Gender Determination of Adult Individuals by Three‐Dimensional Modeling of Canines

Gender determination is a fundamental issue in forensic anthropology. Many techniques based on bone and dental remains have been proposed. It is not always possible to implement the techniques using bones, but teeth are often perfectly preserved. It has been demonstrated that the canine has the greatest sexual dimorphism, and the aim of this work was to provide an easy and accurate dental technique for determining the gender in the absence of other skeletal elements. The sample was composed of 210 CT scans with four healthy canines. The 840 canines were modeled using MIMICS^® 10.01 software. The total volume of each tooth was determined. Seven mathematical models were determined by binary logistic regressions and ranked in order of relative performance. The seven proposed predictive models thus performed (0.910 ≤ AUC ≤ 0.938), with overall rates of correct predictions between 82.38 and 85.24%. The 4‐canine model is the most powerful for predicting the gender.     

Sex Determination from the Second Cervical Vertebra: A Test of Wescott’s Method on a Modern American Sample*

Abstract: Numerous methods for establishing a biological profile exist; however, many of these methods rely on the recovery of several specific bones or on fragile skeletal elements that are sometimes irrecoverable. It is for this reason new methods utilizing other previously under‐documented bones should be established and tested by the forensic anthropological community. This study tests the accuracy of Wescott’s (J Forensic Sci 2000;45(2)) method for determining sex from the second cervical vertebra. Specimens were drawn from the donated skeletal collection curated at the Hamilton County Forensic Center (n = 57) and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection (n = 243). Both intra‐ and inter‐observer error rates were low and accurate classifications ranged from 78% (females‐Function 1) to 90.6% (males‐Function 5). Of the five functions, Function 4 achieved the highest overall accuracy, with 260 individuals (86.7%) falling into the correct category. Overall, this method is an effective classificatory tool for sex estimation.     

薄层CT扫描技术在锁骨胸骨端骨龄评估中的应用进展

评估锁骨胸骨端骨龄对于推断青少年是否已满18周岁法定责任年龄具有实用价值,传统的研究方法主要基于X线检查,但由于锁骨胸骨端与相邻的肺、支气管、胸骨、肋骨及胸椎横突等解剖结构相互重叠,通过X线观察锁骨胸骨端骨骺发育时,较易出现假阴性或假阳性的阅片结果,直接影响骨龄鉴定意见的科学性与准确性。近年来,国内外已有学者运用薄层CT扫描技术评估锁骨胸骨端骨龄,并通过联合CT二维、三维图像重组技术,使骨骺形状、大小及位置得以清晰显示,提高了结果的准确性。据此,本文综述了国内外关于薄层CT扫描技术在锁骨胸骨端骨龄评估中的应用及研究进展,分析薄层CT扫描技术运用于锁骨胸骨端骨龄研究的优势以及价值所在。     

Book reviews

The ongoing experiment of transitional justice (TJ) may soon find a new testing ground in Burundi. A long anticipated truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) is slated for establishment in the near future. Yet, Burundi continues to face longstanding and deep-rooted problems in its social, political, legal and institutional landscape that will fall outside of the remit of the TRC process, but that stand to negatively affect that process. Absent reform in these areas, the risk exists that the TRC may be judged as little more than inconsequential chatter by a population that has already suffered decades of violent conflict, social exclusion, corruption, and impunity. Informed by theories of transformative justice, this examination considers the potential shortcomings of TJ mechanisms where such reforms are yet to take place. It is argued that in contexts like Burundi, where impunity has become the norm, TJ mechanisms should form one part of a more combined process that ultimately aims to tackle the structures and dynamics that led to violence and that are reproduced in the present.     

