Sex determination by PCR analysis of DNA extracted from incinerated, deciduous teeth.

Establishing the biological sex of human remains is a very important part of identifying victims of fire when severe soft tissue destruction has occurred. Deciduous (children's) teeth were exposed to a range of incineration temperatures 100-500 degrees C for 15 minutes. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification was used to identify specific human amelogenin regions. There was successful identification of human biological sex, from deciduous teeth exposed to incineration temperatures of 200 degrees C and below, using standard ethidium bromide gel staining. There was greater sensitivity using fragment analysis by laser induced fluorescence which achieved sex identification from some teeth heated to 400 degrees C.     

Latent Fingerprint Visualization using a Scanning Kelvin Probe in Conjunction with Vacuum Metal Deposition

The application of vacuum metal deposition before scanning Kelvin probe visualization of fingerprints is investigated. The potential contrast between fingerprint ridges and furrows is maximized by the use of silver deposition for non‐noble metals and gold–zinc deposition for noble metals. The higher susceptibility of eccrine fingerprints to vacuum metal overdeposition is confirmed. Additionally, fingerprints are best developed individually and by building the metal deposition slowly to protect against overdevelopment and variation in the rate of metal condensation. The progress of the metal deposition can be monitored using the scanning Kelvin probe by reference to the change in potential and continuity of the new potential on the surface. The use of acetic acid solution for the recovery of overVMD‐developed samples is shown not to be useful. Applying the metal deposition has the additional prospect of increasing surface conductivity and homogeneity and both can aid fingerprint visualization using the scanning Kelvin probe.     

A more-than-human political moment (and other natural catastrophes)

Catastrophic events such as wildfires are predicted to increase and intensify because of climate change. This paper speculates on how politics may look within such a context by deploying Rancière's political theorisations. We examine how a posthumanist re-configuration of this humanist notion of politics contributes to thinking about, acting for, and living within a rapidly changing climate. Specifically, we make a case for “more-than-human” political moments using the illustration of wildness – in the form of a wildfire – breaking free of wilderness and burning the settled lands of human habitation. In doing so, we draw on a relational ontology that re-configures agency and speech as “more-than-human”.     

What motivates adherence to medical recommendations? The procedural justice approach to gaining deference in the medical arena

Although it is within their long‐term interest, patients often fail to follow health care recommendations made by medical experts. This failure results in the widespread occurrence of preventable health problems and a significant increase in health care costs. Taking a new approach to confronting this issue, this paper examines whether the procedural justice model, which has been useful in explaining cooperation with legal and managerial authorities, can provide a basis for increasing patients' willingness to voluntarily adhere to health care recommendations. Three studies tested and supported this proposition. Study 1 experimentally manipulated physicians' procedural fairness or unfairness to explore its influence on patients' acceptance of doctors' recommendations. Study 2 used patients' reports about the fairness of their personal physicians and linked those evaluations to their willingness to follow their doctor's recommendations. Finally, study 3 explored the role of general procedural justice judgments in promoting willingness to accept health policies when they are advocated by private doctors and government health care authorities. The results of all three studies support the argument that when health care authorities use fair procedures, patients are more likely to accept their recommendations. Importantly, this procedural justice effect is distinct from, and in some cases stronger than, the influence of competence.     

Regional Arrangements,Securitization, and Transnational Security Challenges: The African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Compared

This article seeks to contribute to debates about how regional arrangements construct and respond to threat agendas. It does so by using the literature on the concept of securitization to explore the processes through which the African Union (AU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have dealt with contemporary transnational challenges. After providing an overview of the Copenhagen School's (CS) understanding of securitization, we examine the main problems and limitations that emerge when attempting to apply the concept of securitization to regional arrangements in the developing world. The article explores in particular the extent to which the AU and ASEAN have securitized the transnational challenges on their agendas. We conclude that in both cases the impact of security culture as well as unresolved conceptual and methodological issues raise significant questions when seeking to apply securitization theory outside of Europe.     

The CIA's Covert Predator Drone War in Pakistan, 2004–2010: The History of an Assassination Campaign

This article provides the first overview of the CIA's secret drone campaign against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas from its origins in 2001's Operation Enduring Freedom to the end of 2010. In the process it addresses the spatial dimensions of the campaign (where are the strikes being directed and where do the drones fly from), Pakistani reactions to this threat to both their sovereignty and an internal Taliban enemy, technological developments and Taliban and Al Qaeda responses to this unprecedented airborne assassination campaign. While the debate on this issue has often been driven by the extremes which either support the campaign as the most effective tool in killing terrorists or condemn it for driving Pakistanis to new levels of anti-Americanism, this article points out a third path. Namely, that many Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen living in the targeted areas support the strikes against the Taliban who have terrorized them in recent years.     

Democratization in the Balkans: Challenges and prospects

The post‐communist states of the Balkans face daunting challenges as they experiment with pluralism. The absence of a strong democratic tradition, national rivalries within and between states, weak civil society, and the impact of communism on political culture, complicate the emergence of open politics. There is a lack of agreement about the management of political competition and an absence of political institutions able to integrate conflicting forces. Compared with democratizing southern Europe, the Balkans faces numerous handicaps, and support from heartland democracies has been meagre. The fate of democracy may well be determined by events outside local control, namely the economic situation and the outcome of the war in former Yugoslavia.     

Part-time Work,Job Satisfaction and Well-being: Evidence from a Developing OECD Country

We estimate the effects of part-time work on job and life satisfaction using new data for Chile. While part-time work is being promoted to increase female labour participation in many countries, there are concerns about its quality and the overall effect on well-being of such policies. We estimate models for job and life satisfaction addressing for endogeneity and selectivity bias. We found that part-time work has a negative effect on job satisfaction and well-being for men; however, when looking at just women, the negative effect is reversed. This should be considered when designing public policies oriented at increasing female labour participation through part-time work.     

Aid as an encounter at the interface: the complexity of the global fight against poverty

International development discourse has recently shifted its focus from top‐down economic adjustment to participative anti‐poverty policy. This shift hints at an acknowledgement of the local complexities within the poverty process and at a need to listen to and develop actions with the ‘poor’. But, whereas the mainstream argument remains couched in a technical framework, we argue that the fight against poverty is inevitably political. Conceptualising the aid industry as a set of global–local interfaces, it follows that a closer look at ‘participation’ in anti‐poverty interventions is needed to come to grips with the political issues involved. Four issues are discussed: the complexity of local ‘participation’, given the ‘polycephalous’ character of third world societies; the power biases in the aid chain; the potential problem of ‘false consciousness’; and the ambiguities of the role of local development brokers. We conclude that anti‐poverty policy is in need of ‘interface experts’, who, through ‘provocation’ can beget ‘participation’.