Microscopes

A microscope is an instrument for viewing objects that are too small to be seen by the naked or unaided eye.

Optical microscopes, through their use of visible wavelengths of light, are the simplest and most widely used type of microscope.
Optical microscopes typically use refractive lenses of glass and occasionally of plastic or quartz, to focus light into the eye or another light detector.

Scanning acoustic microscopes use sound waves to measure variations in acoustic impedance. Similar to Sonar in principle, they are used for such jobs as detecting defects in the subsurfaces of materials including those found in integrated circuits.

The first microscope was made around 1595 in Middelburg, Holland.Three different eyeglass makers have been given credit for the invention: Hans Lippershey (who also developed the first real telescope); Hans Janssen; and his son, Zacharias. The coining of the name "microscope" has been credited to Giovanni Faber, who gave that name to Galileo Galilei's compound microscope in 1625.

Chromatography

Chromatography is a method of separation.
Column chromatography is a separation technique in which the stationary bed is within a tube.
Planar chromatography is a separation technique in which the stationary phase is present as or on a plane. The plane can be a paper, serving as such or impregnated by a substance as the stationary bed or a layer of solid particles spread on something such as a glass plate.
Paper chromatography is a technique that involves placing a small dot of sample solution onto a strip of chromatography paper. The paper is placed in a jar containing a shallow layer of solvent and sealed. As the solvent rises through the paper, it meets the sample mixture which starts to travel up the paper with the solvent. This paper is made of cellulose, a polar substance, and the compounds within the mixture travel farther if they are non-polar.
Thin layer chromatography is a widely-employed laboratory technique and is similar to paper chromatography. However, instead of using a stationary phase of paper, it involves a stationary phase of a thin layer of adsorbent like silica gel, alumina, or cellulose on a flat, inert substrate. Compared to paper, it has the advantage of faster runs, better separations, and the choice between different adsorbents.
Gas chromatography, also sometimes known as Gas-Liquid chromatography, is a separation technique in which the mobile phase is a gas. Gas chromatography is always carried out in a column.
Liquid chromatography is a separation technique in which the mobile phase is a liquid. Liquid chromatography can be carried out either in a column or a plane.
Supercritical fluid chromatography is a separation technique in which the mobile phase is a fluid above and relatively close to its critical temperature and pressure.
Fast protein liquid chromatography is a term applied to several chromatography techniques which are used to purify proteins. Many of these techniques are identical to those carried out under high performance liquid chromatography, however use of FPLC techniques are typically for preparing large scale batches of a purified product.

Evidence leading to the BTK murderer arrest

On February 25, 2005 Rader was stopped by authorities while in route to his home. At that point several law enforcement agencies converged on Rader's home and began searching for evidence to link Rader to the BTK murders. They also searched the church he belonged to and his office at City Hall. Computers were removed at both his office and his home along with a pair of black pantyhose and a cylindrical container.

Because Rader did not contest his guilt, most evidence was not tested in court. However, physical and circumstantial facts that would have corroborated Rader as the BTK killer include:
DNA analysis of BTK's semen and material taken from underneath the fingernails of victim Vicki Wegerle match the DNA profile of Dennis Rader.
Rader's grammar and writing style matches letters and poems received from BTK, though none of his communications were handwritten, but typed, stenciled, stamped with a stamp set or computer generated.
A pay phone that the killer used to report a murder in 1977 was located a few blocks from ADT Security (Rader's workplace at the time).
Rader had attended Wichita State University in the 1970s. Wichita Police Detective Arlyn G. Smith II and his partner George Scantlin traced BTK's photocopied communications to two photocopy machines, one at Wichita State University and a second copier at the Wichita Public Library. BTK murder victim Kathryn Bright's brother Kevin, who was shot twice by BTK, reported that the killer had asked him if he had seen him at the university. A poem in one of the killer's letters was similar to a folk song taught by a professor on that campus in that time period, though Rader himself dismissed any connection.
Rader lived on the same street as Marine Hedge, just houses away. The BTK killer's other victims were in and around central Wichita, except for his final victim Dolores (Dee) Davis, who lived a half-mile east of Park City.
Two of the victims (Julie Otero and Kathryn Bright) worked at the Coleman Company, though not during the same period that Rader worked there. Rader worked at Coleman only a short time and not at the same location as the victims.
Rader's 16 plus hour confession, given fully and freely after receiving multiple Miranda warnings and recorded on over 20 DVDs, in which he alluded to all 10 known murders in remarkable (and grisly) detail.
Semen found on Josephine Otero or near the bodies of his victims Josephine Otero, Shirley Vian and Nancy Fox was critical evidence linking Rader to the crimes, and DNA obtained from fingernail scrapings of Vicki Wegerle's left hand matched Rader's DNA, eliminating any doubt that he was her murderer. Rader also sent trophies to police in his letters, and others were discovered in his office. Other cold cases in Kansas were reopened to see if Rader's DNA matched crime scenes, but Rader's confession was limited to the 10 known victims and police and prosecutors do not believe there were any more victims because of the extensive records and memorabilia he kept on each of his victims.

Dennis Rader

Rader was one of four sons to parents William and Dorothea Rader. The family lived in Wichita where Rader attended Wichita Heights High School. After a brief attendance in 1964 to Wichita State University, Rader joined the U.S. Air Force. He spent the next four years as a mechanic for the Air Force and was stationed abroad in South Korea, Turkey, Greece and Okinawa.

