The use of SEM/EDS analysis to distinguish dental and osseus tissue from other materials

With increasing frequency, relatively small, fragmentary evidence thought to be osseous or dental tissue of human origin is submitted to the forensic laboratory for DNA analysis with the request for positive identification. Prior to performing DNA analysis, however, it is prudent to first perform a presumptive test or "screen" to determine whether the questioned material may be eliminated from further consideration. When material is shown not to be consistent with bone/teeth, DNA testing is not performed. When such determinations cannot be made from gross morphological features, elemental analysis can be indicative. This presumptive test is made possible by applying scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) in conjunction with an X-ray spectral database recently developed by the FBI laboratory. This database includes spectra for many different materials including known examples of bone and tooth from many different contexts and representing the full range of taphonomic conditions. Results of SEM/EDS analysis of evidence can be compared to these standards to determine if they are consistent with bone and/or tooth and, if not, then what the material might represent. Analysis suggests that although the proportions and amounts of calcium and phosphorus are particularly important in differentiating bone and tooth from other materials, other minor differences in spectral profile can also provide significant discrimination. Analysis enables bone and tooth to be successfully distinguished from other materials in most cases. Exceptions appear to be ivory, mineral apatite, and perhaps some types of corals.     

Value Conflict and Policy Change

The analysis of policy change has produced a number of contrasting theoretical approaches, each offering a lens through which to view policy phenomena. This article suggests that the existing menu of approaches for understanding change can be usefully complemented by an understanding of the role played by value conflict. Using institutionalist analysis, I argue that the need to make value‐choices in a nondisruptive way shapes large areas of government activity, particularly in Westminster systems, and explains many observed patterns of stability and change. Building on work by Thacher and Rein, I describe and characterize six types of response to value conflict, giving examples of the role and implications of each. It is not claimed that all policy change can be understood in this way—simply that some types of change reflect the value‐based nature of public policy itself, and the fact that political and bureaucratic systems must evolve mechanisms for dealing simultaneously with thousands of competing and conflicting policy values.     

Municipal Bond Insurance: Trends and Prospects

Privately sold bond insurance is the most common form of credit enhancement for municipal bonds. Research generally finds that bond insurance reduces interest costs for lower rated, long–term debt issues. Researchers have concluded that these results are consistent with presumed investor risk aversion, as well as more "rational" risk management behaviors, and with theories concerning the efficiency–enhancing properties of financial intermediation in imperfect markets. We propose a research agenda based both on traditional theories and on additional hypotheses that seek to account for the observed use of bond insurance where net savings would not normally be predicted.     

Fission and Federalism: The Disaggregation of Canadian Party Activists

This article focuses on the Progressive Conservative (PC) partyof Canada and contrasts the orientations of four different setsof PC party workers: those who are active in the provincialarena in Nova Scotia and in Alberta, as well as those who areactive in the national arena from the same two provinces. Thedata reveal that federalism has had a disaggregative effecton Canadian political party ideology. Not only is the cleavagebetween activists in different orders of government consistentlylarge; it also generally exceeds that which exists between activistsin different provinces.     

Police Responses to Sexual Assault Complaints: The Role of Perpetrator/Complainant Intoxication

This study explored the impact of victim and perpetrator alcohol consumption on police officers' evaluations of an alleged sexual assault and their reported likelihood of charging the perpetrator. Two hundred and twelve police officers were presented with a vignette depicting an acquaintance rape in which the beverage consumption (beer, cola) of both the victim and perpetrator was systematically varied. Results indicated that the officers' perceptions of the complainant's intoxication level, as well as the gender of the officer, influenced officers' evaluations of the alleged sexual assault. The more intoxicated the complainant was perceived to be, the more negatively she was viewed. Female police officers evaluated the victim more favorably than male officers. The only factors related to the officers' likelihood of charging the perpetrator, however, involved their assessment of the complainant's credibility and their perception of the likelihood that the perpetrator would be found guilty in a court of law.