Presence of fecal material in diapers as a potential source of error in estimations of postmortem interval using arthropod development rates.

Second instar larvae of the fly Chrysomya megacephala (Diptera, Calliphoridae) were recovered from the diapers of a 16-month-old child abandoned by her mother on Oahu, Hawaii. The development of these larvae indicated a minimum period of 23.5 h of exposure prior to discovery of the child. Larvae of this species of fly are not normally associated with living tissues in Hawaii, but rather with feces and remains during the early stages of decomposition. Had the child in this case died and data not been provided detailing the site of infestation, the postmortem interval estimated would have been significantly longer than was actually the case, because of the development of the larvae inside the diapers of the living child. The need for caution in cases involving deaths of infants, the elderly, and individuals not capable of caring for themselves is stressed.     

Decision games applied to police decision making -an exploratory study of information usage-

An analysis of police decision making is presented using the decision board technique developed by Leslie Wilkins. This method assumes that decision making can be measured by observing a subject's response to stimuli presented in the form of pieces of information. A board was created and employed with fifty municipal police officers. Findings suggest that police demonstrate individualized preferences for varying amounts and kinds of information. The nature of the offense was considered most frequently. The attitude of the offender was also an important determinant of the decision outcome; and the offender's attitude then influenced the amount and type of information subsequently used.     

Campaign Advertising in Taiwanese Presidential Elections

Campaign advertising in Taiwan, particularly at the presidential level, has increased in importance as the political and media contexts in which campaigns are fought has evolved. To further our understanding of this increasingly prevalent campaign tool, the article analyses a large number of television and newspaper advertisements for six presidential candidates across three campaigns. Extending prior research on Taiwan the analysis incorporates three dimensions of campaign advertising: the distribution, composition and tone of appeals. The findings suggest that, for better or worse, many elements of broader political competition in Taiwan are equally present in candidates' campaign advertising.     

The Renaissance of Comprehensive Planning: The Oregon Case

During the last decade, a popular pastime among planners and others has been to discredit the comprehensive plan and the process by which such plans are developed. Advocacy planning, strategic planning, policy planning, social planning, etc., were suggested alternatives to the traditional focus of planning-the comprehensive plan, The reasons for criticism were varied, but basically they boiled down to the fact that plans often ended up on shelves collecting dust. Plans failed as continuing guides to a wide variety of decisions since they were static end-state conceptions a supposedly better world. Plans and their associated regulatory devices were found inadequate to control or limit the effects of the market-plans were simply ineffective tools. So the searcH began for alternatives or modifications to the comprehensive plan.