Science in the detection of crime

Much to his housekeeper's disgust, the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes carried out
scientific experiments in his Baker street rooms in the cause of solving crimes. Since his day,
science had played an increasingly important part in both the detection and the proof of
crime. Technology, the derivative of science, is used by most countries' police forces today
and is responsible for bringing many criminals to justice. Dr Crippen escaped by liner to the
Unites States, but an early ship to shore radio telephone enabled the police to arrest him when
the line docked.
Footprint casts and fingerprints are traditional methods of detection. Fingerprinting was
invented in Great Britain by Francis Galton and has been of fundamental importance in
detection for decades. Some countries fingerprint their whole populations, though others,
Britain included, regard this as an infringement of personal freedom, and restrict
fingerprinting to those accused of a criminal offence, or to those who are screened for certain
security categories. science has greatly enhanced the efficiency of this system. Fingerprints
are now held on computer, and much time and cost is saved by the fact that information can
be exchanged instantaneously throughout the country. Co-operation with the National Crime
Information center in the US and with Interpol in the continent of Europe greatly enhances
this facility.
Records of convicted criminals are now held on microfilm in conjunction with fingerprints,
photographs and personal profiles and stores as computer data. These, again, are capable of
instant retrieval countrywide and can also be made available overseas. In the UK this data
cannot be disclosed to a jury during a criminal trial, but should the verdict be guilty a
previous criminal record becomes available in the matter of sentencing.
The polygraph, or lie detector, is not university sanctioned. Its supporters claim that its ability
to record nervous tensions is infallible. Others disagree.
Very recently, DNA printing has revolutionized the process of bringing the criminal to justice,
and in civil actions establishing paternity. The minutes quantities of blood, skin, hair or nailparings can positively identify or eliminate the individual concerned. No two individuals
have identical sets of genes. This scientific advance is particularly important in the
examination of cars and rooms where crimes have been committed.
Interrogation has always been an important part of criminal investigation. in uncivilized
counties, drugs, psychological pressure and often physical torture have been, and still are
used. these methods are banned in civilized countries. However, even in the latter, the police
occasionally enforce signatures to false statements or to statements which are subsequently
mutilated. Taped interviews today now go some way to overcome this abuse, though even
tapes can be falsified.
A good deal of crime detection and prevention has been privatized in recent years. some
countries allow firearms to security guards, others, such as the UK, do not. Various pieces of
technology are in common use. Closed-circuit TV cameras allow centralized observation of
customers in large stores. Flood-lighting around buildings can be triggered electronically

when anybody approaches in the dark. Foot patrols are issued with light intensifiers, a
military development, enabling them to see without being seen. 'Electric eye' burglar alarms
have been in use both in public buildings and in private homes for many years.
Observation by police 'on the beat' who know their own areas intimately has always been a
recognized and valuable means of crime detection and prevention, bolstering the citizen's
sense of security. Unfortunately, this is being replaced by police car patrols. And although the
latter are in radio communication with officers on foot and with police headquarters, the
general public see this development as retrograde.
Despite all the above, crime is on the increase in many countries. Its detection is no doubt
becoming more efficient, due to scientific advance. this is related to an entirely different
factor; the decline in religious faith and observance, which instills moral standards into
children.

The importance of scientific research

"Life is short, experience treacherous, judgment difficult," said Hypocrates, the Father of
Medicine. two thousand years ago, no less than now, judgment was difficult, life short; the
barber was the surgeon and major operations were equivalent to death warrants ! The
physician, when he did not refer to the ancients, was still looking to chance experience for his
knowledge; while 'Asiatic cholera' stalked the land.
then it was that experience which began to be supplemented by experiment. Vesalius
introduces dissection; Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood; Jenner banished the
terrors of small-pox; Pasteur, experimental-chemist, turning to the study of micro-organisms,
laid the foundation of Modern Medicine. Listen, applying the new knowledge to his work
with the scalpel, founded modern aseptic surgery -- all in three hundred years and simply
because men began to observe closely and with open minds, while they caused things to
happen, instead of observing casually, with closed minds and when things chanced to happen.
What of the method by which men are thus creating or helping Nature to create a better
physical environment for us all ? If the desire is for something intrinsically new, whether an
alloy steel, a synthetic dyestuff, a radio tube, or a spineless cactus, it must be obtained, if at
all, in Nature's prescribed way. it must be created, and nobody who is in a hurry to get
something, has ever been very successful in learning what way Nature prescribes. On the
other hand, certain intellectually honest, enthusiastically persevering individuals, endowed
with insatiable curiosity, keen power of observation, ingenuity, originality, patience,
commonsense and the urge to take infinite pains, have been notably successful in inducing
Nature to reveal her secret ways of working. Besides, to such, it is the best of all sports.
So, when 'Curiosity' began to learn from Nature, he began to observe her closely and to
record faithfully what he observed. as an experimenter, he is like any good general, man must

