New optimized DNA extraction protocol for fingerprints deposited on a special self-adhesive security seal and other latent samples used for human identification

Abstract: Obtaining complete short tandem repeat (STR) profiles from fingerprints containing minimal amounts of DNA, using standard extraction techniques, can be difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new kit, Fingerprint DNA Finder (FDF Kit), recently launched for the extraction of DNA and STR profiling from fingerprints placed on a special device known as Self‐Adhesive Security Seal Sticker^® and other latent fingerprints on forensic evidentiary material like metallic guns. The DNA extraction system is based on a reversal of the silica principle, and all the potential inhibiting substances are retained on the surface of a special adsorbent, while nucleic acids are not bound and remain in solution dramatically improving DNA recovery. DNA yield was quite variable among the samples tested, rendering in most of the cases (>90%) complete STR profiles, free of PCR inhibitors, and devoid of artifacts. Even samples with DNA amount below 100 pg could be successfully analyzed.     

Replacing and Amending Constitutions: The Logic of Constitutional Change in Latin America

Since 1978, all countries in Latin America have either replaced or amended their constitutions. What explains the choice between these two substantively different means of constitutional transformation? This article argues that constitutions are replaced when they fail to work as governance structures or when their design prevents competing political interests from accommodating to changing environments. According to this perspective, constitutions are likely to be replaced when constitutional crises are frequent, when political actors lack the capacity to implement changes by means of amendments or judicial interpretation, or when the constitutional regime has a power‐concentrating design. It is further argued that the frequency of amendments depends both on the length and detail of the constitution and on the interaction between the rigidity of the amendment procedure and the fragmentation of the party system. The article provides statistical evidence to support these arguments and discusses the normative implications of the analysis.     

“Give me some space”: exploring youth to parent aggression and violence

A small scale qualitative project, undertaken by an interdisciplinary domestic violence research group involving academic researchers and research assistants, with colleagues from Independent Domestic Abuse Services (IDAS), investigated youth aggression and violence against parents. Following the literature review, data was generated through several research conversations with young people (n = 2), through semi-structured interviews with mothers (n = 3) and practitioners (n = 5), and through a practitioner focus group (n = 8). Thematic analysis and triangulation of the data from parents, practitioners and young people, elicited interconnected and complex overarching themes. Young people could be both victim and perpetrator. The witnessing or experiencing of domestic aggression and violence raised the concept of ‘bystander children’. The impact of young people experiencing familial violence was underestimated by parents. For practitioners, the effects of working with domestic violence was shown to be significant - both positively and negatively.     

Bite Mark Analysis in Foodstuffs and Inanimate Objects and the Underlying Proofs for Validity and Judicial Acceptance

Even though one of the first bite mark cases was Doyle v. State in 1954 (a bitten cheese case), the research has focused on bite marks inflicted in human skin. As published Papers, Case Reports, or Technical Notes can constitute precedents which are relied upon in making the legal arguments and a considerable amount of case law exists in this area, we present a systematic review on bite mark analysis in foodstuffs and inanimate objects and their underlying proofs for validity and judicial acceptance according to Daubert rulings. Results showed that there is vulnerability in these procedures, and it is essential to demand for focus scrutiny on the known error rates when such evidence is presented in trials. These kinds of bite marks are well documented; however, there has been little research in this field knowing that the protocols of analysis and comparison are the responsibility of the forensic odontologists.     

High-speed documented experimental gunshot to a skull-brain model and radiologic virtual autopsy

The authors documented and evaluated experimental gunshots to a skull-brain model with high-speed photography and subsequent radiographic examination for comparison of the morphologic findings in the model. The artificial skull was a polyurethane ball constructed in layers, with a porous diploe sandwiched between a tabula externa and a tabula interna. The brain itself was simulated with gelatin 10% at 4 degrees C, a material well known in wound ballistics. Gunshots were fired at the model from a distance of 10 m and documented with high-speed photography (up to 50 million frames/sec). Subsequently, a complete examination of the artificial skull was performed, including spiral computed tomography (with two-dimensional and three-dimensional reconstructions) and classic skull autopsy. The high-speed photographs clearly showed the dynamic development of the skull fracture system from an external perspective. The subsequent radiographic examination of the entire head volume created two-dimensional reformations in any plane and three-dimensional reconstructions of the gunshot injury of the polyurethane skull-brain model, especially the wound channel and the fracture system. Thanks to the model and high-speed photographs, the dynamic development of the morphology of a gunshot wound could be documented and studied. The data from computed tomography, using two-dimensional and three-dimensional postprocessing with a perspective view, were very similar to those from classic head autopsy, but derived in a hands-off and nondestructive manner. This examination method leads the way to radiographic digital autopsy or virtual autopsy.     

Eastern European youth culture: The Westernization of a social movement

The Author thanks Michael Hughey for editorial suggestions, comments, and revisions.     

Cultural Attributes and Adaptations Linked to Achievement Motivation Among Latino Adolescents

This exploratory study examined whether associations between perceived school experiences and achievement motivation varied by language acculturation and generational status among a sample of immigrant and U.S. born Latino adolescents (n = 129). Ogbu's (1993) notion of primary and secondary cultural differences was adapted to better suit comparisons within this Latino group using the terms cultural attributes and cultural adaptations. Academic competence, school belonging, and parent involvement were positively related to achievement motivation. Academic competence and parent involvement were strongly related to achievement motivation among students who spoke English or were born in the U.S., suggesting that these associations may be cultural adaptations. Future intervention programs for Latino students, regardless of acculturation or generational status, should focus on making them feel supported and included. Acculturated Latino youth and youth who have lived in the U.S. for a long time should be targeted for programs that enhance academic competence and parent involvement.     

Colombia at War: The Search for a Peace Diplomacy

This essay analyzes Colombian foreign policy over the last three decades with specific emphasis on Bogota's peace diplomacy from 1978 up to 2000 in the context of an ongoing and degrading internal war. Initially, it assumes a modified realist perspective that links international relations with domestic structures. Then, the text defines three models of Colombian peaceful diplomacy according to the purposes, the means, and the rationales employed by the administrations that covered the above-mentioned period. After empirically evaluating the governments of Presidents Turbay, Betancur, Barco, Gaviria, and Samper and the first two years of the presidency of Pastrana, the article concludes with an assessment of the country's peace diplomacy and its impact on internal violence and instability. The foreign policies of the six different mandates show that Colombia never developed an overall, consensual state strategy towards peace, that the multiple peaceful diplomacies were partially successful in terms of sustaining the political regime and that, notwithstanding the latter, the successive governments failed to achieve a genuine resolution to domestic war. Finally, the article calls for a serious, active, and simultaneous state foreign policy and citizen's diplomacy in favor of peace.     

Benin: country profile

Since 1972, Benin has had an official Marxist-Leninist ideology; however, centralized state control contributed to economic stagnation and a search for capital investment. A special section of the World Bank is advising the Government of Benin on public sector reform and privatization, and an agreement with the International Monetary Fund seems likely. At present, 65% of Benin's labor force is engaged in subsistence agriculture, most of which is collectivized, and the gross national product per capita is US$260. The main cash crops are seed cotton and palm oil kernels used in soap and margarine. While women occupy key trade positions in the south of Benin, they are very oppressed in the north. Benin has a population of 4 million. The infant mortality rate is 115/1000 lives births and life expectancy is 43 years. Only 21% of the population has access to clean water. 40% of men, compared to just 17% of women, are literate.