The use and effect of political propaganda in democracies

This paper examines the influence of political propaganda on voters and analyses the behavior of the interest groups in the face of the influence being exercised. By propaganda semitruths are distributed among the electorate. The decision taken by a voter results from his basic opinion and from the parts of information he receives. The analysis shows that the greater the likelihood of a certain decision being reached by a fully informed electorate, the more probable it is that the same decision will be reached by a rationally uninformed electorate. The pecuniary interest of an interest group is, however, also positively correlated with the probability that the electorate reaches a decision which is agreeable to that interest group. It has finally become apparent that the results of the approach concur well with empirical studies.     

Fatal intoxication with melperone

Melperone is judged to be a safe neuroleptic drug. Until now there has been no report of a melperone fatality, though it has been used in suicide attempts. We report on a case of a 36-year-old woman where no cause of death could be established at autopsy. Criminological investigation pointed to a homicide by poisoning but also the possibility of a suicide had to be taken in account. The toxicological analysis of blood, cerebral spinal fluid and urine revealed extremely high concentrations of melperone which had never been reported before. Furthermore, diazepam, nordazepam and carbamazepine were detected. To our knowledge, this case is the first melperone fatality. Possible interactions with diazepam and carbamazepine are discussed.     

The ECHR in Iraq: The Judgment of the House of Lords in R (Al-Skeini) v. Secretary of State for Defence

The House of Lords has held that the ECHR does not apply tothe acts of the UK armed forces in Iraq, except in their militaryprisons. More generally, the House has endorsed the positionthat the ECHR cannot apply to areas controlled by a state partyoutside the territories of the Council of Europe. The authordisputes the treatment of the European cases that led the Houseto this position, and criticizes the suggestions that the introductionof European human rights law was culturally inappropriate andeven unlawful under the regime of belligerent occupation.     

Automated Quantifiler quantitative PCR setup, template normalization and PCR setup using HID EVOlution™ qPCR/STR setup on trace evidence samples

We have implemented and validated customized protocols for automated Quantifiler^® setup, template normalization and PCR setup using the Tecan HID EVOlution™ qPCR/STR setup. The protocols were validated for the Quantifiler^® human DNA quantification, AmpF?STR^® SGM Plus^® and SEfiler Plus™ PCR Amplification Kits (Applied Biosystems) according to EN/ISO 17025.     

Clinical forensic examination findings in assault cases among adolescents

Child and youth criminality has risen markedly over the past 25 years and causes increasing concern to the general public. The clinical forensic examination cases of youth violence victims examined at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School and its Oldenburg Branch between 1999 and 2008 were retrospectively analyzed. In all, 55 adolescents (37 females, 18 males; median age 15.5 years) were examined. In most cases the suspect was a close (40.0%) or passing (23.6%) acquaintance. 16 assaults were committed by two or more adolescents jointly. Most of the juveniles were victims of sexual assaults (56.4%). In 15 victims of sexual offences (51.7%) diagnostic findings were obtained on the basis of anogenital injuries and/or the presence of sperm. In summary, the analysis shows that adolescents frequently become victims of sexual assault. In addition, youth violence is often committed in a group.     

Not guilty? Another look at the nature and nurture of economics students

In this paper, we re-examine students’ attitudes towards various allocation mechanisms for a scarce resource. For this purpose, we have run a survey among officers of the German military who are enrolled in different courses of study (such as economics) at the University of the German Federal Armed Forces. We find that significantly more students who are enrolled in economics courses judge price increases as fair than students enrolled in other courses. Moreover, this tendency strengthens the more training in economics the students receive. In addition, fewer students with advanced economic education judge allocation through the local community as fair when compared to first-year students in economics courses or other students. These results stand in contrast to results obtained by Frey et al. (J Econ Educ, 24:271–281, 1993) on the same survey. In summary, we find evidence for both nature and nurture effects.     

Justice Concerns Can Feed Nationalistic Concerns and Impede Solidarity in the Euro Crisis: How Victim Sensitivity Translates into Political Attitudes

We investigated how victim sensitivity and news media exposure conjointly contribute to the formation of political attitudes in the context of the euro crisis. Study 1 (N = 208) showed that observer-sensitive individuals were more likely and victim-sensitive individuals were less likely to support solidarity with countries in need of financial support. These correlations were mediated by affective components of political attitudes, namely nationalistic concerns, resentment about and empathic concerns with debtor countries. In Study 2 (N = 51), using a pre–post within-subjects design, we showed that framing the euro crisis in an ‘exploitation frame” (compared to a ‘solidarity frame’) in news media reports was more likely to trigger nationalistic concerns and, consequently, decrease support of solidarity in victim-sensitive individuals compared to their less victim-sensitive counterparts. These results are in line with the SeMI model and previous findings that victim sensitivity is linked to fear of being exploited in intergroup relations.     

Assignment of a bite-mark on the victim's skin to the dentition of the perpetrator by means of anomalies in the number and position of the frontal teeth

This report is about a bite mark on the breast of a female corpse. The woman had been killed by ligature strangulation at the age of 76 years. The investigation of the dental casts of a suspected man showed some anomalies in the dentition and orthodontic variations. A comparison of the bite mark with these anomalies demonstrated the correspondence of several details. Consequently, the probability that the suspect was responsible for the bite mark was regarded as being very high. During the further investigations the suspect admitted the offence including the bite injury to the breast. The authors emphasize the importance of an exact photographic documentation as an indispensable prerequisite for an odontological comparison.