Recovery of trace DNA and its application to DNA profiling of shoe insoles

In recent years, the analysis of trace amounts of DNA has become a necessary and useful forensic tool. DNA profiles can be obtained from items that have been worn or handled, due to the presence of transferred DNA derived from skin cells. Shoeprints collected from crime scenes that match a suspects shoe can link a shoe to the crime scene. A DNA profile from inside the shoe can link a wearer to a shoe thus increasing the evidential value of the forensic evidence. In this work, variation in the amount of DNA recovered from hands and feet of different individuals is investigated. Sites for sampling DNA from shoe insoles are compared and a protocol for the subsequent sampling and extraction is developed. Finally, a case study is described where DNA analysis of shoe insoles has provided forensic evidence.     

Trauma Severity,Poly-victimization,and Treatment Response: Adults in an Inpatient Trauma Program

The goal of the current study was to evaluate the extent to which abuse history predicted change in treatment in an inpatient setting. Poly-victimization and trauma severity were examined as predictors of treatment response measured by the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 and the Symptom Checklist-90-R at admission, discharge, and 6-months follow-up. Data from 161 clients of an inpatient trauma treatment program were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that level of poly-victimization predicted treatment response from admission to discharge on two of four outcome variables; however, this relationship was not found at follow-up. Further analyses suggest that the difference in treatment response at discharge among clients with higher rates of poly-victimization was an artifact of scores at admission. Trauma severity analyses reveal that differing types of abusive experiences generally did not predict treatment response. Overall, results demonstrate that this inpatient treatment program is similarly effective for a broad array of patients, including those with a greater number, and higher severity, of victimizations.     

Girls as “Weapons of Terror” in Northern Uganda and Sierra Leonean Rebel Fighting Forces

Girls—both willingly and unwillingly—participate in terrorist acts within the context of contemporary wars. These acts range from targeting civilians for torture and killing to destroying community infrastructures so that people's physical and psychological health and survival are affected. Girls witness or participate in acts such as mutilation, human sacrifice, forced cannibalism, drug use, and physical and psychological deprivation. This article focuses upon girls in two fighting forces: the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone and their roles as combatants whose primary strategy is perpetrating terrorist acts against civilians. In analyses of gender and terrorism, girls are typically subsumed under the larger category of female, which marginalizes their experiences and fails to recognize that they possess agency and power.     

From Contest to Content: The Impact of Public Journalism on New Zealand Election Campaign Coverage

Supporters of public journalism hope to reengage citizens with politics and overcome the shortcomings of contemporary political journalism. However, there has been little systematic study of how public journalism differs from mainstream journalism. During the 1996 general election campaign in New Zealand, the first under proportional representation, three newspapers, conscious of the challenges imposed by electoral changes, experimented with public journalism coverage. This presented an opportunity to study how coverage as a whole differed from coverage of the previous elections and what specific changes were the result of public journalism initiatives. The researchers analyzed 1,938 stories from a 12-day sample of the New Zealand general election campaign coverage in 1993 and 1996. A total of seven metropolitan and provincial papers were included. The results showed public journalism articles covered proportionally more policy issues and concentrated less on personality than conventional campaign stories. Public journalism stories also were less negative and more neutral in tone and were more inclined to be ''soft'' news, reflecting a tendency to cover issues rather than events. Public journalism articles also were less likely than conventional coverage to cover the campaign from a ''horse race'' angle. The findings provide support for the utility of public journalism in campaign reporting.     

The dual and the exchange‐constrained economy

Nelson's model of the exchange‐constrained economy is compared with Eckaus's model of the dual economy. The purpose of this comparison is to illustrate the similarity of the models in explaining unemployment of one factor as the result of the composition of demand and the scarcity of a second factor. Both authors agree to this point. However, Nelson emphasises that unemployment arises from price rigidity while Eckaus maintains that technological limits of substitution are also important. Policy implications differ depending on whether Nelson's or Eckaus's assumptions are accepted. Currie has suggested that the redistribution of income may reduce unemployment in both circumstances.     

The impact of functional responsibility and state legal constraints on the “revenue-debt” packages of U.S. Central cities

State governments have the power to restrict the revenue and debt sources available to their municipalities. States also have the power to assign functional responsibilities to their municipalities - - some of which can be extremely burdensome financially (educatin; welfare; hospitals). This research examines the effect of these state constraints on: (1) the revenue-debt use patterns; and (2) the fiscal condition of 243 U.S. central cities (FY 1974, FY 1975, 1976).

The results show that the revenue/debt use patterns of cities vary signigficantly according to the restrictions imposed by the state on their taxing, borrowing, and functional responsibility powers. In addition, revenue/debt use patterns differ among ciites experiencing varying levels of distriess. Severely distressed cities are more dependent on external revenue sources (federal, state). They are less capable of generating revenue at the local level and are less flexible in their use of local revenue soruces, depending more hevily on the property tax and less heavily on nonproperty tax and nontax revenue sources than healthier cities. They are also found to be more reliant on full faith and credit (property tax-backed) long-term debt and on short-term debt than the more prosperous cities.

Cities in states imposing heavy restrictions on use of property tax and full faith and credit long-term debt sources but imposing few restrictions on municipa; nonproperty taxing powers are generally the healthiest fiscally. Such state policies have effectively enhanced municipal diversification of both traditional revenue sources and debt sources.

The major significance of this research is the demonstration that state governments have within their policy-making power the ability to affect the fiscal dependency level of their respective municipalities. An activist role is necessary on the part of state governments if they wish to increase their role in municipal fiscal affairs relative to that of the federal government.     

Does local party organisation make a difference? Political parties and local government elections in Germany

Do large and locally organised memberships represent an electoral asset for political parties in a mass media age? Years of political science discussions of different models of party organisation have produced little evidence about whether, or in what way, alternate models matter. This article examines a survey of 549 SPD and CDU local party organisations for evidence of whether ‘mass’ characteristics are associated with electioneering differences. The study finds that mass‐style organisation is associated with more active local campaigns. Local parties which are active throughout the year and which can draw on relatively large membership bases run more active and more varied campaigns.     

Drug Films,Justice, and Nationhood 1

This paper examines how drug traffickers, enforcement, nationhood, and space are represented in illegal drug films. Drawing from a sample of films produced in the United States between 1916 and 2005, this paper examines several drug films in order to explore how past and contemporary films on illegal drugs reflect conventional ideologies about law and order, the nation, and imperialism. Censorship and illegal drug films that challenge and rupture conventional ideologies will also be discussed.     

Altering Risk Following Child Maltreatment: Family and Friend Support as Protective Factors

Although the long-term effects of cumulative childhood maltreatment (CCM) include a variety of adverse consequences, many individuals are resilient following such experiences. This study explored the role of social support from family and friends in buffering long-term outcome following CCM, examining both main and moderating effects. Participants included 344 college aged men and women. Findings revealed strong promotive (main) effects of social support from family and friends that were associated with a reduction in symptoms of depression/anxiety and anger/hostility, regardless of the severity of abuse experienced. Support generally acted as a buffer (moderator) against negative outcomes for individuals with lower, and not higher, levels of CCM. The role of family support in moderating outcome was complex, particularly with respect to women’s later dating victimization; here family support functioned as a protective factor at low CCM, but as a vulnerability factor at high CCM.