Barotrauma and air embolism in hyperbaric oxygen therapy

A 69-year-old woman underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy because of a nonhealing ulcer of her foot. During decompression, she developed a left-sided hemiplegia and confusion. Recompression resulted in transient neurologic improvement, but she eventually became comatose. Ventricular dysrhythmias developed and she died without regaining consciousness 17 h after onset of symptoms. An autopsy revealed diffuse interstitial pulmonary fibrosis with severe paracicatricial emphysema, chronic interstitial inflammation, and chronic bronchitis with abundant intrabronchial mucus. There was extensive multifocal ischemic injury of the cerebral cortex. The hippocampi, basal ganglia, and cerebellum were spared. Scattered acute myofiber necrosis was present in the heart. Clinical presentation and autopsy findings strongly support the diagnosis of air embolism and illustrate a potential risk of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in patients with preexisting pulmonary disease.     

Are Just-World Beliefs Compatible with Justifying Inequality? Collective Political Efficacy as a Moderator

Previous research demonstrates that the belief in a just world is often accompanied by the justification of social inequality and by low socio-political participation (e.g., Jost and Hunyady, Curr Direct Psychol Sci 14:260–265, 2005). However, studies provide evidence that the relations may be moderated by individual differences such as a person’s self-efficacy expectations to promote justice and equality (Mohiyeddini and Montada, Responses to victimization and belief in a just world, 1998). At the societal level, collective political efficacy has consistently been found to foster political participation (cf. Lee, Int J Public Opin Res 22:392–411, 2010). In our study, we tested whether collective political efficacy may attenuate the negative social impact of the belief in a just world: It is predicted that when collective political efficacy is low, a strong belief in a just world would increase the motivation to justify inequality. By contrast, when collective political efficacy is high, the belief in a just world would not increase, but potentially decrease the motivation to justify inequality. In turn, justification of inequality is expected to negatively affect socio-political participation. Data from 150 university students were analyzed using moderated structural equation modeling. In our study, the expected moderating effect of collective political efficacy on the relation between belief in a just world and justification of inequality was established empirically. When collective political efficacy was high, justification of inequality did not inevitably increase with the belief in a just world. In addition, the impact of belief in a just world on justice-promoting behavior was mediated by justification of inequality. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

Individual Differences in the Deterrence Process: Which Individuals Learn (Most) from Their Offending Experiences?

Objectives

To test whether individuals differ in deterrability by studying whether the effect of criminal experiences on perceived detection risk varies by criminal propensity.

Methods

Data from the British “Offending, Crime and Justice Survey”, a four-wave panel study on criminal behavior and victimization, are analyzed. Two subsamples for analyses are constructed: one of non-offenders at first measurement, to analyze the effect of gaining first offending experiences during the time of study (n = 1,279) and one sample of individuals who have committed offenses within the past year (n = 567), to analyze the effect of police contact among active offenders. Fixed-effects regressions of perceived detection risk on criminal experiences and interactions between criminal experiences and measures of criminal propensity (risk-affinity, impulsivity) are estimated.

Results

Analyses support learning models for the formation and change of risk perceptions, but individual differences by criminal propensity are present in the deterrence process: After gaining first offending experiences, impulsive individuals as well as risk-averse individuals are more likely to lower their perceptions about the probability of detection than less impulsive or risk-affine individuals are. A positive effect of police contact on expected detection risk is restricted to risk-averse individuals.

Conclusions

Findings support claims that deterrence works differently for crime-prone individuals. The differential effects of impulsivity and risk-affinity underline the importance of not combining constituent characteristics of criminal propensity in composite indices, because they might have differential effects on deterrence.     

A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties

Internationally shared basins supply 60 % of global freshwater supply, are home to about 1/3 of the world’s population, and are focal points for interstate conflict and, as importantly, cooperation. To manage these waters, states have developed a large set of formal treaties, but until now these treaties have been difficult to access and systematically assess. This paper presents and makes publicly available the assembly and organization of the largest known collection of transboundary water agreements in existence. We apply for the first time a “lineage” concept to differentiate between independent agreements and groups of legally related texts, spatially reference the texts to a global basin database, and identify agreement purposes, goals and a variety of content areas. The 688 agreements identified were signed between 1820 and 2007 and constitute 250 independent treaties which apply to 113 basins. While the scope and content varies widely, these treaties nominally govern almost 70 % of the world’s transboundary basin area. In terms of content, treaties have shifted from an earlier focus on regulation and development of water resources to the management of resources and the setting of frameworks for that management. While “traditional” issues such as hydropower, water allocation and irrigation are still important, the environment is now the most commonly mentioned issue in treaty texts. Treaties are also increasingly likely to include data and information sharing provisions, have conflict resolution mechanisms, and include mechanisms for participation beyond traditional nation-state actors. Generalizing, treaties have become more comprehensive over time, both in the issues they address and the tools they use to manage those issues cooperatively.     

Organization and management practices of urban terrorist groups

Terrorists realize that ideological commitment to their organizational goals is a prerequisite to their survival as an effective fighting force. Consequently, they carefully avoid undertaking any intentional action which might fall beyond the umbrella of a real or a contrived popular cause. Thus, the terrorist has learned how to skillfully manipulte social conditions and grievances and execute specific criminal acts gauged to impact upon a preselected target audience. Additionally the management practices, cellular and columnar structures, personnel selection and internal control measures utilized by the terrorist are intended to enhance the effective and efficient achievement of his organizational goals and objectives. However, the American police, particularly, have caused terrorist groups to adjust their methods of operation, style of organization, and to carefully regulate and restrict their membership. The increased sophistication of the police, therefore, particularly in the areas of communication, mobility, and information, seems to have greatly impaired the organization and extension of terrorist groups in the United States.     

School Vouchers and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Washington,DC

School vouchers are the most contentious form of parental school choice. Vouchers provide government funds that parents can use to send their children to private schools of their choice. Here we examine the empirical question of whether or not a school voucher program in Washington, DC, affected achievement or the rate of high school graduation for participating students. The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) has operated in the nation's capital since 2004, funded by a federal government appropriation. Because the program was oversubscribed in its early years of operation, and vouchers were awarded by lottery, we were able to use the “gold standard” evaluation method of a randomized experiment to determine what impacts the OSP had on student outcomes. Our analysis revealed compelling evidence that the DC voucher program had a positive impact on high school graduation rates, suggestive evidence that the program increased reading achievement, and no evidence that it affected math achievement. We discuss the implications of these findings in light of recent policy developments including the reauthorization of the OSP and the enactment or expansion of more than a dozen school voucher or voucher‐type programs throughout the United States in 2011 and 2012.     

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Forensic Applications and Considerations

This paper reviews the empirical literature on the use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (RF; Ben-Porath and Tellegen 2008; Tellegen and Ben-Porath, 2008) scales for the assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and PTSD comorbidity and discusses the use of the instrument in forensic contexts. We focus on prior work that has examined the association between the RF scales and PTSD, PTSD comorbidity, and the utility of the RF validity scales for detecting feigned symptoms of PTSD. We conclude that though the MMPI-2 RF scales show expected patterns of association with PTSD, their most useful application in the forensic arena may be in the identification of comorbid personality-based psychopathology, and in detecting symptom overreporting. We recommend that the MMPI-2 RF be used in the context of a comprehensive assessment that includes an exhaustive record review, detailed history with an emphasis on past trauma, and structured diagnostic interviews.