Mass spectrometry as an aid in the detection and identification of piperidyl benzilates and related glycolates.

On the basis of the data presented above the following conclusions may be drawn. 1. The molecular ion peaks of most of the compounds examined are relatively weak but usually easily discernible to permit molecular weight determination. 2. The mass spectra of benzilate esters exhibit a relatively intense peak at m/e 183, and monitoring of this ion can serve as a means for preliminary screening for the presence of this type of a system. 3. Related esters exhibit a similar type of fragmentation resulting in a fragment ion analogous to m/e 183 but shifted by the appropriate number of mass units according to the substituents present. 4. Cleavage of the piperidine ring-ester oxygen bond in 3 and 4-substituted isomers is followed by selective losses of hydrogen radicals to produce ions of type e, f, and g as indicated above. It is significant that in a related piperidine ring system (methylphenidate) substituted in the 2 position, the same type of cleavage results in no further hydrogen losses [16] because of charge stabilization from the ring nitrogen (ion j, Fig. 17) [17]. In other words, the tendency to form a conjugated ion following initial bond cleavage can serve as a means for identifying the position of substitution on the ring and for distinguishing positional isomers.     

Consistency in policy thinking

This study examines consistency in opinion on a variety of important state and national policy questions. The data come from a two-wave panel study of adult Floridians conducted in 1981 and 1982. Wide variations in consistency of opinion over the 1-year period are found. Salience has an important impact on consistency, with respondents who find an issue salient almost always exhibiting more consistent opinions, but salience cannot explain the variations in consistency across issues. The level of government on which the issue is focused (national or state) has no bearing on consistency. Most important, the particular nature of the issue itself, especially how central it is to the individual and how long it has occupied the political agenda (maturity), affects consistency of opinion. Centrality and maturity both contribute to issue attitude consistency and even can compensate for one another. Both highly central new issues and remote old issues can produce consistent attitudes, but deficiences in centrality seem to override issue maturity. These findings illustrate the value of looking beyond opinion distributions to the meaning of the survey response. With information on consistency and its sources, the public opinion analyst can interpret polling results intelligently, and the study of public opinion can become more objective and scientific.     

The forensic analysis of soils and sediment taken from the cast of a footprint

The routine production of a cast of a shoe-print taken in soil provides information other than shoe size and gait. Material adhering to the surface of the cast represents the preservation of the moment of footprint impression. The analysis of the interface between the cast and soil is therefore a potentially lucrative source of information for forensic reconstruction. These principles are demonstrated with reference to a murder case which took place in the English Midlands. The cast of a footprint provided evidence of a two-way transfer of material between the sole of a boot and the soil of a recently ploughed field. Lumps of soil, which had dried on a boot, were deposited on the field as the footprints were made. Pollen analysis of these lumps of soil indicated that the perpetrator of the imprint had been standing recently in a nearby stream. Fibre analysis together with physical and chemical characteristics of the soil suggested a provenance for contamination of this mud prior to deposition of the footprint. Carbon/nitrogen ratios of the water taken from the cast showed that distilled water had been used thus excluding the possibility of contamination of the boot-soil interface. It was possible to reconstruct three phases of previous activity of the wearer of the boot prior to leaving the footprint in the field after the murder had taken place. This analysis shows the power of integrating different independent techniques in the analysis of hitherto unrecognised forensic materials.