Who Wants to Be Number Two?

Imagining a future beyond the superpower paradigm Since the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it is widely accepted that the United States has been the world’s sole superpower. This is based on two indisputable facts.The first is the size of its economy, which has been utterly dominant over this period and constitutes approximately a quarter of global GDP. The second is the size     

CREATING GLOBAL COHESION

Leaders in business and politics gather for worldwide conference The theme of this year’s Boao Forum for Asia, the 12th since its inception at the turn of the millennium, was common prosperity. Under this overarching theme,discussions focused on food, resources, water, poverty, disease and environmental pollution. The message of the conference was positive. The ongoing economic problems since 2008 were slightly less addressed. The euro zone has not     

Conceptualizing police professionalism

Police professionalism is a term that has seen wide usage in recent years. However, much confusion has been generated by the distinct and often contradictory usages of the concept. This paper attempts to clarify the concept by examining three competing conceptualizations which have been most frequently subscribed to. Criminal justice researchers have followed sociologists, operational zing professionalism through application of the dimensional approach. Fundamental problems with this approach are discussed as well as specific problems with its’ application to the police. Given the conceptual problems which have plagued the concept of police professionalism, recommendations for future research are made.     

Analysis of non-suspect samples lacking visually identifiable sperm using a Y-STR 10-plex

Y-STRs are valuable in the investigation of sexual assaults in which autosomal STR genotype interpretation is challenging. To detect male DNA from compromised sexual assault evidence, 45 non-suspect samples were differentially extracted and analyzed with 10 Y-STRs. These samples were positive for the presence of human seminal fluid, but were negative for spermatozoa by microscopic examination. Y-STR data were obtained in approximately 86.2% of the epithelial or sperm fractions. On samples yielding incomplete profiles, results were obtained on an average of 5 loci per sample. The inability to obtain results may be due to insufficient amplifiable male DNA, PCR inhibition, or unfounded accusations of sexual assault. This study indicates that it is possible to obtain a male STR profile even in the absence of visually identifiable spermatozoa. Furthermore, Y-STR loci should become components of CODIS if they are to be used in solving non-suspect sexual assaults.     

New developments in SPME Part 2: Analysis of ammonium nitrate-based explosives

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a simple, reliable technique for the recovery and analysis of many organic explosives. However, this technique is impractical for the analysis of ammonium nitrate-type explosives due to the extreme polarity, low molecular weight, and high volatility of the amine moiety. This article describes an initial investigation of a derivatization process utilizing alkylchloroformates that converts ammonium nitrate and methylammonium nitrate into a form suitable for recovery by SPME and analysis by GC-MS.