Forensic science evidence in question

How should forensic scientists and other expert witnesses present their evidence in court? What kinds and quality of data can experts properly draw on in formulating their conclusions? In an important recent decision in R. v T1 the Court of Appeal revisited these perennial questions, with the complicating twist that the evidence in question incorporated quantified probabilities, not all of which were based on statistical data. Recalling the sceptical tenor of previous judgments addressing the role of probability in the evaluation of scientific evidence,2 the Court of Appeal in R. v T condemned the expert’s methodology and served notice that it should not be repeated in future, a ruling which rapidly reverberated around the forensic science community causing consternation, and even dismay, amongst many seasoned practitioners.3 At such moments of perceived crisis it is essential to retain a sense of perspective. There is, in fact, much to welcome in the Court of Appeal’s judgment in R. v T, starting with the court’s commendable determination to subject the quality of expert evidence adduced in criminal litigation to searching scrutiny. English courts have not consistently risen to this challenge, sometimes accepting rather too easily the validity of questionable scientific techniques.4 However, the Court of Appeal’s reasoning in R. v T is not always easy to follow, and there are certain passages in the judgment which, taken out of context, might even appear to confirm forensic scientists’ worst fears. This article offers a constructive reading of R. v T, emphasising its positive features whilst rejecting interpretations which threaten, despite the Court of Appeal’s best intentions, to diminish the integrity of scientific evidence adduced in English criminal trials and distort its probative value

Hodge and Gelfand theory in Clifford analysis and tomography

2022 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.There is an interesting inverse boundary value problem for Riemannian manifolds called the Calderón problem which asks if it is possible to determine a manifold and metric from the Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DN) operator. Work on this problem has been dominated by complex analysis and Hodge theory and Clifford analysis is a natural synthesis of the two. Clifford analysis analyzes multivector fields, their even-graded (spinor) components, and the vector-valued Hodge–Dirac operator whose square is the Laplace–Beltrami operator. Elements in the kernel of the Hodge–Dirac operator are called monogenic and since multivectors are multi-graded, we are able to capture the harmonic fields of Hodge theory and copies of complex holomorphic functions inside the space of monogenic fields simultaneously. We show that the space of multivector fields has a Hodge–Morrey-like decomposition into monogenic fields and the image of the Hodge–Dirac operator. Using the multivector formulation of electromagnetism, we generalize the electric and magnetic DN operators and find that they extract the absolute and relative cohomologies. Furthermore, those operators are the scalar components of the spinor DN operator whose kernel consists of the boundary traces of monogenic fields. We define a higher dimensional version of the Gelfand spectrum called the spinor spectrum which may be used in a higher dimensional version of the boundary control method. For compact regions of Euclidean space, the spinor spectrum is homeomorphic to the region itself. Lastly, we show that the monogenic fields form a sheaf that is locally homeomorphic to the underlying manifold which is a prime candidate for solving the Calderón problem using analytic continuation

A Case Study on Illinois Regional Public Universities and the 2015-2017 Budget Impasse

This study explores the lived experiences of administrators who led their institutions through the two-year Illinois budget impasse. This study also reviewed archival evidence of measures taken by public regional universities in Illinois to mitigate the loss of state appropriations. Previous research has shown that the business model of public higher education in the United States is undergoing disruption. Changing demographics, enrollment concerns, and rising tuition were just some of these issues pressuring public institutions of higher education. The temporary loss of state appropriations exacerbated these issues and had long-lasting effects even after the Illinois budget impasse ended. In order to understand the Illinois budget impasse and its affects on regional public universities in Illinois, four administrators from two public universities in Illinois were interviewed, two from each university. In addition, archival documents including Board of Trustee meeting minutes and student publications were researched in order to supplement information shared during the interviews. The study reveals that the loss of state appropriations for public universities forced them to use reserve funds to cover costs, reduce spending, downsize personnel, and adopt cultures of austerity that continue even after state appropriations are made available again

Production and Harvest of Microalgae in Wastewater Raceways with Resource Recycling

