Blood and bone: body mass,gender and health inequality in nineteenth-century British families

In mid-nineteenth-century Britain, a new institution emerged: the modern prison. Some prisons invested in scales. Upon entry, prisoners were measured and personal details documented. These meticulously compiled records afford a new vantage point from which we can peer into the dynamics of the household. Body measurements – height, weight, and body mass (weight adjusted for height) – connect to both patterns of consumption and health risk. Prison data thus speak to both gender and health inequality in the past. The paper juxtaposes a service economy (Wandsworth near London) with a modern manufacturing sector (Paisley near Glasgow) in order to contrast how economic form and opportunities in the market sector shaped relations and outcomes in the household sector. We find that families bargained over the allocation of resources; that bargaining position was influenced by economic value, mediated by maternal sacrifice; that this was an earner bias rather than gender bias; and that new industrial work for women and children supported a more egalitarian distribution that improved everyone's health status via superior heights and heavier weights. We examine Irish immigrants to assess cultural differences in family behaviour. Finally, the paper offers, for the first time, a detailed interpolation of Waaler's health risk for women.     

Assessment of Maceration Techniques Used to Remove Soft Tissue from Bone in Cut Mark Analysis

Maceration techniques employed in forensics must be effective without compromising the bone's integrity and morphology, and prevent destruction of evidence. Techniques must also be fast, safe, easily obtainable and inexpensive; not all techniques currently employed are appropriate for forensic use. To evaluate the most suitable approach, seven techniques including current and new methodologies were applied to fresh, fleshed porcine ribs exhibiting cut marks. A sample size of 30 specimens per technique was examined under scanning electron microscopy at the cut mark and the surrounding uncompromised regions; a scoring system of effectiveness was applied. The previously unpublished microwave method fared best for bone and cut mark preservation. Sodium hypochlorite destroyed cut marks, and was deemed unsuitable for forensic analysis. No single technique fulfilled all criteria; however, this study provides a benchmark for forensic anthropologists to select the most appropriate method for their situation, while maintaining the high standards required by forensic science.     

利用纳米粉体显现光滑客体汗潜指纹

纳米粉体材料色彩丰富,且对各种客体都有一定的吸附能力。这里介绍了应用吹显技术对14种纳米粉体材料在玻璃、瓷器、油漆等不同光滑客体表面遗留汗潜指纹的显现方法,实验证明显现效果较好。     

环形泰勒虫裂殖体表面蛋白基因高免疫原性区片段的克隆及其表达

根据环形泰勒虫TaA12 72 1株裂殖体表面抗原 (TaSP)基因的序列设计了 1对引物 ,用PCR扩增出该基因长为 393bp的高免疫原性区片段 (SBxp)。将扩增产物连接到 pGEM TEasy载体上 ,转化入大肠埃希氏菌JM 10 9中进行克隆。随后将重组质粒 pGEM SBxp和表达载体 pGEX 4T 1分别以BamHⅠ、XhoⅠ酶切后 ,将酶切的目的片段SBxp亚克隆到原核表达载体中构建了重组表达载体 pGEX 4T 1 SBxp ,并将其转化到BL2 1宿主菌中。提取重组质粒经BamHⅠ、XhoⅠ酶切、PCR鉴定和测序确证后 ,阳性克隆用IPTG诱导表达。收集不同时间的菌液进行SDS PAGE电泳和Westernblotting检测。结果 ,SBxp基因在大肠埃希氏菌中成功表达 ,其表达产物为分子质量 4 3ku的融合蛋白 ,该产物能被牛环形泰勒虫阳性血清所识别。     

Three-dimensional surface topography acquisition and analysis for firearm identification

In the last decade, computer-based systems for the comparison of microscopic firearms evidence have been the subject of considerable research work because of their expected capability of supporting the firearms examiner through the automated analysis of large amounts of evidence. The Integrated Ballistics Identification System, which is based on a two-dimensional representation of the specimen surface, has been widely adopted in forensic laboratories worldwide. More recently, some attempts to develop systems based on three-dimensional (3D) representations of the specimen surface have been made, both in the literature and as industrial products, such as BulletTRAX-3D, but fundamental limitations in achieving fully automated identification remain. This work analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of a 3D-based approach by proposing an approach and a prototype system for firearms evidence comparison that is based on the acquisition and analysis of the 3D surface topography of specimens, with particular reference to cartridge cases. The concept of 3D virtual comparison microscope is introduced, whose purpose is not to provide fully automated identification, but to show how the availability of 3D shape information can provide a whole new set of verification means, some of them being described and discussed in this work, specifically, visual enhancement tools and quantitative measurement of shape properties, for supporting, not replacing, the firearm examiner in reaching the final decision.     

