Forensic Science: Complex Admissibility Standard for Scientific Evidence and Expert Witness\u27s Testimony

Modern science forces the world to accept new theories and invention. Science has invented several tools, which are used in the legal system to dispute criminal cases. Scientific evidence and expert witness testimony have weight in the courtroom because those are scientifically proved to be true. Even though there are few case laws and Federal rule of evidence 1975, still the admissibility standard is complex which may lead injustice. This article examines the Federal rule of evidence, case laws and scholars’ opinion to address the complexity of the admissibility standard of scientific evidence and expert testimony. The first legal question raised relating the admissibility standard was Frye v. United States (1923) where the court ruled that any scientific method or practice must be generally accepted by the scientific community at large. The First Federal rule of evidence was adopted in 1975. In 1980`s scientific scholars began to questioning the authenticity of the admitted scientific evidence saying the kind of expertise regularly accepted as admissible by courts was, frankly, \u27junk\u27 of scandalous lack of dependability. \u27 To address the problem of junk science in the courtroom, the United States Supreme Court decided Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharma, Inc. (1993) In this case the Court addressed a new standard for determining the admissibility of scientific evidence in the federal courts of the U.S. After examining the case laws and statues, it revealed US has legal system has complex admissibility standard for scientific evidence and expert witness interpreted by the judges and may serve injustice to innocent people

International Legal Education and Specialist Certification (Year in Review)

The American Bar Association (ABA) promulgates rules and regulations that apply to all United States law schools with ABA-accreditation and approval. Those rules apply specifically to schools offering programs leading to a J.D. degree. In August 2016, the ABA Council approved certain changes to the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, which became effective on August 9, 2016. The changes affected not only J.D. programs, but also study abroad programs offered by ABA member schools

International Legal Education and Specialist Certification [Year in Review]

The American Bar Association (ABA) promulgates rules and regulations that apply to all United States law schools with ABA-accreditation and approval. Those rules apply specifically to schools offering programs leading to a J.D. degree. In August 2016, the ABA Council approved certain changes to the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, which became effective on August 9, 2016. The changes affected not only J.D. programs, but also study abroad programs offered by ABA member schools

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Measurement of the top quark mass using charged particles in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Intersection of Law, Science, Technology, & the Humanities

The challenge of how best to incorporate the wealth of educational/research material currently available through technologies and drawn from the social, cultural, economic, political and legal aspects of our society today has brought together professors from three distinct disciplines and schools at New York City College of Technology, CUNY to research, design, and create innovative new courses and to continually revise content and methodology in existing courses. This dynamic and interdisciplinary approach to learning allows our undergraduate students opportunities to research and apply their knowledge to existing societal issues, in “real-time” to analyze, discuss, and suggest ways to improve upon existing policies and procedures—in particular, security, privacy, Artificial Intelligence/AI—and to assess the impact of the decisions rendered from many and varied perspectives including an examination of the potential bias and influence of creators of algorithms/code, which invisibly navigates and informs much of our lives. In law classes, undergraduate students supplement text readings with ripped-from-the-headline type cases/issues that are present in society. The undergraduate students are encouraged to recognize trends in the law, review pending and/or decided cases, legislative proposals, and legislative hearings such as those involving tech company policies/procedures, to better understand the impact of such decisions on their own lives, their families’ lives, and the lives of all people in society. From local/state divorce matters to breaches and damages regarding the Federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2511 & § 2520, to international matters of espionage and hacking, the undergraduate students realize the relevance of the role and place of technology in the courtroom, and the need to work with experts from a variety of disciplines, such as Forensic Science, Computer Systems Technology, and Humanities. The undergraduate students also better appreciate the value of effective communication skills when they listen to attorney arguments and observe conduct of all stakeholders in the courtroom. The analysis of questions such as “who said it best?” and “whose presentation was more powerful?” is indicative of the unpacking needed for all legal communication—including the “silent bias” embedded into technology constructions. Thus, the Humanities supplies tools and framing around communication approaches: on the one hand foregrounding assumptions and challenging implicit—and unacknowledged—biases, and on the other hand strengthening ethical communication skills and strategies

Assessment of Throwing Patterns in Young Adults Diagnosed with Low-Expressive Language Autism and Severe Communication Disorder

Objectives There are a significant number of reports documenting movement differences and disorders in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Observations of throwing patterns of young adults with low-expressive language ASD (LEL-ASD) have not been previously reported and may offer a description of how aberrant movement patterns manifest among this older population. Methods Throwing patterns over four distances (1.52, 3.04, 4.56, and 6.08m) were compared between young adults with LEL-ASD (n=7, 18.9 ± 1.8 years) and a matched control group (n=7, 19.6 ± 0.5 years). Eleven reflective markers were adhered to specific anatomical locations on participants and a six-camera motion analysis system (120 Hz) tracked marker locations resulting in joint kinematics (trunk rotation, elbow extension velocity, arm slot angle at release) and ball metrics (velocity, trajectory). Three-dimensional stick-figure representations were qualitatively observed by three independent raters to score each throw for stepping and trunk action based on a previously reported throwing rubric. Results Across all distances, the control group threw with 100% accuracy compared to 67.7% for the LEL-ASD group. There were significant between-group differences for trunk rotation, arm slot angle, and ball velocity at the point of release as throwing distance increased. Kinematic analysis revealed a largely planar throwing motion that did not adjust for the LEL-ASD group. Conclusions Young adults diagnosed with LEL-ASD displayed altered overhand throwing patterns as compared to control participants. Kinematic results underscored the difference in throwing patterns and revealed a lack of accommodation to alter the throwing pattern as a function of target distance. These data reveal differences of movement patterns between LEL-ASD and typically developing participants, specifically actions requiring the synchronized coordination of upper and lower extremities

Is Surgical Resection Superior to Transplantation in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma?

OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with either liver resection or transplantation. METHODS: A retrospective, single institution analysis of 413 HCC patients from 1999–2009. RESULTS: 413 patients with HCC underwent surgical resection (n=106), transplantation (n=270), or were listed without receiving transplantation (n=37). Excluding transplanted patients with incidental tumors (n=50), 257 patients with suspected HCC were listed with the intent to transplant (ITT). The median diameter of the largest tumor by radiography was 6.0 cm in resected, 3.0 cm in transplanted, and 3.4 cm in the listed-but-not-transplanted patients. Median time to transplant was 48 days. Recurrence rates were 19.8% for resection and 12.1% for all ITT patients. Overall, patient survival for resection vs. ITT patients was similar (5-year survival of 53.0% vs. 52.0%, NS). However, for HCC patients with MELD scores <10 and who radiologically met Milan or UCSF criteria, 1-year and 5-year survival rates were significantly improved in resected patients. For patients with MELD <10 and who met Milan criteria, 1-year and 5-year survival were 92.0% and 63.0% for resection (n=26) vs. 83.0% and 41.0% for ITT (n=73, p=0.036). For those with MELD <10 and met UCSF criteria, 1-year and 5-year survival was 94.0% and 62.0% for resection (n=33) vs. 81.0% and 40.0% for ITT (n=78, p=0.027). CONCLUSIONS: Among known HCC patients with preserved liver function, resection was associated with superior patient survival versus transplantation. These results suggest surgical resection should remain the first line therapy for patients with HCC and compensated liver function who are candidates for resection