Colorimetric measurements on small paint fragments using microspectrophotometry

The use of the Nanospec 10S microspectrophotometer (Nanometrics Inc.) as a colour-coding instrument for small paint fragments and individual layers within a layer structure is described.The CIE system of colour notation is discussed and numerical values for colours within the CIE system are derived from reflectance measurements made with the microspectrophotometer.     

The influence of vehicle model and colour on assessments of speed and culpability: the case for (and against) Computer Generated Exhibits (CGE)

Computer Generated Exhibits (CGE) are frequently deployed in legal contexts under the rubric of demonstrative evidence, i.e. to facilitate juror comprehension. However, a number of legal and academic commentators have suggested that the nature of the computerised moving image could exert undue prejudice on decision makers, e.g. judge and/or jury. The current study aimed to assess the manipulation of vehicle characteristics (make and colour) when a road traffic accident was presented in the format of a computer generated animation (CGA). In experiment 1, two groups of subjects watched two different makes of car, a Range Rover Sport and a Volkswagen Touran in a black-and-white format; no significant differences emerged over vehicle model with regards to vehicle speed or overall responsibility for the accident. Experiment 2 presented the same vehicles to four groups of participants in full colour, with the cars in contrasting red or beige; significant differences emerged with regards to culpability for vehicle make only. The findings could have implications for the format and style of CGE used in legal settings.     

The kinetics of colour change in textiles and fibres treated with detergent solutions: Part II — Spectrophotometric measurements

The aim of this study was to assess colour variations that occur in several types of textiles and their constituent fibres, resulting from the long-term influence of various laundry detergents. A 14-day experiment was conducted using blue, red and grey/black cotton, wool, acrylic and polyester textiles. The spectrophotometric measurement of colour changes in fabric samples and test solutions, as well as the microspectrophotometric analysis of colour changes in single fibres were described. An evaluation of the observed colour changes from a forensic fibre analysis expert's point of view, as well as that of an average user/consumer of the textiles and laundry detergents is also provided.     

Automotive flock and its significance in forensic fibre examinations

The interiors of fifty eight vehicles were examined and samples were taken. All vehicles had samples of flocked material in their interiors. Flocked material was found on the window channels, window frames, door edges and in glove compartments or central console compartments. The majority of flock fibres used in the vehicles examined were carbon black pigmented polyester or nylon. A variety of dyed nylon fibres were also used in the vehicles. The discrimination power of dyed flock fibres used in the interior of vehicles was found to be 0.974. The front seats of these vehicles were examined for loose flock fibres. All vehicles had flock fibres present on the front seats. In the majority of vehicles, flock originating from material in the vehicle's interior was present on the front seats of the vehicle. The number of flock fibres present on the front seats varied greatly from car to car but did not appear to be dependant on the type of seat fabric or on which areas in the car were flocked.     

The ageing of bruises: A review and study of the colour changes with time

This work was inspired by a recent case of child abuse where the question of the age of the bruises on the body was raised. The first part of this paper reviews published work on bruises. It illustrates the paucity of work in this field and the absence of studies of the colour changes in bruises of human skin with time. The second part of this paper consists of our own study of the appearance of bruises. The aim was to identify the colour changes which occur in bruises and over what time-scale, in order to determine whether bruises can be aged by appearance. A total of 369 photographs were obtained of bruises aged <6 h and up to 21 days old, in 89 subjects aged 10–100 years. It was found that the development of a yellow colour was the most significant change (subjects aged <65, P < 0.001; subjects aged ≥65 years, P < 0.001). The development of a yellow colour occurred significantly faster in subjects aged < 65 years. (P < 0.001). The appearance of a blue and purple/black colour was of lesser significance. The appearance of a red colour did not alter significantly with time. From this study it was only possible to conclude that a bruise with a yellow colour was more than 18 h old.     

A comparison of hair colour measurement by digital image analysis with reflective spectrophotometry

While reflective spectrophotometry is an established method for measuring macroscopic hair colour, it can be cumbersome to use on a large number of individuals and not all reflective spectrophotometry instruments are easily portable. This study investigates the use of digital photographs to measure hair colour and compares its use to reflective spectrophotometry. An understanding of the accuracy of colour determination by these methods is of relevance when undertaking specific investigations, such as those on the genetics of hair colour. Measurements of hair colour may also be of assistance in cases where a photograph is the only evidence of hair colour available (e.g. surveillance). Using the CIE L^*a^*b^* colour space, the hair colour of 134 individuals of European ancestry was measured by both reflective spectrophotometry and by digital image analysis (in V++). A moderate correlation was found along all three colour axes, with Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.625, 0.593 and 0.513 for L^*, a^* and b^* respectively (p-values = 0.000), with means being significantly overestimated by digital image analysis for all three colour components (by an average of 33.42, 3.38 and 8.00 for L^*, a^* and b^* respectively). When using digital image data to group individuals into clusters previously determined by reflective spectrophotometric analysis using a discriminant analysis, individuals were classified into the correct clusters 85.8% of the time when there were two clusters. The percentage of cases correctly classified decreases as the number of clusters increases. It is concluded that, although more convenient, hair colour measurement from digital images has limited use in situations requiring accurate and consistent measurements.     

