Prisoners' expectations of the national forensic DNA database: surveillance and reconfiguration of individual rights

In this paper we aim to discuss how Portuguese prisoners know and what they feel about surveillance mechanisms related to the inclusion and deletion of the DNA profiles of convicted criminals in the national forensic database. Through a set of interviews with individuals currently imprisoned we focus on the ways this group perceives forensic DNA technologies. While the institutional and political discourses maintain that the restricted use and application of DNA profiles within the national forensic database protects individuals' rights, the prisoners claim that police misuse of such technologies potentially makes it difficult to escape from surveillance and acts as a mean of reinforcing the stigma of delinquency. The prisoners also argue that additional intensive and extensive use of surveillance devices might be more protective of their own individual rights and might possibly increase potential for exoneration.     

A theory of bureaucratic authority

Abstract. There are at least two major streams of thought in the literature on administrative authority: the structuralist Weberian view which conceives of bureaucratic authority as something attributed to an organizational position, and the behaviourist Barnard-Simon view which considers authority as a particular type of observable interactional relationship between any two individuals within the organizational context. This paper presents and discusses these two views of bureaucratic authority, along with other minor views, and then attempts an axiomatic theoretical definition of authority in the political and bureaucratic realms of life. Bureaucratic authority has been defined as the legitimately established right within the bureaucratic order of the administrative organization to set goals, to formulate policies and decisions, to settle conflicts and, in general, to do other legitimate acts to maintain and enhance the bureaucratic order but within the limits set forth by the sovereign political authority which sanctions and sustains the broader political order in the community or society.     

Nucleotide variability of HV-I in admixed population of the Brazilian Amazon Region

The analysis of genetic variation in the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA has been used as a tool in the study of history of different human populations, as Amerindians, Afro-descendents populations and furthermore admixed populations. In this study, the mitochondrial DNA was analyzed in 158 unrelated individuals in an admixed population of the Amazonian Region: Santarém-PA-Brazil. The polymorphisms were detected using both levels, analysis of restriction enzyme and direct sequencing. We observed a total of 49 different haplotypes were found determined by 46 variable nucleotides. The more frequent haplotypes (Hap03) was shared by five samples and 43 sequences were unique. The genetic diversity was estimated to 0.989+/-0.0067 and the probability of two random individuals showed identical mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes were 2.8%.     

Average,normal, and beautiful: representations of bodies in Brazilian biotypology (1930-1940)

Th present article deals with the visual culture present in the books and textbooks on biotypology in Brazil, in the 1930s and 1940s. It analyses the representations of bodies in images, all of which were employed to guide people on the reasoning and practices of bodily measurement and classification according to the main biotypology approaches. Images herein discussed expressed the following scientific modus operandi of biotypology in Brazil: anthropometry, biometry and the construction of an average body; categorisation of biotypes, physical culture and classic aesthetic; and the link between normality, beauty and moral conceptions applied to women’s body features. This analysis also seeks to shed light on some of the ways in which biotypology strayed from and was consistent with eugenic discourse in Brazil. The representation of bodies in Brazilian biotypology showed the efforts to construct normal and deviant bodies defined according to ideals of national and racial identity, perfection, symmetry, harmony, goodness, fairness, femininity and beauty.     

The Impact of Daycare Attendance on Math Test Scores for a Cohort of Fourth Graders in Brazil

We estimate the impact of having attended centre-based daycare institutions during early childhood on math test scores at the fourth grade level of elementary school. We find evidence that daycare attendance has a net impact on math proficiency, and that the effects are heterogeneous. The effect of daycare and kindergarten attendance on proficiency varies according to mother’s education. The effects of the impact of daycare vary from ?0.28 standard deviation for mothers with no education to 0.42 standard deviation for mother’s with college or more.     

Allele frequencies of nine STR loci--D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, CSF1PO,TPOX, TH01, F13A01, FESFPS and vWA--in the population from Alagoas,northeastern Brazil

The polymorphism of nine STR loci has been studied in a sample of 598 individuals from the population of Alagoas, Northeastern Brazil. Determination of the allele frequencies as well as of several commonly used statistics in forensic and paternity testing were defined. The most polymorphic loci were TH01 and D7S317. The exact test demonstrated that the nine loci analyzed in the population have no deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05).     

Handling and communicating intelligence information: a conceptual,historical and information design analysis

Effective communication of information is essential to intelligence work. This paper identifies the main obstacles to good communication: policy-related challenges; cognitive impediments; resource limitations; cultural and structural issues within intelligence communities; and technical information. To illustrate, it examines four cases when poor communication contributed to intelligence shortcomings. Via questionnaire and document survey, the study identifies the current state of practice in UK intelligence communities. The survey of visualization documents currently in use revealed errors against established principles of Information Design. Thus, to ensure better handling and dissemination of intelligence, there is a distinct need to apply Information Design principles.     

Deep learning for sex determination: Analyzing over 200,000 panoramic radiographs

The objective of this study is to assess the performance of an innovative AI-powered tool for sex determination using panoramic radiographs (PR) and to explore factors affecting the performance of the convolutional neural network (CNN). The study involved 207,946 panoramic dental X-rays and their corresponding reports from 15 clinical centers in São Paulo, Brazil. The PRs were acquired with four different devices, and 58% of the patients were female. Data preprocessing included anonymizing the exams, extracting pertinent information from the reports, such as sex, age, type of dentition, and number of missing teeth, and organizing the data into a PostgreSQL database. Two neural network architectures, a standard CNN and a ResNet, were utilized for sex classification, with both undergoing hyperparameter tuning and cross-validation to ensure optimal performance. The CNN model achieved 95.02% accuracy in sex estimation, with image resolution being a significant influencing factor. The ResNet model attained over 86% accuracy in subjects older than 6 years and over 96% in those over 16 years. The algorithm performed better on female images, and the area under the curve (AUC) exceeded 96% for most age groups, except the youngest. Accuracy values were also assessed for different dentition types (deciduous, mixed, and permanent) and missing teeth. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of an AI-driven tool for sex determination using PR and emphasizes the role of image resolution, age, and sex in determining the algorithm's performance.