Age estimation by IBAS image analysis of teeth

The study of teeth to estimate age in a cadaver or in remains has become widely accepted in legal medicine, especially since the appearance of Gustafson's work in 1950. However, many studies published since that time have questioned the accuracy of these determinations. Computerized image analysis (IBAS) provides much more precise measurements of the parameters involved in these studies. An IBAS I (Kontron) image analysis system was used to study 19 different morphological parameters in midsagittal sections of a total of 173 upper and lower central incisors from as many live subjects. The data thus obtained provide useful information for determining the subject's age.     

The use of separator isoelectric focusing in micro-ultrathin polyacrylamide gels in the characterization of some polymorphic proteins of forensic science significance

The identification of phenotypes of erythrocyte acid phosphatase (EAP), esterase D (EsD), group specific component (Gc), and alpha-1-antitrypsin (PI) by separator isoelectric focusing in micro-ultrathin polyacrylamide gels (interelectrode distance: 45 mm) is described. The protein patterns obtained are compared favorably with the patterns seen by isoelectric focusing in conventional polyacrylamide gel dimensions (interelectrode distance: 110 to 120 mm). The technique described allows greater stability of pH gradients and is a fast and economic method.     

Decoding of memory traces as a function of witness' intelligence

The paper deals with the problem of the effectiveness of interrogation and identification parade (recall and recognition) as a function of witnesses' Intelligence Quotient. Two experiments in photo identification form were performed to verify a hypothesis that IQ does not affect the ability to recognize a human face. The subjects whose average IQ (according to Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale WAIS) was 65.9 (females) and 66.3 (males) obtained the same results as the subjects whose average IQ was 105.3 (females) and 99.5 (males); t1 = 13.77, p1 less than 0.001, t2 = 12.13, p2 less than 0.001, chi 2 = 0, P greater than 0.99.     

Actual and expected deprivation: Northern Mexico in the 1980s. A research note

This paper examines the relationship between objective and subjective effects on household spending in a situation of economic crisis based on data derived from a survey conducted in 1985 in the industrial city of Monterrey in northern México. The analysis focuses first on historical developments in income through a longitudinal study of income distributions since these can be considered to be the historical conditions of the two types of deprivation studied. Using family budgets, we were able to describe actual and expected effects of the crisis in terms of the reductions in spending that it provoked. Finally, using regression analyses, the relations between both kinds of effects and the personal history of the respondents, taken to represent the individual counterpart of historical conditions, are examined. Neighborhood SES and occupational level are found to be significant predictors of both objective and subjective deprivation. The best predictor of subjective effects are the actual ones. The phenomenon of relative deprivation appears to be conditioned by the context of societal development in northern México. Menno Vellinga is a senior lecturer at the Center for Caribbean and Latin American Studies at the State University of Utrecht in The Netherlands. The author and co-author of several books on Latin America, his latest is an edited collection of original works onThe Prospects of Social Democracy in Latin America (Westview, 1992). Hernan Vera is an associate professor of Sociology at the University of Florida. The author of a book on the Profession of Catholic Priests, and several dozen articles, he is currently working in the field of race relations in which a book coauthored with Joe Feagin (Routledge, 1994), is forthcoming. Soon-Rae Lee is a 1993 University of Florida Ph.D. in Sociology. He is currently at the Department of Juvenile Justice of The Korean Institute of Criminology in Seoul, South Korea. His main interests are in the field of deviance and criminology.     

The attribution of blame and type of crime committed: transcultural validation.

This study examines the relationship between type of offence and the attributions offenders make about their criminal act. The subjects were 98 Icelandic criminals who had completed the Gudjónsson Blame Attribution Inventory. Significant differences in attribution were found between offender groups. Sex offenders and those who had committed acts of interpersonal violence reported most guilt about their offence and they attributed cause for their offence more to mental factors (eg, loss of self-control) than other types of offender. Violent offenders had the highest external attribution and sex offenders the lowest. The findings with regard to the three attributions are remarkably similar to those found previously for British offenders.     

Youth in post-communist Hungary

Peter Agócs is co-author with Sándor Agócs of a series of studies on the fate and fortune of various social segments of post-communist Hungary.