The formation of early stage adipocere in submerged remains: a preliminary experimental study

In some circumstances, the presence of adipocere may retard decomposition and complicate postmortem interval estimation. This article explores the correlation between Accumulated Degree Days (ADD) and early stage formation of adipocere. Sixty wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) carcasses were used in this experiment; a control group (N = 30) deposited directly on the ground surface and an experimental group (N = 30) completely submersed in water in individual buckets. Data (water and inner body temperature, pH, and total body score) were collected every 100 ADD. Results indicated that early stage adipocere is correlated to ADD and that its formation on submersed remains is more likely to occur after 630 ADD. Skin sloughing promoted the formation of adipocere. No adipocere was formed on any of the control group rabbits. This study also highlights the fact that multiple factors influence adipocere formation and it is suggested that further research needs to be conducted into this area.     

Differential decomposition patterns in charred versus un-charred remains

Although researchers have examined many aspects of fire modification, the rate and pattern of decomposition in charred remains have not been studied previously. This study utilized 48 domestic pigs, divided into 24 charred (head, neck, and limbs burned to Crow-Glassman level 1 and torso to level 2) and 24 un-charred pig carcasses. Decomposition of control carcasses was scored at 50 accumulated degree days (ADD) intervals, and charred carcasses were also observed and photographed at this time. A Charred Body Scale was subsequently created, and charred carcasses were scored retrospectively for the same ADD intervals. Analysis using a mixed-effect repeated measures model indicated that, while decomposition rate was not statistically different between the two groups (p = 0.2692), the charred remains initially displayed an ostensibly more advanced pattern. Body regions displaying significant charring decomposed at a faster rate (p < 0.001), while areas with very light levels of charring decomposed at a significantly slower rate (p < 0.001).     

Salaried lawyers and billable hours: a new perspective from the sociology of work

The work of legal professionals is changing rapidly, but the changes have not yet been thoroughly investigated from the perspective of the sociology of work. This paper draws on a research project that examined the work of solicitors in private practice in Melbourne, Australia. It uses in-depth interviews, results of secondary surveys and other data sources in order to describe the dominant working-time patterns. The evidence points to a common pattern of rigid and demanding schedules, which can be traced back to the indirect pressures exerted by the widespread system of ‘billable hours’. The paper takes up the challenge to examine the operation of this system. We argue that the billable hours system, initially just a technique for billing clients, has been transformed into a tool for measuring and controlling the work of salaried solicitors, through setting of targets, close time recording, careful monitoring, and a supple set of sanctions.     

Scotland,NATO, and transatlantic security

This article explores the political and strategic implications of Scottish Independence for existing transatlantic security arrangements. It examines the potential institutional, legal and political obstacles Scotland might face during the transition to independence and discusses the specific challenges in the area of security and defence, including the nuclear issue and the question of what form an independent Scottish Defence Force (SDF) would need to take to allow and facilitate integration in transatlantic security structures. It argues that a number of strategic and political issues could be mitigated in the course of negotiations between Edinburgh and London. Moreover, Scotland's geostrategic position and political orientation make it an important prospective partner in international security cooperation across the Eastern Atlantic, High North and North Sea, which suggests that an advanced partnership with NATO, and eventually full membership, seems like an option that is both politically viable and more likely than any scenario that predicts seeing an independent Scotland (IS) outside these structures. This challenges some of the main strategic and security political arguments against independence and thus seeks to spark a debate about the realistic options for Scotland should it become independent after 2016.     

Good Faith and the Ubiquity of the ‘Relational’ Contract

The judgment of Leggatt J in Yam Seng Pte Ltd v International Trade Corporation Ltd shows the common belief that the English law of contract does not have a doctrine of good faith to be mistaken. That law does not have a general principle of good faith, but its doctrine of good faith, articulated through numerous specific duties, is more suitable for the interpretation of contracts according to the intentions of the parties than a general principle which invites the imposition of exogenous standards. That Yam Seng involved a relational contract does not mean that paternalistic exogenous standards should be imposed. It means that the good faith obligations essential even to a commercial contract of this sort must be implied in order to give efficacy to the fundamentally co‐operative contractual relationship.     

