Still hazy after all these years: the law regulating surrogacy

In 1997, Margaret Brazier was asked by the then Government to chair a review of the laws regulating surrogacy. The subsequent Brazier Report made a number of recommendations, including the need for greater regulation and the tightening of 'expenses' payments. Fifteen years on, the limitations in the legal regulation of surrogacy have become increasingly clear. Yet, none of Brazier's recommendations have been adopted, despite the clear opportunity for revisiting the regulation of surrogacy offered during the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (2008). In this paper, we revisit the Brazier Report in the light of subsequent developments and assess to what extent its key findings remain salient. Brazier's recommendations will thus provide a jumping off point for a critical analysis of the current state of the law regarding surrogacy.     

A new approach to amino acid racemization in enamel: testing of a less destructive sampling methodology

Aspartic acid racemization has been found to be an accurate measure of age at death for recent forensic material. This paper examines the practicality of using acid etching of the tooth surface to extract amino acids from the enamel for racemization analysis. By serial etching of the tooth and contamination of the teeth with bovine serum albumin prior to etching, the ability of etching to remove contamination was assessed. The destructiveness of the method was visualized and quantified using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). By bleaching the teeth and by deeper etching it was possible to obtain more consistent values. While etching had little effect on the enamel at the macroscale, it did have an impact at the microscale. The quantities of enamel removed varied depending upon the tooth morphology, but were not large. Acid etching of enamel thus appears to be a promising new method for extracting proteins for amino acid racemization age estimation noninvasively.     

How is Anxiety Involved in the Longitudinal Relationship between Brooding Rumination and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents?

A growing body of research supports the application of Response Styles Theory to adolescent populations. Although the essential dynamic, namely that rumination increases the incidence of depressive symptoms, has been demonstrated among adolescents, a number of important empirical questions remain, such as: what are the gender differences and developmental trends for brooding and reflective rumination?; does a reciprocal relationship exist between brooding or reflective rumination, on the one hand, and depressive symptoms and anxiety, on the other hand, over time? and how do additional variables (i.e., anxiety) impact upon the rumination-depressive symptoms relationship? In this study, self-reported levels of rumination (both brooding and reflective), and anxious and depressive symptoms were measured longitudinally across 4 months in a sample of 976 community adolescents (46 % females), aged 11–16 years old. Mean group differences showed that female adolescents reported engaging in more brooding rumination than male adolescents beginning at 13 years of age. A reciprocal brooding rumination to depressive symptoms relationship and a reciprocal brooding rumination to anxiety relationship were found over time, and they did not differ for boys and girls. We tested the possibility that anxious symptoms would function as a third variable, but the obtained model showed that brooding rumination and anxiety both contributed unique variance in predicting changes in depressive symptoms over time.     

Public perceptions of internet,familial and localised sexual grooming: Predicting perceived prevalence and safety

Abstract

This paper examines public perceptions of three sexual grooming types: computer-mediated sexual grooming (CMSG), familial sexual grooming (FSG) and localised sexual grooming (LSG). Using data from a national survey of 557 respondents from the United Kingdom, we tested models that predicted perceptions of the prevalence of CMSG, FSG and LSG and the perceived safety of internet, familial and localised grooming spaces. Media-related factors were the most significant in predicting higher levels of perceived prevalence of CMSG and disagreement in relation to safety of internet and public spaces. Knowledge of a grooming victim was most significant in predicting higher levels of perceived prevalence of FSG and LSG and higher levels disagreement in relation to the safety of the home. The findings suggest that the public express too little concern over familial sexual grooming and that initiatives should be introduced to make citizens more aware of the distinctions between types of sexual grooming behaviours, settings and offenders.     

The filtered encounter: online dating and the problem of filtering through excessive information

Technologies are meant to enable us to contact more people, more often, and in this way “network” with others. Applied to dating, this would appear to be a good thing, as people would thereby benefit from having additional choice. However, the flip side of the coin is that because of the increased choice we get a case of too much information, too many choices, too many potential (and potentially unsatisfying) mates. We find in a qualitative study of online daters that filtering through the many options, partners and choices offered by online dating sites is a prime concern in online dating. Our aim in this paper is to characterize these filtering techniques, and also to discuss their potential social impact. We find that filtering begins at the initial screening process as daters try to “catch out” incongruous behaviour before investing too much energy in someone unsuitable. Participants quickly become increasingly technologically literate of the code-based features of the site in their quest for greater filtering efficiency. They also come to rely on the cultivation of their own filtering “instinct”. In the end, however, the prevalence and ongoing practice of filtering creates what can only be termed a shopping culture of dating, which often serves to sap the dating energies of participants.     

Divergence in India: Income differentials at the state level, 1970–97

Abstract

We examine India's regional disparities in economic performance between 1970–97. Our preliminary analysis shows that, in absolute terms, initially poorer states grew at slower rates than initially wealthier ones and that there is also evidence of increasing dispersion of income levels across the states. Our econometric analysis investigates the possibility of club convergence and conditional convergence. Although we do not find evidence of the former, we can suggest some of the factors associated in the latter. Our research also indicates that the onset of economic policy reform in 1991 significantly intensified growth differentials between the states.     

IT PFI Projects: TECHNOLOGY OBSOLESCENCE AND PFI-AN UNEASY UNION?

Failed IT projects cost the taxpayer millions every year and consequently there is an increasing recognition that IT projects must be sufficiently flexible to deal with the never-ending revolution in the field of information technology. This article explores the issues involved.     

Variation in decomposition stages and carrion insect succession in a dry tropical climate and its effect on estimating postmortem interval

Insects have an important role in minimum postmortem interval (PMI_min) estimation. An accurate PMI_min estimation relies on a comprehensive study of the development and succession of local carrion insects. No published research on carrion insect succession exists for tropical north Queensland. To address this, we aimed to obtain preliminary observational data concerning the rate of decomposition and insect succession on pig carcasses in Townsville and compare these with other regions of Australia and overseas. Adult insects were collected daily from three pig carcasses for 30 d during summer and identified to family level. Observations of decomposition rate were made each day and progression through the stages of decomposition were recorded. Adult insects were identified to family and their presence/absence used as a proxy for arrival at/departure from the remains, respectively. These preliminary data highlight several interesting trends that may be informative for forensic PMI_min estimation. Decomposition was rapid: all carcasses were at the dry/remains stage by Day 5, which was substantially quicker than all other regions in the comparison. Differences were also observed in the presence/absence of insect families and their arrival and departure times. Given the rapid progression through early decomposition, we argue that later-arriving coleopteran taxa may be more forensically informative in tropical Australia, in contrast with temperate regions where Diptera appear most useful. This research contributes preliminary observational data to understanding insect succession patterns in tropical Australia and demonstrates the critical need for comprehensive local succession data for each climatic region of Australia to enable accurate PMI_min estimation. These data will inform future research targeted at gaining a more comprehensive understanding of insect succession in the Australian tropics.

Key points:

• We obtained preliminary observational data concerning the rate of decomposition and insect succession on pig carcasses in tropical Australia.
• Decomposition was rapid: all carcasses were at the dry/remains stage by Day 5.
• Coleopteran taxa may be more forensically informative in tropical Australia than dipterans.