Ancestral Variation in Orbital Rim Shape: A Three‐Dimensional Pilot Study

Traditional nonmetric methods of ancestry assessment posit orbital rim shape varies among ancestral groups. This pilot study uses morphometric analysis of 3D orbital variation to test discrimination among individuals of primarily European, African, and Asian ancestry. Although the size and nature of the sample analyzed limit inferences for other samples, principal components analysis suggests ancestry has a significant effect on rim shape (p = 2.93e‐04). European orbits display more marked folding of the orbit in the sagittal plane than either African or Asian orbits, while the lateral margin of African orbits lies further posterior relative to the medial margin when compared to Asian orbits. The findings suggest curviplanar relationships are the most ancestrally informative aspect of orbital rim shape; these relationships may be distorted by perspective based on orientation of the skull relative to the viewer in traditional nonmetric analyses. Additional studies on geometric morphometric approaches to ancestry assessment are therefore warranted.     

Supreme Court Elections: How Much They Have Changed,Why They Changed,and What Difference It Makes

This essay draws on four recent studies of elections to state supreme courts in the United States to probe widely perceived changes in the scale and content of electoral campaigns for seats on state supreme courts. 1 Evidence from these studies and other sources indicates that changes have indeed occurred, though they are more limited than most commentaries suggest. These changes stem most directly from trends in state supreme court policy that have attracted interest‐group activity, especially from the business community. Like their extent, the effects of change in supreme court campaigns have been meaningful although exaggerated by many observers. What we have learned about changes in supreme court elections has implications for choices among selection systems, but those implications are mixed and complex.     

Poverty and Elusive Development

Poverty and Elusive Development by Dan Banik, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 2010, ISBN: 978 82 15 01218 6, 297 pp.     

Quantification of human mitochondrial DNA using synthesized DNA standards

Successful mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) forensic analysis depends on sufficient quantity and quality of mtDNA. A real-time quantitative PCR assay was developed to assess such characteristics in a DNA sample, which utilizes a duplex, synthetic DNA to ensure optimal quality assurance and quality control. The assay's 105-base pair target sequence facilitates amplification of degraded DNA and is minimally homologous to nonhuman mtDNA. The primers and probe hybridize to a region that has relatively few sequence polymorphisms. The assay can also identify the presence of PCR inhibitors and thus indicate the need for sample repurification. The results show that the assay provides information down to 10 copies and provides a dynamic range spanning seven orders of magnitude. Additional experiments demonstrated that as few as 300 mtDNA copies resulted in successful hypervariable region amplification, information that permits sample conservation and optimized downstream PCR testing. The assay described is rapid, reliable, and robust.     

The Executive Budget in the Federal Government: The First Century and Beyond

This article reviews the history of executive budgeting in the United States a century after President William Howard Taft's Economy and Efficiency Commission proposed an executive budget. This history, the authors argue, does not suggest that giving more budget power to the president will improve budget outcomes. Instead, what is needed is more cooperation between the branches of government and a better‐educated public—goals that were shared by budget reformers when the Taft report was published.     

CHINESE INVESTMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION & NATIONAL SECURITY

Rapidly increasing foreign direct investment from China within the European Union over the past decade has been, in general, greatly fostered by an open and non-discriminatory legal regime. However, 28 Member States retain control over the review of such investment for purposes of evaluating national security concerns within their respective borders. Current trends reveal a strong likelihood of substantial increases within the coming years in Chinese investment touching upon so-called “strategic” or “sensitive” sectors within the European Union nations. Similar Chinese investment in the United States has raised some strong opposition from the federal government on national security grounds. Accordingly, this article compares and contrasts the European Union’s current fragmented system of national security review with that of the United States — a centralized legal regime which provides for exclusive federal government national security review of foreign investment. The question is then posed as to the likelihood of the European Union adopting an American-style unified national security review system to replace the existing fragmented system, especially in light of the newly enhanced legal competence of European Union authorities over issues concerning foreign investment. This article then concludes with an analysis of the advantages to Chinese investors stemming from the creation of such a European-wide system of national security review.