Decomposing Human Blood: Canine Detection Odor Signature and Volatile Organic Compounds

The admissibility of human “odor mortis” discrimination in courts depends on the lack of comprehension of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the human decay process and of the lack in standardized procedures in training cadaver dogs. Blood was collected from four young people who died from traffic accidents and analyzed using HS‐SPME/GC‐MS at different decompositional stages. Two dogs, professionally trained, were tested to exactly locate blood samples, for each time point of the experiment. We found a long list of VOCs which varied from fresh to decomposed blood samples, showing differences in specific compounds. Dog performance showed a positive predictive value between 98.96% and 100% for DOG A, and between 99.47% and 100% for DOG B. Our findings demonstrated that decomposing human blood is a good source of VOCs and a good target for canine training.     

Traceology,criminalistics, and forensic science

There is a serious issue within the forensic science community, which even extends outside of the field. The role of the scientist in the investigation of crime has been increasingly confined to the laboratory, which has been accompanied by the conflation of the terms forensic science and criminalistics. This unfortunate situation has been festering for years. To make matters worse, the era of the proactive, problem-defining, criminalist (generalist) is waning, and possibly over. Present-day “criminalists” are treated as little more than reactive, protocol-constrained, laboratory technicians, with few, if any, consequential crime scene roles. In most cases, these “criminalists” merely respond to routine requests from prosecutors and police. The absence of science at the front end of forensic investigations, i.e., the scene, has resulted in biased, ineffective, inefficient, and/or erroneous outcomes with immediate and long-term societal impacts. To disentangle this imbroglio, we propose the use of another term, traceology, which has seen limited use worldwide except in the field of archaeology. With respect to criminalistics, this term has been previously proposed by Margot (20–21). Traceology is an historical science, dealing with the examination, analysis, and scientific interpretation of event traces (signs or remnants) of earlier activities. In this commentary, we define and redefine familiar, but ambiguous, terms and concepts with the hope of recapturing the essence of criminalistics (32), which we suggest is best termed traceology.     

Patenting and spin-off creation by Canadian researchers in engineering and life sciences

This paper examines the determinants of patenting and spin-off creation using survey data of 479 researchers in engineering and 449 researchers in life sciences funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The results show that research novelty and laboratory size are the only two variables significantly explaining patenting and spin-off formation in both engineering and life sciences. Network capital explains spin-off formation in engineering and in life sciences as well as patenting in life sciences, but not in engineering. Furthermore, the results suggest that many categories of resources explain patenting and spin-off formation in engineering and in life sciences, but that the combinations of resources required differ for patenting and spin-off formation and between engineering and life sciences. The results of this paper suggest that customized policies would be required to accommodate differences between spin-off formation and patenting as well as between engineering and life sciences.      

Publication rates of abstracts presented at the annual scientific meetings held by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in 2011 and 2016

Prior research evaluating the papers presented in forensic sciences in international meetings is scant. This study determines the possible predictions concerning publications by comparing the publication rates, publication years, and presentation types, time until publication, participating countries, and criteria of the published journals in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). The publication rates of abstracts presented at scientific meetings of AAFS, a prestigious forensic science organization, along with the aforementioned components and the extent of their contribution in 2011 and 2016 were investigated. The abstracts presented at the AAFS meetings in 2011 and 2016 were reviewed retrospectively within the scope of this study. The Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were searched using a specified process that included the title, first and last author surnames, and keywords. Results revealed that approximately 21% and 24% of the papers presented at the 2011 and 2016 AAFS meetings, respectively, were published. Considering the publication rates of abstracts according to sections, the publication rates for the 2011 AAFS meeting ranged from 4% (questioned documents) to 31% (anthropology) and from 5% (questioned documents) to 32% (pathology/biology), on average, for the 2016 AAFS meeting. It was determined that the papers were largely published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences for both annual scientific meetings. Future studies should concentrate on the obstacles to the publication of papers presented at such prestigious organizations and strategies to facilitate the publication process such that they do not lose their value over time.     

European Human Rights Law and the Normalisation of the ‘Closed Material Procedure’: Limit or Source?

