Heat and let dye: Part II – Rapid heat-fixing of blood traces

Blood-contaminated shoeprints and footmarks contain valuable operational information as they may bind an individual who stepped in the crime scene with the incident and not merely with the location. As determining the age of a bloodstain remains a challenge, while processing the scene, it is difficult to determine whether the blood is completely, or partially, dry. Thus, executing a dye staining protocol may wash these marks away as they might still be soluble. However, to meet this challenge, it is possible to fix blood marks using heat. This study aims to find a solution for floor surfaces covered by heavier blood traces (shoeprints and footmarks). For this purpose, a new pseudo-operating device was constructed for examining the blood-fixing process of both mentioned trace types. Two trials were performed with depletion marks. The results revealed that fully developed fresh and heavily blood deposits were obtained by heating to 200°C for 7.5 min using the fixing device, followed by a staining protocol using amido black solution. The achieved sharp resolution of the examined bloody prints demonstrates that in certain cases the dehydration mechanism of heating is preferred over precipitating the proteins attributed to 5-sulfosalycilic acid; thus, reducing the risk of washing blood evidence while processing the crime scene.     

Another Form of Aboriginal Exemption — Employment as Protection Against Removal

The Queensland Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897, which introduced the system of exemption certificates, also initiated another form of “exemption” — one based on employment. The Act permitted “lawfully employed” Aboriginal people to be “excepted” from forcible removal to reserves. Those placed on an Aboriginal reserve faced a restrictive life of disconnection from Country, kin networks, and traditional practices and way of life. Many Aboriginal people found employment in the pastoral industry and thus avoided the Act's provision of removal to a reserve. This paper interrogates government records and reports to provide an understanding of the development and implementation of this legislation and the racial ideologies underpinning it. The 1898 diary of a Queensland pastoralist who employed Aboriginal men on his station is also examined to obtain an understanding of the roles, experiences, and position of Aboriginal people in the pastoral industry during this period. These findings reveal that despite hardships faced in the pastoral industry, Aboriginal people found advantages in this form of employment. Through their highly sought-after pastoral skills and expertise, and strategic engagement with Europeans, Aboriginal people excelled in the pastoral industry, and many achieved significant levels of freedom and success.     

Childhood Violence and Adult Partner Maltreatment: The Roles of Coping Style and Psychological Distress

The study investigates the impact of psychological well-being, coping style, and maltreatment types on adult partner maltreatment patterns. A large sample of undergraduates completed assessments measuring history of childhood violence exposure, psychological distress, coping, and adult partner maltreatment. The multiply abused group (childhood physical abuse and witnessing family violence) experienced the highest levels of all forms of adult maltreatment, followed by the childhood physical abuse group. As childhood victimization became more severe, the relationship between childhood victimization and adult partner maltreatment became more direct. The current study highlights that individuals exposed to a greater degree of childhood victimization are more vulnerable to adult maltreatment because there are few mediators which may prevent or decrease risk for adult maltreatment. The results suggest that treatment and prevention efforts with victims of interpersonal violence should foster individualized coping skills and address specific psychopathology depending upon the individual??s childhood abuse history.     

Business as Usual? Economic Responses to Political Tensions

Do political tensions harm economic relations? Theories claim that trade prevents war and political relations motivate trade, but less is known about whether smaller shifts in political relations impact economic exchange. Looking at two major economies, we show that negative events have not hurt U.S. or Japanese trade or investment flows. We then examine specific incidents of tensions in U.S.‐French and Sino‐Japanese relations over the past decade—two case pairs that allow us to compare varying levels of political tension given high existing economic interdependence and different alliance relations. Aggregate economic flows and high salience sectors like wine and autos are unaffected by the deterioration of political relations. In an era of globalization, actors lack incentives to link political and economic relations. We argue that sunk costs in existing trade and investment make governments, firms, and consumers unlikely to change their behavior in response to political disputes.     

The utility of polyester and cotton as swabbing substrates for the removal of cellular material from surfaces

Various types of cotton and polyester fabrics were tested to ascertain the optimal physical and chemical characteristics of fabrics needed for the removal of cellular material from surfaces. DNA quantitation values obtained on dried saliva stains showed no difference between cotton and polyester across all constructions and solvent conditions. Fabrics used dry and with water yielded higher quantitation values than those used with isopropanol. Quantitation values were also higher for wovens and nonwovens than knits across all solvent conditions. Low thread count fabrics used with water yielded higher quantitation values, but no correlation between thread count and quantitation values was observed with dry fabrics. A low thread count woven fabric, however, outperformed other tested fabrics when swabbing object surfaces in a highly used room. Full DNA profiles from fingerprints on glass surfaces were obtained with low thread count woven and nonwoven fabrics but not with the knit fabric tested.     

A radiographic assessment of pediatric fracture healing and time since injury

Past studies and pediatric bone physiology indicate that younger individuals may heal at a faster rate. Additionally, in adults upper limb fractures heal faster than lower limb fractures; this trend is expected for pediatric fractures. This study aims to evaluate and compare rates of fracture repair in children based on age and skeletal element. Six stages are used to describe the bone repair process in 294 radiographs of tibial and radial fractures from 107 infants and young children. Healing rates are examined using ANOVA and Welch's t-test with a 95% confidence interval. Results indicate that younger individuals spend less time at stage 1, suggesting a delay in the start of healing. Furthermore, forearm fractures heal faster than leg fractures at stages 2 and 3, suggesting a role in the osseous reaction of bone healing. The healing schedule presented may allow the timing of injuries to be estimated from radiographs.     

Total Ion Spectra versus Segmented Total Ion Spectra as Preprocessing Tools for Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry Data

Alignment of fire debris data from GC‐MS for chemometric analysis is challenged by highly variable, uncontrolled sample and matrix composition. The total ion spectrum (TIS) obviates the need for alignment but loses all separation information. We introduce the segmented total ion spectrum (STIS), which retains the advantages of TIS while retaining some retention information. We compare the performance of STIS with TIS for the classification of casework fire debris samples. TIS and STIS achieve good model prediction accuracies of 96% and 98%, respectively. Baseline removal improved model prediction accuracies for both TIS and STIS to 97% and 99%, respectively. The importance of maintaining some chromatographic information to aid in deciphering the underlying chemistry of the results and reasons for false positive/negative results was also examined.