Bloodstains on Leather: Examination of False Negatives in Presumptive Test and Human Hemoglobin Test

Presumptive tests for blood are very simple and sensitive tests used in the search for evidence. They also provide initial information on the nature of stains. A second test can confirm their nature. However, these tests can present false–negative results for different reasons. Some of those reasons have been studied, while others, those caused by the substrate material that contains the stain, are less well known. This work studies the effect of one component of a leather substrate—quebracho extract—on presumptive and human hemoglobin blood tests. Assays were performed using samples of blood dilutions contaminated with quebracho extract and others formed on a substrate containing the contaminant. Results show an undoubted interference that causes false negatives and even visible to the naked eye stains and also indicate that some tests (phenolphthalein) are more affected than others. Examiners should be taken into account when working on this kind of substrates.     

Risk terrain modeling for road safety: identifying crash-related environmental factors in the province of Cádiz,Spain

Environmental Criminology has developed a robust framework that provides the scientific support and necessary foundation for crime analysis through crime mapping. This theoretical approach focuses on the situational and temporal characteristics of criminal opportunity rather than on the offender’s behavior for crime prevention. In the scope of road safety and traffic crashes, few studies have adopted this approach. This study used risk terrain modeling (RTM), developed by the Rutgers Center on Public Security, to determine the relative importance of varying environmental risk factors on alcohol-related crashes and traffic accidents. The independent variables consisted of a set of potential environmental risk factors, while the dependent variable comprised all DWI crashes and traffic accidents in the province of Cádiz in 2012. According to the results of the current study, restaurant locations are spatially associated with the occurrence of drunk driving crashes, while proximity restaurants and recreational lodging centers correlate with the sites of traffic accidents.     

Voltammetric determination of cocaine in confiscated samples using a cobalt hexacyanoferrate film-modified electrode

In this work, a fast, non destructive voltammetric method for cocaine detection in acetonitrile medium using a platinum disk electrode chemically modified with cobalt-hexacyanoferrate (CoHCFe) film is described. The deposition of CoHCFe film at platinum disk (working electrode) was carried out in aqueous solution containing NaClO₄ at 0.1 mol L⁻¹ as supporting electrolite. Stability studies of the film and subsequent voltammetric analysis of cocaine were made in acetonitrile medium with NaClO₄ at 0.1 mol L⁻¹ as supporting electrolite. A reversible interaction between cocaine and CoHCFe at the film produces a proportional decrease of original peak current, due to the formation of a complex between cocaine and cobalt íons, with subsequent partial passivation of the film surface, being the intensity of current decrease used as analytical signal for cocaine. A linear dependence of cocaine detection was carried out in the range from 2.4 × 10⁻⁴ to 1.5 × 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹, with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.994 and a detection limit of 1.4 × 10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹. The analysis of confiscated samples by the proposed method indicated cocaine levels from 37% to 95% (m/m) and these results were validated by comparison to HPLC technique, being obtained good correlation between both methods.     

Political Parties and Governors as Determinants of Legislative Behavior in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, 1988–2006

This article examines the relative importance of regional and national forces in shaping the behavior of Brazilian legislators at the national level. A widely held view is that national legislators respond to state pressures in making decisions, rather than pressures from the national government. Governors not only can influence national debates but also can determine outcomes by exerting control over their states' legislative delegations. This article examines a dataset of all roll-call votes in the Chamber of Deputies between 1989 and 2006 to isolate and evaluate the impact of local pressures on legislative voting. Spanning the terms of five presidents and five different congresses, the data show that the local influence is weaker than the national on the voting decisions of individual legislators and the voting cohesion of state delegations. Alternative institutional resources allow the central government to counteract the centrifugal pressures of federalism and other institutional influences.     

Integrity Systems,Values, and Expectations: Explaining Differences in the Extent of Corruption in Three Spanish Local Governments

Our article attempts to explain the differences in the extent of corruption related to urban planning in three Spanish local settings, all of them being important touristic resorts: Marbella, a municipality in the Costa del Sol with a very high level of corruption; Lanzarote, in the Canary islands with a high incidence of corruption despite its pioneering role in establishing innovative policies to limit urban (touristic) growth; and Menorca, in the Balearic Islands where corruption has been very low. We argue that the explanations focusing on the different features of the local integrity systems (LISs) face difficulties to account for the variations in the incidence of corruption across these Spanish municipalities: despite some interesting differences, the LIS of the cases considered is basically quite similar. Thus, we turn to the analysis of social values and social expectations on the political system by local citizens, testing whether a different set of citizens’ values and expectations on the behavior of local decision makers may explain this local variation in corruption practices. The article presents the results of a public opinion survey on values and expectations administered in the three cases. Against our expectations and the literature on the topic, no significant difference in shared social values and expectations has been found. The article shows that, as for an empirically tested explanation of the cross-local variations in the degree of urban corruption in Spain, the jury is still out.     

Constituent Moment,Constituted Powers in Chile

Law and Critique - This article discusses the concept of constituent power and its application to the situation in Chile after the 18th October 2019. In particular, it discusses the relation...     

Culture and Revolution Transaction Strategies: A Project of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba

If society is the people, and culture is behavior, this confers upon revolutions a genuinely cultural nature. The immediate link among the topics dealt with in this article is the creation and development of Cuban cultural policy, the very policy through which the nation's artistic creativity—with all its beauties and blunders—is articulated. Yet it is impossible to outline the scope and complexity of this process in a single article and to do so would be nonsensical. This means a radical change in perspective: instead of using macro-history and generalizations, relying on observing events on a much smaller scale in an attempt to shed light on the whole through its parts. As a result, this article focuses on a specific cultural institution—The Ludwig Foundation of Cuba—with a brief mention of its fundamental aims and an overview of one of its emblematic exhibitions, which was the result of long-term research.