Corroborative Evidence (corroborative + evidence)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


INTEGRATING EVOLUTIONARY AND FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES TO INFER ADAPTATION AT SPECIFIC LOCI

EVOLUTION, Issue 9 2010
Jay F. Storz
Inferences about adaptation at specific loci are often exclusively based on the static analysis of DNA sequence variation. Ideally, population-genetic evidence for positive selection serves as a stepping-off point for experimental studies to elucidate the functional significance of the putatively adaptive variation. We argue that inferences about adaptation at specific loci are best achieved by integrating the indirect, retrospective insights provided by population-genetic analyses with the more direct, mechanistic insights provided by functional experiments. Integrative studies of adaptive genetic variation may sometimes be motivated by experimental insights into molecular function, which then provide the impetus to perform population genetic tests to evaluate whether the functional variation is of adaptive significance. In other cases, studies may be initiated by genome scans of DNA variation to identify candidate loci for recent adaptation. Results of such analyses can then motivate experimental efforts to test whether the identified candidate loci do in fact contribute to functional variation in some fitness-related phenotype. Functional studies can provide corroborative evidence for positive selection at particular loci, and can potentially reveal specific molecular mechanisms of adaptation. [source]


IDENTIFYING THE MODERATOR FACTORS OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN GREEK MUNICIPALITIES

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008
Sandra Cohen
The use of financial ratios is a widespread method for assessing the financial performance of private sector companies. However, the application of an analogous exercise in the public sector is a less straightforward one. In the later case it is a multifaceted task that involves judgments about the interplay of complex social, organizational and financial factors. In this paper we use accrual end of the year financial statements data of Greek Municipalities for the period 2002,2004 to compute nine commonly used performance assessment financial ratios. We find corroborative evidence that factors, which are exogenous to the municipalities' control, such as their wealth and size, have statistically significant impact on ratio values. Thus, as financial ratios are significantly influenced by socio-economic factors like municipal wealth and size, cross sectional comparisons on the basis of these ratios should be made with caution and performed for municipalities that exhibit similarities in terms of size and wealth. [source]


Intensity-based image matching for regular firearms

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
S.S. Murthy
Abstract This paper reports the digitized image matching of intensity-based signals generated by the POLIVIEW imaging system for regular firearms. The POLIVIEW imaging system transforms nonlinearized models into linearized models by applying a differential matching method. This paper also discusses the performance of the computer program for determining the peaks of the histograms generated and their threshold segmentation for matching. This method can be used to generate corroborative evidence in solving crimes. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 12, 68,72, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.10011 [source]


The State of the Debate About Children's Disclosure Patterns in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006
ERNA OLAFSON
ABSTRACT In current research studies about the disclosure patterns of sexually abused children, experts agree that most victims delay disclosure for years, often until adulthood. Researchers disagree about disclosure rates and recantation rates among children during formal interviews. Studies of children who had not previously disclosed but are known through corroborative evidence to have been sexually abused show lower rates of disclosure than do studies of children who had disclosed prior to the formal interview. Gradual disclosures among children are common, and more than a single interview may be necessary in some cases. Prior disclosure, level of support by non-offending parents, developmental level, and relationship to perpetrator affect children's rates of disclosure and their disclosure patterns. More research is necessary to clarify children's post-disclosure recantation rates and predictors. [source]


Brain size and encephalization in early to Mid-Pleistocene Homo

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2004
G. Philip Rightmire
Abstract Important changes in the brain have occurred during the course of human evolution. Both absolute and relative size increases can be documented for species of Homo, culminating in the appearance of modern humans. One species that is particularly well-represented by fossil crania is Homo erectus. The mean capacity for 30 individuals is 973 cm3. Within this group there is substantial variation, but brain size increases slightly in specimens from later time periods. Other Middle Pleistocene crania differ from those of Homo erectus. Characters of the facial skeleton, vault, and cranial base suggest that fossils from sites such as Arago Cave in France, the Sima de los Huesos in Spain, Bodo in Ethiopia, Broken Hill in Zambia, and perhaps Dali in China belong to the taxon Homo heidelbergensis. Ten of these mid-Quaternary hominins have brains averaging 1,206 cm3 in volume, and many fall beyond the limits of size predicted for Homo erectus of equivalent age. When orbit height is used to construct an index of relative brain size, it is apparent that the (significant) increase in volume documented for the Middle Pleistocene individuals is not simply a consequence of larger body mass. Encephalization quotient values confirm this finding. These changes in absolute and relative brain size can be taken as further corroborative evidence for a speciation event, in which Homo erectus produced a daughter lineage. It is probable that Homo heidelbergensis originated in Africa or western Eurasia and then ranged widely across the Old World. Archaeological traces indicate that these populations differed in their technology and behavior from earlier hominins. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]