Use of a Spray Device to Locate Touch DNA on Casework Samples

The use of a fluorescent dye to visualize cellular material on surfaces offers a targeted sampling approach for locating touch DNA on casework items. However, the current application of such dye is not feasible for examination of relatively large items. As a result, development of an efficient dye application system is required to translate this approach into practice. Here, the spray pattern (area covered, intensity, and evenness) of 15 different commercial spray devices was examined visually using food coloring. From this, five devices were selected to apply Diamond Nucleic Acid Dye (DD) to three substrates (glass slide, plastic sheet, and brown packing tape) seeded with saliva and touch DNA. The cellular material was visualized using the Dino-lite Microscope and Polilight. The inhibitory effects of DD afforded by each spray device were examined using Identifiler Plus^® DNA profiling kit and a DNA input of 800 pg. The two most promising devices were further tested on a range of mock casework items seeded with touch DNA. The results presented demonstrate the feasibility of a spray system to apply DD to large surfaces and subsequently detect cellular material at both micro and macroscale. Specifically, the data suggest that a pressurized continuous-spray system is favorable and that droplet size influences the intensity of fluorescence and surface coverage. Furthermore, this study indicates that full STR profiles can be obtained following spraying with DD solution, even with excessive application, which is essential for the widespread use of these devices in casework.     

A More Efficient Method for Synthetic Textile Fiber Analysis Using Polarized Light Microscopy

The efficiency of conventional polarized light microscopy (PLM) methods for analyzing synthetic fiber evidence analyses is improved. Historically, using PLM for fiber identification relied on measuring refractive index. This prior PLM technology is reliable, but it is not efficient. Most fibers are optically anisotropic, having two principal refractive index values, N_(High) and N_(Low). When the fiber is mounted in intermediate refractive index medium, efficiency is improved by observing the change in contrast while the polarized light’s vector is rotated relative to the fiber’s axis. Minimum contrast occurs when the refractive indices of the mounting medium and fiber are equal. This angle of equality is determined by orienting the fiber’s highest refractive index parallel to the polarized light’s electric field vector, rotating the fiber or polarizing element, observing minimum contrast and measuring the angle of equality. This method is rapid, reduces remounting fibers in different mounting media and provides a quantitative measure for fiber comparisons.     

“发展”是新时期解放思想的着力点

纵观20世纪我国历史发展不难发现，每当中华民族处于重大转折关头，都会出现一场伟大的思想解放运动。每一次思想解放运动都给中华民族注入新的活力，更是为中华民族走向世界带来了全新的转机。在新的时期，我们应当把“发展”作为解放思想的着力点．进一步推动社会的进步。     

我国公案小说叙述模式探析

我国侦探小说的源头可追溯至春秋战国时期出现的案狱故事。这种故事文本在它的发展过程中形成了特定的叙述模式,归纳起来,主要表现为特定的结构模式、突出的清官角色及零聚焦叙述视角。这一叙述模式在清代因"侠义"的加入而发生了变化。     

氧乐氰菊的毒理试验

目的研究氧乐氰菊的毒理作用.方法复制小白鼠、家兔氧乐氰菊中毒模型,测定小白鼠经口LD50、腹腔注射致死剂量和死亡时间,观察家兔中毒表现及病理改变.结果小白鼠经口LD50为36.64mg/kg.腹腔注射致死量为10mg/kg,腹腔注射后出现中毒时间为1min,出现死亡时间为4.5min,家兔中毒后出现系列的有机磷酸酯类、拟除虫菊酯类农药中毒的病理改变.结论研究结果对指导氧乐氰菊中毒的法医病理检验及毒物分析具有实用意义.     

Analysis of forensic SNPs in the canine mtDNA HV1 mutational hotspot region

A 60 bp sequence variation hotspot in the canine mitochondrial DNA hypervariable region 1 was evaluated for its use in forensic investigations. Nineteen haplotypes containing 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms were observed among laboratory-generated and GenBank-derived domestic dog sequences representing five regional localities in the U.S. Samples from the different localities were highly variable with the levels of intra-population variability being similar among the populations studied. AMOVA further confirmed that there was no significant genetic structuring of the populations. Assays using these haplotypes were robust, canid specific and portend a rapid method for correctly excluding individual dogs as noncontributors of forensic evidence. Species-specificity of the primers was confirmed by means of in-tube polymerase chain reaction of human and cat DNA and in-silico assessment of the genomes of several animal species. Breed-specific fragments were not detected among the common haplotypes but there is evidence that this assay may be capable of differentiating domestic dog, wolf, and coyote sequences.     

Sudden unexpected death due to a previously undiagnosed plasma cell dyscrasia

The plasma cell dyscrasias are a diverse group of disorders characterized by the production of a clonal paraprotein. Sudden death is a recognized complication of the plasma cell dyscrasias, most commonly in individuals with cardiac involvement by amyloidosis. However, the current forensic literature has no reported cases in which sudden death resulted from complications of a plasma cell dyscrasia that was first diagnosed by postmortem histologic examination. We present the case of a woman whose sudden and unexpected death resulted from a seizure. Postmortem examination revealed no evidence of trauma or a grossly identifiable natural disease process that would have accounted for her death. However, microscopic and immunohistologic studies revealed a previously undiagnosed plasma cell dyscrasia, the clonality of which was determined by immunohistochemical studies for immunoglobulin light chains, that was not associated with amyloid deposition. This case elucidates a previously unrecognized cause of sudden unexpected death and illustrates the importance of microscopic studies in selected cases examined in medical examiner/coroner offices.     

What explains the dynamics of citizens’ satisfaction with democracy? An integrated framework for panel data

Literature on political support broadly offers three micro-level models: socio-economic status, democratic process evaluations, and political performance evaluations explain people's differences in satisfaction with democracy. While tests show that these explanations complement each other, we do not know how. We combine for the first time all three models into one common longitudinal framework by explicitly considering aspects of time. We argue that relatively stable factors, such as socio-economic status, only explain general levels, whereas more time-sensitive factors, such as evaluations, explain differences between citizens at specific points in time. The results of latent growth curve modelling applied to nine-wave panel data support our general hypothesis of a common longitudinal framework. These results also show that economic evaluations play a prominent role as do some (but not all) electoral results. The findings have theoretical and methodological implications, and they offer a new perspective on the meaning of ’satisfaction with democracy’.     

Comparative Perspectives on Childcare Expansion in Germany: Explaining the Persistent East‒West Divide

Abstract

Germany’s family policy responded to the European Union’s Barcelona targets by expanding publicly funded childcare, especially for children under the age of three, throughout the country. While overall nearly 33 per cent of all children in that age group had access to public childcare by 2015, there is still a large difference between the situation in the eastern and the western part of the country. This paper documents and explains this development of two persistently different childcare regimes in the two parts of the country. It shows that supply factors such as local administrative capacity and resources interact with demand factors such as parental need and demands for public childcare to produce the divergent development. It then discusses the conceptual challenges involved in engaging in this type of subnationally comparative analysis.