SEM-EDS analysis and discrimination of forensic soil

Soils vary among different areas, and have some characteristics because of the natural effects and transfers made by human and other living beings in time. So that forensic examination of soil is not only concerned with the analysis of naturally occurring rocks, minerals, vegetation, and animal matter. It also includes the detection of such manufactured materials such as ions from synthetic fertilizers and from different environments (e.g., nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate) as environmental artifacts (e.g., lead or objects as glass, paint chips, asphalt, brick fragments, and cinders) whose presence may impart soil with characteristics that will make it unique to a particular location. Many screening and analytical methods have been applied for determining the characteristics which differentiate and discriminate the forensic soil samples but none of them easily standardized. Some of the methods that applied in forensic laboratories in forensic soil discrimination are the color comparison of the normal air-dried (dehumidified) and overheated soil samples, macroscopic observation, and low-power stereo-microscopic observation, determination of anionic composition by capillary electrophoresis (CE), and the elemental composition by scanning electron microscope (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) and other high sensitivity techniques. The objective of this study was to show the effect of the application of 9 tonnes/cm2 pressure on the elemental compositions obtained by SEM-EDS technique and comparing the discrimination power of the pressed-homogenized and not homogenized forensic soil samples. For this purpose soil samples from 17 different locations of Istanbul were collected. Aliquots of the well mixed samples were dried in an oven at 110-120 degrees C and sieved by using 0.5 mm sieve and then the undersieve fraction(<0.5 mm) of these samples put on an adhesive tape placed on a stub. About 100-150 mg aliquots of dried, sieved samples were pressed under 9 tonnes/cm2 pressure by KBr disk preparation apparatus of an infrared spectrophotometer. Surfaces of the randomized particles and the pressed disks of the soil samples were scanned and the elemental compositions were determined with scanning electron microscope JEO-JSM-5600 equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer OXFORD Link-ISIS-300. The samples from top of the sieves were examined with stereo-microscope equipped with JVC-TK-128DE color video camera and JVC-GV-PT2, digital video printer. Natural and artificial materials that have characteristic features were identified. Then for additional confirmation all soil samples were dried at 120 degrees C and over 780 degrees C and their colors compared. We concluded that pressing the whole sieved soil samples under 9 tonnes/cm2 pressure results in smashing over the harder particles into the softer matrix and results in homogenization of the soil sample. The elemental compositions of these samples obtained by SEM-EDS with 10-fold less standard deviation (S.D.) values and so that with more reproducibility and discrimination power.     

Youths in the interface of development and security

This article interrogates the link between youth, security and development in Africa and argues that the central determinant in the link is ‘governance’, especially as this implies the ability of the state to harness the productive potential of youths and to meet their demands on a number of issues. The article also asserts that the reality of a youth bulge in many African countries presents challenges (as opposed to crises), as much as opportunities for national socio-economic transformation. Besides, youths in many developing countries have been the victims of developmental experiments often tele-guided by international financial and development agencies. In its conclusion, the articles argues that efforts to address the challenges posed by youths must move from platitudinous wish-list into formulation of coherent policy agenda that is consistent with the socio-economic and political realities of individual countries; in which youths themselves active agents; and one which must be incorporated into the wider governance framework of nation-states.

The issue of youth and violent conflict concerns more than youth, it is a reflection of society in crisis and hence of development itself. If a society's values, norms, customs, practices, structures and institutions are under threat and such changes in turn threaten the development of its children into youth and then adults, then that society cannot sustain itself.1 ?1. UNDP, Youth and Violent Conflict, p.12. View all notes

The state … the economy… are predicated on notions of adulthood; they all require the participation of adults in order to function. If youth are unable to fully make this transition to the minimal conditions of adulthood, then such structures are unsustainable and will either fracture or mutate in unforeseen ways. An understanding of the intersections between youth, violent conflict and society is a way of re-examining development and developing societies. Youth, those who engage in violence and especially those who do not, are located at the junctures between development, security, peace and conflict.2 ?2. UNDP, Youth and Violent Conflict, p.13. View all notes     

Transferrin (Tf) polymorphism: An analysis by isoelectric focusing

The polymorphism of the transferrin (Tf) system was studied in a total of 300 unrelated Japanese individuals from Miyagi prefecture, the northern part of Japan, using isoelectric focusing in thin-layer polyacrylamide gel. In our population samples three common phenotypes and nine variants were observed. The calculated allele frequencies were Tf^C₁ = 0.773, Tf^C₂ = 0.212, Tf^D_chi (Chinese) = 0.008, and the combined frequencies for the Tf^B_var (variants) = 0.007. Family data (n = 44) were in accordance with an autosomal codominant fashion of inheritance. The use of isoelectric focusing procedure among Japanese will raise the probability of excluding a man falsely accused of paternity to 15.8% as compared with 1.5% when the conventional electrophoretic methods are used.     