Automated Texture Recognition of Quartz Sand Grains for Forensic Applications*

Quartz sand surface texture analysis has been automated for the first time for forensic application. The derived Basic Image Features (BIFs) provide computer-generated texture recognition from preexisting data sets. The technique was applied to two distinct classification problems; first, the ability of the system to discriminate between (quartz) sand grains with upturned plate features (indicative of eolian, global sand sea environments) and grains that do not exhibit these features. A success rate of grain classification of 98.8% was achieved. Second, to test the ability of the computer recognition system to identify specific energy levels of formation of the upturned plate surface texture features. Such recognition ability has to date been beyond manual geological interpretation. The discrimination performance was enhanced to an exact classification success rate of 81%. The enhanced potential for routine forensic investigation of the provenance of common quartz sand is indicated.     

表面肌电在肢体肌肉功能评估中的应用及研究进展

如何定量的评估肌肉在主动活动和姿势诱发反射下他动时的肌肉功能状态对于法医临床鉴定工作具有十分重要的意义。表面肌电图,通过从肌肉表面的电极引导,记录神经肌肉系统活动时肌电活动,可以定量的反映肌肉的功能状态,其在肢体功能评估中具有重要的使用价值。综述了表面肌电在肢体主动活动和姿势诱发反射下肢体功能评估中的应用及研究进展。     

A Computational Framework for Age‐at‐Death Estimation from the Skeleton: Surface and Outline Analysis of 3D Laser Scans of the Adult Pubic Symphysis

In forensic anthropology, age‐at‐death estimation typically requires the macroscopic assessment of the skeletal indicator and its association with a phase or score. High subjectivity and error are the recognized disadvantages of this approach, creating a need for alternative tools that enable the objective and mathematically robust assessment of true chronological age. We describe, here, three fully computational, quantitative shape analysis methods and a combinatory approach that make use of three‐dimensional laser scans of the pubic symphysis. We report a novel age‐related shape measure, focusing on the changes observed in the ventral margin curvature, and refine two former methods, whose measures capture the flatness of the symphyseal surface. We show how we can decrease age‐estimation error and improve prior results by combining these outline and surface measures in two multivariate regression models. The presented models produce objective age‐estimates that are comparable to current practices with root‐mean‐square‐errors between 13.7 and 16.5 years.     

Visualization of latent fingermark corrosion of brass, climatic influence in a comparison between the U.K. and Iraq

Through a comparison of fingermark sweat corrosion of α phase brass in both the U.K. and Iraq, we show how samples from Iraq have improved fingermark corrosion over U.K. samples that require no additional enhancement prior to visualization. Over 50% of Iraqi samples produced fingermark corrosion with full ridge detail compared with 0% from the U.K. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the fingermark corrosion products showed that Iraqi samples exhibit more dezincification with the Zn:Cu ratio averaging 1:1.82 compared with 1:3.07 for U.K. samples. Auger spectroscopy showed the presence of both zinc oxide and copper (I) oxide. No copper (II) was observed on the surface of the corroded brass. Opportunities to exploit the optical properties of these thin film oxides to enhance the visualization of fingermark corrosion are considered, and the potential to use fingermark corrosion of metal as a means of visualizing fingerprints in war zones is discussed.     

High Resolution Imaging of Latent Fingerprints by Localized Corrosion on Brass Surfaces

Abstract:  The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is capable of imaging fingerprint ridges on polished brass substrates at an unprecedented level of detail. While exposure to elevated humidity at ambient or slightly raised temperatures does not change the image appreciably, subsequent brief heating in a flame results in complete loss of the sweat deposit and the appearance of pits and trenches. Localized elemental analysis (using EDAX, coupled with SEM imaging) shows the presence of the constituents of salt in the initial deposits. Together with water and atmospheric oxygen—and with thermal enhancement—these are capable of driving a surface corrosion process. This process is sufficiently localized that it has the potential to generate a durable negative topographical image of the fingerprint. AFM examination of surface regions between ridges revealed small deposits (probably microscopic "spatter" of sweat components or transferred particulates) that may ultimately limit the level of ridge detail analysis.