Using Cluster Analysis and ICP‐MS to Identify Groups of Ecstasy Tablets in Sao Paulo State,Brazil

The variations found in the elemental composition in ecstasy samples result in spectral profiles with useful information for data analysis, and cluster analysis of these profiles can help uncover different categories of the drug. We provide a cluster analysis of ecstasy tablets based on their elemental composition. Twenty‐five elements were determined by ICP‐MS in tablets apprehended by Sao Paulo's State Police, Brazil. We employ the K‐means clustering algorithm along with C4.5 decision tree to help us interpret the clustering results. We found a better number of two clusters within the data, which can refer to the approximated number of sources of the drug which supply the cities of seizures. The C4.5 model was capable of differentiating the ecstasy samples from the two clusters with high prediction accuracy using the leave‐one‐out cross‐validation. The model used only Nd, Ni, and Pb concentration values in the classification of the samples.     

Los Congresos Estatales y la Política Federal en México: state legislatures and federal policymaking in Mexico

The Mexican Constitution, in the Poder Legislativo, grants state legislatures the authority to introduce legislation (iniciativas de ley) in the federal congress. In this paper the authors examine this powerful mechanism through which the Mexican state legislatures can directly influence policymaking at the federal level. Using a new data set of state-led initiatives, this work: describes the frequency with which iniciativas are introduced; describes the substance, timing, and final disposition of these state-led initiatives; and explains which factors affect the probability of presenting a state-led initiative. The authors find that party competition and partisan divisions at the state and federal levels play a significant role in the use of iniciativas de los congresos estatales. The authors’ study of this peculiar authority granted to the Mexican states contributes to the rich discussion of the changing role of the states in the era of Mexico’s nuevo federalismo.     

Intentional mixed buccal cell reference sample in a paternity case

We report a case where an alleged father (AF) attempted to substitute someone else's saliva sample for his reference sample in a paternity analysis. Buccal cells were collected from the AF and the child, and DNA analysis was performed using an autosomal STR loci (Identifiler). The profile from the AF showed extra peaks in some loci, as well as a much higher "X" allele peak relative to the "Y" allele peak at the amelogenin locus. After conducting reanalysis by another technician with another set of positive and negative controls, it was concluded that the only source of the mixed profile was by intentional introduction by the AF, at the time of sampling, of some foreign human biological material, most likely saliva from a woman. Owing to the inconclusive results, when the AF was called back to the lab and the peculiar results were explained to him, he admitted that he had introduced into his mouth saliva from another person in an attempt to be excluded as the father of the child. Although tampering with DNA reference samples is not common, some individuals may attempt to contaminate or otherwise adulterate specimens before DNA tests. Personnel responsible for sampling should be aware of this possibility and should try to establish procedures to avoid the problem.     

Mergers and difference-in-difference estimator: Why firms do not increase prices?

Difference-in-difference methods are being increasingly used to analyze the impact of mergers on pricing and other market equilibrium outcomes. Using evidence from an exogenous merger between two retail gasoline companies in a specific market in Spain, this paper shows how concentration did not lead to a price increase. In fact, the conjectural variation model concludes that the existence of a collusive agreement before and after the merger accounts for this result, rather than the existence of efficient gains. This result may explain empirical evidence reported in the literature according to which mergers between firms do not have significant effects on prices.     

X‐ray Diffraction and Rietveld Refinement in Deferrified Clays for Forensic Science

Soil vestiges might provide information about a crime scene. The Rietveld method with X‐ray diffraction data (RM‐XRD) is a nondestructive technique that makes it possible to characterize minerals present in the soils. Soil clays from the metropolitan region of Curitiba (Brazil) were submitted to DCB treatment and analyzed using XRD with CuK_α radiation in the step‐scan mode (0.02° 2θ/5 s). The GSAS+EXPGUI software was used for RM refinement. The RM‐XRD results, together with the principal component analysis (PCA) (52.6% total variance), showed the kaolinite predominance in most analyzed samples and the highest quartz contents in “site 1.” Higher anatase, and gibbsite and muscovite contents influenced discrimination, mainly in “site 3” and “site 1,” respectively. These results were enough to discriminate clays of four sites and two horizons using a reduced amount of sample showing that the technique can be applied to the investigation into soil vestiges.     

An Investigation into the Relationship between Human Cranial and Pelvic Sexual Dimorphism

When faced with commingled remains, it might be assumed that a more “masculine” pelvis is associated with a more “masculine” cranium, but this relationship has not been specifically tested. This study uses geometric morphometric analyses of pelvic and cranial landmarks to assess whether there is an intra‐individual relationship between the degrees of sexual expression in these two skeletal regions. Principal component and discriminant function scores were used to assess sexual dimorphism in 113 U.S. Black individuals. Correlation values and partial least squares regression (PLS) were used to evaluate intra‐individual relationships. Results indicate that the os coxae is more sexually dimorphic than the cranium, with element shape being more sexually dimorphic than size. PLS and correlation results suggest no significant intra‐individual relationship between pelvic and cranial sexual size or shape expression. Thus, in commingled situations, associations between these skeletal elements cannot be inferred based on degree of “masculinity.”     

‘Disband,Disempower, and Disarm’: Amplifying the Theory and Practice of Police Abolition

Critical criminologists have challenged the utility of efforts to reform the criminal justice system for decades, including strong calls to abolish the prison system. More recently, the rebellions in Ferguson, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Charlotte have made racialized police violence and police reform issues of national concern. In this article, we examine abolitionist claims aimed at law enforcement institutions in the aftermath of Ferguson and other subsequent rebellions. We consider the implications for abolitionist organizing when the institution of law enforcement, rather than prisons, becomes the explicit target of our movement(s). How are groups theorizing and practicing police abolition and how does this align with, challenge, or expand past conceptualizations of abolition? To answer this question, first we sketch the broad parameters of abolitionist thought, particularly as it is taken up in the disciplines of political theory and criminology. Second, we analyze an emergent praxis of police abolition that revolves around the call to disband, disempower, and disarm law enforcement institutions. We argue that by attacking the police as an institution, by challenging its very right to exist, the contemporary abolitionist movement contains the potential to radically transform society. In this spirit, we amplify abolitionist praxis that (1) aims directly at the police as an institution, (2) seeks to dismantle the racial capitalist order, (3) adopts uncompromising positions that resist liberal attempts at co-optation, incorporation, and/or reconciliation, and (4) creates alterative democratic spaces that directly challenge the legitimacy of the police.     

Uberrima Fides, Foucault and the Security of Uncertainty

Uberrima Fides is a legal doctrine that governs insurance contracts and expects all parties to the insurance agreement to act in good faith by declaring all material facts relative to a policy. The doctrine originated in England in 1766 with the case Carter v Boehm ruled by Lord Mansfield. Ever since, it has become, with some differences in interpretation, a cornerstone of insurance relationships around the world. The role that trust plays within it, however, is not simple and should not be taken for granted. While it is expected that an idea of trust represents an order of truth, trust in itself is the outcome of a complex negotiation of moral orders. Semiotically, trust operates here not as a Kantian category for the understanding but as a signifier of an order of truth that upholds the possibility for insurance relationships. Trust, as sign, operates as a condition of possibility for the performance of insurance. In this article, a Foucaultian approach is employed to problematise the idea of trust and its role in insurance relationships. The case of mis-selling of insurance policies in the United Kingdom since the 1980s, which has given rise to numerous legal rulings, is used as the empirical site for the problematisation.