The role of mobile computed tomography in mass fatality incidents

Mobile multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) scanners are potentially available to temporary mortuaries and can be operational within 20 min of arrival. We describe, to our knowledge, the first use of mobile MDCT for a mass fatality incident. A mobile MDCT scanner attended the disaster mortuary after a five vehicle road traffic incident. Five out of six bodies were successfully imaged by MDCT in c. 15 min per body. Subsequent full radiological analysis took c. 1 h per case. The results were compared to the autopsy examinations. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of imaging with mobile MDCT in relation to mass fatality work, illustrating the body pathway process, and its role in the identification of the pathology, personal effects, and health and safety hazards. We propose that the adoption of a single modality of mobile MDCT could replace the current use of multiple radiological sources within a mass fatality mortuary.     

Dysfunctional Parenting and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration and Victimization among College Women: the Mediating Role of Schemas

Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) are negative cognitions about self and relationships that develop early in life, distort our perceptions of life experiences and are sustained via confirmatory information processing (Young et al. 2003). Although empirical evidence supports the relationship between EMS and psychopathology, there is a relative paucity of research regarding the relationship between EMS and intimate partner violence (IPV). The goal of the present study was to elucidate the complex relations between recollections of dysfunctional parenting, EMS, and IPV victimization and perpetration in adulthood. A sample of 305 women college students completed measures of perceptions of parental bonding, EMS, and relationship conflict behaviors. Results revealed that the EMS of subjugation and self-sacrifice accounted for 13.9% of the variance in IPV victimization; however, the EMS of subjugation was the only significant predictor of IPV victimization and mediated the relationship between recollections of dysfunctional parenting and IPV victimization. Additionally, although the EMS of entitlement, insufficient self-control, mistrust/abuse, abandonment, and social isolation accounted for 11.3% of the variance in IPV perpetration, only the EMS of insufficient self-control and mistrust/abuse were significant predictors of IPV perpetration and mediated the relationship between recollections of dysfunctional parenting and IPV perpetration. Results suggest that these cognitive schemas may be the mechanism through which dysfunctional parenting renders one vulnerable to violence in relationships.     

Strict Liability’s Criminogenic Effect

It is easy to understand the apparent appeal of strict liability to policymakers and legal reformers seeking to reduce crime: if the criminal law can do away with its traditional culpability requirement, it can increase the likelihood of conviction and punishment of those who engage in prohibited conduct or bring about prohibited harm or evil. And such an increase in punishment rate can enhance the crime-control effectiveness of a system built upon general deterrence or incapacitation of the dangerous. Similar arguments support the use of criminal liability for regulatory offenses. Greater punishment rates suggest greater compliance. But this analysis fails to appreciate the crime-control costs of strict liability. By explicitly providing for punishment in the absence of moral blameworthiness, the law undermines its moral credibility with the community and thereby provokes subversion and resistance instead of the cooperation and acquiescence it needs for effective crime control. More importantly, the system’s lost moral credibility undermines the law’s ability to harness the powerful forces of stigmatization, social influence, and internalized norms. Given the serious limitations inherent in the real-world application of general deterrence and preventive detention programs, the most effective crime-control strategy is to build the criminal law’s reputation for being just, which means avoiding the use of strict liability.     

The Impact of Psychosocial and Contextual Factors on Individuals Who Sustain Whiplash-Associated Disorders in Motor Vehicle Collisions

Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are very common, and they often result in neck and shoulder injuries that are referred to as whiplash-associated disorders (WAD). The largest percentage of WAD are relatively minor and do not reveal any evidence of objective, structural pathology. However, for a substantial percentage of individuals, WAD evolves into chronic, disabling conditions characterized by pain and other symptoms. A range of pre-morbid, collision-related, biomechanical, and psychosocial responses to the MVC have been investigated to determine the manner in which these responses serve to exacerbate and maintain WAD symptoms. In this article, we review the literature investigating these potential causal, amplifying, and perpetuating factors from a biopsychosocial perspective. We emphasize the range of psychological factors and the post-MVC legal and compensation factors that have been identified as significant contributors to the persistence of symptoms and ensuing disability. We highlight the ways in which psychological and legal factors need to be integrated with biological factors to better understand and prevent WAD and treat individuals who experience WAD to reduce chronicity and disability.     

