Traumatic Brain Injury Alters Word Memory Test Performance by Slowing Response Time and Increasing Cortical Activation: An fMRI Study of a Symptom Validity Test

The Word Memory Test (WMT) is an established symptom validity test that relies on verbal memory performance to make inferences about “effort.” Previous studies, using a functional MRI (fMRI) adaptation of the WMT with healthy controls, have shown that successful completion of the WMT relies on a widespread network of neural systems associated with high cognitive effort. Additional studies using the same fMRI paradigm with patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) suggest that increased activation of cortical regions associated with cognitive load are recruited to meet the cognitive challenges that the WMT places on a compromised neural system. This study builds on previous findings as a result of highly uncommon circumstances in which fMRI data on the WMT task were made available from the very same individual both 1 year before and 1 year after sustaining a TBI. Interestingly, the effect of TBI did not appear to impair performance on the WMT in terms of standard accuracy measurements, though response times were notably slower. The main fMRI finding was a significantly stronger and more widespread pattern of activation post-injury, particularly in the frontal and parietal brain regions, suggesting that stronger engagement of these networks was necessary to sustain accurate WMT performance compared to pre-injury testing. This unique source of data, together with previous findings, suggests a more complex relationship between effort and performance levels on the WMT than what is commonly assumed.     

Associations Between Caregiver Support, Bullying, and Depressive Symptomatology Among Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Girls: Results from the 2008 Boston Youth Survey

Although sexual minority (SM) youth are at an increased risk for being bullied and experiencing depression, it is unclear how caregiver support is interrelated with those variables. Therefore, we sought to assess: (a) the prevalence of nonphysical bullying, depressive symptomatology, and caregiver support among heterosexual and SM girls, (b) the association between caregiver support and bullying in both groups, and (c) whether sexual orientation moderates the interactive effect of caregiver support and bullying on depressive symptoms. Data come from a survey of students in 22 Boston public high schools; 99 of the 832 girls in the analytic sample were SM. We used chi-square statistics to examine group differences, and multiple regression to estimate the association between the caregiver support, sexual orientation, being bullied, and depressive symptomatology. SM girls reported similar levels of caregiver support as heterosexual girls, but reported higher levels of depressive symptomatology. They were also more likely to report nonphysical bullying. Tests for interactions were not statistically significant, suggesting that bullying, caregiver support, and sexual orientation are independently associated with depressive symptomatology.     

Barricaded Captive Situations in Schools: Mitigation and Response

Although not common occurrences, schools are occasionally the site of barricaded captive events. To date little research has examined these acts of school violence. The purpose of this article is to describe 19 school barricaded captive events that occurred between February, 1998 and September, 2007 in the United States. Data were analyzed by examination of news reports of each incident, and include the following variables: Incident location (state, community), school level and size, time of day of the event, location of the event within the school, age and sex of the subjects, information about the captives, presence of school resource officers, student screening mechanisms, behavioral changes of the subjects, the subject’s expected outcomes, injuries or fatalities, demands and deadlines, captive escapes and releases, weapons, incident resolution, tactical team response, and negotiations. Results pertain to incident demographics, prevention/mitigation, and response.     

Single source DNA profile recovery from single cells isolated from skin and fabric from touch DNA mixtures in mock physical assaults

The ability to obtain DNA profiles from trace biological evidence is routinely demonstrated with so-called ‘touch DNA evidence’, which is generally perceived to be the result of DNA obtained from shed skin cells transferred from a donor's hands to an object or person during direct physical contact. Current methods for the recovery of trace DNA employ swabs or adhesive tape to sample an area of interest. While of practical utility, such ‘blind-swabbing’ approaches will necessarily co-sample cellular material from the different individuals whose cells are present on the item, even though the individuals' cells are principally located in topographically dispersed, but distinct, locations on the item. Thus the act of swabbing itself artifactually creates some of the DNA mixtures encountered in touch DNA samples. In some instances involving transient contact between an assailant and victim, the victim's DNA may be found in such significant excess as to preclude the detection and typing of the perpetrator's DNA. In order to circumvent the challenges with standard recovery and analysis methods for touch DNA evidence, we reported previously the development of a ‘smart analysis’ single cell recovery and DNA analysis method that results in enhanced genetic analysis of touch DNA evidence. Here we use the smart single cell analysis method to recover probative single source profiles from individual and agglomerated cells from various touched objects and clothing items belonging to known donors. We then use the same approach for the detection of single source male donor DNA in simulated physical contact/assault mixture samples (i.e. male ‘assailant’ grabbing the wrist, neck or clothing from the female ‘victim’, or being in transient contact with bedding from the ‘victim’). DNA profiles attributable to the male or female known donors were obtained from 31% and 35% of the single and agglomerated bio-particles (putative cells) tested. The known male donor ‘assailant’ DNA profile was identified in the cell sampling from every mixture type tested. The results of this work demonstrate the efficacy of an alternative strategy to recover single source perpetrator DNA profiles in physical contact/assault cases involving trace perpetrator/victim cellular admixtures.     

