Combustion of animal fat and its implications for the consumption of human bodies in fires.

This paper describes experiments in which the combustion of animal tissue (pork) was measured under a variety of conditions that may be encountered in fire scenes. Combustion depends on substantial preheating of the tissue by an external heat source and the availability of a porous wick (such as charred cellulosic material). Combustion of moderate-size samples can proceed at a moderate rate of 1-3 g/s (3.6-10.8 kg/hr) if provided with an adequate wick and results in only a small fire of 30-50 kW. In the final test, combustion of 26 kg of fat and skin created a fire of 120-130 kW. Such a fire is more likely to cause fire spread to other combustibles nearby. The presence of other, less efficient fuels (like skin and muscle) and the absence of large fuel masses (such as in the very lean pig carcasses used here) results in significantly smaller fires of 40-50 kW. Such fires are more typical of burning human remains when there are minimal contributions from other fuels.     

Anti-Minotaur: The Myth of a Sociological Morality

Recently Philip Gorski has argued that sociology can help us answer moral questions such as how to live and how to organize societies. Gorski rejects “value-free sociology” and the distinction between factual statements and value judgments, but actually factual statements and value judgments are distinct and sociology can be value-free.  The practice of value-free sociology is ethically imperative, even, if we are to be honest with our audiences and if we are to fulfill our vocation as sociologists.     

The changing roles of local government in education

This article explores the ongoing debate about the changing roles of local government in education in Britain. It focuses on research evidence from Scotland, especially issues associated with devolving management to schools and reorganising local government. These findings are compared with the debate and evidence about the changing role of local government in education in England and Wales during the past decade. It is suggested that while there has been substantial reform of education and local government throughout Britain, the policies have differed in nature and outcomes north and south of the border.     

The interpretation of elemental composition measurements from forensic glass evidence III

In this paper we introduce a permutation testing approach to the interpretation of evidence which consists of elemental composition measurements, with glass evidence as an example. This work extends previous work of Curran et al. [J.M. Curran, C.M. Triggs, J.R. Almirall, J.S. Buckleton and K.A.J. Walsh, The interpretation of elemental composition measurements from forensic glass evidence, Science and Justice 37 (1997) 241–244.] and shows how we may remove some of the constraints that limited the applicability of the previous results. We provide the reader with tools for evidence pre-screening that may aid in the direction of further analyses of the data, rather than for the presentation of evidence interpretation in a court case.     

Roger Hesketh and the de Guingand letter

Historians have long questioned the extent to which British Intelligence knew about Japan's impending operations on the eve of the Pacific War. An examination of archival sources from Britain, Canada and the United States, as well as credible post-war testimony from former participants in Second World War intelligence operations, produces several conclusions. Throughout 1941, British Intelligence pointed to a war with Japan in South-East Asia. On the eve of the Pacific War, intelligence staff of the British Commonwealth monitored the vast expanses of the North Pacific. Apart from anticipating conflict in South-East Asia, British Intelligence, according to some sources, also suspected that a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was imminent, an assessment shared with the United States.