Toward multidimensional information: A derivatization-free UHPLC-QqQ MS/MS method for amino acid components of fingerprint

The analysis of fingerprint chemical composition is a meaningful way to excavate the multidimensional information of fingerprint, including the donor profiling information and the age of a fingerprint, which broadens the evidential values of fingerprint, especially for the partial and distorted fingerprint. But the research remains still in the pilot phases or is ongoing. Amino acids are the dominant organic substances in latent sweat fingerprint and influenced by many donor factors. Hence, their content reflects personal information of donors. Forensic science will be revolutionized if suspects can be individualized by their amino acid content. The diverse nature, distinct physicochemical properties, and ultra-micro levels of amino acids present in fingerprints make it hard to detect. A high sensitivity method for detecting and quantifying multiple amino acid components is required. UHPLC-QqQ MS/MS offers high sensitivity, high separation, simultaneous multicomponents detection, and no derivatization, making it an ideal method for detecting and analyzing amino acids in fingerprints. Therefore, in this study, we propose and validate an efficient UHPLC-QqQ MS/MS method for the extraction and analysis of 13 amino acids from fingerprint. We compared the results of amino acids of 10 different substrates and found that the inherent amino acids in most porous substrates would have been extracted along with the fingerprint amino acids, making them unsuitable for quantitative amino acid analysis. Instead, plastic sheets are ideal substrates for laboratory studies. Then, extensive experiments were conducted among 30 donors for multidimensional information analysis. The type of samples analyzed were eccrine-rich fingerprints. A Binary Logistic Regression (BLR) model was developed, and the female and male donors were successfully differentiated by amino acids in fingerprints. Two other mathematical models were also developed to verify the accuracy, and all three different mathematical models were able to identify donors of different genders with over 90% accuracy. This demonstrates that amino acids have the potential to provide more information for donors as metabolic markers. In the future, we will conduct a series of experiments to analyze more multidimensional information for individual identification by amino acid content in the fingerprint.     

The role of caste in the implementation of herbal gardens in Bangalore

Over the past few decades home garden research has emphasised the promotion of home gardening for nutritional and other welfare benefits for the poor in urban areas. Still, the urban communities who cultivate plants in their home gardens are in general represented as rather uniform groups, and no distinction is made in terms of caste, ethnic groups, or social class. This article asserts that social stratification represents an important aspect that needs to be taken into account while devising educational programmes and community projects for the promotion of home herbal gardens in urban areas.     

Trigemino‐Cardiac Reflex as Lethal Mechanism in a Suicidal Fire Death Case

In the vast majority of immediate fire deaths, the mechanism of death is inhalation of toxic gases (especially carbon monoxide), direct thermal injury, or neurogenic shock due to the redistribution of the body's blood volume produced by surface heat on the skin. We present a suicidal case that is unusual because the mechanism of immediate fire death could arguably be explained in terms of a primitive autonomic reflex/the trigemino‐cardiac reflex. Although this reflex is well known to surgeons and anesthetists, with possible lethal consequences in the course of invasive surgical procedures on the head and neck region, it is much less familiar to forensic pathologists.     

Personality Traits are Related to Intimate Partner Violence Among Securely Attached Individuals

The general assumption has been that male batterers from clinical samples were mostly insecurely attached as compared to non-batterers. Recently, a large group was found (39.4 % of batterers in a clinical sample) whose main attachment style was secure. No previous studies have examined specifically the securely attached batterer. The aim of the present study was to test whether antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), but not borderline personality disorder (BPD), traits may be related to battering among securely attached individuals. Twenty-seven securely attached batterers, 45 insecurely attached batterers, 40 securely attached controls, and 22 insecurely attached controls who lived in the Netherlands, filled in self-report measures of personality disorder traits (i.e., antisocial, narcissism, borderline) and attachment (i.e., avoidant and anxious). Results showed that ASPD traits explained 19 % of the variance of battering in securely attached individuals. NPD and BPD traits are related to battering among securely attached individuals when NPD and BPD traits were entered alone in the equation.     

The EU approach to net neutrality: Network operators and over-the-top players,friends or foes?

This paper will mainly focus on the EU approach to net neutrality, notably the adequacy of existing and future EU rules to tackle the issue and the ongoing policy debate. It will also consider whether the market has effectively worked around the regulatory lacunae by looking into the relationships between the telecoms industry, as a regulated sector, and the over-the-top (OTT) players. In this regard, it will explore to what extent there is a real battle between telcos and OTTs or if both parties are already finding their own ways to overcome their (apparent) disputes.     

Right-wing Euroscepticism and populism: investigating the concept of ‘the people’

ABSTRACT

Right-wing Eurosceptic political groups gained ground in the elections for the European Parliament in May 2014. The electoral victory of right-wing Euroscepticism was accompanied by a concern that populism is (once again) spreading in Europe. Associating right-wing Eurosceptics with populism raises the question of whether critiques of populism can be directly extended to right-wing Euroscepticism. By reconstructing the right-wing Eurosceptic concept of ‘the people,’ this article demonstrates that the Eurosceptic concept of the people has a dual meaning that encompasses both a transnational and a national concept of the people. The article concludes that while Euroscepticism shares ideological features with populism, it is problematic, due to the internal structure of the promoted concept of the people and the European political environment, directly to extend recent critiques of populism to right-wing Euroscepticism.     

Scottish legal education after Brexit

ABSTRACT

This paper offers some reflections on the possible consequences of Brexit for legal education in Scotland. Scotland’s small and distinctive legal system is bolstered by devolved legislative powers and characterised by a tradition of openness to external influences. Scotland’s legal system and relatedly, its legal education system, will be poorer for Brexit. That said, this paper argues that the features and traditions of the legal system and legal higher education system in Scotland make them well placed (and perhaps better placed than those in the other domestic jurisdictions) to resist such dampening pressures and indeed to embrace EU legacies and other European and international influences.