Changes in the lipid composition of latent fingerprint residue with time after deposition on a surface

The work described in this report was focused on generating increased knowledge of fingerprint chemistry, particularly the composition of a latent fingerprint at the time it is deposited, and the chemical changes in lipid components that occur over time. Fingerprints from five male donors (aged 25-34 years) were collected and aged under controlled conditions. The prints were then sampled at set intervals, solvent extracted with dichloromethane, co-derivatized with MSTFA and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). It was shown that there was loss of squalene from prints stored in the light or in the dark. Loss was more rapid in the light, with squalene in prints from some donors not detected after 9 days storage. For these same donors, squalene was still detected after 33 days storage in the dark, but at much lower levels than in fresh prints. For saturated fatty acids (tetradecanoic, palmitic and stearic acid) there was a trend towards an increase in levels of these substances during storage (up to about 20 days) followed by a decrease back to original levels or below. This was the case for samples stored in the light or in the dark. For palmitoleic acid, a similar trend was seen. For oleic acid, this trend was seen for samples stored in the dark. For samples stored in the light the general trend was a decrease in level over the storage period (up to 33 days).     

Comparison of ages of epiphyseal union in North American and Bosnian skeletal material

The accurate determination of age at death is a critical component in the analysis of human skeletal remains. Population specific techniques are often used without due consideration of the provenance of the material being studied. This communication considers the ages at which epiphyseal union occur in young Bosnian males and compares those findings to data published by McKern and Stewart on young North American soldiers killed during the Korean War. Of the ten epiphyses considered in this study, all elements were observed to be at least two years in advance in the Bosnian sample compared to the American sample. This article demonstrates that whilst standards based on an American sample produce broadly applicable age ranges for use on forensic work in the Balkans, the age ranges generated produce an upper age limit that is often two or more years older than the chronological age. Therefore, it is desirable, that wherever possible, appropriate standards should be devised for more accurate aging reflecting population specific profiles.     

Voices of the Commonwealth: An Oral History of the Modern Commonwealth 1965–2012

This article describes a major exercise undertaken by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, to put together an oral history of the modern Commonwealth. The project was set in the context of a wider research agenda aimed at investigating whether the Commonwealth has made any difference globally in policy terms. As part of the exercise, the author, who was the lead researcher on the project, interviewed senior figures within the Commonwealth who played key roles in shaping the destiny of the organization and in influencing policy. The article is a personal account of the exercise.     

Frustration effects in procedural justice research: The case of drug-testing legislation

A scenario methodology was used to investigate reactions to negative outcomes resulting from drug-testing procedures. The drug-testing procedures reflected variations in State law governing the use of drug tests in employee selection. Results suggest that individuals responded most negatively to negative outcomes resulting from the legally mandated procedures. Results are discussed as an example of the frustration effect observed in the procedural justice literature. Frustration effects were most severe for individuals who were most certain, based on personal knowledge, that the drug test results were inaccurate.     

“The Greatest Success of British Diplomacy in East Asia in Recent Years”? British Diplomacy and the Ending of Confrontation, 1965–1966

Arthur de la Mare, an under-secretary of state at the British Foreign Office, wrote in 1967 that the ending of the Malaysia–Indonesia Confrontation of 1963–1966 was “the greatest success of British diplomacy in East Asia in recent years.” However, historians generally believe British influence in the process to end this conflict was extremely limited, as it has been widely accepted that this conflict ended through bilateral negotiations between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. On one level, this view is accurate, but “Confrontation” took months to end and, during this process, British, American, and Malaysian officials hoped to encourage a change in leadership in Jakarta and an eventual end to the conflict. Confrontation was an anti-colonial and a regional dispute greatly affected by the Cold War environment in Southeast Asia and, therefore, not immune from international events or actors, especially the final phase of the conflict.     

Unintended Consequences: Implications of the 2014 Australian Defence Force Pay Deal

The Workplace Remuneration Arrangement agreed between the Australian Government and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) provides for a 4.5% pay over 3 years for ADF personnel. This article makes use of the concept of the psychological contract to argue that this pay deal represents a breach of the Australian Government's obligations towards ADF personnel that is likely to have unintended consequences for their long‐term commitment to their ADF careers.     

Regional Offices in the New NHS: An Analysis of the Effects and Significance of Recent Changes

This article reports on a two-year, multi-method, qualitative study in two regional offices in the UK National Health Service of the changing role of the regional tier from the autumn of 1994. The nature of the changes from fourteen semiautonomous regional health authorities to eight regional offices of the NHS Executive, whose staff became civil servants, are described together with the way this reorganization changed the role and relationships of NHS Executive HQ, the regional offices and the field. By the end of our research in the autumn of 1996, the change from regional health authority to regional office had gone well in the two regional offices studied; they had become smaller organizations, had established closer working with HQ and believed they had more influence over policy, while retaining good relations with health authorities. Emerging issues from the changes and some of their implications are discussed, particularly the pressures towards greater centralization and the particular forms that these have taken, despite the aim, and in part the achievement, of greater devolution, and the cultural differences between the NHS and the civil service. We conclude by assessing what the future holds for regional offices, in the light of the recent NHS White Paper (Secretary of State for Health 1997)