Language translation for file paths

Forensic examiners are frequently confronted with content in languages that they do not understand, and they could benefit from machine translation into their native language. But automated translation of file paths is a difficult problem because of the minimal context for translation and the frequent mixing of multiple languages within a path. This work developed a prototype implementation of a file-path translator that first identifies the language for each directory segment of a path, and then translates to English those that are not already English nor artificial words. Brown's LA-Strings utility for language identification was tried, but its performance was found inadequate on short strings and it was supplemented with clues from dictionary lookup, Unicode character distributions for languages, country of origin, and language-related keywords. To provide better data for language inference, words used in each directory over a large corpus were aggregated for analysis. The resulting directory-language probabilities were combined with those for each path segment from dictionary lookup and character-type distributions to infer the segment's most likely language. Tests were done on a corpus of 50.1 million file paths looking for 35 different languages. Tests showed 90.4% accuracy on identifying languages of directories and 93.7% accuracy on identifying languages of directory/file segments of file paths, even after excluding 44.4% of the paths as obviously English or untranslatable. Two of seven proposed language clues were shown to impair directory-language identification. Experiments also compared three translation methods: the Systran translation tool, Google Translate, and word-for-word substitution using dictionaries. Google Translate usually performed the best, but all still made errors with European languages and a significant number of errors with Arabic and Chinese.     

基于年龄相关DNA甲基化位点推断河南汉族个体年龄

目的探查中国河南汉族个体与年龄相关的DNA甲基化位点,构建年龄推断模型,进行甲基化和年龄相关性分析。方法采用焦磷酸测序法对ELOVL2、ClOrf132、KLF14、TRIM59和FHL2基因的34个CG位点进行甲基化分析,利用SPSS 23软件的多元回归方法建立模型,对甲基化和年龄相关性做分析。结果除ClOrf132基因3个CG位点的甲基化水平与年龄呈负相关外,其余4个基因的31个CG位点甲基化水平均与年龄呈正相关。多元回归分析表明,年龄与CG位点的甲基化水平存在明显的线性关系,实际年龄与推断年龄偏差在5岁以内的准确度达80%以上。结论本研究构建的河南汉族个体年龄推断模型,有助于通过检测血液等组织的DNA甲基化水平推断个体的年龄范围,具有法医学应用前景。     

High turnout in the Low Countries: Partisan effects of the abolition of compulsory voting in the Netherlands

We use a quasi-experimental framework to test the conventional wisdom that left-of-center parties benefit from higher turnout by analyzing the partisan effects of the abolition of compulsory voting in the Netherlands. Fixed effects, multilevel, and matching models of party family vote shares in the Netherlands before and after the reform–and in reference to a control group of Belgian party families–show consistent evidence the voting reform led to an increase in the vote share of Dutch social democratic parties and a decrease in the vote share won by minor and extreme parties. We find some evidence that Christian democratic and liberal parties also benefited from the voting reform, but argue this finding is not causally related to the reform itself.     

Effect of History and Context on Forensic Pathologist Interpretation of Photographs of Patterned Injury of the Skin

In a previous study, a survey‐based analysis of pathologist diagnoses of patterned injury was performed. Subjects were provided with photographs of “classic” injuries and asked to diagnose the lesion in the absence of history or context. There was a relatively low diagnostic consensus among respondents. A second survey suggested that the disparate answers were not due to a strong belief in different diagnoses, but instead reflected how the respondents dealt with ambiguity. A third survey was created that asked participants to evaluate patterned injuries of the skin, but provided history and contextual information. The addition of history and contextual information increased consensus from a median of 80% to 98% on a per‐question basis. Confidence increased from a median of 56%–92%. These results demonstrate the importance of history and context in medical diagnosis of patterned injuries of the skin.     

