Soil Fungi: Their Potential use as a Forensic Tool

As a grave is an anomalous environment and differs from its surroundings, criminal investigators employ different techniques for locating, recovering, and analyzing clandestine graves. In this study were identified the fungi found in the soil under corpses in decomposition with an aim at relating the copresence of human remains and different fungal species. Were isolated the fungi in three ways: soil washing, serial dilutions, and moist chamber growth. Dichotomomyces cejpii, Talaromyces trachyspermus, Talaromyces flavus, and Talaromyces sp. were the representative species found—with those belonging to the ammonia group, whose fungi are the first in the succession of cadaver decomposition directly in the ground. The mycobiota found at the present study area clearly differs to mycobiota identified in control sample and from previously described species for other areas of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Further forensic examples of this type are needed to develop fully the detailed use of mycology as a forensic tool.     

Enforcing and disrupting circular movement in an EU Borderscape: housingscaping in Serbia

ABSTRACT

This article examines Western Balkans/EU bordering and debordering practices through a borderscape method in the context of the geopolitical positionality and (de)institutionalization of migrant housing in Serbia. From this perspective, a new ‘border variation’ can be seen emerging after the securitarian turn, transforming the external borderscape of the EU into a space of circular movement. The article sheds light on discourses, practices and places that constitute these spaces of circular movement within the EU external borderscape. In particular, the Western Balkans borderscape is investigated with reference to Serbian migrant housingscapes emerging at the intersection of state-run camps and migrant collective self-organized squatted housing. The focus on migrant housingscapes points to the interconnectedness of camps and squats in the process of facilitating circular movement by the state, the production of mobile commons as a debordering practice, and the production of visual representations of the external border as stabilized ‘scape’ for the EU.     

Initial study of arthropods succession and pig carrion decomposition in two freshwater ecosystems in the Colombian Andes

Entomological succession and trophic roles of arthropods associated with different stages of carcass decomposition were studied to estimate the post-mortem submersion interval in two freshwater ecosystems in the Colombian Andes, at an altitude of 2614 m. Pig carcasses were employed as models placed 68 m apart, one in a stream (lotic) and another in an artificial lake (lentic). Decomposition time to skeletal remains was 74 days in the lake and 80 days in the stream. Six phases of decomposition were established: submerged fresh, early floating, floating decay, bloated deterioration, floating remains and sunken remains. A total of 18,832 organisms associated with the carcasses were collected: 11,487 in the lake (four orders, 19 families and 33 species) and 7345 in the stream (eight orders, 15 families and 25 species). Organisms were classified in the following ecological categories: shredders, collectors, predators, necrophagous, sarcosaprophagous and opportunists. Physical and chemical properties of the habitats, such as water temperature, CO(2) and conductivity, varied according to rainfall. In the lake, shredders (Coleoptera: Tropisternus sp. and Berosus sp.) and collectors (Diptera: Chironomus sp.) were found to be associated with submerged phases. Predators (Odonata) were only present during the first phases. Coleoptera (Dytiscidae) were found during floating decay and bloated deterioration stages. In the stream, shredders (Hyalella sp.) and collectors (Simulium sp.) were found during all stages, whereas the predator Oxelytrum discicolle was found exclusively during the floating stages, during which body temperature increased in a fashion similar to active decay in terrestrial environments.     

Evaluation of the placenta in a stillborn fetus to estimate the time of death

The authors present a case of a presumably unknown pregnancy, in which the newborn was found dead in the bathroom. The child was considered stillborn and the death due to natural causes. The literature on estimation of the time of fetal death is reviewed. It has been reported that certain placental histological changes are useful in predicting the time of death in stillborn fetuses, but little has been published about their potential role. Furthermore, parameters evaluated by literature in examining the placenta for determining time of fetal demise in cases of stillbirth are not uniform in the few studies that have been published. We emphasize that any attempt to estimate the time of fetal death without an adequate knowledge of placental morphological changes is futile and forensically unjustifiable, and that a comprehensive placental, external, and histological examination of the fetus is still the method of choice to gain a reliable forensic answer.     

Comparative Assessment of a Novel Photo‐Anthropometric Landmark‐Positioning Approach for the Analysis of Facial Structures on Two‐Dimensional Images

Positioning landmarks in facial photo‐anthropometry (FPA) applications remains today a highly variable procedure, as traditional cephalometric definitions are used as guidelines. Herein, a novel landmark‐positioning approach, specifically adapted for FPA applications, is introduced and, in particular, assessed against the conventional cephalometric definitions for the analysis of 16 landmarks on ten frontal images by two groups of examiners (with and without professional knowledge of anatomy). Results showed that positioning reproducibility was significantly better using the novel method. Indeed, in contrast to the classic approach, very low landmark dispersions were observed for both groups of examiners, which were usually below the strictest clinical standards (i.e., 0.575 mm). Furthermore, the comparison between the two groups of examiners highlighted higher dispersion consistencies, which supported a higher robustness. Thus, the use of an adapted landmark‐positioning approach proved to be highly advantageous in FPA analysis and future work in this field should consider adopting similar methodologies.     

Academic Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Quality of Experience in Learning

This study investigated learning activities and associated quality of experience of students with different levels of perceived academic self-efficacy. Two groups were formed out of 130 Italian adolescents (age 15–19), one with high and one with low academic self-efficacy beliefs (31 and 32 participants, respectively). Students provided valuation of academic pursuits and aspirations, and were monitored for one week with experience sampling method (ESM). Attention was paid to the association of learning activities with optimal experience, characterized by high perceived environmental challenges matched by high personal skills, involvement, concentration and intrinsic reward. High self-efficacy students reported higher academic aspirations and pursuits than low self-efficacy students. They also spent more time in homework, and primarily associated learning activities with optimal experience. Results have educational implications in fostering motivation and enjoyment in learning. They also provide empirical support for the combination of self-efficacy beliefs and quality of experience in motivational research. Lecturer of Psychology at the Medical School of the University of Milan, Italy. She received her Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Milan. She has conducted research in human development, focusing on adolescents’ quality of experience and identity building, as well as on methodological aspects of experience sampling procedures. She received her Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Padua. Her main interests focus on the study of subjective and psychological well-being across the life span, as well as on methodological aspects of longitudinal research Her main research interests are the cross-cultural investigation of the quality of daily experience and its long-term developmental impact. She is supervisor in intervention projects on migration, disability and social maladjustment His major research interests include personality development and personality assessment along the life span. He is supervisor in longitudinal projects on psychosocial adjustment from childhood to young adulthood     

Exploratory study on classification and individualisation of earprints

The FearID research project is aimed at the individualisation of earprints for the purpose of forensic research. The study presented here was carried out within the framework of this project. It intends to combine a review of what is known from literature on the classification and individualisation of earprints with results from a preliminary study of earprints. Possibilities for, and limitations to, the use of earprints in forensic investigation are addressed. Differences between eliminating a suspect, placing a suspect at a crime scene, and linking crimes by prints left at different scenes are considered.