Development of a Real‐Time PCR‐Based Method for Analyzing Semen‐Specific Unmethylated DNA Regions and Methylation Status in Aged Body Fluid Stains

The detection of semen in forensic investigation is considered important evidence of sexual assault. In this study, we report the development of a real‐time polymerase chain reaction‐based method for identifying semen that can simply and rapidly analyze the semen‐specific unmethylated region of the DACT1 gene. Using two fluorescent probes designed for the methylated or unmethylated status, this method could perform quantitative analysis of the methylation status in this region. Furthermore, this method was used to analyze various body fluid samples, including 29‐year‐old semen and blood stains. The results showed that this method can detect almost exclusively semen or nonsemen signals even in highly decomposed samples, while a few semen or nonsemen samples showed slight signals of the other fluorescence probe. Although there is still a need for further analysis such as setting thresholds to analyze unknown samples, this method could be a useful supplementary tool for identifying semen, especially in old stains such as those in cold‐case investigations.     

Swedish Diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific Region

The year 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Sweden. It is believed that the first contact between Sweden and Japan came during the Edo Period and was mediated by the Netherlands. The Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Sweden, signed in 1868, also came into being thanks to the good offices of the Dutch. This treaty, like many others into which Japan entered at that time, was an “unequal treaty.” As Japan increased its presence in East Asia, this unequal treaty with Sweden was revised in 1911. The world was changing. Sweden and Japan shared a common interest in opposing Russia’s ambitions. Russia in particular was a common threat to the diplomatic posture and security of both Japan and Sweden. These two nations, positioned like bookends on either side of Russia, could be important strategic partners for one another and allies in their relationships with Russia. Considering the current issue of North Korea, Sweden also has the potential to act as a mediator because it maintains diplomatic relations with North Korea. There is reason to believe that the diplomatic relationship between Japan and Sweden will develop further.     

Cold War Insecurities and the Curious Case of John Strachey

When Socialist intellectual John Strachey was appointed as Secretary of State for War in 1950, his pre-war record as a Marxist writer with close connections to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) became a matter of public debate. A bitter campaign was run against him in the Beaverbrook press, and some members of the US defense and nuclear establishment pressed for an embargo on sensitive information being passed to the UK War Office. American suspicion of the political reliability of the Labour government was heightened by the appointment, but this does not explain how and why some Americans were so hostile to Strachey. The FBI's dossier on his pre-war activities, circulated amongst his American critics, documented Strachey's supposed secret membership of the CPGB's Central Committee. MI5 and Special Branch files show that this supposition was based on faulty intelligence. The readiness of American anti-Soviet protagonists to lend credence to such suspicions contrasts with the relaxed view of Strachey's past that was taken in Whitehall. Both positions were characteristic of their time, and of this stage in the Anglo-American alliance. This paper explores the ways in which American insecurities and a British climate of tolerance towards fellow travellers shaped the way that episode played out.     

Failing to Yield? Ploughs,Conservation Agriculture and the Problem of Agricultural Intensification: An Example from the Zambezi Valley,Zimbabwe

Agricultural intensification, or increasing yield, has been a persistent theme in policy interventions in African smallholder agriculture. This article focuses on two hegemonic policy models of such intensification: (1) the ‘Alvord model’ of plough-based, integrated crop-livestock farming promoted in colonial Zimbabwe; and (2) minimum-tillage mulch-based, Conservation Agriculture, as currently preached by a wide range of international agricultural research and development agencies. An analysis of smallholder farming practices in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley, reveals the limited inherent understanding of farmer practices in these models. It shows why many smallholder farmers in southern Africa are predisposed towards extensification rather than intensification, and suggests that widespread Conservation Agriculture adoption is unlikely.     

Individuals’ experiences of sexual offending therapy in a forensic psychiatric setting

There is a paucity of research exploring individuals’ experiences of sexual offending therapy, particularly in forensic psychiatric settings. This study qualitatively explored the perspectives of six male medium-secure patients regarding the treatment programme they completed to address their sexual offending behaviour. Thematic analysis of interviews generated two themes: the experience of transition through the programme and the experience of engagement. The importance of gaining service-user feedback and the implications for programme design and delivery are discussed.     

Evaluation of Tamm‐Horsfall Protein and Uroplakin III for Forensic Identification of Urine

Abstract: In this study, Tamm‐Horsfall protein (THP), a major component of urinary protein, and uroplakin III (UPIII), a transmembrane protein widely regarded as a urothelium‐specific marker, were evaluated for forensic identification of urine by ELISA and/or immunohistochemistry. THP was detected in urine, but not in plasma, saliva, semen, vaginal fluid, or sweat by the simple ELISA method developed in this study. In addition, most aged urine stains showed positive results. The urine specificity of THP was confirmed by gene expression analysis. Therefore, as reported previously, ELISA detection of THP can be used as a presumptive test for urine identification. UPIII was specific for immunohistochemical staining of cells in centrifuged precipitate of urine. However, ELISA and RT‐PCR for UPIII were not specific for urine. UPIII may be applicable for forensic urine identification by immunohistochemistry.     

Comparing regulatory processes in genome editing and autonomous vehicles: How institutional environments shape sociotechnical imaginaries

This study compares the regulation of two emerging technologies, the CRISPR genome-editing system and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) in the United States. The study draws on 33 in-depth interviews with innovation and governance experts to study the relationship between their regulatory environments and developing beliefs about these technologies. Using sociotechnical imaginaries as a framework, we explore how social actors envision technologically driven futures and the social order that enables them. These imaginaries are essential to emerging technologies, where experts build a framework of potentialities for innovation still underway. While scholarship has documented how sociotechnical imaginaries arise among policymakers, groups of scientists, state and local stakeholders, and public actors in different countries, less has been said about how regulatory organizations and their actors shape expectations around technologies that are in the early and middle stages of development. This article finds that regulatory institutions shape emerging imaginaries along three related axes: the distribution of authority, technological novelty, and risk. Interviewees negotiate these three contingencies differently based on relevant extant regulatory structures and ideologies, resulting in distinct imaginaries around each technology. CRISPR actors envision genome editing as largely diminishing biomedical harm and eventually suitable for health markets, while CAV actors diverge on whether self-driving cars alleviate or exacerbate risk and how they may enter roads. That organizational structures and practices of regulation inform broadly held sociotechnical imaginaries bears significance for studies of innovation trajectories, suggesting regulators can take an active role in shaping how risks and benefits of emerging technology are defined.