Investigation into the merits of infrared imaging in the investigation of tattoos postmortem

Infrared imaging has a history of use in the forensic examination of artwork and documents and is investigated here for its wider use in the detection of tattoos on the human body postmortem. Infrared photographic and reflectographic techniques were tested on 18 living individuals, displaying a total of 30 tattoos. It was observed that neither age, sex, age of the tattoo, nor, most significantly, skin color affected the ability to image the tattoos using infrared imaging techniques. Second, a piglet carcass was tattooed and the impact of the decomposition process on the visibility of the tattoos assessed. Changes were recorded for 17 days and decomposition included partial mummification and skin discoloration. Crucially, the discoloration was recorded as greatly affecting the image quality using conventional photography, but was insignificant to the infrared recording of these tattoos. It was concluded that infrared reflectography was beneficial in the investigation into tattoos postmortem.     

Barriers to Cross-Systems Collaboration in Child Welfare,Education, and the Courts: Supporting Educational Well-being of Youth in Care Through Systems Change

Cross-systems collaboration between child welfare, education, and the courts benefits when challenges and priorities are identified early. We measured perceptions of educational stability in foster youth with a statewide survey of 1,603 professionals in education, child welfare, and the courts. Results reveal commonalities among perceived challenges to collaboration across systems (e.g., multiple foster care placements; school changes) and differences in perceived importance or significance of a given issue by professional group. Results guided collaborative work in Kansas and may assist other states seeking strategies that inform cross-systems collaboration to improve educational well-being for youth in foster care.     

Service providers' reactions to intimate partner violence as a function of victim sexual orientation and type of abuse

In this online vignette study, a national sample of domestic violence shelter service providers (N = 282) completed a 10-item questionnaire about a woman experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Scenarios varied in terms of couple sexual orientation (heterosexual or lesbian) and type of abuse (physical or nonphysical). Results indicate that although participants did not overtly discriminate against a woman in a lesbian relationship, they were less likely to perceive her as a victim, and their acceptance of a lesbian as a client was more dependent on their comfort with her than was the case for a woman in a heterosexual relationship. Type of abuse, as expected, had a main effect on many questions, with physical abuse taken more seriously than nonphysical abuse. Scores on the Attitudes Toward Lesbians subscale (Herek) were unrelated to responses. Implications for service providers are discussed.     

Control and controls: A reexamination of control patterns in budget execution

Consistent choice in an inconsistent world requires processes both for rational calculation and effective control. The budgetary process incorporates both of these functions. However, students of public sector budgeting tend either to ignore budget execution or to view the time expended by budgeteers on the execution of budgets - as opposed to their construction - as a gross misallocation of resources. In the authors' opinion this perspective - or lack thereof - seriously undervalues the control function and the budgeteer's role in preventing control loss. At the same time, the authors acknowledge that budgeteers frequently misuse the controls at their disposal and that in certain cases (i.e., where competitive supply of a public service is justified and in effect) expenditure controls are redundant and serve no real purpose.Budget execution is primarily concerned with two kinds of expenditure controls, allotment controls and fund reports, and is supported by position controls. The immediate purpose of these controls is to insure that purchases are limited to the amounts and purposes specified in the budget act. However, given the typical relationship between the budget agency and the operating bureau, we argue that their ultimate function is to prevent the bureau from distorting or concealing cost and production information so as to increase its bargaining power, thereby permitting the budget office to insure that the preferences of the state are at least approximately met. Performance standards and control rules also serve to avoid inconsistency in the dealings between the budgeteer and the bureau and to stabilize expectations about the ground rules for bargaining and the likely outcomes of the bargaining process so as to reduce the costs of uncertainty to both sides.     

Age of attainment of mineralization stages of the permanent dentition.

The ages at which the maxillary and mandibular teeth of 121 boys and 111 girls reached 14 mineralization stages were determined from serial cephalograms at the Burlington Growth Centre. The present data are more comprehensive than any previously available and can be applied to chronological age determinations in juveniles of indefinite age, and of specimens in anthropological and forensic investigations. The sexes differed in the age at which they attained the stages of mineralization, with the canines demonstrating the greatest difference. In each sex, the ages at identical stages were similar for the corresponding teeth in the maxilla and mandible. Variability in age was greater among the males, especially for the first premolars, and increased with age, except for the third molars. Variability in age of third molar mineralization was greater in females and diminished among both sexes at late stages of root formation.