Interpreting DNA Evidence: A Review

The paper provides a review of current issues relating to the use of DNA profiling in forensic science. A short historical section gives the main statistical milestones that occurred during a rapid development of DNA technology and operational uses. Greater detail is then provided for interpretation issues involving STR DNA profiles, including:

• – methods that take account of population substructure in DNA calculations;

• – parallel work carried out by the US National Research Council;

• – the move away from multiple independence testing in favour of experiments that demonstrate the robustness of casework procedures;

• – the questionable practice of source attribution 'with reasonable scientific certainty';

• – the effect on the interpretation of profiles obtained under increasingly sensitive techniques, the LCN technique in particular;

• – the use of DNA profiles as an intelligence tool;

• – the interpretation of DNA mixtures.

Experience of presenting DNA evidence within UK courts is also discussed. The paper then summarises a generic interpretation framework based on the concept of likelihood ratio within a hierarchy of propositions. Finally the use of Bayesian networks to interpret DNA evidence is reviewed.     

Transformational leadership,group affective tone,and group member social inferences: A leadership complementarity perspective

We investigated how the complementarity between transformational leadership behaviours and group potency predicts changes in group affective tone and subsequent group members' social inferences (job satisfaction, trust in supervisors, and turnover intentions). We analyzed two waves of data from 135 skilled professionals working in 29 groups within a Canadian government agency. Transformational leadership behaviours did not directly relate to changes in group affective tone. However, group potency moderated the relationship between transformational leadership behaviours and group affective tone, as well as the indirect relationships between transformational leadership behaviours and group members' social inferences via group affective tone, such that the relationships were stronger for low-potency groups. These results suggest transformational leadership may work best when complementing a group's sense of its own perceived capability.     

Adjusting the Seasonality of Milk Shipments in Canada: Problems, Economic Impacts and Potential Policies

High-summer / low-winter patterns of milk production and shipments (or seasonality of milk shipments) give rise to capacity utilization problems and attendant additional costs in the transportation, processing and distribution sectors of the dairy industry. While it is technically possible to modify the natural seasonal pattern, it may not be economically optimal to do so. This may in part explain the highly seasonal pattern of industrial milk shipments in Canada. and may suggest the need for policy incentives to induce an y adjustment. Linear programming models were used to analyze a small sample of highly seasonal dairy farms in Ontario. It was found that uniform shipment patterns would reduce farm profits only marginally (up to $240). Profit-maximizing scenarios were associated with even greater levels of seasonality than actually existed on these farms. Policy measures such as quarterly quotas and winter subsidy premiums were found to be effective in reducing the seasonality of milk shipments. It was concluded that these or alternative policy incentives would be necessary for inducing a uniform milk shipment pattern in Canada, in view of the negative impacts on farm profits of adopting a uniform pattern. Les modèles saisonniers de la production laitiére et de ses livraisons donnenl lieu à des problèmes ?utilisation de capacilé et des coiits supplementaires dans les secteurs de la production, de la distribution el du transport de ?induslrie laitière. Pourtant il sepeul qu'il soil sans but lucralif de modifier ce mo?ele naturel. Ceci peul expliquer en partie le caractére extrémemenl saisonnier des livraisons de lait induslriel au Canada, et peul suggérer également le besoin ?uliliser des stimulants de politique agricole pour causer de ?ajustement. Cet exposé présenle ?application de modèles deprogrammation linéaire à un petit nombre de fermes laitières onlariennes, qui son! caractérisées par une production extremémenl saisonnière, à permis de constater les résultats suivants: ?adoption ?un échelonnemenl uniforme des livraisons tout au long de ?année diminuerail les profits des exploitationns agricoles non plus que 240 dollars; les scénarios les plus profitables sont ceux qui sonl les plus saisonniers– on n'a pas vu pourlanl de lels scénarios aux fermes analysées; ?utilisation des mesures de politique agricole telles que des quotas trimeslriels el des primes à la production hivernale est éfficace pourfaire plus uniformes les livraisons laitières. Finalement, on conclul que des stimulants de politique agricole seraient nécéssaires pour développer au Canada un modèle de production laitière caractérisé par un étalement uniforme des livraisons de lair tout au long de ?année, el ceci à cause des effets négatifs ?un tel modèle sur les profits des exploitations agricoles.     