Elaborations on credibility judgments by professional lie detectors and laypersons: strategies of judgment and justification

Abstract

Laypersons and professional lie detectors differ in biases of credibility judgment. The former are biased toward the truth, whereas the latter are biased toward lies. In an attempt to further understand these differences, the present study focused on the process of credibility judgment, rather than on its outcome. Forty-nine professionals (27 officers, 11 interrogators, 11 intelligence and secret services agents) and 40 laypersons (students) read an account of an event, and judged the credibility of the narrator; namely, the likelihood that he had actually experienced the event. Laypersons tended to believe the narrator more than professionals. The two groups also differed from each other in judgmental strategy (heuristic versus systematic) and justification (of either believing or disbelieving the narrator), and in the interpretation of the very same heuristics. Overall, the data showed that in credibility judgment laypersons and professionals process information differently: analyzing the very same statement, the former tended to consider it as true, whereas the latter tended to consider it as false. These data may partially account for the observed biases in credibility judgment of laypersons and professionals.     

From absent to present pasts: civil society,democracy and the shifting place of memory in Brazil

This article takes Alexis de Tocqueville’s concern with the emotional life of citizens as a cue for exploring the role of collective memory within ‘the self-organizing sphere’ and asking how the invocation of memory affects progress towards democracy. The article hones in on the Brazilian experience, re-assessing Brazil’s amnesiac past as well as its much-lauded ‘turn to memory’. Against common assertions that Brazil’s ‘turn to memory’ will enhance the country’s democratic credentials, this article argues that the move from an ‘absent’ to a ‘present’ past in Brazil in fact bodes rather mixed prospects for the country’s democratic deepening.     

CBCT技术研究进展及其在牙龄推断中的应用

牙齿是人体最坚硬的器官,不易因外界理化因素的变化而降解、变形,利用牙齿推断年龄已广泛应用于法医学。通过牙齿影像推断年龄是过去使用最普遍的方法之一,而锥形束计算机体层摄影术(cone beam computed tomography,CBCT)技术的出现为牙齿三维影像的获取提供了新途径,具有照射剂量低、扫描时间短、成像精度高及费用低等优点。本文综述了CBCT技术的研究进展及其在牙龄推断中的应用。     

Use of 2D:4D Digit Ratios to Determine Sex

Second to fourth digit ratios (2D:4D) are sexually dimorphic in human hands and established by the 13th gestational week. Application of 2D:4D for determining sex in living individuals by Kanchan et al. (Forensic Sci Int, 181, 2008, 53.e1) produced classification rates of 80% for males and 74–78% for females. Few studies have explored the use of 2D:4D for sexing skeletal remains. We test estimated finger lengths, phalanx lengths, and 2D:4D derived from hand bones for determining sex. Maximum phalanx length was collected using a mini‐osteometric board from 451 individuals of known age, sex, and ancestry in four skeletal collections. Logistic regression of 2nd and 4th digit finger and phalanx lengths produced classification rates greater than 80%. Digit ratios, however, failed to reach classification rates greater than 59%. Our results support those of Voracek (Forensic Sci Int, 185, 2009, e29) and suggest that 2D:4D may be population‐specific and thus inappropriate for universal application as a means of determining sex.     

The Fallacy about China's Anti-Japan Sentiments

正THE term"anti-Japan"has been frequently used in Japanese media coverage about China over recent years,to label issues ranging from China’s protests against the Japanese government’s"purchase"of the Diaoyu Islands to condemnation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.Such terminology is misleading and provocative,since it could not be further from truth.     

有限责任公司隐名股东资格认定问题探 析简

股东资格是出资人行使股东权利、承担股东义务的基础。在有限责任公司中的隐名股东资格认定问题上,“双重标准、内外有别”应当成为处理隐名股东资格纠纷遵循的基本原则。具体而言,对于公司内部关系．隐名股东和显名股东之间对股东资格及股权权益的分配有约定的依约定,无约定或约定不明的,原则上依据股东资格认定的实质要件来判断：对于公司外部关系,依据股东资格认定的形式要件来判断,即原则上确认显名股东的股东资格,并以工商登记的效力为最高标准。