Still focused on the Atlantic: accounting for the limited Europeanization of Portuguese security policy

This article examines the limited Europeanization of contemporary Portuguese security policy and highlights how the persistence of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the emergence of the Lusophone world have shaped Portuguese participation in the European Union's (EU's) Common Foreign and Security Policy in recent years, particularly in Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions in Africa and in the European Defence Agency's co-operation activities. Europeanization's conceptual weaknesses, combined with the mutually reinforcing nature of transatlantic, EU and Lusophone security co-operation, have reinforced the ambiguous nature of what a “Europeanized” vision for European security might look like, especially given long-standing loyalties to NATO. This affords states considerable margin for manoeuvrability in defining their security priorities, so long as they are seen as being broadly consistent. This article reassesses the appropriateness of the Europeanization concept and shows how Portugal has approached this strategic balancing act, supporting the development of the EU's CSDP whilst remaining loyal to NATO and seeking to develop security relations in the Lusophone world, achieving legitimacy by stressing complementarity and multilateralization in security co-operation.     

Under the radar: policing non-violent domestic abuse in the US and UK

Physical violence is but one of many tools that may be used to gain greater power within intimate relationships, yet the legal response has been critiqued for failing to recognise and respond to the full spectrum of abusive behaviours, such as coercive control. Using a sample of police officers from the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), the current study utilises hypothetical vignettes to assess police officers’ perceptions of domestic abuse, including those incidents that are not necessarily physically violent, but involve stalking and other coercive, controlling behaviours that are harmful and require intervention. Within- and between-country similarities and differences were analysed. Findings revealed that the majority of officers in both countries possessed a good level of understanding of domestic abuse and how they should respond to it – amidst and beyond the physical violence. However, our analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data also showed that the use of physical violence is at the forefront of many officers’ expectations about domestic abuse, and that when physical violence is absent, the police response is less proactive. Our study finds some support for the idea that non-physical abuse does go “under the radar” to some extent for some officers, and that this is more the case for American officers than their British counterparts. Findings are discussed in terms of context of the research sites and implications for policy, practice and future research.     

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS: PRESERVATION AND IMPACT

正In March 1974, Yang Zhifa, his five brothers, and their neighbor Wang Puzhi set out to dig a well near the Lishan Mountain in Lintong, east of Xi'an. Lintong was an area full of underwater springs and water courses, so they knew that they wouldn't have to dig far before finding water. What they discovered instead that day led to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in Chinese history—the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qinshihuang(259-210 B.C.) of the Qin Dynasty(221-206 B.C.).     

‘Constant Violence from Everywhere’: Psychodynamics of Power and Abuse Amongst Rural and Small-Town Youth

Informed by psychosocial theoretical constructs, this study explores dynamic processes that underlie behaviors of what we call youth relational violence. The paper challenges earlier studies about teen dating violence that use models of adult domestic violence to inform the work, and posits, instead, that youth relational violence is not domestic, occurs beyond the scope of committed partnerships, and varies broadly in the degree and qualities of the relational dyads in which it occurs. Data from participants in targeted and random focus groups (n = 84) consider the social and economic context of a rural and small-town region. The study makes no gender assumptions about abusive teen relationships, nor does it limit data sources and analyses to heterosexual dyads. It conceptualizes elements of power and attachment, and operationalizes them into analyzable data forms, toward the development of a theoretical model that will inform research and practice about violence between teens in relational dyads. Whereas research in the last decade has focused principally on prevalence and evaluation, this paper introduces an exploration of dynamic processes that underlie power, tolerance of abuse, vulnerability to perpetration and victimization, and degree of attachment as it relates to abuse and power dynamics.