Striation patterns in serrated blade stabs to cartilage

Stab wounds were made in porcine cartilage with 13 serrated knives, amongst which 4 were drop-point and 9 straight-spine; 9 coarsely serrated, 3 finely serrated and 1 with mixed pattern serrations. The walls of the stab tracks were cast with dental impression material, and the casts photographed together with the knife blades for comparison. All 13 serrated blades produced an "irregularly regular" pattern of striations on cartilage in all stabbings. Unusual and distinctive blade serration patterns produced equally distinctive wound striation patterns. A reference collection of striation patterns and corresponding blades might prove useful for striation pattern analysis. Drop-point blades produced similar striations to straight-spine blades except that the striations were not parallel but rather fan-shaped, converging towards the wound exit. The fan-shaped striation pattern characteristic of drop-point blades is explained by the initial lateral movement of the blade through the cartilage imposed by the presence of the drop point shape. It appears that the greater the overall angle of the drop point, the shorter the blade length over which the drop point occurs, and the closer the first serration is to the knife tip, the more obvious is the fan-shaped pattern. We anticipate that micro-irregularities producing individualising characteristics in non-serrated drop point blades, provided they were located at the tip opposite the drop point, should also show a fan-shaped pattern indicative of a drop point blade. The examination of the walls of stab wounds to cartilage represents an under-utilised source of forensic information to assist in knife identification.     

Blind consent? A social psychological investigation of non-readership of click-through agreements

Across two studies we aimed to measure empirically the extent of non-readership of click-through agreements (CTAs), identify the dominant beliefs about CTAs contributing to non-readership, and experimentally manipulate these beliefs to decrease automatic non-reading behavior and enhance contract efficiency. In our initial questionnaire study (Study 1), as predicted, the vast majority of participants reported not reading CTAs and the most prevalent beliefs about CTAs contributing to nonreadership included: they are too long and time-consuming, they are all the same, they give one no choice but to agree, they are irrelevant, and vendors are generally reputable. Manipulating these beliefs on a simulated music website (Study 2) revealed an increase in readership. In addition, CTA comprehension and CTA rejection rates were both increased significantly by manipulating the length of the CTA. These results demonstrate support for the influence of widely held beliefs about CTAs on contract readership, provide evidence against the common "limited cognition" perspective on non-readership, and suggest that presenting CTAs in a short, readable format can increase CTA read-ership and comprehension as well as shopping of CTA terms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Regional integration and free-trade agreements in the Balkans: opportunities, obstacles and policy issues

The Balkan states are engaged in a complex and contradictory process of simultaneous regional integration and disintegration. The main instrument of regional integration has been a network of bilateral Free Trade Agreements which the Balkan countries have adopted under the guidance of the Stability Pact for South East Europe, and more recently the extension of the CEFTA free trade area to the region. The bilateral FTAs have been criticised for creating a ‘spaghetti bowl’ of differentiated trade relations, and creating risks of trade deflection and trade diversion. At the same time other arrangements, including the contractual relations of individual countries with the EU, cut across the region and fragment their mutual trade relations. Moreover, Croatia is likely to become an EU member within the next few years, at which point it will suspend its trade agreements with the non-member Balkan states. Therefore, soon after having established a new mechanism of integration, the region will once again be split apart, leaving a rump association of five or six poverty-stricken and politically unstable countries to pursue the vision of regional cooperation. This paper focuses on the prospects for regional integration among these remaining countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. It explores the patterns of their mutual trade, and the opportunities and obstacles to increasing trade between them.     

