As the word turns: Drama,rhetoric, and press coverage of the Hill‐Thomas hearings

Because of the unique character of the Hill‐Thomas hearings, journalists were left without a stock political plot to render the proceedings in familiar terms. Using narrative and rhetorical analyses, the study examines how newspaper journalists turned to so‐called women's entertainment genres such as soap opera and melodrama to dramatize and ultimately depoliticize the hearings. The study identifies four recurring rhetorical themes—melodrama, eroticization, agon, and privatization—that served to frame Hill's allegations of sexual harassment against Thomas not in terms of social and political debate but in terms of drama.     

Know Me,Love Me,Fear Me: The Anatomy of Candidate Poster Designs in the 2007 French Legislative Elections

Candidates in many elections spend a significant amount of their budget on posters, yet we know virtually nothing about their communication roles. Based on party strategy and visual communication research, this article argues that poster content is the result of strategic choices by candidates, with major and niche candidates using significantly different poster designs in an effort to influence voters' evaluations. Using an original database of 256 candidate posters from the 2007 French legislative elections and content analysis computer software, I show that niche party candidates consistently emphasize partisan and factual information cues (through size and placement on posters), while major party candidates rely heavily on candidate-oriented visuals and on nonverbal cues (e.g., eye contact) to persuade voters. Preliminary analyses indicate that poster visual design strategies are significantly associated with both major and niche party candidates' electoral performance.     

Veto power and power-sharing: insights from Burundi (2000–2018)

Veto power is a key institutional pillar of consociational power-sharing. However, the literature is divided on its impact for institutional functionality. While the founding father of consociational theory, Arend Lijphart, expects veto rights to be exercised sparingly by segmental elites, more recent scholarship emphasizes the need for restrictions (in terms of veto players, veto issues, veto points and procedure) in order to avoid abusive and disruptive veto practice. Burundi’s transition from ethnic conflict to ethnic pacification was strongly based on the use of military and political power-sharing, including consociationalism. This article examines the design of veto rights and their practice in Burundi over the past two decades. The analysis confirms that the institutional design of veto power matters, but it counters the hypothesis that a too enabling veto design induces the abuse of veto rights and disrupts consociational functionality. The Burundi case-study shows that the impact and “shelf-life” of veto rights are best understood by taking into consideration the intersection of veto power with other power-sharing institutions and practices, both formal and informal.     

A Comparison of Solvent Extract Cleanup Procedures in the Analysis of Organic Explosives

The use of an organic solvent to extract explosive residues from hand swabs and postblast debris inevitably leads to the coextraction of unwanted materials, usually in far greater quantities than any explosive residue. In this study, the extraction efficiency of a number of solvent cleanup procedures including solid‐phase extraction (SPE), adsorbent resins such as Chromosorb‐104, and traditional materials such as silica and Florisil was calculated using a quantitative liquid chromatography–ultraviolet (LC‐UV) detection procedure. The Oasis^® HLB cartridge outperformed other cleanup procedures, with analyte recoveries approaching 95%, while the Amberlite XAD‐7 procedure returned the lowest overall recoveries. The matrix rejection ability of each method was then determined using a simulated highly contaminated matrix, with the adsorbent resins showing a higher degree of matrix rejection, which is seen as a reduction in background noise in the UV chromatogram using 210 nm detection.     

Using Paint to Investigate Fires: An ATR‐IR Study of the Degradation of Paint Samples Upon Heating

Fire investigation is a challenging area for the forensic investigator. The aim of this work was to use spectral changes to paint samples to estimate the temperatures to which a paint has been heated. Five paint samples (one clay paint, two car paints, one metallic paint, and one matt emulsion) have been fully characterized by a combination of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR‐IR), Raman, X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy and powder X‐ray diffraction. The thermal decomposition of these paints has been investigated by means of ATR‐IR and thermal gravimetric analysis. Clear temperature markers are observed in the ATR‐IR spectra namely: loss of ν(C = O) band, >300°C; appearance of water bands on cooling, >500°C; alterations to ν(Si–O) bands due to dehydration of silicate clays, >700°C; diminution of ν(CO₃) and δ(CO₃) modes of CaCO₃, >950°C. We suggest the possible use of portable ATR‐IR for nondestructive, in situ analysis of paints.     

