Luminescent visualization of latent fingerprints by direct reaction with a lanthanide shift reagent.

The utilization of the lanthanide shift reagent tris (6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octanedionato) europium (III) [Eu(fod)3] as a simple one-step reagent for the luminescent visualization of latent fingerprints has been investigated. UV excitation of Eu(fod)3-treated prints, achieved by using a hand-held UV lamp or a Polilight, results in an orange emission at 614 nm. Time-resolved imaging is not required for visualization. Visualization of latent fingerprints on paper under the conditions used, although good, was found to be inferior to that obtained by standard DFO (1,8-diazafluoren-9-one) treatment, whereas visualization of prints obtained on aluminum drink cans and galvanized iron proved superior to that obtained by Superglue/panacryl treatment. Eu(fod)3 treatment can also be used first without compromising subsequent ninhydrin or DFO treatment, making it a 'nothing-to-lose" reagent.     

On the use of play theory in analyses of online public commentary

Abstract

The concept of play mediates between deliberation as a mode of reason and resistance as a mode of culture, thus opening a way to think about hostile comment (e.g., ‘flaming’) on online news forums as normal patterns of behaviour, instead of a departure from the received view of how citizens ought to consider matters of public interest. The play concept corresponds with current thinking around the notion of cultural citizenship. To illustrate the relevance of play theory in the analysis of online political discourse, this article uses an example from recent posts concerning the Protection of Information Bill (POIB) in the online site of the South African Mail & Guardian newspaper. The cogency of play theory to the concept of citizenship is argued through a discussion of how citizenship has been understood from the 1930s to the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the improved capacities of information and communications technologies (ICTs) made online deliberation a normal site for citizenship to be exercised.     

Book reviews

Indonesia. By J. D. Legge. Prentice‐Hall, New Jersey, 1965. Pp. iii, 184. 40/‐

Pre‐capitalist Economic Formations. By Karl Marx. With an introduction by Eric Hobsbawm. Trans, by Jack Cohen. Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1964. Pp. 153. 25/‐.

Economic Survey of Latin America, 1962. Organization of American States. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1964. Pp. 425. 68/‐     

Two Comments on Manning. “The Enslavement of Africans: A Demographic Model,” CJAS/RCEA, 15 (1981), and a Response

This article concerns the resilience of the ethno-linguistic categories in Sudan and analyses the role played by the linguistic classifications established by modern comparative linguistics. As well as a somewhat conventional review of the ethno-linguistic classifications seen as “colonial inventions” by postcolonial studies, it calls for a contextualised analysis of the development of these categories and in particular of their use and socio-political impact from the colonial period to today in a context where the widespread competition for access to power and resources is being settled to a great extent by the possibility of being recognised as an autonomous ethnic entity.     

The interpersonal voice: applying appraisal to the rap and sung voice

Following in the traditions of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and social semiotics, this paper applies the linguistic system of appraisal to the mode of sound. More specifically, it aims to describe and compare the interpersonal properties of the rap and sung performance voices. In doing so, this paper also aims to provide analysts with a systematic, principled method by which to identifying interpersonal meanings in sound. Drawing on various aspects of the appraisal framework, and the respective sound features of the rap and sung voice, this paper offers three approaches. The first approach employs the grammatical frames used to classify the attitude sub-systems of affect, judgment, and appreciation. The second approach is more general in scope and analogizes from the sound systems of melody, time, and voice quality to the appraisal systems of attitude, engagement, and graduation, respectively. The third approach applies the concept of binding to the distinctive sounds of the rap and sung voice. The paper concludes by considering some future directions for this research.     

Not Ozzie and Harriet: Postwar Divorce and the American Liberal Welfare State

This article analyzes divorce as a technology of governance in twentieth-century America in order to examine the emergence of a rights-based liberal welfare-state regime during the postwar era. The author offers an interpretation of the post–World War II "divorce boom" that challenges prevailing notions of postwar domestic tranquillity and highlights the legal formalization of family relations and the administration of the developing welfare state. The article posits an important shift in postwar public policy regarding divorce from the policing of public morality through family preservation to the regulation of public welfare through family structures. The legal consequences of this shift are explored at the local level by focusing on the "problem" of the Chicago divorce courts and the frustrated attempts of postwar reformers in Illinois to employ the traditional methods and rhetoric of Progressive Era reform. At the national level, the author examines the formulation of new governmental objectives and individual rights in the liberal welfare-state regime through an analysis of the United States Supreme Court's'decisions regarding migratory divorce.     

Ethnicity,Perceived Pubertal Timing,Externalizing Behaviors,and Depressive Symptoms Among Black Adolescent Girls

An accumulation of research evidence suggests that early pubertal timing plays a significant role in girls’ behavioral and emotional problems. If early pubertal timing is a problematic event, then early developing Black girls should manifest evidence of this crisis because they tend to be the earliest to develop compared to other girls from different racial and ethnic groups. Given the inconsistent findings among studies using samples of Black girls, the present study examined the independent influence of perceived pubertal timing and age of menarche on externalizing behaviors and depressive symptoms in a nationally representative sample of Black girls (412 African American and 195 Caribbean Black; M = 15 years). Path analysis results indicated that perceived pubertal timing effects on externalizing behaviors were moderated by ethnic subgroup. Caribbean Black girls’ who perceived their development to be early engaged in more externalizing behaviors than Caribbean Black girls’ who perceived their development to be either on-time or late. Age of menarche did not significantly predict Black girls’ externalizing behaviors and depressive symptoms. The onset of menarche does not appear to be an important predictor of Black girls’ symptoms of externalizing behavior and depression. These findings suggest ethnic subgroup and perceived pubertal timing are promising factors for better understanding the adverse effects of early perceived pubertal timing among Black girls.     

ABTS: a safe alternative to DAB for the enhancement of blood fingerprints

The use of 2,2'-azino-di-[3-ethylbenzthiazolinesulfonate(6)] diammonium salt (ABTS) for the enhancement of fingerprints in blood has been investigated. Optimal pH conditions and H2O2 concentrations have been determined using UV/Vis spectroscopy. ABTS is an effective and safe noncarcinogenic (though more expensive) alternative to the presently used 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB) for the development of blood fingerprints, especially on porous surfaces. The bright green color of the oxidized ABTS is an advantage on certain colored surfaces where the dark brown color of DAB does not stand out well from the background. Development with ABTS does not interfere with subsequent DAB treatment, making ABTS a "nothing-to-lose" reagent. ABTS can be used after ninhydrin treatment, but the reverse is not the case.