Using Algae to Estimate Postmortem Submersion Interval in a Louisiana Bayou

While algae are often used in forensic science for the determination and confirmation of death by drowning, their utility for the estimation of postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) has been underutilized. Algae are present in all water systems and will grow upon decomposing matter; yet, very little published literature exists on their use in PMSI estimation. Because PMSI is difficult to predict due to the variable nature of water, the reaction of the submerged body within water, and the lack of truly sarcophagous aquatic insects, algae are a potentially invaluable tool for the forensic anthropologist. This research investigates the utility of algae as an indicator of PMSI in a Louisiana bayou, considering both seasonality and clothing as factors. Fetal pigs (Sus domestica L.) were placed in water in both spring and fall, some clothed and some unclothed. Algae samples were collected from two pigs and two control tiles per season and analyzed for chlorophyll a concentration. Biomass removal was also measured on two similar pigs in order to quantify decomposition. Results indicate that chlorophyll a concentration conforms to a positive linear relationship with time in both spring and fall and on all substrates, being especially dense on clothed spring substrates. Thus, algae growth can be used to estimate PMSI. Additionally, a clothed body will decompose slower than an unclothed body, and decomposition is more rapid in spring than fall. This research adds to the academic knowledge of the utility of algae for estimation of PMSI and brings attention to the growing need for collaboration between multi-disciplinary scientists investigating forensic cases

Essays in Behavioral Public Economics

This dissertation studies how insights from behavioral economics affect the economic analysis of public policy. The thesis consists of four chapters that make use of different methods: laboratory experiments, quasi-experimental and structural econometric methods, as well as theoretical analyses. The first chapter investigates if social image concerns affect the take-up of a redistributive transfer. In a lab experiment, we vary the visibility of the take-up decision and find that subjects are substantially less likely to take up a public transfer. Moreover, we vary whether transfer eligibility is based on ability or luck, and how the transfer is financed. The results show that subjects avoid the inference both of being low-skilled (ability stigma) and of being willing to live off others (free-rider stigma). These results support our predictions from a theoretical model of social image concerns. Using a placebo treatment, in which the take-up is uninformative about the claimant's type, we exclude other explanations for the observed stigma effects. Although stigma reduces take-up, elicitation of political preferences reveals that only a minority of “taxpayers” vote for the public transfer. The second chapter studies if sin taxes on soft drinks and fats are effectively targeting consumers with low self-control. For identification, we exploit upward and downward shifts of the soft drink tax and the fat tax in Denmark. We assess the response in purchases empirically using the GfK Consumerscan household panel. With this data, we can separate the sample in consumers with low and high levels of self-control using a survey measure. We find that consumers with low self-control reduce purchases less strongly than consumers with high self-control when taxes go up, but increase purchases to a similar extent when taxes go down. Hence, we document an asymmetry in the responsiveness to increasing and decreasing prices. We show theoretically that these observations are consistent with a model of self-control and rational habit formation. The results suggest that price instruments may not be an effective tool for targeting self-control problems. The third chapter uses a structural demand model to analyze the impact of soft drink taxes in the presence of habit formation and stockpiling. The model is estimated using nested logit and incorporates unobserved heterogeneity in tastes. The estimated model is used to simulate short-run and long-run price elasticities, as well as the simulated impact of different soft drink taxes. The results show that long-run price elasticities are approximately 20 percent larger than short-run elasticities due to habit formation. Moreover, excise taxes on sugary soft drinks are more effective in reducing sugar consumption than ad valorem taxes and excise taxes that do not distinguish between sugary and diet beverages. The fourth chapter investigates if individuals select information structures in order to protect their motivated beliefs. In a lab experiment, subjects can select the information structure that gives them feedback regarding their rank in the IQ distribution (ego-relevant treatment) or regarding a random number (control treatment). We find that individuals in the ego-relevant treatment select information structures, in which negative feedback is less salient. When receiving such negative feedback with lower salience they update their beliefs less, but only when feedback is ego-relevant. Hence, subjects select information structures that allow them to misinterpret negative feedback in a self-serving way. Moreover, individuals in the ego-relevant feedback choose less informative feedback

Creating a Conformance Testing Framework for the UNH Extended Sockets Library and Demonstrating its Usefulness by Implementing New sendfile() Extension

The UNH Extended Sockets Library (UNH EXS) was developed at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory to provide an interface to extend the features of the Extended Sockets API (ES-API) specification published by the Open Group to better utilize the asynchronous I/O and memory registration features of Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and provide the programmer with the option to perform operations synchronously as well as asynchronously. This thesis is focused on building a rigorous testing framework to verify conformance to the published ES-API standards, existing manual pages, and documented UNH extensions of the Extended Sockets Library, and to facilitate regression testing of the software library as a whole. Furthermore, the additional functionality of synchronous and asynchronous sendfile transfer over RDMA with UNH EXS will be implemented, verified, evaluated, and integrated into the existing documentation and testing framework. The goal of this new capability is to establish a clear process by which new features to UNH EXS can be verified in the future and changes to the library will be properly vetted. The new sendfile transfer functionality is focused on improving the usability and effectiveness of the UNH EXS Library for programmers

The role of histone modifications in gene regulation : from C4 genes to a genome-wide exploration along the maize leaf gradient

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The Marketing of Consumer and Mortgage Credit as a Responsible Lending Tool: A Comparison of South African, European and Belgian Law: Part 1

The vulnerability of prospective credit consumers to over-committing their resources and the inherent dangers posed by credit advertising in particular necessitate the proper regulation of credit marketing. It is therefore not unsurprising that responsible marketing forms part of the responsible lending (and borrowing) measures of various jurisdictions – including South Africa and the Member States of the European Union – with the aim of preventing the extension of credit to consumers who cannot afford it. In this article the credit marketing laws that the South African, European (mainly in the Consumer Credit and Mortgage Credit Directives) and Belgian legislators have enacted are considered and compared, with a focus on the information to be included in advertising, prohibited advertising and prohibited marketing techniques. The ultimate aim is to determine whether South African law contains sufficient guarantees to protect consumers with respect to credit marketing and its consequences. &nbsp