Postmortem iris recognition and its application in human identification

Iris recognition is a validated and non-invasive human identification technology currently implemented for the purposes of surveillance and security (i.e. border control, schools, military). Similar to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), irises are a highly individualizing component of the human body. Based on a lack of genetic penetrance, irises are unique between an individual’s left and right iris and between identical twins, proving to be more individualizing than DNA. At this time, little to no research has been conducted on the use of postmortem iris scanning as a biometric measurement of identification. The purpose of this pilot study is to explore the use of iris recognition as a tool for postmortem identification. Objectives of the study include determining whether current iris recognition technology can locate and detect iris codes in postmortem globes, and if iris scans collected at different postmortem time intervals can be identified as the same iris initially enrolled. Data from 43 decedents involving 148 subsequent iris scans demonstrated a subsequent match rate of approximately 80%, supporting the theory that iris recognition technology is capable of detecting and identifying an individual’s iris code in a postmortem setting. A chi-square test of independence showed no significant difference between match outcomes and the globe scanned (left vs. right), and gender had no bearing on the match outcome. There was a significant relationship between iris color and match outcome, with blue/gray eyes yielding a lower match rate (59%) compared to brown (82%) or green/hazel eyes (88%), however, the sample size of blue/gray eyes in this study was not large enough to draw a meaningful conclusion. An isolated case involving an antemortem initial scan collected from an individual on life support yielded an accurate identification (match) with a subsequent scan captured at approximately 10 hours postmortem. Falsely rejected subsequent iris scans or "no match" results occurred in about 20% of scans; they were observed at each PMI range and varied from 19-30%. The false reject rate is too high to reliably establish non-identity when used alone and ideally would be significantly lower prior to implementation in a forensic setting; however, a "no match" could be confirmed using another method. Importantly, the data showed a false match rate or false accept rate (FAR) of zero, a result consistent with previous iris recognition studies in living individuals. The preliminary results of this pilot study demonstrate a plausible role for iris recognition in postmortem human identification. Implementation of a universal iris recognition database would benefit the medicolegal death investigation and forensic pathology communities, and has potential applications to other situations such as missing persons and human trafficking cases

Emirati women’s liminal economic agency: Gendered space within modernity and tradition

This dissertation explores Emirati women's liminal economic agency in the rapidly modernising Arabian Gulf country, the United Arab Emirates. This study represents a complex research area in which elements of modernisation such as women's increasing educational and professional qualifications are materialising against a cultural landscape traditionally characterised by domestic women, their financial dependence on men, and gender segregation. I employ a variety of methodologies to investigate the new spaces that are being moulded by the contradictory forces of modernisation and traditional values associated with women. The theoretical framework of my research is based on three intersecting analytical lenses, namely, space, the Islamic conceptualisation of gender, and localised Islam. The conceptual frame of space is important as the backdrop of state policy and traditional gender norms is creating fluctuating, liminal spaces which influence the development of new agencies for Emirati women. The Islamic conceptualisation of gender is of vital importance as it is influential in determining the nature and degree of agency that women can validly assume. The conceptual lens of localised Islam permits the researcher to trace how Islam is reinterpreted both individually and collectively within phases of substantial socio-economic and national change as is the case in the United Arab Emirates. This compilation thesis comprises a synthesis and four individual studies. The first study maps the area of my research which is the evolving space of women's economic agency, a space interactively contoured by empowering gendered state policy and restrictive gendered cultural traditions. These two potencies mutually influence the potential for positions of change for women. The second study explores how Emirati women are enacting leadership both in terms of self-reported behaviours and employee perceptions. Given the traditional cultural subordination of Emirati women, it was considered valuable to investigate how they assume positions of organisational power. The results of this study reveal highly contextualised enactments of leadership through the merger of state policy encouraging the rise of women to leadership roles and patriarchal subordinations of women. The third study investigates women employees in the public sector and finds that women have considerable sense of agency generated by their state-endorsed belief that they are contributing to national development. Its findings also reveal that young women regard the workplace as an important extra familial social setting in which they can independently forge personal relationships. The fourth study employs the conceptual lens of localised Islam to explore women's discursive legitimation of their economic agency in terms of Islamic dogma and their attribution of objections to this agency as deriving solely from cultural traditions. Research in the geopolitical setting of my study, an affluent nation with an Islamic heritage aiming to establish itself as a global political player, provides a valuable addition to research on the mutual constitution of gender, culture, and nation in the global south. The contribution of this research is that its findings add to the reframing of transnational gender studies as it illustrates that freedoms and agencies may exist in very different forms from Western interpretations of these constructs. My identification of a case in which elements of patriarchal subordination fuel greater agency among women leaders demonstrates a highly contextualised relational operation of subordination and agency thus negating the binary of power versus subordination. My four studies illustrate a fluid interpretation of development of state, culture, and gender, and thus problematise the assumption of a dualism of modernity versus tradition