Once a legal abnormality that was criticised on human rights grounds, the closed material procedure (CMP) has now become the main mechanism for dealing with allegedly sensitive security information in the UK. This article considers the role of European human rights law in that process. It argues that the CMP can be conceptualised as the product of human rights law, which has developed so as to legalise and normalise its use, and that this process is symptomatic of a deeper inter‐relationship between human rights law and the preservation of states' security interests, which renders the former inherently unsuitable for dealing with security phenomena.     

Embracing Emotionality: Clothing My “Naked Truths”

There is increasing awareness and recognition that researchers’ emotions will contribute to a richer and deeper understanding of what they are studying. Researchers’ emotions as analytic tools are particularly relevant when working with marginalized or oppressed groups because of the emotional aspect generally associated with human suffering. This paper discusses how adopting a reflexive practice can help researchers embrace and use their emotions as a part of the research process, enabling a more humanistic approach to studying crime and those whose marginalization and oppression are intricately tied to their crime. More specifically, this paper examines my own experiences of doing research with Aboriginal female offenders in a federal prison. I problematize the process of embracing emotionality by reflecting on the paralysis that evolved in my research with these women as I experienced an overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness. I contend that social science in the academic arena, not unlike many other institutions in society, has adopted a method of surveillance thereby instilling a sense of fear and judgment upon those working in academic arenas. After describing my reflexive process throughout this emotional paralysis, I describe my discovery of safe spaces as a way of dealing with my emotions and how engaging in creative analytic practice enabled me to clothe my nakedness and vulnerability as I represented, and ultimately re-created my self in the research process. As part of that evolution, embracing emotionality ultimately enabled me to engage in knowledge building as well as advocacy with and for Aboriginal women in prison.     

Opposition Discourses in European Democracies: A Rhetorical Approach

Through this article, I explore the issue of tolerance in the Western thought from a rhetorical perspective. I assume that the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights reflects the framework in which Europeans democracies argue and think today. Consequently, I analyze the Universal Declaration with the help of Toulmin’s model in order to put its backing into light, and compare it to the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man. This backing, I argue, echoes the contemporary vision of tolerance in Western democracies. Afterwards, I therefore analyze the concept of tolerance in a multicultural world. This reflection comes within the scope of the current researches in rhetoric as they were launched by Perelman’s Treatise on Argumentation first published in 1958. Having inherited from the 19th-century renewed interests in linguistics and semiotics, the contemporary researches assume an evolutionary and anthropological perspective on rhetoric and argumentation, seen as natural activities of human beings. This discipline, notably developing in the school of Brussels in argumentation [See Danblon, Emmanuelle, La Fonction Persuasive, Paris: Armand Colin, 2002], inspires itself both from Aristotle’s works and from the cognitive movement in contemporary linguistics. It seeks to establish a link between the emergence of rationality and rhetoric and takes its grounds in cognitive sciences as well as anthropological studies, philosophy, logics and theories of emotions. At present, it addresses several issues such as the status of rationality, persuasion and the place of rhetoric and argumentation in contemporary societies. Additional support was provided by the National Science Foundation.     

Subway Train‐Related Fatalities in New York City: Accident versus Suicide*

Abstract: We examined the characteristics of subway train‐related fatalities in New York City between Jan. 1, 2003 and May 31, 2007 in order to determine which factors are useful in differentiating accident from suicide. Subway train‐related deaths with homicide and undetermined manners also are included. During this period, there were 211 subway train‐related fatalities. The manners of death were: suicide (n = 111), accident (n = 76), undetermined (n = 20), and homicide (n = 4). The causes of death were blunt trauma (n = 206) and electrocution (n = 5). Torso transection and extremity amputation were more frequent in suicides. Antidepressant medications were more frequently detected in suicides, whereas cocaine and ethanol were more frequent in accidents. However, autopsy findings should be weighed in the context of the entire evaluation along with other circumstantial and investigative findings. In unwitnessed deaths where additional information is unavailable or discrepant, the most appropriate manner of death usually is undetermined.     

The Commonality Between Economics and Law

The development of law and economics is a success story in the expansion of economics into other social sciences since the 1960s. The success has been attributed to the fact that economics offers a powerful set of analytical tools with a forceful theory of human behavior. But if this is the only reason, then the move of economics into other social sciences such as political science and sociology should have been equally successful. This, however, has not been true, and the discrepancy calls for an explanation. The commonalities between economics and law in both subject matter and analytical approach provide a more convincing explanation; some of the difficulties faced by the legal economists can also be explained by an appreciation of the commonalites between economics and law.     

