STR data for the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus from Aegean region of Turkey

Allele frequencies of the 10 STRs loci (D16S539, D2S1338, D3S1358, vWA, D18S51, D21S11, D8S1179, D19S433, FGA, THO1) included in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus Kit (PE Applied Biosystems) were obtained from a sample of 166 unrelated individuals in Aegean region of Turkey.     

Individuals lacking ridge detail: A case study in adermatoglyphia

Adermatoglyphia is a very rare autosomal‐dominant condition that is genetically inherited and causes an individual to be born without conventional ridge detail on either their palmar or plantar surfaces (the fingers and palms of the hands and the toes and the soles of the feet). While adermatoglyphia has been the focus of medical and genetic research, no previous research has been conducted with regard to the forensic recovery and identification of marks from an adermatoglyphic individual. By observation of ridge detail donated by an adermatoglyphic subject, the study uses different methods in order to capture fingermarks (methods include: inked capture, livescan (biometric) capture, cyanoacrylate fuming, ninhydrin enhancement, and physical developer). Unusually, the purpose of this paper ends up presenting a number of examples of an absence of evidence; unsuccessful attempts made to capture and enhance fingerprint ridge detail. This is determined over a range of standard means including "live" donations by the adermatoglyphic subject onto the Livescan system, and enhancements of latent donations. The subject shows to leave either insubstantial fingermarks with no detail, or no mark whatsoever.     

Detection of trace drugs of abuse in baby formula using solid‐phase microextraction direct analysis in real‐time mass spectrometry (SPME‐DART‐MS)

The intentional or unintentional adulteration of baby formula with drugs of abuse is one of the many increasingly complex samples forensic chemists may have to analyze. This sample type presents a challenge because of a complex matrix that can mask the detection of trace drug residues. To enable screening of baby formula for trace levels of drugs, the use of solid‐phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with direct analysis in real‐time mass spectrometry (DART‐MS) was investigated. A suite of five drugs was used as adulterants and spiked into baby formula. Samples were then extracted using SPME fibers which were analyzed by DART‐MS. Development of a proof‐of‐concept method was completed by investigating the effects of the DART gas stream temperature and the linear speed of the sample holder. Optimal values of 350°C and 0.2 mm/s were found. Once the method was established, representative responses and sensitivities for the five drugs were measured and found to be in the range of single ng/mL to hundreds ng/mL. Additional studies found that the presence of the baby formula matrix increased analyte signal (relative to methanolic solutions) by greater than 200%. Comparison of the SPME‐DART‐MS method to a traditional DART‐MS method for trace drug detection found at least a factor of 13 improvement in signal for the drugs investigated. This work demonstrates that SPME‐DART‐MS is a viable technique for the screening of complex matrices, such as baby formula, for trace drug residues and that development of a comprehensive method is warranted.     

The physical competence test of the Dutch National Police: The effects of wearing a police uniform on test performance

ABSTRACT

In this study, we investigated the effects of wearing a police uniform and gear on officers’ performance during the Physical Competence Test (PCT) of the Dutch National Police. In a counterbalanced within-subjects design, twenty-seven police officers performed the PCT twice, once wearing sportswear and once wearing a police uniform. The results showed clear indications that wearing a police uniform influenced the performance on the PCT. Participants were on average 14 seconds slower in a police uniform than in sportswear. Furthermore, performing the test in uniform was accompanied by higher RPE-scores and total physiological load. It seems that wearing a police uniform during the test diminishes the discrepancy between physical fitness needed to pass the simulated police tasks in the PCT and the job-specific physical fitness that is required during daily police work. This suggests that wearing a police uniform during the test will increase the representativeness of the testing environment for the work field.     

Cuticular hydrocarbons as a tool for determining the age of Chrysomya rufifacies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae

Calliphoridae are one of the most important insect groups encountered as evidence collected from a crime scene. Age determination of the immature stages of these necrophagous flies is an important step toward estimating the time of colonization and inferring a minimum postmortem interval (PMI_min) in most instances. To determine if the cuticular hydrocarbons could be used to establish whether the development stages yield characteristics profiles, allowing for age estimation, hydrocarbons were extracted from 1st and 2nd, as well as feeding and post‐feeding 3rd instar Chrysomya rufifacies, the hairy maggot blow fly. Extracted hydrocarbons were analyzed using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry with the aim to investigate the changes in chemical profiles of each larval stage. A total of 23 compounds were identified with most of them being alkanes (65%) with carbon chain lengths of 9–33 carbons, alkenes (18%), and methyl‐branched alkanes (17%). All the hydrocarbons except pentadecane (C15), hexadecane (C16), and nonacosane (C29) showed significant differences in their expression throughout larval development. For 1st instars, nonane was the most abundant (17% of the total hydrocarbons content) compound. Accounting for 11% and 10% of the cuticular hydrocarbons, tricosane and pentacosane, respectively, were the notable hydrocarbons in 2nd instars. For post‐feeding 3rd instars, hentriacontane and tritriacontane were present with relative abundances 18% and 15%, respectively. On average, there was a shift from low to high molecular weight hydrocarbons as the larvae aged. These results indicate the change in hydrocarbons makeup as larvae age and could potentially be used to determine the age of immature C. rufifacies and hence aid in PMI_min estimations. However, future research is needed to validate these results under natural conditions in the field.     

