Homogenous Base Rates for Malingering in Neuropsychological Examination of Litigants

Base rates for malingering are often obtained and averaged across multiple clinicians who apply heterogeneous methods for detection (Mittenberg et al., J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 24: 1094?1102, 2002; Young, Psychol Inj Law 8: 200–218, 2015). Our aims of obtaining homogenous base rates included the following: (a) evaluation of all our legal cases in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the position papers by both the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the Association for Psychological Advancement in Psychological Injury and Law, (b) minimal variation between our comprehensive neuropsychological examinations, and (c) determination of base rates of failed effort in 150 consecutively examined legal cases in one medical setting. To assess the various levels of volitional exaggeration, we introduced four gradations of poor effort definitions, which relied on performance validity tests (PVTs). A comparison between two consecutive samples of 75 litigants indicated less frequent poor effort with increasingly more conservative criteria. In our analysis of a subset of litigants who sustained traumatic brain injuries (N?=?115), the four base rates for mild versus moderate-severe TBI groups were equivalent for the two more lenient malingering definitions but varied for the two more conservative definitions. Specifically, for the mild TBI cases investigated, the percentage of three PVT failures (or one PVT failure significantly below chance) arrived at 3.4 %. Our final aim was to compare the base rates of poor effort that were obtained with PVTs to the base rates of emotional and physical symptom endorsement, which were obtained with symptom validity tests (SVTs). No significant correlations emerged in this analysis. The discussion emphasizes the relatively lower base rates of poor effort found in the convenience sample studied in neuropsychological evaluations relative to the higher estimates in the literature (40 +/? 10 %, Larrabee et al., Clin Neuropsychol 23: 841–849, 2009) but not others based on comprehensive review (Young, Psychol Inj Law 8: 200–218, 2015).     

When incubator resources are crucial: survival chances of student startups operating in an academic incubator

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Earlier studies provide mixed results regarding the influence of incubator resources on a startup’s chances of survival. This study suggests that this is...     

Rapid assessment of existing HIV prevention programming in a community mental health center

In preparation for implementation of a comprehensive HIV prevention program in a Community Mental Health Center for persons with mental illness who are also abusing substances, a rapid assessment procedure (RAP) of existing prevention services that may have developed in the setting over time was undertaken at baseline. In addition to an ecological assessment of the availability of HIV-related information that was available on-site, in-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with Center administrators, direct-care staff, and mental health consumers. Results indicated that responses regarding available services differed depending upon type of respondent, with administration reporting greater availability of preventive programs and educational materials than did direct-care staff or mental health consumers themselves. But overall, formalized training on HIV prevention by case managers is extremely rare. Case managers felt that other providers, such as doctors or nurses, were more appropriate to deliver an HIV prevention intervention.     

Book reviews

Language Planning and National Development: The Uzbek Case William Fierman Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1991, Contributions to the Sociology of Language No 60, XIII, 375 pp, $110.00

Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and Autonomy in Twentieth‐Century Iran Touraj Atabaki London, England: British Academic Press, 1993, pp 238

Central Asia: New Arc of Crisis Shirin Akiner London, Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, 1993, 79 pp,appendices, £4.95

Without right and left Nursultan Nazarbaev Class Publishing, London, 1992, 171 pp, photos, pb NP

The Islamization of Central Asia. A Case Study of Uzbekistan Diloram Ibrahim Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1993, 32 pp, £1.50

Survival Among the Kurds. A History of the Yezidis John S. Guest London: Kegan Paul International, 1993, 324 pp, Illus., bibliography, index, £45

Samarkand compiled by Andrei Nedvetsky, 159 pp, illustrated, Bukhara compiled by Andrei Nedvetsky, 159 pp, illustrated, Khiva compiled by Andrei Nedvetsky, 127 pp, illustrated, Reading, England: Garnet Publishing, 1993, £16.95 each

My Golden Road from Samarkand Jascha Golowanjuk London: Quartet Books, £14.95, 244 pp

Turkey's New Geopolitics From the Balkans to Western China Graham E. Fuller, Ian O. Lesser, Paul D. Henze & J. F. Brown Boulder, Oxford, UK: Westview Press, A RAND Book, 1993, 197 pp, £10.50

Turkish Foreign Policy. New Prospects Clement H. Dodd (editor) Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire: The Eothen Press, 1992, 117 pp, £12.50 pb

Derwische. Gelebter Sufismus Jurgen Frembgen Koln, Germany: DuMont Buchverlag, 1993, 283 pp, illustrations

Die Gärten des Islam Hermann Forkl, Johannes Kalter, Thomas Leisten & Margaret Pavaloi (editors) Stuttgart/London: Hansjorg Mayer, 1993, 388 pp, illustrations, £30

Birth of a Tragedy. Kashmir 1947 Alastair Lamb Hertingfordbury: Roxford Books, 1994, 177 pp, £9 pb

The Afghan Syndrome. The Soviet Union's Vietnam Major‐General Oleg Sarin & Colonel Lev Dvoretsky London: Greenhill Books, Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1993, £22.50, 195 pp, appendices, index     

Book reviews

In a Collapsing Empire: Underdevelopment, Ethnic Conflicts and Nationalisms in the Soviet Union. Marco Buttino (editor). Milano: Fondazione Giangiacomo Fentrinelli, 1993, 375 pp, Lire80,000.