传统录音机和数码录音笔在信道中的差异

语音是重要的法庭证据。随着科学技术的进步,各种各样的语音采集设备出现在人们的日常生活中。从传统的录音机到数字录音笔、手机、MP3,语音采集经历了由模拟信号到数字信号的转换过程。不同的采集设备和方法会造成语音的信道差异。传递语音信号的通道,如：传统录音机和数码录音笔由于各自的频率响应性能不同,对信号施加的影响也不同。传统录音机传递的是连续变化的模拟信号,数码录音笔传递的则是以有限个＂1＂和＂0＂的代码组合成为信息的数字信号,两者是现在普遍应用的两种信号模式。研究表明：信号通道对于语音识别,特别是自动语音识别的影响是明显的,但是对于图谱视觉检验的影响、影响的程度如何还尚待进一步的深入研究。     

Estimation of age-at-death for adult males using the acetabulum, applied to four Western European populations

Methods to estimate adult age from observations of skeletal elements are not very accurate and motivate the development of better methods. In this article, we test recently published method based on the acetabulum and Bayesian inference, developed using Coimbra collection (Portugal). In this study, to evaluate its utility in other populations, this methodology was applied to 394 specimens from four different documented Western European collections. Four strategies of analysis to estimate age were outlined: (a) each series separately; (b) on Lisbon collection, taken as a reference Coimbra collection; (c) on Barcelona collection, taken as a reference both Portuguese collections; and (d) on London collection taken as reference the three Iberian collections combined. Results indicate that estimates are accurate (83-100%). As might be expected, the least accurate estimates were obtained when the most distant collection was used as a reference. Observations of the fused acetabulum can be used to make accurate estimates of age for adults of any age, with less accurate estimates when a more distant reference collection is used.     

论类推思维在法律发现当中的地位——以孙斯坦有关类推思维思想为中心的考察

随着人们对传统法律三段论在法律适用过程中作用的反思,一种围绕着类推思维为中心的法律发现模式逐渐获得了人们的普遍认同。借助于未完全理论化协议理论,孙斯坦将类推思维在法律发现当中的地位和作用上升到推进民主司法的高度,从而更有力地彰显了类推思维在当代司法实践当中的重要性。类推思维是一个迈向民主政治的法治社会应该努力倡导的一种法律思维和法律适用模式,捍卫法治需要我们认真地对待类推思维方法在法律发现当中的地位。     

Questions,propositions and assessing different levels of evidence: Forensic voice comparison in practice

This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about the distinction between observations and propositions in forensic inference, with a specific focus on forensic voice comparison casework conducted in the UK. We outline both linguistic and legal issues which make the evaluation of voice evidence and the refinement of propositions problematic in practice, and illustrate these using case examples. We will argue that group-level observations from the offender sample will always be evidential and that the value of this evidence must be determined by the expert. As such, a proposal is made that experts should, at least conceptually, think of voice evidence as having two levels, both with evidential value: group-level and individual-level. The two rely on different underlying assumptions, and the group-level observations can be used to inform the individual-level propositions. However, for the sake of interpretability, it is probably preferable to present only one combined conclusion to the end user. We also wish to reiterate points made in previous work: in providing conclusions, the forensic expert must acknowledge that the value of the evidence is dependent on a number of assumptions (propositions and background information) and these assumptions must be made clear and explicit to the user.     

论单个证据的证明限度

仅根据归纳法的限度否认诉讼推论大前提的确定性,忽视了诉讼证明的特殊性,导致一般经验法则不确定性的因素,在实证科学领域与诉讼认识领域之间是有差别的。凡在程序上不可为法官诉诸感知予以确定的证据命题的真值,均由程序上的言语行为人加以保证,而其讲真话的概率不可赋予精确数值。单个证据的证明值是一种不可赋予精确数值的概率,两个以上证据的综合证明值也是如此。     

普通话亲属称谓形式化初探

汉语亲属称谓具有区分辈分、性别、同辈长幼、直系旁系和姻亲血亲等特点,据此可以对汉语亲属称谓作出形式化判断;核心称谓、基本称谓是构成汉语称谓系统的基础;从属性亲属称谓所指的年龄、辈分由相应的核心称谓和基本称谓决定;除性别服从尾标记外,用附加法构成亲属 称谓,如果核心语素与附加成分包含相同义素,取附加成分义素,亲属称谓从右省略的现象也与之相互印证。