Recovery of Spray Paint Traces from Clothing by Beating

Manual recovery of spray paints from textiles using a microscope, the routine method in many laboratories, is often laborious. Beating the clothing with a plastic rod, the routine method used for recovery of glass traces within the authors’ laboratory, is proposed as an alternative. The efficiency of the method was evaluated by spray tests with fluorescent paint. In these tests, paint particles in the acquired debris samples, as well as those remaining on the textiles, were investigated. The results show that beating is an efficient way to recover and concentrate paint particles. A good efficiency for jeans fabric and rough knitwear is reported. The results appeared to be less satisfactory for smooth woven fabric. Application of the method in casework was effective for graffiti paints as well as for flaked car paint.     

It depends whose data are being shared: considerations for genomic data sharing policies

There is an urgent need for consistent data sharing policies that promote the advancement of science while respecting the values and interests of those providing their genetic data for research. Responding to the article of Jalayne J. Arias, Genevieve Pham-Kanter, and Eric G. Campbell, ‘The Growth and Gaps of Genetic Data Sharing Policies in the United States’, this commentary further explores the challenges of human subjects’ protection in existing data sharing policies. We will elaborate on the need for data sharing policies to accommodate variation in individual and group preferences around data sharing and privacy concerns by comparing our previously published data on patients’ and parents’ consent to data sharing and attitudes about privacy to data from focus groups with HIV-positive, underserved individuals who were asked about their willingness to participate in genetic research and share their data broadly. These studies support the observation of Arias, Pham-Kanter, and Campbell that researchers, and funding agencies will need to balance the privacy interests of groups as well as individuals in future genomic data sharing policies.     

.biz Means Business--Fact or Fiction?

Seven new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) proposals were approved by the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) at its Annual Meeting on 16 November 2000 for negotiation towards appropriate agreements between ICANN and the registry operator or sponsoring organization or both for registration and entry into the Domain Names System (DNS) including. biz for businesses. These seven, namely .info,. biz,. name,. pro,. aero,. coop and .museum , are the first new gTLDs, other than country code gTLDs to be added to the DNS since 1988. Appropriate agreements for all the new TLDs except .pro have been concluded and .biz is available for applicants for registration as a gTLD. The scope of this article is to examine the gTLD .biz against the background of electronic commerce (e-commerce) having regard to the factors leading to the introduction of this new gTLD, including certain problems or criticisms arising before and since the launch of .biz and, to consider whether .biz is likely to fulfil the claim of its registry operators, NeuLevel, that this new arrival is the best gTLD for the promotion of business on the world wide web.     

Harnessing the Power of the Past? Lord Hoffmann and the Belmarsh Detainees Case

This article examines styles of judicial reasoning under the Human Rights Act. It uses Lord Hoffmann's short speech in the Belmarsh Detainees case as a springboard from which to explore some important developments. The first part of the article examines the way in which some judges are 'turning to the local' by using historical examples as a means of countering powerful lines of argument run by the government in defence of its anti-terrorist policies. Later in the article, I turn to investigate the use of strategic decision-making by judges when applying the HRA. I conclude by asking whether the introduction of the HRA might lead to the development of a strange counterpoint between internationalist and nationalist rhetoric in judicial decision-making.     

Periodical prestige and criminal justice: An assessment of professional journals [1]

It is a seemingly easy task to generate periodical rankings for an academic discipline. Yet, upon closer inspection, the validity of this claim is questionable, particularly for disciplines lacking a well-defined membership or scholarship boundaries. Criminal justice is one such discipline.Data for the project were derived from questionnaire responses of 1,028 persons who were members of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, American Sociey of Criminology, or both associations, via a three-wave mail survey in September 1979.The study’s most interesing findings were: (1) noncriminologists assigned periodicals a wider range of weights than criminologists; (2) periodical publishers assigned higher weights than nonpublishers; (3) periodical rankings were most similar among published and nonpublished noncriminologists; and (4) respondents generally agreed on what constitutes the poorer journals.     

Arts and Cultural Engagement,Reportedly Antisocial or Criminalized Behaviors,and Potential Mediators in Two Longitudinal Cohorts of Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Arts and cultural engagement is a potential strategy for reducing or preventing reportedly antisocial or criminalized behaviors (those previously and...     

The difference between drug money and a "lifetime's savings"

In many countries, monies suspected of being associated with drug trafficking can be seized by the authorities. One of the ways of investigating this association is through the analysis of seized banknotes for traces of controlled drugs. We report three studies which may assist the expert in assessing whether banknotes contaminated with diamorphine are part of the general population of notes in circulation or whether they show unusual contamination patterns which require explanation. Study 1 is based on three plausible contamination scenarios as they may occur during the various stages of an illicit drug transaction and seizure. It shows that notes which have been in direct contact with visible traces of diamorphine show significantly higher contamination to those in more indirect contact with the drug. Study 2 investigates the transfer of diamorphine from one highly contaminated note to other notes in a bundle over a period of 10 weeks with and without agitation. It was found that the total amount of drug transferred was smaller than 6% and no more than 4 out of a bundle of 10 previously clean notes became lightly contaminated. Based on extensive background data, study 3 proposes a probabilistic model to assess whether an observed proportion of diamorphine bearing banknotes is likely to have been contaminated by chance. The model predicts that there is only a 0.3% chance that a bundle of 100 notes from the general banknote population contains more than six contaminated specimens. Jointly, the three studies give useful indications for the spread of contamination throughout a sample and the amounts of heroin which may be expected given plausible contamination scenarios.