Deaths caused by carbon monoxide poisoning in an open environment (outdoors)

Three deaths as a result of inhalation of carbon monoxide from the exhaust fumes of automobiles are reported. All deaths occurred outside and not in a structure. The individuals were white males, ages 24 to 26 years. Blood carboxyhemoglobin concentrations ranged from 58 (in a decomposing body) to 81%. The three cases illustrate the fact that even in the outdoors death from carbon monoxide inhalation can occur if an individual is in close proximity to a rich source of carbon monoxide.     

The Application of the Polyvagal Theory to High Conflict Co‐Parenting Cases

Families, litigants, lawyers, advisors embroiled in cases of complex divorce with child contact issues, manage many stressors at once. Participants involved with these types of cases are often exhausted and burned‐out from the long‐term battles of prolonged litigation. The inability to problem‐solve or even communicate effectively reflects the chaos and traumatic stress of the experience and can be seen as a hallmark of this population. When people are consistently stressed, there is a breakdown of communication skills that can create an immunity to receiving help from any direction. Often all parties involved appear to be both hyper‐alert to potential threat, and hyper‐reactive to one another: no one feels safe. Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory is premised on the idea that neuroception plays a key role in the nervous system's ability to assess danger in the environment. Neuroception is a neurophysiological response that does not involve cognitive processing. When cognitive processing is not involved, the result may lead to misinterpretation of, and an inability to accurately assess situations: executive functioning including rational thinking and communication skills are lost to physiological response. Rather than evaluating families and individuals involved in the aforementioned complex divorce cases through the lens of pathology, Polyvagal Theory explains their behavior as an adaptive stress reaction. Utilizing Polyvagal Theory offers a promising path to treatment with these families and diminishing the poor communication and the heightened emotion, assisting practitioners in understanding the impact of neurobiological response in managing stress and trauma. Applying Polyvagal Theory to court involved populations can help both litigants and practitioners recognize the role of the autonomic nervous system, providing the opportunity to understand, to self‐regulate, and to improve communication and decision making.     

Do Municipal Mergers Improve Technical Efficiency? An Empirical Analysis of the 2008 Queensland Municipal Merger Program

Municipal mergers remain an important instrument of local government policy in numerous countries, including Australia, despite some concerns surrounding its efficacy. We consider the claim that amalgamations enhance the technical efficiency of the merged entities by examining the 2008 Queensland compulsory consolidation program that reduced the number of local authorities from 157 to 73 councils. To test the claim, we conduct locally inter‐temporal data envelopment analysis over the period 2003–2013 inclusive. Our evidence suggests that (1) in the financial year preceding the mergers, there was no statistically significant difference in the typical efficiency scores of amalgamated and non‐amalgamated councils and (2) 2 years following the mergers, the typical technical efficiency score of the amalgamated councils was well below the non‐amalgamated cohort. We argue this may be attributed to increased spending on staffing expenses, although comparatively larger operational expenditure also served to diminish efficiency.     

The quest for legitimacy in independent Kosovo: the unfulfilled promise of diversity and minority rights

When Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, it did so not as a nation-state, but as a “state of communities,” self-defining as multiethnic, diverse, and committed to extensive rights for minorities. In this paper, this choice is understood as a response to a dual legitimation problem. Kosovo experienced both an external legitimation challenge, regarding its contested statehood internationally, and an internal one, vis-à-vis its Serb minority. The focus on diversity and minority rights was expected to confer legitimacy on the state both externally and internally. International state-builders and the domestic political elite in post-conflict Kosovo both pursued this strategy. However, it inadvertently created an additional internal legitimation challenge, this time from within Kosovo’s majority Albanian population. This dynamic is illustrated by the opposition movement “Lëvizja Vetëvendosje” (Self-Determination Movement), which rejects the framing of Kosovo as first and foremost a multiethnic state. The movement’s counter-narrative represents an additional internal legitimation challenge to the new state. This paper thus finds that internationally endorsed “diversity management” through minority rights did not deliver as a panacea for the legitimacy dilemmas of the post-conflict polity. On the contrary, the “state of communities” continues to be contested by both majority and minority groups in Kosovo.     