A simple method for calculating the probability of excluding paternity with any number of codominant alleles

A simple formula for calculating the probability of excluding paternity with a system determined by any number of codominant alleles was devised. Two computer programs are also described, which can be used when the genetic system is much more complicated.     

Microcycles of Terrorist Violence in Turkey: a Spatio-temporal Analysis of the PKK Attacks

Asian Journal of Criminology - Geography and time are the two constraints on illegal acts. The extant research on terrorism suggests that terrorists make an expected cost-benefit analysis, and thus...     

Perspectives on Ethno-National Conflict Among Kurdish Families With Members in the PKK

This article reports the findings of an ethnographic study of families with members involved in the armed struggle for Kurdish nationalism led by the Kurdistan Workers' Party. Based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews and observations with a theoretical sample of six families in the area of Yüksekova, detailed discussions were held with twelve members of families with children, partners, or siblings involved in the conflict. Ethno-national exceptionalism plays a significant role in determining the motivations of political violence among groups, but with the additional background of the perceptions and realities of systematic racialization, de-territorialization, disenfranchisement, and cultural exclusion that affect certain Kurdish groups. The findings in this article offer critical sociological and anthropological accounts of the localized drivers of ethno-nationalism, and the motivations for and the experiences of conflict among families with members involved in the armed conflict and the “Kurdish question” in Turkey.     

An analysis of spatial correlates of terrorism using risk terrain modeling

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to identify correlates of terrorism in space. It examines whether places with terrorist incidents show similar patterns with respect to the physical features across landscape, and tests the spatial influence of various features of environment on the incidence of terrorism. Drawing on the locations of violent terrorist offenses committed between 2008 and 2012, the study in Istanbul applies the Risk Terrain Modeling framework to terrorism. It uses data on police incidents and infrastructure (e.g., government buildings or parks). The analysis employs GIS techniques and an event count model, and combines all risky layers in a composite map to understand where the risk is higher. The study suggests a concentration of 1153 violent terrorist incidents relative to key physical factors by identifying seventeen potential risk factors, eight of which were significantly correlated in the model. Regardless of terrorists’ intent, the significantly associated establishments increase the risk in the surrounding areas where these features are located. The coexistence of leisure places such as bakeries, religious facilities, or eateries results in higher risks. While the environmental backcloth may constitute a risk for terrorism, its components may also help forecast the locations of terrorist incidents in the future.     

Ethiopian federalism: autonomy versus control in the Somali region

This study examines the relationship between Ethiopia's federal and regional authorities since the Tigray led regime came to power in 1991. The redivision of Ethiopia into ethnic regions was aimed to effect two changes: to abolish certain ethnic domination of the state; and to enable various communities to govern their local affairs. Using material from the Somali Region, this article evaluates whether ethnic‐based regional authorities have sufficient autonomy from the centre to be accountable to local populations. The ability of local people to elect their leaders is central to undoing past ethnic injustices. Although communities have gained from the new order, however, the federal ruling party tightly controls regional political authorities. Federal domination of regional governance is partly the result of the ineptness of local elite. This arrangement creates formal ethnic regions without significantly altering power relations in Ethiopia. Consequently, the spirit of the 1991 change is lost as local communities lack leeway while a new ethnic group reigns supreme at the federal level.     

Legislative drafters: lawyers or not?

The aim of legislative drafting is to express the instructing client’s meaning. Legislative drafters are often lawyers with a significant impact on the interpretation and the implementation of the law. This article takes a different perspective and attempts to prove that legislative drafters do not necessarily have to be lawyers. The arguments of this hypothesis are important in establishing that legislative drafting is a specialised skill with general principles and conventions that can be acquired by training and practice. The conclusion would be to prove the hypothesis that legislative drafting could also be undertaken by non-lawyers.     

Fluorescence of 1,2‐Indanedione with Amino Acids Present in the Fingerprint Residue: Application in Gender Determination

1,2‐indanedione is used for latent fingerprint visualization on porous surfaces. In this paper, fluorescence spectra of 1,2‐indanedione after reacting with 21 individual amino acids present in latent fingerprints residue were measured in water‐methanol solutions. The fluorescence intensity depends on the amino acid used, while the fluorescence peak does not change much. The concentration of amino acids in fingerprint residue in females is almost the double of their concentration in males. This property combined with fluorescence of 1,2‐indanedione‐amino acids compounds is used for gender determination, by comparing the fluorescence intensity peaks in the same experimental conditions. In this preliminary study, the fluorescence signal from the samples representing females was almost two times the signal for samples representing males. In addition to the reduction by almost 50% of the number of suspects in a criminal research case, these results could be helpful in gaining some knowledge about the papillary residue composition.