Mass tourism and the dilemmas of modernization in Pacific Island communities

This paper relates global discussions of tourism as a means of development to the history of cultural contacts in the Pacific. The paper reviews the relevance of the existing literature on social and cultural impacts of tourism to the Pacific and suggests implications for policy makers and community leaders. The existing literature is found to be methodologically suspect and does not provide helpful knowledge to policy-makers.     

U.S. tourism in Mexico: An empirical analysis

This study estimated demand functions for tourism by U.S. residents in Mexico border areas, the Mexican interior, and overseas. There was no evidence that U.S. tourists substitute Mexico for more distant destinations as transportation costs rise. Border tourism is income elastic when the share of U.S. income of the border states is held fixed. Tourism in the Mexican interior is also income elastic. Tourism along the border is price elastic, while tourism in the interior is elastic with respect to U.S. and overseas prices but inelastic with respect to Mexican prices. The rise in the share of the Mexican interior in U.S. overseas tourism is not related to price factors. Recent devaluations of the Mexican peso are unlikely to provide benefits to the Mexican tourism industry.     

Corrupción como proceso organizacional: comprendiendo la lógica de la desnormalización de la corrupción

This article discusses the basic assumptions of an individualist vision on corruption. A different argument based on “social density” of the phenomenon is proposed instead: the process of normalization of corruption. Under this umbrella, corruption is a political concept that looks to impose a particular vision on what are “right” behaviors based on a sharp and unrealistic separation of the public and private sphere. A review of the organizational literature on corruption is developed, with the aim of understanding how organizational processes of socialization triggers behaviors that make corrupt acts to appear as “normal” under the organizational logic. Persons find themselves in a “slippery slope”, generating agreements and social dynamics that are able to produce corrupt logics under the normal life of an organization. A plea for discussing the social processes needed to “un-normalize” corruption is defended a conceptualization that goes beyond an individualist and moralist vision of the phenomenon.     

Mountain City Transit: Management Control and Performance Measurement

Mountain City Transit (MCT) is a short in‐class case based on a real‐life city transit department, a context with which students are very familiar. The case allows three delivery options for instructors. A first option is for instructors to use the case to introduce various elements of management control—the case is rich, thereby allowing students to identify multiple issues facing the organization. As a second option, instructors can use it as a performance management case wherein students build a balanced scorecard and receive a completed strategy map to analyze. As a third delivery option, the case can be used twice during the course, both to introduce management control and to discuss performance measurement. Students will also discuss real life implementation challenges that MCT and other organizations face.     

Monitoring Legal Compliance: The Growth of Compliance Committees*

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations’ (COSO) framework outlines three objectives of internal control. This paper addresses the third and least emphasized component, compliance with laws and regulations. We address the growing importance of board‐level oversight of legal compliance and the emerging role of a separate board committee dedicated to the compliance function. A recent COSO project emphasizes the importance of the monitoring function; COSO observes that many companies are not conducting this function effectively. We examine the use of a board‐level compliance committee to monitor legal compliance. We also discuss the roles of corporate counsel and internal auditors in assisting with monitoring. Our results show that over the last 15 years a growing percentage of S&P 500 firms have adopted a board‐level compliance committee. Internal auditors’ specialized training and expertise in the areas of monitoring and prevention would complement the company’s legal expertise and be of significant value to boards of directors in helping them fulfill their compliance oversight responsibilities.     

Dr. PC: A Multimedia Management Control Case*

Dr. PC is a 50–80‐minute, in‐class management control case. The case asks students to develop a management control system for a small computer repair business. Informed initially by personal experiences, and then from viewing a consumer affairs video that depicts an employee repeatedly violating his firm’s code of conduct, students work together to outline key management controls. After viewing the video and discussing key management controls, students are then exposed to Simons’s levers of control framework and asked to develop a comprehensive management control system for the small business. The case was developed over three years with the help of 344 undergraduate, master’s, and executive students. Student feedback from earlier versions of the case indicates they found the case stimulating and effective at reaching its learning objectives of understanding the purpose of and how to design a management control system for a small business.