The kinetics of colour change in textiles and fibres treated with detergent solutions: Part I—Colour perception and fluorescence microscopy analysis

The aim of this study was to assess colour changes that occur in several types of commonly available textiles as a result of the long-term effects of various popularly used laundry detergents. A 14 day experiment was conducted using blue, red and grey/black cotton, wool, acrylic and polyester textiles. Colour changes were evaluated through the visual comparison of the colour of the textile samples against that of the untreated (control) material.The kinetics of the changes in the colour of the fibres were monitored using fluorescence microscopy (UV excitation filter). The conclusions include an assessment of the observed changes from a fibre analysis expert's point of view, as well as that of an average user/consumer of the products involved.     

Background interference from car carpets—the evidential value of petrol residues in cases of suspected vehicle arson

This study was undertaken to test the theory that there is a natural occurrence of petrol on the carpet or carpet mats of motor vehicles that would interfere with the potential determination of arson residues. Part of this study was also to determine what levels of background interference due to the carpet matrix are likely to be encountered in the general population of motor vehicles. The study was conducted in three parts.

• 1.A persistence study was conducted to determine the evaporation and persistence of unleaded petrol on carpet. The results indicate that small volumes of petrol (less than 100 μl) are unlikely to be detected on carpet after a 24 h period. Larger volumes will be detected after this period, but will generally not be detectable after 1 week.
• 2.A known history study was conducted by the insertion of carpet mats, for varying lengths of time, into the driver area of separate vehicles, with subsequent analysis for the presence of petrol. A ‘history’ sheet was completed by the occupants of the vehicles during the insertion periods to record the frequency of contact with petrol, and general usage of the vehicles. The results indicate that petrol will not normally be found on previously uncontaminated carpet mats after a 6-week period of use in a vehicle, however, the occupation and behaviour of the occupants can affect the types of compounds deposited onto the carpet.
• 3.An unknown history study was conducted via the collection of carpet or carpet mat samples from vehicles with an unknown history, and subsequent analysis for the presence of petrol. Six of the 150 samples examined contained petrol. These results indicate that only a small proportion of motor vehicles will exhibit the presence of petrol on carpet or carpet mats, and then only as evaporated petrol.

All of the above findings increase the evidential value of finding significant volumes of fresh or slightly evaporated petrol on carpet products in motor vehicles.     

The use of liquid latex as a pre-treatment to recover debris-covered latent fingerprints from exterior surfaces of vehicles

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using liquid latex as a pre-treatment for fingerprint recovery from the exterior surfaces of vehicles in summer. The sample of this study was 540 sebaceous latent fingerprints deposited on the lower body of three vehicles. Thirty control and thirty experimental fingerprints were deposited on each vehicle, and the experiment was repeated three times. The three vehicles were driven daily for either 2, 3, or 4 weeks after the deposition of fingerprints. After the vehicles reached their designated debris accumulation duration, the latent fingerprints in the control groups were developed with black fingerprint powder. Liquid latex was applied onto the fingerprints in the experimental groups, and they were subsequently developed with black fingerprint powder. A chi-sure test indicated that there was a significant difference in fingerprints recovery performance between two methods (X² = 4.903, d.f. = 1, p = 0.027). An odds ratio test indicated the control method increases the probability of fingerprint recovery by 1.54 times. A Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate the quality of fingerprints recovered from both methods and it indicated that there is no significant difference in quality using the two methods (p = 0.058). This study indicated that the traditional fingerprint powder method performed better for fingerprint recovery from exterior surfaces of vehicles in summer.     

Association between copy number variations in the OCA2-HERC2 locus and human eye colour

Human eye colour variation is strongly associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the OCA2-HERC2 locus, especially rs12913832 that is found in an enhancer element of OCA2. In a previous study we found that 43 out of 166 individuals in a Norwegian population with the brown eye colour genotype HERC2 rs12913832:AA or AG, did not have the expected brown eye colour. To investigate if duplications or deletions in the OCA2-HERC2 locus could explain the blue eye colour in these individuals, we analysed massively parallel sequencing (MPS) data for copy number variations (CNVs) in the OCA2-HERC2 region. The ∼500 kb long OCA2-HERC2 locus was sequenced in 94 individuals with the rs12913832:AG and AA genotypes. Of these, 43 were observed to have blue eye colour and 51 were observed to have brown eye colour. CNVs were analysed using R and the R-package panelcn.MOPS - CNV detection tool for targeted NGS panel data. In rs12913832:AG individuals, CNVs in 32 regions were significantly associated with blue eye colour (Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p-value ≤ 0.05). In rs12913832:AA individuals, CNVs in 14 regions were associated with blue eye colour using raw p-values (p ≤ 0.05). The functional effects of these CNVs on OCA2 expression are yet to be investigated. However, this study suggests that CNVs in the OCA2-HERC2 locus might explain why some of the rs12913832:AG and AA individuals have unexpectedly blue eyes.     

