scholarly journals To substantiation of the list of hazardous highly toxic chemicals that are subject to special control regarding handling, storage, use and disposal. Part 1 (ricin, thallium compounds and organophosphorus compounds)

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
MH Prodanchuk ◽  
GM Balan ◽  
OP Kravchuk ◽  
PG Zhminko ◽  
IM Maksymchuk ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT. The Aim of the Research. Based on an analytical review of literature data, to identify a group of highly toxic chemicals which over the past decades are most often used in deliberate criminal and suicidal incidents, sabotage and terrorist act; the traffic, storage, use and disposal of which must be especially carefully monitored by law enforcement agencies. Materials and Methods. An analytical review of scientific publications was carried out using the abstract databases of scientific libraries Pub Med, Medline and text databases of scientific publishing houses Elsevier, Pub Med, Central, BMJ group as well as other VIP databases. Methods of systemic, comparative, and content analysis were used. Results and Conclusions. The scientific publications on hazardous highly toxic chemicals, which over the past quarter century are most often used in the world, notably in deliberate criminal and suicidal incidents, sabotage, and terrorist acts, are being analysed. It was found that these chemicals mainly include ricin, thallium compounds, organophosphorus compounds, as well as chemical warfare agents, arsenic and its compounds, cyanides, and inorganic water-soluble mercury compounds (mercury bichloride, sodium merthiolate), as well as paraquat and diquat pesticides. Based on the analysis of their toxicity, clinical and morphological expression of intoxication with various routes of entry into the body, the need to include them in the List of Highly Hazardous Chemicals, whose traffic, storage, use, and disposal require stricter control of law enforcement agencies, is justified. The first part of this article presents ricin, thallium compounds, organophosphorus compounds, and chemical warfare agents. Key Words: hazardous highly toxic chemicals, ricin, thallium compounds, organophosphorus compounds.

Author(s):  
José Daniel Figueroa-Villar ◽  
Elaine C. Petronilho ◽  
Kamil Kuca ◽  
Tanos C. C. Franca

Background: Neurotoxic chemical warfare agents can be classified as some of the most dangerous chemicals for humanity. The most effective of those agents are the organophosphates (OPs) capable of restricting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which in turn controls the nerve impulse transmission. When AChE is inhibited by OPs, its reactivation can be usually performed through cationic oximes. However, until today it has not been developed one universal defense agent, with complete effective reactivation activity for AChE inhibited by any of the many types of existing neurotoxic OPs. For this reason, before treating people intoxicated by an OP, it is necessary to determine the neurotoxic compound that was used for contamination, in order to select the most effective oxime. Unfortunately, this task usually requires a relative long time, raising the possibility of death. Cationic oximes also display a limited capacity of permeating the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This fact compromises their capacity of reactivating AChE inside the nervous system. Methods: We performed a comprehensive search on the data about OPs available on the scientific literature today in order to cover all the main drawbacks still faced in the research for the development of effective antidotes against those compounds. Results: Therefore, this review about neurotoxic OPs and the reactivation of AChE, provides insights for the new agents’ development. The most expected defense agent is a molecule without toxicity and effective to reactivate AChE inhibited by all neurotoxic OPs. Conclusion: To develop these new agents it is necessary the application of diverse scientific areas of research, especially theoretical procedures as computational science (computer simulation, docking and dynamics); organic synthesis; spectroscopic methodologies; biology, biochemical and biophysical information; medicinal chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology.


Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Miloš Stanković ◽  
Mohammad Meraj Mirza ◽  
Umit Karabiyik

Rapid technology advancements, especially in the past decade, have allowed off-the-shelf unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that weigh less than 250 g to become available for recreational use by the general population. Many well-known manufacturers (e.g., DJI) are now focusing on this segment of UAVs, and the new DJI Mini 2 drone is one of many that falls under this category, which enables easy access to be purchased and used without any Part 107 certification and Remote ID registration. The versatility of drones and drone models is appealing for customers, but they pose many challenges to forensic tools and digital forensics investigators due to numerous hardware and software variations. In addition, different devices can be associated and used for controlling these drones (e.g., Android and iOS smartphones). Moreover, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the adoption of Remote ID is not going to be required for people without the 107 certifications for this segment at least until 2023, which creates finding personally identifiable information a necessity in these types of investigations. In this research, we conducted a comprehensive investigation of DJI Mini 2 and its data stored across multiple devices (e.g., SD cards and mobile devices) that are associated with the drone. The aim of this paper is to (1) create several criminal-like scenarios, (2) acquire and analyze the created scenarios using leading forensics software (e.g., Cellebrite and Magnet Axiom) that are commonly used by law enforcement agencies, (3) and present findings associated with potential criminal activities.


