Criminal Case Outcomes, Incarceration, and Subsequent Intimate Partner Violence

Given the centrality of court interventions to the U.S. response to intimate partner violence (IPV), it is crucial to evaluate their impact on reabuse. To do so, this study examined whether female IPV victims’ experiences of abuse in the year following a criminal court case against their partner varied by case outcome or by whether the batterer had or had not been incarcerated. Consistent with prior research, we found no main effect differences in reabuse trajectories by court case outcome or by incarceration. We also examined variables that might moderate the impact of case outcome and incarceration on reabuse and found that although batterer legal history did not affect the impact of case outcome, his age, Time 1 employment status, the couple’s Time 1 living arrangement, and duration of abuse did interact with case outcome. No variables tested moderated the relationship between incarceration and reabuse over time. Findings suggest that in certain cases there may be benefits to case outcomes that leave potential consequences hanging over the offender’s head. These results also add to the growing body of evidence questioning the efficacy of one-size-fits-all approaches to IPV cases.     

A microfluidic device for presumptive testing of controlled substances

A simple microfluidic device (MFD) has been developed to perform multiple color and crystal tests for controlled substance analysis. The MFD method uses less sample and reagents and generates less waste than traditional spot plate methods while performing several tests simultaneously. This methodology provides significantly more analytical information for a single sample analysis. The current generation device is the size of a microscope slide with four analytical channels: one for microcrystal tests and three for color tests. The optimized devices were subjected to a rigorous validation study using comparative replicate analyses and several operators. Target analytes were methamphetamine, amphetamine, cocaine, and oxycodone and color test reagents used were the Marquis, Simon, and cobalt thiocyanate. For the crystal tests, platinic chloride was used. The validation study showed the MFD's limits of detection to be in the picogram range. Positive tests results were observed in complex mixtures in which the controlled substance was present at concentrations of 5-10% (w/w). The microcrystal reagents showed greater sensitivity than color test reagents when used in the device. Reagent use and waste generation using the devices was 95% less that that used and generated using the traditional methods. The device performance was also shown to be operator independent.     

Scholarship—the new dimension to equity issues for academic women

Over the last 25 years, Canadian women have made significant inroads to the academy as students, faculty, and administrators. Their contribution is reflected in curriculum that now addresses women and through the development of undergraduate and graduate programs in women's studies. Above all, certain aspects of women's work in the academy have challenged masculinist notions of research methodology and pedagogy. In spite of these gains and contributions, women largely remain in the “A” ranks in academe—assistant, associate, acting. This article argues, and demonstrates through personal accounts, that current definitions of scholarship, widely held in the academy, prevent the advancement of women precisely because some feminist models of research and pedagogy present a challenge to academic hierarchy. Hence, the new equity challenge facing academic women is found in definitions of scholarship used for evaluation in tenure and promotion cases.     

Thermal degradation analysis of amino acids in fingerprint residue by pyrolysis GC-MS to develop new latent fingerprint developing reagents

Conventional development of latent fingerprints is compromised when the prints are decomposed by extreme temperatures, such as those encountered when a weapon cartridge is fired, an improvised explosive device is detonated, and/or in arson cases. Understanding how these extreme temperatures alter the chemical and physical properties of latent fingerprint residue could aid in the discovery of a reagent that could effectively develop these decomposed fingerprints. To mimic scenarios where fingerprints may be exposed to high heat conditions, standards of the five most abundant amino acids in fingerprint residue as well as extracted fingerprint residue were pyrolized under controlled conditions. Compounds identified as pyrolytic decomposition products were 3,6-dimethylpiperazine-2,5-dione (from alanine), maleimide, and 2,5-furandione (from aspartic acid). The pyrograms and selected ion traces show these products to hold promise as indicators of decomposed fingerprint residues and, therefore, may serve as good candidate substrates for a developing reagent.     

Book reviews

Charles S. Sampson (ed.), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Vol.VI, Kennedy-Krushchev Exchanges (Washington: GPO, 1996).

Gillian Staerck and Michael Kandiah (eds), PROfiles 1964 on CD-ROM: Set I Prime Minister's and Cabinet Documents (£300 + VAT; ISBN 0-11-526478-7); Set 2, Documents on External Affairs (£350 + VAT; ISBN 0-11-526487-6); Set 3, Cabinet Committees and Defence Documents (£300 + VAT; ISBN 0-11-526488-4); Set 4, Comprehensive Index and Library CD-ROM (£200 + VAT; ISBN 0-11-526489-2). Discount for purchase of all four sets: £900 + VAT. Published by HMSO Electronic Publishing Sales, HMSO Publications Centre, 51 Nine Elms Lane, P0 Box 276, London 5W8 5DT (Tel. David Blake or Andrew Evans on UK - 171-873-8236; Fax. UK - 171-873-8203). The US and Canadian agent is UNIPUB, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706- 4391 (Tel. Toll Free 800-274-4888; Fax 800-865-3450).

Michael Shea, To Lie Abroad - Diplomacy Revisited (Sinclair Stevenson, 1996), 260 pp., £17.99 hb.

Michael Dockrill and Brian McKercher (eds.), Diplomacy and World Power: Studies in British Foreign Policy, 1890-1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1 996); xix+2714 pp. ISBN 0-921-46243-6.

David H. Dunn (ed.), Diplomacy at the Highest Level: The Evolution of International Summitry (London/New York: Macmillan, St. Martin's Press, 1996), 279 pp. £45, ISBN (UK) 0-333-64441-9, (USA) 0-312-16273-1.

David Dutton, Anthony Eden: A Life and Reputation (London: Arnold, 1997) xiv + 576 pp., £25 (hb); ISBN 0-340-56168-8.

James G. Hershberg, James B. Conant: Harvard to Hiroshima and the Making of the Nuclear Age (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), 948 pp.

Saki Dockrill, Eisenhower's New-Look National Security Policy, 1953-61 (London: Macmillan, 1996). xvi + 400pp., £40.

Alan James, Britain and the Congo Crisis, 1960-63 (London: Macmillan, 1996), xxi + 219pp. £42.50; ISBN 0-333-61860-2.

Robert S. McNamara, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1995), xviii + 414pp., ISBN 0-8129-2523-8.     

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura causing sudden, unexpected death--a series of eight patients

Eight patients were presented to the medical examiner after dying suddenly and unexpectedly from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Compared with patients who die after prolonged hospitalization and treatment, these patients showed fewer neurologic symptoms and correspondingly fewer or no microthrombi within the brain. Only four of eight subjects developed fever, which further contributed to misdiagnosis. The differences in clinical presentation between our cases and most published series is striking and may be explained by shorter duration and no treatment. Each case contained the characteristic histology of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Ischemic injury to the heart and conduction system was the most likely mechanism of sudden death. Included in this series is a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) diagnosed at autopsy, a concurrence that is now appearing more frequently in the medical literature.     

Chemical composition and structure of the microcrystals formed between silver(I) and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid and gamma-hydroxyvaleric acid

This study examined microcrystals formed by silver with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and gamma-hydroxyvaleric acid (GHV), the five-carbon analog of GHB, in the presence of silver, copper, and lanthanide nitrates. Distinct microcrystals formed with silver (+1) and lanthanum (+3) ions but not with the copper (+2) ions. The crystals formed with GHB were distinctly different than those formed with GHV and in all cases, the drug microcrystals were easily distinguishable from reagent crystals. X-ray diffraction analysis provided definitive structure for the microcrystals. The morphological differences between the silver-GHB and silver-GHV crystals were characterized using simple measurements such as size and angles provided by image recognition software. The utility of the test for casework was demonstrated using spiked beverage samples.