Tax morale and (de-)centralization: An experimental study

We consider an economy composed of two regions. Each of them provides a public good whose benefits reach beyond local boundaries. In case of decentralization, taxes collected by members of a region are spent only on that region's public good. In case of centralization, tax receipts from the two regions are pooled and used to finance both public goods according to the population size of each region. The experiment shows that centralization induces lower tax morale and less efficient outcomes. The reasons are that centralization gives rise to an interregional incentive problem and creates inequalities in income between regions.     

Framing and dominant metaphors in the coverage of North Korea in the Australian media

Through the selective allocation of attention, framing and metaphors in covering foreign affairs and countries, media narratives often act to delegitimise, marginalise and demonise international actors. Focusing on Australian reportage of North Korea in The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2012, this paper explicates how the framing mechanisms utilised in media point to media complicity in reinforcing a negative, adversarial orientation towards North Korea. It also discusses implications for how Australians view the North Korean people, Australian–North Korean relations, and policy pertaining to Northeast Asia more broadly.     

Why invest in North Korea? Chinese foreign direct investment in North Korea and its implications

North Korea has been regarded as the least likely place to attract foreign investors due to its poor infrastructure, policy reversals, and totalitarian regime. However, the recent growth of Chinese direct investment in North Korea has drawn much attention due to its implications for the North Korean economy and regional stability. This research provides an analytical framework by considering two fundamental issues that any foreign investor takes into account when making an investment decision: property rights protection and profitability. It examines how recent changes have influenced these two issues, which, in turn, shaped the incentive structure of Chinese private investors.     

Quantifiler Human DNA Quantification Kit (Applied Biosystems) as a screening kit for DNA profiling

This study investigates the connection between the results of DNA quantification with Quantifiler Human DNA Quantification Kit (AB) and DNA profiling. For this purpose the DNA concentration of 3.068 routine casework samples was determined and DNA profiling was carried out. For discussion, depending on the specific DNA concentration, the samples were divided into four groups (0–5, 5–10, 10–30 and more then 30 pg/μl DNA) and the obtained number of full or partial profiles and the negative typing results was listed. Moreover group 1 (0–5 pg/μl DNA) results were subdivided and analysed more precisely. Based on the amount of 4% positive typing results in group 1 we decided to analyse every sample with quantification results >0 pg/μl DNA. A real cut-off no longer exists. Only samples showing 0 pg/μl on each result were sorted out.     

Criminal poisoning of commuters in Bangladesh: prospective and retrospective study

Travel-related poisoning is an emerging social and public health emergency in Bangladesh but its cause and significance have not been determined. To investigate this syndrome we performed a prospective clinical study and retrospective analysis of hospital records in a general medicine unit of a public tertiary care teaching hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, using toxicological analysis by fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) and liquid chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF MS). The participants of the prospective study were 130 consecutive patients aged 16-80 years who were admitted with central nervous system depression (Glasgow Coma Score 3-14) after using public transportation, in the absence of other abnormalities, from January through June 2004, and a convenience sample of 15 such patients admitted during 3 days in May 2006. In 2004-2006, travel-related poisoning increased from 6.1 to 9.5% of all admissions (210-309 of 3266-3843 per year), representing 46.6-55.7% of all admitted poisoning cases. Incidents were associated with bus (76%), taxi, train, and air travel, or local markets; 98% of patients remembered buying or accepting food or drinks before losing consciousness. Direct financial damage (missing property) was diverse and frequently existential. Among 94 urine samples analyzed by FPIA, 74% tested positive for benzodiazepines. Among 15 urine samples analyzed by LC-TOF MS, lorazepam was detected in all; five also contained diazepam or metabolites; nitrazepam was present in three. FPIA results obtained for these 15 samples were below the recommended cut-off in eight (53%; lorazepam only). Our findings show that the massive medicosocial emergency of travel-related poisoning in Bangladesh is the result of drug-facilitated organized crime and that benzodiazepine drugs are used to commit these crimes, suggesting modifications to the local emergency management of the victims of this type of poisoning. They also highlight the need for more research in the neglected field of acute poisoning in Bangladesh, and for criminal investigations of the use of benzodiazepine drugs in this country.     

Metal-containing nanoparticles and nano-structured particles in fingermark detection

This article reviews the application of metal-containing nanoparticles and nano-structured particles to fingermark detection. This area of research is attracting significant interest as advances in nanoscience are being incorporated into the field of forensic fingermark detection. Although more research is needed before some of the techniques presented can be implemented in routine casework, nanotechnology is likely to play a major role in the future to deliver more selective and more sensitive ways to detect and enhance fingermarks.     

The concept of forensic emergency medicine as illustrated by an unusual complication of pulmonary artery catheterization

Forensic pathologists are regularly confronted with emergency and invasive medical procedures performed on critically ill or traumatized patients. Basic knowledge of such procedures and their possible complications is therefore mandatory in medico-legal practice. In this article, we describe a very unusual complication of pulmonary artery catheterization: through-and-through perforation of the carotid artery, initially without hemodynamic consequence. Death resulted from an aggravation of the preexisting cerebral edema (secondary to a craniocerebral trauma). The misplacement of the pulmonary artery catheter was clinically missed because the guidewire was initially deflected on the cervical spine towards the subclavian vein where the catheter--by chance--entered the circulatory system and followed its normal route further. The forensic importance of leaving all invasive medical devices in situ on a deceased person when a medico-legal autopsy is to be expected and the mutual interaction between emergency and forensic medicine (forensic emergency medicine) are discussed.     

Effect of Lower Third Molar Segmentations on Automated Tooth Development Staging using a Convolutional Neural Network

Staging third molar development is commonly used for age estimation in subadults. Automated developmental stage allocation to the mandibular left third molar in panoramic radiographs has been examined in a pilot study. This method used an AlexNet Deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) approach to stage lower left third molars, which had been selected by manually drawn bounding boxes around them. This method (bounding box AlexNet = BA) still contained parts of surrounding structures which may have affected the automated stage allocation performance. We hypothesize that segmenting only the third molar could further improve the automated stage allocation performance. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine and validate the effect of lower third molar segmentations on automated tooth development staging. Retrospectively, 400 panoramic radiographs were collected, processed and segmented in three ways: bounding box (BB), rough (RS), and full (FS) tooth segmentation. A DenseNet201 CNN was used for automated stage allocation. Automated staging results were compared with reference stages – allocated by human observers – overall and per stage. FS rendered the best results with a stage allocation accuracy of 0.61, a mean absolute difference of 0.53 stages and a Cohen's linear κ of 0.84. Misallocated stages were mostly neighboring stages, and DenseNet201 rendered better results than AlexNet by increasing the percentage of correctly allocated stages by 3% (BA compared to BB). FS increased the percentage of correctly allocated stages by 7% compared to BB. In conclusion, full tooth segmentation and a DenseNet CNN optimize automated dental stage allocation for age estimation.