Ultraviolet illumination as an adjunctive aid in dental inspection

Tooth-colored resin fillings have become increasingly popular as restorative materials. Their presence in the dentition presents a challenge to the clinician and the forensic odontologist, as detection of the fillings can be difficult both visually and radiographically. As they necessarily form part of the unique dentition of an individual, recognition of the resins is important for forensic identification. Alternative light sources have been used with success in various fields of forensic science. In recent years small LED flashlights emitting at specific wavelengths in the ultraviolet light (UV) range have been developed. Their low cost, small size, and ready availability makes their use practical in both forensic dental inspection and clinical settings. UV inspection is of interest because enamel, dentin and dental materials all have differing fluorescent properties when illuminated by UV light. It was one goal of this research to quantitatively assess the fluorescence properties of modern restorative resins in order to predict their behavior during inspection using UV illumination. The second goal was to demonstrate practical use of UV in dental inspection with examples of how different materials fluoresce. Quantitative measurements were obtained for optical emission wavelength and intensity for 15 modern resins using a spectrophotometer. Results indicated that resin brands fluoresce at different wavelengths and with varying intensities. Practical use and comparison of the flashlights revealed that the most useful excitation wavelengths for resin detection were in the UVA range (365 and 380 nm). Porcelain restorations and composite resin fillings exhibited different responses to these two wavelengths and thus use of both is recommended for forensic dental inspection.     

Estimating age in Maori, Pacific Island, and European children from New Zealand

The islands of New Zealand are populated by persons of European, Maori, and Pacific Island extraction. The purpose of this research is to quantify the levels of dental maturation of each of these three populations, in order to obtain data that will be useful in forensic identification and age estimation. The sample consisted of 1383 orthopantomographs (660 males, 723 females) of 477 Maori, 762 European, and 144 Pacific Island children between the ages of 3 and 14 years. Each radiograph was digitized and the stages of mineralization of the seven left mandibular permanent teeth were assessed using the eight stages described by Demirjian. Values for 1, 3, 5, 50, 95, 97, and 99% confidence intervals are listed for each maturity score. Intra-observer reliability was evaluated using Bland-Altman's method on data from re-scoring one out of every 20 radiographs and standard dental maturation curves were constructed for the three populations by means of a quantile regression method. Despite the fact that quantile regression analysis showed that across the age group investigated there were differences between boys and girls, knowledge of the sex does not increase the accuracy of the age estimate, simply because the magnitude of the error of age estimation is greater than the difference between the sexes. Our analysis also shows that population divergence is most marked after the age of 9 years, with a peak difference seen at age 10.     

The progress of the betting in a baseball game

The development of the Internet has led to the creation of countless new markets, among them, online, in-game betting markets for sporting contests. We examine the behavior of prices as events unfold in a baseball game. Specifically, we compare the evolution of prices during a game with probability estimates generated by an empirical model of scoring in baseball. We find that price changes correspond closely to changes in the probability of winning, for plays of both small and dramatic impact. Nevertheless, data limitations inhibit the ability to make strong claims regarding the hypothesis of efficient pricing.     

Preliminary Study of Testosterone and Empathy in Determining Recidivism and Antisocial Behavior

Recidivism, repeated criminal behavior after conviction and correction of prior offenses, is a costly problem across the nation. However, the contribution of empathy in determining the risk of recidivism has received limited attention, although lack of empathy has been related to antisocial personality disorder in various studies. Studies linked testosterone to aggression, antisocial behavior, and criminality, and evidence support hormonal connections between empathy and aggression. Adult male prison inmates convicted of violent or nonviolent offenses were included in a cross‐sectional study of empathy, antisocial behavior, salivary testosterone, and recidivism. Subjects underwent criminal history, Empathy Quotient, Levenson Self‐Report Psychopathy Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory, and salivary testosterone assays. Bivariate analyses indicated multiple correlations between variables. Multivariate modeling analyses found a significant relationship between self‐reported conviction number and psychopathy scale score (p = 0.013). These preliminary results suggest avenues of investigation of factors contributing to recidivism risk.     

