Heat Induced Changes to Dental Resin Composites: A Reference in Forensic Investigations?*

The objective was to investigate color change and surface damage in dental resin composites exposed to high temperatures over different time intervals for comparative purposes. Samples were prepared using two resins - Z100(R) (R1) and Charisma (R2), heated at the following temperatures: 200 degrees C, 400 degrees C, 600 degrees C, 1000 degrees C, for 15, 30 and 45 min (n = 104 for each resin sample). Color (DeltaE) and brightness (DeltaL) changes were analyzed by spectrophotometry using the CIE Lab system and surface changes by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). R1 showed more intense color changes after heat exposure than R2. DeltaL values were found to be the best parameter for evaluation of light and color change. A biphasic pattern after thermal exposure was detected, from dark brown to light white. SEM showed more intense alterations in R2 than in R1. These results indicate that the parameters observed in both resins are useful as a guide in forensic analyses.     

US repairs its anti-dilution statute: proof of actual dilution no longer required

The principal change effected by the new TDRA, which becamelaw on 6 October 2006, is the adoption of a likelihood of dilutionstandard of proof, displacing the actual dilution requirementpreviously established by the US Supreme Court.     

To a hammer, everything looks like a nail

Legal context: Trade mark oppositions are routinely filed by brand owners againstan offending application or registration in either a pre-grantor a post-grant procedure before the respective national trademark office, but in Japan, there are several nuanced trade markopposition practice differences that should not be taken forgranted. Key issues: In light of persisting and recent abysmal trade mark opponentsuccess rates, favourable trade mark invalidation appeal (IA)data, and the inherent procedural handicaps against opponentsin Japan's current trade mark opposition system, Trade markowners would be better served by using Japan's trade mark IAprocedures to police against conflicting trade marks in Japanand not mechanistically file oppositions in Japan as one couldin other important trade mark jurisdictions like the USA orEurope. Practical significance: Japan's trade mark opposition and IA procedures offer complementaryoptions to police against conflicting trade marks so choosingthe right procedure is critical to its achieving the mission'ssuccess in curbing competitors' marks in the world's secondlargest free market economy.     

Oh, Court of Equity!

Oh! Court of Equity, misnamed, where doubt Leads many in; whencefew or none, get out;

These woeful opening lines of a poem‘Court of Chancery’ by a Reginald James Blewittin 1827, was the way he took up the tomahawk, as he termed itin his preface, against a dire national enemy. In practice,in Lincoln's Inn, he found the great delay and ruinous expensesof a Chancery suit had become proverbial. After giving up practicehe found the tranquillity of the park at Fontainebleau moreconducive to overcoming his previous anguished existence withhis verse satirizing the tedium of proceedings, its expenseand the follies and conceits of former colleagues. Former colleaguesare named in     

Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in the Channel Islands, James Kessler QC and Paul Matthams

This is the latest in the series of book based upon James Kessler'swell-known book on the simplification of trust drafting. Theco-author of this publication is Paul Matthams, Advocate ofthe Royal Court of     

ASTM standards for fire debris analysis: a review

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) recently updated its standards E 1387 and E 1618 for the analysis of fire debris. The changes in the classification of ignitable liquids are presented in this review. Furthermore, a new standard on extraction of fire debris with solid phase microextraction (SPME) was released. Advantages and drawbacks of this technique are presented and discussed. Also, the standard on cleanup by acid stripping has not been reapproved.Fire debris analysts that use the standards should be aware of these changes.     

Left Realism: a defence

Conclusion Can anything be said in conclusion on the essence of the realist approach? It is important to end by restating that realism originates as a reaction, in current social and political conditions to the absences in radical criminology. These are the absence of a discourse about crime and a refusal to talk about the constructive as opposed to the destructive role of institutions of criminal justice. Realism rejects a utopian strategy of waiting for the state to whither away, knowing that we would only have to reinvent it if it did.The starting point for realism is the strategy of democratization. The maximization of democratic participation is ultimately the solution both to the problem of what is crime and to the problem of how to deal with it. The solution to the problem of criminal justice is the democratization of its institutions while at the same time recognising their necessary functions. The realist programme is concerned with the redrawing of the boundaries between and the transformation of the character of institutionsand communities in accordance with the values of socialist pluralism.     

School-related victimizations among adolescents: An analysis of National Crime Survey (NCS) narratives

This paper uses a heretofore untapped source of information in the National Crime Survey (NCS) victimization data—the interviewer narratives—to explore school-related victimizations among adolescents. These narrative reports provide important information bearing on lifestyle and routine activity theories of victimization that is simply not available from the more familiar, highly structured portions of the NCS questionnaire. The NCS narratives suggest that a large proportion of school-related victimizations stems from peer interactions that occur in the course of routine daily activities and escalate into victimizations. Students represent pools of both potential offenders and potential victims who come in frequent contact with each other, often in the absence of capable guardians. However, rather than predatory, calculated attempts to harm, school-related victimizations among adolescents appear to consist primarily of bullying, injured pride, and misguided mischief. The theoretical and methodological implications of this study are highlighted.