Measuring the Economic Returns from Successful NASA Life Sciences Technology Transfers

Since 1958 NASA has invested approximately $3.7 billion in life sciences R&D in the support of the successful human space flight program. There are numerous studies documenting the spin-off technologies that can be traced to NASA research and development activities. Most of these studies describe the technologies and their uses; however only a few measure the economic impact of the spin-offs and most of these are benefit/cost studies that tend to overstate benefits or underestimate costs. This study takes a different approach, measuring only economic impacts to the companies that developed successful spin-off products from NASA life sciences investments. A personal interview was conducted with each company and the benefits are conservatively estimated as the value-added by the NASA technology to the company's output and the amount of additional private R&D stimulated by the NASA R&D.This pilot study of fifteen companies, using a very conservative measurement technique, found a large return to companies that have successfully commercialized NASA life sciences spin-off products. Value-added benefits totaled over $3.7 billion in life sciences R&D in the support of the successful human space flight program. There are numerous studies documenting the spin-off technologies that can be traced to NASA research and development activities. Most of these studies describe the technologies and their uses; however only a few measure the economic impact of the spin-offs and most of these are benefit/cost studies that tend to overstate benefits or underestimate costs. This study takes a different approach, measuring only economic impacts to the companies that developed successful spin-off products from NASA life sciences investments. A personal interview was conducted with each company and the benefits are conservatively estimated as the value-added by the NASA technology to the company's output and the amount of additional private R&D stimulated by the NASA R&D.This pilot study of fifteen companies, using a very conservative measurement technique, found a large return to companies that have successfully commercialized NASA life sciences spin-off products. Value-added benefits totaled over 1.5 billion and a NASA R&D total investment in these 15 technologies of 64 million was found to stimulate an additional64 million was found to stimulate an additional 200 million in private R&D.     

Thirty Years of Social Science in Supreme Court Criminal Cases*

The Supreme Court early took note of extralegal, “social science” materials in Muller v. Oregon (1908), and a half-century later made specific reference to social science authorities in the famous footnote 11 of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Since Brown, much has been written about the Supreme Court's use of social science research evidence, but there has been little systematic study of that use. Those writing on the subject commonly focus on areas of law such as jury size, where social science has been used, and have generally assumed that social science information has been utilized in Supreme Court decisions with increasing regularity. Surprisingly little is known, however, about either the justices' baseline use of social science authorities, or many other aspects of their uses of social science information. The focus here is on the citation of social science research evidence in a sample of 240 criminal cases decided during the 30 years between the Supreme Court's 1958 and 1987 Terms. The resulting portrait contributes to a fuller understanding of the justices' use of social science materials, and may ultimately help promote more effective utilization of social science research evidence in Supreme Court decisions.     

Commercial activities and copyright in Australian universities

With government funding for most Australian universities below 60% and falling a major strategic emphasis for universities has been on securing other sources of operating revenue, including commercial opportunities and partnerships. The implication of increasing commercial activities such as non-award and tailored professional programmes, contract research and consultancies within a university environment raises a number of issues in relation to copyright. This paper will discuss whether the educational provisions (including section 200AB introduced in the 2006 amendments) or the fair dealing provisions within the Copyright Act could be applied if copyright material is reproduced as part of a commercial activity undertaken by a university.     

The entrepreneurial puzzle: explaining the gender gap

We document the substantial gender gap that exists among university scientists with regard to entrepreneurial activity using a variety of measures and explore factors leading to the disparity. We focus particularly on the biomedical sciences. The contextual explanation that women are under-represented in the types of positions from which faculty typically launch entrepreneurial activity is the most obvious. But the data suggest that for the biomedical sciences context is not sufficient in explaining the entrepreneurial gap. We look elsewhere to factors affecting supply and factors affecting demand. The former include gender differences in attitudes towards risk, competition, “selling” of “science,” type of research and geographic location. The latter include the role of networks, preferences of venture capitalists and “gender discounting.” We explore the associated hypotheses. We provide few tests and conclude that the research agenda is wide open and interesting.