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research. A pilot facility was operated with nine CO2-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m2 surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed primary-clarified municipal wastewater at either a 2-day or 3-day hydraulic residence time (HRT), and one set fed the clarified effluent of the 3-day pond set. This second pond-in-series was operated with a 3-day HRT. Areal biomass productivity is reported as gross and net, the former based only on biomass in the pond effluents and the latter subtracting the volatile suspended solids in the influent from those in the effluent. An estimate was also made of autotrophic biomass productivity, as differentiated from heterotrophic growth. Over a year, net productivity averaged 83 metric tons per hectare per year (MT/ha-yr) for the 2-day HRT ponds, 52 MT/ha-yr for the 3-day HRT ponds, and 44 MT/ha-yr for the 3-day HRT ponds receiving clarified effluent of the first set of 3-day HRT ponds (i.e., recycled water). The lower net productivity of the pond receiving water recycling was attributed to two factors. First, the relatively high influent suspended solids concentrations were subtracted from the effluent suspended solids concentrations before net productivity was calculated. Second, the recycled water contained less soluble organic matter than the primary-clarified wastewater leading to less heterotrophic biomass production. The accumulation of inhibitory allelochemicals is a possible third cause of lower productivity , but no specific information was collected on allelopathy. Algae were harvested from pond effluent by sedimentation, with harvest efficiency most affected by the extent of natural bioflocculation occurring in the ponds. Some forms of bioflocculation are thought to be mediated by bacteria, which often make-up a substantial fraction of the settled flocs. Pond samples settled in 1-L Imhoff cones averaged/L total suspended solids after 24 hours of settling; but all ponds fell short of meeting an averaged/L total suspended solids after a 2 hour interval which would be ideally achieved for wastewater effluent. No relationship was seen between settling performance and the bacterial content of flocs. Soluble carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (scBOD5) removal by the raceway ponds was sufficient to meet wastewater treatment requirements year around. Influent scBOD5 concentrations averaged 83 mg/L, and the effluent averaged 5.1 mg/L and 4.2 mg/L for the 2-day and 3-day HRT pond sets, respectively. The variable with the greatest influence on productivity in all pond sets, and settling performance in the recycled water pond set, was season (i.e., co-correlated variables of solar insolation and pond temperature). Neither productivity nor settling appeared to be related to prominent algae genera or prevalence of grazers. The high net productivity achieved with a growth medium of primary clarifier effluent and the generally high settleability of algal-bacterial flocs indicate a good potential for algae wastewater treatment and biofuel production. However, the settling of algae grown on recycled water needs improvement to achieve the full potential of wastewater-grown algae biofuel production

Aspects of respiratory function during exercise in the thoroughbred horse in health and disease

The horse's enormous respiratory reserve enables it to increase the respiratory load on the lungs many fold during exercise, hence low-grade respiratory disease is difficult to detect at rest, although of vital importance during heavy exercise. Diagnostic exercise testing is, therefore, of great interest and this thesis describes its application to the investigation of respiratory disease in the Thoroughbred horse. Horses were exercised on a treadmill whilst respiratory flow rates were recorded using ultrasound flow transducers, respired gas concentrations measured by mass spectrometry and blood gas analysis performed. The exercise test involved a warm up followed by two minute canters/gallops at increasing workloads separated by ten minute walks. Validation studies confirmed the suitability of the methods for these studies. A steady state for respiratory variables was reached by ninety seconds of canter/gallop. The effects of training on exercising respiratory function were investigated by exercise testing horses following a sedentary period and after a fifteen week training programme. State of training did not complicate clinical interpretation of some variables, e.g tidal volume, respiratory frequency and minute ventilation, whilst peak flow rates were stable at the highest workloads. Arterial oxygen tension and blood pH during exercise were affected by training but other blood gas variables and end-tidal gas tensions were not. The effect of influenza on respiratory function was studied by challenging partially immune horses with H3N8 influenza, inducing infection similar to that seen in vaccinated racehorses. Twenty one days after infection most horses showed no changes in respiratory function but 2/9 horses altered breathing strategy during canter and another showed altered acid-base and blood lactate responses. Horses with low-grade respiratory disorders showed differences in respiratory function to the experimental animals but the wide normal range of pulmonary function tests limited their one-off diagnostic value. Serial testing may prove to be a more sensitive method

Analysis of the RMM-01 Market Maker

Constant function market makers(CFMMS) are a popular market design for decentralized exchanges(DEX). Liquidity providers(LPs) supply the CFMMs with assets to enable trades. In exchange for providing this liquidity, an LP receives a token that replicates a payoff determined by the trading function used by the CFMM. In this paper, we study a time-dependent CFMM called RMM-01. The trading function for RMM-01 is chosen such that LPs recover the payoff of a Black--Scholes priced covered call. First, we introduce the general framework for CFMMs. After, we analyze the pricing properties of RMM-01. This includes the cost of price manipulation and the corresponding implications on arbitrage. Our first primary contribution is from examining the time-varying price properties of RMM-01 and determining parameter bounds when RMM-01 has a more stable price than Uniswap. Finally, we discuss combining lending protocols with RMM-01 to achieve other option payoffs which is our other primary contribution

Is African agriculture converging? Evidence from a panel of crop yields

Crop Production/Industries,