Windows 7 Antiforensics: A Review and a Novel Approach

In this paper, we review literature on antiforensics published between 2010 and 2016 and reveal the surprising lack of up‐to‐date research on this topic. This research aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by investigating different antiforensic techniques for devices running Windows 7, one of the most popular operating systems. An approach which allows for removal or obfuscation of most forensic evidence is then presented. Using the Trojan software DarkComet RAT as a case study, we demonstrate the utility of our approach and that a Trojan Horse infection may be a legitimate possibility, even if there is no evidence of an infection on a seized computer's hard drive. Up‐to‐date information regarding how forensic artifacts can be compromised will allow relevant stakeholders to make informed decisions when deciding the outcome of legal cases involving digital evidence.     

The effects of market concentration on costs of local public services: empirical evidence from Dutch waste collection

ABSTRACT

Different concentration indexes are calculated for the Dutch waste collection market and all show that this market was highly concentrated in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014. The estimation results in 2002 show that private collection is cheaper but high concentration increases costs of private collection and therefore (partly) offsets the advantage of contracting out. In 2006, the savings gained from privatisation and also the effect of concentration disappear, probably due to the introduction of a VAT-compensation fund. In 2010, for an area with a radius of 30 km, high concentration increases costs, but for larger areas, this effect mostly disappears. For 2014, in most estimations, this concentration effect disappears. If we include fixed effects for a panel, the cost advantage of inter-municipal cooperation is larger than that of private production and concentration effects also disappear. Overall, these estimation results are rather independent of the concentration indexes used, if we investigate several indexes as an alternative for the Herfindahl–Hirschman index.     

Delayed elimination in humans after ingestion of colchicine: Two fatal cases of colchicine poisoning

Colchicine has been widely used in the treatment of acute gout over the years, but it has a narrow therapeutic index, and overdose can be life threatening. A method using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry system was applied in two fatal cases of colchicine poisoning in this study to the determination of colchicine in blood. In case 1, a 19-year-old man suffered from depression and ingested 160 colchicine tablets (each 0.5 mg). The concentration of colchicine in his blood samples showed a fluctuating trend and kept above the therapeutic steady-state concentration for 5 days. In case 2, a 70-year-old female patient with a history of gout and chronic colchicine intake ingested five times the usual dose of colchicine (5 mg) and died after 12 days of medical care, with 5 ng/mL of colchicine in her blood sample. Our findings suggest that the delayed elimination and accumulation in humans after colchicine overdose could keep the concentration of colchicine maintaining above the therapeutic steady-state concentration for many days before dying, probably along with a fluctuating trend.     

3D forensic facial approximation: Implementation protocol in a forensic activity

The primary objective of this paper is to report on the successful implementation of forensic facial approximation in a real case in the forensic context. A three‐dimensional (3D) facial approximation protocol of the skull was performed with free software, applying techniques in a virtual environment that have already been consolidated in the literature. The skull was scanned with the photogrammetry technique, the digital replica was imported in the Blender software (Blender Foundation, Amsterdam) and individualized model sketches of the face were traced with the MakeHuman software (MakeHuman Org) according to the anthropological profile of the victim. The face created was imported in Blender, where it was adapted, modeled, and sculpted on the 3D skull and its soft tissue markers, using an American open‐source application of the technique in the digital environment. The face created in a virtual environment was recognized and legal identification procedures were started, resulting in the more agile delivery of the disappeared body to its next of kin. It is therefore concluded that facial approximation may not be a primary method of human identification, but it can be satisfactorily applied in the forensic field as an individual recognition resource. It has great value in narrowing the search, reducing the number of alleged victims, and leading to identification tests, therefore significantly reducing the number of genetic DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) tests—which are considered costly for the State or Federation—and consequently reducing the waiting time before delivery of the body to its family.     

Shedder status—An analysis over time and assessment of various contributing factors

The shedder status of a person is an important consideration when evaluating probabilities of DNA transfer during activity-level assessments. As an extension of our previously published study, the shedder statuses of 38 individuals were reassessed 1 year later. The study found that shedder status may change over time for some individuals and was associated with one's gender, number of items touched, and mobile phone usage. In 29% of touch events, no DNA allele was detected and in 99% of touch events, the amount of DNA deposited was <2 ng. The study also found that in 0.6% of touch events, the participant could be excluded as a contributor of the observed DNA profile, with another person being included. Additionally, our investigations suggest that the current three-category system for shedder status classification may require further refinement to better represent the individuals' shedder status in a population.