Computer Simulations to Investigate the Consequence of Blunt Head Impact

Blunt head impact as sustained in falls or punches against the head can result in rupture of bridging veins. Computer simulations were performed to simulate three different types of falls and punches against the head. The relative brain‐skull motion was recorded. The falls resulted in impact on the backside of the head, whereas the punches struck the face. The maximum resultant translational and rotational acceleration, the Head Injury Criterion (HIC), and the characteristics of the relative brain‐skull motion, as well as the coup and contre‐coup regions were determined. The maximum resultant translational acceleration was found to be between 2982 and 3541 m/s² for falls and between 814 and 942 m/s² for punches. The maximum resultant rotational acceleration reached 632–1000 rad/s² for falls and 252–620 rad/s² for punches. The HIC for falls was found to be at least 1357 and at most 130 for punches. The major brain‐skull displacement calculated for falls and punches was 6.6 and 4.2 mm, respectively. The results of this study suggest that falls are associated with a higher risk for bridging vein ruptures than punches and that cerebral contusions at the contre‐coup side are more serious.     

How has Radical Right Support Transformed Established Political Conflicts? The Case of Austria

In many European party systems, the radical right has challenged established patterns of political competition. This article studies the consequences of this by using the case of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and data from Austria’s first national election study (AUTNES). It is found that the FPÖ has weakened Austria’s previously highly stable system of socio-structural and ideological divisions as expressed by the two mainstream parties, the People’s Party and the Social Democrats. In socio-structural terms, the FPÖ has undermined the Social Democrats’ support base. In ideological terms, FPÖ voters have distinct views on newer issues such as immigration, European integration and dissatisfaction with the political system, but its supporters’ views on Austria’s traditional conflicts surrounding the economy and social and religious values cannot explain the party’s success. These findings further our understanding of the transformation of political conflicts not just in Austria, but in Western Europe in general.     

PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE: DECENTRALISED PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION IN ETHIOPIA

This article discusses how decentralisation policies are enacted in the planning and implementation of natural resource management interventions in rural Ethiopia. A key element of decentralisation policy is the emphasis on greater participation by local communities. Drawing on qualitative research conducted with government staff and farmers, this paper illustrates how different actors perceive and implement national policy and how these actions affect the longer‐term sustainability of land management interventions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“Donate your organs,donate life!” Explicitness in policy instruments

Behavioural research suggests that the intensity with which policy instruments indicate a direction of desired behavioural change affects how target populations respond to them. However, comparative research on policy instruments focuses on their calibration, restrictiveness, density and formal intensity, but does not account for the degree to which they specify the particular policy goal. Moving beyond nudging and “command and control” approaches, this paper adds the dimension of explicitness to existing taxonomies of policy instruments. The explicitness of an instrument results from two questions: first, does the instrument specify a direction of behavioural change? Second, does the instrument attach valence to this behaviour? The paper proposes a stepwise measurement procedure and links explicitness with policy outcomes. A comparative case study of organ donor policy in Switzerland and Spain illustrates how accounting for the explicitness dimension can improve our understanding of policy instruments and their effectiveness.     

Recreating the past in the ornamentation of stately homes and the leisure activities conducted within them: the Duchess of Parcent as a case study for the Spanish aristocracy in the early twentieth century

This paper attempts to vindicate the part played by certain Spanish aristocratic women in the management, conservation, and transmission of their artistic patrimony in the decades around the turn of the twentieth century by creating art collections and displaying them in their own homes. The works were exhibited in rooms that were decorated and furnished to suggest historical ambiences in which French trends rubbed shoulders with styles that had been developed in Spain throughout its history, turning their homes into devices that recreated past times. Similarly, retrospective views of Spanish art were the focus of leisure and entertainment activities driven by ladies from the upper echelons of society through the performance of tableaux vivants. The focus of this study will be Trinidad Scholtz Hermensdorff, Duchess of Parcent.     

Pain tolerance: Economic voting in the Czech Republic

Several theoretical explanations have been proposed to explain the mixed evidence of economic voting in post-communist countries. Using aggregate-level data, this article relaxes the assumption of parameter constancy and employs rolling regression analysis to track fluctuations in parameters over time. The results contradict the existing theories of economic voting in postcommunist countries. As an alternative explanation, the article suggest that voters have a level of pain tolerance below which the economy will not play a role in evaluations of the government; voters will use economic indicators to punish and reward incumbent government only if the economic indicators exceed their pain tolerance. For example, in the Czech Republic, voters will not start punishing the incumbent party until inflation climbs above 13.44%. However, Czech voters are less tolerant of unemployment and will punish the incumbent when unemployment exceeds 8.82%.     

