Sexual Orientation Discrimination after Grant v South-West Trains

In Grant v South-West Trains [1998] ECR I-621, the European Court of Justice implied that, as a general matter, discrimination against an employee on the ground of sexual orientation did not violate Article 141 EC. This article argues that Grant rests on shaky foundations, in that it is conceptually inconsistent with the Court's earlier decision in P v S and Cornwall County Council [1996] ECR I-2143. Furthermore, the scope of Grant has since been qualified by decisions of the European Court of Human Rights – decisions which may well have undermined the status of the case more broadly. However these difficulties are ultimately resolved, the Court of Justice's treatment of sexual orientation discrimination exposes flaws in its approach as a self-proclaimed constitutional court.     

Estimation and evidence in forensic anthropology: age-at-death

A great deal has previously been written about the use of skeletal morphological changes in estimating ages-at-death. This article looks in particular at the pubic symphysis, as it was historically one of the first regions to be described in the literature on age estimation. Despite the lengthy history, the value of the pubic symphysis in estimating ages and in providing evidence for putative identifications remains unclear. This lack of clarity primarily stems from the fact that rather ad hoc statistical methods have been applied in previous studies. This article presents a statistical analysis of a large data set (n = 1766) of pubic symphyseal scores from multiple contexts, including anatomical collections, war dead, and victims of genocide. The emphasis is in finding statistical methods that will have the correct "coverage."Coverage" means that if a method has a stated coverage of 50%, then approximately 50% of the individuals in a particular pubic symphyseal stage should have ages that are between the stated age limits, and that approximately 25% should be below the bottom age limit and 25% above the top age limit. In a number of applications it is shown that if an appropriate prior age-at-death distribution is used, then "transition analysis" will provide accurate "coverages," while percentile methods, range methods, and means (+/-standard deviations) will not. Even in cases where there are significant differences in the mean ages-to-transition between populations, the effects on the stated age limits for particular "coverages" are minimal. As a consequence, more emphasis needs to be placed on collecting data on age changes in large samples, rather than focusing on the possibility of inter-population variation in rates of aging.     

Statistical discrimination of liquid gasoline samples from casework

The intention of this study was to differentiate liquid gasoline samples from casework by utilizing multivariate pattern recognition procedures on data from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A supervised learning approach was undertaken to achieve this goal employing the methods of principal component analysis (PCA), canonical variate analysis (CVA), orthogonal canonical variate analysis (OCVA), and linear discriminant analysis. The study revealed that the variability in the sample population was sufficient enough to distinguish all the samples from one another knowing their groups a priori. CVA was able to differentiate all samples in the population using only three dimensions, while OCVA required four dimensions. PCA required 10 dimensions of data in order to predict the correct groupings. These results were all cross-validated using the "jackknife" method to confirm the classification functions and compute estimates of error rates. The results of this initial study have helped to develop procedures for the application of multivariate analysis to fire debris casework.     

Preparation of Tool Mark Standards with Jewelry Modeling Waxes

Abstract:  This paper presents how jewelry modeling waxes are used in the preparation of tool mark standards from exemplar tools. We have previously found that jewelry modeling waxes are ideal for preparing test tool marks from exemplar tools. In this study, simple methods and techniques are offered for the replication of accurate, highly detailed tool mark standards with jewelry modeling waxes. The techniques described here demonstrate the conditioning and proper use of jewelry modeling wax in the production of tool mark standards. The application of each test tool's working surface to a piece of the appropriate wax in a manner consistent with the tool's design is clearly illustrated. The resulting tool mark standards are exact, highly detailed, 1:1, negative impressions of the exemplar tool's working surface. These wax models have a long shelf life and are suitable for use in microscopic examination comparison of questioned and known tool marks.     