Lessons from the gulf: Female indigenous Emirati students’ persistence and success at university

Students’ persistence and success remain significant issues for universities worldwide, but Tinto (2017a; 2017b) argued that universities need to listen to perspectives of students themselves in identifying what causes them to persist and succeed. This article reports on such perspectives of Indigenous Emirati, Muslim women at one public university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Data collection from original doctoral research involved an initial, customised survey completed by 22 Emirati women with subsequent interviews conducted with a further 21 female students. Data for the purpose of this article were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings are presented within Tinto’s framework: goals; sense of belonging; self-efficacy; responses to curriculum; and their impact on students’ motivation. Tinto’s framework provides a valuable insight in understanding the women’s experiences, and their statements around persistence and success have important implications for understanding women’s progression in higher education in a society where male authority remains significant

Navigating COVID-19: Female Ph.D. Students Coping with Family, Academic, and Job Duties

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, many governments introduced lockdown measures in which people were expected to work and study from their homes. Schools, daycares, and extracurricular programs were temporarily closed. All students from primary to the post-graduate level were transferred to online learning. This shift added a tremendous burden and additional workload for parents who were supposed to combine their own work and supervision of the online studies of their children from home. Recent research confirmed that women took more responsibilities for household chores and care of children during the pandemic. We conducted a study on female doctoral students because women in this demographic tend to have families by that age, pursue their graduate studies, and are often involved in full-time and part-time jobs to contribute to their family income. We suggest that the gender equality sustainable development goal can be achieved through doctoral education, opportunities for combining academic careers with family responsibilities to women; and the support of women in the knowledge-based economy. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore female Ph.D. students\u27 lived experiences under the pressure of the pandemic and investigate the main strategies of coping with the multiple duties they had. This case study applies a qualitative methodology, interpretative phenomenological approach. The data source is the in-depth semi-structured interviews with six female Ph.D. students who comprised a homogenous and purposeful sample as they shared the same experience

Dreamscapes of Dubai: Geographies and Genealogies of Global City Status

This dissertation asks how Dubais dream and position as a global city impacts on and is impacted by the experiences of a migrant-majority population; and, simultaneously, how the operation of highly exclusionary citizenship regimes and everyday ideologies work to justify and rationalize social hierarchies. It explores the making of Dubais global, developmental trajectory through a multiplicity of dreams and temporalities as they shape urban landscapes and social hierarchies in the city. Methodologically, it operates through an understanding of the simultaneity of social scales, which allows, in part, for an examination of how the everyday offers insight as a counterpoint to the spectacle of globality. Theoretically I argue that understanding the construction of particular subjectivities created through relational identity formation and processes of Othering based on privilege and exclusion allows for a more complex understanding of the social, political, economic and imaginary realms through which we might challenge social hierarchies and the subsequent violence(s) they engender as somehow natural, inevitable, increasingly acceptable, and at times, necessary in the making of neoliberal globality. It is argued that migration is an integral and foundational aspect of Dubais development and global allure, illustrated by mapping the diverse routes that comprise geographies of migration to the city, while simultaneously unmapping the historical genealogies that accompany migrants on their journeys to the city. Together, these examinations allow us to trace histories of race, nationality, class and gender, operating at different scales, and in different forms and temporalities, to rationalize, normalize, and even, legitimize violent landscapes and hierarchies