Evaluation of Postmortem Bacterial Migration Using Culturing and Real‐Time Quantitative PCR

Postmortem bacteriology can be a valuable tool for evaluating deaths due to bacterial infection or for researching the involvement of bacteria in various diseases. In this study, time‐dependent postmortem bacterial migration into liver, mesenteric lymph node, pericardial fluid, portal, and peripheral vein was analyzed in 33 autopsy cases by bacterial culturing and real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR). None suffered or died from bacterial infection. According to culturing, pericardial fluid and liver were the most sterile samples up to 5 days postmortem. In these samples, multigrowth and staphylococci were not or rarely detected. RT‐qPCR was more sensitive and showed higher bacterial positivity in all samples. Relative amounts of intestinal bacterial DNA (bifidobacteria, bacteroides, enterobacter, clostridia) increased with time. Sterility of blood samples was low during the studied time periods (1–7 days). The best postmortem microbiological sampling sites were pericardial fluid and liver up to 5 days after death.     

Weight References for Burned Human Skeletal Remains from Portuguese Samples

Weight is often one of the few recoverable data when analyzing human cremains but references are still rare, especially for European populations. Mean weights for skeletal remains were thus documented for Portuguese modern cremations of both recently deceased individuals and dry skeletons, and the effect of age, sex, and the intensity of combustion was investigated using both multivariate and univariate statistics. The cremains from fresh cadavers were significantly heavier than the ones from dry skeletons regardless of sex and age cohort (p < 0.001 to p = 0.003). As expected, males were heavier than females and age had a powerful effect in female skeletal weight. The effect of the intensity of combustion in cremains weight was unclear. These weight references may, in some cases, help estimating the minimum number of individuals, the completeness of the skeletal assemblage, and the sex of an unknown individual.     

Seasonal Variation of Carcass Decomposition and Gravesoil Chemistry in a Cold (Dfa) Climate

It is well known that temperature significantly affects corpse decomposition. Yet relatively few taphonomy studies investigate the effects of seasonality on decomposition. Here, we propose the use of the Köppen‐Geiger climate classification system and describe the decomposition of swine (Sus scrofa domesticus) carcasses during the summer and winter near Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Decomposition was scored, and gravesoil chemistry (total carbon, total nitrogen, ninhydrin‐reactive nitrogen, ammonium, nitrate, and soil pH) was assessed. Gross carcass decomposition in summer was three to seven times greater than in winter. Initial significant changes in gravesoil chemistry occurred following approximately 320 accumulated degree days, regardless of season. Furthermore, significant (p < 0.05) correlations were observed between ammonium and pH (positive correlation) and between nitrate and pH (negative correlation). We hope that future decomposition studies employ the Köppen‐Geiger climate classification system to understand the seasonality of corpse decomposition, to validate taphonomic methods, and to facilitate cross‐climate comparisons of carcass decomposition.     

Age Estimation Based on Pulp Cavity to Tooth Volume Ratio Using Postmortem Computed Tomography Images

Pulp cavity size is known to decrease with age and can therefore serve as an indicator for age estimation. Here, we evaluated whether reconstructed images of multidetector‐row computed tomography (MDCT) acquired before forensic autopsy are useful for estimating age at death. Images of 136 mandibular first premolars obtained from bodies of known age at death were analyzed, and the volume of the regions corresponding to pulp cavity and that of the whole tooth were determined using a voxel counting function. The pulp cavity was clearly distinguishable from dental hard tissue on the reconstructed images when using a cutoff value of 1400 Hounsfield units. Regression analysis adjusted for sex showed that estimated age correlated significantly with the pulp cavity to tooth volume ratio (r = 0.76). MDCT is gaining more widespread use in forensic medicine, and analyzing dental images to obtain parameters for age prediction is a practical approach for postmortem identification.     

Suicidal Nitrogen Inhalation by use of Scuba Full‐Face Diving Mask

A 29‐year‐old man was found dead lying on the bed in a hotel room in a famous Slovak mountain resort. He had a full‐face diving mask on his face, connected through a diving breath regulator to a valve of an industrial (nondiving) high‐pressure tank containing pure 100% nitrogen. The breath regulator (open‐circuit type) used allowed inhalation of nitrogen without addition of open air, and the full‐face diving mask assured aspiration of the gas even during the time of unconsciousness. At autopsy, we found the typical signs of suffocation. Toxicological analysis revealed 94.7% content of nitrogen in alveolar air. Following the completion of the police investigation, the manner of death was classified as a suicide. Within the medico‐legal literature, there has been only one similar case of suicidal nitrogen inhalation described (1).