How to Collect Forensic Science Fingerprints Using Latent Print Powders at the Crime Scene
Latent Fingerprint development has challenged crime scene investigators for decades. Collecting forensic science fingerprints has evolved from the early use of lampblack (soot) to complex formulations that incorporate some sophisticated chemistry. This article will examine the use of latent fingerprint powders-included will be the whys and wherefores of latent powder formulations.Latent print powders are divided among several different categories-each category having very specific uses. The first consideration for the crime scene investigator to examine is the type of surface expected to yield latent prints:Porous Surfaces: This includes paper, cardboard and raw wood. Unless latent prints are suspected to be reasonably fresh, latent print powders are not of much use on non-porous surfaces, since the moisture content disperses into the substrate and ridge detail is lost.Non-Porous Surfaces: This is where latent powders most often come into play. The problem is, however, that all non-porous surfaces have different characteristics that require a specific formula of latent powder.Latent Powder Formulations: Latent powders fall into the following categories:1. Standard-Oxide Powders: This category covers formulations that have been in use for nearly a century. Included are Black, White, Gray and Red2. Metallic Powders: These powders are formulated using actual, finely ground metal particles like aluminum, copper and bronze.3. Magnetic Powders: All magnetic powders have, as their main ingredient, iron or iron oxide-a material that is easily magnetized.4. Fluorescent Powders: Fluorescent powders have a special use-they are ideal when applied to multicolored backgrounds. Once it is apparent that latents are present after development, the CSI dims the light available and uses an ultraviolet lamp or alternate light sources (blue, green or red) to produce fluorescence. These developed latents actually “glow” in the dark.5. Combination Powders: A problem often encountered in latent print development is how to view a latent print on a dark surface when using a light colored powder or vice versa. Another problem is the difference between smooth surfaces and surfaces made of highly polished metals such as silver plated or chrome plated surfaces. This one powder combines the properties of an oxide and a metallic powder, and one formula may be used on wither dark or light backgrounds.As mentioned above-all non-porous surfaces are not alike when it comes to choosing a latent print powder. For example: An Automobile Body-Standard Oxide Powders may be used on the painted surfaces, but it is necessary to use a metallic powder on chrome-plated areas like bumpers and trim.Magnetic powders were invented back in the early 1970s and they enjoy a prominent place in the crime scene kit. Magnetic powders may be used on practically any surface EXCEPT those surfaces containing iron or steel. All of the other powders are applied using a brush-either animal hair (camel or squirrel) or synthetic materials like fiberglass or carbon fiber. Feather dusters are also used mostly as a cleanup tool after a regular brush is used to develop the print. The feather duster will remove excess powder in the case of over development. Magnetic powers are applied using a magnetic wand, and magnetic powders cling to the magnet actually forming a “brush” that touches the surface-and not bristles from a brush.Fluorescent powders have also been available for several decades. They all contain a pigment that emits light at other than white light frequencies. This fluorescence is especially useful on multi-colored backgrounds like beverage cans, potato chip bags and candy wrappers. Under low light conditions these powders become fluorescent when exposed to longwave UV light (black light). Many fluorescent powders are also visible under alternate light sources, but the fluorescence isn’t visible since the light from the source overpowers the weak glow of fluorescence. To compensate for this, the crime scene investigator uses a filter-depending on the color of the alternate light source (ALS)–which is mostly blue, green or red. An orange or yellow filter blocks blue and green visible light, and a red filter is used for red ALS.
Making Money Online – Several Biz Ideas To Focus On
There are many ways to make money online, but the following three are some of the best. You need to find something you like in order to be successful.Online money making is an area where a lot of secrets are hidden. If you want to make money quickly you should learn some of the secrets others already know. Get ready to find payment for your work by taking the information below and turning it into an advantage for you.Benefits of online money making are that you can do it from home, at your convenience, and you do not have to invest in an idea. You can work with contracts in order to gain money for the work you turn in. The work can be part time too!The following 3 key points will help you find online money making positions:Information or Knowledge Sales: Selling products online can be profitable, but what if you would rather not spend money buying the products you hope to sell? You can sell information and knowledge about other products that are online by contracting with that company to create their content. You can also work with affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is the most sought after job where products are sold and you use information to do so. You will need to have marketing skills for affiliate marketing in order to get a commission from the sales of products and information.Blogging:People like to share information on any number of topics. The key is to get paid for it. You might wonder how a blogger can actually earn money. If you do then you are in the right place. Through affiliate marketing or Google AdSense you can post ads on your blog site and start reaping the rewards. You get paid for ads on your site when a visitor clicks through to the link that ad offers. The more visitors you have the better ads you usually get.Freelance Writing:Writing might be a passion for you. If it is now is the time to start making money from this hobby. Content writing is required for numerous online websites. People that work as freelance writers may create over 30,000 words in one month. All you have to do is have the skills, time management, and work within the deadlines given.Market the skills you have in order to earn money. It is far better to use what you already know to earn money online or at least what you can easily pick up.
