Detection of explosives in hair using ion mobility spectrometry

Conventional explosives 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), nitroglycerin (NG), and ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) sorbed to hair can be directly detected by an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) in E-mode (for explosives). Terrorist explosive, triacetone triperoxide (TATP), difficult to detect by IMS in E-mode, was detected in N-mode (for narcotics). Three modes of sample introduction to IMS vapor desorption unit were used: (i) placement of hair directly into the unit, (ii) swabbing of hair and placement of swabs (i.e., paper GE-IMS sample traps) into the unit, and (iii) acetonitrile extracts of hair positioned on sample traps and placed into the unit. TNT, NG, and EGDN were detected in E-mode by all three sample introduction methods. TATP could only be detected by the acetonitrile extraction method after exposure of the hair to vapor for 16 days because of lower sensitivity. With standard solutions, TATP detection in E-mode required about 10 times as much sample as EGDN (3.9 mug compared with 0.3 mug). IMS in N-mode detected TATP from hair by all three modes of sample introduction.     

（后）现代性与移动性：生态环境所面临的挤压——兼论旅游人类学视野中的“旅游文化”

"全球化"使得"现代人类"叙事更加充分,政治经济领域,社会文化的各个方面也出现空前的"移动-流动"景象,越来越多的人更加担心"文化的全球化"给人类所带来的隐忧.如果生物的多元性、文化的多元性、地方特色的多元性等得不到很好的保护和保存,那么,"可持续发展"的核心价值和关键意义便无以兑现.     

The problem with English(es) and linguistic (in)justice. Addressing the limits of liberal egalitarian accounts of language

Van Parijs’s Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World furthers a nascent examination of multilingualism within political philosophy, drawing on continental European contexts where multilingualism is the norm. Van Parijs argues, in effect for linguistic cosmopolitanism via English as the current world language, and this seems ostensibly to be a considerable improvement on ‘the untrammeled public monolingualism’ of Anglo-American political theory. However, Van Parijs’s account is flawed in four key respects. First, there is the fundamental problem of his reductionist account of language – by which language is viewed only in terms of its communicative uses and reach and not in relation to its symbolic and identity functions. Second is his simplistic advocacy of English as a global lingua franca, which ignores issues of power and inequality, along with related delimited access to high-status English language varieties. Third are the inherent limitations associated with his advocacy of linguistic territoriality, which recognizes state-sanctioned languages but little else, thus failing to mitigate existing linguistic hierarchies. Finally, the wider argument for English as a global lingua franca is inevitably underpinned by a monolithic/hegemonic view of English itself. This monolithic conception of English stands in contradistinction, not only to the actual plethora of Englishes in the world today, but also, more importantly, to their widely varying status and use in furthering cross-communication and related notions of social and economic mobility. The latter thus fatally undermines Van Parijs’s central argument linking social and economic mobility ineluctably to access to English.     

Driving Development? The Problems and Promises of the Car in Vietnam

The private car comes with promises of modernity and comfortable mobility for the growing middle class in Vietnam. Vietnam’s government has also targeted the domestic automobile industry as a “spearhead industry” in an attempt to achieve industrial upgrading. Paradoxically, the government is simultaneously restraining the market for this industry through imposing high taxes and fees on cars, making them available only to a limited number of people. This article discusses the promises and problems of the automobile in Vietnam. It analyses policies related to the development of the automobile industry, and discusses the reasons for the relative failure of the project. The article argues that the failure is linked to weaknesses in Vietnamese development strategies, but also to the potential problems an expansion in car ownership in Vietnam would lead to. The article contends that the car represents a development dilemma between industrialisation and urban mobility, and that environmental, energy and social concerns add to the rationale for limiting car ownership. Furthermore, although forces promoting car-driven industrialisation appear to be gaining ground, the requirements for regional economic integration may challenge the future of the infant automobile industry.     

