Correction to: Age Patterns in Risk Taking Across the World

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - In the original publication, the legends for Figs 4 and 5 were incorrect, such that each regression line was mislabeled with the incorrect country. Below are the...     

Transparency as transparagency—New “meaning” for new contexts

A literature review was undertaken to find how transparency is connected to different models of governance. This paper addresses transparency in a wider sense than usual and claims its recognition from the systemic point of view. With this goal in mind, Wittgenstein's language games were used to show that transparency means what practice shows it is to regain its meaning in the never‐ending circle. On this basis, a new notion of transparency is proposed: transparagency, which connects knowing, understanding, acting, and evaluating under a new umbrella term. On the basis of Google Trends, the paper exposes a link between transparency and freedom of expression that is contrary to common understanding—Transparency is ensured more when people talk about it less.     

New Nonlinear Approaches for the Adjustment and Updating of a SAM

Many structural relationships should be taken into account in any reasonable adjustment and updating process. These structural relationships are mainly represented by ratios of different types, such as technical coefficients or the proportion of the cell value in relation to its row or column total. We believe that in many cases (either because of lack of information or when the time elapsed for the estimation of a social accounting matrix is not long enough to allow for any significant structural change) the updating process should try to minimize the rela- tive deviation of the new coefficients from the initial ones in a homogeneous way. This homogeneity would mean that the magnitude of this relative deviation is similar among the elements of each row or column, therefore avoiding the concentration of the changes in particular cells of the SAM. In this work, we propose some new adjustment criteria in order to obtain a more homogeneous relative adjustment of the structural coefficients. These criteria combine the adjustment method proposed by Matuszewski et al. (1964) with other deviation functions. Each of the adjustment criteria proposed leads to a nonlinear optimization problem which is reformulated as a linear program. We test the usefulness of this proposal by comparing its results with the ones obtained by more standard approaches and we are able to show that these approaches tend to produce a less homogeneous pattern of coefficient adjustment, under certain circumstances, than the ones we put forward.     

A short note on the identification of mitragynine

The leaves of Mitragyna speciosa are used as a substitute for opium. Criminal penalties for possession of mitragynine in this country are assigned for possession of defined quantities of mitragynine and its identification as Mitragyna speciosa by thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography.     

Fat and the law: who should take the blame?

The incidence of obesity in both adults and children is rising at a rapid rate in most developed countries, including in Australia. Some obese people are seeking to place the blame for their condition on the fast-food industry, as demonstrated by the recent litigation in the United States brought by two obese plaintiffs against McDonald's. This litigation was unsuccessful, and on existing Australian negligence principles any similar litigation commenced here is likely to suffer the same fate. Principles of personal responsibility, autonomy and free will should prevail to deny a negligence claim. The risk of obesity and concomitant health problems from eating fast food to excess is an obvious risk which the plaintiff should not have ignored and which he or she has voluntarily assumed. It is for the Australian Government, not the courts, to regulate the behaviour of the fast-food industry. The government should take action by requiring all major fast-food chains to label their products with nutritional information, and by imposing restrictions on the advertising of food to children.     

Preliminary study of the succession pattern of necrobiont insects, colonising species and larvae on pig carcasses in Temuco (Chile) for forensic applications

Knowledge regarding the succession patterns of insects that visit carcasses as well as the other arthropod that colonise them and analysis of the parameters that are associated with larvae allow calculation of the minimum postmortem interval (PMI). This information is obtained from experiments carried out under specific geoclimatic conditions, which determine their application in forensic environments under similar conditions. The field study presented here is the first in Chile to analyse the decomposition process of pig carcasses and the associated succession of insects, colonising species and parameters related to larval masses. All of the larvae obtained from daily samples were measured (in mm), and their mean, range, standard deviation and stage of development (instars) were determined. The carcasses reached the dry remains stage in only 11 days. Seven species of Diptera visited the carcass during the process, but only two species colonised it by means of egg deposition followed by development of larvae: Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius) and Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), which exhibited a duration of the development cycle from egg to adult of 21 days. The collected Coleoptera correspond to five predator species (Staphilinidae and Histeridae). From the results of this study, it can be concluded that only some of the insect species present in this region can provide information that can be used in forensic entomology and that analysis of larval masses of colonising species can be a valuable tool for determining the PMI(min) in this region of Chile.     

Effects of Cremation on Fetal Bones

The charring process is a weak point of anthropological analysis as it changes bone morphology and reduces information obtainable, specially in fetuses. This experiment aims at verifying the conservation of fetal bones after cremation. A total of 3138 fetuses of unknown sex and age were used, deriving from legal and therapeutic abortions from different hospitals of Milan. Cremations took place in modern crematoria. Nine cremation events were analyzed, each ranging from 57 to 915 simultaneously cremated fetuses. During the cremations, 4356 skeletal remains were recovered, 3756 of which (86.2%) were morphologically distinguishable. All types of fetal skeletal elements were found, with the exception of some cranial bones. Only 3.4% of individuals could be detected after the cremation process, because of the prevalence of abortions under 12 lunar weeks. All fire alterations were observed and the results were statistically analyzed. This pilot study confirmed the possibility of preservation of fetal skeletal elements after cremation.     

The Right to an Impartial Hearing Trumps the Social Imperative of Bringing Accused to Trial Even ‘Down Under’

Accused persons who are subjected to a saturation level of negative media coverage may be denied an impartial hearing, which is perhaps the most important aspect of the right to a fair hearing. Despite this, the courts have generally held that the social imperative of prosecuting accused trumps the interests of the accused. The justification for an impartial hearing stems from the repugnance of convicting the innocent. Viewed dispassionately, this imperative is not absolute, given that every legal system condones procedures which result in the conviction of some innocent people. While the importance of guarding against wrongful convictions has been overstated, the imperative to bring to trial all accused has been even more exaggerated. The legal system has displayed a capacity to deal with cases where the guilty walk free. The institutional integrity of the criminal justice system would be significantly compromised by convictions that are tarnished by pre-judgment. Confidence in the criminal justice system is more important than individual criminal accountability. The inability to receive an impartial hearing should result in a permanent stay. The only exception is where the alleged crime has the capacity to cause widespread fear or social unrest. This only applies in relation to serious acts of terrorism. This article focuses on recent legal fair trial developments in Australia, however, the analysis, reasoning and conclusion applies in relation to all jurisdictions where juries determine guilt and innocence.