Farmers,peanuts, and aflatoxins in Uganda: A gendered approach

This article describes a collaborative research for development project that used participatory methods to engage smallholder farmers in Uganda in post-harvest aflatoxin management. It is based primarily on qualitative research with peanut growers tracing ‘the path of the peanut’ through their hand-drawn maps and journal writing. By focusing on everyday life and including recipes and drawings, this research encouraged women's participation and emphasised women's roles. A unique partnership among universities, women's organisations, and farmers created an environment of mutual learning and produced a book documenting food preparation and other post-harvest practices as part of a study and capacity-building effort on peanuts and aflatoxins.     

上海巡警队伍状况问卷调查报告

对上海市巡警进行抽样调查的结果显示目前,巡警队伍的整体工作氛围不佳、民警士气不高;勤务管理重心偏离和部分巡警存在侥幸心理,影响了履职能力的提高;勤务运作呆板、缺乏有效的支撑制约了巡逻效能充分发挥.针对上述问题,必须完善巡警运作模式,加强队伍监督管理,进一步健全奖惩激励机制,建立、完善人员进出机制以及加强和改革巡警教育培训.     

Examination of Hacking and Blunt Force Skeletal Trauma

Hacking trauma is prevalent in forensic cases involving genocide and dismemberment, but research into the identification of this type of trauma is lacking. The present study examines characteristics of hacking and blunt force skeletal trauma in order to determine if there is a point at which blunt force trauma becomes distinguishable from hacking trauma. Ten implements with a range of blade angles (i.e., the striking surface of the implement) were used in conjunction with a controlled-force hacking device to impact 100 limb bones of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Observations of the trauma included the occurrence and degree of fragmentation, the entrance widths of the impacts, and composite scores of six hacking characteristics, especially the distinctive V-shaped kerf. ANOVA tests and regression analyses were used to assess the relationships between these characteristics and the blade angles. A significant relationship (p-value = 0.011) was found between the composite hacking scores and the blade angles, indicating that blunt force and hacking trauma can be distinguished. The entrance widths of the impacts exhibited a significant relationship with the blade angles (p-value = 0.037). There was also a significant relationship between the visibility of a V-shaped kerf in the bones (p-value = 0.003), with visibility decreasing around the 60° blade angle. These data should assist in establishing guidelines to differentiate hacking and blunt force skeletal trauma in cases where the implement is on a spectrum between sharp and blunt.     

Do Motivations for Malingering Matter? Symptoms of Malingered PTSD as a Function of Motivation and Trauma Type

Psychological disorders associated with traumatic events, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may be prone to malingering due to the subjective nature of trauma symptomology. In general, symptoms tend to be inflated when an external reward (i.e., compensation) is associated with the claim. The present study was designed to test whether malingered claims of PTSD symptoms differed as a function of the type of trauma being malingered (accident, disaster, sexual assault) and the motivation for malingering (compensation, attention, revenge, no motivation). Participants were randomly assigned into conditions, given malingering instructions, and then asked to complete three measures of trauma symptoms (Impact of Event Scale??Revised; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist; Trauma Symptom Inventory). Results indicated that participants in the sexual assault condition produced higher symptom reports on nearly all scales. Revenge and compensation motivations yielded elevated symptom scores. Further, individuals rated high in fantasy proneness and dissociation produced elevated scores on atypical responding and most clinical scales. More research is needed to examine the extent to which different motivations and trauma types influence symptom reporting.     

Rabbinic Call for a Shared Jerusalem

This statement was signed in February 2000 by 314 reform, conservative and reconstructionist American rabbis. It resulted from a year-long educational project involving 1200 rabbis. The president of the Jewish Peace Lobby is Jerome M. Segal, research scholar at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland.     

上海公安派出所基础工作建设调研报告

2006年初,根据公安部和上海市公安局开展基层基础工作调研的要求,上海市公安局治安总队考察了上海派出所在警力布局、工作保障、队伍素质培养以及内部管理规范等方面的情况,透视现状和问题,分析原因,结合2004年开展的派出所勤务机制改革试行中积累的经验,并在此基础上聚焦主要制约因素,突破主要瓶颈口,作出理性的研判,提出相应的对策与措施.     

