Detection of Tooth‐Colored Restorative Materials for Forensic Purposes Based on Their Optical Properties: An In Vitro Comparative Study

Victim identification using dental records involves antemortem and postmortem comparison of dental charts. Since dental restorations may be part of such records, identifying them accurately is critical. The objective of this study was to compare the diagnostic reliability and validity of two optical methods for identifying tooth‐colored restorations (digital imaging fiber optic transillumination (DiFOTI) using near infrared light, and fluorescence‐aided identification of restorations (FAIR)) with conventional diagnostic methods. Four examiners identified and charted tooth‐colored restorations in three sets of typodonts on the bench using conventional visual and tactile examination, DiFOTI (DIAGNOcam?) and FAIR. All examinations were repeated after 4 weeks. Both the sensitivity (95%) and specificity (97%) of the FAIR method were significantly higher than those for DiFOTI (82% and 82%) and for conventional inspection (71% and 82%). In conclusion, FAIR method performed better than conventional examination and DiFOTI, and was more reliable for identifying tooth‐colored restorations.     

Judging a Judge: A Reappraisal of Lord Mansfield and Somerset’s Case

This article presents an occasion on which moral judgement can, and should, take place. When the chief justice of the court of king’s bench – William Murray, first earl of Mansfield – was presented with the case of Somerset v Stewart in 1772, he was presented with choices that unveiled aspects of his character. By first establishing the ambiguity of the legal context and the multifarious political pressures that preceded Somerset’s case, this article identifies the extent of Lord Mansfield’s ‘room for manoeuvre’ with respect to three elements of his conduct: the delay and reluctance in making a decision, the choices regarding the substantive decision and the manner of expressing that decision. To what extent did Mansfield have freedom of action, and how did he exercise it? Are those free actions worthy of praise or condemnation? Through an essential questioning of previous historians’ assumptions and omissions, this article sharpens the strokes through which a complex portrait of Mansfield may be rendered.     

A prospective study of pathways to hospital readmission in Canadian forensic psychiatric patients

Individuals admitted to secure care often experience lengthy hospitalizations and are likely to be admitted on more than one occasion. In the context of growing demand and costs associated with secure care, the current study investigates the frequency and reasons for readmission among 87 forensic patients recently discharged into the community. We identify risk factors that are associated with the likelihood of readmission and describe areas of overlap and discordance with the existing literature in civil and forensic samples. Using a prospective design that included patient follow-up interviews and records review, we found that 28% of patients were readmitted on one or more occasions over a 12-month period. Psychiatric decompensation, substance use, and treatment non-adherence were the central reasons prompting readmission. Patients with one or more readmissions were found to have spent significantly more time in the forensic mental health system as compared to patients not readmitted. They were more likely to have a substance use disorder and were estimated to be at higher risk for violence. Results replicate the finding of low rates of serious violence and reoffending among discharged forensic patients, and substantiate the centrality of substance use as a growing and clinically important treatment issue.     

Party Animals? Extreme Partisan Polarization and Dehumanization

Political Behavior - The affective, identity based, and often negative nature of partisan polarization in the United States has been a subject of much scholarly attention. Applying insights from...     

The Struggle for Certainty: Ontological Security,the Rise of Nationalism,and Australia-China Tensions after COVID-19

Journal of Chinese Political Science - Australia-China relations have been relatively stable over the last decade. However, soon after the outbreak of COVID-19, Australia took an increasingly...     

Deliberative layering: Explaining diverse interest mobilization across the European Parliament's Policy Cycle

Drawing from work on deliberation and information‐access, this paper conceptually frames why and when different types of interests mobilize across the parliamentary policy cycle. We posit that each policy stage holds its own deliberative purpose and logic, leading to a variation in the type and volume of information demanded. The legitimacy of the expertise interest groups provide is affected by their organizational characteristics. To ensure the smooth flow of the policy process, members of parliament encourage groups that legitimately hold relevant information to mobilize at each policy stage, while lobbyists choose to mobilize when their expertise allows them to better influence policy‐makers' debates. We test our argument in the context of the European Parliament, following a unique survey of the 8th legislature (2014–2019). The responses lend support to our model. In a policy process that contains various stages of deliberation, different organizations hold an information‐expertise key that gives them access at different stages. Significantly, less studied groups, such as think tanks and consultancies, mobilize well ahead of others in the cycle's initial phases; while lobbyists representing public constituencies dominate in the final stages. The paper contributes to broader theoretical discussions on pluralism, bias, and deliberation in policy‐making.     

Attempted Drug‐facilitated Sexual Assault—Xylazine Intoxication in a Child

There are only a few cases of drug‐facilitated sexual assaults on children reported in the literature so far. Here, a case of a four‐year‐old boy is presented. He was unconscious, and the accompanying adults reported that the child had been at a playground on his own. Returning home, he complained of having been stung and collapsed immediately. Urine and serum samples of the child were investigated. In the toxicological analysis, xylazine, a sedative and muscle relaxant used in animals, was detected. Subsequent quantification by GC/MS after solid‐phase extraction revealed 0.053 mg/L xylazine in serum and approximately 0.63 mg/L in urine. Furthermore, the child was examined by a forensic medical specialist. Police investigations revealed that the godfather, who had been previously accused of sexual abuse of children, had injected the child with the drug, possibly in preparation for a shared bath.     

Social Justice and Moral Reasoning: An Empirical Integration of Two Paradigms in Psychological Research

Distributive and procedural justice are of central importance to past and current theories of the psychology of moral development and the social psychology of justice. In order to explicate the relationships among theories, participants responded to both a measure of moral reasoning and a measure of 15 various justice criteria. Analyses showed that each schema of moral reasoning was significantly predicted by different concerns about social justice. Furthermore, individuals' judgments about justice were best represented by four factors, offering a broader definition of justice in relation to moral schemas. The findings were consistent with Kohlbergian theory; moral reasoning appears to proceed from concerns about self-interest to distributive fairness to procedural justice.     

Francis Fukuyama: Democracy Needs Elites

“Populism exists because institutions are elite‐driven,” but democracies don't work well without elites, says the acclaimed author of The End of History.     

The Effects of Employee Hours-of-Service Regulations on the U.S. Airline Industry

Maximum employee work-hour restrictions are implemented to reduce accidents. However, because they decrease the stock of work hours available to employers in the short run, they may also have detrimental effects. A quasi-experiment suggests that pilot hours-of-service reforms, which decreased the number of flights and hours a pilot may work, reduced consumer choice and increased fares in the airline industry. We find that regional and low-cost carriers reduced scheduled flight frequency, while less constrained legacy carriers (and potentially their wholly owned subsidiaries) were unaffected. Further, we find evidence that market concentration increased on many routes, implying that fare increases may be due to a decrease in competition. These findings suggest a situation where a policy implemented to correct one market failure, airlines not internalizing the full social costs of accidents by allowing dangerously fatigued pilots to fly, exacerbated another market failure by decreasing competition.