Towards a more proactive approach to brand protection: development of the Organisational Risk Assessment for Product Counterfeiting (ORAPC)

Through an adaptation of a terrorism risk assessment model, this article develops an initial proactive product counterfeiting risk assessment that is designed to focus upon a specific product’s risk for being counterfeited. The goal of developing this risk assessment is to help corporations identify the products that are most at risk for counterfeiting, thereby giving them the ability to focus their resources in the areas where the greatest opportunities for crime are present. This risk assessment is intended to serve as the first line of defence in a comprehensive and proactive brand owner strategy centred on identifying product-specific counterfeiting risk. The assessment comprises three factors that, together, capture a product’s counterfeiting risk level: the threat of product counterfeiting, the brand owner’s vulnerability to product counterfeiting and the potential consequences of a counterfeit product entering the market and reaching consumers.     

Moral judgment development: The effects of education and occupation

Data from the Rest longitudinal study of moral judgment development were used to (i) consolidate past research into a single process model of moral judgment development, and (ii) assess the relative contributions of education and work to moral judgment development. Subjects were 102 individuals who were first interviewed in 1972–1974 and were followed up in 1983. A general model was specified which included moral judgment development in adolescence, dedication, educational attainment, occupational attainment, fulfilling career, and adult moral judgment development. The model was tested on the total sample and in a subsamples analysis that examined the unique pathways to moral development of subsamples which had either completed 2 years or more of college (higher education) or had completed less than 2 years of college (lower education). The general model confirmed that both education and occupation play important roles in the explanation of adult moral judgment development; the subsamples analysis suggested that work-related variables were the most important determinants of development in the lower education group and that education was the most important determinant of the higher education group.Dr. Boldizar died on March 28, 1992.     

The identification of 2-phenoxyethanol in ballpoint inks using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry--relevance to ink dating

Developing and implementing a generally accepted procedure for the dating of ink found on documents using dynamic approaches has been a very formidable undertaking by forensic document examiners. 2-Phenoxyethanol (PE), a common volatile organic compound found in ballpoint inks, has been recognized for over a decade as a solvent that evaporates as ink ages. More recently, investigations have focused on the solvent loss ratio of PE prior to and after heating. To determine how often PE occurs in ink formulations, the authors analyzed 633 ballpoint inks utilizing a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer. 2-Phenoxyethanol was identified in 85% (237/279) and 83% (293/354) of black and blue inks, respectively.     

External quality assessment schemes for toxicology

A variety of external quality assurance (EQA) schemes monitor quantitative performance for routine biochemical analysis of agents such as paracetamol, salicylate, ethanol and carboxyhaemoglobin. Their usefulness for toxicologists can be lessened where the concentrations monitored do not extend fully into the toxic range or where the matrix is synthetic, of animal origin or serum as opposed to whole human blood. A scheme for quantitative determinations of a wider range of toxicological analytes such as opioids, benzodiazepines and tricyclics in human blood has been piloted by the United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Scheme (UKNEQAS). Specialist schemes are available for drugs of abuse testing in urine and for hair analysis. Whilst these programmes provide much useful information on the performance of analytical techniques, they fail to monitor the integrated processes that are needed in investigation of toxicological cases. In practice, both qualitative and quantitative tests are used in combination with case information to guide the evaluation of the samples and to develop an interpretation of the analytical findings that is used to provide clinical or forensic advice. EQA programs that combine the analytical and interpretative aspects of case studies are available from EQA providers such as UKNEQAS and the Dutch KKGT program (Stichting Kwaliteitsbewaking Klinische Geneesmiddelanalyse en Toxicologie).