Background Levels of Salivary-α-amylase Plus Foreign DNA in Cases of Oral Intercourse: a Female Perspective

Saliva plus DNA from a suspect is commonly encountered in sexual assault cases on bodily swabs. However, without background knowledge, the weight of this evidence is unknown. It may indicate the presence of saliva resulting from cunnilingus, or it may represent indirect transfer. In this study, females who refrained from cunnilingus donated 43 items of underwear and 19 vaginal swabs. The samples were subjected to Phadebas^®, RSID^™-Saliva and mRNA profiling and were subsequently DNA-profiled to determine the prevalence of background saliva in the female population. The results report that 15.8% of females who refrained from cunnilingus were positive for saliva and a further 10.5% also had DNA from unknown source(s). These findings of the rate of indirect transfer were evaluated with the Bayesian approach, and it was found that the evidence of saliva plus a high foreign DNA source adds moderately strong support to the allegation of cunnilingus.     

Saving Private Hegel — Australian Liberalism and the 1914–1918 War

In this essay I explore the pamphlet literature and related sources, in order to assess the effects of the 1914–1918 War on liberal political ideas in Australia. The main focus of the study is the WEA intellectuals in Sydney and Brisbane, and the core group of Deakinite liberals in Melbourne as represented by the overlapping membership of the Boobooks Club and the Round Table. Themes of compulsion, Progressivism, industrial relations, citizenship, and internationalism are examined. In particular the tension which wartime experiences produced within the high idealism of Kantian and Hegelian new liberal political philosophy is investigated. The bitterness caused by the war and the doubts raised about German philosophy help us to understand the decline of statist and idealist elements within liberal thought in Australia. It seems impossible, during the present war, to write any book or to deliver a sermon or an address which does not in some way refer to the war. H.B. Higgins, Socrates, the State and War, p.7     

Beyond (and Within) City Limits: Climate Policy in an Intergovernmental System

This analysis explores the role of city‐level and state‐level variables to explain why some cities make more progress on climate‐related policy implementation than others. Using multilevel modeling, we find little support for the influence of state factors on local government leadership among the 812 cities in the dataset, but local government institutional and community variables are strongly associated with climate policy initiatives. We argue for a rethinking of the notion of the limited and constrained city and suggest that, in the realm of climate protection and environmental policy, cities are leading a bottom‐up federalism. Moreover, where some political analysts and scholars have argued that climate protection and environmental policies may not be economically rational for cities to pursue, we theorize that cities are acting locally to further their self‐interest in an increasingly global economy.     

The Effects of Militarized Interstate Disputes on Incumbent Voting Across Genders

Political Behavior - Gender and politics research argues that men are more hawkish and supportive of militarized confrontations with foreign foes, while women ostensibly prefer more diplomatic...     

Co‐operative labour in peasant agriculture

Co‐operative labour in cultivation activities exists in a wide variety of forms; two main organisational categories are distinguished and the characteristics, socio‐economic correlates, and technical and economic benefits of the most important manifestations of the practice are discussed. An assessment is made of the prospects for the persistence of co‐operative labour in contemporary peasant societies under the impact of certain widespread changes changes in the socio‐economic environment.     

Interview mode effects on estimates of need for alcohol and drug treatment among welfare recipients: evidence from a quasi-experiment

Employing a quasi-experimental design, this study compared responses from face-to-face and telephone surveys of welfare recipients to assess the effects of survey modality on prevalence estimates of alcohol and drug abuse and need for treatment. Samples were drawn from adult welfare recipients in Oklahoma in 2001. We generated 1-year and 30-day prevalence estimates of alcohol and drug use, employed several common measures of substance-related behavioral and physical problems to estimate treatment need, and used odds ratios to compare prevalence estimates. Results indicated that telephone surveys provided estimates that were (1) statistically no different from those of face-to-face administration in the categories used to estimate treatment need and (2) significantly higher than those of face-to-face surveys for admission of ever having a substance problem and driving after consuming alcohol or drugs. We conclude that, for welfare recipients, telephone surveys provide similar data quality about treatment need as do more costly face-to-face interviews, a finding that is important and of practical concern to both practitioners and methodologists. More broadly, we argue that further survey methodology research is required for specific populations and subgroups that are often the focus of criminal justice and public health research and response.