Author(s):  
Jiri Bajgar ◽  
Jiri Kassa ◽  
Josef Fusek ◽  
Kamil Kuca ◽  
Daniel Jun

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-218
Author(s):  
Seth Wyatt Fallik ◽  
Ross Deuchar ◽  
Vaughn J Crichlow ◽  
Hannah Hodges

Social media, in the past decade, has been used to hold police accountable for their actions. There has been, however, a paucity of empirical research into how law enforcement uses social media. To explore this issue, this paper uses qualitative data emerging from ethnographic research conducted in a Southern American state. Participant observations of police officer deployments were paired with semi-structured interviews with officers from three law enforcement agencies. The extent and ways in which these officers used social media is explored. Findings indicate that social media is used to bring positive attention to law enforcement agencies and aid criminal investigations. Although the positive impact of social media was highlighted in these experiences, persistent problems and challenges also featured in the data. Finally, officer insights were drawn upon to make recommendations for future policing policy and research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sergi

While attention to the ‘ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, in Australia, has significantly increased in the past two decades, historical records referring to this peculiar manifestation of organised crime in the country date back almost a century. This research is situated in between studies on mafia mobility and studies on the nature of mafia-type organised crime in Italy and in Australia. Relying on archival research, fieldwork and focus groups with law enforcement agencies across most Australian jurisdictions, this paper will essentially argue that there is in Australia an on-going criminal system that is made of ethnically hybrid criminal networks – predominantly made of, but not limited to, Calabrian ethnicity. Ethnic solidarity and traditional norms and values of the ‘ndrangheta, embedded in Calabrian migrant culture, provide the roof to these networks’ behaviours and organisation. This paper will discuss how the resilience of this mafia in Australia is linked to the capacity of ‘ndrangheta clans to maintain different heads – to be polycephalous – all differently and equally important: their organisational head is stable and culturally homogeneous, their (mafia-type) behaviours are constant, flexible and rooted in ethnic solidarity, and their activities are very dynamic, but hybrid in their ethnic composition.


Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1365
Author(s):  
Marek Matula ◽  
Tomas Kucera ◽  
Ondrej Soukup ◽  
Jaroslav Pejchal

The organophosphorus substances, including pesticides and nerve agents (NAs), represent highly toxic compounds. Standard decontamination procedures place a heavy burden on the environment. Given their continued utilization or existence, considerable efforts are being made to develop environmentally friendly methods of decontamination and medical countermeasures against their intoxication. Enzymes can offer both environmental and medical applications. One of the most promising enzymes cleaving organophosphorus compounds is the enzyme with enzyme commission number (EC): 3.1.8.2, called diisopropyl fluorophosphatase (DFPase) or organophosphorus acid anhydrolase from Loligo Vulgaris or Alteromonas sp. JD6.5, respectively. Structure, mechanisms of action and substrate profiles are described for both enzymes. Wild-type (WT) enzymes have a catalytic activity against organophosphorus compounds, including G-type nerve agents. Their stereochemical preference aims their activity towards less toxic enantiomers of the chiral phosphorus center found in most chemical warfare agents. Site-direct mutagenesis has systematically improved the active site of the enzyme. These efforts have resulted in the improvement of catalytic activity and have led to the identification of variants that are more effective at detoxifying both G-type and V-type nerve agents. Some of these variants have become part of commercially available decontamination mixtures.


2021 ◽  
pp. 975-982
Author(s):  
K. Dikevych

This article examines the experience of foreign practice over the past several decades in the field of creating a scientific basis for forensic examination of handwriting, as well as software and software systems that automate some of the examination processes. Shared with: tools that compute functions and provide visualizations to assist the handwriting researcher; verification methods that ensure the degree of consistency between the questioned and the sample documents; identification methods that narrow the search in the electronic document repository with the authors available in it. Various methods of computer scanning and pattern recognition, which have been developed over the past 40 years, are investigated to the problems of identification of the writer and the authenticity/personality of handwriting. It has been established that the ability to use handwriting to identify a person is of great importance for the justice systems and law enforcement agencies. Over the past 30 years, there has been a limited amount of research on the use of computers to improve and automate the analysis performed by forensic handwriting experts. Based on the study, the need for further research is emphasized to obtain new tools in the form of computer programs for solving identification and diagnostic problems, obtaining new tools in the form of computer programs to identify disguised handwriting, as well as to help restore or decipher damaged or partially destroyed documents


Author(s):  
Marcelo Bergman

This chapter focuses on the limited success of the police in improving public safety in most countries of the region, showing that in most countries law enforcement agencies have been unable to lead effective anti-crime programs. Police structures and crime-fighting strategies are surveyed, and it is argued that police forces generally reacted slowly and erratically against rising crime, that they did not develop strong information systems to fight organized crime, and that they have lacked the support of citizens due to the past repression and corruption. Using arrest, survey, and administrative data this text underscores two variables that correlate with rising criminality: a) the failure to incorporate modern, large-scale policing techniques, particularly those that make use of information and intelligence, and b) the failure of police to adjust to new standards after transitions to democracies, undermining bonds of trust between police and citizens.


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