The Turkic Peoples of the World. Margaret Bainbridge (editor). London: Kegan Paul International, 1993, 403 pp, £65.

Where Two Worlds Met. The Russian State and the Kalmyk Nomads, 1600–1771. Michael Khodarkovsky. Cornell University Press, 1992, 278 pp, illus, index.

Please Don't Call it Soviet Georgia. Mary Russell. London: Serpent's Tail, 1991, viii, 268 pp, £9.99.

Georgia: a Rebel in the Caucasus. Peter Nasmyth. London, Cassell, 1992, 222 pp, £16.99.

Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History. Ronald Grigor Suny. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993, xiii, 289 pp, $17.95.

Muslim‐Christian Encounters. William Montgomery Watt. Routledge, 1991, 164 pp, index.

The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia. Peter Hopkirk. London: John Murray, 1990, xiv, 562 pp, illus, £19.95.

The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. Peter Hopkirk. New York: Kodansha, 1992, xxiv, 564 pp, illus, $30.00.

Francis Younghusband and the Great Game. Anthony Verrier. London: Jonathan Cape, 1991, xviii, 238 pp, illus, £18.00.     

Book reviews

National Movements and National Identity Among the Crimean Tatars (1905–16) Hakan Kirimli Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1996, 242 pp, illus., bibliog., index

Crimean Tatars: Repatriation and Conflict Prevention New York: Open Society Institute, 1996, 95 pp

Between the Slogans of Communism and the Laws of Islam Marfua Tokhtakhodjaeva Lahore: Shirkat Gah, 1995, x, 268 pp, paperback

Household Welfare in Central Asia Jane Falkingham, Jeni Klugman, Sheila Marnie and John Micklewright (editors) Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1997, xii, 253 pp, hardcover

The Wars of Eduard Shevarnadze Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl and Melvin A. Goodman University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 1997

Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions and Insurgencies Ludwig W. Adamec Lanham, MD, USA and London: The Scarecrow Press, 1996, 384 pp, maps, illus, chronology, bibliog. $48, hardback

Domestic Culture in the Middle East Jennifer Scarce National Museums of Scotland: Edinburgh and Curzon Press, Richmond, UK 1996, £12.99

Imageries Populaires en Islam Pierre Centlivres and Micheline Centlivres‐Demont Geneva, Switzerland: Georg Editeur, 1997, 106 pp, illus. FfS39

Colour and Symbolism in Islamic Architecture: Eight Centuries of the Tile‐Maker's Art Photographs by Roland and Sabrina Michaud. Text by Michael Barry London: Thames & Hudson, 1996, 315 pp, illus, map, indices, glossary, £48 hardback

Traditional Textiles of Central Asia Janet Harvey London: Thames & Hudson, 1996, 160 pp, biblio, £35

The Carpets of Afghanistan R. D. Parsons Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Antique Collectors Club, 1994, 192 pp, £29.95

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906–1911: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy and the Origins of Feminism Janet Afary New York: Columbia University Press, 1996, xxi + 448 pp., bibliography, glossary, index

Kochevaia tsivilizatsiia kazakhov: osnovy zhiznedeiatel'nosti nomadnogo obshchestva Nurbulat Masanov Almaty: Sotsivest, 1995     

Book reviews

Graham E. Fuller, The Center of the Universe. The Geopolitics of Iran, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991, xv + 301pp., $35.00 hardback, $18.50 paperback.

Tim McDaniel, Autocracy, Modernization and Revolution in Russia and Iran, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991, x + 235pp., $29.95.

Steven G. Marks, Road to Power: the Trans‐Siberian Railroad and the Colonization of Asian Russia, 1850–1917, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991, xxiii + 235pp., $31.95.

Cyril E. Black, Louis Dupree, Elizabeth Endicott‐West, Daniel C. Matuszewski, Eden Naby and Arthur N. Waldron, The Modernization of Inner Asia, Sharpe, Armonk, 1991, xviii + 405 pp., $49.95.

Audrey L. Altstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity Under Russian Rule. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1992, xxiv + 331 pp., $18.95

G. A. Khidoiatov, