Faith in the state? Asian women’s struggles for human rights in the U.K.

The discourse of multiculturalism provides a useful means of understanding the complexities, tensions, and dilemmas that Asian and other minority women in the U.K. grapple with in their quest for human rights. However, the adoption of multiculturalist approaches has also silenced women’s voices, obscuring, for example, the role of the family in gendered violence and abuse. Focusing on the work of Southall Black Sisters, and locating this work within current debates on the intersection of government policy, cultural diversity, and feminist activism, this article examines, and critiques, the Labour government’s current “multi-faith” agenda for its impact on Black and minority ethnic women in the U.K.     

Indian migrants in Britain

This article discusses the social linkages between Gujarati migrants in Britain and their family members in India. It considers the home and the migrant community in the same unit of analysis rather than as separate communities. It is based on fieldwork conducted in 1998 among members of the Patidar community in rural central Gujarat and among their relatives in London in 1999.This article is based on the data collected for our research project titled `Long-Distance Familism; Social Linkages between West India and Britain; The Case of the Patidars from Central Gujarat', sponsored by the Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development (IDPAD). An earlier version of the paper was presented at the conference on Asia in Europe, Europe in Asia, 7-8 December 2001, Singapore, organised by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS).     

Life Stress as Mediator of the Childhood Maltreatment – Intimate Partner Violence Link in Low-Income, African American Women

This study examined the relations between childhood maltreatment, daily life hassles, and intimate partner violence among low-income, suicidal, abused African American women (N = 208). Findings indicated a significant association between childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence, such that women who experienced childhood maltreatment were more likely to experience intimate partner violence as adults than those who reported no childhood maltreatment history. Also, results from bootstrapping analyses revealed that daily life stressors mediated the link between childhood maltreatment and both physical and nonphysical forms of intimate partner violence. These findings highlight the importance of thoroughly assessing for a history of childhood maltreatment, current intimate partner violence, and the nature and extent of daily hassles when working with low-income African American women, as well as helping abused women with a history of childhood maltreatment to cope effectively with the daily life hassles that they encounter.     

Carrying Out Assessment of Groundwater Quality of Villages of Bhavnagar District of Gujarat,India

Groundwater is an important component of an eco-system fulfilling necessities of life. Continuous tapping of groundwater to meet rapidly growing demand has not only led to decline of water table levels but has also significantly deteriorated the quality of groundwater. This article aims at assessing the groundwater quality of Bhavanagar district; for which 87 sources across the district were monitored for both the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, respectively, during a period from April 2017 to February 2018. The physico-chemical characteristics of groundwater were compared with Indian Standards for drinking water to assess the suitability of the groundwater for drinking purpose.     

RNA/DNA co-analysis from blood stains—Results of a second collaborative EDNAP exercise

A second collaborative exercise on RNA/DNA co-analysis for body fluid identification and STR profiling was organized by the European DNA Profiling Group (EDNAP). Six human blood stains, two blood dilution series (5-0.001 μl blood) and, optionally, bona fide or mock casework samples of human or non-human origin were analyzed by the participating laboratories using a RNA/DNA co-extraction or solely RNA extraction method. Two novel mRNA multiplexes were used for the identification of blood: a highly sensitive duplex (HBA, HBB) and a moderately sensitive pentaplex (ALAS2, CD3G, ANK1, SPTB and PBGD). The laboratories used different chemistries and instrumentation. All of the 18 participating laboratories were able to successfully isolate and detect mRNA in dried blood stains. Thirteen laboratories simultaneously extracted RNA and DNA from individual stains and were able to utilize mRNA profiling to confirm the presence of blood and to obtain autosomal STR profiles from the blood stain donors. The positive identification of blood and good quality DNA profiles were also obtained from old and compromised casework samples. The method proved to be reproducible and sensitive using different analysis strategies. The results of this collaborative exercise involving a RNA/DNA co-extraction strategy support the potential use of an mRNA based system for the identification of blood in forensic casework that is compatible with current DNA analysis methodology.     

The development and evaluation of a 125I radioimmunoassay for the measurement of LSD in body fluids

A radioimmunoassay (RIA) has been developed for the direct detection of LSD in biological fluids. The radiotracer, (+)-2-[125I]iodo-LSD, allows the use of gamma-counting rather than the liquid scintillation counting currently used for existing 3H radioimmunoassays. The assay is specific for LSD and very closely related compounds. It is inexpensive, sensitive, simple to use and small volumes of samples (50 microliter) can be assayed directly without the need for any time-consuming extraction procedures. The cut-off levels are 1.2 ng/ml in blood and 3.0 ng/ml in urine. The results obtained using the 125I assay described in this work compare very favourably with those obtained using the 3H assay currently used by Home Office Forensic Science Laboratories. The advantages of the assay make it a most appropriate method for the routine screening of LSD in biological samples of forensic interest.