Elemental analysis of glass fragments by ICP-MS as evidence of association: analysis of a case

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to analyze glass evidence from a case in which a person broke a window in each of 15 vehicles in a parking lot in order to gain entry into the vehicles. The results of the analysis by traditional methods, which measure the properties of color, thickness, density, and refractive index, are also reported. A total of 15 known samples representing the windows on the cars and 42 questioned glass fragments recovered from the suspect and the police vehicle where the suspect was sitting were submitted for analysis. Density comparisons separated one of the known samples into three samples, increasing the number of known samples from 15 to 17. The concentrations of 16 elements were measured for all but three of the samples using an external calibration ICP-MS method with internal standardization. Color assessment (non-instrumental) separated the 17 known samples into two groups, and refractive index measurements resulted in six groups when the Emmons double variation method was used and ten groups when the Glass Refractive Index Measurement 2 (GRIM2) system was used. Elemental analysis, by itself, differentiated all of the known samples from each other and associated four of the known sample fragments with several of the questioned sample fragments. The informing power of RI, density, and elemental analysis comparisons is evaluated and a summary of the case results is reported.     

Providing rural credit in southern India: A comparison of commercial banks and cooperatives

This paper contrasts the recent experiences of two different institutions in providing credit and savings facilities in the countryside of Tamil Nadu, southern India. Ever since the late-1960s, there has been a rising demand for credit to finance investment in agriculture. This has been reinforced by Government policy over the last two decades, and especially since 1980, to provide credit both to priority activities, including agriculture, and to disadvantaged rural groups. Part of that policy has been to encourage the commercial banks to offer services in the countryside, alongside the previously well-developed network of cooperatives offering formal rural credit. The commercial banks have had considerable success in expanding their network of branches, and in increasing bank deposits and loans in rural areas. Operating as corporate bureaucracies, the banks have been able to expand without being crippled in the process. On the other hand, their institutional strength has meant that Government credit policy has been implemented cautiously. The agricultural credit cooperatives, no newcomers to the countryside, have still to fulfil their long-declared function of providing short-term credit for crop production to the majority of agricultural households. Loan recovery by the cooperatives has been weak. The cooperatives have suffered partly from the internal contradictions inherent in any cooperative structure imposed upon the peasantry, from major flaws in the organizational structure of Tamil Nadu cooperatives, as well as from the increasing appropiation of the cooperatives for party political ends. The contrasting experiences of the two different institutions in providing rural credit illustrate how policy applied through different institutions can produce quite different outcomes. They also demonstrate how changes in the socio-political environment, neither immediately obvious nor predictable, can critically affect policy results.     

Depression,Suicidal Ideation,and Substance Use Among Continuation High School Students

This study examines the structural relationships among depression, suicidal ideation, gateway substance use (including cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana), and hard substance use (including cocaine, stimulants, and inhalants) in a sample of continuation high school students at high risk for drug abuse. When the model was examined separately by ethnic group (Latino and Caucasian) and gender, significant differences among the factor correlations emerged. Compared to Latinos and females, Caucasians and males, respectively, demonstrated a greater number of significant relationships among the factors. For Latinos and females, only the depression and suicidal ideation factors were significantly correlated with each other, as were the gateway and hard substance use factors. For Caucasians and males, four of the six factors were significantly intercorrelated. One implication is that mood enhancement may be a particularly important reason for hard substance use among Caucasian and male adolescents.     

Longitudinal Relations Among Depression,Stress, and Coping in High Risk Youth

The structural relationships among risk and protective factors were examined in a sample of 646 continuation high school students. Although depression predicted more perceived stress, it was not a unique predictor of anger coping, seeking social support, or substance use. Perceived stress increased seeking social support. Seeking social support decreased the utilization of anger coping, which suggests that it may be a means of prevention for adolescents. Anger coping behaviors were implicated as being significant in sustaining depression and perceived stress, and in increasing hard drug use over time. Moderation analysis indicated that although there was no difference in the stress–coping–depression relationship between Latinos and Caucasians, the relationship among perceived stress, anger coping, and depression was stronger for female than for male adolescents. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Results of the 2018 Rapid DNA Maturity Assessment

Three commercially available integrated rapid DNA instruments were tested as a part of a rapid DNA maturity assessment in July of 2018. The assessment was conducted with sets of blinded single-source reference samples provided to participants for testing on the individual rapid platforms within their laboratories. The data were returned to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for review and analysis. Both FBI-defined automated review (Rapid DNA Analysis) and manual review (Modified Rapid DNA Analysis) of the datasets were conducted to assess the success of genotyping the 20 Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) core STR loci and full profiles generated by the instruments. Genotype results from the multiple platforms, participating laboratories, and STR typing chemistries were combined into a single analysis. The Rapid DNA Analysis resulted in a success rate of 80% for full profiles (85% for the 20 CODIS core loci) with automated analysis. Modified Rapid DNA Analysis resulted in a success rate of 90% for both the CODIS 20 core loci and full profiles (all attempted loci per chemistry). An analysis of the peak height ratios demonstrated that 95% of all heterozygous alleles were above 59% heterozygote balance. For base-pair sizing precision, the precision was below the standard 0.5 bp deviation for both the ANDE 6C System and the RapidHIT 200.     

Cold War counter-terrorism: the evolution of international counter-terrorism in the RCMP Security Service, 1972–1984

This piece provides a detailed case study of the evolution of counter-terrorism within a specific domestic security agency of a liberal-democratic state in the context of the Cold War. It does so by examining the creation of a counter-terrorism unit within Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service and how it responded to international terrorism. This occurred in between major terrorist attacks in Canada in 1970 and 1985 and included a growing focus on counter-terrorism even as counter-subversion remained a top priority within a still dominant Cold War domestic security framework. Ultimately, the article, based on thousands of pages of previously secret documents, argues that the Security Service could conceive of in a broader strategic sense the threat of terrorism but found it more challenging, for a variety of reasons, including the dominance of the Cold War and the difficulties around infiltrating ethnic communities, to collect intelligence.     

Participation Bias, Durable Opinion Shifts and Sabotage through Withdrawal in Citizens' Juries

We analyse a citizens' jury experiment held in Dublin on the 'hot-button' issue of waste incineration. The jury was a random sample drawn from the 2002 Irish Election Study (IES), and we compare jurors to non-jurors in the 2002 IES, and in 2003 and 2004 panel studies. Large opinion shifts were observed in a representative jury; these shifts remained observable nine months later. However, as a direct consequence of our choice of a contested issue, the jurors' verdict was framed by the unwillingness of key stakeholders to participate. Stakeholders who expect to be on the 'losing' side, including public representatives and officials, may obstruct and delegitimise citizens' juries by withholding participation. This informal gatekeeping power undermines the potential of citizens' juries to empower citizens.