have a well-thought-out plan of attack, but must also be an opportunist and change his plan to
meet unexpected situations as they arise. He must be open-minded, must seek facts regardless
of whether they may lead him.
If he is not open-minded, is not intellectually honest, he will be inclined to explain away an
unexpected result; he may even refrain from recording it. In such a case, he is not playing the
game, but he overlooks the fact that some of the greatest discoveries have come out of
irregular results which were not rejected, but were further investigated. it was only a slight
irregularity found in the orbit of Uranus that led Adams and Le Verrier, independently to
discover Neptune. There was less tan one per cent of a residue of inert gas that persistently
remained when Cavendish tried by electric sparking, to combine atmospheric nitrogen and
oxygen. But he recorded and reported the fact and a hundred years later. Rayleigh, repeating
the experiment found the residue to be a new gaseous element - Argon - which is used in gasfilled electric lamps. This was to all. Ramsay was thus led to discover in our atmosphere, a
whole series of inert elementary gases, among them Neon, employed in the orange-red lights
seen in the business streets. it was from the detection of otherwise unexplained lines in the
solar spectrum that Helium was discovered, though no one felt sure at the time, that it was
peculiar to the sun. Later, Rayleigh discovered traces of it in the air. All these came about
because painstaking experimenters observed closely and recorded faithfully what they saw.
As Joseph Henry, contemporary of Faraday, put it, "The seeds of great discoveries are
constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them"
Experiment conducted for the discovery of new facts and their relation to other facts is
Scientific Research. Behind it all is the well-founded conviction that there is order in all
natural phenomena. For every determined rise above failure, while experimenting, there is in
waiting the more than compensating joy of having created something. None is better qualified
to bear testimony to this than Pasteur. Listen to his appraisal of the lot of the researcher : "It is
indeed a hard task when you believe you have found an important scientific fact and are
feverishly anxious to publish it, to constrain yourself for days, weeks, years, sometimes to
fight with yourself, to try to ruin your own experiments and only to proclaim your discovery
after having exhausted all contrary hypotheses. But when after so many efforts, you have at
last arrived at a certainty, your joy is one of the greatest which can be felt by a human soul, an
the thought that you will have contributed to the honor of your country, renders that joy still
deeper."
In has been truly said that the great events of history are its great scientific discoveries. "In
our century, science is the soul of the prosperity of nations and the living source of all
progress. Undoubtedly, the tiring daily discussions of politics seem to be our guide. Employ
appearances ! -- What really lead us forward a a few scientific discoveries and their
applications" - says Pasteur !

ver since members of early civilizations used simple hieroglyphics to communicate

their thoughts, hopes and aspirations, there has been a close connection between
reading and refinement. For this purpose, the terms 'refinement' must be extended
to include far more than 'good manners' -- otherwise, the only reading necessary to

produce he 'refined' person would be a book on etiquette ! Refinement, however,

really implies culture and civilization in the widest sense, a combination of those
qualities which differentiate man from the animal world, and it is the bearing of
reading on the development of these qualities which we must examine.
A high standard of personal morality and unselfishness is cultured man's first
characteristic. This, he largely owes to the books of his religion, whether it be the
Christian Bible, the Muslim Koran, the Hindu Upanishads, the Philosophy of
Buddha or Confucius. Such books teach him the meaning of family life and virtues
of honesty, peaceful living and integrity. But, the best of secular literature helps
him to achieve the same object. The innocence of Ophelia, the nobility of Sydney
carton cannot fail to impress and attract the reader.
Greek tragedy was intended to induce in the audience a 'Catharsis,' or purging of
the emotions, primarily those of 'pity and terror'. But the general reader finds that
all good literature has a salutary effect on the emotional side of his nature. Great
emotional pleasure may be derived from a good novel, as we enter fully into the
life of the hero or heroine, an the best of writing, whether it takes the form of
poetry, drama, or the novel has an undoubtedly maturing effect on our emotional
nature.
For most people, however, the 'refined' person is the 'educated' person, the person
whose intellect has been developed through reading intelligent books. The clear,
logical thinker owes much to his grounding in the school-room, and even more to
the love of reading which this grounding has fostered. Reading becomes a
stimulating function of adult life, and ceases to be a child's tool for passing an
examination or getting a job.
Cultured living requires that people should be 'well-informed,' and wide reading
has the added advantage of imparting useful general knowledge. Thus, the wellread man or woman is more fitted to live in the community and travel, profitably,
outside it. Such knowledge is obtained from a variety of sources ranging from the
newspaper and magazine to the many available volumes of specialized non-fiction
books.
An added benefit of good reading is the development of a love of language for its
own sake. Style, imagery and figurative language, the 'atmosphere of prose and
poetry, its emotional intensity and its intellectual content-all these things inculcate
a love of beauty, the mark of a truly civilized person.
No reader of good literature can fail to be influenced by the attitudes to life to
members of the family, to the community and to the nation which it contains. He
constantly checks his own philosophy against what eh finds, and in analyzing it,
refines it. we do not necessarily try to behave like people in books, but at least we
can learn from them.

