Implant Bone Integration Importance in Forensic Identification

Odontological identification consists of the comparison of antemortem dental information regarding a missing person with postmortem data from an unidentified corpse or human remains. Usually, the comparison concerns morphologic features that the operator chooses among all the visible characteristics because of inter‐individual uniqueness; for this reason, implants can be of enormous assistance. A case concerning the recovery of a burnt oral implant, connected to a bone fragment, among 2780 charred bone fragments, suspected to have belonged to a victim of homicide, is presented to demonstrate that dental implants and their site of bone integration represent a very precious element for personal forensic identification. Because of their morphological invariability in time and because of their morphologic uniqueness, they were used as evidence to associate unidentified human charred remains to a missing person where DNA analysis failed to do so. The case illustrates the fundamental contribution, not yet described in literature, given by the clinical aspects of tooth replacement with dental implants to a forensic discipline. Clinical practitioners should therefore be aware of the great importance of their work and of dental records in a forensic identification scenario.     

Investment Treaty Law and the Fear for Sovereignty: Transnational Challenges and Solutions

This article addresses the vagueness, and the interpretative challenges associated with, international investment agreements (IIAs) and develops a new normative framework for interpreting these treaties. It focuses on the historical embedding of investment protection as a means of facilitating economic development as well as upon its synthetic public law nature. The analysis shows that a teleological approach to interpretation imposes boundaries on the meaning of substantive IIA provisions. The article then elaborates how the transnational dimension of IIAs provides a benchmark, which is the level of protection offered to economic actors against interference by the state in countries with the highest rule of law standards. The article then shows how the resulting challenges of comparative public law could be addressed through the methodology of re‐ and pre‐statement of transnational uniform ‘principles’: sophisticated and detailed rules striking the proper balance between private economic interests and the public regulatory interest, so as to provide more legal certainty for both investors and host states.     

Animal Scavenging and Scattering and the Implications for Documenting the Deaths of Undocumented Border Crossers in the Sonoran Desert,

Since 1998, over 5500 people have died while attempting to cross the U.S.–Mexico border without authorization. These deaths have primarily occured in the Arizona desert. Despite the high volume of deaths, little experimental work has been conducted on Sonoran Desert taphonomy. In this study, pig carcasses were used as proxies for human remains and placed in different depositional contexts (i.e., direct sunlight and shade) that replicate typical sites of migrant death. Decomposition was documented through daily site visits, motion-sensitive cameras and GIS mapping, while skeletal preservation was investigated through the collection of the remains and subsequent faunal analysis. Our results suggest that vultures and domestic dogs are underappreciated members of the Sonoran scavenging guild and may disperse skeletal remains and migrant possessions over 25 m from the site of death. The impact of scavengers and the desert environment on the decomposition process has significant implications for estimating death rates and identifying human remains along the Arizona/Mexico border.     

Crime Trends in the EU

The paper’s aim is to show to EU policy makers, academics, journalists and the general public what the available information tells us about crime levels, trends in crime and public opinion about crime among Member States. The paper centres on an analysis of current trends on crime levels and trends based on the data available both from victimisation surveys and police statistics. The victimisation survey source is the published data collected in the International Crime Victimisation Survey. A separate analysis based on the Eurobarometer was also carried out. Data on police statistics present two separate sources i.e. the Council of Europe Sourcebook and the crime data published annually by the UK Home Office. These two sources both add considerable value to the raw police statistics by their choice of data, their commentary and their technical explanations and definitions. The paper compares data on three crime types (robbery, domestic burglary and theft of a motor vehicle) across the 15 Member States of the European Union (as in 2003). These three types were selected in line with the priorities of the EU Commission and as types of crime that are a major concern for EU-citizens. The paper has been modified from a report produced by the European Crime prevention network for the EU Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs with the permission of the EU. The members of the network are listed in the appendix.     

Ein kritischer Blick auf die aktuellen Entwicklungen in der Gemeinsamen Fischereipolitik unter Einbeziehung der neu geschaffenen regionalen Fischereibeiräte

Die europ?ische Fischerei muss sich zur Zeit einer Vielzahl von Problemen wie sinkenden Fangmengen, abnehmenden Ums?tzen sowie einem stetigen Besch?ftigungsabbau stellen. Einer der Hauptgründe für diese Entwicklung ist die bis zum heutigen Tage nicht nachhaltig betriebene Fischerei. Mit einer grundlegenden Reform der Gemeinsamen Fischereipolitik (GFP) im Jahre 2002 und der Abl?sung der alten FischereigrundVO von 1993 sollten diese dr?ngenden Probleme angegangen werden. Darüber hinaus wurde mit den Regionalbeir?ten (RACs) ein gemeinsames Forum für den Fischereisektor sowie Umweltund Verbraucherschützer geschaffen, welches die EU-Kommission in Fischereifragen beraten soll. Leider stimmen die ersten Jahre der neuen GFP wenig zuversichtlich. Eine Erholung der bedrohten Fischbest?nde ist vorerst nicht in Sicht, insbesondere weil die wissenschaftlichen Empfehlungen der Fischereiexperten weiterhin ignoriert werden. Ob die neu geschaffenen RACs mit ihrer Beratungst?tigkeit und ihrem internen Diskurs wichtige Anregungen hin zu einer nachhaltigeren Fischerei leisten k?nnen, ist zweifelhaft.     

Learning to Change: The Production of Contingency in Modern Legal Systems

Modern society is characterized bycomplexity and change. Weber's theory of thesephenomena explained them with changes in basicreligious concepts. Conceptual changes areagain under investigation here, but the theoryis somewhat different. In this paper, it isassumed that law is a system that follows theAshby's systems theoretical law of requisitevariety. Society can respond to growth ofcomplexity in its environment by eitheradaptation or selective indifference. Theexample of the evolution of legal persons inGerman law is used here to show how law hasdeveloped contingent concepts as a cognitivebuffer between itself and the demandingenvironment of modern society. The legal systemcan balance adaptation and selectiveindifference by constructing and observing itsbasic concepts as contingent. The constructionof autonomy is shown to be a continuous processwhere law establishes an increased level ofautonomy.     

Noneconomic Motives Predicting Cooperation in Public Good Dilemmas: The Effect of Received Respect on Contributions

The present research examined the extent to which feeling respected, versus feeling disrespected, influences people's willingness to contribute to the public good. Further, it was investigated why such a positive effect of respect should occur. The findings showed that respect indeed had a positive influence on contributions. In addition, it was shown that respect also positively influenced people's feelings of belongingness and that this feeling was found to mediate the effect of respect on contributions. These findings thus indicate that research on social decision-making, and more specifically social dilemmas, has to start devoting more attention to people's noneconomic motives that are independent of outcome concerns when explaining the act of cooperation.     

On systemic transition: Will China go capitalist?

Transition from nonviable central administrative command planning (socialism) should be toward a full market system (capitalism). The requirements of such transition include: removal of the communist party from monopoly power; patience, determination, explanation, persuasion, and fairness; introduction of new legal, statistical, and accounting infrastructures and procedures; market freedom; demonopolization; privatization; macroeconomic stabilization; and external liberalization of trade and payments. Since 1978 China has taken steps to move its economic system in the capitalist direction, while retaining the communist party’s hold on political power (reduced from totalitarian to authoritarian control) and expanding quasi-private property rights without, however, fully privatizing the large, capital-intensive, state-owned industrial sector. In this sense, unlike many of the countries of central and eastern Europe and Russia, China has deferred the solution of some of the fundamental and potentially highly disruptive reform problems to an indefinite future, a postponement which, despite significant temporal successes, carries with it serious dangers for the entire reform enterprise.