Quantification of Maxillary Dental Arcade Curvature and the Estimation of Biological Ancestry in Forensic Anthropology

Previous studies suggest that palate shape is a useful indicator of biological ancestry in human remains. This study evaluates interobserver error in ancestry estimation using palate shape and explores palate shape variation in Gullah (descendants of West Africans) and Seminole (Indigenous American) population samples using geometric morphometric analysis. Ten participants were asked to ascribe biological ancestry and shape to 28 dental casts based on a classification scheme employed in previous studies. The mean correct classification was 42.0%, indicating that the likelihood of assigning the correct ancestry is very poor and not significantly different from random assignment (p = 0.12). The accuracy analysis based on categorical classification of the casts was complemented by geometric morphometric analysis of nine 3D landmarks reflecting palate shape of 158 casts. Principal component analysis results show no difference between populations regarding palate shape, and cross‐validated discriminant function analysis correctly classified only 62.0% of the specimens. Combined, these results show that previous methods to estimate ancestry are inaccurate and that this inaccuracy is probably due to a lack of palate shape differences between groups, rather than limitation of the analytical method per se. Therefore, we recommend caution should be used when choosing to apply the analysis of palate shape in forensically relevant contexts.     

Semiotics of pride and profit: interrogating commodification in indigenous handicraft production

This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority language communities under contemporary globalisation. While “pride” associates linguistic-cultural heritage with identity and preservation, “profit” views these as sources of economic gain. In contemporary late capitalism, “pride” seems to be increasingly giving way to “profit”. Arguing that this transformation needs to be interrogated in terms of complexity and that a detailed, multilayered semiotic analysis can open a privileged window for such an inquiry, this study combines critical multimodal discourse analysis and an ethnographic approach to analyse processes of semiotic commodification in handicraft production in the indigenous minority language community of the Sámi in northern Lapland. The investigation focuses on the activities of an innovative Sámi artist and entrepreneur, and within these a range of paper notebooks, which are, although designed by the Sámi artist and sold in her handicraft shop in Lapland, produced by women living at the border of Thailand and Laos. The investigation illuminates two critical shifts: how the move towards profit can open up space to contest the ownership of pride within an ethnic community. Second, how this move makes way for new, globalised modes of production of ‘indigenous handicrafts’ and creates global vectors of power, engaged in both empowerment and exploitation, in the production of both pride and profit. The study thereby contributes to the understanding of the increasingly complex power relations and the ambivalence and multiple effects of practices constituting the apparent shift from “pride” to “profit”.     

MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd: The Practical Benefit Doctrine Marches On

In MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd v Rock Advertising Ltd the Court of Appeal held that when an ongoing contract is varied so that one party's obligation to pay money is reduced, the variation is binding as long as the other party receives a practical benefit. In doing so, the Court of Appeal effectively confined the rule in Foakes v Beer to one‐off payments. This raises serious questions about the continued survival of Foakes v Beer. On the other hand, the Court of Appeal ensured that Foakes v Beer would not be killed off via equity by moving away from the suggestion in Collier v P & M J Wright (Holdings) Ltd that an agreed part‐payment of a debt by a debtor will always raise an estoppel preventing the creditor from demanding the remainder of the debt.     

Sexual dimorphism in the subadult mandible: quantification using geometric morphometrics

There have been numerous attempts, with varying degrees of success, to differentiate males from females on the basis of the immature skeleton. We investigate here whether the mandible can discriminate immature individuals by sex; the techniques we apply are from the field of geometric morphometrics. The application of these methods in forensic anthropology is still relatively new; thus, an important aspect of this research is that it demonstrates potential applications in this discipline. The sample comprises 96 known age and sex subadult individuals; the three-dimensional coordinates of 38 landmarks are analyzed using the shape analysis software morphologika. Multivariate regressions indicated no significant sexual dimorphism in the subadult sample; this result is supported by poor cross-validated classification accuracy (59%). Our results suggest that the subadult mandible is not dimorphic (to the extent that dimorphism is not evident within the sample we studied); thus, sex determination using previously described criteria is likely to yield poor results.     

拷贝数变异研究新进展

基因拷贝数变异越来越被认为是个体之间在基因组序列差异上的一个重要源泉,是研究基因组进化和表型差异的一个重要因素。许多关于CNV的研究结果表明,拷贝数变异可导致不同程度的基因表达差异,对正常表型的构成及疾病的发生发展具有一定作用。在总结基因拷贝数变异的认识过程和研究策略的基础上,分析了拷贝数变异的形成和作用机制,介绍了第一代人类基因组拷贝数变异图谱,阐述了拷贝数变异研究的法医学意义,提示在探索疾病相关及法医学个体识别的遗传变异时不能错失拷贝数变异这一基因组多样性的新形式。     

从语言功能看我国少数民族语言的合理性

语言功能和语言本身严格说来不能混同。人类在礼会生活中由于需要某种东西来协调和整合人们的各种行为以构建一个有利于生存的和谐社会,才创制和发明了语言。是语言所应承载的功能决定其存在的合理性。虽然语言的表层功能多种多样,但都服务于构建和谐社会、体现民族精神的终极功能。每一种民族语言,特别是少数民族语言在其历史传承过程中以自身特有的方式履行语言的功能以使本民族和民族之间的人们能和谐共处。我国是一个多民族多语种的国家,少数民族语言是宝贵的文化遗产,和所有的语言一样,是带有普遍性的特殊性,具有必然的合理性。     

论法权形态异化的本质及其法律矫治

应然的法权关系中存在着"权利"与"权力"两种法权形态.权利反映的是平等民事主体之间对称、互惠的权利义务关系;权力来自于法律,是凝结在法律中的人民权利,人民是权力的唯一合法源泉.权力本应从属并服务于权利.法权形态的异化导致权力权利化、权利权力化,形成权力与权利功能的二律背反,不仅损害了社会公共利益,而且侵犯了公民的合法权益.防止权力及权力异化的途径是明确权力和权利的边界,加快民主法治的进程,建立法权关系的制约机制.