Misremembering Events: Emotional Valence,Psychopathic Traits,and the Misinformation Effect

Past research has demonstrated increased susceptibility to misinformation under varying conditions, including negative emotional scenes. In addition, psychopathic traits have been associated with emotional deficits which may lead to differences in memory processing. The present study examined emotional valence and psychopathic traits in relation to the misinformation effect. Participants (n = 334) were exposed to emotional scenes (positive, neutral, negative), completed a measure of psychopathic traits (PPI-R), and were asked either misleading or nonleading questions. Accuracy and susceptibility to misinformation were assessed through a series of open-ended questions and accuracy scoring. Accuracy was highest for both emotional (60%) relative to neutral (53.9%) images. Memory differences in recall of negative versus positive scenes was evidenced dependent on attentional focus. Participants in the misled condition were less accurate in their recall overall, and recalled more misleading information (41.18% relative to 14.16%). In addition, individuals who received misleading suggestions were more likely to incorporate the major misleading detail into their memory for the negative scene. Psychopathic traits were not related to accuracy; however, those high in psychopathic traits tended to incorporate more misinformation into memory. Our results have important implications concerning how individuals remember emotional events, including people high in psychopathic traits, and follow up studies considering attention/motivation and misinformation are required.     

Of guns and geese: a meta-analytic review of the ‘weapon focus’ literature

Abstract

Weapon focus is frequently cited as a factor in eyewitness testimony, and is broadly defined as a weapon-related decrease in performance on subsequent tests of memory for those elements of an event or visual scene concurrent to the weapon. This effect has been attributed to either (a) physiological or emotional arousal that narrows the attentional beam (arousal/threat hypothesis), or (b) the cognitive demands inherent in processing an unusual object (e.g. weapon) that is incongruent with the schema representing the visual scene (unusual item hypothesis). Meta-analytical techniques were applied to test these theories as well as to evaluate the prospect of weapon focus in real-world criminal investigations. Our findings indicated an effect of weapon presence overall (g= 0.53) that was significantly influenced by retention interval, exposure duration, and threat but unaffected by whether the event occurred in a laboratory, simulation, or real-world environment.     

Book reviews

William G. Rosenberg, Liberals in the Russian Revolution. The Constitutional Democratic Party, 1917–1921. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1974. xiv+534 pp. $25.00 or $9.75 (paperback).

Roger Pethybridge, The Social Prelude to Stalinism. London: Macmillan, 1974. 343 pp. £7.00.

Vladimir Seduro, Dostoevski's Image in Russia Today. Belmont, Mass.: Nordland Publishing Company, 1975. 508 pp. $18.50.

P. H. Vigor, The Soviet View of War, Peace and Neutrality. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975. vii+256 pp. £6.50.

Franklyn D. Holzman, Financial Checks on Soviet Defense Expenditures. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1975. xv+104 pp. $11.50.

Hans‐E. Gramatzki, Räumliche Aspekte der Sowjetischen Wirtschaftsplanung. Berlin: Berichte des Osteuropa‐Instituts an der Freien Universität Berlin, 1974. 500 pp. DM 18.50.

Andrew F. Burghardt (ed.), Development Regions in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Canada. New York: Praeger, and London: Martin Robertson, 1975. xiii+192 pp. £8.25.

Alvin Z. Rubinstein (ed.), Soviet and Chinese Influence in the Third World. Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government. New York: Praeger, and London: Martin Robertson, 1975. ix+232 pp. £8.55.

Alfred Zauberman, The Mathematical Revolution in Soviet Economics. London: OUP, 1975. xii+62 pp. £2.75.

M. W. Balz, Invention and Innovation under Soviet Law: A Comparative Analysis. Toronto and London: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath, 1975. ix+187pp. £7.50.

Susan Jacoby, Inside Soviet Schools. New York: Schocken Books, 1974. 248 pp. $3.95.

Alexander Matejko, Social Change and Stratification in Eastern Europe. An Interpretive Analysis of Poland and Her Neighbors. (Praeger Special Studies in International Economics and Development.) New York: Praeger, 1974, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1975. xxiii+272 pp. £8.00.

Jaroslaw Piekalkiewicz, Communist Local Government. A Study of Poland. Athens, Ohio: Ohio UP, 1975. xiv+282 pp. $10.00.

Hans Hermann Höhmann, Michael C. Kaser, Karl C. Thalheim (eds.), The New Economic Systems of Eastern Europe. London: C. Hurst, and Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975. xxi+585 pp. £9.50.

Betty A. Laird and Roy D. Laird, To Live Long Enough: the Memoirs of Naum Jasny, Scientific Analyst. Lawrence: The University Press of Kansas, 1976. vii+190 pp. $11.00.

Oleh Semenovych Pidhainy and Oleksandra Ivanivna Pidhainy, The Ukrainian Republic in the Great East‐European Revolution: A Bibliography. Part II. Vol. 6. Toronto and New York: New Review Books, 1975. xv+387 pp. $34.50.     

Where Will Russia＇s Domestic and Foreign Policies Go under the ＂Medvedev-Putin lanoem . （detailed abstracts）

Why is it called the ＂Medvedev-Putin Tandem＂？ Russia＇s constitution stipulates that president is the head of state who shall be responsible for defining and supervising the implementation of the political, economic, diplomatic, and security guidelines and policies, while prime minister is the head of government who shall be responsible for working out and carrying out these guidelines and policies in detail.