Forensic-medical aspects of dermatoglyphics of the hands and feet

Issues on possibility of using capillary patterns of hands and feet in medicolegal examination of unidentified dead bodies and unknown persons, in cases of disputed paternity and maternity and child substitution are considered. Up-to-date theories on inheritance of dermatoglyphics features, their racial, sexual, age and occupational variability as well as interrelationship with some genetic diseases are analysed. Ways of researches in the field of dermatoglyphics of hands and feet for expert practice are outlined.     

The bones in the Abbey: are they the murdered princes? A review of the evidence

In 1674, the skeletons of two children were found in the Tower of London. They were believed to represent the remains of the "Princes in the Tower" (who had disappeared in 1483), and were reinterred as such in Westminster Abbey. Popular belief and conventional historical tradition held that the princes had been murdered by their uncle, King Richard III, to clear his path to the throne. In 1933, the bones in the Abbey were disinterred and examined, with the conclusion that they were indeed those of the princes. One skull was also thought to show evidence of death by suffocation, supporting another feature of popular legend. Later reviews of the investigation, however, revealed significant errors and omissions. This report summarizes the inconsistencies present in the scientific record and suggests that reexamination of the remains with improved techniques in both carbon dating and forensic science would provide a much more accurate analysis, thus helping to clarify the historical record.     

Partnership Through Pragmatism

The Sino-European relationship has been relatively harmonious for approximately 30 years since the end of the Cold War.Differing political ideologies and some disagreements have not reduced either side’s appetite for cooperation.Last year was difficult and intense in comparison to previous ones,due to the European Parliament’s non-ratification of a comprehensive EU-China investment agreement,frictions regarding contradictory interpretations of human rights.     

Structuring dissident desire: representations of same-sex prison contact in contemporary South African culture

The figure of the prisoner, particularly as associated with the Numbers gangs in South African prison gangs, is both a hyper-masculine and (homo-)eroticized character. Prison allows for a state of being queer that, through its subject having already been criminalised, and escapes the stigma of feminization associated with it in the hierarchically gendered society outside of prison. Through the structure of the gang and in the confines of the prison, same-sex desire is at the centre of criminality and masculinity. At the same time, prison allows a space in which same-sex desire is countenanced; it thus becomes a literary setting fraught with same-sex eroticism. This essay considers the extent to which the masculinities of prison have become conflated with notions of an eroticized homosexual threat and the politics and fates of such threat inside and outside the jail walls. It reads a film (Proteus, 2003), non-fiction text (The Number, 2010, by Jonny Steinberg), short fiction (by Jan van Tonder), and play (Tertius Kapp’s Rooiland, 2013).