Deep learning for sex determination: Analyzing over 200,000 panoramic radiographs

The objective of this study is to assess the performance of an innovative AI-powered tool for sex determination using panoramic radiographs (PR) and to explore factors affecting the performance of the convolutional neural network (CNN). The study involved 207,946 panoramic dental X-rays and their corresponding reports from 15 clinical centers in São Paulo, Brazil. The PRs were acquired with four different devices, and 58% of the patients were female. Data preprocessing included anonymizing the exams, extracting pertinent information from the reports, such as sex, age, type of dentition, and number of missing teeth, and organizing the data into a PostgreSQL database. Two neural network architectures, a standard CNN and a ResNet, were utilized for sex classification, with both undergoing hyperparameter tuning and cross-validation to ensure optimal performance. The CNN model achieved 95.02% accuracy in sex estimation, with image resolution being a significant influencing factor. The ResNet model attained over 86% accuracy in subjects older than 6 years and over 96% in those over 16 years. The algorithm performed better on female images, and the area under the curve (AUC) exceeded 96% for most age groups, except the youngest. Accuracy values were also assessed for different dentition types (deciduous, mixed, and permanent) and missing teeth. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of an AI-driven tool for sex determination using PR and emphasizes the role of image resolution, age, and sex in determining the algorithm's performance.     

A new pentaplex system to study short tandem repeat markers of forensic interest on X chromosome

A new method has been optimised to amplify five X chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) markers of interest in forensic medicine: human phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRTB), DXS101, androgen receptor (ARA), DXS7423 and DXS8377. Markers were conveniently amplified in a single PCR reaction with fluorochrome-labelled primers, which allowed the analysis of fragment sizes after injection into a capillary electrophoresis system. The most common alleles of each locus were sequenced and used in a control ladder to type unknown samples.     

Early Childhood Predictors of Teen Dating Violence Involvement at Age 17

The distal relationship between risk factors in childhood and subsequent dating violence in late adolescence has not often been explored using longitudinal data. This study aims to shed light on the problem of dating violence by examining children’s backgrounds at age 7 and the link to the future involvement in dating violence at age 17 using the first and seventh waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso, n?=?644). The sample consists of 644 multiethnic adolescents (57.14% female, M?=?17.47, SD?=?0.37), mainly Swiss-born (90%), though more than half of their parents (60%) were born in another country. A latent class analysis was applied to identify three different profiles (a) zero (or minimal) involvement in teen dating violence, (b) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors, and (c) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors and of physical violence. Participants who were corporally punished and/or victims of bullying at age 7 were significantly more likely to belong to the controlling and physical violence profile than children in the non-violent class. These results suggest a certain chronicity of the effects of violent experiences in early childhood on the patterns of romantic relationships at 17 years old.

     

Police Officers Do Not Need More Training; But Different Training. Policing Domestic Violence and Abuse Involving Children: A Rapid Review

Journal of Family Violence - Although the police have been identified as a key service provider when responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA), very few studies have investigated their...     

“63-YEAR EXPERIENCE OF PROMOTING FRIENDSHIP WITH CHINA”

正Even though the Sri Lankan envoy to the Court of Claudius Caesar in the first century A.D.mentioned about trade between Sri Lanka and China,it took 19 more centuries for the two peoples to develop an uninterrupted mutual awareness and friendship.Linkages of diplomatic,cultural and trade which occurred during that long historical episode could not register a lasting     

The Possibilities and Limitations of Forensic Hand Comparison

On recordings of certain crimes, the face is not always shown. In such cases, hands can offer a solution, if they are completely visible. An important aspect of this study was to develop a method for hand comparison. The research method was based on the morphology, anthropometry, and biometry of hands. A new aspect of this study was that a manual and automated test were applied, which, respectively, assess many features and provide identification rates quickly. An important observation was that good quality images can provide sufficient hand details. The most distinctive features were the length/width ratio, the palm line pattern and the quantity of highly distinctive features present, and how they are distributed. The results indicate that experience did not improve the identification rates, while the manual test did. Intra‐observer variability did not influence the results, whereas hands of relatives were frequently misjudged. Both tests provided high identification rates.     

The association between psychopathic personality traits and health-related outcomes

Purpose

Psychopathy and psychopathic personality traits (PPT) have been linked to a long list of negative life outcomes. To date, however, few studies have provided a systematic analysis of whether psychopathic personality traits contribute to increased health burden. The current study was designed to address this gap in the literature.

