Firearm examination: Examiner judgments and computer‐based comparisons

Forensic firearm examination provides the court of law with information about the source of fired cartridge cases. We assessed the validity of source decisions of a computer‐based method and of 73 firearm examiners who compared breechface and firing pin impressions of 48 comparison sets. We also compared the computer‐based method's comparison scores with the examiners' degree‐of‐support judgments and assessed the validity of the latter. The true‐positive rate (sensitivity) and true‐negative rate (specificity) of the computer‐based method (for the comparison of both the breechface and firing pin impressions) were 94.4% and at least 91.7%, respectively. For the examiners, the true‐positive rate was at least 95.3% and the true‐negative rate was at least 86.2%. The validity of the source decisions improved when the evaluations of breechface and firing pin impressions were combined and for the examiners also when the perceived difficulty of the comparison decreased. The examiners were reluctant to provide source decisions for "difficult" comparisons even though their source decisions were mostly correct. The correlation between the computer‐based method's comparison scores and the examiners' degree‐of‐support judgments was low for the same‐source comparisons to negligible for the different‐source comparisons. Combining the outcomes of computer‐based methods with the judgments of examiners could increase the validity of firearm examinations. The examiners' numerical degree‐of‐support judgments for their source decisions were not well‐calibrated and showed clear signs of overconfidence. We suggest studying the merits of performance feedback to calibrate these judgments.     

中印关系中的美国因素

中国、美国和印度之间的三边关系近来比较引人注目。冷战期间三方中的两方经常联合起来反对第三方,中印在经历短期的友好以后,也曾相互开战,之后美国因素逐步变得重要。随着国际格局的演变,中国和印度都在积极与美国发展关系,同时中印之间的关系也在不断改善。当前在恐怖主义的共同威胁和全球化的推动下,过去那种对抗和遏制的模式将不会再现,三个国家将更加紧密地结合。尽管中印关系中的美国因素依然重要,但在现实中其作用正在降低。     

Mainstreaming responsible conduct of research education in Malaysia

Trust is the bedrock of research, built on honesty, responsibility, accountability, and transparency. When embraced by all researchers and embedded in all aspects of research, these values help ensure that research has a positive impact on the research community, public, and policy makers, thereby enabling discoveries and innovations to enhance the well-being of humanity.     

Anti-Tamil Riots and the political crisis in Sri Lanka

Abstract

“Have a taste of Paradise” says the advertising blurb of Air Lanka, the national airline. But on July 24, 1983, the island paradise for tourists turned into a veritable hell for its Tamil-speaking inhabitants, with fire and smoke engulfing the capital city of Colombo. Within days, rioting spread throughout Sri Lanka in a wave of assaults against the Tamils in almost all the towns and plantation areas. For nearly a week, mob rule prevailed and lynching was the order of the day.     

印度-中国经济交往的制约因素（节译）

本文概述了印度一中国经济交往的战略意义，讨论了主要的制约因素及相关问题。     

Mandibular ramus: an indicator for sex in fragmentary mandible

Mandible is the hardest and most durable bone of the skull exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism. Especially ramus of mandible is subjected to greater stress than any other bone of the skull because of the process of mastication. This study has been performed to establish the osteometric standards for practical use in forensic context over Indian population using mandibular ramus. The sample consists of 116 mandibles of Northern Indian population (M:F; 92:24, mean age 37.4 years), collected from the Department of Forensic Medicine, IMS, BHU, Varanasi. Osteometric informations about five metric parameters (coronoid height, projective height, condylar height, and maximum breadth and minimum breadth of ramus) were taken with sliding calipers. These parameters were subjected to different discriminant function analysis using SPSS 16.0. All parameters showed significant sexual dimorphism (p < 0.001 in all cases) with an overall accuracy of 80.2%, and coronoid height was the single best parameter providing an accuracy of 74.1%.     

Identification of the source of ivory idol by DNA analysis

In this study, we describe a forensic case dealing with the identification of the source of the processed ivory object by DNA analysis. Two pieces of Lord Krishna's idols from a shop were confiscated by an investigating agency of the Indian government and forwarded to us to identify the source of its origin. We succeeded in isolating DNA from both processed ivory idols by using the phenol/chloroform DNA extraction method. The extracted DNA was subjected to PCR amplification using an elephant-specific mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop marker. DNA sequence analysis of the amplified fragment of mtDNA D-loop region confirmed that the idols were consistent with Asian elephant with 99% similarity.     

Food security and access and benefit sharing laws relating to genetic resources: promoting synergies in national and international governance

Are the national laws regulating access to genetic resources that countries have enacted in exercise of their sovereign rights accorded by the Convention on Biological Diversity jeopardising food security by failing to take into account the distinctive features of genetic resources for food and agriculture? If so what can be done about it? What are the obstacles to doing so? And how can they be overcome, especially in the context of the present ongoing negotiations for an international regime on access and benefits sharing under the biodiversity convention? This article examines the impact of the national access laws and other instruments on the free access and exchange of these genetic resources and hence on the maintenance of agricultural biological diversity upon which food security hinges so critically. It highlights the obstacles that stand in the way of developing countries facilitating access to their genetic resources and proposes a multilateral non-market-orientated approach to overcome them.