Determination of stature from skeletal and skull measurements by CT scan evaluation

The aim of this article is to find a correlation between height and femur/skull measurements through Computed Tomography (CT) scans and derive regression equations for total skeletal height estimation in the Caucasian population. We selected 200 Caucasian patients from March 2010 to July 2011 who had to perform a CT scan for cancer restaging. The mean age is 64.5 years. Both sexes are represented by the same number of persons. Patients have executed a total body CT scan with contrast; once scan accomplished, we measured height through a digital scales. We analyzed CT scans of each patient, obtaining multiplanar reconstruction in sagittal and coronal planes with 1mm of thickness, and we measured 10 diameters of skull and femur. Then we performed a single and a multiple regression analysis considering the three diameters that better correlated with height. The skeletal diameters with the highest correlation coefficients with stature were femur lengths, length of cranial base (Ba-N), and distance from the posterior extremity of the cranial base to the inferior point of the nasal bone (Ba-NB). Although both femur and skull are skeletal segments used for stature estimation, in our sample femur gave stronger correlation with height than skull. h=35.7+1.48·BaN+2.32·BaNB+2.53·FEM and h=3.06·FEM+72.6 are the formulae that provided the most accurate stature assessment using multiple and single regression analysis respectively.     

On Mimicry and the Psychology of the Belief in a Just World: Imitating the Behaviors of Others Reduces the Blaming of Innocent Victims

Innocent victims of crime are often blamed for what happened to them. In this article, we examine the hypothesis that victim blaming can be significantly reduced when people mimic the behavior of the victim or even a person unrelated to the crime. Participants watched a person on a video after which we assessed the extent of their spontaneous mimicry reactions (Study 1) or participants were instructed to mimic or not to mimic the movements of this person (Study 2). Then, they were informed about a rape and criminal assault and judged the degree to which they thought the victims were responsible for the crime. One of the crimes happened to the same person as the person they previously did or did not mimic. The other crime happened to a person unrelated to the mimicry situation. Results of both studies revealed that previously mimicking the victim or an unrelated person reduced the degree to which victims were being blamed.     

Two Decades of Value Change: The Crystallization of Meritocratic and Egalitarian Beliefs in the Czech Republic

Two decades ago, scholars predicted that the economic and political transformations underway in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe would be accompanied by fundamental shifts in societal values and norms. Unlike political reforms, changes in societal norms were believed to take place gradually, as individuals became increasingly socialized by new institutions and conditions. In this article, we analyze change in a core set of societal norms??beliefs in distributive justice??in the Czech Republic over the last two decades, and locate those trends in regional perspective. What we find is that, over time, the negative association between egalitarian and meritocratic norms has increasingly strengthened, suggesting a crystallization of those norms as opposing value sets. In addition, attachments to those norms are increasingly structured by respondents?? socio-economic status. In order words, the research confirms that subjective norms in the Czech Republic are increasingly shaped by objective social status in ways common in advanced democracies, and that we can speak not only of a crystallization of the value system, but of a corresponding ??re-stratification?? of justice beliefs in relation to social position.     

Emergence of an innovative regulation mode in water utilities in France: between commission regulation and franchise bidding

Academic debate on public utility regulation has considerably evolved over the past 50 years. The conflict between the supporters of franchise regulation and commission regulation has given way to much more balanced in-depth analyses. Regulation is defined on the basis of its structure but also its scope and regulation incentives. A regulation mode must above all be evaluated with regard to the institutional environment. We propose a neo-institutionally-inspired analysis framework and show how the dynamic relationship between regulation and the institutional environment can lead to reforms and ultimately to more efficient regulation. The findings of a French water utility sector analysis underline how a series of national normative reforms and local exploratory reforms can give rise to innovations in the regulation mode. This new hybrid regulation, between commission regulation and franchise bidding, could be more effective than previous regulation mode, i.e. more stable and in line with stakeholders’ expectations.     

Boundary-spanning in emerging technology research: determinants of funding success for academic scientists

Emerging technologies, including nanotechnologies, are generally seen as those latest scientific innovations which have a potential impact on industry structure, and commercialization and economic potential. Work in this area of emerging technologies has distinct boundary spanning characteristics from the perspective of academic science. First, many emerging technologies involve collaboration of scientists across disciplinary boundaries. Second, because of the commercializability of many emerging technologies, scientists may interact more often with industry throughout the research and commercialization process. We ask, what are the boundary-spanning characteristics of scientists engaged in emerging technology research and how do those characteristics matter in obtaining funding in this area? We examine the characteristics of academic scientists in the United States who are employed in research intensive institutions and who are engaged in funded research in the area of emerging technologies. We address the factors that predict their grant success in areas of emerging technology. Findings reveal that interdisciplinary activities and industry orientation are both important in predicting funding in areas of emerging technology. Moreover, the findings imply that the emergence of new technologies may offer opportunities for women in low representation fields.     

Unexpected double lethal oleander poisoning

Nerium oleander is a very popular urban ornamental plant in Europe, but it is also extremely dangerous because it contains several types of glycosides, accidental ingestion of which can cause cardiac arrhythmias and even deaths. The rarity of such cases makes it difficult to think of oleander poisoning without evidences that suggest this possibility as the cause of the unexpected death. This report concerns the discovery of the bodies of 2 young people, a man and a woman, in a forest in conditions of extreme malnutrition. Medicolegal investigations showed neither pathologic nor traumatic causes of death, but the presence of vegetal remains in the stomach was noticed. A common toxicological analysis resulted negative, but the implementation of more detailed investigations showed the presence of digoxin in the blood of both cadavers, excluding the possibility of a pharmaceutical provenience of digoxin, this laboratory result was interpreted as evidence of ingestion of oleander, which contains oleandrine, the cross reaction of which with digoxin is widely described in the literature. Identification of the 2 subjects, which occurred after 4 years, strengthened the hypothesis of accidental poisoning by oleander because it was ascertained that the 2 young people were vegans--extreme vegetarians who reject the ingestion of foods of animal origin and live by eating only what they find in nature.