Teenage suicide in King County, Washington. I. Rates of suicide for 26 years

The population-adjusted rate of teenage suicide in King County, Washington, was reviewed for the 26 years from 1959 to 1984. For the entire period, the rate did not change significantly. An abrupt change did occur during the middle of this period, but, for reasons discussed in the text, this may well represent a change in procedures and philosophy of death certification rather than a real change in rate. Reasons for the apparent discrepancy with national statistics are discussed.     

STATE SUPREME COURT APPLICATIONS OF TROXEL v. GRANVILLE AND THE COURTS' RELUCTANCE TO DECLARE GRANDPARENT VISITATION STATUTES UNCONSTITUTIONAL

In this article, the author reviews state supreme court applications of Troxel v. Granville , analyzing the impact of the decision on the courts' ongoing efforts to adjudicate visitation disputes between parents and grandparents. Set against a background of legislative recognition of grandparents' rights and judicial uncertainty regarding the appropriate role of nonparents in children's lives, Troxel reaffirmed the constitutional right of parents to direct their children's upbringing. The author argues that state supreme courts evaluating gradparent visitation statutes and seeking to enforce Troxel 's presumption in favor of parents should be more willing to strike down overly broad statutes. Such an approach would be a positive step toward addressing the excessive judicial discretion that the Troxel Court found so problematic, and would signal to state legislatures the need for statutes that both provide for the needs of children and protect parental rights.     

Spatial variation of refractive index in a pane of float glass.

In the statistical interpretation of forensic glass evidence it is standard practice to make the assumption of homogeneity of the refractive index (RI) of the source glass, or of localized homogeneity. However, the work of Locke and Hayes showed that, for toughened windscreen glass, this assumption might not be true. This work is well cited, but there appears to have been little follow-on published research. Furthermore, the toughening process is something known to affect the refractive index, and is a process that float glass does not undergo. Float glass is a major component of casework in New Zealand and for that reason it would be interesting to know whether the findings of Locke and Hayes apply when dealing with float glass. In this paper we describe an experiment similar to that of Locke and Hayes, systematically examining the variation of RI in a pane of float window glass. It was found that, although there were no systematic differences in refractive index, there were observable differences across the pane.     

准确·凝炼·具体——周总理给雷锋题词的往事

１９６３年２月下旬，毛主席题词“向雷锋同志学习”。３月５日，《人民日报》、《解放军报》、《中国青年报》等报刊发表以后，全国青年乃至全国军民热烈响应，迅速掀起了学雷锋活动的高潮。在毛主席题词之后，总政首长亲自向中共中央其他常委写报告，请求题词，在《解放军报》上刊登。刘少奇、周恩来、朱德、邓小平等同志陆续题了词。《解放军报》于３月６日首先刊载题词手迹后，进一步推动了全国学雷锋活动热潮。在中央常委题词过程中，周总理的一件事给我很大教育，至今印象很深。那段时间，我在解放军报社工作，正值上夜班。在周总理的…     

Driving less for better air: Impacts of a public information campaign

In the wake of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, localities across the United States initiated public information campaigns both to raise awareness of threats to air quality and to change behavior related to air pollution by recommending specific behavioral changes in the campaign messages. These campaigns are designed to reduce the health hazards associated with poor air quality and to avoid federal sanctions resulting from the failure to meet air quality standards. As in many other communities across the country, a coalition of government agencies and businesses initiated a public information campaign in the Atlanta metropolitan region to reduce certain targeted behaviors, mainly driving. A two‐stage model used to analyze data from a rolling sample survey shows that the centerpiece of the information campaign—air quality alerts—was effective in raising awareness and reducing driving in a segment of the population. When the overall information campaign was moderated by employers' participation in programs to improve air quality, drivers significantly reduced the number of miles they drove and the number of trips they took by car on days when air quality alerts were sounded. Public information campaigns can be successful in increasing awareness, but changing well‐established behaviors, such as driving, is likely to require institutional mediation to provide social contexts that support the behavioral change, as well. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Site of discovery in the bath tub. Evaluation of a fatality after four years using postmortem roentgen diagnosis]

On the one hand the following case demonstrates the problems of finding a dead body in the bathroom and on the other hand the importance of postmortem x-ray examinations. The corpse of an 65-year-old woman was discovered in her bath tub. At the body's feet there was a hair dryer. Investigations concerning murder were negative, circumstances appeared to be unsuspicious. That was why a postmortem examination was not performed. -4 years later murder had to be considered. After manual strangling the deceased and the hair dryer were layed into the bath tub. The corpse was exhumed and taken to a forensic autopsy. It was found that the hyoid bone and the superior horn of the thyroid cartilage were both fractured on the right. Damages caused by the preparation itself were excluded by using serial roentgenographs. These observations in combination with histological findings and the results of further investigations convincingly supported the suspicion of strangling by hand.     

Determination of cocaine and benzoylecgonine in human amniotic fluid using high flow solid-phase extraction columns and HPLC.

A new solid-phase extraction procedure for the determination of cocaine and benzoylecgonine in amniotic fluid, using high flow co-polymeric sorbents is reported. The recoveries of cocaine and benzoylecgonine within the range 0.1-1 mg/l were 95.7% and 50.3%, respectively. The use of high-flow sorbents allowed the easy extraction of amniotic fluid regardless of sample viscosity or physical nature. The use of these solid-phase columns provided many advantages over the more commonly used solvent extraction, including an increase in extraction speed and efficiency, reduced operator time, reduced solvent use and disposal volumes and exceptional extract quality. Further, the determination of amniotic fluid obtained from pregnant cocaine users may provide important information about handling of cocaine by the fetus at various gestational ages. The procedure was successfully applied to amniotic fluid from suspected cocaine abusers.