An initial evaluation of stable isotopic characterisation of post-blast plastic debris from improvised explosive devices

A number of two-way radios, similar to those which have been employed to initiate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), were acquired from a commercial supplier and grouped into four pairs. Samples of plastic material were collected from five distinct regions of each radio and analysed by Infrared and Raman spectroscopy to identify the nature of the material. One radio of each pair was then subjected to detonation with a commercially available plastic explosive. The combination of radio and explosive was considered to be representative of the components of an IED. Following detonation, fragments were recovered and, where possible, identified as specific sampling points of the radio.A combination of δ²H and δ¹³C stable isotopic analysis of material from each of the five sampling points was found to provide a pattern which was characteristic of a given radio and provided a means to associate pairs of radios. When few fragments were recovered, no positive association could be made between the fragments and the paired, undamaged radio. This was attributed, in part, to manufacturing variation in the radios. However, when three or more post-blast fragments were recovered it was possible to associate these with the paired, undamaged radio with a high degree of certainty.     

Elemental analysis of white cotton fiber evidence using solution ICP-MS and laser ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS)

The purpose of this research is to investigate a method for the forensic elemental analysis of cotton fibers for the purpose of increasing the discrimination between otherwise similar cotton evidence using microwave digestion inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). A quadrupole ICP-MS and UV laser ablation (266 nm) instruments were used for the analysis. A cotton standard reference material (IAEA V-9) was used to validate the developed methods producing good accuracy with typically <10% bias and good precision (typically <5% RSD) for the element list: ²⁵Mg, ²⁷Al, ⁵⁵Mn, ⁵⁷Fe, ⁸⁸Sr and ¹³⁷Ba. It was found that the LA-ICP-MS method resulted in improved precision over the solution ICP-MS method. Twenty-four raw cotton samples and five white cotton T-shirts were analyzed with the developed methods. It was also found that all the raw cotton samples from different sources were distinguishable from each other, as were all the cotton T-shirts resulting in zero type I errors and zero type II errors for the pairwise comparisons. The laser ablation method was slightly faster than the solution-based analysis, requiring 3 h for the laser analysis of 10 samples vs. 3.5 h for the solution analysis, including sample preparation time. One additional advantage of the LA-ICP-MS method was the extremely low sample consumption (1.75 μg were consumed vs. 250 mg for the solution-based method) and the fact that the LA samples are amenable for reanalysis.     

Seen but Not Heard? Parallels and Dissonances in the Treatment of Rape Narratives across the Asylum and Criminal Justice Contexts

A significant proportion of women seeking refugee status in the United Kingdom will claim to have been raped in their country of origin. Even where this is not the sole basis of an asylum claim, it may be relevant to its determination. While criminal justice responses to rape have been the subject of extensive academic criticism and legislative reform, the processes of disclosure and credibility assessment in the asylum context have received little attention. This article explores possible parallels and dissonances in the treatment of rape across the asylum and criminal justice contexts, drawing in particular on the findings of a 2007 pilot study. It considers how problems such as the underreporting of rape, the inability of the victim to 'tell the story' in her own words, a hostile adjudicative environment, and the tendency to regard factors such as late disclosure, narrative inconsistency, and calm demeanour with suspicion – may be replicated and compounded in asylum cases. It also acknowledges the complex intersection of race, gender, culture, and nationality in this context.     

No renters in my suburban backyard: Land use regulation and rental housing

Academics and policymakers have argued that the ability of low‐ and moderate‐income families to move into desirable suburban areas is constrained by the high cost of housing. Local zoning and other forms of land use regulation are believed to contribute to increased housing prices by reducing supply and increasing the size of new housing. Suburban restrictions on rental housing are particularly likely to reduce mobility for low‐income families. In this paper, I employ an instrumental variables approach to examine the effects of zoning on the quantity and price of rental housing in Massachusetts, using historical municipal characteristics to instrument for current regulations. Results suggest that communities with more restrictive zoning issue significantly fewer building permits for multifamily housing but provide only weak evidence of the effects of regulations on rents. The lack of effects on rents may reflect the low level of multifamily development, while analysis is complicated by development of subsidized housing under the state's affordable housing law. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

The history of women in science a seminar at the University of Regensburg,FRG

We provide here an outline of a course on the role of women in the history of the natural sciences. All students and members of faculty were free to attend. We report our experiences in teaching the courses and some of the literature used. The conclusions we came to on researching this topic are summarised. A combined historical and biographical approach was the most useful. We divided history into epochs in which we examined the cultural political and religious roles of women in society. Then we reported on important women scientists in each period, looking at their autobiographies and summarising, where possible, their scientific contributions. We discussed how the contributions of women scientists are forgotten or suppressed and ways in which the course participants themselves had internalised the ‘androcentric’ view of science. The most important finding for us was that throughout history women scientists were numerous, gifted—and forgotten.     

Ontario's Urban Transportation Development Corporation: a case study in privatization

Abstract: The privatization of government-owned corporations reflects both the trend towards a greater reliance on the market, and attempts to better manage the public sector. But while advocates of privatization assume that it will readily yield gains in efficiency, a number of problems arise if governments seek to pursue public policy goals following privatization. The Ontario Liberal government's privatization of the Urban Transportation Development Corporation illustrates the difficulty in completely disentangling the government and the corporation. Complicated links between the utdc and the government have evolved since its creation which were essential to the performance of the utdc either as a public or as a private corporation. Furthermore, the government sought to continue to protect employment using the utdc after privatization in addition to the utdc's original goal of promoting high technology in the field of urban mass transit. The resulting agreement between the government and the buyer, Lavalin, is a complex deal in which the government retains a substantial interest in the new firm. Rather than a sharp break between the government and the firm, what occurred was a change in the mix of instruments used by the government. Sommaire: La privatisation des sociétés d'État à fonction de gestion commerciales reflète deux tendances: une plus grande confiance dans le marché et une tentative de mieux gérer le secteur public. Pourtant, tandis que les tenants de la privatisation partent du principe que celle-ci entraînera immédiatement une plus grande efficacité, un certain nombre de problèmes se posent dès lors que les gouvernements cherchent à poursuivre des objectifs de politique publique après la privatisation. La privatisation de la Société de développement du transport urbain (stdu) par le gouvernement libéral de l'Ontario illustre les difficultés qu'il y a à complètement dissocier la société d'État du gouvernement. Depuis la création de la stdu, les liens complexes qui unissent celle-ci au gouvernement ont évolué. Ces liens qui étaient essentiels au bon fonctionnement de la stdu aussi bien comme société publique que comme société privée. De plus, après la privatisation le gouvernement a essayé de protéger l'emploi en s'appuyant sur la stdu malgré le fait que celle-ci avait pour objectif premier de promouvoir une technologie de pointe dans le secteur du transport urbain en commun. L'entente qui a été conclue entre le gouvernement et l'acheteur, la société Lavalin, est un accord complexe selon lequel le gouvernementgarde des intérêts importants dans la nouvelle société. Il n'y a pas eu une cassure nette entre le gouvernement et la société; ce sont plutôt les moyens dont se sert le gouvernement qui ont changé.