A Geometric Morphometric Approach to Sex Determination of the Human Adult Os Coxa

Abstract: Sex determination of the human skeleton is best assessed from the os coxa. The present study explored the possibility of using three‐dimensional landmark coordinate data collected from various landmarks located over the entire bone to determine whether there were significant sex differences local to the landmarks. Thirty‐six landmarks were digitized on 200 African American and European American male and female adult human os coxae. MANCOVA results show that sex and size have a significant effect on shape for both European Americans (Sex, F = 17.50, d.f. = 36, 63, p > F = 0.0001; Size, F = 2.56, d.f. = 36, 63, p > F = 0.0022) and African Americans (Sex, F = 21.18, d.f. = 36, 63, p > F = 0.0001; Size, F = 2.59, d.f. = 36, 63, p > F = 0.0005). The discriminant analysis shows that sexing accuracy for European Americans is 98% for both males and females, 98% for African American females, and 100% for African American males.     

Protecting democracy: a parsimonious,dynamic and heuristic model of controlling crimes by the powerful*

Crimes of the powerful (i.e. corporations, elites, organized crime groups, states, white collar criminals, etc.) have numerous devastating effects. That is why, over the centuries, some philosophers and political theorists - and more recently some constitutional experts, and selected social scientists - have proposed and analyzed the best ways to deter, minimize, prevent, regulate, and hereafter control large powerful interests. Not all powerful actors, however, are equally dangerous nor does this threat remain constant. Moreover, not all methods of control work for all entities. In order to better understand this process, one must determine a number of things including: which powerful actor is currently the most dangerous/harmful, where controls do not exist and/or do not function well, and which controls work best and in which particular setting. To achieve this goal, scholarship in diverse fields need to be integrated, with specific reference to the challenges and problems that have arisen and the solutions that have been proposed. To this end, this article develops a parsimonious but dynamic and heuristic model, consisting of a number of interconnected factors, to depict the process of controlling crimes by the powerful.     

The Status of Forensic Anthropology in Europe and South Africa: Results of the 2016 FASE Questionnaire on Forensic Anthropology

One of the goals of the Forensic Anthropology Society of Europe (FASE) is to map the existing education and practice opportunities in the field of forensic anthropology in order to support the development of the discipline and to optimize the training courses provided by the Society. To address this goal, an online questionnaire was sent to European and South African practitioners of forensic anthropology and related disciplines in 2016. The results of the questionnaire showed that the status and roles of forensic anthropologists vary depending on the national legal systems, education, and employment status of the practitioners. Despite the fact that the expertise of forensic anthropologists has been increasingly requested in a variety of investigations and the spectrum of tasks has become broader, including identification of living persons, specialized education in forensic anthropology is still restricted to a few graduate and postgraduate programs in European countries and to annual FASE courses.     

Public Health as Social Justice? A Qualitative Study of Public Health Policy-Makers’ Perspectives

Social justice is often described as the ‘foundation of public health.’ Yet, outside of the theoretical literature the polysemous nature of the concept is rarely acknowledged. To complement recent contributions to normative theory specifically motivated by questions of social justice in public health, this study explores public health policy-makers’ perspectives on the meaning and role of social justice in their practice. This study involved twenty qualitative, semi-structured interviews with public health policy-makers recruited from two programmatic areas of public health [chronic disease prevention (CDP) and public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR)] within public health organizations in Canada. Participants’ perspectives appeared to be influenced by the perceived goals belonging to the programmatic area of public health in which they practiced. Those involved in PHEPR indicated that justice-based considerations are viewed as a ‘constraint’ on the aims of this area of practice, which are to minimize overall morbidity and mortality, whereas those involved in CDP indicated that justice-based considerations are ‘part and parcel’ of their work, which seeks primarily to address the unique health needs of (and thus, disparities between) population groups. The aims and activities of different programmatic areas of public health may influence the way in which social justice is perceived in practice. More ought to be done (in theory and in practice) to interrogate how the unique contributions that individual programmatic areas of public health can and should cohere in order to realize the broader aim that public health has as an institution to promote social justice.

     

School environment, self-esteem, and delinquency

The positive and negative effects of one's school environment (and interracial contact within this environment) have been widely debated. A question of great concern is whether the racial composition (e.g., school environment) of a school affects one's self-esteem. The present study explored whether self-esteem, race-esteem, school commitment, and delinquency differ by the racial composition of a school. Self-report questionnaires were administered to a random sample of 1,100 high school students in a large midwestern city of the United States. The findings (a) suggest that all four measures differ by school environment, and (b) provide partial support for earlier studies claiming that, within racially homogeneous school environments, African American students, in particular, enjoy higher self-esteem. Moreover, this finding might suggest that racial diversity within certain school environments (e.g., mostly Caucasian or equally mixed) carries with it lower levels of self-esteem. Higher rates of self-reported delinquency, however, were found in the equally mixed school environment than in racially homogeneous school environments.     

Situating the academic study of controlling state crime

This article reviews the academic context of state crime, focuses on its control, posits a number of areas where control can have a series of unintended consequences, and then suggests how to improve the publics ability to control state crime. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Social Security Amendments of 1983: legislative history and summary of provisions

This article traces the legislative history of the new law from the report, on January 20, 1983, of the recommendations of the National Commission on Social Security Reform (which formed the basis of this legislation) to enactment, on April 20, 1983, of Public Law 98-21. It also analyzes the provisions of Public Law 98-21, which, among other things, delay the annual cost-of-living adjustments in benefits from July to January of each each year, make up to one-half of the benefits received by higher-income beneficiaries subject to income taxes, gradually raise the retirement age early in the next century, call for the earlier implementation of schedule payroll tax increases, and put new Federal employees under the Social Security program. The legislation also establishes a new system of prospective payment for hospital services under Medicare and extends supplementary unemployment compensation benefits that otherwise would have expired in March 1983.     

Utilization of serum tryptase and immunoglobulin e assay in the postmortem diagnosis of anaphylaxis

The postmortem diagnosis of anaphylaxis is difficult. Serum concentrations of tryptase (a mast cell product released during anaphylaxis) have been used after death as an indicator of possible antemortem anaphylaxis. However, studies have indicated that tryptase may be elevated with increasing postmortem interval (PMI), or in nonanaphylactic deaths with significant atherosclerosis or chest trauma. Serum total IgE has been used by some to confirm anaphylaxis when tryptase is elevated. Serum levels of tryptase from 57 decedents with varying PMI, all dying of presumed nonanaphylactic causes, were determined. In cases with elevated levels (>11.4 ng/mL), an assay of total serum IgE was also performed. Both tryptase and IgE demonstrated significant elevations with increasing PMI. Decedents were categorized according to presence of cardiovascular disease, chest trauma, or both; many demonstrated elevation of 1 or both markers, without statistically significant differences between categories. Postulated mechanisms for nonanaphylactic elevations of these markers are reviewed. The possible utility of allergen-specific IgE or allergen panels is discussed.