Lessons learned from large-scale comparative dental analysis following the South Asian tsunami of 2004

The aim of this study was to examine the quality of the ante-(AM) and postmortem (PM) dental data that were submitted for entry into the PLASS data system in Phuket, Thailand, following the Boxing Day (December 26) Tsunami, 2004. The investigators were two forensic odontologists who were part of the New Zealand Disaster Victim Identification team that worked at Wat Yang Yao morgue and at the Information Management Center in Phuket. Our findings underline the usefulness of dental data in human identification, but point to a number of significant sources of error. Of the 78 PM records received, only 68% of radiographs and 49% of photos confirmed the accompanying dental charting. This underlines the value, particularly of photographs of the dental arches, in quality control. It also points to a large error component, which may have been due to inexperience of the operators, fatigue, poor conditions in the temporary morgue, or the problem of tooth-colored fillings. Of the 106 AM records received, 62% were of unacceptable quality and 64% were either not accompanied by radiographs or had poor quality radiographs. These results indicate that AM data collection ideally needs to be collated and checked by a forensically trained dentist(s) in the country of origin.     

Victim Protection Orders and the Stake in Conformity Thesis

Victim Protection Orders have gained wide use by local courts as one method to protect victims of domestic violence. This study of protection orders involves interviews with individuals who obtained such orders in Arizona. The research questions specifically addressed those variables known as the stake in conformity variables in the six attempted replications of the Sherman–Berk Minneapolis Police Study, to examine their potential relevance for the effectiveness of victim protection orders. The findings of this study are analyzed in terms of other research about the effectiveness of victim protection orders.     

On collective goods,private wealth,and the core solution of simple games with sidepayments

This essay identifies consequences for the core solution in a class of social decision problems concerning the provision of collective goods (or bads) if the rules are modified to permit sidepayments. In these problems, a kind of formal decision procedure that includes any weighted or unweighted majority rule governs only the decision about collective goods. Each decision about collective goods, however, implies a vector of the agents' endowments of private wealth that can, but need not, vary across the alternatives. Any agent may offer to make sidepayments from this endowment that are contingent on the collective goods decision, but the agent holds preferences that, given any fixed decision about collective goods, strictly increase in the agent's own wealth. The results indicate that the core's response to introducing the possibility of sidepayments depends on whether any agent possesses a veto over the collective goods decision. If no one has a veto, then an outcome belongs to the core of the game with sidepayments only if no sidepayment is made and the same decision about collective goods belongs to the core of the associated game without sidepayments. In this case, introducing the possibility of sidepayments does not bring a new collective goods decision into the core. Indeed, merely adding the possibility of sidepayments can cause the core to vanish. On the other hand, if at least one agent possesses a veto, then introducing sidepayments can (but need not) lead to a new core solution concerning the decision about collective goods. In any such new solution, at least one agent who has a veto — but no one who lacks it — receives a sidepayment.     

The discrimination of small fragments of household gloss paint by microspectrophotometry

A microspectrophotometer has been used to discriminate between sets of household gloss paints of the same British Standard colours obtained from different manufacturers. Reflectance spectra were obtained, over the range 390 to 900 nm, from paint top surfaces and individual cross-sectional layers. Comparison of the reflectance spectra enabled visually similar paints to be discriminated.     

Reforming Relocation Law: An Evidence‐Based Approach

In recent years, there has been much discussion within international fora about the need for a greater consensus on how to approach relocation cases. Empirical research on the lived experience of parents and children who have been through relocation disputes has an important role to play in providing an evidence base for decisions on policy. In this article, we summarize the findings of a 5‐year prospective longitudinal study of relocation disputes in Australia and make recommendations in the light of this and other research evidence concerning a new approach to relocation law. We argue that there should be no presumptions. Nonetheless there is an appropriate place for legislative or appellate guidance on how to approach these disputes. “Good faith” should be irrelevant to decision making, and children should not be placed in the center of the conflict. The adjudication of relocation disputes should be on the basis of asking three questions: First, how close is the relationship between the nonresident parent and the child and how important is that relationship developmentally to the child? Second, if the relocation is to be permitted, how viable are the proposals for contact with the nonresident parent? Third, if the relationship between the child and the nonresident parent is developmentally important to the child and is likely to be diminished if the move is allowed, then (a) what are the viable alternatives to the parents living a long distance apart? and (b) is a move with the primary caregiver the least detrimental alternative?

Key Points for the Family Court Community
• Describes the findings of empirical research on relocation disputes in Australia on the lived experience of children and families postrelocation disputes.
• Reviews various features of relocation law and proposals for reform in the light of this research evidence.
• Proposes an approach to deciding relocation cases based upon three essential questions.

     

Reviews & Resources

Theatre

The Miss Firecracker Contest, by Be A Henley at Westside Arts Theatre, New York City.

Me and My Shadow by Terry Wolver‐ton, at ABC No Rio in New York City, Fall 1984.

A Good American Novel, by Beth Lapides, at P.S. 122, New York City, December 1984.

nubs? (?nubs/'nebz/n: an ugly woman), by Lisa Goldberg, produced at SUNY‐Binghamton Fine Arts Center, December 1984.

Out/In The World: Life in the Work of Jane Bowles, created, directed and performed by Ellie Covan, produced by Open Channels in New York City, October‐November, 1984.

Dance

Pooh Kaye and Eccentric Motions at Dance Theatre Workshop, New York City, October 1984.

Sequestered Gestures, Carol Martin, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, December 1984.

Senta Driver's Harry, Emanu‐El Midtown YM‐YWHA, New York City, October 1984.

Marie Chien Noir at the Jerusalem Festival, Israel, Summer 1984.

Film

A Question of Silence, directed by Marlene Gorris, Netherlands. A Quartet Films Release, 1982.

An earlier version of this review, “Ordinary Women Who Kill,” appeared in the New York Native, August 13–26, 1984.

Books

The Diaries of Judith Malina: 1941–1957 by Judith Malina. NY: Grove Press, Inc., 1984. 464 + index. Cloth: $22.50; paper: $11.95.

Women in Motion by Alexa L. Foreman. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1983. 245 pp. + bibliography. Cloth: $19.95.

Women Composers, Conductors, and Musicians of the Twentieth Century by Jane Weiner LePage. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, Inc., Volume I, 1980; Volume II, 1983. 275 pp. and 360 pp. respectively, index. Cloth: $18.50 and $21.50 respectively.

Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen by Linda Dahl. NY: Pantheon Books, 1984. 268 pp. + notes, discography, bibliography, index. Paper: $12.95.

Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey by Sandra B. Lieb. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981. 173 pp. + discography, appendices, notes, bibliography, two indices. Paper: $9.95.

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