Sometimes, however, we rightly desire to model our lives on those of great men
and women, in so far as we can, and in this connection, the importance of reading
biographies cannot be over-estimated. it is a poor scientist who does not emulate
the achievements of a Michael-Angelo or an Einstein, it is a poor nurse who does
not admire the forcefulness and devotion of Florence Nightingale.
Today, we live in a cosmopolitan community, which has become sophisticated and
matured by the admixture of foreigners, with their own languages, ways of life and
special gifts. Furthermore, few of us nowadays, spend all our live sin our own
small village or town. And so, it becomes increasingly important to know about
other countries, other people. To know about other countries, other people. To
know something about them from books, perhaps to learn their languages, at once
smoothes the path to friendship, and it is a characteristic of a refined person to
wish to make friends with other nationals -- not to regard them suspiciously as
'foreign devils.'
The refined person is the mentally disciplined person -- the person who demands a
full and intellectually satisfying life.

Online shopping
Online shopping is better than conventional shopping. What are your views ?
The Internet has revolutionized the way we do our shopping. The businessman regards the
Internet as a modern effective tool for business transactions. Online shopping is the act of
purchasing products or services over the Internet.
Let us compared online shopping to traditional or conventional shopping. Online shopping,
particularly during a festive holiday season, alleviates the need to wait in long lines o search
from store to store for a particular item. Conventional shopping in the brick and mortar
building entails leaving the home to jostle with the traffic, crowds and long queues.
What are the advantages and benefits of online shopping over conventional shopping ?
First, there is the convenience of being able to shop 24 hours a day for any type of product
imaginable. The ability to shop from home allows many people (the elderly, the disabled,
young mothers) to still purchase the products and services they need. Then it is more
comfortable, doing it in the comfort of your home, instead of running around in the store.
Online shopping allows you a 24/7shopping time. you can surf the Internet at any time of the
day and buy your goods. You can find and buy products from all over the world.
Second is that goods are often cheaper as the seller does not have the costs of running a shop.
You have the opportunity to compare as many products and prices as you want without
having to spend the time and money to travel between several different shops. You get

cheaper deals and better prices with discount coupons and rebates thrown in.
Third, you will also be able to read reviews y previous buyers and select your purchases with
additional information from satisfied customers. The photographs and illustrations help you
choose and recommendations from others help you decide.
Like in other forms of business, there are disadvantages too.
First, online shoppers face fraud and security concerns. It has also been widely criticized for
being very insecure. Even with the latest security ware, hackers still manage to find a way to
steal your data. Online shoppers should first familiarize themselves with online stores and
how they protect their data before going on an online shopping spree.
The majority of online shoppers are unaware of various hacker attacks, phishing scams, and
how they affect them. Not knowing how to keep yourself safe is the biggest disadvantage of
online shopping. despite warnings from Snopes and other cyber "police" sites, the store may
be a scam put up to gather people's credit card data and social security numbers.
Second, online shopping puts you at a disadvantage. You can't see and feel first hand or try
for size your purchase. You take the word of the description of the product which is usually
cleverly crafted by online stores to make it sound appealing to people. There is no hands-on
inspection, nor visual or physical impact for product suitability. Only when it arrives at your
address, do you have the opportunity to check the purchases for what it is advertised as. The
greatest rip is the inaccurate transactions which could result in no savings or additional
expenses to the buyer. this is probably one of the biggest disadvantages of online shopping
that turns many people off.
Third, there is no means for you to check for full cost or hidden cost not until something
unexpected happens. Online shops do not always list the other additional charges. All these
hidden costs: handling fees, packaging costs, shipping or transit costs, replacement costs,
return costs, fluctuating currency rates, can add up to quite an exorbitant sum. Are they
borne wholly by the buyer ?
There are many other online issues which are more technical in nature: usage of the
computer, slow online connectivity, viruses and time zone differences. Other aspects would
be personal to buyer: credit card payment, no cash transactions, immediate gratification,
invalid warranties, no refunds and non-delivery of purchases.
In summary, the main advantages of shopping online are convenience and cost savings, while
the main disadvantages are security risks and reduced hands-on purchase gratification.
In conclusion, to benefit truly from online shopping, one has to be an intelligent experienced
Internet user as well as a streetwise e-commerce online shop