Assemblages of mobility: the marshrutkas of Central Asia

ABSTRACT

This article addresses reconfigurations of urban space in Central Asia through the lens of marshrutka mobility. Marshrutka-based transport is – together with the bazaar trade – a major sector of Central Asian economy. Although precise data are not available, estimates propose that one family in ten gains its income through it. In spite of its economic and social importance, there has barely been any research on marshrutka mobility so far. The marshrutka mobility phenomenon appears at once wide-ranging and elusive. In order to grasp its complexity, we propose a theory framework based on John Law's concept of fluidity and assemblage. Providing empirical insights from Khujand, in northern Tajikistan, the article addresses marshrutka mobility from a local perspective, notably with regard to regulatory processes of marshrutka-based transport. It also covers the trans-local perspective, with particular attention to global flows of ideas, vehicles, and people.     

Urbanization,Rural Mobility,and New Class Relations in Darjeeling,India

Throughout the developing world, rapid urbanization is leading to new social relations and new conflicts between urban and (formerly) rural populations. This paper examines this process of change through a detailed examination of changing rural–urban relations in the town of Darjeeling, in the Himalayan foothills in Eastern India. In Darjeeling, increased rural mobility, accelerated rural-to-urban migration and the increased participation of rural people in local politics have led to major changes in the town. We demonstrate that the upward trajectory of rural classes who were previously subordinate is leading the more established urban residents to feel threatened, resulting in a redrawing of local political issues along rural–urban lines and a reconfiguration of class consciousness and social relations. The urban middle class, whose opportunities in the town have stagnated or declined, see rural migrants as a source of competition for increasingly scarce resources and blame them for the overall decline in the quality of urban life. They mobilize their (predominantly cultural) capital to reinforce markers of cultural distinction between them and the rural migrants and to delegitimize the political gains they have made. We argue that rural–urban conflict is emerging as the chief source of tension in the town and that this tension is largely grounded in class issues.     

Section 8 Renters in the Phoenix,Arizona, Foreclosure Crisis: Implications for Poverty Deconcentration

How the recent U.S. foreclosure crisis affected federal housing mobility programs has not been well studied. This article explores the crisis’s impact on low-income renters receiving Section 8 vouchers in Phoenix, Arizona. We find that (a) 8% of voucher holders lived in homes that underwent foreclosure, (b) they were in comparably affluent neighborhoods, and (c) most eventually moved after foreclosure. Yet, those who moved after foreclosure were not overtly disadvantaged in the housing market. This unexpected finding may be explained by the opening up of new housing opportunities for voucher holders as foreclosures in more affluent areas were converted to rentals. Overall, this research suggests that the foreclosure crisis did not adversely affect the Section 8 program’s goal of deconcentrating poverty in Phoenix and may have even advanced it—a dynamic potentially occurring in other formerly booming and economically distressed Sunbelt regions.     

二元劳动力市场背景下就业质量的提升机制研究 ——基于 CLDS 数据的实证分析

中国城市劳动力市场的二元分割背景下,劳动者的就业质量提升机制呈现出一定的差异性。研 究基于资本和职业流动视角,利用中国劳动力动态调查（CLDS）数据,多重考察和检验不同劳动力市场影响劳 动者就业质量提升的因素。研究发现：首要劳动力市场就业者的知识人力资本、弱关系型社会资本、干部职位 政治资本对提升就业质量有积极作用,次要劳动力市场就业者通过提升知识人力资本、技术人力资本、弱关系 型社会资本、干部职位政治资本提升就业质量;首要劳动力市场就业者通过主动、自愿的职业流动实现就业质 量的提升,次要劳动力市场就业者通过增加职业流动次数有效提升就业质量;资本因素对首要劳动力市场就业 者通过职业流动提升就业质量不具有抑制作用,但一定程度上会抑制次要劳动力市场就业者通过职业流动提升 就业质量的作用。因此,要充分了解劳动者的诉求与真实就业状况,帮助次要劳动力市场就业者增加资本 ( 人力 资本、社会资本、政治资本 ) 的投入和积累,以提升其就业质量。