Pain Management and Work Capacity: Evidence From Workers’ Compensation and Marijuana Legalization

We study whether the work capacity of the older working population responds to improved pain management therapy access. We use the adoption of state recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) as a large policy shock to access to a non-pharmaceutical pain management option. We focus on workers’ compensation cash benefit receipt as a measure of work capacity, finding that receipt declines in response to RML adoption. Workers’ compensation cash benefits are awarded to workers who require time away from work to recover from an injury, which arguably captures a policy-relevant aspect of work capacity. We observe similar shifts in complementary proxies for work capacity, including work-limiting disability rates. After considering a range of alternative mechanisms, the evidence suggests that the primary driver of the reductions in workers’ compensation benefits is improvements in work capacity.     

Suicide by Close-Range Gunshot Wound to the Bridge of the Nose

Suicidal gunshot wounds to the nasal bridge are rare, particularly at close range (defined as muzzle of the weapon not touching the skin surface, but near enough to deposit soot and stippling). Previously reported suicidal gunshot wounds to the nose have been through the left nostril (Forensic Sci Int 1995;71(1):25–31; J Forensic Radiol Imag 2013;1(2):63–7). The death of a 26-year-old man with a close-range gunshot wound to the bridge of the nose was deemed suicide due to history, scene, and autopsy findings. These findings included previous suicidal ideation, texted and written notes, the decedent's cross-legged position seated on the floor, the trajectory of the bullet through his head and into the ceiling fan and roof above him, and acute alcohol intoxication. This decedent may have been intending a hard contact forehead location but inadvertently fired the gun into the bridge of his nose while bending forward, prior to contact.     

On the margins of soy farms: traditional populations and selective environmental policies in the Brazilian Cerrado

In the Cerrado, the expansion of soybean cultivation since the 1990s has coincided with the strengthening of environmental regulations. We analyze how the two main environmental policies – Protected Areas and the Forest Code – have played out at the ground level in western Bahia state. These policies in Cerrado have not been designed to curb the expansion of this agricultural frontier. These norms have, on the contrary, accommodated this expansion because the way environmental managers selectively choose environmental problems and publicize them through specific information systems depreciates traditional fire-dependent production systems. These ‘politics of selection’ are likely to increase competition for resources in the margins of soybean agriculture, which is where traditional populations have now become confined.     

World citizens: Australian women’s internationalist broadcasts, 1930–1939

This article examines how Australian women broadcasters used radio to claim their own voices as experts on international affairs and encourage other women to become active world citizens in the 1930s. During a decade when the Great Depression limited the ability of many to travel, and the increasing calamity of the rise of fascism and the descent into World War II brought foreign affairs to the forefront of public debate, broadcasting became a key tool used by internationalist women to educate their female listeners about the world beyond Australia’s shores. They also used the medium to encourage other women to become actively involved in international causes including feminism, peace activism and Zionism. Through their broadcasts, women such as Constance Duncan, Irene Greenwood and Ruby Rich demonstrated the value of radio as a tool for active citizenship and further opened up the public sphere to women’s voices and opinions on social and political issues.     

Proactive Evaluation of PRP Status at Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites

Two keys to avoiding potentially responsible party (PRP) status at future Superfund sites are to manage all waste with appropriate care and to perform appropriate inquiries into the history of new properties prior to acquisition. However, corporations can become PRPs because of their ownership and/or operation of historically contaminated property, their historical waste management practices, or their historical disposal of hazardous substances at nonowned disposal sites, such as landfills. This article describes a method by which insurance companies, waste producers, and property owners can proactively evaluate their potential liability associated with environmental response action costs at contaminated sites.     

Network Characteristics and Organizational Structure of Chinese Drug Trafficking Groups

Unlike previous studies of drug trafficking groups that focused on the characteristics of individual members, this study examined the demographic and socioeconomic composition of drug trafficking groups and the types of relationships binding criminal networks. Through an analysis of 144 drug trafficking groups adjudicated in the intermediate and high courts in several provinces of China, this study found a high level of homogeneity in demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status among the offenders who formed the Chinese drug trafficking networks. Results also showed that most Chinese drug trafficking groups were small and lacked a vertical role structure. The concentration of men was associated with a higher likelihood of having a hierarchical role structure in the trafficking group.     

From cultural sojourner to guestworker? The historical transformation and contemporary significance of the J-1 visa Summer Work Travel Program

Since the mid-1990s, the J-1 Summer Work Travel (SWT) program has quadrupled in size. While many J-1 visa holders are in the U.S. to study or conduct research, the primary activity of SWT participants is low-wage labor. We analyze the trajectory of the SWT program since its origins in the Fulbright-Hays Act, underscoring both change and continuity in the practical and discursive handling of what are, in effect, guestworkers. Our analysis reveals both longstanding concerns about the SWT program’s risks to foreign and domestic workers, as well as repeated efforts by U.S. government officials and private sector stakeholders to justify its status as cultural exchange rather than temporary work. Yet despite these concerns, over the last two decades, the SWT program has become larger and less regulated. We explore these changes in the context of two contending forces shaping the labor market: on the demand side, a transformation in the organization of work towards ‘fissured’ workplaces and contingent employment, and, on the supply side, limited access to foreign labor due to political gridlock over comprehensive immigration reform. We conclude that the SWT program both reflects broader trends in managed migration and embodies the model of flexible migrant labor many employers now demand.     

Explaining the Association between Early Adversity and Young Adults’ Diabetes Outcomes: Physiological,Psychological, and Behavioral Mechanisms

Previous studies have documented that early adversity increases young adults’ risk for diabetes resulting in morbidity and comorbidity with adverse health conditions. However, less is known about how inter-related physiological (e.g., body mass index [BMI]), psychological (e.g., depressive symptoms), and behavioral mechanisms (e.g., unhealthy eating and sedentary behavior) link early adversity to young adults’ diabetes outcomes, although these mechanisms appear to stem from early stressful experiences. The current study tested the patterning of these longitudinal pathways leading to young adults’ diabetes using a nationally representative sample of 13,286 adolescents (54% female) over a period of 13 years. The findings indicated that early adversity contributed to elevated BMI, depressive symptoms, and stress-related health behaviors. The impact of these linking mechanisms on hierarchical diabetes outcomes (i.e., prediabetes and diabetes) remained significant after taking their associations with each other into account, showing that these mechanisms operate concurrently. The findings emphasize the importance of early detection for risk factors of young adults’ diabetes in order to minimize their detrimental health effects.