Evaluation of a Headspace Solid‐Phase Microextraction Method for the Analysis of Ignitable Liquids in Fire Debris

The chemical analysis of fire debris represents a crucial part in fire investigations to determine the cause of a fire. A headspace solid‐phase microextraction (HS‐SPME) procedure for the detection of ignitable liquids in fire debris using a fiber coated with a mixture of three different sorbent materials (Divinylbenzene/Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane, DVB/CAR/PDMS) is described. Gasoline and diesel fuel were spiked upon a preburnt matrix (wood charcoal), extracted and concentrated with HS‐SPME and then analyzed with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The experimental conditions—extraction temperature, incubation and exposure time—were optimized. To assess the applicability of the method, fire debris samples were prepared in the smoke density chamber (SDC) and a controlled‐atmosphere cone calorimeter. The developed methods were successfully applied to burnt particleboard and carpet samples. The results demonstrate that the procedure that has been developed here is suitable for detecting these ignitable liquids in highly burnt debris.     

Der maximal Fremde. Überlegungen zu einer transhumanen Handlungstheorie

The article broadens the previous scope of social and cultural science theories of otherness by postulating the theoretic-analytic border category of the “strangest stranger”. This category shall serve various scientific disciplines to identify, reconstruct and understand interactions of humans and non-human actors, such as domesticated and wild animals, robots and aliens, or ghosts, angels and demons. Following a brief overview of contemporary social science theories of otherness the new border category of otherness will be theoretically specified. Subsequently, three practical examples (dolphins in a therapeutic context, aliens in SETI-research, and demons in catholic exorcism) will demonstrate scientific, religious but also secular contexts in which this new category is of analytical importance.     

Rich in tradition

<正>Islam’s presence in China still manifests itself today the Tongxin Great Mosque in Wuzhong—about two hours’drive south of yinchuan,the capital of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region—is a pearl of wellpreserved Islamic culture in China.Built in the 14th century,the mosque is one of the oldest Muslim places of worship     

Co-opting Good Governance Reform: The Rise of a Not-so-Reformist Leader in Kebumen,Central Java

Challenging the existing literature, which tends to downplay the impact of good governance reform in post-Suharto Indonesia, the article suggests that greater intervention by international donors, combined with the process of decentralisation, has influenced the dynamics of political competition at the local level. It suggests that the increasing availability of international aid has provided local elites with an option to engage in a new form of patronage politics that relies less on old instruments, such as money politics and violence. By selectively committing themselves to good governance reform, Indonesian local elites can now seek a new source of power in the form of support from international donors, with which they can raise their profiles as ‘reformists’ and consolidate power, only to engage in familiar, if less blatant, forms of patronage politics. The article highlights such a dimension of local politics with reference to the case of Kebumen's former regent, Rustriningsih.     

Better and Better

<正>For Muslim Chinese,"minority"means enrichment,not division Aboard showing pictures of 28 senior residents who have performed the haj pilgrimage stands at a park at the village gate.Sixty-eight families comprising 620 people from the Hui ethnic group live in the village,which in 2013 was renovated under a government program devoted to the minority group.