Use of forensic investigations in anti-doping

The fight against doping is mainly focused on direct detection, using analytical methods for the detection of doping agents in biological samples. However, the World Anti-Doping Code also defines doping as possession, administration or attempted administration of prohibited substances or methods, trafficking or attempted trafficking in any prohibited substance or methods. As these issues correspond to criminal investigation, a forensic approach can help assessing potential violation of these rules. In the context of a rowing competition, genetic analyses were conducted on biological samples collected in infusion apparatus, bags and tubing in order to obtain DNA profiles. As no database of athletes' DNA profiles was available, the use of information from the location detection as well as contextual information were key to determine a population of suspected athletes and to obtain reference DNA profiles for comparison. Analysis of samples from infusion systems provided 8 different DNA profiles. The comparison between these profiles and 8 reference profiles from suspected athletes could not be distinguished. This case-study is one of the first where a forensic approach was applied for anti-doping purposes. Based on this investigation, the International Rowing Federation authorities decided to ban not only the incriminated athletes, but also the coaches and officials for 2 years.     

Craniofacial reconstruction as a prediction problem using a Latent Root Regression model

In this paper, we present a computer-assisted method for facial reconstruction. This method provides an estimation of the facial shape associated with unidentified skeletal remains. Current computer-assisted methods using a statistical framework rely on a common set of extracted points located on the bone and soft-tissue surfaces. Most of the facial reconstruction methods then consist of predicting the position of the soft-tissue surface points, when the positions of the bone surface points are known. We propose to use Latent Root Regression for prediction. The results obtained are then compared to those given by Principal Components Analysis linear models. In conjunction, we have evaluated the influence of the number of skull landmarks used. Anatomical skull landmarks are completed iteratively by points located upon geodesics which link these anatomical landmarks, thus enabling us to artificially increase the number of skull points. Facial points are obtained using a mesh-matching algorithm between a common reference mesh and individual soft-tissue surface meshes. The proposed method is validated in term of accuracy, based on a leave-one-out cross-validation test applied to a homogeneous database. Accuracy measures are obtained by computing the distance between the original face surface and its reconstruction. Finally, these results are discussed referring to current computer-assisted reconstruction facial techniques.     

The household effect on electoral participation. A contextual analysis of voter signatures from a French polling station (1982–2007)

We use electoral participation data coded from signature lists to show that patterns of voter turnout, be they related to average participation, versatility or precise moments of voting, are strongly related to what we call “electorate households”, i.e. groups of voters registered in the same polling station and living together. Each household tends to be homogeneous, at levels much higher than chance would explain, so that modelling individual participation without taking this household effect into account ignores much of what actually happens. The status in the household also plays an important role among individual factors of voter participation. Not only do people who live together often participate together, but the precise shape of their relationships influences their behaviour.     

Desert Groove

<正>From the far southern reaches of the Sahara,a musical trio brings Tuareg culture to China Born to a family of blacksmiths in the city of Agadez,on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in Niger,nothing predestined Goumour Omar Adam to become a musician.In fact,his journey into music was     

Civil and civic death in the new authoritarianisms: punishment of dissidents through juridical destruction,ethical ruin,and necropolitics in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Since the Turkish government’s recent turn to authoritarianism, tens of thousands of public dissidents and government critics have been subjected to dismissals and revocation of civic rights via emergency decrees. The victims call this process ‘civil death’. We aim to understand the logic behind this form of punishment in Turkey by examining the differential genealogy of civil death in the work of Hannah Arendt, Bertrand Ogilvie, Giorgio Agamben, and Achille Mbembe. We demonstrate that a later form of civil death was used by totalitarian regimes in a process leading to the reduction of targeted individuals as ‘superfluous’ and as ‘living corpses’ in concentration camps. In these contexts, death became an instrument of biopolitical and necropolitical powers. We propose that although contemporary punishment of public dissidents in Turkey shares some similarities with these forms of civil death, it may more fittingly be identified as civic death. We argue that while civil death is based on the classical political right of the sovereign to ‘make die’ after first reducing targeted individuals to little more than living corpses, civic death is linked to the power of the sovereign to ‘let die’ through the exclusion of public dissidents from economic, social, and political life.     

Explaining Sexual Harassment Judgments: Looking Beyond Gender of the Rater

Law and Human Behavior - In two decades of research on sexual harassment, one finding that appears repeatedly is that gender of the rater influences judgments about sexual harassment such that...     

Pellagra: a rare disease observed in a victim of mental and physical abuse

Lesions of the brain stem and cerebellum due to nutritional deficiencies are mostly seen in chronic alcohol abuse and more rarely in severe malnutrition. We report the case of a 27-year-old woman, found dead in the family flat. She presented cachexia (167 cm, 25 kg) and multiple hematomas of the limbs. Postmortem examination revealed lesions due to peritonitis. Neuropathological examination showed severe atrophy of the corpus callosum and central neuronal chromatolysis, which are observed in pellagra. Inflammatory colitis or celiac disease was not found. Toxicological analysis was negative, in particular no alcohol absorption. Pellagra, which is due to nicotinamide deficiency, is a disease rarely seen in this country. In this case, nutritional deficiency was the consequence of failure to eat in a context of abuse. The woman was born of an incestuous relationship and presented intellectual retardation due to poor affective relations with her mother.