Identification and Individualization of Lophophora using DNA Analysis of the trnL/trnF Region and rbcL Gene

Lophophora williamsii (peyote) is a small, spineless, greenish‐blue cactus found in Mexico and the southwestern United States. Ingestion of the cactus can result in hallucinations due to its content of mescaline. In the United States, L. williamsii is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. In this study, we use DNA analysis of the chloroplast trnL/trnF region and chloroplast rbcL gene to identify the individuals of Lophophora. Using the rbcL gene, Lophophora specimens could be distinguished from outgroups, but species within the genus could not be distinguished. The trnL/trnF region split the Lophophora genus into several groups based on the length and substructure of an AT‐rich segment of the sequence. Our results indicate that the genetic variability at the trnL/trnF locus is greater than previously recognized. Although DNA structures at the trnL/trnF region and rbcL gene do not align with the classification of Lophophora species, they can be used to aid in forensic analysis.     

Pathological Features of Fatal Crocodile Attacks in Northern Australia, 2005–2014

Eleven deaths from crocodile attacks in the Northern Territory, Australia were reviewed. The male:female ratio was 8:3; age range—10–62 years, average 29.4 years. Four children were included (one boy and three girls, aged 10, 11, and two at 12 years), and there were seven aboriginal victims (64%). The attacks were witnessed in eight cases with the victims swimming in freshwater N = 5, standing on a river bank N = 1, fishing in fresh water N = 1, or diving in the sea N = 1. At autopsy, several distinct patterns of injury were observed ranging from complete traumatic disruption of the body with only incomplete remains for examination (N = 5), to crushing of the head with fractures of the skull (N = 4), crushing of the chest with fractures of the ribs and sternum (N = 2), and avulsion of limbs (N = 4). In one case, there was decapitation. Autopsy evaluations were complicated by decomposition and loss of body parts.     

论涵括（一）：一种初步探索

经验法则是司法证明中的一项基础性法则,大陆法系司法证明理论对其进行了概括论述,其理论形态具有较高的概括性、抽象性。英美国家的司法证明学者在“涵括”概念下也具体探讨了经验法则相关的内容,与大陆法系学者对经验法则的概括论述有所区别,英美学者在阐述“涵括”理论时,更注重其在证据能力和证明力评断以及具体司法推论过程中的方法论和工具作用,为我们研究经验法则的内容、作用机制提供了一个新的观察视角。     

“Flashburning” — Interpreting the presence of heat damage to a suspect's clothing and footwear in the investigation of fires

When volatile flammable vapours are released, they can mix with surrounding air and form a vapour cloud. Ignition of this fuel/air mixture will produce a flame front that will flash through the vapour. Items exposed to the flame front, including a suspect's clothing and footwear, may sustain superficial heat damage. At The Forensic Science Service Ltd this is referred to as flashburning. This paper describes the concept of flashburning, the laboratory methodology used to identify it and how an assessment on the overall distribution of that damage may allow a scientist to evaluate its evidential significance. Two anonymised casework examples are used to demonstrate how this information has been interpreted and used in evidence in United Kingdom courts of law.     

‘Back Regions’ and ‘Dark Secrets’ in Singapore: The Politics of Censorship and Liberalisation

The political transition from Lee Kuan Yew to Goh Chok Tong to Lee Hsien Loong has generally been interpreted as a trajectory of gradual liberalisation in Singapore. This discourse of liberalisation is encouraged by a variety of factors such as policy changes over censorship regulations, a younger and more cosmopolitan polity, the government's global city ambition and desire to turn the city-state into a creative hub. Such factors, however, often obscure the contemporary policing dynamics of the People's Action Party (PAP) state. Using Erving Goffman's concepts of the ‘back’ and ‘front’ regions, this paper will demonstrate how the PAP state operates in different social spaces and how it engages in the different politics of these spaces. Using specific cases from the theatre community, this paper argues that the discourse of liberalisation has grown because the PAP state has, in recent times, exercised its censorship powers in the ‘back regions’ of theatre, away from the media and public. Finally, it will examine recent amendments to the Films Act and the Public Order Act which clamps down on acts of civil disobedience, and show that this is consistent with what Goffman calls ‘dark secrets’—that is, facts that are incompatible with an individual's or institution's public image.     

Filling the Moral Void: The Christian Right in Singapore

In March 2009 a group of Anglican Pentecostal women took over the Association of Women for Action and Research, a secular women's rights group in Singapore. This sparked an intense month-long public debate over a variety of issues which included the increasing aggression of the “Christian Right,” the secular nature of public space in Singapore, sex education and tolerance for gay communities, culminating in state intervention. While conventional sociological studies have suggested a variety of explanations for the growing presence of Pentecostal Christians in the public sphere, such as religious stratification or their links to party politics, few have examined it within the framework of nation-building. This paper seeks to understand the recent emergence of the “Christian Right” and its exposition on various moral issues within a historical context – a context from which the People's Action Party government successfully arose, in part, due to its self-construction as a moral state, and argues that the post-industrial challenges of globalisation have forced the government to be less morally conservative, resulting in a perceived moral vacuum which certain segments of Pentecostal Christians have felt compelled to fill.     

Bibliographies on Korea

Abstract

As Noam Chomsky has pointed out, press accounts about the non-western world, in particular Cambodia, are often as interesting for themselves, as “works of art,” as for information about conditions within the country concerned. For over three years the mainstream western press generally treated the regime of “Democratic Kampuchea” (DK) and its leader, Pol Pot, as very nearly the worst known to human history; and calls for intervention to displace them were heard even from usually responsible quarters. Yet when they finally were displaced, following a war largely provoked by their own actions, and by a polity whose record on human rights had always seemed much better, not only was little rejoicing heard, but the remnants of the DK regime became recipients of recognition and support by the powers who had cried out most loudly against them. Clearly concern with human rights or atrocities was of secondary importance to considerations of international power politics; and if no one was willing to suddenly declare Pol Pot a bulwark of the Free World against Godless Communism, the atrocities over which he had presided tended to be implicitly forgiven as his role in an anti-Vietnamese coalition was emphasized.