Molecular characterization and Austrian Caucasian population data of the multi-copy Y-chromosomal STR DYS464

DYS464 is a multi-copy STR system with four positions on the Y-chromosome (DYS464a, b, c, and d) which was recently identified and characterized [Forensic Sci. Int. 130 (2002) 97]. The aims of our study were to perform a population study, to estimate the mutation rate and an extensive sequence analysis in order to confirm the nomenclature. Fourteen different alleles were found in an Austrian population sample with an allele length varying from 9 to 19 repeats. All alleles were cloned and sequenced. Alleles 9-19 showed the general repeat structure (CCTT)n...(CCTT)2...(CCTT)3...(CCTT)4...(CCTT)2...(CCTT)2. The nomenclature is based on the number of repeated units of the variable (CCTT)n-stretch only. In 13% of the samples intermediate alleles, namely 14.3A, 14.3B and 15.3 were detected. In these alleles the variable repeat block is interrupted by a CTT motif (14.3A: (CCTT)3CTT(CCTT)11; 14.3B and 15.3: (CCTT)7CTT(CCTT)7/8). A comparison with GenBank entries revealed the existence of a length variant due to a deletion of one cytosine in the 5' flanking region of the first repeat block. We designed an alternative forward primer to circumvent possible ambiguities in the allele designation. A total of 54 different genotypes were identified in 135 men corresponding to a discrimination capacity (DC) of 40% and a gene diversity (GD) of 0.97. These values are much higher than those of other Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (Y-STRs). DYS464 has the same haplotype diversity (HD) as the combination of the five Y-STR loci with the lowest gene diversities of the Y-STR core set. On the other hand, a combination of the three most diverse loci (DYS464, DYS385 and DYS390) has the same capacity to distinguish between paternal lineages than the complete minimal haplotype (minHT) consisting of eight Y-STR loci. In our population sample the addition of DYS464 to the minHT increases the number of different haplotypes from 110 to 122. The mutation-rate estimate based on the 70 meioses analyzed amounts to 2.86 x 10(-2) (95% confidence interval 3.5 x 10(-3) to 9.95 x 10(-2)). This value is approximately 10 times higher than the average mutation-rate estimate for Y-STRs.     

Duplications of the Y-chromosome specific loci P25 and 92R7 and forensic implications

In the present study, we demonstrate that two commonly used Y-chromosome single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), P25 and 92R7, are paralogous sequence variants (PSVs) originating from segmental duplications and that at least one of the sequence variants in each group of loci is polymorphic. Several methodologies were used in order to detect the SNP alleles and the PSVs of the loci. All results obtained with the various typing techniques supported the conclusion. The allele distributions of the binary markers were analysed in more than 600 males with seven different haplogroups. For P25, the ancestral allele C was found in several samples from different haplogroups. The derived allele A was always present with an additional C variant. Haplogroup P was defined by the derived allele A at the 92R7 locus. However, the ancestral allele G was always associated with an A variant due to the duplication.     

Political interest furthers partisanship in England,Scotland, and Wales

According to much of the literature, partisanship in Britain exercises little independent influence on the vote but merely reflects voters’ prospective and retrospective evaluations of the parties’ performance with regard to their management of the economy, national security, and public services. In this view, partisanship comes close to Fiorina’s model of a “running tally” of political experiences. Similarly, Dalton’s notion of “cognitive mobilization” suggests that seeking out political information should undermine both the need for and the likelihood of party identification. Applying Mixed Markov Latent Class Analysis to the British Election Study Panel 1997–2000, we challenge these perceptions by demonstrating that partisanship is more stable than previously thought, and that high levels of political interest are linked to higher levels of partisanship and possible also to higher levels of stability. This is much more in line with classic ideas about party identification than with “revisionist” critiques of the Michigan model, and with current models of political cognition. Moreover, it suggests that political interest renders affective ties more powerful in stabilizing themselves.     