Teacher–Student Relationship Climate and School Outcomes: Implications for Educational Policy Initiatives

In recent discussions regarding concerns about the academic achievement of US students, educational policy makers have suggested the implementation of certain teacher policies. To address the limited empirical research on the putative educational impact of such policies, this study used multilevel structural equation models to investigate the longitudinal associations between teacher evaluation and reward policies, and student mathematics achievement and dropout with a national sample of students (n = 7,779) attending one of 431 public high schools. The student sample included an equal number of boys and girls averaging 16 years of age, and included a White (53%) majority. This study examined whether associations between teacher policies and student achievement were mediated by the teacher–student relationship climate. Results of this study were threefold. First, teacher evaluation policies that allowed students to evaluate their teachers were associated with more positive student reports of the classroom teaching climate. Second, schools with teacher reward policies that included assigning higher performing teachers with higher performing students had a negative association with student perceptions of the teaching climate. Lastly, schools with better student perceptions of the teaching climate were associated with lower student dropout rates by students’ senior year. These findings are discussed in light of their educational policy implications.     

Exposure to Violence in Adolescence and Precocious Role Exits

Exposure to violence is a serious public health concern that compromises adolescents by affecting their behavior and psychological well-being. The current study advances knowledge about the consequences of exposure to violence in adolescence by applying a life course perspective to evaluate the developmental implications of adolescents’ exposure to violence. In particular, drawing on a sample of 11,949 school-aged adolescents in the U.S., we examine whether exposure to violence in adolescence is associated with precocious role exits that some adolescents experience. Exposure to violence is conceptualized as including both direct (i.e., experiencing physical victimization) and indirect exposure (i.e., witnessing others’ victimization). Three types of direct exposure to violence are examined: street, intimate partner, and family victimization, as well as four types of indirect exposure including: street, peer, and school violence as well as exposure to family/friend suicide. Using three waves of longitudinal data from the Add Health Study, we find that exposure to violence is associated with greater risks of running away from home, dropping out of high school, having a child, attempting suicide, and coming into contact with the criminal justice system in later adolescence. In addition, risks depend upon the relational context in which the exposure to violence occurred, risks increase with greater exposure to violence, and risks are, for the most part, highest for those youth exposed to both indirect and direct violence in adolescence.

Identifying Barriers to Permanency: The Recruitment,Selection, and Training of Resource Parents

Staff and resource parents in the public child welfare agency and private child care facilities were invited to participate in research in one state to examine the barriers surrounding resource parent recruitment, training and selection, and strategies for achieving more timely permanency. Issues identified included the need for a shared vision among all stakeholders and the need to focus more on developing public and private agency partnerships. Data-driven strategies were then designed to address identified barriers. This process can serve as an example of how systems may use solicited input from the field to develop interventions or modify casework practice in an attempt to improve child and family outcomes as needed.     

Crony capitalism in the Palestinian Authority: a deal among friends

Abstract

This article interrogates the multifaceted political–economic networks entrenched within the multiple structures of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA). The main argument of this article is that crony capitalism is a defining feature of the PA’s relations with a handful of capitalists and business groups. The demonstration of this argument is exhibited through the large-scale public and private monopolistic practices in strategic sectors of the Palestinian economy, which function within the framework of Israel’s settler-colonial reality and the persistent patterns of international aid to the occupied West Bank. While acknowledging the existence of cronyism as a feature of the capitalist system in its diverse typologies, crony capitalism may be more pronounced in situations characterised by political uncertainty, whereby political–business collusion strategizes the expansion of neo-patrimonial networks and rent-seeking opportunities as a meta-mechanism for social control and political stabilisation. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, crony capitalism was developed as part of the political allegiances and economic alliances that underpin the structures created by the Oslo process, which are fostered by Israeli policies and the international donor community to maintain the cohesiveness of the PA regime.     

Why revolution ain’t easy: violating norms,re‐socializing society

Society is not only structured by major hierarchical institutions, but also by the unwritten rules, called norms, that govern the practice of daily life within those institutions. Peoples’ unreflective observance of these norms helps to perpetuate inequality and domination in society. Norms are transmitted through a process of socialization, by which every member of society is subtly trained to appreciate and follow these norms. While disobeying norms, or deviance, is possible, it is also fraught with problems and challenges. Ultimately, many things prevent the creation of new, anarchistic norms. Still, even with formidable obstacles in their path, anarchists have attempted to re‐socialize themselves and others in order to adhere to more egalitarian, horizontal, and cooperative norms.