Voltammetric analysis of luminescent markers in gunshot residues

Currently, SEM-EDS is used to detect gunshot residue (GSR) from the presence of Ba, Pb, and Sb in the sample. However, the development of new nontoxic ammunition (NTA) has prevented conventional metals from being found. In this work, we aim to determine the presence of an inorganic luminescent chemical marker based on rare earth in gunshot residues using the technique of squarewave voltammetry (SWV). After firing, the luminescent complex [(Eu₂Zr)(btc)₃(Hbtc)_0.5.6H₂O], which is used as a chemical marker, can be detected under a UV lamp. An aqueous solution with 0.1 mol L⁻¹ KCl as supporting electrolyte can be easily collected on carbon paste electrode surfaces for SWV analysis A = 100 mV, f = 10 Hz, and step potential of 5 mV are required. The luminescent marker incorporated into the carbon paste electrode showed two anodic peak currents in the region of 0.4 V (vs Ag/AgCl) and at 0.75 V (vs Ag/AgCl) and also a cathodic one in 0.4 V (vs Ag/AgCl). SEM-EDS was able to analyze the same voltammetric results for conventional and nontoxic ammunition containing the luminescent marker. Therefore, voltammetry and SEM-EDS are valid for detecting the new residue marker in GSR. Despite this, the electrochemical method is still more advantageous because of its low cost and lack of expensive equipment and supplies in forensic laboratories.     

Leaving Homelessness Behind: Housing Decisions Among Families Exiting Shelter

Because homelessness assistance programs are designed to help families, it is important for policymakers and practitioners to understand how families experiencing homelessness make housing decisions, particularly when they decide not to use available services. This study explores those decisions using in-depth qualitative interviews with 80 families recruited in shelters across four sites approximately six months after they were assigned to one of four conditions (permanent housing subsidies, project-based transitional housing, community-based rapid re-housing, or usual care). Familiar neighborhoods near children's schools, transportation, family and friends, and stability were important to families across conditions. Program restrictions on eligibility constrained family choices. Subsidized housing was the most desired intervention, and families leased up at higher rates than in other studies of poor families. Respondents were least comfortable in and most likely to leave transitional housing. Uncertainty associated with community-based rapid re-housing generated considerable anxiety. Across interventions, many families had to make unhappy compromises, often leading to further moves. Policy recommendations are offered.     

Coproduction of Government Services and the New Information Technology: Investigating the Distributional Biases

This article investigates how communications advances affect citizens’ ability to participate in coproduction of government services. The authors analyze service requests made to the City of Boston during a one‐year period from 2010 to 2011 and, using geospatial analysis and negative binomial regression, investigate possible disparities by race, education, and income in making service requests. The findings reveal little concern that 311 systems (nonemergency call centers) may benefit one racial group over another; however, there is some indication that Hispanics may use these systems less as requests move from call centers to the Internet and smartphones. Consistent with prior research, the findings show that poorer neighborhoods are less likely to take advantage of 311 service, with the notable exception of smartphone utilization. The implications for citizen participation in coproduction and bridging the digital divide are discussed.     

Economic Insecurity,the Social Market Economy,and Support for the German Left

This article explores the relationship between hard economic times, inequality, and support for the far Left, using the case of Die Linke, or ‘Left party’, in Germany. Using recent survey data, the relationship among voters' social characteristics, economic attitudes, and rising electoral support for Die Linke is explored. In Germany, support for the far Left does not appear to be based solely on ideological extremism or economic pessimism, but also on beliefs about economic inequalities and governmental policy responses. This evidence indicates that supporters of the far Left are not simply ‘the losers’ from economic modernisation, but rather citizens in both Eastern and Western Germany characterised by shared social and economic circumstances and similar beliefs about economic redistribution. It also suggests fruitful avenues for research on the relationship between economic decline and support for the Left across advanced industrial democracies.     

Recalling Lewis Feuer

This essay examines a brief stretch of the career of the noted sociologist Lewis S. Feuer, paying particular attention to his relationship to Communism during the thirties and forties. With the aid of archival sources, it reconstructs several key episodes of his political involvement that help to explain his eventual deradicalization. This essay first considers Feuer’s geopolitical outlook at the beginning of the Second World War, demonstrating the extent to which his views accorded with the official stance of the Communist Party. It then details Feuer’s experience as an American soldier stationed in New Caledonia, highlighting his independent efforts to abolish forced labor under the French colonial regime. These previously unexamined aspects of his early life shed new light on his later struggles to define himself politically. The purpose of this essay is to complicate Feuer’s posthumous memory, which has been overshadowed by his belated neoconservatism, and to assert the continuing importance of leftist commitment to his thought even until late in his career.