Responding to Systemic Crisis: The Case of Agroterrorism

The post–11 September security environment has led to a reevaluation of the nature of national security and national security systems. Bioterrorism in the form of attacks against the agricultural sector, particularly in the form of foot-and-mouth disease, could prove attractive to some groups should other targets and means of attack become more difficult. This article considers three cases, one of bioterrorism and two of agricultural disease outbreaks. Using complex adaptive system principles it suggests a strategy and socio-technical system design, adaptive hardening, appropriate to the challenge posed by terrorist-induced foot-and-mouth disease.     

Women and (in)security: The case of the Philippines

Abstract

This paper takes as its starting point the need to address a gender void and northern‐centrism in the new/critical security agenda. Basing the paper on the security priorities of women in the Philippines, presented in the form of a ‘Security Pillar’, the paper examines how far new/critical security, and feminist security literature incorporates the concerns of women in Southeast Asia in the reconceptualization of security, and considers the ways in which security can be reformulated to address the security needs of women in Southeast Asia.     

The National Assembly for Wales, Civil Society and Consultation

The National Assembly for Wales has been serious in its statutory commitment to involve voluntary groups in the decision-making process of state and has developed a number of sophisticated mechanisms by which civil society groups can link into policymaking, one of which is the consultation process. Drawing on original research this article investigates consultation from the perspective of those involved in a range of voluntary activities. Evidence offered here suggests that whilst many groups have engaged in the process of consultation, the experience is not uniform but patchy, with many groups left feeling frustrated rather than truly consulted.     

An assessment of the effectiveness of 5-methylthioninhydrin within dual action reagents for latent fingerprint development on paper substrates

A critical investigation of 5-methylthioninhydrin (5MTN) is presented as a 'dual action' formulation component for the development of latent finger marks on paper substrates. Preparation of a dual action reagent was performed by combining proportions of 5MTN and zinc chloride (ZnCl(2)) in a pre-mixed solution. Developed prints (deposited on filter paper substrates) could be subsequently visualised in both colour and fluorescence modes. Finger mark quality was graded using a quartered print approach for a number of reagent compositions to deliver an optimised formulation recipe. To fully appraise 5MTN in comparison to currently employed chemistries, this reagent was evaluated against three alternative amino acid selective reagents, ninhydrin, 1,8-diazafluorenone (DFO) and 1,2-indandione/ZnCl(2). Six common paper types were used for this purpose and split depletion finger marks from six donors were collected. Finger mark sets were also left for two days or two weeks to show the effect of ageing on development quality. For the first time, it was shown that 5MTN/ZnCl(2) is effective as a 'dual action' reagent under the United Kingdom climate conditions. However, results presented herein show that the existing recommended chemistries and the 1,2 indandione/ZnCl(2) process are all more effective than this new latent finger mark enhancement reagent. In a preliminary sequencing study, we show the effectiveness of the existing DFO-ninhydrin sequence over dual action reagents.     

Stable isotope ratios as a tool in microbial forensics--Part 2. Isotopic variation among different growth media as a tool for sourcing origins of bacterial cells or spores

Since the anthrax attacks of 2001 the need for methods to trace the origins of microbial agents has become urgent. The stable isotope ratios of bacteria record information from both the nutrients and the water used to make their culture media and could potentially be used to provide information about their growth environment. We present a survey of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H) stable isotope ratios in 516 samples of bacteriological culture media. The observed variation was consistent with expected isotopic variation in the plant and animal products upon which the media are based. The variation is sufficient to translate into substantial isotope variation in cultures grown on different batches of media, and thus to allow investigators to determine whether seized media could have been used to produce seized bioweapons agents.