Integrated DNA and Fingerprint Analyses in the Identification of 60‐Year‐Old Mummified Human Remains Discovered in an Alaskan Glacier

Abstract: This report describes the identification of a merchant mariner who perished in 1948 when Northwest Airlines Flight 4422, a DC‐4 carrying 24 seamen and six crew members crashed into Mount Sanford, Alaska. Fifty‐one years later, a human forearm and hand were found close by the wreckage of the plane, prompting identification efforts using DNA and fingerprints. There were significant challenges to both the fingerprint and DNA analyses. The hand was badly desiccated, making fingerprint friction‐ridge detail almost invisible and the remains had been embalmed upon discovery, making DNA amplification difficult. We present the results of an interdisciplinary approach that successfully addressed these challenges and ultimately led to the identification of the remains. These efforts relied on efficient fingerprint rejuvenation and imaging techniques that improved print resolution, as well as new DNA extraction techniques optimized for aggressively embalmed remains.     

THE NEW BEGINNINGS PROGRAM FOR DIVORCING AND SEPARATING FAMILIES: MOVING FROM EFFICACY TO EFFECTIVENESS

This article describes a program of research on effectively transporting the New Beginnings Program (NBP), a university-tested prevention program for divorced families, to community settings. The four steps in this research are described: (1) selecting a community partner, (2) developing effective methods of engaging parents, (3) redesigning the NBP to be easily delivered with high quality and fidelity in community agencies, and (4) adapting the NBP to meet the needs of the full population of divorcing families. The article concludes with a discussion of plans for an effectiveness trial to evaluate the NBP when delivered in community settings.     

Sudden death due to diabetic ketoacidosis

Two obese women not known to be diabetic died suddenly of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). To our knowledge, sudden unexpected death due to DKA has not been reported as the only manifestation of diabetes mellitus. The investigation of sudden death in patients with risk factors for diabetes, especially in the absence of significant disease of the internal organs, should include determination of vitreous glucose and ketones.     

Informing Jurors of Their Nullification Power: A Route to a Just Verdict or Judicial Chaos?

The current studies sought to test whether explicitly informing jurors of their power to nullify the law does invite chaos, defined by jurists as undisciplined and biased juror judgment. A series of four studies examined juror biases predicated on defendant status, remorse, gender, national origin, penalty severity, and extenuating circumstances. None, however, were amplified by nullification instructions, providing little evidence that such instructions invite chaos with respect to the biases examined in these studies. To the contrary, several results suggested that nullification instructions simply encourage jurors to nullify when the strict application of the law would result in an unjust verdict. Limitations of the studies and public policy issues are discussed.     

A large-scale statistical analysis of barefoot impressions

In an earlier paper, outlines of footprints of persons walking normally were studied to determine whether different people make verifiably distinct footprints. Our basic null hypothesis is: given a footprint outline trace made by Subject A (Alice), then Subject B (Bob), a distinct person, cannot produce a footprint outline trace indistinguishable from that of Alice. We showed in the previous work that the probability of a chance match is less than 10(-8). In this paper we report two new advances in our research. First, we establish a rigorous mathematical framework for calculating worstcase and average chance-match probabilities. Second, we repeat the previous experiment to substantiate the earlier results, but with an expanded population sample size and a more representative and significantly bigger repeated sample. These improvements and a new automated tracing procedure for extracting all numerical measures lead to a sharpened accuracy with average chance match probabilities of 7.88 x 10-(10) for a general population. In other words, the odds of a chance match are one in 1.27 billion.     

C: Reviews: short review articles

BRITAIN'S TWO WARS WITH IRAQ 1941, 1991. By Raghid El‐Solh. Reading, Ithaca Press, 1996. 289 pp. £35.00 (hb).

FIGHTING WORLD WAR THREE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST: ALLIED CONTINGENCY PLANS, 1945–1954. By Michael J. Cohen. London, Frank Cass Publishers, 1997. 349 pp. 5 maps. £37.50 (hb).

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE IN SOUTHERN YEMEN

A YEMEN REALITY. ARCHITECTURE SCULPTURED IN MUD AND STONE. By Salma Samar Damluji. Reading, Garnet Publishing Limited. 1991. 355 pp., 677 colour plates.

THE VALLEY OF MUD BRICK ARCHITECTURE. SHIBAM, TARIM & WAADI HADRAMUT. By Salma Samar Damluji. (Ancient to Contemporary Design). Reading, Garnet Publishing Limited, 1992. xxi, 472 pp, c.500 plates and 85 line drawings.

CALLIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCES : CATALOGUES OF THE NASSER D. KHALILI COLLECTION OF ISLAMIC ART

THE ABBASID TRADITION: QUR'ANS OF THE 8TH TO THE 10TH CENTURIES AD. By François Déroche (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, General Editor Julian Raby, Vol. I), The Nour Foundation in Association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 1992. 192pp.

THE MASTER SCRIBES: QUR'ANS OF THE 10TH TO 14TH CENTURIES AD. By David James (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, General Editor Julian Raby, Vol. II,) The Nour Foundation in Association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 1992. 240pp.

AFTER TIMUR: QUR'ANS OF THE 15TH AND 16TH CENTURIES AD. By David James (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, General Editor Julian Raby, Vol. III,) The Nour Foundation in Association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 1992. 256pp.

THE ART OF THE PEN: CALLIGRAPHY OF THE 14TH TO 20TH CENTURIES AD. By Nabil Safwat (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, General Editor Julian Raby, Vol. V,) The Nour Foundation in Association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 1996. 248pp.

BILLS, LETTERS AND DEEDS: ARABIC PAPYRI OF THE 7TH TO THE 11TH CENTURIES AD. By Geoffrey Kuan (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, General Editor Julian Raby, Vol. VI,) The Nour Foundation in Association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 1993. 292pp.     

Schools and Terrorism: Global Trends,Impacts, and Lessons for Resilience

This study characterizes trends in the frequency and characteristics of terrorist attacks in child-serving educational institutions around the world, examining the specific vulnerabilies of children and schools with regard to terrorist violence, as well as the various impacts that violence has on children, communities, and societies. Following the analysis of available data on terrorist attacks against educational institutions, vulnerabilities, and impacts, the study concludes with a discussion of what still needs to be understood in the intersection of child vulnerability and terrorism, and provides recommendations for improving resilience to terrorist attacks against child-serving educational institutions.