Rebel Behavior in the Context of Interstate Competition: Exploring Day-to-Day Patterns of Political Violence in Africa

This study develops a day-to-day theory of political violence that predicts that rebels respond strategically to the onset of interstate conflict that is directly related to a civil war. Government-initiated interstate conflict is theorized to incentivize rebels to signal their resolve, willingness to bear costs, and vulnerability of government forces. In addition, this form of interstate conflict is predicted to decrease violence against civilian populations, as it makes it more likely that rebels will need to rely on civilians for resources in the future. This is contrary to interstate conflict initiated by an external state, as this signal of third-party support makes civilian support more dispensable from the perspective of a rebel movement. Using a country-day data set constructed from event data, evidence is presented that is consistent with this theoretical logic. Interstate conflict, therefore, is shown to play a significant role in explaining the variation of violent events that occur on a day-to-day basis during a civil conflict.     

Fatal Fentanyl Patch Misuse in a Hospitalized Patient with a Postmortem Increase in Fentanyl Blood Concentration

Opioid‐related mortality happens, even in healthcare settings. We describe serial postmortem fentanyl blood concentrations in a hospital inpatient who fatally abused transdermal fentanyl. This is a single‐patient case report. A 42‐year‐old man with lymphoma was started on transdermal fentanyl therapy while hospitalized for chronic abdominal pain. The patient was last seen awake 1.3 h prior to being found apneic and cyanotic. During the resuscitation attempt, a small square‐shaped film was removed from the patient's oropharynx. Femoral blood was collected 0.5 and 2 h postmortem, and the measured fentanyl concentration increased from 1.6 to 14 ng/mL. Study limitations include potential laboratory or collection errors and missing data. (i) Providers must be vigilant for signs of fentanyl patch abuse. (ii) Postmortem blood concentrations are not static postmortem, likely secondary to decreasing pH, increased aqueous solubility, and tissue redistribution, and are therefore unlikely to accurately represent antemortem blood concentrations.     

A Noninvasive and Speculative Method of Visualizing Latent Fingerprint Deposits on Thermal Paper

Latent fingerprint deposits on thermal paper have been visualized noninvasively at visible wavelengths when illuminated with a UV‐A light source (peak 365 nm). A higher intensity UV source (250 W/m² at 0.38 m) gave superior fingerprint visibility when compared with a 60 W/m² (at 0.4 m) source. Removing the visible (blue) component of the light source emission did not adversely affect the visibility of the fingerprint. Sample fingerprints from 100 donors, when examined 24 h after deposition, produced identifiable fingerprints from nearly 34% of fingerprint deposits. A mechanism for the observed visibility is proposed based on low emission of visible wavelengths from areas of thermal paper coincident with the fingerprint deposit, when illuminated with UV. This is likely due to a weak color change in the thermal paper dye arising from protonated amino acid components of the sweat. This effect was not observed on nonthermal paper.     

TrueAllele® Genotype Identification on DNA Mixtures Containing up to Five Unknown Contributors

Computer methods have been developed for mathematically interpreting mixed and low‐template DNA. The genotype modeling approach computationally separates out the contributors to a mixture, with uncertainty represented through probability. Comparison of inferred genotypes calculates a likelihood ratio (LR), which measures identification information. This study statistically examined the genotype modeling performance of Cybergenetics TrueAllele^® computer system. High‐ and low‐template DNA mixtures of known randomized composition containing 2, 3, 4, and 5 contributors were tested. Sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility were established through LR quantification in each of these eight groups. Covariance analysis found LR behavior to be relatively invariant to DNA amount or contributor number. Analysis of variance found that consistent solutions were produced, once a sufficient number of contributors were considered. This study demonstrates the reliability of TrueAllele interpretation on complex DNA mixtures of representative casework composition. The results can help predict an information outcome for a DNA mixture analysis.     

Caustic Ingestion—A Forensic Overview

The ingestion of corrosive substances may produce severe burns to the upper aerodigestive tract and stomach, particularly if the pH is greater than 12 or less than two. There is a biphasic age grouping with adult cases most often involving self‐harm and pediatric cases accidental ingestion. Three cases are reported to demonstrate characteristic features following the ingestion of potassium hydroxide, glacial acetic acid and Lysol^®, respectively. All deaths were due to the effects of caustic burns to the upper aerodigestive tract, esophagus and stomach with perforation and/or hemorrhage. The extent of injuries in these cases depends on the nature, amount, and concentration of the agent and on the exposure time. A point to note at autopsy is that tissue damage may also occur from postmortem exposure. Typical injuries involve perioral, limb, and trunk burns, with extensive aerodigestive liquefactive/coagulative necrosis causing hemorrhage and perforation.     

Response Assessment of Thermal Papers from Four Continents to Fingerprint Development by Heat

Latent fingerprint deposits on thermal paper sourced from the U.S., China, the U.K., and Australia have been visualized by heating. U.S. and Chinese sourced paper produced two distinct types of fingerprint development. In one type (type 1), the paper dye colors where the deposit is present (as previously reported) and in the other type (type 2) the ‘inverse’ of this gives paper coloring only in areas not coincident with the deposit. Both development types gave identifiable fingerprints, the majority fading within 24 h of heating. Fingerprint development from U.K. and Australian sourced paper was exclusively type 1 and resistant to fading. Temperatures for fingerprint visualization were higher for U.S. paper (64–71°C) and Chinese paper (75–95°C) than for U.K. and Australian sourced paper (43–50°C). Particularly for Chinese sourced paper, these temperatures were within a few degrees of the normal paper color temperature. A mechanism for type 2 fingerprint development is proposed.     

Regulating forced labour and combating human trafficking: the relevance of historical definitions in a contemporary perspective

Forced labour has been regulated since 1930 on the basis of the ILO Convention on Forced Labour, and since 1957 on the basis of the ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention. In 2000 forced labour was included as one form of exploitation covered by the UN Trafficking Protocol, which situated trafficking into a context of transnational organised crime. In 2014 the ILO adopted a Protocol on Forced Labour, making a link between trafficking and forced labour. The aim of this article is to explore how forced labour came to be regulated and defined in these four treaties. The 1930 ILO Convention came about in a specific historical and political context, yet the 1930 definition remains in use even though the interpretation of forced labour, particularly as it relates to trafficking, has changed. This article focuses on the issue of trafficking for the purpose of forced labour within the context of migration and labour exploitation, and discusses the relevance of historical definitions of forced labour in the current discourse that sees human trafficking mainly as a security threat. It argues that a rigid interpretation of forced labour is not always useful in understanding forms of labour exploitation, at least in a contemporary European migratory perspective. The article calls for a broad interpretation of forced labour, which takes into account also subtle forms of control and coercion.     

For fear of popular politics? Public attention and the delegation of authority to the United States executive branch

Legislators are thought to delegate policymaking authority to administrative actors either to avoid blame for controversial policy or to secure policy outcomes. This study tests these competing perspectives and establishes that public attention to policymaking is a powerful predictor of the extent to which significant United States statutes delegate authority to the executive branch. Consistent with the policy‐concerns perspective, by one calculation statutes dealing with high‐attention issues entail 48 percent fewer delegating provisions than statutes dealing with low‐attention issues – a far stronger relationship than is typically found in the delegation literature. As per the blame‐avoidance perspective, a number of additional analyses yield results consistent with the notion that fears about future public attention motivate statutory delegation if legislative conflict is sufficiently great. Overall, however, the results suggest that conflict typically is not sufficiently great and that legislators are generally more inclined to limit statutory delegation when the public is paying attention.