Application of fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) in latent finger mark detection

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) in frequency domain enables the mapping of the spatial distribution of fluorescence lifetimes of a specimen. It has been extensively applied in biology. In this paper, a theoretical analysis for the fluorescence lifetime determination of latent finger mark samples is described, which is followed by the feasibility study of using FLIM in frequency domain for latent finger marks detection. Preliminary experiments are carried out with latent finger marks treated with a fluorescent powder on two different substrates. The resulting fluorescence lifetime image of finger mark revealed a good contrast, and was able to detect the latent finger marks clearly.     

All Male Panels? Representation and Democratic Legitimacy

What does women's presence in political decision‐making bodies signal to citizens? Do these signals differ based on the body's policy decisions? And do women and men respond to women's presence similarly? Though scholars have demonstrated the substantive and symbolic benefits of women's representation, little work has examined how women's presence affects citizens' perceptions of democratic legitimacy. We test the relationship between representation and legitimacy beliefs through survey experiments on a nationally representative sample of U.S. citizens. First, we find that women's equal presence legitimizes decisions that go against women's interests. We show suggestive evidence that this effect is particularly pronounced among men, who tend to hold less certain views on women's rights. Second, across decision outcomes and issue areas, women's equal presence legitimizes decision‐making processes and confers institutional trust and acquiescence. These findings add new theoretical insights into how, when, and for whom inclusive representation increases perceptions of democratic legitimacy.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue. Carlos Eduardo Poggio Teixeira, Brazil, the United States, and the South American Subsystem: Regional Politics and the Absent Empire. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014. Abbreviations, bibliography, index, 169 pp.; hardcover $80, paperback $36.99, ebook $22.07. Matthew E. Carnes, Continuity Despite Change: The Politics of Labor Regulation in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014. Tables, figures, bibliography, index, 256 pp.; hardcover $65. Tasha Fairfield, Private Wealth and Public Revenue in Latin America: Business Power and Tax Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Figures, tables, acronyms, appendixes, bibliography, index, 364 pp.; hardcover $99, ebook $79. Eduardo Moncada, Cities, Business, and the Politics of Urban Violence in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016. Bibliography, index, 248 pp.; hardcover $65, ebook. Teri L. Caraway, María Lorena Cook, and Stephen Crowley, eds., Working Through the Past: Labor and Authoritarian Legacies in Comparative Perspective. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015. Photographs, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index, 296 pp.; hardcover $79.95, paperback $27.95. Elin Skaar, Camila Gianella Malca, and Trine Eide, After Violence: Transitional Justice, Peace, and Democracy. New York: Routledge, 2015. Figures, tables, index, 232 pp.; hardcover $145, paperback $54. David A. Steinberg, Demanding Devaluation: Exchange Rate Politics in the Developing World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015. Illustrations, figures, tables, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, 288 pp.; hardcover $45. UN Women, Progress of the World's Women 2015–16: Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights. New York: United Nations, 2015. Figures, tables, maps, notes, index, bibliography, 342 pp.; web version, http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015     

Toward an International Relations Theory of National Innovation Rates

The ability of nations to innovate technologically plays an important causal role in both security studies and international political economy. Explanations for national differences in technological capabilities, however, have had little place in international relations theory. This gap is partly the result of assumptions made by scholars that the rate and direction of technological change are determined by a state's domestic institutions and policies. This article will bring together recent findings about the political economy of technological innovation in order to show that much of this conventional wisdom is incorrect. Instead, it will be shown that, due to the distributive nature of technological change, different combinations of domestic tensions and external security concerns motivate elites to pursue or eschew a technologically competitive economy. Institutions are not causal, they are merely instrumental. Recent findings in the economic development literature therefore have important implications for security studies.     

Kampf um Souveränität?

The article documents a panel debate held at the Kiel congress of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) in September 2009. With its Lisbon judgment passed in June 2009, the German Federal Constitutional Court delivered a groundbreaking decision on Germany’s involvement in the European integration process. The Court ruled that the German accompanying law (Begleitgesetz) violated the national constitution because it did not guarantee sufficient parliamentary involvement. Furthermore, the Court announced its intention to intensify the constitutional control of the national applicability of European legal acts (the ultra vires control and the identity control). Stephan Leibfried, Marcus Höreth, Martin Höpner, Fritz W. Scharpf and Michael Zürn discuss the judgment with respect to its implications for the further integration process, for the national and supranational capacities to act, for the democratic quality in the European multilevel system and for political-economic problems.     

The welfare impacts of market channel choice by smallholder farmers in Tanzania

This article analyses the impact of market channel choice on household welfare by maize and pigeon pea smallholder farmers in Tanzania, using a multinomial endogenous treatment approach. The study utilises farm household-level data collected from a randomly selected sample of 700 smallholder farmers. The results show that participation with traders in nearby markets and wholesalers in nearby towns have a positive effect on consumption expenditure per capita relative to brokers at the farmgate, for both maize and pigeon pea-farming households. The study suggests that interventions that aimed at inclusion of smallholder farmers in more profitable markets could improve household welfare and reduce poverty among rural households.     

The Young Turk revolution: comparisons and connections

This article consists of a comparative analysis on the one hand, and an attempt to trace influences and connections, on the other. In the comparative part, it seeks to determine the place of the Ottoman constitutional revolution of July 1908 in the global wave of revolutions in the decade before the First World War. It accepts that there is a high degree of similarity in the liberal constitutionalist ideology of the revolutionary movements, but emphasizes the differences in the social bases of the revolutionary movements. In the part on connections, the influences on the Young Turks' ideology, organisation and revolutionary methodology are traced, as well as the influence they exerted on other revolutionary movements.