Changing trends in the diagnosis of sudden infant death

A study of 114 consecutive cases of unexpected infant death that occurred in South Australia over a 5-year period from January 1994 to December 1998 was undertaken. There were 45 deaths attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), 19 to natural causes, 21 to accidents. and 5 to homicides; 24 cases were listed as "undetermined." Although there has been a genuine and continued decline in SIDS numbers in this population, there has also been an increase in the diagnosis of cases of accidental asphyxia due to unsafe sleeping environments and of cases in which the family background and autopsy findings suggested more complex mechanisms. The change in diagnostic profile has followed the introduction of more rigorous clinical history review, death scene examination, and autopsy testing. Thus, although diagnostic outcomes have altered in this population, it is more likely the result of more careful interpretation of the extensive investigations that are now undertaken rather than arbitrary reclassification.     

Types of neutralization and types of delinquency

Neutralization theory was tested with questionnaires administered to a random sample of public school students (N=298) and institutionalized male delinquents (N=53). Nye-Short delinquency items were factor analyzed to yield three dimensions of delinquency (Predatory, Minor, and Aggressive), and each of the five techniques of neutralization was scored separately. Patterns of acceptance of neutralization techniques were similar among high school males, high school females, and institutionalized males. For example, all three subsamples scored highest on Detail of a Victim and lowest on Appeal to Higher Loyalties. Correlations between each technique of neutralization and each type of delinquency, however, were statistically significant and quite dissimilar. Within the three subsamples, however, there were no discernible patterns among these dissimilar correlations. In fact, few of the differences among these correlations were statistically significant. The analysis provides general support for neutralization theory, but indicates that the particular technique of neutralization as well as the particular type of delinquent act may be viable distinctions in delinquency research.     

Integrated planning and Bob tunings organizational conflict

Abstract: This paper examines the introduction and operation of integrated resource planning management in the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, Government of Alberta, during the period 1976-86. In government planning, systems are introduced to increase task interdependencies, create common purposes and establish performance monitoring. Such a system forces the organizational units concerned to confront their differences. This is because planning systems change task interdependence from pooled to reciprocal. This change means that the differences between organizational units in terms of values, status, organizational processes and power are brought into the open. As a result conflict occurs, not so much because planning in uSis context represented an organizational change, but because reciprocal interdependence is inherently conflictual. This case shows that the planning systems are about both policy-making and organizational structure and processes. Changes in ways of making policy are changes in organizational operation. Outcomes such as incrementalism and political behaviour are derived from the pre-existing pattern of organizational differentiation and the way in which an innovative technical system, in this case integrated resource planning, interacts with that differentiation by changing task interdependence between resource agencies. Sommaire: Cet article traite de la mise sur pied et du mode de fonctionnement d'un service intégré de planification des ressources au ministére de l'Énergie et des Res-sources naturelles de l'Alberta entre 1976-86. Les gouvernements conçoivent des systémes de planification pour accroître l'interdépendance des tâches, fixer des objec-tifs communs et surveiller le rendement. Un systéme de ce genre fait ressortir les divergences qui existent entre les unités organisationnelles car l'interdépendance des tâches y est réciproque au lieu d'y être collective. Ceci met en lumiére les différences qui opposent les unités organisationnelles sur le plan de leurs valeurs, de leur statut, de leurs procédés organisationnels et de leurs pouvoirs. Il en découle un conflit, non pas tant parce que dans ce contexte la planification représente un changement organisational, mais parce que l'interdépendance réciproque est conflictuelle par essence. L'étude démontre que les systémes de planification touchent à la fois l'élaboration des politiques, la structure et les procécdés organisationnels. Modifier la façon d'élaborer les politiques débouche sur un changement du fonctionnement organisationnel. La comportimentation et le comportement politique qui en résultent proviennent du modéle organisationnel pré-existant, des divergences qu'il comporte et de la maniére dont un systéme technique novateur, en l'occurrence la planification intégrée des ressources, répose sur ces divergences pour modifier l'interdépendance des tâches entre les organismes ressources.     

Nakasone Yasuhiro Peace Institute—Looking Back Over Our Past and Looking Ahead to Our Future—

The Institute for International Policy Studies (IIPS), an independent, non-profit research institute founded in 1998 by former prime minister of Japan Yasuhiro Nakasone, has pursued an ambitious research program that covers the fields of international politics, economics, security, energy, and the environment for 30 years. The Institute also convenes international symposia and seminars on important political and economic issues and conducts joint projects with other research institutes in Japan and internationally. Research findings and policy proposals are published in print and on the website.