Research on the local regional similarity of automatic fingerprint identification system fingerprints based on close non-matches in a ten million people database—Taking the central region of whorl as an example

The local regional similarity of fingerprints has always been a hot issue in the field of fingerprint research. With the increasing size of ten-print databases, the appearance of close non-matches (CNMs) in automatic fingerprint identification system (AFIS) candidate lists has attracted increasing attention from forensic science departments worldwide. In this study, three categories (high-, medium-, and low-level) of standards for CNMs were established and 60 whorl samples were marked with different numbers of minutiae to explore the occurrence and influencing factors of CNMs in AFIS candidate lists based on a ten million people database. The results showed that all prints could be found with their corresponding CNMs. The average occurrence rate of CNMs for every query was 52.7% in the top 100 lists, and the most similar CNM was exactly the same in the local area of 12 coincidence points. CNMs appeared more in the middle and lower parts of the central region of the whorl. Moreover, shorter C2C distances and the same finger number and hand led to more CNMs being inspected. CNMs with higher similarity required a more extensive regional area and smaller minutiae density. We concluded that CNMs have a high occurrence rate in large-scale databases and many factors are closely related to them. Fingerprint examiners and researchers need to strengthen their understanding of CNMs to avoid the occurrence of misidentification like the Madrid bombings.     

An innovative transfer DNA experimental design and qPCR assay: Protocol and pilot study

Forensic “touch” DNA samples are low-quantity samples that are recovered from surfaces that have been touched by single or multiple individuals. These samples can include DNA from primary contributors who directly touched the surface, as well as secondary contributors whose DNA was transferred to the surface through an intermediary. It is difficult to determine the type of transfer, or how often and under what conditions DNA transfer occurs. In this paper, we present an innovative protocol that combines (1) a paired male and female transfer DNA experimental design in which the presence of male DNA indicates secondary transfer and (2) a cost-effective quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay of a sex-specific region in the Amelogenin gene to detect male and female DNA. We evaluate the ability of the Amelogenin qPCR assay to detect low concentrations of male and female DNA in mixed samples. We also test experimental DNA samples using our transfer DNA protocol to differentiate primary and secondary DNA transfer. Male DNA was detected in the majority of known mixed samples, even in samples with 4× more female DNA—this result demonstrates the ability to detect low concentrations of male DNA and the presence of secondary transfer DNA in our experimental design. Primary DNA transfer was detected in 100% of our experimental trials and secondary DNA transfer was detected in 37.5% of trials. Our innovative protocol mimics realistic case scenarios to establish rates of primary and secondary DNA transfer in an inexpensive and simplified manner.     

Comment on the Marshall-Hoare-Henssge model for estimating the time since death

Timewise temperature variations in objects that are undergoing unsteady heating or cooling is a commonly encountered problem in the thermal sciences. One particular area of application is the cooling of a body post-death and the use of body temperatures to estimate the time of death. Here, a new approach based on the theory of transient heat transfer is formulated to allow efficient calculation of unsteady conduction problems. The theoretically derived unsteady temperature models are compared with experimentally based correlations (the Marshall-Hoare-Henssge model). The two approaches are found to agree very well. With this new theoretically based approach, timewise temperature variation can be calculated for both large and small Biot number transient problems.     

Heat and let dye: Part II – Rapid heat-fixing of blood traces

Blood-contaminated shoeprints and footmarks contain valuable operational information as they may bind an individual who stepped in the crime scene with the incident and not merely with the location. As determining the age of a bloodstain remains a challenge, while processing the scene, it is difficult to determine whether the blood is completely, or partially, dry. Thus, executing a dye staining protocol may wash these marks away as they might still be soluble. However, to meet this challenge, it is possible to fix blood marks using heat. This study aims to find a solution for floor surfaces covered by heavier blood traces (shoeprints and footmarks). For this purpose, a new pseudo-operating device was constructed for examining the blood-fixing process of both mentioned trace types. Two trials were performed with depletion marks. The results revealed that fully developed fresh and heavily blood deposits were obtained by heating to 200°C for 7.5 min using the fixing device, followed by a staining protocol using amido black solution. The achieved sharp resolution of the examined bloody prints demonstrates that in certain cases the dehydration mechanism of heating is preferred over precipitating the proteins attributed to 5-sulfosalycilic acid; thus, reducing the risk of washing blood evidence while processing the crime scene.     

Punctuated equilibrium in the energy regime complex

The concept of a regime complex has proved fruitful to a burgeoning literature in international relations, but it has also opened up new questions about how and why they develop over time. This article describes the history of the energy regime complex as it has changed over the past 40 years, and interprets this history in light of an interpretive framework of the sources of institutional change. One of its principal contributions is to highlight what Stephen Krasner referred to as a pattern of “punctuated equilibrium” reflecting both periods of stasis and periods of innovation, as opposed to a gradual process of change. We show that the timing of innovation depends on dissatisfaction and shocks and that the nature of innovation—that is, whether it is path-dependent or de novo—depends on interest homogeneity among major actors. This paper is the first to demonstrate the empirical applicability of the punctuated equilibrium concept to international regime complexes, and contributes to the eventual development of a dynamic theory of change in regime complexes.