A mixed DNA profile controversy revisited

Semaan et al. (J Forensic Res, 2020, 11, 453) discuss a mock case “where eight different individuals [P₁ through P₈] could not be excluded in a mixed DNA analysis. Even though … expert DNA mixture analysis software was used.” Two of these are the true donors. The LRs reported are incorrect due to the incorrect entry of propositions into LRmix Studio. This forced the software to account for most of the alleles as drop-in, resulting in LRs 60–70 orders of magnitude larger than expected. P₁, P₂, P₄, P₅, and P₈ can be manually excluded using peak heights. This has relevance when using LRmix which does not use peak heights. We extend the work using the same two reference genotypes who were the true contributors as Semaan et al. (J Forensic Res, 2020, 11, 453). We simulate three two-donor mixtures with peak heights using these two genotypes and analyze using STRmix?. For the simulated 1:1 mixture, one of the non-donors’ LRs supported him being a contributor when no conditioning was used. When considered in combination with any other potential donors (i.e., with conditioning), this non-donor was correctly eliminated. For the 3:1 mixture, all results correctly supported that the non-donors were not contributors. The low-template 4:1 mixture LRs with no conditioning showed support for all eight profiles as donors. However, the results from pair-wise conditioning showed that only the two ground truth donors had LRs supporting that they were contributors to the mixture. We recommend the use of peak heights and conditioning profiles, as this allows better sensitivity and specificity even when the persons share many alleles.     

Le Parlement en temps de crises politiques dans le royaume de Portugal (XIV-XVe siècles)

SUMMARY

This article focuses on the role of the Cortes in the course of two decisive moments of the Portuguese monarchy: the choice of a king on the one hand and the decision to accept a regency on the other. The Cortes of Coimbra (1385) are first analysed in the context of the political events that preceded them, in terms of the novelty of being summoned by the social forces of the kingdom, and in terms of their ideology and innovative measures. As a result, a king was chosen—King John I, the founder of the House of Avis—and reforms of a noticeable ‘constituent’ tendency were proposed. Attention is then focused on the Cortes of Lisbon (1439), which were equally unusual in their summoning and performance. There, it was decided that the infant Don Pedro, brother to the late king Don Duarte, would be in charge of the regency while the heir to the throne, Don Afonso V, was not yet of age. This prevented the queen from occupying the role the monarch had intended for her. In both cases these Cortes are very special given that they legitimated revolutionary acts which had previously taken place. This behaviour reinforces the idea that by comparison with other kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, the Portuguese Cortes had a strong leadership role in moments of political crisis and in the assertion of the power and social formation of the monarchy.     

母鼠妊娠期铅镉联合暴露对仔鼠脑组织的氧化损伤及乙酰半胱氨酸的保护效应

45只怀孕SD母鼠被随机分为9组,即A组(对照组,饮用蒸馏水)、B组(铅组,300 mg/L)、C组[铅 N-乙酰半胱氨酸(N-NAC)组,300 mg/L 20 mmol/L]、D组(镉组,10 mg/L)、E组(镉 NAC组,10mg/L 20 mmol/L)、F组(低剂量铅镉联合组,150 mg/L 5 mg/L)、G组(低剂量铅镉联合 NAC组,150mg/L 5 mg/L 20 mmol/L)、H组(高剂量铅镉联合组,300 mg/L 10 mg/L)、Ⅰ组(高剂量铅镉联合 NAC组,300 mg/L 10 mg/L 20 mmol/L).采用饮水染毒,染毒时间为21 d,分娩后每窝随机选取6只乳鼠测定脑匀浆超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶(GSH-Px)、乙酰胆碱酯酶(TChE)活性和丙二醛(MDA)的含量.结果表明,低剂量铅镉联合作用具有中间效应(介于铅、镉单独毒性作用之间),而高剂量铅镉联合作用表现协同或叠加效应.NAC拮抗组与染毒组比较,MDA含量显著降低,SOD、GSH-Px、TChE、CAT活性有升高趋势,说明NAC可以提高大鼠的抗氧化能力,对母鼠铅镉暴露所致新生鼠脑脂质过氧化损伤有一定的保护作用.     

Implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa: A Firm-Level Study of Sub-Saharan African SMEs

Journal of Chinese Political Science - Over the past few years, the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has seen a marked increase among state-owned enterprises and large...     

A Fossilised Constitution?

Abstract.  The purpose of this paper is to analyse the limits of constitutional reform. Some constitutions, for example, the German (art. 79, sec. 3), the Italian (art. 139), the Portuguese (art. 288), the French (art. 89, sec. 5), and the Brazilian (art. 60, sec. 4), contain an "essential core" of rights, which is usually understood as being immune to change. The initial focus in the paper is on the discussion on whether and to what extent these "essential cores" are indeed immune to change. A second focus is on Ross's paradox. Here I analyse and reject Ross's own solution to the paradox and I show, too, that the paradox admits no solution that does not imply a discontinuity in the legal system.     

TRENDS IN FEMALE DELINQUENCY

National arrest statistics combined with juvenile court, self-report, and field observational data are used to evaluate current conceptions of the changing nature of female delinquency. Adolescent females made arrest gains in the categories of larceny (e.g., shoplifting). liquor law violations (e.g. underage drinking), and runaways. Studies of juvenile gangs show no increase in female violence or gang-related delinquencies while self-report data show that, with the exception of marijuana use and drinking, female delinquency has remained generally stable over the past decade. We conclude that patterns of female delinquency, especially as revealed in nonofficial sources of evidence, have changed very little in recent years and that female delinquency continues to reflect traditional sex roles. The evidence suggests that the Women's Movement has had little or no effect on female delinquency. At the end of the report. we suggest alternative views regarding female delinquency and the forces shaping it.     

Combating corruption and the role of the judiciary in Nigeria: beyond rhetoric and crassness

The role of the judiciary in combating corruption in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised. However, its ability to combat corruption is a function of the legal and political mechanisms in place. In Nigeria, these mechanisms and their effectiveness in the anti-corruption fight remain thorny issues. The judiciary faces myriad of challenges, ranging from perceived corrupt practices by judicial officers, interference by politicians, and the adjudicatory system in Nigeria. However, we are of the view that the judiciary can perform its role in the anti-corruption fight if its efforts are adequately complemented by legislation.     

美国国家安全战略视阈下的中美关系50年

自1972年中美关系“破冰”以来,美国国家安全战略视阈之内的中美关系经历了1972—1989年、1989—2017年以及2017年之后三个阶段。在这三个阶段中,制衡、塑造与争胜先后成为美国对华战略的逻辑核心。在第一阶段,美国对华的国家安全战略逻辑是“借重以制衡”,即借助中国来平衡苏联,中国在20世纪80年代一度被美国视为“友好的非盟国”。在持续时间最长的第二阶段,美国的国家安全战略逻辑是通过“接触以塑造”,希望塑造中国的政治经济模式以及对外行为方式。在20世纪90年代末期中国一度被美国视为潜在的战略伙伴。在2017年以来的第三阶段,美国试图通过“竞争以制胜”,防止中国的发展超越美国,美国国家安全战略视阈内的中国以及中美关系全面转向消极。50年来,中美关系经历过两次转向和重构,目前第二次转向和重构仍在进行中。过去50年,中美关系总是关系到美国全局性国家安全利益的重大问题;美国国家安全战略中的涉华部分超越党派之争,有着较强的一致性和连贯性,很多议题和提法都长期存在,或者早有伏笔。在美国国家安全战略中,涉华议题的内容越来越多,也越来越丰富;中美关系的合作面和竞争面都有明显增长,但竞争面的比重大幅上升。