Numerical classification of curvilinear structures for the identification of pistol barrels

This paper demonstrates a numerical pattern recognition method applied to curvilinear image structures. These structures are extracted from physical cross-sections of cast internal pistol barrel surfaces. Variations in structure arise from gun design and manufacturing method providing a basis for discrimination and identification. Binarised curvilinear land transition images are processed with fast Fourier transform on which principal component analysis is performed. One-way analysis of variance (95% confidence interval) concludes significant differentiation between 11 barrel manufacturers when calculating weighted Euclidean distance between any trio of land transitions and an average land transition for each barrel in the database. The proposed methodology is therefore a promising novel approach for the classification and identification of firearms.     

Necessity, Moral Liability, and Defensive Harm

A person who is liable to defensive harm has forfeited his rights against the imposition of the harm, and so is not wronged if that harm is imposed. A number of philosophers, most notably Jeff McMahan, argue for an instrumental account of liability, whereby a person is liable to defensive harm when he is either morally or culpably responsible for an unjust threat of harm to others, and when the imposition of defensive harm is necessary to avert the threatened unjust harm. Others may favour a purely noninstrumental account of liability: one that looks only to the past behaviour of the potentially liable person. We argue that both views are vulnerable to serious objections. Instead we develop and defend a new view of liability to defensive harm: the pluralist account. The pluralist account states that liability to defensive harm has at least two bases. First, if an attacker is morally or culpably responsible for an unjust attack then he has forfeited what we call his agency right, and in doing so he has made himself partially liable to defensive harm. Whether the attacker is fully liable to defensive harm depends, however, on whether the imposition of defensive harm would infringe a different right held by the attacker: his humanitarian right. Humanitarian rights are rights to be provided with urgently needed resources or to be protected from serious harms when others can do so at reasonably low cost. We argue the pluralist account avoids the objections to which the instrumental and noninstrumental views are vulnerable, coheres with our intuitive reactions in a wide range of cases, and sheds new light on the way different rights combine to determine a person??s liability to suffer harm.     

Der symbolische Wert der Popmusik. Zur Genese und Struktur des popmusikalischen Feldes

Based on an interpretation of the art theory of Pierre Bourdieu, which is aimed primarily at the neglected relationship of class and field, the essay is dedicated firstly to a critique, informed by theory, of the studies of the cultural omnivore. These are based on the assumption that today the correlation between musical taste and social structure is no longer determined bywhich but rather byhow many musical genres are preferred. For this reason they are supported by the conception of an erosion of musical legitimacy hierarchies. However, with the help from Bourdieu??s field theory and from the reference to the mutual relationship of production and reception, it can be shown that such legitimacy hierarchies have by no means disappeared. An analysis of the representation of pop music in the media and in the education system indicates the simultaneous legitimation and differentiation of pop. Against this background the thesis can be formulated that people with a great deal of cultural capital still prefer the legitimate culture, namely under the condition of a changed consensus of legitimacy.     

An interdisciplinary collaborative model for developing psycholegal questions in court ordered child custody evaluations

When a child custody evaluation is ordered from the bench, it is common practice for a judge to include a request for psychological evaluation of the parents and their minor children. Occasionally, a judge will provide a list of questions to be assessed. It is often left to the examiner to draw inferences from the court order and pleadings about the precise scope and purpose of the evaluation. This article proposes a model for the interdisciplinary collaboration of judges, attorneys and evaluators prior to the writing of the court order in the formulation of specific psycholegal questions that reflect the concerns of the court as well as those of the attorney and their clients and which may be anchored in the behavioral science literature. Such a model best suits the court by providing information on specific, legally relevant areas useful to the trier of fact.     

Recovery of DNA and fingerprints from touched documents

This study investigated the various factors affecting DNA profiling from DNA recovered from fingerprints deposited on paper before and after fingerprint enhancement treatments. The DNeasy^® plant mini kit (QIAGEN^®) was found to improve DNA recovery from paper by over 150% compared with the QIAamp^® mini kit. A significant decrease in the amount of DNA recovered was observed following treatment with DFO and/or Ninhydrin. This decrease in yield did not have a comparably significant effect on the quality of the SGM Plus™ profiles. Furthermore, this study found that whilst certain paper types, such as newspaper, magazine and filter paper allowed for the good recovery of DNA, common office paper and white card, strongly interfered with the recovery of DNA resulting in poor quality profiles.     

Three Bush Administration Management Reform Initiatives: The President's Management Agenda, Freedom to Manage Legislative Proposals, and the Program Assessment Rating Tool

In response to the foregoing essay by James P. Pfiffner on President George W. Bush's legacy as a public administrator, this essay takes a practical look at three government-wide Bush administration management reform initiatives: the President's Management Agenda, the Freedom to Manage legislative proposals, and the Program Assessment Rating Tool.     

Municipal Rebate Programs for Environmental Retrofits: An Evaluation of Additionality and Cost‐Effectiveness

When policies incentivize voluntary activities that also take place in the absence of the incentive, it is critical to identify the additionality of the policy—that is, the degree to which the policy results in actions that would not have occurred otherwise. Rebate programs have become a common conservation policy tool for local municipalities seeking to retrofit residential properties with efficient appliances. This research evaluates whether such rebates can be cost‐effective means for water utilities to promote water conservation. A unique database is developed that combines water‐use data over a three‐year period for all households that participated in a utility's high‐efficiency toilet (HET) rebate program, water‐use data for a matched sample of neighbors who did not receive a rebate, and a survey of rebate participants. Difference‐in‐differences models indicate that installation of an HET reduces household water consumption by approximately 7 percent. While installation of an HET appears to be an effective means for achieving household reductions in water consumption, our results also suggest that the rebate program is a much less effective means for achieving household reductions in water consumption. Specifically, the rebate program is found to provide limited additional water savings beyond what would have occurred naturally and is responsible for only 37 percent of the total water reduction attributable to the installation of HETs over the study period. © 2013 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Germany,Russia, and the Rise of Geo-Economics

This article argues that the merger of the PDS with the WASG offers the new ‘Left Party’ an opportunity to realise a long-held goal of the PDS – a firm place in Germany's party system as a nationwide party of the radical left. Much, however, will depend upon the successful resolution, or at least successful management, of some key points of conflict. To understand the challenges involved here, the article compares and contrasts the merger of the German Greens and Alliance '90 with that of the PDS and WASG. Although there are some striking similarities between the two merger processes, there are also some significant differences, differences that suggest that the long-term marriage of the PDS and WASG may be a rocky one.