DNA Purification Cell Lysis and Wash Step Modifications for Low-Template DNA Sample Processing,

As DNA technology becomes increasingly sensitive, forensic laboratories are receiving more low-template DNA samples. These samples, already low in DNA content, become even more challenging to process as the available DNA becomes further reduced during the extraction step. In this study, two extraction modifications were tested to determine if the cause of DNA loss could be identified and mitigated. A double lysis technique was used to test for DNA loss in the sample collection substrate, and lysate eluates were re-extracted to determine DNA loss from inefficient binding to the silica column. Both modifications showed DNA was lost at these steps. However, resulting STR profiles from these samples had fewer peaks and lower peak heights when compared to samples processed with no extraction modifications. Overall, the potential benefits of adding these extraction modifications for low-template DNA sample processing are not enough to justify the risk associated with additional manipulation.     

“Apocalypse Now”

Abstract

“Apocalypse Now” is Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam in more ways than he understands. It isn't just a matter of the way the film's cost escalated to an astonishing $30 million, nor even the fact that the director didn't know how to end it. The movie is Coppola's Vietnam because it faithfully recapitulates the war in a much more basic way: it is filled with lies, megalomania, self-deception, high moral intent and real moral failure.     

Domestic violence and child participation: contemporary challenges for the 1980 hague child abduction convention

ABSTRACT

This article addresses two contemporary challenges for the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention: (i) domestic violence and (ii) child participation. It also outlines three components of a global socio-legal policy and research initiative undertaken to address these issues and, where relevant, their intersection. The published literature on these topics, including the children’s objections exception, is explored, as are the ways in which these challenges are addressed within some of the 101 Contracting States to the Convention and through the Guide to Good Practice on Article 13(1)(b) of the Convention. Regard is paid to the data provided by the statistical analysis of applications made under the Convention in 2015 by Lowe and Stephens, and the changes which will occur once the Recast of The European Brussels 11a Regulation comes into operation. The likely impact for 1980 Hague Convention abduction proceedings of the UK having left the European Union at 23.00 GMT on 31 January 2020 is contemplated. Other current international initiatives are discussed, including the development of a child-friendly version of the Convention through The International Association of Child Law Researchers. Training is a key to changing attitudes and upskilling family justice professionals to ensure the Convention operates in a fully child-centric way. This will maintain and strengthen the Convention by keeping it ‘fit for purpose’.     

The Spiritual Components of Restorative Justice

The concept of spirituality in restorative justice practice is recognized as important but is often fuzzy and vaguely understood. This study did a content analysis of restorative justice texts and found nine distinct components of spirituality: transformation, connectedness/belonging, common human bond, repentance, forgiveness, making right a wrong, balance/harmony, rituals, and unexplained spiritual phenomenon. The conceptual clarification of the relationship between spirituality and restorative justice gives mediators/facilitators of restorative justice dialogue more tools to deepen their interactions with victims, offenders, and community members. Furthermore, delineation of these nine components offers researchers a framework for the development of instruments or tools that can be used to assess participants' experiences in restorative justice dialogues.     

Marriage: Cause or mere indicator of future earnings growth?

The hypothesis that marriage increases men's earnings has contributed to legislative support for the Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI). However, previous studies of this phenomenon have not controlled for many relevant characteristics that select men into marriage, nor have they focused on low‐income, unmarried fathers—the population targeted by HMI. We use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which measures many previously unobserved confounders, to test for a relationship between marriage and earnings. We use a variety of analytic strategies to control for selection (including differencing and propensity scores) and find no evidence of an effect of transitions to marriage on the earnings of unmarried fathers that differs from zero, either for the full sample or subsamples defined by race‐ethnic category and baseline cohabitation status. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Exchanging energy technology information on the internet

This paper describes the U.S. experience in using the Internet to disseminate international information about the technical and economic performance of newly demonstrated, energy efficiency technologies. It draws specifically on Oak Ridge National Laboratory's use of the Internet to promote the goals of the International Energy Agency's Center for the Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Technologies (CADDET). Statistics from the U.S. CADDET home page system illustrates the potential of the Internet for contributing significantly to the goals of international information exchange. However, to reach a wider range of international and domestic audiences (beyond primarily upscale and educated professionals located in industrialized countries), Internet systems need to include other dissemination efforts that reach individuals in countries and organizations not currently using Internet services. In addition, more personal and customized information sources may be needed for providing users with the types of assistance and guidance required to translate knowledge of a technology's technical and financial performance into a decision to purchase, install, and use the technology.