Method

This study analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and employed a measure of PPT derived from the five-factor model of personality. Analyses were conducted using OLS, logistic, and Poisson regression techniques.

Results

The results revealed that relatively higher scores on psychopathic personality traits were associated with a slight increase in a wide range of negative health outcomes. These significant associations were detected for both males and females.

Conclusions

We speak to the importance of these findings for the potential to reduce health burden among psychopaths and those who score relatively high on measures of psychopathic personality traits.     

Psycho-Sociological Barriers to Citizen Participation in Local Governance. The Case of Some Rural Communities in Romania

This article focuses on the identification of three types of citizens' participation in local governance: 1) Primary participation (by paying taxes and other contributions), 2) secondary participation (at the level of being informed about the actions of local government) and 3) tertiary participation (at the level of local interest decision-making). Various inquiries carried out within a number of rural communities in Romania are presented in order to highlight certain psycho-sociological barriers that prevent participation. These barriers can range from citizens' simple indifference all the way to the fear inculcated during the communist regime. However, one might assume that such barriers would disappear in the context of Romania's genuine integration into European development projects.     

Openness and Growth: Re-Examining Foreign Direct Investment,Trade and Output Linkages in Latin America

The openness–growth connection is still an open question in the empirical literature. Although some studies have found that openness has a positive impact on economic performance, others have seriously questioned the significance of this result. The main point that we try to emphasise in this paper is that openness involves more than just trade liberalisation. The increasing importance of international capital flows and especially foreign direct investment (FDI) seems to be another relevant component of outward oriented policies. Therefore, by using quarterly data from the late seventies to 2000, we investigate the effects of liberalisation in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina by taking into account trade and FDI growth links. The results suggest that it is important to consider both exports and FDI to ascertain the benefits associated to the outward oriented strategies followed by these countries.     

Book reviews

Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture. By David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt and Jonathan Perraton. Cambridge: Polity, 1999. Pp.xxiii + 515. £59.50 and £16.99. ISBN 0 7456 1498 1 and 1499 X

Housing and Finance in Developing Countries. Edited by Kavita Datta and Gareth A. Jones. London and New York: Routledge, 1999. Pp.xxiii + 270. £50. ISBN 0 415 17242 X

Comprehending and Mastering African Conflicts: The Search for Sustainable Peace and Good Governance. Edited by Adebayo Adedeji. London and New York: Zed Books, in association with African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies (Ijebu‐Ode, Nigeria), 1999. Pp.xxii + 384. £50 and £16.95. ISBN 1 85649 762 3 and 763 1

Income Poverty and Beyond: Human Development in India. Edited by Raja J. Chelliah and R. Sudarshan. New Delhi: Social Science Press, 1999. Pp.xxvi + 221. Rs 395. ISBN 81 87358 00 9

Fiscal Decentralisation in Developing Countries. Edited by Richard M. Bird and Francois Vaillancourt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xiv + 304. £37.50 (US$59.95). ISBN 0 521 64143 8

The Future of Development Assistance: Common Pools and International Public Goods. By Ravi Kanbur and Todd Sandier with Kevin M. Morrison. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1999. ODC Policy Essay No.25. Pp.x + 106. $34.95/£10.50. ISBN 1 56517 026 1

The Global Crisis in Foreign Aid. Edited by Richard Grant and Jan Nijman. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1998. Pp.xxiv + 224. $34.95. ISBN 0 8156 2771 8

Economic Development. By Michael P. Todaro. Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. Seventh Edition. Pp.xxvi + 783. £24.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 201 64858 X

Growth and Development: With Special Reference to Developing Economies. By A.P. Thirlwall. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1999. Sixth Edition. Pp.xvii + 521. £62.50 and £21.99. ISBN 0 333 74678 3 and 74679 1

Economics of Development. By Malcolm Gillis, Dwight H. Perkins, Michael Roemer and Donald R. Snodgrass. London: W.W. Norton, 1996. Fourth Edition. Pp.xvi + 604. £23.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 393 96957 6

A Finger in the Wound: Body Politics in Quincentennial Guatemala. By Diane M. Nelson. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 1999. $55.00 and $22.00. Pp.xvii + 450. ISBN 0 520 21284 3 and 21285 1