Book reviews

This article addresses whether there are differences in regulatory regimes in the devolved nations of the UK. It focuses on the divergence between rhetoric and practice around improving performance of local authorities. By discussing general understanding of public sector quality and the possible role for regulators in ensuring quality it shows that Scotland and Wales have developed different approaches since devolution of power in 1999. By comparing case studies from each of the nations it shows that practices vary much less than could be expected based on the previous research. This is likely to be due to shared underlying assumptions about performance and how to improve it, rather than the regulatory regimes themselves. It is argued that external pressure and support are vital, and that these functions can be damaged by reducing involvement of the state in safeguarding quality of public service delivery.     

Rural income and poverty in a time of radical change in Malawi

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa. There is widespread, though not universal, agreement about the shape of poverty in the country and the policy challenge this sets. Agriculture continues to be the most obvious means to stimulate broad-based rural growth and to provide levels of food security and income needed for the majority rural population. A longitudinal study over a decade during which radical policy and political changes occurred provides the data and basis for discussing the appropriate policy directions for reducing poverty.     

The application of infrared chemical imaging to the detection and enhancement of latent fingerprints: method optimization and further findings

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) chemical imaging allows the collection of fingerprint images from backgrounds that have traditionally posed problems for conventional fingerprint detection methods. In this work, the suitability of this technique for the imaging of fingerprints on a wider range of difficult surfaces (including polymer banknotes, various types of paper, and aluminum drink cans) has been tested. For each new surface, a systematic methodology was employed to optimize settings such as spectral resolution, number of scans, and pixel aggregation in order to reduce collection time and file-size without compromising spatial resolution and the quality of the final fingerprint image. The imaging of cyanoacrylate-fumed fingerprints on polymer banknotes has been improved, with shorter collection times for larger image areas. One-month-old fingerprints on polymer banknotes have been successfully fumed and imaged. It was also found that FTIR chemical imaging gives high quality images of cyanoacrylate-fumed fingerprints on aluminum drink cans, regardless of the printed background. Although visible and UV light sources do not yield fingerprint images of the same quality on difficult, nonporous backgrounds, in many cases they can be used to locate a fingerprint prior to higher quality imaging by the FTIR technique. Attempts to acquire FTIR images of fingerprints on paper-based porous surfaces that had been treated with established reagents such as ninhydrin were all unsuccessful due to the swamping effect of the cellulose constituents of the paper.     

Zoosemiotics 2.0

This paper discusses how major changes in methodology, ideology and the points of view of researchers have given linguistics a new opportunity to study animal semiotics and return to the “animal language” question. The article presents new linguistic perspectives from language theory but also from sociolinguistics, language development studies or the study of sign language. This paper shows how these perspective changes have scientifically modified the way linguists approach animal communication and cleared a path for new study fields such as biosemiotics and zoosemiotics. The second part of this article introduces other significant evolutions in various scientific fields, such as biology, neuroscience or ethology, but also philosophy, and how these changes are going in the same directions as linguistics’. It demonstrates how animal linguistics is without doubt a completely interdisciplinary subject where efficient research is only possible by paradigm changes in all related fields. The last part of the paper introduces some of these possible new study prospects.     

Guns,Southernness, and gun control

Southerners have been found to have higher levels of gun ownership than persons who reside elsewhere. This may be due to cultural factors peculiar to the Southern region. If so, this would have interesting implications for gun control initiatives. Although the differential in gun ownership has been linked to varying support or opposition to gun control, the relationship between this variable and specific types of gun control has not been examined. With this in mind, we investigate how specific types of gun ownership interact with Southernness, controlling for the effects of other variables, to determine preferences for three different types of gun control. We use 1975 data collected by DMI on a stratified random sample of 1538 noninstitutionalized adults in the United States. An analysis of several logistic regression equations indicates that a cultural component, related to Southernness, affects attitudes toward gun control. Southerners, in general, were the most opposed to permits and handgun bans. Southern shotgun owners, in particular, were found to be the most opposed to gun registration. These findings point to the need to consider region, culture, and gun type when addressing the issue of gun control.We would be happy to supply the interested reader with an electronic copy of the data set.     

Legislating School Crisis Response: Good Policy or Just Good Politics?

Over the past decade, a growing number of schools have responded to students' safety and mental health needs following campus violence and other crises. More recently, policymakers have joined this trend, proposing legislation requiring schools to establish crisis response programs. This paper provides an overview of crisis response initiatives implemented by school districts following traumatic events, including school violence. It then examines recent state legislation and other policies, followed by a discussion of the advisability of such mandates, given the scant research and evaluation of school crisis response to date.     

‘A conscientious and well-informed Victorian mother’: Elizabeth Gaskell's letters to her daughters

Unlike the majority of the major female authors of the Victorian period, Elizabeth Gaskell was a mother, and her understanding of motherhood was one of the defining preoccupations of both her life and her fiction. In her lively and intimate letters to her four daughters, Gaskell provides a fascinating insight into mid-Victorian motherhood. ‘Conscientious and well-informed’, frank and self-reflexive, Gaskell's letters reflect the social and intellectual ferment of the period and shed light on some of the most pressing issues faced by mothers of the period, including the psychological development and education of children, the Victorian crises of religious schism and unbelief, and the rise of feminism.     

Legal Neutrality,Public Benefit and Religious Charitable Purposes: Making Sense of Thornton v Howe

Thornton v Howe (1862) concerned a trust to promote the works of Joanna Southcott, a millenarian prophetess. Sir John Romilly's assertion of legal neutrality towards religion sits uneasily with the outcome of the case, but a contextual study shows that Romilly was sincere and that in its heyday Southcott's sect was a significant group with particular attraction for women. By the time of this litigation, however, her dwindling following was ill-equipped to administer the inadequate trust fund and prolonged litigation. Although Romilly's neutrality approach was correct at the time, it was overtaken by the impetus for greater scrutiny of religious charitable purposes through a requirement of public benefit.     

Problems of female patients in a secure psychiatric hospital

Abstract

The problems experienced by a sample of 30 female offender-patients in a secure psychiatric hospital were surveyed using the Behavioral Coding System (BCS). Common problems are emotional difficulties, antisocial behaviors, auditory hallucinations, and self-injury. Problem profiles derived from medical records, key workers' reports, and patients' self reports differed. The survey revealed the necessity of revising the BCS better to identify relevant concerns in this particular population.