On the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the Institute’s founding, and to commemorate the 99^th birthday of Founder and Chairman Yasuhiro Nakasone, as well as recognize the background and purpose of the research work and further clarify the mission for future research endeavors, as of January 1, 2018, the Institute has been renamed Nakasone Yasuhiro Peace Institute (NPI).     

Validating Program Fidelity: Lessons from the Delaware County Second Chance Initiatives

Reentry programming for offenders has increased considerably since the passage of the Second Chance Act in 2008. This study presents findings from the implementation and process phases of a multi-stage program evaluation of two Second Chance Act funded initiatives in Delaware County, Ohio. Two distinct programs, one for offenders diagnosed with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders and another for substance dependent offenders with minor children, were examined using a mixed-methodological research design incorporating process and outcome phases. Process findings focus on determinations of program fidelity and adherence to evidence-based practices. Discussion centers on the role of process evaluation in assessments of intervention effectiveness and the importance of establishing program fidelity prior to outcome analysis.     

Gender and development: a SAFE recipe

It is argued that an alternative strategy to women's involvement in development is the development of a whole "new dish, prepared, baked, and distributed equally" rather than acquisition of a "bigger piece of the pie." The issues of gender and development (GAD) involve women gaining power and control of the decision making processes. Past development has been too much of a "fixed menu" approach. Feminist development involves the satisfaction of the strategic needs of women, an agenda-setting direction, flexibility, and empowerment (SAFE). Strategic gender needs were conceptualized first by Maxine Malyneaux. Within women's defined roles, there are needs for access to adequate and clean water supplies, nutrition, health care, and income. Women in development (WID) approaches are strong in serving practical needs. The SAFE approach combines both the strategic and practical needs of women. Some argue that a focus on strategic and/or practical needs should be conceptualized in terms of changing women's position within a structurally unequal set of social relations. Some emphasize autonomy. The basic concepts of strategic needs is viewed as including the change in women's status and movement toward autonomy. Aid agencies and development groups have been mainstreaming WID and GAD over the past decade by integrating women and women's needs into administration, decision making, and the project cycle. Gender issues could be built into existing development paradigms or could change the existing development agenda with a gender perspective. It is argued that an agenda-setting approach is needed in order to assure that the strategic needs of women are incorporated. Flexibility and adaptation of approaches means that WID and GAD can be adjusted to all cultures. It is cited by Buvinic and Moser that welfare, equity, anti-poverty, efficiency, and empowerment are five ethical policy approaches. The policy approach of SAFE is that of empowerment or the knowledge and exercise of influence, power, and leadership in some or all social relations.     

A willingness to talk: Conciliatory gestures and de-escalation

Conclusion This article points up a lack of any systematic, comparative knowledge about one aspect of the complex process of conflict termination, namely signalling a willingness to talk at the start of termination in such a way that the likelihood of an adversary's recognizing the gesture for what it is (and perhaps responding positively) is maximized. In the absence of systematic analysis, I have suggested a number of plausible working hypotheses about the characteristics of actions that have the best chance of being recognized by an adversary in the midst of conflict as real or genuine. In doing so, I have isolated a number of general principles that could be helpful in explaining why certain actions were successful in starting a process of de-escalation, at least leading to talks about talks, while others were not.I have, thus, focused on the likelihood of successful communication of a credible conciliatory gesture, if this is what a party wishes to convey. Of course, the real world of political conflict gives rise to numerous examples of false conciliatory gestures made for tactical advantage, concessions extracted from a reluctant adversary that will be repudiated once the balance of advantage changes, and de-escalation processes begun purely to obtain a breathing space. However, sorting out the genuinely intended signals from those designed as a ruse or smoke screen does not seem to be an inherently hopeless research task. It is unlikely that the accurate perception of genuine concessions in past conflicts has occurred in a wholly individual or random manner. Our hope, as scholars, must be that systematic empirical analysis will indicate some patterns in this phenomenon, throwing light on the manner in which conflicts begin to terminate, even if this proves only a temporary halt. This article seeks to contribute to such understanding by suggesting a framework within which answers might be sought. Christopher R. Mitchell is Professor of Conflict Resolution and International Relations at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. 22030. He also serves as Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason.Ideas for this article arose originally from work carried out in the Conflict Termination Project in the Department of Systems Science at the City University, London. Sincere thanks are due Dean Pruitt of the State University of New York, Buffalo; Louis Kriesberg of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Program, Syracuse University; Alan Simpson (Visiting Fellow); Shaw Smith (Diplomat in Residence) at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution; and to doctoral students in my class, CONFLICT 751, for helpful comments and criticisms.