Transfer of Triazine‐iron(II) Chromic Complexes Left by Iron Items on Textile Background and Human Skin

Abstract: The research is focused on the detection and transfer of iron traces left by iron items on clothing and human skin. The method is based on the formation of colored complexes between ferrous ions and five synthesized, mostly new triazines. Iron traces originally were left by iron rings on slightly wetted (artificial sweat) cotton fabrics and subsequently transferred to a separate textile substrate. Prior to the use of trazines the contact spots were treated with a new inorganic reducing agent (Sn²⁺) to reduce Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺. The method is sensitive to detect iron traces on wetted canvas after 10 min contact with iron items. More spectacular results were obtained for traces left on human palm even after very short contact (10 sec). The new iron‐trace‐transfer method eliminated the contact of triazines solutions with human skin. Transmission visible spectra of Fe(II)–triazine complexes were determined.     

Between emergency and routine – securitisation of military security in Iran and Indonesia

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explain the internal conditions of military security in a non-European context. It utilises securitisation as the theoretical perspective and investigates Iranian and Indonesian case studies to explore how the perception of internal threats and vulnerabilities determines the approaches to military security. It begins with a reiteration of securitisation theory assumptions, followed by clarifying the understanding of security in non-Western contexts. The case studies focus on the conditions which facilitate securitisation, including the nature of securitising actors, assumed concepts of security, and securitisation processes and their outcomes. The analysis indicates a necessity for several alterations in securitisation theory to realise its full potential. Civil–military relations in Asian states differ from those in the West, as both Iran and Indonesia show a high degree of military involvement in political affairs. Military security also becomes securitised as a result of internal political rivalries. The perception of threats is a tool in the struggle to extend the capabilities of security agencies or retain influences.     

Structural Funding in the Management of Cultural Heritage in Poland

ABSTRACT

This article concerns structural funding for Polish cultural heritage for the years 2007–13, focusing on the largest operational program, “Infrastructure and Environment,” financed by the European Regional Development Fund. It presents the results of empirical research based on a questionnaire study of a specifically selected group of projects funded under this program. The objective of the study was to analyze the outcomes of this funding upon completion of the financial perspective, presenting tangible and intangible results as well as potential external effects. The empirical data allowed the development of conclusions and recommendations, stressing the importance of the continuing improvement and development of the funding scheme.     

Values,imaginaries and templates of journalistic practice: a Critical Discourse Analysis

This article shows that templates are not only crucial for the ways in which journalists construct or structure the media discourse but also for how they perceive themselves and others in the process of journalistic practice. A Critical Discourse Analysis of interviews with Polish journalists on their practices related to reporting migration – a topic largely discarded and ignored by the Polish media – shows that the construction of practice in the journalistic field constantly negotiates the contradiction between “knowing-it-all”, a key element of the template of journalistic habitus/identity, and the frequent lack of experience or limited knowledge of practice and of journalistic work. The analysis reveals that, while often using a discursive strategy of pre-legitimation, journalists enact templates that blur the boundaries between discourses about experiences of journalistic work and imaginaries or scenarios of actions they would only potentially undertake. Journalistic discourses of practice thereby become increasingly displaced, that is, they run along similar templates of discourse of/about quasi-universalised ethics and values of journalism almost irrespective of media organisations of the informants. By the same token, it is emphasised that, rather than being limited by the ideologies and powers of media organisations, agency seems to be often self-constrained by journalists in their self-entrapment in values, templates and imaginaries of journalism.     

East sees east: the image of Jews from Islamic countries in the Jewish discourse of interwar Poland

This article explores travel pieces on Jews in Islamic countries published in the Jewish press (in Yiddish and Polish) in interwar Poland. It argues that many of the strategies of representation that Polish–Jewish journalists employed to describe the Jews of Islamic countries during this time borrow from the way the Jews of Eastern Europe were perceived. Turning the Western gaze on the Orient served Eastern European Jewish intellectuals as an act of multiple redemption. Finding themselves in between modern and traditional identification, Polish–Jewish journalists decided to ensure their belonging to the world which they saw as civilised by transposing concepts they knew from home.     

Patterns of Romanian and Bulgarian Migration to Spain

The main purpose of this article is to establish to what extent migration from Bulgaria and Romania to Spain first, has a temporary and circulatory or a long-term and permanent nature, and secondly, responds to family or individual strategies. Several indicators are analysed: demographic composition; family reunification processes; migratory strategies within the family framework; the age of immigrants' children; and the frequency of movements between the destination and origin. The article demonstrates that many immigrants do not follow family reunification strategies but rather adopt individual strategies and that long term migration is the predominant pattern.     

Identification and synthesis of by-products found in 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA) produced by the Leuckart method

The synthesis of the designer drug 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA) has been carried out using the well-known Leuckart reaction in four versions. The treatment of 4-methylthiophenylacetone with formamide, mixture of formamide/formic acid, ammonium formate, and mixture of ammonium formate and formic acid followed by acid hydrolysis brought about the formation of 4-MTA contaminated with a number of impurities. The gas chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the reaction mixtures allowed identification of the most prominent impurities, such as diasteromers of N,N-di-[β-(4-methylthiophenyl)isopropyl]amine, N,N-di-[β-(4-methylthiophenyl)isopropyl]methylamine, N,N-di-[β-(4-methylthiophenyl)isopropyl]formamide, the Schiff bases derived from 4-MTA and 4-methylbenzaldehyde (benzaldimine) and 4-methylthiophenylacetone (ketimine) as well as some heterocycles: 4-methyl-5-(4'-methylthiophenyl)pyrimidine, 4-(4'-methylthiobenzyl)pyrimidine, 2,6-dimethyl-3,5-di-(4'-methylthiophenyl)pyridine, 2,4-dimethyl-3,5-di-(4'-methylthiophenyl)pyridine. The correctness of identification was confirmed by independent synthesis of these compounds. Each synthesized reference compound was characterized by means of MS, (1)H and (13)C NMR, and IR methods. The stereochemistry of (RR/SS) diasteromer of N,N-di-[β-(4-methylthiophenyl)isopropyl]amine was confirmed by a crystallographic method.     

Independent Discretion or Democratic Legitimisation? The Relations between National Regulatory Authorities and National Parliaments under EU Regulatory Framework for Network‐Bound Sectors

The European legislator, being supported in that regard by the Court of Justice, confers upon national regulatory authorities (NRAs) the exercise of the most important tasks concerned with the regulation of the network‐bound sectors, while at the same time guarantees NRAs a far‐reaching independence in exercising of their discretionary powers and shielding NRAs against other public authorities, including national parliaments. This, in turn, raises many doubts from the perspective of some essential constitutional principles of the Member States, such as, among others, ‘the domain of the law,’ which reserves the regulation of issues sensitive to the citizens as an exclusive parliament's prerogative. It is submitted in this article that national parliaments should play a much more active role in regulating the network‐bound sectors. The main point is to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights of regulated parties and create the real democratic legitimisation of NRAs, while not undermining those regulatory objectives that are already accorded at the EU level.     

Damage caused to fibres by vapour cloud explosions

Research on the very specific damage to single textile fibres caused by vapour cloud explosions is presented. Vapour cloud explosion experiments were carried out using a selection of 41 garments differing in colour, fibre composition and textile construction. Fibres subjected to a vapour cloud explosion become wider at the end, often taking the form of a ball, bulb or shovel, while the morphological structure of the remaining part of the fibre remains almost unchanged. The presented results can clearly indicate that an explosion took place at the scene of the crime. The authors would like to be able to provide investigators with specific information on how to link clothes (and thus people) to a specific type of crime.