The effect of choice reversals on blindness for identification decisions

The present study examined blindness for identification decisions from target-present (TP) and target-absent (TA) lineups using a field study methodology. Eighty pedestrians were exposed to a staged theft. Subsequently, they were asked to identify the thief and the victim from separate, simultaneous six-person lineups. Their identification decision concerning the thief lineup was manipulated such that participants’ selections were exchanged with a previously unidentified lineup member (choice exchange) and lineup rejections were turned into identifications (choice reversal). Participants were 7–10 times less likely to detect choice exchanges (66.7%) compared with choice reversals (11.2%). Furthermore, identification accuracy was not a prerequisite for detection. Thus, rejections and particularly selections made from both TP and TA lineups are susceptible to choice blindness. Finally, our study implies that for blindness in eyewitness identification decisions between-category changes (i.e. choice reversals) are easier to detect than within-category changes (i.e. choice exchanges).     

Anhang zu „Erste Schritte auf kaum erschlossenem Terrain. Zur Stabilität der Parteiidentifikation in Deutschland“

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Erste Schritte auf kaum erschlossenem Terrain. Zur Stabilität der Parteiidentifikation in Deutschland

Party identification (PI) is one of the central theoretical concepts in political sociology. Many scholars, however, argue that the lack of stability in observed PI casts serious doubts on its role as an “unmoved mover” ascribed to the concept by the Michigan school. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we argue that perfect stability is not required by the Michigan approach. Rather, PI should be assumed to vary systematically in response to political and extra-political conditions. Second, we show that PI is a latent variable whose stability is massively underestimated if random measurement error is not taken into account. With a Latent Transition Analysis of the GSOEP, we can demonstrate that a) PI is highly stable amongst supporters of the major parties in both East and West Germany, b) that the stability of PI varies somewhat with the degree of political interest, and that c) stability has not declined since the mid-1980s.     

Environmental liability under uncertain causation

Recently, the European Commission has issued the “Directive 2004/35/CE on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental liability”. The Directive extends liability that usually refers to personal injuries and private property to harm where private property does not exist (e.g. biodiversity and endangered species). In these cases, problems with multiple causation and uncertain causation tend to be even more severe than for cases where solely private property is affected. Nevertheless, the otherwise very ambitious Directive remains silent about how to deal with these problems. We focus on uncertain causation and analyze second best optimal standards of proof in a model where benefits of risky activities are private information, and where the firm’s care level chosen to avoid the damage is only imperfectly observable. We derive three results: first, we characterize the factors determining the second best standards. Second, and conversely to the previous literature, high standards of proof such as proof beyond reasonable doubt can be second best optimal even though they lead to inefficiently low care levels. Third, legislators should leave discretionary power to courts which allows them to choose the standard of proof conditional on factors such as the degree of uncertainty over causation or the information quality about care levels as taken by injurers.     

Standard Symptom Inventories for Asylum Seekers in a Psychiatric Hospital: Limited Utility Due to Poor Symptom Validity

We examined symptom validity in two samples (Ns = 27 and 35) of asylum seekers who had been admitted to a psychiatric facility. Considerable proportions over-endorsed atypical symptoms (63 and 83%, respectively) and underperformed on a simple forced-choice task requiring the identification of basic emotions (41 and 71%, respectively). Over-endorsement and underperformance were unrelated to Dutch language proficiency but were related to raised scores on standard symptom inventories commonly used to assess psychiatric symptoms of asylum seekers. This pattern of findings casts doubts on attempts to monitor symptom severity and treatment progress in psychiatric asylum seekers without taking symptom validity into account.     

Foreign farm workers in Ontario (Canada): Exclusionary discourse in the newsprint media

Seasonal offshore labour from Mexico and the Caribbean is a vital element in the horticulture industry of Ontario, Canada. The offshore programme run by the government regulates the recruitment of foreign workers into a seemingly feudal labour regime. It is argued here that media discourse about foreign workers plays an important role in generating public consent for this regime. An analysis of the daily newsprint media reveals several co-existing narratives, which constitute a wider public discourse about offshore labour. By portraying foreign workers as crucial for the economy, a liability to rural communities and a form of aid to the global south, this discourse legitimates existing labour practices, cultural exclusion and workers' temporary status in Canada.