Comparison of motor oils using high-temperature gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

The analysis of motor oils has wide applications in the forensic science field from comparing lubricants transferred between an automobile and a victim or crime scene to differentiating the compositions of plastic explosives. In this study, 40 unused motor oils were analyzed and compared by high-temperature gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine the potential for oil individualization. Oil samples were also collected from the crankcase dipsticks of 30 cars. Twenty-six of these oils could be differentiated from each other based on visual comparisons of the unresolved envelope (baseline rise due to incomplete separation) and the resolved hydrocarbons in the raw total ion chromatograms (TICs) and smoothed TIC data. Four of these oils were analyzed as unknowns and were correctly related to the corresponding vehicle. The use of extracted ion profiles (EIPs) was explored as a means to further discriminate between the indistinct samples based on the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content. The research discussed in this paper demonstrated that differentiation of motor oils was possible by examining the TIC, smoothed TIC, and EIP data.     

Are ‘pseudonymised’ data always personal data? Implications of the GDPR for administrative data research in the UK

There has naturally been a good deal of discussion of the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation. One issue of interest to all data controllers, and of particular concern for researchers, is whether the GDPR expands the scope of personal data through the introduction of the term ‘pseudonymisation’ in Article 4(5). If all data which have been ‘pseudonymised’ in the conventional sense of the word (e.g. key-coded) are to be treated as personal data, this would have serious implications for research. Administrative data research, which is carried out on data routinely collected and held by public authorities, would be particularly affected as the sharing of de-identified data could constitute the unconsented disclosure of identifiable information.Instead, however, we argue that the definition of pseudonymisation in Article 4(5) GDPR will not expand the category of personal data, and that there is no intention that it should do so. The definition of pseudonymisation under the GDPR is not intended to determine whether data are personal data; indeed it is clear that all data falling within this definition are personal data. Rather, it is Recital 26 and its requirement of a ‘means reasonably likely to be used’ which remains the relevant test as to whether data are personal. This leaves open the possibility that data which have been ‘pseudonymised’ in the conventional sense of key-coding can still be rendered anonymous. There may also be circumstances in which data which have undergone pseudonymisation within one organisation could be anonymous for a third party. We explain how, with reference to the data environment factors as set out in the UK Anonymisation Network's Anonymisation Decision-Making Framework.     

Pinyin Roumaji to Wade-Giles conversion table

Abstract

Ben Kiernan and Chanthou Boua, in collaboration with numerous Khmer people, have produced a unique, scholarly volume about Kampuchea that endeavors to answer the critical question of “why?” What are the events that precipitated the rule of the Khmer Rouge and why did they turn against their own people? This book is a collection of well-documented essays, arranged in chronological order, that examines the long-term, endemic conditions that resulted in Kampuchea's dark age of 1975–79. Much of the work was translated from original Khmer sources, and two of the Kampuchean writers, Hou Yuon and Hu Nim, were prominent socialists who were executed by the Khmer Rouge after 1975. Well-known and sometimes obscure events are described through the eyes of witnesses interviewed in Kampuchea, Thailand, Australia and France. This book is not a diatribe against the unspeakable horrors that befell the Kampuchean people. The facts have their own grim eloquence.     

BADASSES: The Rise of Women in Criminal Justice

Little is known about the experiences and career trajectories of women working in the criminal justice field. Criminal justice, particularly law enforcement, has historically been largely a male-dominated career field. This study examines the experiences of 850 women working in the criminal justice field; in policing, courts, corrections, victim services, and academia. The present study collected data in 2017 and asked women working in the criminal justice field about their employment. Respondents said that they experienced a wide range of gender discrimination but did not see gender discrimination as a barrier to their success. The women identified personal and professional perseverance, strong mentorship, and family support as contributing factors to their success. Findings highlight the experience and challenges of women working at all levels and in all components of the criminal justice system and the journey of these women at a unique time in the history of criminal justice and evolution of women in the workplace. Implications for criminal justice, advice for current and aspiring women working in the field, and the nature of the experience for women in criminal justice are discussed.     

"The red zone": temporal risk for unwanted sex among college students

The "red zone" usually refers to the first few weeks of the first semester at college, when female students are believed to be at greatest risk for experiencing unwanted sex. We tested this notion using data from a survey study of 207 first-and second-year students (121 women, 84 men) at a small, liberal arts university. Results demonstrated only one significant elevation in incidence rates of first- and second-year women's unwanted sexual experiences (sexual touching, attempted and completed anal, oral, and vaginal sex), between the end of the first month and fall break (mid-October) during the second year at school. Previous research and local information about the relevant behaviors of sorority and fraternity members is discussed in light of these findings to provide heuristic material for further empirical testing. Because risk may involve both temporal and situational factors, systematic collection and dissemination of local data are recommended.     

