Analyse systématique des faux documents d'identité à des fins de renseignement criminel: vers la construction de connaissances sur la criminalité par l'étude de la trace matérielle

Détecter et comprendre les formes de criminalité, notamment organisées, qui sont impliquées dans la fabrication, la diffusion et/ou l'utilisation de faux documents d'identité est un enjeu complexe et persistant, mais est une nécessité pour soutenir l'action de la sécurité et l'étude des phénomènes criminels. A cet égard, il est postulé qu'une approche traçologique s'appuyant sur un profilage systématique des caractéristiques matérielles des faux documents d'identité peut fournir des renseignements criminels originaux, utiles et pertinents. Une méthode générale a été développée pour extraire, mémoriser et comparer systématiquement les profils des faux documents d'identité saisis par les acteurs de la sécurité. Cette méthode permet de détecter et de suivre les relations entre cas, les tendances et patterns criminels, dont l'interprétation au travers de différentes formes d'analyse permet la mise en évidence de potentiels groupes criminels, d'auteurs prolifiques et de <i>modus operandi</i> récurrents. Par l'étude de centaines de faux documents d'identité saisis par la police et les garde-frontière dans deux pays distincts, cet article démontre comment le renseignement forensique peut soutenir la génération et l'étude d'hypothèses sur la criminalité, aidant par-là la compréhension des marchés et réseaux criminels sur les plans stratégique, opérationnel et tactique. L'article illustre également comment le renseignement forensique peut soutenir des mesures préventives et peut contribuer à l'analyse des risques que posent les faux documents d'identité, voire à la remise en cause de la stratégie sécuritaire et de contrôle actuelle. L'approche proposée présente un carctère essentiellement générique puisque, à l'instar de l'exemple des faux documents d'identité, n'importe quel type de trace matérielle peut être traité systématiquement et scientifiquement de sorte à contribuer à la construction structurée de connaissances sur la criminalité et la sécurité.

SocialPosition : Social Position Indicators Construction Toolbox

This R package provides to sociologists (and related scientists) a toolbox to facilitate the construction of social position indicators from survey data. Social position indicators refer to what is commonly known as social class and social status. There exists in the sociological literature many theoretical conceptualisation and empirical operationalization of social class and social status. This first version of the package offers tools to construct the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) and the Oesch social class schema. It also provides tools to convert several occupational classifications (PCS82, PCS03, and ISCO08) into a common one (ISCO88) to facilitate data harmonisation work, and tools to collapse (i.e. group) modalities of social position indicators.

Judicialisation and Direct Democracy. Switzerland's Ban on Minaret Construction

Launched by representatives from the Union démocratique du centre (UDC) with the aim of circumventing political and judicial decisions made at both local and national levels, the 2009 federal popular initiative calling for a ban on the construction of minarets rekindled the stigmatisation of Muslims living in Switzerland. Within the prevalent institutional configuration it moreover revived controversies surrounding issues such as direct democracy versus fundamental rights, or "the will of the people" versus "the power of the judges", whether national or international. "Judicialisation" is a polysemous concept. It is not understood here as the transfer to the courts of matters of political significance - in this instance the public regulation of religion - but as a process of juridification (or juridicalisation) in which court rulings were constantly anticipated in the political debate provoked by the popular initiative.

Exploring the relative DNA contribution of first and second object's users on mock touch DNA mixtures

Contact stains recovered at break-in crime scenes are frequently characterized by mixtures of DNA from several persons. Broad knowledge on the relative contribution of DNA left behind by different users overtime is of paramount importance. Such information might help crime investigators to robustly evaluate the possibility of detecting a specific (or known) individual's DNA profile based on the type and history of an object. To address this issue, a contact stain simulation-based protocol was designed. Fourteen volunteers either acting as first or second object's users were recruited. The first user was required to regularly handle/wear 9 different items during an 8-10-day period, whilst the second user for 5, 30 and 120 min, in three independent simulation sessions producing a total of 231 stains. Subsequently, the relative DNA profile contribution of each individual pair was investigated. Preliminary results showed a progressive increase of the percentage contribution of the second user compared to the first. Interestingly, the second user generally became the major DNA contributor when most objects were handled/worn for 120 min, Furthermore, the observation of unexpected additional alleles will then prompt the investigation of indirect DNA transfer events.

Regulatable and modulable background expression control in prokaryotic synthetic circuits by auxiliary repressor binding sites.

Expression control in synthetic genetic circuitry, for example, for construction of sensitive biosensors, is hampered by the lack of DNA parts that maintain ultralow background yet achieve high output upon signal integration by the cells. Here, we demonstrate how placement of auxiliary transcription factor binding sites within a regulatable promoter context can yield an important gain in signal-to-noise output ratios from prokaryotic biosensor circuits. As a proof of principle, we use the arsenite-responsive ArsR repressor protein from Escherichia coli and its cognate operator. Additional ArsR operators placed downstream of its target promoter can act as a transcription roadblock in a distance-dependent manner and reduce background expression of downstream-placed reporter genes. We show that the transcription roadblock functions both in cognate and heterologous promoter contexts. Secondary ArsR operators placed upstream of their promoter can also improve signal-to-noise output while maintaining effector dependency. Importantly, background control can be released through the addition of micromolar concentrations of arsenite. The ArsR-operator system thus provides a flexible system for additional gene expression control, which, given the extreme sensitivity to micrograms per liter effector concentrations, could be applicable in more general contexts.

Accompagner la construction d'une nouvelle identité

La retraite est aujourd'hui considérée comme une nouvelle étape du développement de carrière. Elle implique, pour les seniors, des remaniements identitaires, que les psychologues conseillers en orientation peuvent accompagner grâce à des outils qui leur sont propres.

Die Konstruktion einer medizinischen Disziplin und ihre Herausforderungen: die Orthopädie in der Schweiz im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert [The construction of a medical discipline and its challenges: Orthopedics in Switzerland during the 19th and 20th centuries].

(ENGLISH VERSION BELOW) Dieser Beitrag fügt sich in eine post-doktorale Forschung über die Geschichte der Orthopädie ein, die unter dem Mandat des Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) geleitet wird und teilerweise auf die Archiv der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Orthopädie (aktuelle Swiss Orthopaedics) beruht. Die Autorin untersucht die Herausforderungen, welche die Geschichte der Orthopädie in der Schweiz prägten und berücksichtigt dabei die Anpassungsstrategien einer medizinischen und technischen Disziplin in einer sich wandelnden Gesellschaft. Zusammenfassung der Beitrag und Informationen auf der Website der Zeitschrift: http://econtent.hogrefe.com/toc/tum/72/7 This article is inspired by a post-doctorale research about the history of orthopedics, mandated by the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), and partly supported by the Archiv of the Swiss Society of Orthopedics (nowadays Swiss Orthopaedics). By examining the implications that have shaped the history of orthopedics in Switzerland, the author seeks to shed light on the strategies that were implemented in adopting a medical and technical discipline within a transforming society. Summary of the article and information on the journal's website: http://econtent.hogrefe.com/toc/tum/72/7