Postmaternal Times and Radical Feminist Thinking

ABSTRACT

Linking the postmaternal to postfeminism as products of late twentieth-century neoliberal capitalism, postmaternal thinking is defined in this article by its historical time period, from the early 1980s onwards, and by its legacy of radical feminist thinking which was critical in messing up traditional understandings of maternity. This is demonstrated through research and resources related to the women’s peace movement, with specific reference to the women-only peace camps at Greenham Common (U.K.) and Pine Gap (Australia). The intellectual legacies of these complex and compelling debates around the social practices of maternity, the politics of family, collective domesticity and activism are often occluded in social memory, as Stephens argues in Confronting Postmaternal Thinking (2011). This paper extends Stephens’ working definition of postmaternity to argue for an interconnected structural social analysis of postmaternal times, and contests modernist categories of knowing to consider postmaternity as postmodernist in its multiple and shifting array of politics. In this way postmaternity becomes a time in which maternity is open to redefinition through a proliferation of meaning and possibilities, and this is demonstrated by concluding in the form of a manifesto.     

Achieving Effective Collaborations to Help Communities Age Well

Effective policy responses to the ageing of the population are a priority area for government and non‐government agencies across Australia, particularly at the community level. This article focuses on the policy goal of ageing well at the local level, and more specifically, the strong principle of collaboration that underpins this goal. Too little is known about how to achieve effective collaboration in the ageing field. This article aims to address this by developing an analytical framework from the broad literature on collaborative processes, and applying this framework to data collected from interviews with stakeholders in ageing across two local communities in Queensland. While participants recognise the importance and strength of working together and provide local examples of how this has been achieved effectively, they also acknowledge the associated challenges and complexity. This all spanned the six factors of the framework: the context of ageing; the characteristics and relationships between partners; the need for adequate procedures; as well as structure and relationships aimed at building capacity; a shared sense of purpose; and access to adequate resources.     

Regulatory relationships across levels of multilevel governance systems: From collaboration to competition

The European Union and the United States are paradigmatic examples of multilevel governance systems that are also regulatory states. In both settings, informal networks of regulators preceded and existed alongside supranational (federal) regulatory agencies. The literature understood their rationale as preparatory to the creation of higher level agencies. This approach, however, cannot explain why informal regulatory networks still exist, years after the establishment of higher level agencies. What explains the persistence of informal regulatory networks? The argument of this article is that in multilevel governance systems, the relationship between regulatory networks and the supranational level of governance is coevolutionary and embodies struggles for autonomy and authority: as the multilevel governance system consolidates, the character of this relationship evolves from collaborative to competitive. The argument relies on a comparative historical analysis of two voluntary networks of energy regulators from the European Union and the United States, based on 27 interviews and archival research.     

Gender,actors, and institutions at the local level: Explaining variation in policies to address violence against women and girls

Research on gender equality policy has generally focused on actors and institutions at the national and international levels. This article considers the role of local‐level actors and institutions in explaining different policy responses to violence against women and girls (VAWG). The literature on gender policy trajectories identifies the particular importance of executive actors in influencing “status policies” like VAWG. Quantitative data are analyzed to show how local Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales have responded to demands for policy action. The focus is on the interaction between the 41 elected commissioners and the new institutional arrangements for police governance introduced in 2012. The article shows that variation in policy outcomes is related (a) to the gender of executive actors and (b) to the way in which actors interpret elements of the institutional framework, regardless of their own gender.     

Juvenile Facial Growth and Mimicry: A Preliminary 3D Study

Studies focused on facial development during childhood have been conducted by means of 3D technology to provide modifications of anthropometric parameters. Facial mobility was also considered. This study proposed a 3D approach to facial growth changes. Facial surface data of 6 subjects were acquired in T1 (age 7–14 years) and after 7 years (T2), in rest position, and during voluntary movements, by a 3D laser scanner. Linear and angular measurements on rest position scans at T1 and T2 were compared. Each mimic scan was superimposed with the corresponding rest scan. Displacement of significant anthropometric points was measured for each facial gesture and at T1 and T2 statistically compared. Vertical measurements were those most influenced by aging. Some measurements of central facial area were consistent over time. The pattern of soft tissues displacement for each expression was consistent in T1 and T2. These results may be helpful for missing children identification.