In vivo facial tissue depth measurements for white British children

This paper reports the results of a study of facial tissue depth measurement in White British children of both sexes, aged between 11 and 18 years. The purpose of this research was to increase the information available upon tissue depth data for children, primarily for use in forensic facial reconstruction. Facial tissue depths were measured at 21 anatomical points using ultrasonic echo-location. The mid-philtral, upper lip border and lower lip border points showed consistently larger tissue depths in the males than the females, and the zygomatic attachment showed consistently larger tissue depths in the females than the males. The males showed a general increase in tissue depth with an increase in age at all the mid-line facial points and the cheek points. The females showed increased tissue depth with age at all the points except the infra-orbital, lateral orbital, mid-zygomatic arch and mid-mandibular points. A table of mean tissue depths was developed for males and females divided into two-yearly age groups.     

Separation from Parents in Late Adolescence: The Same for Boys and Girls?

This study examined the way late adolescents separate from their parents. Emotional independence and conflictual independence toward mother and father were assessed. Emotional independence was defined as freedom from an excessive need for emotional support from the parents and conflictual independence as absence of guilt, mistrust, and anger toward parents. Students (18–22 years; N = 190) enrolled in higher education completed two scales of Hoffmann's Psychological Separation Inventory. Results indicated that girls more than boys need emotional support from their mothers (z = –3.101, p < .002). They express this need significantly more towards their mothers than towards their fathers (z = –4.194, p < .00003). The pattern of the girls' typical items demonstrated an ambivalence between reported dependence and demand for autonomy. The two types of independence (emotional and conflictual) were moderately correlated (r _s = .40). These findings support Gilligan's argument that connectedness plays a central role in the development of female adolescents. They speak for a multidimensional approach of the psychological separation process, which takes the type of independence and the children's and parents' gender into account.     

“We're Just Like the Irish”: Narratives of Assimilation,Belonging and Citizenship Amongst Arab-American Activists

This paper examines narratives of assimilation and belonging as activists attempt to position Arab-Americans as citizens and full members of the American polity. In interviews with activists, the experience of the Irish as immigrants and citizens was often invoked as the paradigmatic example of how immigrants are incorporated as citizens—an example that activists promoted as one that Arabs would follow. By invoking the Irish experience, activists hope to remind Americans that immigration history is not one of effortless assimilation, but is rather characterized by systematic exclusion and marginalization. In so doing, they articulate narratives of assimilation and belonging that draw attention to (1) a shared history of immigration, marginalization, and acceptance, (2) the importance of civil rights movements that may seem to distinguish immigrants from a mythic mainstream whose race and ethnicity go unmarked, and (3) the ways in which the American experience is based on the acceptance of cultural differences predicated on shared political values of community. We argue that these strands of the narrative draw on themes in the national myth of immigration, belonging and citizenship, but that they are braided in ways that challenge many Americans’ views of their history.     

Mental disorder in violent women in secure settings: Potential relevance to risk for future violence

The relevance to women of common violence risk factors identified in men has in many instances yet to be established. Consequently, there is a reluctance to accept without question the application to women of practices relating to violence risk assessment and management developed from research into men. This study examines mental disorder in women who are violent in order comment on its relevance to the practice of violence risk assessment and management. A sample of 95 violent women in high secure prison and forensic psychiatric care were assessed. Structured assessments of Axis I and II mental disorders and psychopathy were undertaken on all women and conviction histories were recorded. Very high levels of psychiatric morbidity were noted and patterns in comorbidity were detected. Among Axis I conditions, psychotic disorders and disorders of mood co-occurred at a very high rate. Among the Axis II conditions, dimensional ratings of borderline personality disorder (PD) correlated with dimensional ratings of avoidant, dependent and paranoid PDs while ratings of antisocial PD correlated with those of narcissistic, histrionic and obsessive–compulsive PDs. Women who had been incarcerated for a major violent offence were four times more likely to have a diagnosis of borderline PD than women whose index offence was one of minor violence. A number of the findings reported are in contrast to those reported in similar studies of men. Findings suggest that practitioners are right to question the application to women of knowledge derived from research into men. The practice of violence risk assessment and management with women should emphasise the development of individual risk formulations and responding to psychiatric comorbidity should be the rule rather than the exception with this population.     

Adolescents and Sexual Violations Online

The article describes and discusses sexual violations online using the recent Danish case law and legislation as an example and drawing upon the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is argued that the legislation does not provide a sufficient solution to the problems connected to digital violations of the physical integrity of the victim.     

Kai-Fu Lee,AI Superpowers: China,Silicon Valley,and the New World Order

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

A matter of timing: The religious factor and morality policies

The question of whether or not religion accounts for variance in the governance of moral issues, between and within countries over time, has long been debated but never conclusively answered. A novel data set encompassing innovative measurements of state regulation of “life‐and‐death” issues and of the religious stratification of society enables us to answer why previous studies reached contradictory results. The time‐series cross‐sectional analysis of 26 countries over 50 years reveals that dominant religious denominations in society indeed influence state governance approaches regarding the issues of abortion and euthanasia. This denominational effect is shown to be contingent on the religiosity of a country's population, but independent from the formal state–church relationship. Lastly, it is shown that the religious effect has an inverse U‐shaped relationship with time, exposing the timeframe of analysis as decisive for inferences drawn in the study of morality policy.