Pathways to Power: The Role of Preparliamentary Careers and Political Human Capital in the Obtainment of Cabinet Positions

Understanding the rise to power is central to the study of politics. Yet, we still know little about the career paths of influential politicians like ministers. The literature assumes that dominant preparliamentary occupations (e.g., lawyer, local offices) predict promotion. We move beyond this potential ecological fallacy and suggest a perspective that emphasizes the role of gatekeepers and political human capital like national political experience and education. We leverage complete career data of all Dutch MPs (N = 1,263; 1945–2012) and study their (N = 4,966) opportunities to obtain a cabinet position. A sequence analysis with fuzzy clustering reveals eight career paths in both the professional and political domain. A logistic regression analysis that uses these career paths as predictors shows that prominent occupations and communicative experience do not constitute the pathway to ministerial power; a university education and preparliamentary national political experience do. Findings support the value of political human-capital theory to understand political promotion.     

Determination of Calliphoridae (Diptera) Fauna and Seasonal Distribution on Carrion in Ankara Province*

Abstract: This study was conducted from March 2006 to 2007. The aim of the study was to determine the forensically significant Calliphoridae (Diptera) species and their seasonal distribution in Ankara province at Beytepe Campus. Pig carcasses were killed by a veterinary using pentobarbital sodium with intervals from 2 to 3 weeks to a month. Samples were collected from the carcass everyday in the morning, in the afternoon, and at sunset. Temperature and parameters of weather, such as cloudy, sunny, rainy, and snowy, were recorded at each visit. Phaenicia sericata (Meigen), Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann), Calliphora vomitoria (Linnaeus), and Calliphora vicina (Robineau‐Desvoidy) species, which belong to Calliphoridae family, were collected. It was shown that the seasonal distribution of the collected species was different from each other. The species were determined on carcass between the following times; P. sericata, from April to November; C. albiceps, from May to November; Ca. vomitoria, from February to June and from September to December; and Ca. vicina, from February to May and in June and September. Calliphoridae fauna and its annual seasonal distribution in Turkey on 12 pig carcasses were reported for the first time in this study.     

Highly efficient and automated extraction of DNA from human remains using a modified EZ1 protocol

Bones and teeth often represent the only sources of DNA available for identifying human remains. DNA in bones and teeth is generally better preserved than that in soft tissues because of the presence of hard connective tissue with a high level of calcium. Because of the extensive mineralisation, the choice of an efficient DNA extraction procedure is important to minimise the sampling of a high level of minerals and to remove polymerase chain reaction (PCR) inhibitors. Some protocols are available for DNA extraction from bones and teeth as part of the Qiagen EZ1 DNA Investigator Kit using the EZ1 Advanced XL automated purification platform. To improve the efficiency of DNA extraction from skeletal remains, the present study focuses on a modification to these already available protocols. In this study, different bones and teeth collected between 1 and 50 years after death were subjected to DNA extraction using the standard EZ1 protocol, a supplementary protocol, and a modified protocol. The modified approach included a decalcification step, whereas the Qiagen protocols worked directly on non-decalcified powder. In all three procedures, 150 mg samples were used for DNA extraction. We evaluated the quantity of DNA recovered from samples, the presence of any PCR inhibitors co-extracted, the level of DNA degradation, the quality of short tandem repeat (STR) profiles, and the reproducibility of the modified procedure. When compared with the other protocols, the modified protocol resulted in the best recovery of DNA that was free of PCR inhibitors. Additionally, the STR profiles were reliable and of high quality. In our opinion, the decalcification step increases DNA recovery by softening tissues, which allows lysis solutions to act more effectively. Furthermore, the use of two lysis solutions and the variation added to the EZ1 purification step allow for DNA recovery with quality and quantity superior to those of the previously available Qiagen-based protocols. These findings may be helpful solutions to the problems commonly encountered when dealing with difficult samples, such as bones and teeth.

Key points

• Bones and teeth often represent the only sources of DNA for identifying human remains.
• The choice of an efficient DNA extraction procedure is important for maximizing DNA recovery and removing PCR inhibitors.
• This study focuses on modifications to the previously available Qiagen-based protocols.
• The modified protocol enabled the best recovery of DNA, and both quality and quantity were superior to those of the previously available Qiagen-based protocols.
• The STR profiles obtained from samples extracted using the modified protocol were reliable and of high quality.

