The peacekeeping capacities of African regional organisations

This paper assesses the various peace and security mechanisms that African regional organisations are establishing and other measures that they are taking to enhance their preparedness. In the mid-1990s, the United Nations (UN) Security Council responded to the widely perceived failures of several UN peacekeeping operations by encouraging regional arrangements and agencies to assume a greater role in the promotion of peace and security. As of December 2001, four African organisations had authorised 17 peacekeeping missions. Most of them have been beset by serious and sustained operational and political shortcomings. Recognising their limitations and the vacuum created by Security Council inaction, these and other organisations have undertaken various initiatives to improve on past performance and to prepare for future engagements. A review of their decision-making processes, staffing, mission planning and support, peacekeeping training and financial resources suggests that, while they have made some progress, most organisations are still far from being able to take on the responsibilities that the international community would like them to assume.     

Development of a human-specific real-time PCR assay for the simultaneous quantitation of total genomic and male DNA

A duplex real-time quantitative PCR assay was developed for forensic DNA analysis, which provides simultaneous quantitation of total genomic human DNA and human male DNA. The assay utilizes two spectrally resolved fluorogenic probes in a 5' nuclease (TaqMantrade mark) assay. Within the range of organisms empirically tested and based upon theoretical specificity using National Center for Biotechnology Information GenBank sequences, primer and probe sequences were shown to be human specific, and the Y-chromosome probe, male-specific. A mixture-challenge study resulted in accurate quantitation of 25 pg male DNA in a mixture of up to 1:5000 (male:female DNA). Additional experimental results include comparisons with the slot blot method and commercial real-time PCR kits. The assay developed addresses the shortcomings of the traditional slot blot method as well as the commercial real-time PCR kits. This method is shown to be specific, relatively simple, rapid, has low limits of detection, and consumes limited sample in addition to reporting both the male and total genomic DNA concentrations present.     

Toner Particles as Forensic Evidence: Microanalytical Characterization of Known Toner and Recognition of Toner in Environmental Samples*†‡

Modern printing toners represent a prime example of subvisible particles that can be easily transferred to hands, clothing, and other surfaces. To explore the potential evidentiary value of toner particles, toner samples were collected from known printer cartridges and characterized by various microanalytical techniques to establish the properties most useful for recognition, identification, and comparison. Environmental samples (i.e., dust) were then collected from various locations at varying distances from toner-based printers, using both tape lifts and carbon adhesive stubs, to assess the possibility of detecting toner. By light microscopy, toner can be recognized on the basis of particle size and shape, as well as color. Further examination of the micromorphology in the field emission scanning electron microscope reveals characteristic morphologies and differences in surface texture and shape among toner sources. Raman spectroscopy provides chemical identification of the pigment (or pigment class) and, in some cases, also permits identification of the polymer component. While black and blue pigment chemistry remained constant among toner varieties that were studied (copper phthalocyanine and carbon black), variation in yellow and magenta pigments was observed. Analysis of dust samples collected from various environments demonstrated that while toner is consistently detectable in close proximity to printers (within 2 feet), it also can be detected in dust collected in nearby rooms. This research demonstrates that toner particles can be located, characterized, and discriminated, using a suite of microanalytical methods that are applicable to forensic casework.     

Parental Monitoring, Parental Warmth, and Minority Youths’ Academic Outcomes: Exploring the Integrative Model of Parenting

Guided by the integrative model of parenting, the present study investigated the relationship between parental monitoring and racial/ethnic minority adolescents’ school engagement and academic motivation as a function of parental warmth, and explored whether these associations varied for boys and girls. Participants (60 % female) were 208 sixth through eighth grade students (63 % African American, 19 % Latino, 18 % Multiracial) from an urban middle school in the Midwestern United States. Youth completed an in-school survey with items on parenting (parental monitoring, mothers’/fathers’ warmth), cognitive engagement (school self-esteem), behavioral engagement (school trouble), and academic motivation (intrinsic motivation). As hypothesized, mothers’ warmth enhanced the association between parental monitoring and youths’ engagement and motivation. No gender differences in these associations emerged. Fathers’ warmth strengthened the negative association between parental monitoring and school trouble, and this association was stronger for boys. Implications regarding the importance of sustaining a high level of monitoring within the context of warm parent–adolescent relationships to best support academic outcomes among minority youth are discussed.     

Beyond Liberalism: Marxist Feminism,Migrant Sex Work,and Labour Unfreedom

In this article, I use a Marxist feminist methodology to map the organisation of migrant sex workers’ socially reproductive paid and unpaid labour in one city and country of arrival, London, UK. I argue that unfree and ‘free’ (sexual) labour exists on a continuum of capitalist relations of (re)production, which are gendered, racialised, and legal. It is within these relations that various actors implement, and migrant sex workers contest, unfree labour practices not limited to the most extreme forms. My analysis reveals that many migrant sex workers have very limited ‘freedom’. This is in stark contrast to the classical liberal claim of sex worker rights activists and academics that the vast majority of migrant sex workers are free, and therefore not coerced, exploited or trafficked. I then consider whether the emerging labour approach to trafficking could help achieve ‘freedom’ for migrant sex workers. Advocates argue that anti-trafficking efforts must, and can, be refocused on extending minimum labour and social protections to all vulnerable workers. I argue that this approach is disconnected from material interests and history. Rather, migrant sex workers, sex worker rights activists, and all migrant and citizen workers and activists globally must collectively organise against ‘labour unfreedom’ and hence for meaningful control over their labour and lives.