Netherlands court grants copyright protection to perfume scent

In its decision the Supreme Court of the Netherlands has upheldthe decision of the Court of Appeals of 's-Hertogenbosch togrant copyright protection to the scent of the perfume trésorbelonging to Lancôme.     

Use of drugs among Senegalese school going adolescents

Though it may appear more severe and dramatic in most industrialized nations, drug addiction has also become a matter for concern in some developing nations. The problem is even more complex when, prior to the advent of colonialism and the adoption of Western values by those countries, there already existed traditional forms of drug addiction. This paper examines the attitudes of Senegalese school-going adolescents to the problem of drug addiction. It describes the nature, development, and perception of drug addiction in the country from an historical and sociological point of view. It shows the tolerance of Senegalese society toward drugs — some were used in traditional medicine — and its rejection of hard and intermediate drugs, as they are viewed negatively by the society. The authors finally analyze the motivations of the drug addicts which also indicate, in Africa as in the West, a crisis of identity reflecting a global crisis of civilization.We are profoundly grateful to the Belgian Cooperation Service for the material assistance they kindly provided us.Master's degree in Psychopedagogy and a postgraduate in Psychosociology. Research interest is cross-cultural adolescent psychology.Doctor of mathematics and post-graduate in psychopedagogical science. Research interest is cross-cultural adolescent psychology.     

Determination of sex by discriminant function analysis of postcranial skeletal measurements

Thieme and Schull [16] took measurements of seven postcranial traits from black skeletons of known sex to devise a method for accurately sexing human remains. With a linear discriminant function analysis of the data they obtained a 98.5% accuracy. The research reported here was designed to assess the accuracy of their method in the hands of other investigators using a sample of the same black population and its applicability to other populations of the same and different races. None of the samples used in this study were sexed with the same rate of accuracy either achieved or predicted by Thieme and Schull. However, two samples did reach 91% or better. Such results suggest that the methods employed have considerable value if used with appropriate precautions. Our multiple discriminant function analysis strongly indicates that neither side nor observer techniques affected the results. Sex accounts for a predominant fraction of the total variation among samples and race accounts for most of that remaining.     

Influence of ballistic and autopsy parameters on the manner of death in case of long firearms fatalities

A retrospective study was carried out on 132 fatalities due to gunshot wounds secondary to long firearms. One group of suicide (n=72) and one group of homicide (n=60) were statistically compared regarding age and sex of the victim, number of shots, range of fire, direction of the projectile(s), anatomical distribution of entrance sites, weapon and ammunition types and the nature of eventual associated traumatic lesions. The frequency of suicide was higher when the victim's age increased. Females constituted about 43% of the homicide victims and about 8% of the suicide victims. 51.5% of the homicide victims and about 10% of the suicide victims had sustained more than one gunshot wound. Close range was respectively found in 53.5% of the homicide cases and in all suicide cases. Most of the suicide cases (85% of the cases) showed typical entrance sites. Entrance sites in the limbs and lateral or posterior wall of the chest were only encountered in homicide cases. Associated traumatic lesions were found in about 23% of the homicide cases and in 18% of the suicide cases. In case of suicidal gunshots to the left chest, both upwards and downwards directions, and also both right-to-left and left-to-right directions can occur. From 22 suicide cases showing entrance wound in the mouth, a downwards direction was found in only one. This study underlines the importance but also the limits of the autopsy findings (including direction of the projectile(s) related to the entrance site) for giving an indication of the manner of death (homicide vs. suicide).     

Prevalence of psychoactive substances in truck drivers in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (France)

A previous study conducted in 1995 showed that psychoactive drug use by workers was higher in safety/security workstations than in the rest of the labour force. In order to verify this finding, we conducted a new study in 2003-2004 in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, restricted to truck drivers. The aim of this study was to allow harmonizing the professional practice of the occupational physicians, proposing drug prevention and drug testing policies, validating the analytical methods and the guidelines in case of positive testing results. One thousand truck drivers were studied. Urines were tested for amphetamines, cannabinoids, cocaine, opiates, benzodiazepines, buprenorphine and methadone by immunoassay. Urine ethanol determinations were performed by an ADH method. Positive urines for drugs of abuse, methadone or buprenorphine were then tested by gas chromatography or liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Out of the 1000 drivers, cannabinoids were detected in 85 cases, opiates in 41 cases, amphetamines in 3 cases and cocaine in only one case. Buprenorphine was detected in 18 cases, methadone in 5 cases and benzodiazepines in 4 cases. Urine ethanol was positive in 50 cases. We found only one case with 6-monoacetylmorphine. Other positive opiates were metabolites of antitussives. The relatively low number of benzodiazepine positive urines could be explained by the lack of sensitivity of the test we used. All these results confirm those of the previous study for cannabinoids and ethanol in safety/security workstations. Positive results for methadone and buprenorphine are eight times higher than in the general population. In conclusion, the authors think that it will be of a great interest to test urine of truck drivers for other classes of psychoactive drugs, using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method.     

What do you expect?: The influence of people's prior knowledge of crime categories on fact-finding

Jurors have accumulated prior knowledge of crime categories that influences their verdict choices (V. L. Smith, 1991, 1993). The present research investigates whether this prior knowledge also influences the fact-finding process by operating as an expectancy for information processing. Consistent with the expectancy hypothesis, Study 1 demonstrated that people are more susceptible to misleading information that is perceived to be typical of the crime in question than misleading information that is atypical. Studies 2 and 3 revealed that people's intrusion errors also contain more typical than atypical information. These results indicate that people's prior knowledge of crime categories does indeed serve as an expectancy for fact-finding. Thus, prior knowledge plays a broader role than previously appreciated. The implications of this breadth are discussed.     

Identity and fear: A survey study of the Arab East

This article explores the concepts of social identity and fear in the Arab East, namely in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and among Palestinians living in these countries. Its theoretical framework is composed of two major conceptions: individuals’ perceptions of their social and political identity-affiliation and inter-intra-group relations. It is asserted that the feeling of fear and antipathy in the Arab East creates or supports confessional individual identity and group affiliation. The findings, which are construed through survey analysis, support the arguments that secterian groups are basic actors in the politics of the Arab East and that all political analysis that negates their influence as identity units is superficial. The survey results discredit the argument that the feeling of belonging to confessional groups is anomalous, anachronistic, and evanescent. On the contrary, the minority identity has never been obliterated in the Arab East, and these minorities carry the potential of asserting a real threat to regime stability and to the political order. These threats, though they seem dormant at times, are very much alive and should not be discounted. Michel G. Nehme is an assistant professor at American University of Beirut, Department of Political Studies and Public Administration, PO Box 11-0236, Beirut, Lebanon