     

The making of plasma medicine. Strategy driven clusters and the emerging roles of cluster management and government supervision

In this paper we discuss the new generation of German innovation clusters as a model that reflects the paradigm of a supervising and even entrepreneurial role of government. The model evolves alongside a predominant programmatic design that postulates strategy driven clusters or virtual regional organizations consisting out of research laboratories, university departments, and SME. The cluster design implicates the management of strategic implementation, alignments, and the settlement of conflicts as well as the enabling of trust formation. The findings outlined in this paper draw on action research and expert interviews, carried out at the German cluster Campus PlasmaMed 2008–2011 and with stakeholders. The analyzed cluster is funded by German Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF Innovation und State of the Art Research in the New Bundeslander which stands in the tradition of the Entrepreneurial Regions’ Program. The backbone of our research is the cluster’s strategy to develop the interdisciplinary science plasma medicine, a hybrid of low temperature plasma physics and life sciences and to market innovative PlasmaMed products. Innovation policies, programmatic designs, and evolving cluster management schemes are discussed regarding their significance in fostering the current cluster paradigm in German federal science policy. We outline the relevant factors for a transformation of trust-based scientific networks into strategy driven clusters or virtual organisations and provide new criteria for government intervention.     

Trafficking? Exploring the relevance of the notion of human trafficking to describe the lived experience of sex workers in Cape Town,South Africa

This article reports on the findings of a study of the sex work industry in Cape Town that was undertaken by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) between 2006 and 2008. The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data about inter alia, the size of the sex work industry in Cape Town, working conditions in the industry, recruitment practices, factors that resulted in women working in the industry, and the extent of human trafficking in the industry. This article reports on the methods used and the findings. It concludes by arguing that the concept of trafficking is not useful as it does not reflect the lived experience of the majority of sex workers, and does not take the state or society any closer to dealing with exploitation and abuse that occurs in the industry.     

Current state and progress of research on forensic biomechanics in China

Forensic biomechanics gradually has become a significant component of forensic science. Forensic biomechanics is evidence-based science that applies biomechanical principles and methods to forensic practice, which has constituted one of the most potential research areas. In this review, we introduce how finite element techniques can be used to simulate forensic cases, how injury criteria and injury scales can be used to describe injury severity, and how tests of postmortem human subjects and dummy can be used to provide essential validation data. This review also describes research progress and new applications of forensic biomechanics in China.

Key points

• The review shows the main research progress and new applications of forensic biomechanics in China.
• The review introduces eight cases about the application of forensic biomechanics, including the multiple rigid body reconstruction, the finite element applications, study of mechanical properties, traffic crash reconstruction based on multiple techniques and analysis of morphomechanical mechanism about blood dispersal.
• Though forensic biomechanics has a great advantage for the evaluation of injury mechanisms, it still has some uncertainties owing to the uniqueness of the human anatomy, the complexity of biological materials, and the uncertainty of injury-causing circumstances.

     

The suitability of using domestic pigs (Sus spp.) as human proxies in the geophysical detection of clandestine graves

Research in many forensic science fields commonly uses domestic pigs (Sus spp.) as proxies for human remains, due to their physiological and anatomical similarities, as well as being more readily available. Unfortunately, previous research, especially that which compares the decompositional process, has shown that pigs are not appropriate proxies for humans. To date, there has not been any published research that specifically addresses whether domestic pigs are adequate human proxies for the geophysical detection of clandestine graves. As such, the aim of this paper was to compare the geophysical responses of pig cadavers and human donor graves, in order to determine if pigs can indeed be used as adequate human proxies. To accomplish this, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) responses on single and multiple pig cadaver graves were compared to single and multiple human donor graves, all of which are in known locations within the same geological environment. The results showed that under field conditions, both GPR and ERT were successful at observing human and pig burials, with no obvious differences between the detected geophysical responses. The results also showed that there were no differences in the geophysical responses of those who were clothed and unclothed. The similarity of the responses may reflect that the geophysical techniques can detect graves despite what their contents are. The study implications suggest that experimental studies in other soil and climate conditions can be easily replicated, benefiting law enforcement with missing persons cases.