Shells and Bones: A Forensic Medicine Study of the Association of Terrestrial Snail Allopeas micra with Buried Human Remains in Brazil

Little is known regarding the scavenger fauna associated with buried human corpses, particularly in clandestine burials. We report the presence of 20 shells of the terrestrial snail Allopeas micra, within hollow bones of human remains buried for 5 years, during the process of collecting DNA material. The fact that a large number of shells of A. micra had been found in the corpse and in the crime scene supports the assumption that there was no attempt to remove the corpse from the area where the crime occurred. Despite this, our observations cannot be used to estimate the postmortem interval because there is no precise knowledge about the development of this species. This is the first record of a terrestrial snail associated with a human corpse and its role in this forensic medicine case.     

Buy Today,Pay Tomorrow: Formal Credit Supply and Domestic Electrical and Electronic Goods Consumption in São Paulo's Urban Periphery

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, expansion of the formal credit supply in Brazil has promoted the ‘financial inclusion’ of the low-income population, especially through instalment plans offered by large retail chains. This article aims to analyse the impacts of formal credit availability on the consumption of electrical and electronic goods by residents of Jardim Helena, a neighbourhood in São Paulo's periphery. Through the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, this study reveals how the instalment plan can stimulate consumption among the low-income population, with a significant impact on household budgets, raising the risk of indebtedness.     

Introduction to Performing Refusal/Refusing to Perform

This introduction outlines an aesthetic of refusal as it emerges from instances of racialized exhaustion. Described as an aesthetics of minoritarian inaction and non-reproductivity, refusal challenges the centrality of action and repetition as the central tenets of political performance. Instead, the two valences of performing refusal/refusing to perform name an ethics of relation under racial capitalism, negating the dialectic of assimilation or resistance that shape minoritarian political performance, in favor of tactics such as opacity, imperceptibility, and obscurity.     

DNA Commission of the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG): an update of the recommendations on the use of Y-STRs in forensic analysis

The DNA Commission of the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG) regularly publishes guidelines and recommendations concerning the application of DNA polymorphisms to the problems of human identification. A previous recommendation published in 2001 has already addressed Y-chromosome polymorphisms, with particular emphasis on short tandem repeats (STRs). Since then, the use of Y-STRs has become very popular, and a numerous new loci have been introduced. The current recommendations address important aspects to clarify problems regarding the nomenclature, the definition of loci and alleles, population genetics and reporting methods.     

Data for Y-chromosome haplotypes defined by 17 STRs (AmpFLSTR Yfiler) in two Tunisian Berber communities

The 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) included in the AmpFLSTR Yfiler PCR Amplification Kit (AB Applied Biosystems) (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and GATA H4) were typed in two Berber communities, a small village (Takrouna) and a town (Sejenane), from North Tunisia. As expected, diversity was higher in the town, even when compared with a pool of three small Berber communities, probably due to the combination of different founder effects and genetic drifts operating in the small villages.     

Providing justice and reconciliation: The criminal tribunals for Sierra Leone and Cambodia

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) and the Extraordinary Chambers for Cambodia (ECC) represent a departure from the model established by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yygoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The SCSL and the ECC have often been referred to as “mixed” or “hybrid” tribunals in which there are significant domestic and international components. The tribunals include a combination of domestic and international judges, utilize domestic and international laws and are administered by a prosecutorial team composed of domestic and international lawyers. Many of these institutional changes have been brought about because of criticisms of the ICTY and the ICTR. The fundamental question of this article is whether these mixed tribunals are a more effective mechanism for providing justice and reconciliation than purely international solutions. This is an important question because both the international community and states are moving in the direction of mixed tribunals.     

Results of the GEP-ISFG collaborative study on two Y-STRs tetraplexes: GEPY I (DYS461, GATA C4, DYS437 and DYS438) and GEPY II (DYS460, GATA A10, GATA H4 and DYS439)

A collaborative exercise was carried out by the Spanish and Portuguese ISFG Working Group (GEP-ISFG) in order to evaluate the performance of two Y-chromosome STR PCR tetraplexes, which include the loci DYS461, GATA C4, DYS437 and DYS438 (GEPY I), and DYS460, GATA A10, GATA H4 and DYS439 (GEPY II). The participating laboratories were asked to type three samples for the eight markers, using a specific amplification protocol. In addition, two control samples, with known haplotypes, were provided. The results obtained by the 13 different participating laboratories were identical, except for two laboratories that failed to type correctly the same two samples for GATA C4. By sequence analyses, two different GATA C4 allele structures were found. One control sample (allele 21) and two questioned samples (allele 22, correctly typed by all the laboratories, and allele 25) presented the following repeat structure: (TCTA)4(TGTA)2(TCTA)2(TGTA)2(TCTA)n, but different from the one found for allele 26 in one sample included in this exercise, as well as in the second control sample (allele 23), namely (TCTA)4(TGTA)2(TCTA)2(TGTA)2(TCTA)2(TGTA)2(TCTA)n. The collaborative exercise results proved that both Y-tetraplexes produce good amplification results, with the advantage of being efficiently typed using different separation and detection methodologies. However, since GATA C4 repeat presents a complex structure, with alleles differing in sequence structure, efficient denaturing conditions should be followed in order to avoid typing errors due to sizing problems.     

Electoral Rules,Political Competition and Fiscal Expenditures: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Brazilian Municipalities

We exploit a discontinuity in the rules of Brazilian mayoral elections to investigate whether political competition has a causal impact on fiscal policy choices. In municipalities with fewer than 200,000 voters, mayors are elected under a plurality voting system. In all other municipalities, a runoff election takes place between the top two candidates if neither achieves the majority of votes. Our results suggest that political competition induces more investment and less current expenditures, particularly personnel expenditures. The impact is larger when incumbents can run for re-election, suggesting incentives matter insofar as incumbents can themselves remain in office.     

Is Mindful Parenting Associated with Adolescents’ Well-being in Early and Middle/Late Adolescence? The Mediating Role of Adolescents’ Attachment Representations,Self-Compassion and Mindfulness

There is some evidence that mindful parenting, a parenting approach that involves the practice of bringing mindful awareness to the parent-child relationship, is associated with several positive psychosocial outcomes in adolescents. However, only a few studies have investigated the mechanisms that may underlie that association. This study explores whether the link between mindful parenting and adolescents’ well-being is mediated by adolescents’ attachment representations, self-compassion and mindfulness skills. The sample comprised 563 parent-child dyads (95.6% mothers). Adolescents (61.5% girls) had a mean age of 14.26 years (SD?=?1.66, range?=?12–20). Parents completed a measure of mindful parenting, and adolescents completed measures of attachment representations, self-compassion, mindfulness, and well-being. Mindful parenting was indirectly associated with adolescents’ self-compassion and mindfulness through a more secure perception of the relationship with the parents, and was indirectly associated with adolescents’ well-being through perceived attachment security, self-compassion and mindfulness. The path model was invariant across stages of adolescence but some relations in the model varied across gender. Self-compassion and mindfulness seem to develop within a parent-child relationship characterized by affection, self-regulation, and mindful awareness. These two resources, along with mindful parenting and positive representations of the parent-child relationship, are associated with adolescents’ well-being.