Strategic cooperation for transnational adaptation: lessons from the economics of climate change mitigation

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - The literature on climate adaptation has so far conceptualized it as a domestic issue, to be governed somewhere between the...     

An attestation of the spatiality and saliency of police culture: a cross comparison study of croatian and cypriot novice law enforcers

It is often maintained that factors such as the multifarious and exigent nature of the police profession, the diversity of police personnel, and the dissimilar socioeconomic and political settings which surround the sphere of policing, fragment the shared values, beliefs, and norms of police officers. As a result, the spatiality and saliency of such values (police culture), is doubted, if not denied. Such being the case, the article sets out to examine whether or not police culture, as documented to exist in Anglo-American police organisations, is reflected in two disparate settings, namely the Croatian and Cyprus Police. For attesting the foregoing, quantitative research was undertaken in these two settings. Upon analysing the responses of novice law enforcers (n = 185), it was found that the core constituents of police culture (isolation, suspicion, brotherhood, and cynicism), besides cynicism – which was partially supported – manifested in both police organisations.     

The Role of Forensic Botany in Solving a Case: Scientific Evidence on the Falsification of a Crime Scene

Forensic botany can provide useful information for pathologists, particularly on crime scene investigation. We report the case of a man who arrived at the hospital and died shortly afterward. The body showed widespread electrical lesions. The statements of his brother and wife about the incident aroused a large amount of suspicion in the investigators. A crime scene investigation was carried out, along with a botanical morphological survey on small vegetations found on the corpse. An autopsy was also performed. Botanical analysis showed some samples of Xanthium spinosum, thus leading to the discovery of the falsification of the crime scene although the location of the true crime scene remained a mystery. The botanical analysis, along with circumstantial data and autopsy findings, led to the discovery of the real crime scene and became crucial as part of the legal evidence regarding the falsity of the statements made to investigators.     

A rapid screening procedure for drugs and poisons in gastric contents by direct injection-HPLC analysis

A high performance liquid chromatographic method for toxicological drug screening of gastric content has been developed. The samples were diluted (1:3-1:30) in 0.01 N hydrochloric acid and injected into a reverse phase column for separation by gradient elution. Mobile phase consisted of solvent A (acetonitrile/water 90:10, 0.01 M sodium dodecylsulphate, 0.5% v/v glacial acetic acid) and solvent B (water/acetonitrile 90:10, 0.01 M sodium dodecylsulphate, 0.5% v/v glacial acetic acid); the gradient was programmed from 20 to 80% A in 30 min. The flow was kept constant at 1.5 ml/min. Two home-made internal standards, butyrylsalicylic acid and diacetyltubocurarine with retention times of 5.6 and 21.4 min, respectively, were used. Drugs are identified by matching their relative retention times and UV spectra (200-400 nm) with those contained in a home made library of more than 340 reference compounds (9 analgesics, 22 antidepressants, 30 antihistamines, 14 antihypertensives, 21 antirheumatics, 15 beta-blockers, 9 bronchodilators, 10 Ca antagonists, 14 diuretics, 26 neuroleptics, 25 tranquilizers, and other significant xenobiotic compounds). The fluorometric (FLD) emission spectrum (280-700 nm; excitation wavelength, 230 nm) was used as a further identification. At 50mg/l analyte concentrations, the injection of gastric content after dilution (1:3) produced S/N ratios in the range 8-140. The method is simple, rapid, rather inexpensive and proved to be a useful means of investigation if used in combination with GC-MS screening in blood. On the other hand, the system suffers from a relatively limited sensitivity for compounds with a low UV absorption and from interferences due to the presence in the matrix of some highly UV- and FL-responsive compounds (e.g. tryptophan).     

An unusual case of a triple suicide pact at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

In December 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared SARS-CoV2 a global pandemic. Home confinement, low social contacts, and fear of virus transmission played a major role as risk factors for suicides during the following period. Suicide pacts, in particular, showed a different pattern. A rare case of a triple suicide pact among members of the same family nucleus is presented. The victims were an elderly, severely ill woman and her adult children (a son and daughter), linked by a morbid relationship. The last time the family was seen alive was 40 days before the discovery. All corpses presented decompositional changes. After a full autopsy, the cause of death was determined to be a lethal intake of morphine for the mother and acute blood loss due to self-stabbing at the neck for the siblings. The younger woman was under the effects of a large amount of heparin. Toxicological analysis was positive for opioids and alcohol in both siblings. Suicide pacts have rarely been described during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the few cases reported, the victims were more often relatives than people in a romantic relationship. The involvement of three people is unusual, as is the use of different suicide methods among the victims. In the presented case, the elderly mother's imminent death from terminal cancer, her concern over dying in a nondomestic environment, and the siblings' fear of being alone likely led to the conception of the suicide pact. Social isolation and economic difficulties also played a contributing role.     