The time-dependant post-mortem redistribution of antipsychotic drugs

The post mortem redistribution of ten commonly prescribed antipsychotic drugs (APs) was investigated. Femoral blood was collected from 273 cases at admission to mortuary (AD) and at post-mortem (PM). The PM samples were collected at various times up to nine days after admission and the sample pairs analysed using LC-MS/MS. The drugs included in this study were 9OH-risperidone (paliperidone), amisulpride, chlorpromazine, clozapine, haloperidol, olanzapine, promethazine, quetiapine, risperidone, and zuclopenthixol. Haloperidol, quetiapine and risperidone showed minimal changes between AD and PM specimens, whereas the majority of drugs showed significant changes between the sample pairs collected at different time points post mortem (p<0.01) in addition to an average concentration change greater than the uncertainty of measurement of the applied method. Average increases in blood concentrations after admission to the mortuary ranged up to 112% (chlorpromazine and olanzapine) but also decreases up to -43% (9OH-risperidone) were seen. There were large standard deviations between sample pairs and substantial day-to-day unpredictable changes that highlight the difficulty in the interpretation of drug concentrations post-mortem. Based on the presented data, we recommend that specimens for toxicological analysis should to be taken as soon as possible after admission of a deceased person to the mortuary in order to minimise the effects of the PM interval on the drug concentration in blood.     

Identification of 2-hydroxymethyl-olanzapine as a novel degradation product of olanzapine

Olanzapine (OLZ) is amongst the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic drugs and is associated with substantial instability. The aim of this study was to investigate the instability of OLZ and to identify the degradants formed from its breakdown. Three experiments were conducted to monitor the degradation of OLZ and the formation of degradants in blood (1), water (2), and post-extraction at 4 °C (3). All three sample sets were analysed in duplicate and repeated in the absence (A) and presence (B) of 0.25% ascorbic acid. One degradant was identified in sample sets 2A and 3A with m/z 329 and confirmed as 2-hydroxymethyl-OLZ (2-OH-OLZ) using LC-MS techniques. The addition of 0.25% ascorbic acid slowed the degradation of OLZ down in all three experiments and inhibited the formation of 2-OH-OLZ in sample sets 2A and 3A. To investigate the influence of oxygen on the degradation of OLZ and the formation of 2-OH-OLZ in water, an additional experiment (4) was conducted. Sample sets were prepared containing different vortexing or sonication steps in order to alter the oxygen content in the samples. Statistical analysis confirmed that degradation increased significantly following vortexing for 1 min while sonication did not affect the rate of degradation of OLZ further suggesting the involvement of oxygen in the degradative processes. 2-OH-OLZ was only identified as a degradant of OLZ in aqueous solutions. It also degrades over time but its product is currently unknown and is under investigation.     

The phenomenology and course of depressive syndromes in pre-trial detention

This study focuses on the prevalence, the phenomenology and the course of depressive syndromes in pre-trial confinement. In the course of the first examination, socio-biographic data and information pertaining to subjects' psychiatric and forensic record and their current situation in imprisonment were collected from a random sample of 105 male prisoners in a Berlin pre-trial detention center, with the help of a semi-structured interview. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), each a self-rating questionnaire, taken together with a clinician rating were successively performed to assess the level of depression. A further examination was conducted approximately three weeks later. The subjects in the follow-up group (n=67) were questioned in a semi-structured follow-up interview regarding their confinement conditions and were requested again to fill in the BDI-II and HAMD questionnaires. The statistical analysis compares the results from administration of the two instruments at two points in time. Individual's symptoms of depression as well as potentially aggravating or protective factors relating to the development of depressive symptoms are taken note of separately. The results of the study reveal the prevalence of mild depressive syndromes in a pre-trial prison population and a tendency to improve within the period of pre-trial confinement.     

An Evaluation of Statistical Methods for the Determination of Age of Death Using Dental Root Translucency and Periodontosis

Abstract: Lamendin and colleagues (1992) proposed to assess age‐at‐death from root translucency and periodontosis. Several teeth from the same individual were included in their study. In our work, we evaluate the reliability of their formulas without introducing this bias. Our sample was constituted of 214 individuals (114 males and 100 women) selected from the Terry collection (U.S.A.). The R² between age and both indicators is equal to 0.33 and 0.08 (p < 0.001). Based on linear regression, the mean of standard error for individual age prediction was equal to 13.67 years, and the mean interval length is equal to 53.89 years. Multinomial logistic regression and Bayesian approach failed to give satisfactory results when classifying the individuals in age categories. Therefore, the use of root translucency and periodontosis may lead to incorrect age‐at‐death assessment, and it is thus necessary to complement this approach with other techniques to assess age‐at‐death.