基于交通事故痕迹的自行车行驶状态分析

在以非机动车中发展较快的自行车为例,基于从事故发生接触碰撞的机动车、非机动车和人等上面提取和检验得到的微量物质交换及其表面附着物等证据,提出了认定嫌疑车辆的方法,通过大量相关资料、事故现场案卷以及一些典型案例,将现场痕迹检验鉴定方法进行分类和汇总,主要分析、阐述车辆痕迹方面问题,进而重现事故现场。这为判定机动车与非机动车交通事故中非机动车行驶状态提供了方法和思路,提高了交通事故责任认定的准确性和公正性。     

The ageing of bruises: a review and study of the colour changes with time.

This work was inspired by a recent case of child abuse where the question of the age of the bruises on the body was raised. The first part of this paper reviews published work on bruises. It illustrates the paucity of work in this field and the absence of studies of the colour changes in bruises of human skin with time. The second part of this paper consists of our own study of the appearance of bruises. The aim was to identify the colour changes which occur in bruises and over what time-scale, in order to determine whether bruises can be aged by appearance. A total of 369 photographs were obtained of bruises aged less than 6 h and up to 21 days old, in 89 subjects aged 10-100 years. It was found that the development of a yellow colour was the most significant change (subjects aged less than 65, P less than 0.001; subjects aged greater than or equal to 65 years, P less than 0.001). The development of a yellow colour occurred significantly faster in subjects aged less than 65 years. (P less than 0.001). The appearance of a blue and purple/black colour was of lesser significance. The appearance of a red colour did not alter significantly with time. From this study it was only possible to conclude that a bruise with a yellow colour was more than 18 h old.     

Experimental long-distance haplotyping of OCA2-HERC2 variants

The regulatory HERC2 SNP, rs12913832, is strongly associated with blue and brown eye colour. However, eye colour in heterozygous rs12913832 individuals is observed to vary greatly. Missense mutations in OCA2, such as rs1800407 and rs74653330, are associated with lighter eye colour in some but not all heterozygous rs12913832 individuals. Determining the physical linkage of these variants might help to further explain eye colour variation. So far, experimental haplotyping of these variants has been challenging because the genomic distance between them (∼ 135 kb) exceeds the fragment lengths produced by commonly used DNA isolation kits. The aim for this study was to explore novel methods for long distance haplotyping to assess associations between OCA2-HERC2 haplotypes and eye colour. DNA was isolated from frozen blood samples collected from Norwegians that are known to be heterozygous for both HERC2 rs12913832 and OCA2 SNPs, either rs1800407 (n = 23) or rs74653330 (n = 17), using the newly commercially available Monarch® HMW (heigh molecular weight) DNA Extraction Kit (New England BioLabs_inc). We successfully isolated DNA fragments up to 210 kb, which were long enough to haplotype OCA2-HERC2 loci by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Three haplotypes were observed in the study population: rs12913832:A-rs1800407:T in 22/23 individuals, rs12913832:A-rs1800407:C in 1/23 individuals and rs12913832:A-rs74653330:T in 16/16 individuals. As expected, all individuals with the rs12913832:A-rs74653330:T haplotype had intermediate to blue eye colour. However, the rs12913832:A-rs1800407:T haplotype was observed in both blue and brown-eyed individuals, suggesting more research is needed.     

The colour of the human skull

The colour of the human skull was determined from 124 fresh skull samples using the tristimulus colour measurement system "Micro Color" and listed as The Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) L*a*b*-values. The skulls were found to be relatively light (L*=72.5), nearly colourless on the a*-axis (a*=-7.4), and slightly yellow (b*=16.4). No difference was found between the colours of the outer and the inner surfaces of the skulls. Including a small number (n=8) of skulls from diabetic patients in the study, we detected no colour difference between the samples from diabetics and non-diabetics. However, a hitherto unknown correlation between the subjects' age and the yellowness (b*-value) of the skull could be demonstrated.     

