A field diagnostic test for the improvised explosive urea nitrate

A sensitive, specific and simple color test for the improvised explosive urea nitrate is described. It is based on the formation of a red pigment upon the reaction between urea nitrate and p-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde (p-DMAC) under neutral conditions. Urea itself, which is the starting material for urea nitrate, does not react with p-DMAC under the same conditions. Other potential sources of false positive response e.g., common fertilizers, medications containing the urea moiety and various amines, do not produce the red pigment with p-DMAC. Exhibits collected from 10 terrorist cases have been tested with p-DMAC. The results were in full agreement with those obtained by instrumental techniques including GC/MS, XRD and IR.     

Uncertainty and Turnout

This article develops a model that simultaneously considersindividual turnout and vote choice while also accounting foruncertainty about candidates. The theoretical development ofthis model implies that the effects of uncertainty on turnoutvary with the strength of individual preferences. Applicationof the model to individual choice in the 1996 American presidentialelection confirms that decreasing uncertainty about the charactertraits of the candidates decreases the probability of abstentionfor individuals with strong preferences but increases the probabilityof abstention for individuals with weak preferences.     

Negotiating obligations,creating rights: Conscientious objection and the redefinition of citizenship in Israel

This article examines the ways in which modes of inclusion in the community of citizens are constitutive of political identities and frame the kinds of contestations and claims of individuals and groups vis‐à‐vis the state's agents. It analyses the emergence of selective conscientious to warfare and military service in Israel during the Lebanon war (1982–85). The article is based on the interpretative analysis of interviews with 66 individuals who refused to serve in the war in Lebanon. It shows, through the interpretative analysis of interviews, how conscientious objectors mobilised the hegemonic discourse on citizenship obligations and the identities constructed by it, in order to negotiate and promote and alternative discourse on citizenship. It claims that conscientious objection in Israel embodies an alternative discourse on citizenship and on the subject of rights and obligations. This redefinition entails a reformulation of modes of participation in the political community and of the political culture that frames it.     

Use of subpopulation data in Australian forensic DNA casework

DNA profiling evidence presented in court should be accompanied by a reliable estimate of its evidential weight. In calculating such statistics, allele frequencies from commonly employed autosomal microsatellite loci are required. These allele frequencies should be collected at a level that appropriately represents the genetic diversity that exists in the population. Typically this occurs at broadly defined bio-geographic categories, such as Caucasian or Asian. Datasets are commonly administered at the jurisdictional level. This paper focuses on Australian jurisdictions and assesses whether this current practice is appropriate for Aboriginal Australian and Caucasian populations alike. In keeping with other studies we observe negligible differences between Caucasian populations within Australia when segregated geographically. However segregation of Aboriginal Australian population data along contemporary State and Territory lines appears to mask the diversity that exists within this subpopulation. For this reason datasets collated along more traditional lines may be more appropriate, particularly to distinguish the most genetically differentiated populations residing in the north of the continent.