Characterization of human DNA in environmental samples

Environmental samples from indoor surfaces can be confounded by dust, which is composed largely of human skin cells and has been documented to contain roughly tens of micrograms of total DNA per gram of dust. This study complements previous published work by providing estimates of the quantity of amplifiable human DNA found in environmental samples from a typical indoor environment, categorized by the intensity of human traffic and visible quantity of dust. Dust was collected by surface swabbing standard 576 cm² areas in eight locations, and evaluated for total DNA quantity, presence of human DNA (mitochondrial and nuclear loci using conventional PCR), quantity of human nuclear DNA using quantitative PCR, and STR analysis. The total DNA content of 36 dust samples ranged from 9 to 28 ng/cm², and contained 0.2–1.1 pg/cm² of human DNA. Overall, human DNA was detected in 97% of 36 dust samples and 61% of samples yielded allele distributions of varying degrees of complexity when subjected to STR analysis. The implications of this study are twofold. First, the presence of dust in evidence can be a significant contamination source in forensic investigations because the human DNA component is of sufficient quality and quantity to produce allele calls in STR analysis. This can be effectively managed by implementing stringent protocols for collection and analysis of potential biological samples. A second implication is the use of dust as a source of evidence for identification of inhabitants within a defined location. In the latter case, a number of additional studies would be necessary to identify relevant pretreatments for environmental dust samples and to develop the necessary deconvolution techniques to separate the composite genotypes obtained.     

涉毒案件毒品定量鉴定是量刑的重要节点

涉毒案件中毒品的数量和含量是决定犯罪行为社会危害性大小的一个十分重要的因素,也是司法机关对犯罪分子课以刑罚的重要依据。毒品数量和含量认定的正确与否,关系到犯罪嫌疑人的犯罪的主观故意与案件量刑。当前,司法机关在办理的许多毒品犯罪（特别是可能判处15年以上刑罚）案件缺乏毒品定量鉴定结论,影响案件审理。笔者从法律和公平公正等方面探讨毒品含量分析的重要性。     

马锡五审判方式产生的背景分析

利用丰富的档案资料和已有的研究成果，分析了马锡五审判方式产生的背景，即首先是边区面临的生存困境，其次是边区面临的司法困境，最后，作为一个务实、精明、卓有成效的实干家，马锡五回应这些需求，从实践中发展出以其命名的马锡五审判方式。所有这些都有助于我们进一步地深入认识马锡五审判方式，同时有助于反思当今的就地审判热。     

对新一轮政府机构改革相关问题的分析

本文对1982年、1988年、1993年乃至2003年的历次政府机构改革的基本情况进行了回顾,作出了改革开放后历次机构改革的总体成效是呈现出一个阶梯式发展态势的基本评价。指出了由于历史与客观条件的限制,机构改革仍然有些问题没有得到很好地解决,主要是政府机构自身内部问题和整个行政体制的制度设计问题。提出了新一轮政府机构改革应破解的难点和应完成的任务。     

关于口供价值的理性思考

口供是刑事诉讼中一种非常重要的证据,关于口供的运用问题是目前司法理论界和实务界均在探讨的一个重要问题。本文从功能角度对口供进行剖析,进而对我国立法和司法对待口供的态度进行了反思,并在此基础上提出相关改革建议。     

浙江省未成年人犯罪现象调查分析

未成年人的犯罪人数在总犯罪人数中占较大的比重,有关部门及社会、家庭、学校应十分重视和预防未成年人违法犯罪工作,为未成年人的健康成长创造良好的环境.     

Cost‐Effectiveness of Early Childhood Interventions to Enhance Preschool: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Head Start Centers Enrolling Historically Underserved Populations

We evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of two early childhood interventions that use instructional coaching and parent coaching as levers for improvement. The study design allows us to compare the individual effects of each intervention as well as their combined effect on student outcomes. We find that teachers receiving instructional coaching improve their use of evidence‐based instructional practices, while families receiving parent coaching show increases in numerous responsive parenting behaviors associated with positive child outcomes. Both interventions demonstrate positive impacts on students, but only parent coaching shows statistically significant effects across a range of student outcomes. Instructional coaching alone is substantially less costly and may therefore be the most cost‐effective of the three treatment conditions; however, small sample sizes limit our ability to reach definitive conclusions. Policy simulations suggest that implementing these interventions could raise the overall cost‐effectiveness of Head Start by at least 16 percent.     

“Lucy says today she is a Labordoodle”: how the dogs-of-Instagram reveal voter preferences

Instagram is an image-centric social media application, launched in October 2010 with the explicit aim of allowing members to share their smart phone photos with the world. Posts typically combine photographs with a short verbal text, and as such provide fertile ground for multisemiotic analysis. Further, at times of political significance or upheaval, Instagram, like other social media platforms, provides a space for the public to express opinions or emotions. The fact that citizens do this through a combination of words and images on Instagram is the subject of analysis in this article. Using a dataset of 92 Instagram posts that made use of the discourse tagging hashtag #dogsatpollingstations at the time of the 2016 Australian federal election, this study demonstrates the multisemiotic strategies used by members of the public to show their dissatisfaction with the incumbent government, and their endorsement of other political parties. The study also demonstrates the triangulation of multiple methods, and as such is an example of corpus-assisted multimodal discourse analysis.     

Homeland and its use of bipolar disorder for sensationalist and dramatic effect

When a lead character in a critically acclaimed and award-winning television programme is depicted as a proficient and meticulous heroine with a mental disorder, it is crucial to examine if this reflects a change in the media depiction of people with mental illness. This article employs framing analysis to examine the portrayal of lead CIA agent with bipolar disorder, Carrie Mathison, in Homeland. Although the show did initially associate competence, intellect and astuteness to this character, as it progressed, the framing decisions used for dramatic and sensational purposes ultimately presented Mathison within the usual stereotypical depictions: as impulsive, irrational, unpredictable, unstable, dangerous and disordered. Given the popularity of the show, responsible depictions should take priority over dramatic effect at the expense of a character with mental illness because sufferers may be deterred in speaking about their illness and seeking appropriate treatment if such negative themes persist.     

Regulating Autonomy: An Assessment of Policy Language for Highly Automated Vehicles

Self‐driving cars (also known as driverless cars, autonomous vehicles, and highly automated vehicles [HAVs]) will change the regulatory, political, and ethical frameworks surrounding motor vehicles. At the highest levels of automation, HAVs are operated by independent machine agents, making decisions without the direct intervention of humans. The current transportation system assumes human intervention though, including legal and moral responsibilities of human operators. Has the development of these artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous system (AS) technologies outpaced the ethical and political conversations? This paper examines discussions of HAVs, driver responsibility, and technology failure to highlight the differences between how the policy‐making institutions in the United States (Congress and the Public Administration) and technology and transportation experts are or are not speaking about responsibility in the context of autonomous systems technologies. We report findings from a big data analysis of corpus‐level documents to find that enthusiasm for HAVs has outpaced other discussions of the technology.