‘It’s deemed unmanly’: men’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV)

This study investigated male victims’ experiences of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV). Seven participants were interviewed and the data were analysed using Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Four essential themes were revealed. (1) Participants identified themselves as victims of abuse (experiencing physical and multiple forms of abuse). (2) They felt they were victims of controlling abuse (through the use of children and isolation). (3) Respondents experienced manipulation through gendered stereotypes of abuse. (4) They felt it was different because they were men. The participants within this study were often deeply affected by the abuse they had experienced. Previous research has found male abusers use societal structures and norms to enable their abuse. The participants in this study felt that their female abusers were equally adept doing this, although the mechanisms were different. Further research should look at the processes by which abusers of either gender control and abuse their victims.     

Frontiers of public service motivation research in Canada: A scoping review

The Canadian public sector employs around one-fifth of Canadian workers; they are responsible for policy making, stewarding public funds, and serving the public. Canadian governments struggle with job satisfaction, engagement, retention, and turnover, all of which may be associated with public service motivation (PSM). We conducted a scoping review of Canadian PSM research to synthesize what is known about these associations in the Canadian context. We identified 24 published studies and four works in progress. These demonstrate that PSM exists among Canadian public servants from the early stages of their career until later stages, and that PSM bolsters attraction to public sector work among students. No studies measured PSM among Canadian public servants using a validated instrument. Further research about the contributions of PSM to the quality of Canadian public services and how employers can nurture PSM is recommended, particularly given recent changes in work environments.     

A comparison of hair colour measurement by digital image analysis with reflective spectrophotometry

While reflective spectrophotometry is an established method for measuring macroscopic hair colour, it can be cumbersome to use on a large number of individuals and not all reflective spectrophotometry instruments are easily portable. This study investigates the use of digital photographs to measure hair colour and compares its use to reflective spectrophotometry. An understanding of the accuracy of colour determination by these methods is of relevance when undertaking specific investigations, such as those on the genetics of hair colour. Measurements of hair colour may also be of assistance in cases where a photograph is the only evidence of hair colour available (e.g. surveillance). Using the CIE L^*a^*b^* colour space, the hair colour of 134 individuals of European ancestry was measured by both reflective spectrophotometry and by digital image analysis (in V++). A moderate correlation was found along all three colour axes, with Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.625, 0.593 and 0.513 for L^*, a^* and b^* respectively (p-values = 0.000), with means being significantly overestimated by digital image analysis for all three colour components (by an average of 33.42, 3.38 and 8.00 for L^*, a^* and b^* respectively). When using digital image data to group individuals into clusters previously determined by reflective spectrophotometric analysis using a discriminant analysis, individuals were classified into the correct clusters 85.8% of the time when there were two clusters. The percentage of cases correctly classified decreases as the number of clusters increases. It is concluded that, although more convenient, hair colour measurement from digital images has limited use in situations requiring accurate and consistent measurements.     

An Evaluation of Differentially Spliced Genes as Markers of Sex for Forensic Entomology,,

Blow flies (Calliphoridae) are important medically and economically and are commonly used in forensics as temporal markers in death investigations. While phenotypic traits in adult flies can be sexually dimorphic, sex identification in immatures is difficult. Consequently, little is known about how sex may result in developmental disparities among sexes even though there are indications that they may be important in some instances. Since genetic mechanisms for sex are well studied in model flies and species of agricultural and medical importance, we exploit the sex-specifically spliced genes transformer (tra) and doublesex (dsx) in the sex determination pathway to optimize a sex identification assay for immatures. Using known primer sets for tra and with a novel one for dsx, we develop PCR assays for identifying sex in four forensically relevant Calliphoridae species: Lucilia sericata (Meigen), Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann), Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius), and Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) and evaluated their performance. Band detection rates were found to range from 71 to 100%, call rates ranged from 90 to 100%, and no error was found when bands could be called. Such information is informative for purposes of testimony and in preparation for development studies. The developed assays will assist in further differentiating sexually dimorphic differences in development of the Calliphoridae and aid in more accurately estimating insect age when age predictive markers (size, development time, molecular expression) are sexually dimorphic.     

The Effects of Childhood and Adolescent Adversity on Substance Use Disorders and Poor Health in Early Adulthood

Childhood and adolescent adversity have been shown to predict later mental and physical health outcomes. Understanding which aspects and developmental timings of adversity are important, and the mechanisms by which they have their impact may help guide intervention approaches. A large subset of adolescents (N?=?457; Female 68.9?%) from the 10-year longitudinal Youth Emotion Project was examined to better understand the associations among childhood/adolescent adversity, substance use disorder, and later health quality. Adolescent (but not childhood) adversities were associated with poorer health in late adolescence/early adulthood, adolescent adversities were associated with subsequent onset of substance use disorder, and adolescent adversities continued to be associated with poorer health in late adolescence/early adulthood after accounting for the variance explained by substance use disorder onset. These associations were observed after statistically accounting for emotional disorders and socioeconomic status. Specific domains of adversity uniquely predicted substance use disorder and poorer health outcomes. In contrast with current recent research, our findings suggest the association between childhood/adolescent adversity and poorer health outcomes in late adolescence and emerging adulthood are not entirely accounted for by substance use disorder, suggesting efforts to curtail family-based adolescent adversity may have downstream health benefits.     

Becoming flesh: refugee hunger strike and embodiments of refusal in German necropolitical spaces

The securitization of the EU’s external borders and repressive asylum policies biopolitically control and discipline the bodies of refugees. In Germany, these developments hark back to a longer colonial history of racialization that the state collectively disavows. To approach this continuity of racialized citizenship, I will analyse a series of hunger strikes that were staged by refugees from 2012 till 2014 in Germany. By asking which possibilities lie in staging the hunger strike, I will argue that Germany’s necropolitical geography of detention, asylum, and deportation marks the racialized refugees’ bodies as disposable within the logics of citizenship. I propose that hunger strike is a form of becoming flesh, which makes visible how racialized violence is enacted on the refugees’ bodies. Becoming flesh articulates a politics of refusal that subverts the logics of recognition, empathy and suffering liberal rights discourses rely on and, instead, performs an embrace of the refugees’ abjection.     

Juvenile Offenders’ Alcohol and Marijuana Trajectories: Risk and Protective Factor Effects in the Context of Time in a Supervised Facility

The current study modeled trajectories of substance use from ages 15 to 20 among 1,095 male serious juvenile offenders (M age = 16.54; 42% African-American, 34% Latino, 20% European-American, and 4% other ethnic/racial backgrounds) and prospectively predicted trajectories from risk and protective factors before and after controlling for time spent in a supervised setting. Results indicated that supervised time suppressed age-related growth in substance use. Trajectories of offenders with no supervised time and low levels of supervised time increased in substance use across age, whereas offenders with high levels of supervised time showed no growth. Almost all risk and protective factors had effects on initial substance use but only adolescent history of substance use, impulse control, and psychosocial maturity had an effect on change in substance use over time. Findings highlight the importance of formal sanctions and interventions superimposed on normal developmental processes in understanding trajectories of substance use among serious juvenile offenders.