Age determination of blood spots in forensic medicine by force spectroscopy

We present a new tool for the estimation of the age of bloodstains, which could probably be used during forensic casework. For this, we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) for high-resolution imaging of erythrocytes in a blood sample and the detection of elasticity changes on a nanometer scale. For the analytic procedure we applied a fresh blood spot on a glass slide and started the AFM detection after drying of the blood drop. In a first step, an overview image was generated showing the presence of several red blood cells, which could easily be detected due to their typical "doughnut-like" appearance. The consecutively morphological investigations in a timeframe of 4 weeks could not show any alterations. Secondly, AFM was used to test the elasticity by recording force-distance curves. The measurements were performed immediately after drying, 1.5 h, 30 h and 31 days. The conditions were kept constant at room temperature (20 degrees C) and a humidity of 30%. The obtained elasticity parameters were plotted against a timeline and repeated several times. The elasticity pattern showed a decrease over time, which are most probably influenced by the alteration of the blood spot during the drying and coagulation process. The preliminary data demonstrates the capacity of this method to use it for development of calibration curves, which can be used for estimation of bloodstain ages during forensic investigations.     

National Transparency Regimes: Rules or Principles? A Comparative Analysis of the United States and The Netherlands

Technology development and democratization have been identified as the general drivers of the worldwide thrust in transparency. But what transparency regimes do these drivers generate in different countries? This mixed method study indicates that national regimes are different due to pre-existing institutional differences and critical junctures in the historical development of transparency regimes. Our analysis shows that the U.S. transparency regime can be characterized as a rules-based approach while a principles-based transparency regime prevails in the Netherlands. This article nuances the debate about the global character of transparency and highlights two different outcomes of the push for transparency.     

Budget Reform Proposals in the NPR Report1

A new round of budget process changes began on September 7, 1993, when Vice President Al Gore released the National Performance Review (NPR) report. The report recommended major revisions in the structure and processes of the federal government. A number of these proposals would alter a broad range of budgetary procedures followed by the president and Congress, borrowing in some cases from the states. This article analyzes seven areas of budget proposals contained in the NPR report, analyzes their benefits and drawbacks, and makes general observations about their likely impact on executive-legislative relations.