THE EFFECTS OF SELECTION SYSTEM ON JURY COMPOSITION

The Supreme Court and judicial scholars have argued that the demographic composition of grand and petit juries is important. To the extent that composition is a function of the selection system used, this suggests that the method of selecting grand and petit jurors is important. This article tests the link between selection system and composition by comparing the representation of blacks, Mexican-Americans, and women on grand juries selected by commissioners with the same three classes' representation on grand juries selected at random from the voter registration lists. For these jurisdictions, only female representation is consistently higher under random selection procedures.     

Disruption of pheromone communication with micro-encapsulated antipheromones against Adoxophyes orana

The antipheromone of the summer fruit tortrix moth,Adoxophyes orana F.v.R. (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae), a mixture oftrans-9 andtrans-11-tetradecenyl acetate in the proportion 9: 1, has been formulated in microcapsules for spraying in a disruption experiment. Three sprays with 2 weeks interval have been applied against the second flight ofA. orana during August and September 1974 in an unsprayed 0.2 hectare plot of an apple orchard. The fact that fewer moths have been caught in the monitoring sex pheromone traps in the treated area indicates that sufficient antipheromone was present in the orchard to cause disruption of the pheromone communication. The lower number of larvae of the next generation found in the treated area provides further support to favourable prospects for this pest control method.

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Résumé L'antiphéromone de la tordeuse du pommier,Adoxophyes orana, un mélange de trans-9 et trans-11 tetradecenyl acétate, dans une proportion 9:1, a été formulée en microcapsules en vue d'un essai d'interruption de la reproduction. Pendant le deuxième vol deA. orana en ao?t-septembre, 3 pulvérisations ont été effectuées dans une partie d'un verger de pommiers de 0,2 ha. Dans la z?ne traitée, les captures très réduites dans les pièges à phéromone sexuelle indiquent qu'il y avait assez d'antiphéromone répandue dans le verger pour entra?ner une interruption de la communication entre les sexes. Le fait que le nombre de chenilles de la génération suivante était également diminué dans la parcelle traitée, offre de bonnes perspectives pour cette méthode de lutte.

     

When random assignment fails: Some lessons from the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment

In this paper, we consider what may be done when researchers anticipate that in the implementation of field experiments, random assignment to experimental and control groups is likely to be flawed. We then reanalyze data from the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment in a manner that explicitly models violations of random assignment. As anticipated, we find far larger treatment effects than previously reported. The techniques developed should be useful in a wide variety of settings when random assignment is implemented imperfectly.     

The effectiveness of licensing

Suggesting that licensing may not only fail to accomplish its intended purpose, but may be counterproductive, the author asserts that licensing may not improve the quality of professional services, that licensing boards fail to discipline unethical or incompetent practitioners, and that actions taken against the unlicensed are more often aimed at eliminating competition, not incompetence. In addition, licensing laws may have negative side effects, including an increase in the cost of professional services, the creation of shortages and maldistributions in supply, ineffective use of paraprofessionals, and impediments to needed reforms in education, training, and services. He concludes that equally effective alternatives may be available that are less expensive and have less negative impact, and advocates a system of registration for all practitioners, as well as making other suggestions to improve the overall functioning of licensing boards. Finally, because of political realities, the author proposes a compromise between his ideal model and the current system.     

Hypervariable regions of DNA for parentage testing and individual identification

Four kinds of DNA probes that recognize hypervariable regions (HVR) were studied for parentage testing and individual identification. Allele frequencies and their confidence intervals among unrelated Japanese individuals were obtained. Codominant segregation of the polymorphism was confirmed in family studies. Two a priori probabilities were calculated for each HVR locus: the exclusion probabilities for an alleged father/mother/child trio and for an alleged parent/child duo, and the probabilities of matching of genotypes of two unrelated individuals or two siblings. The ease of availability of the probes and their highly discriminating polymorphic patterns mean they could be very useful for forensic purposes.     

The shielding capacity of the standard military flak jacket against ballistic injury to the kidney

An animal model was designed to evaluate the ability of the standard military flak jacket to protect the kidneys from direct ballistic trauma. Yorkshire swine were anesthetized and their flanks were protected by flak jackets. Ballistic insults ranging from a low-velocity handgun to a high-velocity rifle were evaluated. The results demonstrate that a flak jacket provides adequate protection against low- and mid-velocity projectiles since none of the animals from this group had evidence of internal trauma and because only minor superficial surgical attention would have been required. Survivability in each case was considered to be excellent. The flak jacket failed to provide any protection against several types of high-velocity bullets. These weapons caused severe internal injury to the genitourinary system as well as to other major organ systems. Survival would have been unlikely.