A Preliminary Examination of Differential Decomposition Patterns in Mass Graves

Five pairs of mass graves, each containing carcasses of 21 rabbits, were used to examine differential decomposition at four locations within the burial: surface, deep, mid‐outer, and core. Every 100 accumulated degree days (ADD), a pair of graves was exhumed, and total body score (TBS) and internal carcass temperature of each rabbit were recorded. Decomposition did not differ for core‐ and deep‐positioned carcasses (p = 0.13); differences were significant (p < 0.001) for all other location comparisons. Decomposition occurred fastest in shallow carcasses, followed by mid‐outer carcasses; deep and core carcasses decomposed slowest and at rates not significantly different from one another. Adipocere formation was minimal and confined to deep carcasses. Carcass location within the mass grave significantly influenced internal carcass temperature (p < 0.001); a mean internal temperature difference of ca. 1°C existed between deep and shallow carcasses (30 cm apart). Effects of mass compactness and oxygenation require further investigation.     

Medical regulation of cognitive enhancement devices: some concerns

The authors present a cogent and detailed case for altering the Medical Devices Directive to allow regulation of cognitive enhancement devices (CEDs). Protection against significant risk of harm, especially for the vulnerable, and promotion of benefit through informed use of CEDs are all good features of the proposal. However, the pre-market approval process has limitations, which we explore. We raise the possibility of ‘risk compensation’ in response to the introduction of safety measures, which could alter its effectiveness. The proposal alludes to use of ‘formally trained practitioners,’ which provide a further tier of regulation for CEDs within the proposal. We consider some positive and negative implications of this aspect of the proposal that might warrant further consideration.     

Innovation in Communication and Media Studies: Reflections from South African Academics

Abstract

This article discusses the possibility of a discipline of communication and media studies that is innovative, pluralistic and open in ways that conduce to development. Based on a set of in-depth interviews with a select group of South African communication and media studies scholars, the article discusses critically how, and if, communication and media studies as a field is innovative. Innovation here talks to a discipline that is imaginatively open to a myriad of different, diverse and divergent contributions relevant to the human endeavour of understanding the world in ways that better humanity. In doing this, the authors critically explore how the discipline is perceived variously by the scholars interviewed as enabling, encompassing and embodying innovation in research, teaching, curricula, theory, methodology, resourcing, and community outreach. As such the article addresses a span of issues that either support or inhibit innovation.     

The Search for “Fred”: An Unusual Vertical Burial Case,

Police witness intelligence stated a murdered adult male “Fred” had been vertically buried in wooded hilly terrain 30 years ago in the Midlands, U.K. Conventional search methods were unsuccessful; therefore, the police requested a geophysical investigation to be undertaken to determine whether “Fred” could be detected. A multiphased geophysical approach was conducted, using bulk ground conductivity and metal detectors, then follow‐up magnetics and ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey profiles on electromagnetic (EM) anomalous areas. A tight grid pattern was used to account for the reduced target size. Relatively high‐resolution EM and GPR techniques were determined optimal for this terrain and sandy soil. Geophysical anomalies were identified and the most promising intrusively investigated, and this was found to be a large boulder and tree roots. Study implications suggest careful multiphase geophysical surveys are best practice and give confidence in cold case searches. This study yielded a no‐body result, effectively saving police time and costs from further investigations.     

Blessed be Discord, 1910: Ricardo Flores Magón's Manifesto Mode

This article explores how Ricardo Flores Magón used images to transpose the graphic tradition of nineteenth-century Mexican political journalism into prose by deploying montage to craft both allegorical and prismatic images: while certain images are divorced from their original context and take on a new life, others, analogically related to a single idea, appear prismatically in fragments on the page. The affinities Flores Magón's writing shared with modernismo and the historical avant garde – as intensification of the former and precursor of the latter – have been a blind spot for literary history, to which this article attempts to restore the importance of his writing.