The Olympic Games,human rights and democratisation: Lessons from Seoul and implications for Beijing

The experience of the Seoul Olympics in 1988 has led major games boosters to boldly assert their liberalising potential, especially in the context of the Beijing Games of 2008. This paper examines whether in the post-Cold War and post-9/11 eras, there is a sound basis for such arguments. It begins by re-examining the lessons of the Seoul Olympics to clarify the Games' contribution to the democratisation of Korea, as catalyst though not cause. It then assesses the applicability of the lessons of Seoul to Beijing given the different contexts of their 'Olympic journeys'. Finally, based on this comparison it considers the ways in which the 2008 Games may affect prospects for human rights improvements and political liberalisation in the People's Republic of China. While the outcomes of this process are likely to be quite different from the western-style liberal democratisation that occurred in South Korea, the process of engagement between 21st Century China and 21st Century Olympism holds the possibility of stimulating a fruitful, dialogic, and progressive exchange on rights issues.     

Can the RUVIS Reflected UV Imaging System Visualize Fingerprint Corrosion on Brass Cartridge Casings Postfiring?

Comparisons are made between the visualization of fingerprint corrosion ridge detail on fired brass cartridge casings, where fingerprint sweat was deposited prefiring, using both ultraviolet (UV) and visible (natural daylight) light sources. A reflected ultraviolet imaging system (RUVIS), normally used for visualizing latent fingerprint sweat deposits, is compared with optical interference and digital color mapping of visible light, the latter using apparatus constructed to easily enable selection of the optimum viewing angle. Results show that reflected UV, with a monochromatic UV source of 254 nm, was unable to visualize fingerprint ridge detail on any of 12 casings analyzed, whereas optical interference and digital color mapping using natural daylight yielded ridge detail on three casings. Reasons for the lack of success with RUVIS are discussed in terms of the variation in thickness of the thin film of metal oxide corrosion and absorption wavelengths for the corrosion products of brass.     

Age Estimation from Radiographic Images of the Knee

This study examines the reliability of age estimation utilizing the Pyle and Hoerr atlas in relation to a modern Scottish population. The knee radiographs of 442 individuals (168 females, 274 males) were age assessed using the Pyle and Hoerr atlas. Analysis showed that there was a strong correlation between chronological age and estimated age (females R² = 0.968, males R² = 0.952). For females, the atlas method was most accurate between the ages of 9 and 15 years of age with an underage of 2.27 months and an overage of 2.38 months. For males, the atlas consistently overestimated age from the age of 9 years to the age of 16 years from between 0.14 and 8.81 months. The standard deviation for females was 9.86 months and for males was 10.75 months. This study showed that the Pyle and Hoerr atlas can be applied to a modern population with small modifications.     

Development jujitsu: Looking on the bright side

Whatever one concludes with respect to whether global standards of living are getting better or worse, it is undeniable that people everywhere are becoming more closely integrated into and dependent upon a global economic system over which they have no control. This is a consequence not of policy failures but of policy decisions. The richer, more powerful countries have always sought access to the poorer ones mainly in order to exploit them, and such exploitation has always been undertaken in the name of noble cause—in centuries past, most commonly saving souls, in the late twentieth century, development. That would not cease to be the case if people of selfless good will disassociated themselves from the official enterprise of development assistance. The challenge, then, for those who would turn the tables and promote the empowerment of poor communities is to take advantage of the cover story. If hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue, the tribute must at least be invested well. Jan Knippers Black is a professor of international policy studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Previously she has been Research Professor of Public Administration at the University of New Mexico and Senior Research Scientist and Chairman of the Latin American Research Team in the Foreign Area Studies Division of American University. Her recent publications include:Latin America, Its Problems and Its Promise, 2nd ed. rev. (1991);Development in Theory and Practice; Bridging the Gap (1991); andDevelopment on a Human Scale (forthcoming). She has also published more than 100 chapters and articles in reference books and anthologies, journals, magazines, and newspapers.