The accuracy of simple ordinal scoring of tooth attrition in age assessment

Tooth wear is frequently used as a method of ageing skeletal remains. Fundamental to this method is the ability to measure the amount of tooth wear. The Brothwell chart based on the Miles method of ageing, uses simple ordinal scoring and is frequently used by archeologists. The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate the accuracy of simple ordinal scoring in recording tooth wear and ageing skulls. A group of Chinese skulls of known age at death was used. The age range was from 16 to 60 years. A single score per molar tooth was used to record occlusal wear. The data were analysed by regression methods using BMDP statistical software. The results showed that molar tooth wear continues throughout the life of the individual. The first molar teeth wear significantly more quickly than do second molar teeth. Use of a simple ordinal score method for recording wear gives an inaccurate estimate of an individual skull's age at death with a very wide 95% confidence interval.     

Multiple-probe thermography for estimating the postmortem interval: I. Continuous monitoring and data analysis of brain, liver, rectal and environmental temperatures in 117 forensic cases

One hundred seventeen forensic postmortem cases have been studied under controlled conditions. In each case, temperatures of the brain, liver, rectum, and the environment were monitored over a period beginning shortly after death and ending up to 60 h postmortem. The four temperature measurements were recorded every 5 to 10 min using the Microwave Thermography System. Rectal and environmental temperatures were measured by electrical thermocouples while brain and liver temperatures were measured using microwave probes. Data acquisition, analogue-to-digital conversion (ADC), and data processing were provided by a microcomputer. The ADC technique is described and its problems are discussed. The data were then transferred to a mainframe computer for extensive curve-fitting and statistical analysis. The microcomputer-based ADC and data logging and acquisition were found to be accurate, fast, easy to implement, and useful for the field. The postmortem rate of human body cooling was found to be adequately represented by triple-exponential equations.     

Unemployment and Crime Rate Fluctuations: A Comment on Greenberg

Several ways in which the specification of the Cantor and Land (1985) conceptual model of transient relationships between aggregate unemployment and crime rate fluctuations differs from that of Greenberg (2001) are noted. It follows that we do not accept Greenberg's Eq. (1) as a valid theoretical representation of the processes of interest. We briefly review the substantive context from which our investigation began in the mid-1980s. We also review the time series properties of our model and of the aggregate unemployment and crime rates used in its estimation. We note how the time series behavior of various crime rates determines which parts of the Cantor and Land model are and are not likely to be estimated as statistically significant for those series. We conclude with some comments on the limitations of aggregate time series research designs for testing the behavioral hypotheses used to generate expected relationships between aggregate unemployment and crime rates and suggest some alternative research designs.     

An Examination of the Assumption that Adult Businesses Are Associated with Crime in Surrounding Areas: A Secondary Effects Study in Charlotte, North Carolina

Recent Supreme Court decisions have signaled the need for sound empirical studies of the secondary effects of adult businesses on the surrounding areas for use in conjunction with local zoning restrictions. This study seeks to determine whether a relationship exists between adult erotic dance clubs and negative secondary effects in the form of increased numbers of crimes reported in the areas surrounding the adult businesses, in Charlotte, North Carolina. For each of 20 businesses, a control site (matched on the basis of demographic characteristics related to crime risk) is compared for crime events over the period of three years (1998–2000) using data on crime incidents reported to the police. We find that the presence of an adult nightclub does not increase the number of crime incidents reported in localized areas surrounding the club (defined by circular areas of 500- and 1,000-foot radii) as compared to the number of crime incidents reported in comparable localized areas that do not contain such an adult business. Indeed, the analyses imply the opposite, namely, that the nearby areas surrounding the adult business sites have smaller numbers of reported crime incidents than do corresponding areas surrounding the three control sites studied. These findings are interpreted in terms of the business mandates of profitability and continuity of existence of the businesses.     

Ethnic conflict, ethnic accommodation, and nation-building in Southeast Asia

Four types of ethnic conflict are found in the ten states of post-colonial Southeast Asia. Within these types, cases of peaceful accommodation, as well as forceful attempts to suppress rebellious minorities, are examined. Explanations for diverse governmental responses are found in geography, history, including colonial policies of divide and rule, and the nature of post-colonial governments. Some of the region’s governments have shown great skill in devising peaceful methods of accommodation. But several military governments, unsuccessful at nation-building, have seen the forceful suppression of ethnic rebellions as their only option. Carl H. Landé is a professor of political science and East Asian studies at the University of Kansas. His primary country of specialization is the Philippines.     

The Age Structure-Crime Rate Relationship: Solving a Long-Standing Puzzle

Objectives

Develop the concept of differential institutional engagement and test its ability to explain discrepant findings regarding the relationship between the age structure and homicide rates across ecological studies of crime. We hypothesize that differential degrees of institutional engagement—youths with ties to mainstream social institutions such as school, work or the military on one end of the spectrum and youths without such bonds on the other end—account for the direction of the relationship between homicide rates and age structure (high crime prone ages, such as 15–29).

Methods

Cross sectional, Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses using robust standard errors are conducted using large samples of cities characterized by varying degrees of youths’ differential institutional engagement for the years 1980, 1990 and 2000. The concept is operationalized with the percent of the population enrolled in college and the percent of 16–19 year olds who are simultaneously not enrolled in school, not in the labor market (not in the labor force or unemployed), and not in the military.

Results

Consistent and invariant results emerged. Positive effects of age structure on homicide rates are found in cities that have high percentages of disengaged youth and negative effects are found among cities characterized with high percentages of youth participating in mainstream social institutions.

Conclusions

This conceptualization of differential institutional engagement explains the discrepant findings in prior studies, and the findings demonstrate the influence of these contextual effects and the nature of the age structure-crime relationship.