Fluorescence of a Natural Fluorophore as a Key to Improve Fingerprint Contrast Image

The optical and morphological properties of resveratrol were investigated. This nontoxic fluorescent natural material, emitting in the visible blue light, was used as an optical marker, enabling the enhancement of the image contrast coming from relief pictures marked on challenging surfaces. By applying appropriated imaging softwares, this marker was verified to be very useful in the latent fingerprint recognition deposited on different wood surface types, mainly those with high level of roughness, where conventional forensic materials do not allow effective fingerprint image visualization.     

On the Choice of Remedies

At a time when misuse of the power to zone seems to be increasing—some say rampant—when such misuse is frequently ignored even sanctioned by the courts, e.g.; Belle Terre v. Boraas, Steelhill v. Sanbornton, U.S. v. Black Jack (lower federal court), it is heartening to find a powerful court unite behind an articulate and powerfully worded opinion which strikes down an exercise of the police power (zoning) which legislates local biases and unreasonably excludes low income housing. There is an appropriateness too in that it is Justice Hall, some 12 years after his classic dissent in the Vickers case, who rationalizes a long line of often misunderstood New Jersey cases and the case law of other jurisdictions and concludes: “that every … municipality must, by its land use regulations, … make realistically possible an appropriate variety and choice of housing.” A strong concurring opinion further notes; “the use of the zoning power by municipalities to maintain themselves as enclaves of affluence or of social homogeneity … [is] improper and to be strongly condemned.”     

PARENTS BEYOND CONFLICT WORKSHOP

This article reviews a program designed in response to high-conflict parents who have protracted family law cases and have been referred to dependency court due to child abuse allegations.     

Strategic voting and effective representation thresholds: Evidence from three Spanish general elections

The extent of strategic voting in the Spanish general elections of 2000, 2004 and 2008 is estimated using a new measure of strategic incentives suitable for proportional representation systems that avoids some of the problems associated with lagged variables. Strategic behaviour increased from 12 to 33 per cent of the electoral base of the United Left Party, the major victim of strategic defection. This estimate is a conservative one as elite mobilisation is controlled for in the constituencies, which is unusual in the literature on strategic voting that uses regression‐based methods.     

Detecting Feigned PTSD Using the Personality Assessment Inventory

Research generally supports the use of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey 1991) to detect feigned PTSD, although this support has been somewhat mixed. There is also evidence that coaching individuals on the presence of PAI validity indicators may not affect their ability to avoid detection as feigners (Bagby et al. in Journal of Personality Assessment 78:69–86, 2002), although this question has not been specifically addressed with regard to PTSD. Additionally, a new PAI validity indicator, the Negative Distortion Scale (NDS), was developed that may have utility in detecting feigned PTSD, but this has not been tested. The purpose of this study was to further test the operating characteristics of the PAI validity indicators to detect feigned PTSD among naïve and coached respondents and to examine the newly developed NDS for this purpose. Individuals with genuine PTSD were compared to individuals instructed to feign PTSD on PAI validity indicators. Results suggest that: (a) coaching had minimal influence on the ability of the PAI to detect feigned PTSD, (b) the PAI validity indicators all significantly differentiated genuine from feigned PTSD, and (c) the NIM and NDS indicators were particularly effective for detecting feigned PTSD.