Simultaneous and Sequential Anticommons

This paper defines a framework for anticommons analysis based on the fragmentation of property rights. In differentiating between sequential and simultaneous cases of property fragmentation, we describe and assess the equilibria obtained under each scenario. Our model reveals how the private incentives of excluders do not capture the external effects of their decisions. Moreover, our model suggests that the result of underutilization of joint property increases monotonically in both (a) the extent of fragmentation; and (b) the foregone synergies and complementarities between the property fragments. Within this context, we can therefore explore important implications for possible institutional responses to a range of issues raised by the concept of property fragmentation.     

Duality in Property: Commons and Anticommons

Commons and anticommons problems are the consequence of symmetric structural departures from a unified conception of property. In this paper, we provide a dual model of property, where commons and anticommons problems are the consequence of a lack of conformity between use and exclusion rights. While commons and anticommons problems are symmetric in this sense, they are associated with asymmetric transaction costs. The paper formulates a hypothesis of legal rules for promoting unity in property and suggests a list of possible areas of application.     

Church,marriage, and legitimacy in the British West Indies (nineteenth and twentieth centuries)

The British West Indies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries exhibit an extremely high proportion of non-marital unions as well as the highest rates of illegitimacy in the world. A large number of explanations have been proposed, including slavery, the West African heritage, the imbalance between sexes, and the low-wage economy. The present article introduces an additional factor: the degree of control exerted by the Christian churches on conjugal behavior. One consequence of the British West Indian variant of Christianization was a class-specific differentiation in how firmly orthodox forms of European Christianity came to be anchored in the indigenous populations. While the clergy of the Christian churches after 1838 exerted relatively strong control upon the white upper class and the colored and black middle class, their control was weaker over lower classes. This led to a class-specific differentiation in the institutionalization of the Christian European marriage model, which— after 1838—was fully adopted by the upper and middle classes, but only partially among the lower class.     

Influence of multiple injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on urine and serum endogenous steroids concentrations

Since it is established that human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) affects testosterone production and release in the human body, the use of this hormone as a performance enhancing drug has been prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Nowadays, the only validated biomarker of a hCG doping is its direct quantification in urine. However, this specific parameter is subjected to large inter-individual variability and its determination is directly dependent on the reliability of hCG immunoassays used. In order to counteract these weaknesses, new biomarkers need to be evidenced. To address this issue, a pilot clinical study was performed on 10 volunteers submitted to 3 subsequent hCG injections. Blood and urine samples were collected during two weeks in order to follow the physiological effects on related compounds such as the steroid profile or hormones involved in the hypothalamo-pituitary axis. The hCG pharmacokinetic observed in all subjects was, as expected, prone to important inter-individual variations. Using ROC plots, level of testosterone and testosterone on luteinizing hormone ratio in both blood and urine were found to be the most relevant biomarker of a hCG abuse, regardless of inter-individual variations. In conclusion, this study showed the crucial importance of reliable quantification methods to assess low differences in hormonal patterns. In regard to these results and to anti-doping requirements and constraints, blood together with urine matrix should be included in the anti-doping testing program. Together with a longitudinal follow-up approach it could constitute a new strategy to detect a hCG abuse, applicable to further forms of steroid or other forbidden drug manipulation.     

Detection of latent fingerprints by the use of silver nitrate

Silver nitrate has been an established agent for the detection of latent fingerprints for some 120 years, and it was one of the few reagents suitable for use on porous surfaces until ninhydrin was introduced in forensics. The method is based on the reaction of silver ions with chlorides in the fingerprints, which are visualized in brown, violet or black. The literature describes many variations of the procedure, but the information provided is often vague and imprecise. The purpose of this study was to show whether this method can also be used on modern types of paper and how it should be applied. The results of the tests showed that silver nitrate solutions do work also on modern papers, but that they cannot be recommended as a standard, because the appearance of the prints and the paper background can strongly change in the course of time. The findings also do not justify the use of methanol-containing silver nitrate solutions in contrast to the variations based on water. For reasons of occupational safety, methanol, which is classified as poisonous, should not be used. The silver nitrate method may be taken into consideration, however, e.g. after the application of ninhydin, if there are hints that the potential fingerprints are not too old, have not been affected by moisture and if there are clues that the perpetrator perspired strongly while causing the prints.     

Self-inflicted burns: the value of collaboration between medicine and law

Self-inflicted burns are rare in France, but they lead to major, often life-threatening complications. The authors reviewed medical data for patients hospitalized in a burn center from January 2004 to December 2008. Thirty-eight cases of self-inflicted burns were compared with 220 accidental burns. Women were predominantly affected (57.9%, n = 22). A psychiatric history (71%, n = 27) was more frequent in this population. The mean age of the victims was 38 years. The leading method of suicide was flame (94%, n = 36) associated with gasoline used as an accelerant (77.7%, n = 28). Mean total burn surface area (41.5%) and mortality (36.9%) were higher in the self-inflicted burn population. By recognizing epidemiological characteristics and patients at risk, we can better classify lesions related to self-immolation. It is important for the forensic physician to consult survival details to correlate these data with the results of autopsy.     

Retropharyngeal Hematoma Secondary to Cervical Spine Surgery: Report of One Fatal Case

A 53‐year‐old woman suffering from radicular pain due to cervical herniation underwent a spinal surgery consisting of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with an implantable titanium cage. Five hours after the procedure, the patient developed cervical swelling and dyspnea. An emergency surgery permitted evacuation of a deep cervical hematoma and intubation of the patient, who died some minutes later. The family of the deceased lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor because of unclear circumstances of death. After analysis of the medical records by two forensic pathologists, a medicolegal autopsy was ordered. Massive retropharyngeal and mediastinal hematomas were diagnosed. Pathological study confirmed acute cervical hemorrhage, but failed to detect the source of bleeding. The forensic pathologists concluded that death was due to mechanical asphyxia secondary to pharyngeal compression by the cervical hematoma. To the best of our knowledge, death secondary to retropharyngeal hematoma in this neurosurgical context is rarely encountered.     

Human coxal bone sexual dimorphism and multislice computed tomography: geometric morphometric analysis of 65 adults

The authors studied sexually dimorphic differences in coxal shape using geometric morphometric analysis of 15 osteometric landmarks recorded by multislice computed tomography (MSCT), based on three-dimensional reconstructions of 65 Caucasian adults. Geometric morphometric analysis, principal component analysis, canonical variates analysis, and other discriminant analysis (Goodall's F-test and Mahalanobis distance) were performed for the three separate bones of the left innominate (pubis, ilium, and ischium), the modified pubis (pubis and ischiopubic ramus), the modified ilium (ilium and ischial spine), three bone complexes (ischiopubic, iliopubic, and ilio-ischial), and the complete innominate. A cross-validation test was also performed. All areas studied were dimorphic, but results for sexual dimorphism in decreasing order were as follows: the modified pubis, followed by the ischiopubic complex, the iliopubic complex and the complete innominate, the pubis, the modified ilium, the ilio-ischial complex, the ilium, and finally the ischium. These results show the potential of this approach for future anthropological research.