Adolescents’ Social Network Site Use,Peer Appearance-Related Feedback,and Body Dissatisfaction: Testing a Mediation Model

Previous correlational research indicates that adolescent girls who use social network sites more frequently are more dissatisfied with their bodies. However, we know little about the causal direction of this relationship, the mechanisms underlying this relationship, and whether this relationship also occurs among boys to the same extent. The present two-wave panel study (18 month time lag) among 604 Dutch adolescents (aged 11–18; 50.7 % female; 97.7 % native Dutch) aimed to fill these gaps in knowledge. Structural equation modeling showed that social network site use predicted increased body dissatisfaction and increased peer influence on body image in the form of receiving peer appearance-related feedback. Peer appearance-related feedback did not predict body dissatisfaction and thus did not mediate the effect of social network site use on body dissatisfaction. Gender did not moderate the findings. Hence, social network sites can play an adverse role in the body image of both adolescent boys and girls.     

Case report of a criminal dismemberment in Northeast Brazil

Several decomposed body parts were received for examination by the Forensic Anthropology section of the Medico-legal Institute of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. The portions of the lower and upper limbs, ribs, vertebrae, and a skull were thoroughly examined. The biological profile indicated a male individual with an estimated age range between 23 and 57 years and a mean age of 35.2 years (SD = 9.4; phase IV, Suchey-Brooks). The skeleton showed injuries caused by sharp force and sharp-blunt force trauma that affected all body segments. Macroscopically, the lesions are mainly in the diaphyseal segments of the long bones, sacrum, pelvis, mandible, maxilla, scapulae, sternum, vertebrae, the distal epiphysis of the left fibula, and the distal epiphysis of the left tibia displayed characteristics compatible with injuries produced perimortem. It was not possible to determine the cause of death. DNA analysis resulted in a positive identification. Because of common difficulties faced in forensic practice, it is often not possible for forensic anthropologists to go to the crime scene, X-ray or body scanners are frequently unavailable, and the victim’s medical and/or dental records are sometimes absent. These difficulties make identification ultimately depend on genetic analysis, which is more time-consuming than other identification methods. Despite this, bone fragment examination in dismemberment cases is a complex task. Forensic Anthropology can shed light on cases involving the identification of dismembered remains, which are challenging because of the number of traumatic injuries, as well as different injury patterns, on bones.     

Predictive Soil Provenancing (PSP): An Innovative Forensic Soil Provenance Analysis Tool

Soil is a common evidence type used in forensic and intelligence operations. Where soil composition databases are lacking or inadequate, we propose to use publicly available soil attribute rasters to reduce forensic search areas. Soil attribute rasters, which have recently become widely available at high spatial resolutions, typically three arc‐seconds (~90 m), are predictive models of the distribution of soil properties (with confidence limits) derived from data mining the inter‐relationships between these properties and several environmental covariates. Each soil attribute raster is searched for pixels that satisfy the compositional conditions of the evidentiary soil sample (target value ± confidence limits). We show through an example that the search area for an evidentiary soil sample can be reduced to <10% of the original investigation area. This Predictive Soil Provenancing (PSP) approach is a transparent, reproducible, and objective method of efficiently and effectively reducing the likely provenance area of forensic soil samples.     

Evidence About Harm: Dual Status Victim Participant Testimony at the International Criminal Court and the Straitjacketing of Narratives About Suffering

Criminal Law Forum - Although victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC) are not parties, they can apply to become “victim participants” and may be authorized by an ICC Chamber...     

Trials by video link after the pandemic: the pros and cons of the expansion of virtual justice

China-EU Law Journal - The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an enormous increase in the use of technology in the courtroom. This development raises the important question on the potential effects of...     

Prevention From Afar: Gendering Resilience and Sustaining Hope in Post-UNMIL Liberia

ABSTRACT

This article argues that resilience programmes in conflict-affected areas of limited statehood could be understood as much as an effort to equip vulnerable populations with tools to mitigate the effects of poverty, discrimination, lack of opportunities and manage gender inequalities than as an opportunity for the international community to prolong their interventions, consolidate local partnerships and sustain hope. We demonstrate our argument through an examination of the implementation in post-UNMIL Liberia of the ‘Spotlight Initiative’, a new multi-year multi-million programme of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) focused on the complete elimination of harmful practices and violence against women.     

A French perspective on the China-EU comprehensive agreement on investment: the proof of the pudding is in the eating

Asia Europe Journal - The major objective of the China-EU CAI was to facilitate a rebalancing of the bilateral relationship by improving access for European companies to the Chinese market and...