Hot spot trafficking: a theoretical discussion of the potential problems associated with targeted policing and the eradication of sex trafficking in the United States

Throughout the United States, legal professionals and advocates have taken measures to address the access to victims of sex trafficking. A commonly accepted practice has been to advocate for the removal of ‘sex for sale’ advertising in free media such as Craigslist and Backpage. Although this action against the solicitation of prostitution has been celebrated by many advocates and legal professionals, the removal of such advertisements does not directly affect the prevalence of sex trafficking. In fact, displacement theory suggests that the removal of solicitation advertisements and targeted policing forces traffickers to simply advertise elsewhere or become more creative in selling the victims, thereby concealing the act of sex trafficking and making it less identifiable. Although we do not advocate for the maintenance of ‘sex for sale’ advertisements, the process of removing these ads is counterproductive, having little positive impact on the incidence of sex trafficking in the United States. Rather, it forces both traffickers and victims to bury deeper in the already hidden world of sex trafficking. Policy implications derived from criminal displacement theory and research are provided.     

Responding to Food Insecurity: Employing the Market Information and Food Insecurity Response Analysis Framework in Rural Northern Kenya

Aid agencies are increasingly advocating for cash transfers as a substitute or complement to food transfers when responding to both emergency and chronic food insecurity. Yet, cash is not always optimal. In this article, we demonstrate how a newly developed response analysis tool, the Marketing Information and Food Insecurity Response Analysis (MIFIRA) framework can guide evidence-based identification of appropriate transfers. We present findings from a MIFIRA analysis in Marsabit; a remote and generally food-insecure district of northern Kenya. As a demonstration of the analytical versatility of MIFIRA, we utilise a variety of data, ranging from rigorously-collected household data, to market surveys and rapid assessments in focus groups. As a proof of concept, this article shows how MIFIRA can be effectively deployed in other regions facing chronic or emergency food insecurity to help response agencies make systematic decisions on a solid evidence base.     

Understanding the media/terrorism relationship: An analysis of ideology and the news in time magazine

Conservative terrorism scholars have made the claim that the media have become a propaganda tool for terrorists and sympathetically portray terrorist activities. This article provides quantitative and qualitative data from Time magazine in 1986 suggesting that this view is mistaken. News production is treated as a social process that both informs and obscures, rather than as a neutral process that simply provides ‘objective’ facts. The results of the investigation reveal seven ways in which ideology is manifested in the terrorism news: semantics, language, headlines, social and historical context, treatment of objectives, trivialization, and amplification of violence. The ideological uniformity and lack of diversity apparent in terrorism news suggests that this kind of treatment results in a lack of understanding of the media/terrorism relationship and serves to support conservative views about the nature of terrorism and appropriate responses to it.     

The wto in Bali: what mc9 means for the Doha Development Agenda and why it matters

The conclusion of the World Trade Organization’s (wto) ninth ministerial meeting – held in Bali 3–7 December 2013 – is at one and the same time momentous, marginal and business-as-usual. It is momentous because it marks the first multilateral agreement reached in the wto since the organisation began operations on 1 January 1995; it is marginal because the deal reached will have only a limited impact on the global trading system; and it is business as usual because the Bali package will be of disproportionally greater value to the industrial states than to their developing and least developed counterparts. We examine what happened in Bali, covering the principal issues at stake and the content of the outcome, what this means for the wto and for the Doha Development Agenda (dda), and why it all matters. We argue that, while the Bali ministerial is significant and the agreements reached important, the conclusion of the meeting and the package agreed represent only a limited movement forward in addressing the fundamental problems and inequities of the wto system.