A survey of glass fragments recovered from clothing of persons suspected of involvement in crime

The refractive indices (RI) of over 2000 glass fragments recovered from items of clothing submitted to the Birmingham and Wetherby Home Office forensic science laboratories in connection with crimes involving broken glass have been measured. The glass fragments have been classified according to their location on the clothing, and a grouping algorithm has been applied to the data.The refractive index distribution was found to be dependent on the location of the glass on the clothing. The significance of the results in the interpretation of glass evidence is discussed.     

Leading change through collaborative partnerships: a profile of leadership and capacity among local public health leaders

Collaborative partnerships have grown in prominence as vehicles for systems change and organizational development among a network of organizations, particularly in the complex field of public health. Likewise, supporting the functioning and effectiveness of collaborative partnerships has become a key interest among organizational development scholars and community psychologists alike. In the question of capacity-building, no aspect of collaborative capacity has received greater attention than that of leadership. Research on collaborative partnerships has highlighted the importance of shared leadership while at the same time acknowledging that specific individuals do and often must emerge and assume more prominent roles in the partnership in order for the work of the partnership to move forward. However, we have limited knowledge of these key individuals and the roles that they play in non-hierarchical, voluntary partnerships. The present study is a comparative case study of prominent leaders in three regional public health partnerships. The aim of this investigation is to explore the questions: (1) What does it mean to be a leader in a context where no one is "in charge?" (2) What roles do those individuals identified as leaders play?, and (3) What are the specific capacities that enable the enactment of these roles? We find that those viewed as leaders by their partnerships shared a similar profile both in the range and types of roles they play and the capacities that enable them to carry out these roles. Further, we find that while individual attributes such as passion, knowledge, and leadership skills are important, some of the most prominent capacities are rooted in the organizational and institutional contexts within which the leader is nested.     

Secrecy,Fear and Transaction Costs: The Business of Soviet Forced Labour in the Early Cold War

What does it cost to do business under a dictator? In 1949 the Soviet state had entered its most secretive phase. One of the Gulag's most important secrets was the location of its labour camps. As this secret was guarded more closely, camps found it increasingly difficult to do business without disclosing a state secret: their own location. For months and then years Gulag officials worked around this dilemma, expending considerable efforts. Rather than resolve it, they eventually normalised it. This study of the transaction costs of an autocratic regime raises basic questions about how Soviet secrecy was calibrated.     

Bombers and Bystanders in Suicide Attacks in Israel, 2000 to 2003

This article analyses the results of interaction between suicide operatives and bystanders in the course of 103 suicide attacks in Israel over a recent 3-year period. It shows that bystanders' intervention tended to reduce the casualties arising by numbers that were both statistically and practically significant. When bystanders intervened, however, this was often at the cost of their own lives. The value of a challenge was particularly large for suicide missions associated with Hamas, but Hamas operations were also less likely to meet a challenge in the first place. These findings, although preliminary, may have implications for counterterrorism. More systematic collection of statistical data relating to suicide incidents would be of benefit.     

Re-reading the new regionalism: A sympathetic critique

This paper provides a sympathetic critique of the new regionalism—currently one of the leading debates taking place in English-speaking human geography. By unpacking the new regionalism from its dual origins in economic geography and political science, the paper engages with some of its inherent lines of weakness by: developing a critique arguing that it is inappropriate on the part of the new regionalism to neglect the role of the state in the resurgence of regions in the reconstituted capitalist space economy; exploring the accusation that the new regionalism has become enmeshed in multifaceted scalar politics and associated tangled policy hierarchies; and, arguing that, through policy-transfer programmes, path- dependency, social capital and soft institutionalism, the new regionalism has been constructed on inadequate foundations. Finally, in developing this sympathetic theoretical and methodological critique towards the new regionalism, this paper speculates on how new regionalists should actually go about ‘doing’ regional regulation.     

Transferring MSW Education to Practice: A Qualitative Study With Public Child Welfare Employees

This study used a qualitative analysis of survey data collected from public child welfare employees (n = 168) as they completed master's of social work courses in a weekend/hybrid program, to examine their perceptions of ability to apply classroom learning to practice. The program, which combined a focus on direct practice and management, was developed in partnership with the state's public child welfare agency, during a period of systemic change and case practice reform. Findings indicate that students readily transferred knowledge and skills to the workplace, albeit with some challenges. In particular, management courses appeared to provide an important framework in understanding the organizational context of practice.     

The use of children's religious ideas in their psychiatric evaluation

Children's religious ideas provide a source of projective material that can be relevant clinically in a child's psychiatric evaluation. Areas that are sometimes revealed include (1) information about the child's parental introjects; (2) level of superego formation; (3) level of defense formation; (4) areas that are most anxiety provoking for the child. This religious material is frequently ignored, but can be a particularly useful adjunct when the usual child-evaluative techniques do not reveal a complete picture.Her psychiatric training included an adult psychiatry residency at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, and a child psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital, Belmont. Presently a candidate in the psychoanalytic institute, and in private practice.Her psychiatric training included an adult psychiatry residency at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, and a child psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital, Belmont. She is also a candidate in the psychoanalytic institute and in private practice.     

Growing inequality in black wages in the 1980s and the emergence of an African-American middle class

Much recent scholarship and popular discussion posits a substantial movement of African-American households into the “middle class.” Yet over the course of the 1980s, the proportion of individual black wage-earners receiving “annualized” (work experience-adjusted) wages and salaries in excess of about $35,000—three times the poverty line—fell by 22 percent, even as the share of African-Americans earning below the poverty line increased by a fifth. This was true for all age groups, and even for persons within the black community who had completed four or more years of college. The growth of low wage employment was most pronounced for black men between the ages of 25 and 34, among whom the incidence of below-poverty-level employment doubled. Black women aged 35–54 experienced relatively greater progress than any other part of the African-American community, but their gains lagged far behind those of comparable white women. We speculate on possible explanations for these developments, on the basis of which a potential public policy agenda is examined.     

Media Exposure, Current and Future Body Ideals, and Disordered Eating Among Preadolescent Girls: A Longitudinal Panel Study

Internalization of the thin body ideal is considered by many to account for the relationship between media exposure and disordered eating among girls and young women, but almost all supporting research has employed adolescent and adult samples. Using longitudinal panel survey data collected from 257 preadolescent girls at 2 points in time 1 year apart, we tested relationships between self-reported television and magazine exposure at wave 1 and current (prepubescent) and future (postpubescent) body ideals and disordered eating at wave 2. Controlling age, race, perceived body size, and body ideals and disordered eating measured at wave 1, television viewing at wave 1 predicted increased disordered eating and a thinner postpubescent body ideal at wave 2. In contrast, none of the media variables predicted a thinner prepubescent body ideal at wave 2. These findings suggest that the thin-ideal internalization construct needs refinement to enhance its developmental sensitivity.