Budgeting for Board Members: A Contrary Approach
As a nonprofit board member, how do you view your role in the budget process? If you have a larger organization, you likely have a finance department that works with your executive director and treasurer to do most of the work. In this case, your role may simply be to review and approve the annual budget. However, if you serve on the board of a smaller nonprofit with limited staff, you may be expected to help create the budget. If you believe that creating a budget for your nonprofit is an onerous task, why not try a different approach this year? Let me share a process that some of my clients have used to create budgets that are useful tools both for planning and for fundraising.At the first budget meeting, make sure that you have the previous year’s budget-to-actual report and this year’s annual goals on the table. Begin by carefully reviewing each of the goals. Include both administrative goals (e.g. to produce a quarterly newsletter) and program goals (e.g. to increase by 20% the number of people served by the education program). It is important to review your goals before beginning because this will trigger areas where you either need to create or expand an expense line.. Look at the two examples given above. Do you need to outsource the newsletter? That is a new expense. Even if you don’t need more staff for the education program, it is likely that you will need new materials or equipment.Once you have reviewed your goals, it’s time to begin the contrary approach. Do you begin to budget by projecting your revenue for the coming year and then creating the expense side to match the revenue? Most people do. I strongly encourage the opposite approach. Draft the expense side of your budget first. Why? Because this allows you to create a budget that will be useful in achieving your goals. If you begin by projecting those revenues that you think you can actually raise, then most likely you will feel that you have to limit expenses and this will result in limiting your goals.On the other hand, a carefully-crafted expense budget will encourage you to project sufficient income to pay for the expenses needed to achieve your organization’s goals. You can refer to last year’s budget-to-actual report as a guideline, but don’t let it limit your thinking. Once you have reviewed every expense line (and created new ones where needed), it’s time to take a break, end this meeting and schedule the next one to work on the revenue side.Begin your next meeting with a brief discussion of your nonprofit’s mission (because, after all, creating a useful budget is a key tool for achieving your mission). Next, review those annual goals again because you will be looking at the revenues needed to achieve those goals. Then carefully review last year’s budget-to-actual report to see how much you raised in each revenue category. Forget about the budget column here; it is the actual amount you raised that is the starting point. If the total revenues raised last year exceed your expenses for the coming year, you’ll have a short meeting. Just review each individual category, assess the likelihood of raising the same amount this year, and you may have completed your work.However, if you have created new or expanded expense lines or, heaven forbid, you had a deficit budget last year, there is more work to do. Although your inclination may be to start cutting expenses – DON’T DO IT NOW. Start by brainstorming all the ways that you as board members can raise additional revenue this year. You may need more than one meeting. but this will be time well spent.Ask each board member to come to the next meeting prepared to present one idea for raising more money. If you have an eleven member board and each member comes up with one suggestion for generating more income, you have eleven new ideas to talk about. Of course, you will have to do more than talk; every board member needs to be prepared to work to raise the increased funds.What if there aren’t sufficient ideas and/or energy to ensure that the revenues for the coming year will meet the projected expenses? Then, as repellent as the idea is to me, I have to encourage you to look at the expenses again because I don’t believe boards should ever approve deficit budgets. Just make sure you have exhausted all avenues of potential support before cutting expenses. Unless the expenses have been inflated, such cuts will mean that you won’t be able to achieve some of your goals this year.©2011 Jane B. Ford
Mind Body Medicine
Everything about this physical life that you lead is experienced from the standpoint of your physical body. When your body is in a state of health, it reflects out into all aspects of your mind. What is overlooked in society today is that the reverse is also true. When your mind is in a state of health, it reflects its self out into all aspects of your body. It is very easy to fall into the path of shortsightedness and say for example that an illness comes from a specific virus. It is easy to say you know it comes from this specific virus because you can see it visibly with a microscope hacking into cells. This however is the same as telling the story that the light which illuminates a room comes from a light bulb. The story of where light it’s self actually comes from can be traced much further than the light bulb. It is a much longer story, just as illness is a much longer story than what is obvious and visible, which we often call the “cause”.Many people assume that there are physical conditions that dictate by default how your life will end up. Conditions determined by things such as DNA. The problem with this mode of thinking is that DNA is activated and told how to express it’s self by the mind (human consciousness). Mind (thought) is the bridge between spirit and body. You find harmony with your spirit using your thoughts and you use thoughts to create harmony in and of your body. Your entire body, originated as a thought. Therefore, when your thoughts change to match an energetic vibration which is negative, it is as good as re writing the blueprint of your body. This negative change then manifests as illness. Chronic disease is in fact caused by chronic thoughts such as those of fear, stress, guilt, resentment, overwhelm or hate. If there is no weakness present in the pre- manifested vibrations of thought, there is nowhere for illness to occur, there is nowhere for traumatic injury to occur, there is no way for a virus or bacteria to effect you, and your genetic predispositions towards a particular disease will be dormant.It is for this reason that the modality of mind medicine (thought) could quite possibly be the most important part of healing. No matter how much you do on the physical level to change circumstances that have already manifested, they will continue to manifest again and again if the thoughts you are habitually thinking remain the same. There is nothing that is physical that is truly static. No matter what the statistics and odds tell you, anything that has manifested in the physical in the first place, has the ability to change. Nothing exists in this physical world that with or without certain changes being made, has a decided outcome. To put yourself physically in a chronic state of health, all you have to do is make thoughts which hold a positive energetic vibration, (thoughts that feel good to think) the thoughts which are habitual and chronic for you to think.