Children's responses to interpersonal obstacles as a predictor of social competence

Children's responses to interpersonal obstacles and the relationship of these responses to social competence were investigated using the Social Problem Situation Analysis Measure. In this procedure, children respond to standard vignettes and then have their initial response negated by the examiner. The data showed that indices of problem-solving skills instandard andobstacle situations were indeed complementary. Problem solving in response to obstacles was the strongest predictor of self-concept and teachers' ratings of studients' adjustment. Expectancies in standard situations were most predictive of behavioral problem solving and social isolation. The discussion emphasized implications for theory and research into the way in which social problem solving under obstacle conditions relates to different indices of social competence.This study was supported in part by grants to the first author from the William T. Grant Foundation (with John Clabby) and NIMH.Received Ph.D. from University of Connecticut. Research interests include primary prevention and social competence promotion.Received Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Research interests include stress and coping processes.Received Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Research interests include theory and assessment, self and psychopathology.     

Towards a more diversified Canada: economic arguments for re-confederation

Abstract: In the ongoing Canadian debate on confederation, variations across the country are almost invariably viewed as conditions that must be removed or at best tolerated. This paper provides an alternative view and model of confederation that builds on portfolio notions of diversification. Here, instead of seeing regional differences as barriers to a strong confederation, we envision building solidly on these differences and encouraging regions to differentiate themselves. Canada's diverse regions might then realize futures that are most appropriate to their resource endowments and human aspirations and that at the same time improve the economic growth and growth-volatility characteristics of the nation as a whole. Regions might pursue their comparative advantages rather than having to forego their distinctness in striving for a “national mean” - a mean all too frequently defined by values at the centre of economic and political power. The ensuing discussion expands this argument and applies it using two specific examples: securities regulation and housing policy. The paper concludes with some suggestions for instituting a more differentiated, diversified and decentralized form of confederation. Sommaire: Dans le cadre du debat perpetuel sur la confédération au Canada, on con-sidère presque toujours que les variations qui existent à travers le pays doivent être éliminées ou, au mieux, tolérées. Dans cet article, on présente un autre modèle de confédération qui s'inspire de la notion de diversification du portefeuille. Au lieu d'envisager les differences régionales comme autant d'obstacles s'opposant à une confédération forte, on veut bâtir du solide sur ces differences et encourager les régions à se différencier entre elles. Les régions variées du Canada seraient alors à même de suivre le cherninement le mieux adaptéà leurs richesses naturelles et aux aspirations de leurs populations, tout en améliorant les paramétres de croissance et de volatilité de la croissance de la nation toute entiére. Les régions poursuivraient alors leurs avantages comparatifs, au lieu d'abandonner leurs traits distinctifs pour tendre vers une moyenne, nationale trop souvent tributaire de valeurs situées au centre du pouvoir économique et politique. On élargit ensuite cet argument et on l'applique au moyen de deux exemples concrets: la réglementation des valeurs mobilières et la politique sur le logement. En conclusion, l'article offre quelques suggestions pour quel'on adopte une confédération plus différenciée, plus diversifiée et plus décentralisée.     

Recovery of Spray Paint Traces from Clothing by Beating

Manual recovery of spray paints from textiles using a microscope, the routine method in many laboratories, is often laborious. Beating the clothing with a plastic rod, the routine method used for recovery of glass traces within the authors’ laboratory, is proposed as an alternative. The efficiency of the method was evaluated by spray tests with fluorescent paint. In these tests, paint particles in the acquired debris samples, as well as those remaining on the textiles, were investigated. The results show that beating is an efficient way to recover and concentrate paint particles. A good efficiency for jeans fabric and rough knitwear is reported. The results appeared to be less satisfactory for smooth woven fabric. Application of the method in casework was effective for graffiti paints as well as for flaked car paint.     

Visualization of Latent Blood Stains Using Visible Reflectance Hyperspectral Imaging and Chemometrics

The detection of latent traces is an important aspect of crime scene investigation. Blood stains on black backgrounds can be visualized using chemiluminescence, which is invasive and requires a darkened room, or near-infrared photography, for which investigators need to change filters manually to optimize contrast. We demonstrated the performance of visible reflectance hyperspectral imaging (400–720 nm) for this purpose. Several processing methods were evaluated: single wavelength bands, ratio images, principal component analysis (PCA), and “SIMPLe-to-use Interactive Self-modeling Mixture Analysis” (SIMPLISMA). Using these methods, we were able to enhance the contrast between blood stains and 12 different fabrics. On black cotton, blood dilutions were visible with a minimal concentration of 25% of whole blood. The hyperspectral camera system used in this study is portable and wireless, which makes it suitable for crime scene use. The described technique is noncontact and nondestructive, so all traces are preserved for further analysis.     

Market offenses and limits to growth

The purpose of this article is to explore various factors that may regulate or stabilize levels in market offenses. Instead of assuming that illegal markets are ‘out of control’, evidence is advanced to demonstrate, on the contrary, that there are indeed limits to growth in criminal markets. This is presented along three principal and interconnected arguments. First, social norms limit the ability of suppliers to shape demand for illicit goods and services. Using public opinion surveys, it is concluded that the more objectionable the moral status of an illegal market, the smaller the pool of potential consumers and sellers. Second, there are considerable obstacles that confront suppliers of illegal goods and services accumulating capital and upward mobility. The consequences of product illegality inhibit the organizational growth capacities as well as the geographic expansion of illicit firms. Third, while impunity via corruptible alliances do cancel some of the effects of product illegality, this impunity is not a constant that can always be depended upon. To the extent that corruption varies across jurisdictions and over time, illegal entrepreneurs may come to realize that impunity is intrinsically limited in scope and volatile in nature and over which they essentially have very limited control. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Return to Havana

He is author of The Taming of Fidel Castroand other works on Cuba and the Caribbean.     

Terrorism,Agenda 2063 and the challenges of development in Africa

The nobility of the objectives and aspiration of the African Union's Agenda 2063 towards the developmental needs of the African people are laudable, as are the attempts being made to ensure collective action, despite the ‘shield of sovereignty behind which too many corrupt leaders have hidden’. However, these noble objectives and aspirations may be undermined and threatened by the upsurge in militant Islamism and the spread of terrorism within and outside Africa, a fact not being addressed by Agenda 2063. Yet while Agenda 2063 does not seek to address the challenges posed by terrorist networks within the continent, which are threatening human security as well as the sovereignty, territoriality, legitimacy and stability of political regimes, these issues are at the core of the agenda. This article argues for Agenda 2063 to step up its efforts to combat both the roots of terrorism and the threat to development that terrorism itself poses.