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union: Three Competing Syllogisms

The Miller case concerned the constitutional requirements for the UK to give notice of its intention to withdraw from the EU pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. The parties made submissions in terms of two competing syllogisms. The Government argued that ministers, exercising Crown prerogative, had the power to give notice without statutory authorisation. The Applicants argued that the process required authorisation by Act of Parliament because the UK's withdrawal would deprive people of rights arising under EU law. However, a majority of the Supreme Court decided in favour of the Applicants based on a third and significantly different syllogism, based on the proposition that the European Communities Act had established EU law‐making and law‐interpreting institutions as new ‘sources of law’. This note assesses the three competing syllogisms and examines the constitutional significance of the majority's proposition that these new EU sources of law were integrated into UK domestic law without disrupting the principle of parliamentary sovereignty.     

Effects of Re‐heating Tissue Samples to Core Body Temperature on High‐Velocity Ballistic Projectile–tissue Interactions

Damage produced by high‐speed projectiles on organic tissue will depend on the physical properties of the tissues. Conditioning organic tissue samples to human core body temperature (37°C) prior to conducting ballistic experiments enables their behavior to closely mimic that of living tissues. To minimize autolytic changes after death, the tissues are refrigerated soon after their removal from the body and re‐heated to 37°C prior to testing. This research investigates whether heating 50‐mm‐cube samples of porcine liver, kidney, and heart to 37°C for varying durations (maximum 7 h) can affect the penetration response of a high‐speed, steel sphere projectile. Longer conditioning times for heart and liver resulted in a slight loss of velocity/energy of the projectile, but the reverse effect occurred for the kidney. Possible reasons for these trends include autolytic changes causing softening (heart and liver) and dehydration causing an increase in density (kidney).     

Age‐Dependent Fracture Characteristics of Rigid and Compliant Surface Impacts on the Infant Skull—A Porcine Model*,†

Abstract: This study documents skull fracture characteristics on infant porcine specimens under known impact conditions with respect to age and interface. A single impact causing fracture was conducted on the skull of porcine specimens aged 2–28 days (n = 76). Paired rigid and compliant impacts at the same energy were conducted at each specimen age. Impact force, impact duration, and fracture length were recorded. Energy required to initiate skull fracture increased with specimen age. For a given energy, impact of the skull with a compliant interface caused more fracture damage than with a rigid interface for specimens aged under 17 days, but less damage for specimens aged 24–28 days. The documentation of energy required to cause fracture and resulting fracture propagation with respect to impact interface and age may be of critical importance in forensic investigations of infant skull trauma.     

Towards a Model Public Sector Integrity Commission

This article examines the current debate in Australia about public sector integrity and the idea of a standing anticorruption commission. From this debate the article outlines a specific type of ‘public sector integrity commission’ that in principle should have the necessary powers and techniques at its disposal to minimise corruption while ensuring efficiency and fairness. The debate has been most active in jurisdictions that have not had an anticorruption commission – mainly in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania – but debate about integrity commissions has occurred in all jurisdictions. The authors argue that anticorruption commissions are essential to ensure the integrity of the public sector and that a model commission should: cover all elements of the public sector; independently investigate serious and mid‐level complaints; have own motion powers to investigate any matter; have summary authority to apply administrative sanctions; make use of a range of investigative tools; not be tasked with combating major and organised crime; and be held accountable to citizens through a parliamentary committee and a parliamentary inspector.     

A Genetic Basis for Social Trust?

A propensity to believe that fellow citizens will not act against our interests in social and economic transactions has been identified as key to the effective functioning of democratic polities. Yet the causes of this type of ‘generalized’ or ‘social’ trust are far from clear. To date, researchers within the social and political sciences have focused almost exclusively on social-developmental and political/institutional features of individuals and societies as the primary causal influences. In this paper we investigate the intriguing possibility that social trust might have a genetic, as well as an environmental basis. We use data collected from samples of monozygotic and dizygotic twins to estimate the additive genetic, shared environmental, and non-shared environmental components of trust. Our results show that the majority of the variance in a multi-item trust scale is accounted for by an additive genetic factor. On the other hand, the environmental influences experienced in common by sibling pairs have no discernable effect; the only environmental influences appear to be those that are unique to the individual. Our findings problematise the widely held view that the development of social trust occurs through a process of familial socialization at an early stage of the life course.