就争议不断,它揭示出一个备受关注的理论问题,即权利的初始配置影响资源的利用效率。这是科斯定理的既定结论。法经济学对科斯定理所作的推论,为新生权利的初始配置提供了思路。根据产权配置的低交易成本规则和价高者得规则,依附于私人建筑物的户外广告发布权应当配置给私人建筑物业主所有。此种产权配置方案使得法经济学的产权理论与物权法原理能够实现内在统一。     

Role of morphometry in the identification of teeth: I. Maxillary permanent molars from an eastern Indian population

Morphometric studies were conducted on the maxillary permanent molars of Eastern Indians. Total tooth length and trunk height (cervical margin to trifurcation) were measured. The data obtained was found to be useful in distinguishing between the three molars.     

裁判请求权保障与法院审判人员的优化配置

在实行法官员额制改革过程中,必须一并考虑法院审判人员的分类管理和优化配置问题。在民事诉讼中,为保障公民的裁判请求权,对于民事纠纷案件的审理,必须配置入额法官;对于非讼案件的审理、诉前或审前的法院调解以及立案登记等程序事项的处理应交由司法实务官进行,从而让法官专注于民事纠纷案件的审判,以更好地落实公民的裁判请求权保障之宪法理念。司法事务官不同于助理审判员,其不能审理所有的民事案件;司法事务官也不同于法官助理,司法事务官不是法官的助手,其可以依法独立行使职权。司法事务官不是宪法意义上的处理民事纠纷的法官,司法事务官不必进入法官员额。     

论我国检察权能的优化配置

以厘定我国检察权概念内涵与外延为路径,将检察权析分为侦查权能、公诉权能、司法监督权能,揭示了现存的检察权独立行使受限、检察权能法律保障不足、检察权内部整合乏力等问题产生的思想认识根源,在于对事实与正义、独立与自治、分工与制约、正义与效率等基本范畴的曲解或者相互间有机关系的割裂,提出了按照概念逻辑周延原则充实检察权能、按照自治独立原则优化检察机关管理体系、按照凸显制约功能原则重构司法监督制度、按照正义与效率兼顾原则建立检察程序终结机制的检察权优化配置构想。     

Use of liver morphometry in the differential diagnosis of chronic alcohol and narcotic poisoning

Data on the quantitative histomorphological involvement of the liver in chronic narcotic and ethanol poisoning and their combination are presented. Alcohol use by narcomaniacs augments hepatocyte damage, which manifests by increased fatty degeneration, increased activity of lobular hepatitis, appearance of the neutrophil admixture in inflammatory infiltration, and stimulation of sclerotic processes leading to an increase in the perimeter of portal tract section at the expense of connective tissue growth. Quantitative analysis of these processes is recommended for forensic medical histological differential diagnosis of chronic narcotic and ethanol poisoning.     

检察权配置基本问题研究

检察权需要进一步优化配置源于其宪法与宪政地位的张力。检察权优化配置是指立法机关在一国宪政框架内,按照一定的立法程序,根据传统文化及社会公众领域内生的主观法权诉求,授权检察机关行使特定职权和职责的规范性活动。优化检察权配置的基本目标是为了更好地实现人民代表大会制度下的权力制约与监督,其终极目标是为了保障人权。优化检察权配置必须坚持合宪性、权力制约与监督、遵循司法规律、检察一体化、权力结构完整、权责统一以及法律保留等基本原则。     

论侦查权的优化配置

现代刑事诉讼法的发展和进步离不开对侦查权的制约,在侦查阶段,公民权利与国家权力发生直接冲突,如何对侦查权进行配置,直接体现了一国刑事诉讼法的价值取向,对刑事诉讼程序有决定性的影响.我国侦查权的配置与其他国家相比,具有较鲜明的特点,也存在着特有的问题.近年来,理论界和实务界对侦查权的优化配置问题展开了热烈的讨论,总体认为对侦查权进行司法控制、实行检警一体化改革是优化侦查权配置的两个主要方向,不过,在我国现行司法结构和宪政体制下,这种改革动议也面临着现实障碍,如警察权力过大,司法不独立,检察官、法官素质有待提高等.     

关于监狱女警警力资源优化配置的思考

监狱女警是监狱警力资源的一个重要组成部分。根据司法部有关数据统计显示，截止2006年，全国监狱系统有女警7．5万人，占监狱民警队伍总数的26．5％，意味着每四名监狱警察中就有一名女警。女警在监狱管理工作中的作用日益受到关注和认可，特别是随着我国监狱管理科学化、现代化水平的不断提升，除了女子监狱的女警之外，已有一些女警出现在男犯管理教育工作的一线，与男干警共同承担着维护监狱安全稳定、教育改造罪犯的光荣使命。     

论批捕权的合理配置

近几年来，随着刑事司法领域中某些错案的披露，学者们开始审视我国刑事司法程序设计的科学性和合理性，其中负有公诉职责的检察机关同时享有批捕权问题更是备受争议。为了合理地配置司法资源，有效地实现司法运作的最终目的——公平与效率，充分发挥检察机关在侦查阶段的法律监督功能，就有必要重新考察逮捕这一强制措施在司法实践中的多重作用，认清逮捕与羁押之间的关系以及造成羁押率居高不下和超期羁押的痼疾久治难愈的真正原因，     

努力推进我国司法职权优化配置和司法行为科学化——首届“司法行为·南岳论坛”综述

为深入落实科学发展观，推进贯彻社会主义法治理念，实现司法职权的优化配置和科学建构，推进司法行为科学化建设，中国行为法学会、山东省高级人民法院、山东省人民检察院共同举办首届“司法行为·东岳论坛”于2010年5月15日在山东省泰安市隆重召开。