Use of thermal drone in detection and assessment of larval mass temperature in decomposed rabbit carcasses

Manual ground searches and cadaver dogs are traditional methods for locating remains, but they can be time- and resource-intensive, resulting in the decomposition of bodies and delay in victim identification. Therefore, thermal imaging has been proposed as a potentially useful tool for detecting remains based on their temperature. This study investigated the potential of a novel search technique of thermal drones to detect surface remains through the detection of maggot mass temperatures. Two trials were carried out at Selangor, Malaysia, each utilizing 12 healthy male Oryctolagus cuniculus European white rabbits and DJI Matrice 300 RTK drone China, equipped with a thermal camera; Zenmuse H20T to record the thermal imaging footage of the carcasses at various heights (15, 30, 60–100 m) for 14 days for each trial. Our results demonstrated that the larval masses and corresponding heat emissions were at their largest during the active decay stage; therefore, all the carcasses were observable in thermal images on day 5 and remained until day 7. Statistical analyses showed that (1) no statistically significant differences in thermal images between clothed and unclothed subjects (p > 0.05); (2) 15 m above ground level was proven to be the optimal height, as it showed the greatest contrast between the carcass heat signature and the background (p < 0.005). Our data suggested the potential window of detection of thermal signatures was detectable up to 7 days post-deposition. This could be an important guideline for the search and recovery teams for operational implementation in this tropical region.     

Introduction: disability,partnership, and family across time and space

ABSTRACT

Notions of family life and romantic partnership, like notions of disability, have been culturally constructed and socially produced over historical time, and our understandings of these notions are being continually challenged and re-negotiated across time and space. Policies, institutions, and cultural practices across the globe have brought about changes to the construction of the family and to the rights and inclusion of disabled people in private and public life. This special issue brings together a collection of studies from different countries and time periods to explore the interplay between disability, romantic partnerships, and family life across the individual lifetime and between generations. With this interdisciplinary collection, we seek to merge disability research and research on family and partnerships through a life course lens. This offers unique insights and opportunities to interconnect historical and cultural location and changing social institutions with individual and family experiences. This introduction presents the eight studies in the collection and discusses them within a life course frame that views disabled people’s roles as partners, spouses, and members of a family. In so doing, it engages in an analysis of (dis)similarities concerning how family dynamics, romantic relationships, and disability have developed over time and in different spaces.     

Sexual Offences in Vanuatu under the Light of Custom and Law: “An Avenue for Restorative Justice”

This paper will focus on the Republic of Vanuatu’s society and customs relevant to this topic. I will consider the laws made by the legislature to deal with sexual offences in Vanuatu and how they are being implemented or enforced. I will also discuss the different provisions under the law whereby accused persons have an option to actually compensate the victim of the offence and how it is being used in Vanuatu in relation to sexual offences. This paper will also look at how Vanuatu’s culture influences the prosecution or the sentencing of sexual offences or dealing with such crimes in the first place. This will reveal whether Vanuatu’s customary approaches to sexual offences actually support the state’s laws to punish such offenders and if a more fair and just process is needed where the voices of the offender as well as the victim are heard. Custom usually does not allow the victim to speak, and the victim’s parents and the elders of the community decide how the offender should be dealt with. Neither the formal court process nor the customary reconciliation process seem to take into account the wishes and interests of the victim and the offender. The flaws within the legal system and customary laws in addressing victims’ and offenders’ issues will be examined and an alternative process of restorative justice will be discussed.