Contactless Visualization of Latent Fingerprints on Nonporous Curved Surfaces of Circular Cross Section—A Statistical Evaluation on the Materials as Plane Mirror

A new contactless technique for latent fingerprint visualization on nonporous curved surfaces of circular cross section was introduced by Low et al. (1). The technique utilizes a plane mirror to convey the light rays toward the inspected surfaces for latent fingerprint visualization. This research activity came up as an extension of the previous study which utilized an aluminum plate as the plane mirror to illuminate the inspected surfaces. Dulling spray was used to increase the diffuse component of the reflective aluminum plate. However, the amount of dulling spray will affect the uniformity of the illumination on the inspected curved surfaces. In this study, a study on the new materials for the plane mirror was carried out. Coated aluminum, opal, and ground glass diffusers were selected as the new materials. The performance of the new materials was compared to the aluminum based on the quality of the captured images on various nonporous cylindrical surfaces. A statistical approach known as randomized complete block design was used to design the experiment. The quality of the captured images was obtained using Spectral Image Validation and Verification. Two‐way analysis of variance and Fisher's least significant difference test were used to analyze the quality of the images. From the results of the statistical analysis, coated aluminum has the best performance compared to aluminum, opal, and ground glass diffusers.     

On the structure of business incubators: de-coupling issues and the mis-alignment of managerial incentives

Business incubators are structurally complex and have resisted any major change to their internal structure, replicating throughout the world in large numbers, and delivering value through numerous models. A question, thus arises, what specific structural properties of incubators facilitate the organizational form’s replication and performance in a range of institutional contexts? In order to shed light on this question, an exploratory-inductive approach is adopted; and, utilizing the tools of organization theory, the internal environment of the business incubator is de-coded. This draws attention to attributes of the hybrid incubator-form’s internal structural properties that have not been discussed in the past, including de-coupling issues and the mis-alignment of managerial incentives with the actual role of incubating. These properties, rather than impacting incubators’ status, award incubators with ceremonial value and help their managements avoid close inspections of performance. This in turn, it is proposed, has allowed for their rapid replication in a variety of socio- cultural, economic and institutional contexts.     

Iran's Tortuous Path Toward “Islamic Liberalism”

This article provides an overview of the intellectual and sociopolitical roots of Iran's tortuous path toward Islamic liberalism and reform. It analyzes the shift in the ideological orientation of a major faction within the political elite from a radical to a relatively moderate and liberal interpretation of Islam. The authors trace the roots of this ideological shift to a series of political developments since the triumph of the Islamic revolution in 1979, including various failures of the revolutionary regime to fulfill its populist and egalitarian promises; a considerable erosion in the legitimacy of the ruling clerics; the successful (though largely silent) resistance of the youth and women against the culturally restrictive policies of the Islamic Republic; the rise of a distinctly anti-fundamentalist, liberal-reformist interpretation of Islam by a number of Iranian theologians and religious intellectuals; and the precipitous decline in the popularity of revolutionary ideas in the 1990s. In spite of the increasing appeal of liberal-democratic ideas of individual freedom, pluralism, and political tolerance in the new reform movement and the overwhelming endorsement of these ideas in four recent national elections, including two presidential polls, the authors argue that the movement has had but a limited and, for the most part symbolic, influence on Iran's objective, and still repressive, political conditions.     

Participation of CSOs/NGOs in Bangladeshi climate change policy formulation: co-operation or co-optation?

The Bangladesh government formulated the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategies and Action Plans (BCCSAP) in 2008 through a participatory process involving several CSOs/NGOs and others. This article discusses the participation of CSOs/NGOs in climate change policy-making, focusing on mapping their level of participation in policy-making. It demonstrates that state laws allow CSOs/NGOs to implement several projects voluntarily, but largely prohibit their participation in political decision-making processes. The state invites a few CSOs/NGOs as a condition to receive aid, but displays arbitrary and co-opting attitudes towards CSOs/NGOs that rarely ensure joint decisions in creating policy.     

The use of technology in the transformation of business dispute resolution

The use of technology in dispute resolution mechanism can be viewed from two perspectives: first, as an aid in the conventional dispute resolution system, and second, as an online dispute resolution mechanism via the Internet. Online dispute resolution (ODR) is transforming the way disputes are being resolved, in particular, in business to consumer (B2C) transactions. ODR offers a more successful means of resolving e-commerce disputes. In fact, there is a new move by the Malaysian judiciary to transform its court system. Previously, the judiciary has been very conventional in its administration of justice, and the system is said to be slow and outdated. The court system in Malaysia has been frequently criticised because of its dilatoriness in resolving disputes, resulting in a large backlog of cases. To overcome these problems, the judiciary has introduced a new system called the e-court. New methods including as e-filing, electronic case management, queue management, and court recording and transcribing form the complete e-court mechanism.     

Why does Community-Based Rehabilitation fail physically disabled women in northern Thailand?

Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) has been adopted in many countries to help disabled people. This article analyses the interplay between CBR and the self-alienation of physically disabled women from their communities. In-depth interviews with 40 women with physical disabilities in northern Thailand found that CBR was barely capable of enabling women with physical disabilities to realise their sense of self within their community, because in itself CBR was unable to change the community's false impression of disability. Despite participating in CBR programmes, the self-alienation of physically disabled women from their community remained; the authors argue that this was due to the heavy reliance of CBR on medical practice, ignoring gender as a major contributing factor. In addition, CBR field workers obviously failed to grasp the magnitude of social models in disability rehabilitation.     

Formation of Trifluoroacetylated Ephedrine During the Analysis of a Pseudoephedrine-Formaldehyde Adduct by TFAA Derivatization Followed by GC-MS

Abstract:  (+)-Pseudoephedrine reacts with formaldehyde to form (4 S ,5 S )-3,4-dimethyl-5-phenyloxazolidine. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis after the reaction of this oxazolidine with excess trifluoroacetic acid anhydride (TFAA) shows predominantly N , O- bis(trifluoroacetyl)pseudoephedrine with some of the monotrifluoroacetylated derivative. In addition, variable amounts of N , O- bis(trifluoroacetyl)ephedrine were detected by GC-MS. N , O- bis(trifluoroacetyl)ephedrine was not detected upon trifluoroacetylation of the source (+)-pseudoephedrine, and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of the (4 S ,5 S )-3,4-dimethyl-5-phenyloxazolidine showed no evidence of the (4 R ,5 S ) isomer. This suggests that the N ,O-bis(trifluoroacetyl)ephedrine is formed by epimerization during the TFAA derivatization and GC-MS analysis of the pseudoephedrine-formaldehyde adduct.     

巴基斯坦：远景与现实，过去与未来

巴基斯坦作为一个独立的国家,它不仅仅代表着一个国家和政府,而且还是一种对当代政治中占统治地位的自由化与世俗化模式发起的挑战,它本身就构成了一种变革政治地图的努力。文章从巴基斯坦的现实分析了这个国家的过去与未来。