Developing a quantitative extraction technique for determining the organic additives in smokeless handgun powder.

Compositional analysis of the organic additives in smokeless handgun powder can provide forensic information to associate known and questioned samples. A reliable method for the quantitative extraction of smokeless powder additives would strengthen these measurements. To achieve quantitative recovery, both supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE) were evaluated as candidate techniques. Following a detailed evaluation of the solvent choice, the recovery of spiked additive compounds, and the effect of the powder matrix, a reliable USE technique was developed. When quantitative USE recovery of the target analytes, nitroglycerin (NG), diphenylamine (DPA), and ethyl centralite (EC), is coupled with additive measurement by micellar capillary electrophoresis (CE), compositional information can be obtained in less than 1 h.     

An Empty Shell? Rethinking the Usury Laws in Medieval Europe

Abstract

Many historians have argued that the usury laws were a dead letter and that usurious practices were widespread during the Middle Ages. This review of canonical rule formation in Europe shows that many contracts were outside the prohibition and that the laws were highly effective. The popularity of financial instruments depended on obtaining the Church's approval, and ecclesiastical tribunals pursued usurers relentlessly. Although it is not possible to measure with any precision the incidence of usury or the effectiveness of the prohibition, arguments of a high incidence of usury do not stand up in the light of evidence from the contemporary legal context.     

THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC PROVISION

Abstract: This work addresses the special character of public management by positing some important distinctions under-represented in current academic literature. In exploring the primary distinction between public administration and public management, the analysis proceeds from a treatment of public management as control of a production process uniquely configured as a combination of policy brokerage and resource management, to a demonstration of the economic agency (value addition) of public managers. The paper also presents a contextual analysis of the scope and scale of the public sector as this pertains to a model of "public provision", and introduces some new ideas regarding the temporal characteristics of public management as it responds to a discrete set of three cycles: the budget cycle, the product cycle and the policy cycle.
This work aims to provide tools for analysis which both distinguish public administration from public management and distinguish the economic agency of private managers from that of public managers. The general argument is that the "public provision process", while similar to a conventional production process, contains unique and important responsibilities which need to be understood and defended. By the same token, public managers ought to be empowered by a knowledge and identity which express their importance as economic agents who contribute both to the commonweal and to the wealth of the nation.     

Women’s work and development in Latin America

The discussion explores the problem of women's employment patterns under capitalist development in Latin America, first by analyzing the way in which women's work has been conceptualized within modernization theory. It then goes on to examine the 2 types of work in which most Latin American women are engaged -- domestic service and informal work such as selling produce and taking in laundry -- to provide evidence for challenging modernization theory and for developing a more useful approach. Subsequently, the discussion considers women's domestic and informal work within the context of capitalist development, which provides some insight into the broader structures shaping women's employment. Finally, the discussion proposes some reconceptualizations of women's work and development. Modernization theorists analyze women's work in the cities within a variety of constructs, interpreting it as a backward manifestation of traditional society, a reflection of women's inadequate training for the modern sector, an indication of women's primary orientation to the family, or as a phenomenon that is too tangential to warrant examination. The primary assumption is that modernization improves women's status and the conditions of their lives as it brings greater productivity, more advanced technology, and more highly differentiated institutions. Assumptions concerning women's absorption into the modern sector and the equalization of work roles between men and women are not borne out by actual employment trends, which reveal the persistent concentration of women in domestic work, informal jobs, and the lower-paying service jobs. Despite their predominance, domestic service and informal jobs are infrequently included in employment statistics and are virtually ignored in studies of development, yet these 2 types of work are the primary forms of work for Latin American women. Even when modernization theorists recognize the proliferation of informal and domestic service jobs, they see it as part of a progressive development stage, with displaced rural laborers becoming incorporated into the modern sector by way of informal jobs. In most Latin American countries, rural women become a permanent part of the services and the informal labor market when they move to the cities. There is little sign of their transition to industrial employment. In general, capitalist development marginalizes Latin American women, who in several important ways lose status. The range of pursuits considered women's work should include their activities within the infromal labor sector. Informal work is still virtually unexplored, especially as it relates to wage work in underdeveloped countries. Informal labor is not registered in the census, nor is it included in the gross national product. Yet, it is a major component of women's work. Domestic service and infromal jobs should be seen in relation to other forms of labor and to total social production.