A Minimally Invasive Technique for the Detection and Analysis of Pulmonary Fat Embolism: A Feasibility Study*

We investigated the feasibility of postmortem percutaneous needle biopsy (PNB) for obtaining pulmonary samples adequate for the study of pulmonary fat embolism (PFE). Samples of both lungs were obtained from 26 cadavers via two different methods: (i) PNB and (ii) the double-edged knife technique, the gold standard at our institute. After water storage and Sudan III staining, six forensic pathologists independently examined all samples for the presence and severity of PFE. The results were compared and analyzed in each case regarding the vitality of the PFE and its relationship to the cause of death. The results showed that PFE was almost identically diagnosed and graded on the samples obtained via both methods. The discrepancies between the two techniques did not affect the diagnoses of vitality or cause of death related to PFE. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the PNB sampling method for the diagnosis and interpretation of PFE in the postmortem setting.     

The effect of post-identification feedback, delay, and suspicion on accurate eyewitnesses

We examined whether post-identification feedback and suspicion affect accurate eyewitnesses. Participants viewed a video event and then made a lineup decision from a target-present photo lineup. Regardless of accuracy, the experimenter either, informed participants that they made a correct lineup decision or gave no information regarding their lineup decision. Immediately following the lineup decision or after a 1-week delay, a second experimenter gave some of the participants who received confirming feedback reason to be suspicious of the confirming feedback. Following immediately after the confirming feedback, accurate witnesses did not demonstrate certainty inflation. However, after a delay accurate witnesses did demonstrate certainty inflation typically associated with confirming feedback. The suspicion manipulation only affected participants' certainty when the confirming feedback created certainty inflation. The results lend support to the accessibility interpretation of the post-identification feedback effect and the erasure interpretation of the suspicion effect.     

Pi Alpha Alpha activities and effectiveness: results from a national survey of chapter advisors

Pi Alpha Alpha (PAA) is the national academic honor society for public administration. This study presents the results of a comprehensive survey of PAA Chapter advisors focusing on inductee characteristics, induction requirements, chapter activities, chapter officers, and suggestions for improving PAA chapter effectiveness. NASPAA sponsored the survey and provided relevant logistical support. The results indicate that PAA is meeting its major objectives, but several areas require attention including enhancing the activity mix, improving recruitment practices for chapter officers, and a dedicated means for disseminating information on chapter activities through a newsletter and a chapter directory.     

The environmental psychology of the hospital: Is the cure worse than the illness?

Abstract

This paper presents a framework and summarizes evidence bearing on the role that the physical environment plays in the prevention and reduction of psychological and social problems encountered by patients in acute care and psychiatric institutions. Factors that are considered important to preventive strategies include issues such as the spatial layout and design of hospital environments, privacy problems, personal control and independence, information interventions, hospital social relationships, and levels of environmental stimulation. Two case studies are utilized to illustrate these issues within the context of both acute care and psychiatric facilities in a large municipal hospital. Greatest emphasis is placed on the use of the physical environment in the promotion of primary and secondary prevention within tertiary care settings.     

A comprehensive method for the assessment of industrial injury events

Because work‐related injuries are infrequent and often poorly documented, injury event operationalizations beyond recorded rates would be beneficial. This study describes a method that uses self‐reported and recorded events.

Researchers interviewed workers and obtained recorded events from personnel files to develop the near miss and unreported injury events measures. The self‐reported event measures, with other safety variables and demographics, were then administered to two groups of plant workers (N = 115 and N = 120). Results indicated that self‐reported events differed from recorded events and are related to other work injury variables (e.g., work hazards, overtime). An expanded safety protocol such as this one may provide additional tools to investigate the injury event process.     

A note on crime and punishment

The models developed here are intended to convince the reader that Tsebelis' results — that increased punishment leaves the equilibrium level of crime unchanged — is an example of what is possible rather than a general result. To recap the argument in words: it is true that raising the penalty on a crime may cause the enforcing agency to divert attention away to other matters, so that theexpected penalty facing the prospective criminal is not as high as it would have been had the agency not adjusted; but it is not generally true that enforcing agencies will choose to lower their probabilities of enforcement just enough to exactly offset the increased penalty, leaving the expected penalty unchanged, hence the equilibrium level of crime unchanged.⁸ this result sounds unusual when stated in words and it is when modelled using the theory of games too.This work was supported by NSF grant SES-9022882.