Police officers’ attitudes toward their role and work: A comparison of black and white officers

This study tests whether Black and White police officers differ in job-related attitudes. The analyses focus on officers’ attitudes toward police role, selective enforcement, legal restrictions, and departmental problem-solving efforts. Survey data were collected from the Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) during the summer of 1996. Findings show that compared to White officers, Black officers tend to have a broad role orientation, be less selective, and have positive attitudes toward legal restrictions. Implications for future research and policy are also discussed.     

The effect of a curfew law on juvenile crime in Washington,D.C.

Juvenile curfew laws were a popular intervention to combat juvenile crime during the 1980s and 1990s. An experimental replication design was used to examine the impact of the Washington, D.C. “Juvenile Curfew Act of 1995.” Juvenile arrest data were analyzed using a two-standard-deviation-band approach, t-test, and trend analysis. The results, consistent with previous studies, revealed that the curfew law did not reduce total juvenile arrests. Several flaws inherent in curfew laws, as well as implications for research and policy, are discussed.     

Gender Differences in the Association between Maternal Depressed Mood and Child Depressive Phenomena from Grade 3 through Grade 10

This study reports on relationships among gender, maternal depressed mood, and children’s trajectories of depressive phenomena across middle childhood and early adolescence. It tested the hypothesis that, compared to boys, girls become increasingly vulnerable to maternal depression as they enter adolescence. The study sample consisted of 834 families from 10 Pacific Northwest schools that participated in the Raising Healthy Children project. Maternal depressed mood and children’s depressive phenomena were assessed annually during an 8-year period that spanned Grade 3 through Grade 10 for the children. Mean scores for girls’ depressive phenomena increased relative to those for boys as children matured. Maternal depressed mood was significantly and positively associated with children’s level of depressive phenomena. An interaction effect of gender and maternal depressed mood on acceleration in children’s depressive phenomena indicated that girls’ trajectories of depressive phenomena were sustained in the presence of maternal depression while those of boys declined in the presence of maternal depression.

Vorzugstemperatur und Vorzugsluftfeuchtigkeit der beiden Schabenarten Periplaneta Americana und Blaberus trapezoideus (Insecta: Blattaria)

Zusammenfassung Von adulten M?nnchen der beiden SchabenartenPeriplaneta americana undBlaberus trapezoideus wurden gleichzeitig Vorzugstemperatur und Vorzugsluftfeuchtigkeit ermittelt. Für beide Arten konnten in ihren Vorzugstemperaturen gewisse Akklimatisationserscheinungen festgestellt werden. BeiP. americana steigt die Vorzugstemperatur von 26°–29° nach einem einmonatigen Aufenthalt bei 20° auf etwa 29°–30° nach einerer Exposition bei 35° an.B. trapezoideus hat eine um etwa 3° niedrigere Vorzugstemperatur. Nach einem Aufenthalt bei 20° betr?gt sie etwa 23°–26°. Sie steigt auf etwa 26° nach einer Exposition bei 32° an.P. americana bevorzugt stets ein trockenes Milieu (geboten wurden 18% r.L.),B. trapezoideus such h?here Luftfeuchtigkeit auf (45%–93% r.L.) und meidet trockenes Milieu. Ein Gewichtsverlust von 15%–18% veranla?tP. americana eine um 1°–3° niedrigere Vorzugstemperatur, aber vor allem eine sehr hohe Luftfeuchte aufzusuchen. Ein Gewichtsverlust von 20%–25% des K?rpergewichtes hat keinen Einflu? auf die Vorzugstemperatur vonB. trapezoideus; jedoch halten sich die Tiere nur ebenfalls l?nger in sehr hoher Luftfeuchte auf.

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Summary The combined temperature and humidity preferences were investigated in adult males ofPeriplaneta americana andBlaberus trapezoideus. Both species show an acclimatization effect. After spending one acclimatization at 20°B. trapezoideus preferred 23°–26°, after spending one month at 32° the preference was about 26°.P. americana prefers the lowest available humidity (18%).B. trapezoideus avoids dry air and is equally distributed in the steps provided of 45%–93% r.h. After desiccation to 15%–18% of the total body weight,P. americana prefers a temperature 1°–3° lower than that before desiccation, but in this case most of all it prefers a very high humidity. Desiccation has no influence on the temperature preference ofB. trapezoideus, but the animal spends more time in very high humidities.

     

Gc subtypes: demonstration using isoelectric focusing. Study of population and formal genetics

Gc-subtypes were determined by isoelectric focusing and immunfixation on samples from 492 unrelated blood donors from Berlin. The frequency of the three genes was found to be GcIF = 0.1270, GcIS = 0.6006, Gc2 = 0.2724. Analysis of 78 parents with 190 children did not show deviations from the expected mode of inheritance. Investigation of the adults from paternity cases and of their children on the other hand obtained similar results. No rare alleles were observed.     

Local complexity and central bureaucracy in Finnish health care planning

The 1972 Primary Health Care Act in Finland has generally been considered very successful. In many respects this may be true. From an administrative point of view, however, this act has not worked satisfactorily. Data are given on the bureaucratic inertia introduced by the new planning system mandated by the act, and some general criticism is offered of the claims of success made by public health officials.     

Why Are they Silent?

A frustrating feature in the Chinese higher educational landscape is the ubiquitous and appalling lack of student responsiveness in the classroom. Most of the explanations that have been provided for the causes of the unilateralism in the classroom discourse of Chinese higher education have placed under scrutiny various factors, from personal traits of students, such as shyness, to Confucianism. All these explanations attribute this unilateralism to, if not blame it on, the same external factor: the cultural specificity of Chinese college student. Whereas it is right to narrow the search for the causes down to the domain of culture, it does not really make much sense to simply single out parts of the Chinese culture for explanations. Instead of dwelling on specific components of the Chinese culture, the present article proposes drawing the attention to a certain functional mechanism within the culture: self-construal, which is also manifested in other cultures. It argues that the students’ minimum discourse performance in Chinese university classrooms can be understood as a result of their semi-conscious act of internal modeling, which entails confirming and reinforcing their identities based on evaluations of the situation and conforming to certain social norms that are prevalent in school. The self-construal in Chinese university classrooms perfectly reflects a kind of power imbalance between the teacher and students, which has a profound shaping force upon the students in their modeling of self-identity in regard to that of the teacher and is not conducive to students’ overall development, as it inhibits critical thinking and real academic innovation.