Women, anger, and aggression: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

This study reports a qualitative phenomenological investigation of anger and anger-related aggression in the context of the lives of individual women. Semistructured interviews with five women are analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This inductive approach aims to capture the richness and complexity of the lived experience of emotional life. In particular, it draws attention to the context-dependent and relational dimension of angry feelings and aggressive behavior. Three analytic themes are presented here: the subjective experience of anger, which includes the perceptual confusion and bodily change felt by the women when angry, crying, and the presence of multiple emotions; the forms and contexts of aggression, paying particular attention to the range of aggressive strategies used; and anger as moral judgment, in particular perceptions of injustice and unfairness. The authors conclude by examining the analytic observations in light of phenomenological thinking.     

Hair analysis for cocaine: factors in laboratory contamination studies and their relevance to proficiency sample preparation and hair testing practices

Since the introduction in 2001 of a urine-based detection method for recombinant erythropoietin (rHuEPO), transfusion-doping practices have regained interest. To address this problem, an efficient antidoping test designed to obtain direct proof of allogeneic blood transfusion was developed and validated. This test, based on flow cytometry analysis of red blood cell (RBCs) phenotypes, was used to determine the absence or the presence of numerous RBCs populations in a blood sample. A such, it may constitute a direct proof of an abnormal blood population resulting from homologous transfusion. Single-blind and single-site studies were carried out to validate this method as a forensic quality standard analysis and to allow objective interpretation of real cases. The analysis of 140 blood samples containing different percentages (0-5%) of a minor RBCs population were carried on by four independent analysts. Robustness, sensitivity, specificity, precision and stability were assessed. ISO-accredited controls samples were used to demonstrate that the method was robust, stable and precise. No false positive results were observed, resulting in a 100% specificity of the method. Most samples containing a 1.5% minor RBCs population were unambiguously detected, yielding a 78.1% sensitivity. These samples mimicked blood collected from an athlete 3 months after a homologous blood transfusion event where 10% of the total RBCs present in the recipient originated in the donor. The observed false negative results could be explained by differences in antigen expression between the donor and the recipient. False negatives were more numerous with smaller minor RBCs populations. The method described here fulfils the ISO-17025 accreditation and validation requirements. The controls and the methodology are solid enough to determine with certainty whether a sample contains one or more RBCs populations. This variable is currently the best indicator for homologous blood transfusion doping.     

Economics of court performance: an empirical analysis

This paper proposes an empirical analysis of Spanish court performance using the economic approach. An econometric model will be estimated in order to answer two basic questions: (1) why some courts’ output it is greater than others? (2) Could courts produce a higher output using their actual resources? In addition it will be determine, by means of an analysis of variance (ANOVA), whether courts showing higher than average output have dictated resolutions with a higher reversal rate.     

The relationship between serial sexual murder and autoerotic asphyxiation

This case series documents and examines the association between autoerotic asphyxiation, sadomasochism, and serial sexual murderers. Autoerotic asphyxiation, along with other paraphilias found in this population, is reviewed. Five cases of serial sexual killers who engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation were identified worldwide: four from the United States and one from Russia. Case reports for each are provided. All (100%) were found to have sexual sadism in addition to autoerotic asphyxiation. Furthermore, two (40%) had bondage fetishism, and two (40%) had transvestic fetishism, consistent with these paraphilias co-occurring in those with autoerotic asphyxiation. Overall the group averaged 4.0 lifetime paraphilias. Some possible relationships were observed between the offenders' paraphilic orientation and their modus operandi, e.g., all of these serial killers strangled victims-suggesting an association between their sadistic and asphyxiative paraphilic interests. The overlap of seemingly polar opposite paraphilias in this sample--sexual sadism and autoerotic asphyxiation--is explored from a historical and clinical perspective. Multiple commonalities shared between these five offenders and serial sexual murderers in general are addressed. A primary limitation of this study is its small sample size and empirical basis; the results may not be generalizable beyond the sample. The findings from this study support the supposition that crime scene behaviors often reflect paraphilic disturbances in those who commit serial sexual homicides.     

The Influence of Emotional Labor and Emotional Intelligence on Job Performance: Does Ownership Type Matter? A Comparison of Public and Private Organizations in China

ABSTRACT

Given the limited knowledge about the effect of contextual factors of organizational ownership types on emotional labor, this research addresses two main questions: (1) whether emotional labor varies among organizations with different ownership types; and (2) whether emotional labor and emotional intelligence relate to job performance in different ways in public and private organizations. This paper examines the research questions with 306 self-report questionnaires from the public sector, domestic privately-owned enterprises and foreign-invested firms in China. Significant differences were found in the emotional labor reported in public and private organizations. Overall, emotional labor was found to have a significant effect on in-role performance, and emotional intelligence moderated the link between emotional labor and job performance in public organizations, but not in private organizations.     

Care and Justice in the Global Context

Abstract. Morality is often dismissed as irrelevant in what is seen as the global anarchy of rival states each pursuing its national interest. When morality is invoked, it is usually the morality of justice with its associated moral conceptions of individual rights, equality, and universal law. In the area of moral theory, an alternative moral approach, the ethics of care, has been developed in recent years. It is beginning to influence how some see their global responsibilities.     

Community Involvement as a Vehicle for Integration: A Study with Young Immigrants

ABSTRACT

Immigrants are often exposed to conditions of economic deprivation or to hardships of a social nature connected to their status. These factors increase their feeling of impotence, thus slowing down the integrative process. An element that could counter these disadvantaged conditions is participation in an association that promotes immigrants’ demands on a socio-political level. The first aim of this study is understanding the relationships between involvement and integration. The authors hypothesize that youth engaged in community are more integrated than not engaged immigrant youth. The second aim is to investigate the relationship between the type of activity, type of association and integration. The participants were 644 immigrant youth (Age range 19–35, 56.2%) that were involved in the community. The results show that involved immigrant youth report higher levels of both ethnic and national identity compared to not involved youth. Regarding the type of activity carried out, there is a statistically significant difference between activity of a social type, which obtains higher means, and of a civic type, which rather obtains lower means. While exploratory, the study shows and confirms the relationship between community engagement, young immigrants’ integration process and construction of identity.