Blood Types

A blood type is a classification of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells. Blood types are inherited and represent contributions from both parents. A total of 30 human blood group systems are now recognized by the International Society of Blood Transfusion.If you have blood group A then you've got A antigens covering your red cells. Blood group B means you have B antigens, while group O has neither, and group AB has some of both. The ABO system also contains lots of little antibodies in the plasma, antibodies being the body's natural defence against foreign antigens.
There's also another antigen - the Rh antigen. Some of us have it, some of us don't. If it is present, the blood is RhD positive, if not it's RhD negative. So, for example, some people in group A will have it, and will therefore be classed as A+ (or A positive). While the ones that don't, are A- (or, wait for it...A negative). And so it goes for groups B, AB and O. 84% of the population is Rh positive.

Dennis Rader Killings- Facts

Dennis Rader

Born: March 9 1945-Kansas, America

Sentence: Life Inprisonment

Killings

Number of Victims: 10

Span of Killings: 1974-1991

State: Kansas

Case Study-BTK Murders

Dennis Lynn Rader was the killer who murdered 10 people in and around Wichita, Kansas in America. BTK stands for Blind, Torture and Kill which was the way Dennis operated his murders.
His victims were these 10 people:
1974: Four members of the Otero family
Joseph Otero
Julie Otero, Joseph's wife
Joseph Otero II, son
Josephine Otero, daughter
1974: Kathryn Bright (he also shot Bright's brother twice, but he survived)
1977: Shirley Vian
1977: Nancy Fox
1985: Marine Hedge
1986: Vicki Wegerle
1991: Dolores Davis

DNA Fingerprinting

The chemical structure of everyone's DNA is the same. The only difference between people (or any animal) is the order of the base pairs. There are so many millions of base pairs in each person's DNA that every person has a different sequence.
Using these sequences, every person could be identified solely by the sequence of their base pairs. However, because there are so many millions of base pairs, the task would be very time-consuming. Instead, scientists are able to use a shorter method, because of repeating patterns in DNA.
These patterns do not, however, give an individual "fingerprint," but they are able to determine whether two DNA samples are from the same person, related people, or non-related people. Scientists use a small number of sequences of DNA that are known to vary among individuals a great deal, and analyze those to get a certain probability of a match.

Pictures of fingerprints

Fingerprint patterns

There are three main fingerprint patterns;loops, whorls and arches.

Arches are found in around 5% of fingerprints.The lines run fron one side to the other of the pattern, making no backward turn.There are four types of arch patterns: plain arches, radial arches, ulnar arches and tented arches.Plain arches have an even flow of ridges from one side to the other of the pattern. The ridges of radial arches slope towards the thumb, have one delta and no re-curving ridges. On ulnar arches, the ridges slope towards the little finger, have one delta and no re-curving ridges. Tented arches have an angle, an up thrust, or two of the three basic characteristics of the loop.

Loops occur in about 60-70 % of fingerprint patterns encountered. One or more of the ridges enters on either side of the impression. The flow of the pattern in radial loops runs in the direction of the radius (toward the thumb). Ulnar loops are named after the ulna, a bone in the forearm. The ulna is on the same side as the little finger and the flow of the pattern in a ulnar loop runs in the direction of the ulna (toward the little finger).

Whorls are seen in about 25-35 % of fingerprint patterns encountered. In a whorl, some of the ridges make a turn through at least one circuit.There are four types of whorl patterns. Plain whorls consist of one or more ridges which make or tend to make a complete circuit with two deltas, between which an imaginary line is drawn and at least one re-curving ridge within the inner pattern area is cut or touched. Central pocket loop whorls consist of at least one re-curving ridge. Central pocket loop whorl ridges make one complete circuit which may be spiral, oval, circular or any variant of a circle. Double loop whorls consist of two separate and distinct loop formations with two separate and distinct shoulders for each core. Accidental whorls consist of two different types of patterns with the exception of the plain arch.

What is a fingerprint?

A fingerprint is an impression of the friction ridges on finger. Fingerprint ridges are formed during the third to fourth month of fetal development. The ridges begin to develop on the skin of the thumbs and fingers.The purpose of these ridges is to give the fingers a firmer grasp and to avoid slippage. These ridges allow the fingers to grasp and pick up objects.
The friction ridges on the fingers arrange themselves in more or less regular patterns with ridge characteristics. All fingerprints have a unique combination and arrangement of patterns and ridge characteristics.There are three main types of fingerprint; visible prints, latent prints, and impressed prints:

• Visible prints

Visible prints are also called patent prints and are left in some medium, like blood, that reveals them to the naked eye. They can be when blood, dirt, ink or grease on the finger come into contact with a smooth surface and leave a friction ridge impression that is visible without development.

• Latent prints

Latent prints are not apparent to the naked eye. They are formed from the sweat from sebaceous glands on the body or water, salt, amino acids and oils contained in sweat. The sweat and fluids create prints must be developed before they can be seen or photographed. They can be made sufficiently visible by dusting, fuming or chemical reagents.

• Impressed prints

Impressed prints are also called plastic prints and are indentations left in soft pliable surfaces, such as clay, wax, paint or another surface that will take the impression. They are visible and can be viewed or photographed without development.

The History of Fingerprints

Fingerprints were first used in England in July 1858, when Sir William Herschel, Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly district in Jungipoor, India, first used fingerprints on native contracts. With no thought toward personal identification, Herschel had Rajyadhar Konai, a local businessman, impress his hand print on a contract. Personal contact with the document, they believed, made the contract more binding than if they simply signed it. This means, fingerprints are now used because of, not scientific evidence, superstitious beliefs.

Juan Vucetich made the first criminal fingerprint identification in 1892. He was able to identify Francis Rojas, a woman who murdered her two sons and cut her own throat in an attempt to place blame on another. Her bloody print was left on a door post, proving her identity as the murderer.