A novel chitosan/tripolyphosphate/L‐lysine conjugates for latent fingerprints detection and enhancement

Most chemical and physical methods employed in visualizing latent marks have shown detrimental effects on human health and, therefore, some research groups have directed their attention to the utilization of various (bio)polymers with the aforementioned purpose. Although chitosan is widely used in medicine, pharmacy, food, and drug delivery systems, there are very few studies that address this biopolymer utilization in forensic applications, such as the detection of latent fingerprints. We used chitosan crosslinked with sodium tripolyphosphate and conjugated with L‐lysine to enhance the visualization of latent fingerprints, due to its ability to interact with fingerprint sweat residues. These conjugates were prepared using different (w/w) amounts of chitosan and tripolyphosphate (6/1; 4/1; 1/1; 1/4; and 1/6), and those with the most promising results (i.e., 6/1 formulation) were investigated in detail. Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy confirmed interactions between components of the systems. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed that prepared powder formulations were uniform in size and confirmed that chitosan/tripolyphosphate/lysine conjugates bind easily to the sweat and lipid residues present in the latent fingerprints. The testing of prepared conjugates demonstrated the potential of these systems as bio‐based powder substitution for commercially available powders.     

The Balkan Entente in Turkish–Yugoslav relations (1934–41): the Yugoslav perspective

By discussing the role of the Balkan Entente within Turkish–Yugoslav relations, this article endeavours to reflect the extent to which the Entente guaranteed security to Turkey and Yugoslavia. It deals with the 1934–41 period, which starts with the formation of the Balkan Entente and ends with the German invasion of Yugoslavia. The article is written mainly based on Yugoslav archival documents and aims to provide an alternative narrative that contests the conventional Turkish view. It also demonstrates that although the political leaders in Turkey and Yugoslavia became more optimistic about the future of the region after having signed the Balkan Entente, their perception of threat changed over time during the period of increasing instability in Europe.     

The Anti‐Incumbent Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

Scholars concur that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have a strong proincumbent effect among beneficiaries. Although no study has properly focused on the overall effect of cash transfers on incumbents' national vote shares, most scholars have deduced that this effect is positive; i.e., that cash transfers lead to the expansion of incumbents' electoral bases. This article analyzes survey data from nearly all Latin American countries and confirms that beneficiaries of CCT programs are more likely to support incumbents. However, it also shows that CCT programs may induce many voters who were previously incumbent supporters to vote for the opposition. As a consequence, the overall impact of cash transfers on incumbents' vote shares is indeterminate; it depends on the balance between both patterns of behavioral changes among voters. This study is the first to report evidence that cash transfer programs may have significant anti‐incumbent effects.     

National Parliaments and EU Fiscal Integration

This article analyses the impact of the euro crisis on national parliaments and examines their response to the deepening of EU fiscal integration and the correspondent limitation of their budgetary autonomy. It argues that the sovereign debt crisis has provoked the emergence of new channels of parliamentary involvement in EU economic governance. National parliaments have acquired various rights of approval in the European Semester, strengthened the accountability of national governments, reinforced their scrutiny over budgeting, improved their access to information, and created domestic and supranational avenues for deliberation and political contestation of European integration. In these respects, they have undergone further Europeanisation. While these reforms do not outweigh the centralisation of EU powers, they represent an embryonic step in the parliamentary adaptation to the nascent EU fiscal regime. Yet they are unlikely substantially to influence EMU policy‐making processes, because of the democratic disconnect inherent in the EU's multilevel constitution.     

New Jersey Appellate Division Affirms Allocation to Insured for Pre-December 2004 Insolvencies

The New Jersey Appellate Division has held that in long-tail allocation cases, the policyholder remains responsible for amounts allocable to insurers who became insolvent before December, 2004, and that the rule announced in Farmers Mutual Fire Ins. Company of Salem v. N.J.P.L.G.A. does not apply to such insolvencies because the Legislature specifically provided that the statutory amendments that formed the basis for the Farmers Mutual decision applied prospectively from their effective date. The decision confirms that for insolvencies that took place before the amendments' effective date, New Jersey's common law rule that the policyholder bears the risk of insolvencies and is responsible for shares allocable to them still applies. The Court's decision strengthens insurers' arguments that Farmers Mutual did not alter the common law rule for policies that are not subject to the 2004 amendments to New Jersey's Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association Act or Surplus Lines Insurance Guaranty Fund Act.     

治理河流污染的制度激励悖论分析

为了治理日益加剧的河流污染,从中央到地方都相应出台了各种激励措施,但是这些措施并未起到显著效果,却形成了制度激励悖论。排污企业与地方政府在经历了新政策出台初的短暂扰动后,恢复原有均衡。要打破这一均衡,必须改变博弈各方的收益结构、可选策略集以及信息结构等,才有望建立符合科学发展观的最优均衡。     

Russia’s energy relations in Southeastern Europe: an analysis of motives in Bulgaria and Greece

Although officially Russian state-owned energy companies operate as independent entities, their actions often lead to suspicion that they are acting as a tool of Russian state foreign policy. Countries on the southeastern borders of Europe – Bulgaria and Greece – are prime examples of where this might be the case, since they not only have a central position in Russia’s plans to penetrate European markets through new transport infrastructure but are also part of competing plans for routing non-Russian gas to Western markets. The main focus of the present research is on the natural gas and oil sectors, as these are the traditional foundation of Russian energy exports to Europe. The aim of this paper is thus to provide an objective, evidence-based analysis of Russian activities in the natural gas and oil sectors of Greece and Bulgaria in order to establish whether its actions have been implicitly or explicitly politicized and have served to strengthen Russian influence in the region.