The Use of Liquid Latex to Recover Latent Fingerprints that are Covered in Debris from Exterior Glass Surfaces of Vehicles

The purpose of this research is to determine if latent fingerprints deposited on the exterior glass surfaces of vehicles, then covered in debris, can be recovered. Past research used liquid latex to lift soot to recover trace evidence. Recently, liquid latex has been used to recover latent fingerprints along the bottom of vehicles. In this study, a total of 216 latent fingerprints were deposited on the exterior windows of three vehicles. Three control and three experimental latent fingerprints were placed on each side window. The vehicles collected debris for either 2, 3, or 4 weeks. After debris collection, liquid latex was applied to the experimental sections. The underlying fingerprints were developed with white granular powder. Control fingerprints were developed directly with white granular powder. A chi-square test revealed a significant difference in fingerprint recovery between the control and liquid latex method (X² = 9.026, d.f. = 1, p = 0.003). An odds ratio determined that the control method increases the probability of latent fingerprint recovery by 2.68. Fisher's exact test indicated that there is no statistically significant difference between the detail of the recovered control and experimental fingerprints (p = 0.065). This study demonstrates that recovery of fingerprints is possible using the liquid latex method; however, the control method recovers more fingerprints on the glass exterior of vehicles. If latent fingerprints are thought to be present on the exterior glass surfaces of vehicles, the control method should be used to improve vehicle processing by investigators.     

监控视频中车辆平均速度测算方法比较

根据车辆速度计算公式,提出了两种基于监控视频测速的思路。一是视频图像与实地测量相结合,车辆运动距离通过与监控画面匹配后实地测量,运动时间通过视频帧率运算分别获得。二是利用车辆技术参数测量,在视频图像中,车身前后明显部位经过同一点,车辆运动距离和时间分别通过被测车型技术参数、视频帧率运算获得。并通过实验结果对两种方法进行评价。     

周作人、茅盾、鲁迅与早期乡土文学理论的形成

有关乡土文学理论的分歧,根本点不在于对乡土文学这一概念中的"乡土"内涵的不同理解,而在对"乡土文学"这一概念的整体性把握上.中国文学传统中有浓厚的乡土意识,但没有乡土文学的概念和理论.新文学初期,对于美国local colour小说理论如何与中国文论对接与转换,在茅盾与周作人之间初步形成了中国乡土文学发展的两个向度.这两个向度后来被鲁迅整合成相对完整的乡土文学理论,即寓乡土思念、民生关怀和乡土批判于一体的乡土文学观.     

Supreme Court Ruling Creates More Standing Room in the Already Heated Global Greenhouse Gas Movement

This article reviews the recent April 2, 2007 Supreme Court decision in the Massachusetts v. EPA, a highly important case regarding greenhouse gases. The case centered on the Court's review of EPA's denial of a petition to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. The Court required EPA to reconsider its denial. The Court found that. 1) the petitioners have standing to challenge EPA's denial of their petition; 2) the Court has the authority to review the denial of the petition; and 3) the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. This article looks specifically at the Court's analysis of standing and jurisdiction by Justice Stevens, who wrote the Court's majority opinion, and two dissenting opinions by Justices Roberts and Scalia. Most interesting is how the closely divided Justices (5 to 4 decision) viewed, very differently, the issues regarding standing, the evidence that emissions from new motor vehicles are causing global warming and harm to Massachusetts, and the agency's judgment in denying the petition. Lastly, the article speculates on the impact of the decision and the current activities taking place at the state and regulated community level involving future regulation, litigation, and opportunities by various companies and coalitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The article then presents five broad areas where companies that emit greenhouse gases should need to maintain or increase awareness to better position themselves in the global greenhouse gas movement.     

车辆轨迹侦查

机动车的普及使得以机动车为交通工具或侵害目标的犯罪增加。对于涉车犯罪案件，通过车辆可识别特征对车辆进行追踪和认定，在此基础上进行车辆轨迹侦查有其现实必要性。从现场勘查、视频监控、交通违章、治安卡口等多方面可以获得车辆轨迹侦查的情报。车辆轨迹侦查的目标包括查清真实车牌、分析行驶轨迹、判断活动范围、查明附加特征、获取人员体貌以及关联其他轨迹等。探讨车辆轨迹侦查“从车到人”、多维轨迹拓展、“车案碰撞”串并案件侦查等三种侦查模式在侦查工作中的应用。     

For the Want of Certainty: Vnuk,Juliana and Andrade and the Obligation to Insure

In 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union in Damijan Vnuk v Zavarovalnica Triglav extended the requirement for the owner of a motor vehicle to possess insurance cover where the vehicle is used on a road or other public place to vehicles on private land. Beyond disquiet as to this extension, there remains uncertainty at statutory and jurisprudential levels. According to Fundo de Garantia Automóvel v Juliana, immobilised vehicles stored on private land but which are capable of being driven are subject to compulsory motor vehicle insurance whereas in Andrade v Crédito Agrícola Seguros, insurance is required only where the vehicle is used as a means of transport. Andrade appears overly restrictive and may operate to defeat the protections of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Directives. Clarification is needed, through a seventh MVID or direction from the CJEU, as to the authority of Andrade and the circumstances in which motor vehicles must be insured.