Sharing Norm Pressures and Community Remittances: Evidence from a Natural Disaster in the Pacific Islands

Abstract

Migrants are often subject to social pressures to remit beyond their own households, to share the benefits of migration with the wider community in their home country; these are ‘community remittances’. We hypothesise that community sharing norm pressures are stronger in locations with more extensive home community networks. We also postulate that the responsiveness of remittances to sharing pressures is subject to diminishing returns, attributable to a donor fatigue effect. Using customised survey data from three Polynesian migrant groups in metropolitan and regional Australia, we estimate double-hurdle regression models of community remittances. To identify the effects of sharing norm pressures we exploit an exogenous (cyclone) shock to home country incomes affecting one sub-group. We find strong evidence in support of the postulated responsiveness of community remittances to location-related differences in sharing norm pressures, and the presence of a donor fatigue effect. The policy implications are discussed.     

The survival of oral streptococci on human skin and its implication in bite-mark investigation

Ten-microlitre aliquots of whole saliva applied to human skin were sampled for periods up to 6.25 h. The rate of loss of recoverable bacteria was 45–50% per hour. After 6.25 h, viable oral streptococci could be recovered. The implications for using a “fingerprint” typing method for these bacteria with regard to the identification of bite-marks are discussed.     

Emotions in Negotiation: How to Manage Fear and Anger

When emotions run amok, negotiators lose perspective and make serious mistakes or perform poorly. The authors describe emotions, explore their origins, detail their physiology, demonstrate their key role in human behavior (particularly in negotiation), and propose a series of recommendations for dealing with fear and anger, two critical emotions in negotiations.     

Inhibition of bleach-induced luminol chemiluminescence

The luminol chemiluminescence presumptive test for blood is based on the mild peroxidase activity of hemoglobin in basic peroxide solution. However, this test is subject to interference by strong oxidants, certain transition metal ions, and true peroxidases. This paper reports methods for reducing the interference caused by hypochlorite-containing bleaches. Amines such as 1,2-diaminoethane react rapidly with hypochlorite without interfering significantly with the hemoglobin-catalyzed oxidation. Thus, addition of 0.1 mol/L 1,2-diaminoethane to a standard luminol-peroxide spray lead to almost complete inhibition of hypochlorite-induced chemiluminescence while satisfactory chemiluminescence was still observed from bloodstains. If time allows, an alternative method for reducing interference from hypochlorite bleach is to wait several days until the bloodstains have dried thoroughly, by which time the hypochlorite will have decomposed.     

Surface Modification for the Collection and Identification of Fingerprints and Colorimetric Detection of Urea Nitrate

Glass surfaces were modified with a combination of dyes and reagents to allow for the potential simultaneous recording of a detailed fingerprint and the detection of the explosive urea nitrate (UN), as a proof of principle of surface modification for simultaneous linking of identity to manipulation of explosives. By coating microscope slides with 9,10‐diphenylanthracene (DPA), p‐dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (p‐DMAB) and p‐dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde (p‐DMAC), a colorimetric change was observed in the presence of UN, while revealing a fingerprint with enough resolution to isolate at least 10 minutiae. This is the first step in creating point‐of‐care devices capable of detecting low concentrations of explosives and drug metabolites and connecting them to a fingerprint.