Results of collaborative study regarding the standardization of the Y-linked STR system DYS385 by the European DNA Profiling (EDNAP) group.

Y-chromosome linked short tandem repeat (STR) loci are inherited as a closely linked haplotype, which appears to remain stable in a given paternal lineage over many generations. In forensic cases, Y-linked STRs are particularly useful for the identification of human remains as well as in rape cases with mixed male/female stain samples. DYS385 is derived from tandemly duplicated segments of the Y chromosome thus giving rise to two fragments of variable length which do not behave like alleles but genotypes. The European DNA Profiling (EDNAP) group has carried out a collaborative exercise among 14 participating laboratories using DYS385 for typing of five unknown bloodstains and a control sample. Furthermore, population data from eight different European countries with samples sizes between 91 and 150 male individuals were collected. The results confirm previous observations that DYS385 is one of the most informative Y-linked STR loci. It could also be demonstrated that reproducible results can be obtained independently from the electrophoretic separation and detection methods used. Thus DYS385 may serve as a useful complementation to the routinely used autosomal STR systems in special cases.     

Evaluation of a novel tagging and tissue preservation system for potential use in forensic sample collection

The authors describe a new, easy-to-use barcode-based tissue collection, preservation and body tracking system, which might prove instrumental in the containment of mass fatalities such as aircraft accidents, war related accidents, environmental disasters (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods) terrorist bombings or mass murders.     

All in the Family? Family Environment Factors in Sibling Violence

Sibling violence is presumed to be the most common form of family violence and the least studied. Based on data from “Physical Violence in American Families, 1976,” this paper assesses the family environment factors associated with sibling physical violence. Of a range of potential family influences, measures of family disorganization were the most significant predictors of sibling violence, overriding the characteristics of children or particular family demands. What mattered most to the occurrence of sibling violence was a child’s actual experience of physical violence at the hands of a parent, maternal disciplinary practices and whether husbands lose their temper. These findings point to the deleterious effect of corporal punishment, and suggest sibling violence in families is associated with more ominous family and gender dynamics.

L'Europe comme ambition puis comme espace: histoire d'un modèle victime de son succès?

On voit mal comment l'on pourrait refuser d'élargir l'Europe aux ex-pays de l'Est. Les arguments qui ont plaidé en faveur de la Grande Bretagne, de la Grèce, de l'Espagne et du Portugal doivent s'appliquer aux Etats d'Europe centrale et orientale. Compte tenu du caractère inéluctable des futurs élargissements, il ne saurait être question de renoncer à l'approfondissement et ce, au risque de la désintégration pure et simple de la Communauté. A n'en pas douter, en effet, les pays d'Europe centrale et orientale rejoindront les rangs des partisans de l'Europe minimale, de "l'Europe des patries". S'il s'agit de renoncer au super Etat fédéral pour rester dans le flou d'un système hybride, mélange de supranationalité et de souveraineté, l'objectif reste celui d'une construction politique, certes respectueuse des différences nationales, mais nécessairement plus intégrée et cohérente. Dans le contexte actuel – qui est aussi celui de l'Union économique et monétaire – on peut dès lors se demander si l'on ne devrait pas voir dans le modèle suisse d'unité (fé-dérale) dans la diversité (nationale) une source d'inspiration.     

Introduction: Continuing the Effort to Understand the Relationship Between Positive and Negative Resource Allocations and How They Affect Our Justice Conceptions

Social Justice Research -     

根据手指节皱纹推断年龄的研究及应用

为了快速、准确、简便地推断年龄,笔者收集广西区1195人活体手指背照片.通过对中指背近节横纹特征的观察,并用解剖学、法医学、数理统计学的理论进行研究,结果发现手指背横条纹随着年龄的增长呈规律变化,即皱纹由少到多、由浅到深、由不明显到明显、粗纹间距由窄变宽的规律特征,具有一定的法医学应用价值.     

荧光标记STR复合扩增检验系统的研究

本研究以化学合成的荧光标记引物建立了STR复合扩增体系,体系I包括4个STR基因座和牙釉蛋白基因,体系Ⅱ包括4个STR基因座,体系Ⅲ包括3个STR基因座.制备了体系I各基因座的等位基因标准对照,测定了各等位基因长度.对代表性等位基因进行了序列测定,确定了等位基因重复单位的重复数目及测量长度与等位基因命名的对应关系,对各基因座等位基因进行了标准命名.建立了复合扩增检验系统等位基因自动分析命名的模板.三个复合扩增检验体系的累积随机匹配概率为8.3×10-3,为遗传学分析建立了实用的检验系统.     

Bringing European Democracy Back In—Or How to Read the German Constitutional Court's Lisbon Treaty Ruling

This article critically examines the democratic theory that informs the German Federal Constitutional Court's Lisbon Treaty ruling. This is needed because the ruling is ambiguous with regard to which type of democracy applies to which type of Union. In order to analyse the ruling we establish three models of what European democracy possibly can amount to: audit democracy based on the EU as a derivative of the Member States; a multinational federal state; or a regional cosmopolitan polity? The court's depiction of the EU does not fit as well as we would expect when labeled as a derivative entity due to the important legislative role of the European Parliament. The EU's legal supranationalism points in the direction of a federation, but the court's argumentation does not lend support to this notion. The court models democracy on a rather specific set of institutional presuppositions that are derived from the parliamentary model of democracy associated with the sovereign nation state. At the same time, the court operates with a conception of a changing state sovereignty that unfolds more in line with cosmopolitan rather than with classical Westphalian statist principles.