Should Police Identities Be Disclosed in Anti-riot Operations Transpiring in Cyprus? A Juxtaposition of Novice and Senior Police Constables’ Perceptions

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research - The article sets out to examine the stances of novice and senior Cypriot law enforcers towards the disclosure of their identities in anti-riot...     

Assessment of sexual interest using a choice reaction time task and priming: A feasibility study

Purpose. We investigated the feasibility of assessing sexual interest in hetero‐ and homosexual men using two information‐processing methods, namely a choice reaction time task and priming. The participants were expected to have longer reaction times for sexually explicit when compared with non‐explicit pictures due to sexual content‐induced delay. In addition, the reaction times of the heterosexual (N=15) and homosexual (N=11) men for pictures corresponding with their sexual interest were compared to pictures not corresponding with their sexual interest. Heterosexual men were expected to have longer reaction times during the presentation of sexually explicit female as opposed to male pictures, whereas homosexual men were expected to have the opposite pattern. Method. The participants were presented either sexually explicit or non‐explicit male and female target pictures (and primes that preceded the targets in random combinations) while simultaneously performing a choice reaction time task in three phases each containing a total of 160 prime–target pairs. Results. Both expectations were confirmed in phase 1 of the study. In phase 2, the means differed in the expected way, but the effects were not significant. In phase 3, the expected effect was moderated by a complex priming effect. Conclusions. The results suggest that the choice reaction time task is a promising way of measuring sexual interest but that questions of habituation should be given more attention in future studies.     

Highly efficient and automated extraction of DNA from human remains using a modified EZ1 protocol

Bones and teeth often represent the only sources of DNA available for identifying human remains. DNA in bones and teeth is generally better preserved than that in soft tissues because of the presence of hard connective tissue with a high level of calcium. Because of the extensive mineralisation, the choice of an efficient DNA extraction procedure is important to minimise the sampling of a high level of minerals and to remove polymerase chain reaction (PCR) inhibitors. Some protocols are available for DNA extraction from bones and teeth as part of the Qiagen EZ1 DNA Investigator Kit using the EZ1 Advanced XL automated purification platform. To improve the efficiency of DNA extraction from skeletal remains, the present study focuses on a modification to these already available protocols. In this study, different bones and teeth collected between 1 and 50 years after death were subjected to DNA extraction using the standard EZ1 protocol, a supplementary protocol, and a modified protocol. The modified approach included a decalcification step, whereas the Qiagen protocols worked directly on non-decalcified powder. In all three procedures, 150 mg samples were used for DNA extraction. We evaluated the quantity of DNA recovered from samples, the presence of any PCR inhibitors co-extracted, the level of DNA degradation, the quality of short tandem repeat (STR) profiles, and the reproducibility of the modified procedure. When compared with the other protocols, the modified protocol resulted in the best recovery of DNA that was free of PCR inhibitors. Additionally, the STR profiles were reliable and of high quality. In our opinion, the decalcification step increases DNA recovery by softening tissues, which allows lysis solutions to act more effectively. Furthermore, the use of two lysis solutions and the variation added to the EZ1 purification step allow for DNA recovery with quality and quantity superior to those of the previously available Qiagen-based protocols. These findings may be helpful solutions to the problems commonly encountered when dealing with difficult samples, such as bones and teeth.

Key points

• Bones and teeth often represent the only sources of DNA for identifying human remains.
• The choice of an efficient DNA extraction procedure is important for maximizing DNA recovery and removing PCR inhibitors.
• This study focuses on modifications to the previously available Qiagen-based protocols.
• The modified protocol enabled the best recovery of DNA, and both quality and quantity were superior to those of the previously available Qiagen-based protocols.
• The STR profiles obtained from samples extracted using the modified protocol were reliable and of high quality.

     

Global Economic Changes and the Commodification of Human Capital: Implications of Filipino Nurse Migration

East Asia’s economic prowess strongly impacted the research agenda of scholars studying the region. Whereas analysts had once focused on military governments, relations of dependency, clientelism, and low modes of peasant movements, they now investigate industrialisation. In East Asia, the Philippines is the largest contributor of migrant labourers to the global workforce. Following recent discussions by Robert Putnam on the social aspect of investment, perhaps human capital might then be considered part of the industrialisation process? Channelling human resources towards expediting industrialisation can be a catalyst for development. This article seeks to combine a variety of theoretical literatures with insights gained from conducting fieldwork and available empirical data, presenting its main findings in two major parts. The first focuses on the relationship between human capital, migration and economic growth, and suggests that social capital, particularly human resources, can help economic growth in developing countries if channelled appropriately. The second is a case study of the Philippines as the second largest exporter of human labour in the world, with human capital as its largest export commodity. A key feature of the research identifies the significance of commodifying human capital. The author argues that maximizing human resources, as a potential and un-channelled catalyst for improved economic growth is a good investment in social capital. By transforming human resources into a trade commodity, this economic transaction between labour-sending (parent) and labour-receiving (host) countries becomes a rational process that takes on emotional qualities, and must be considered where the trade of human labour is concerned.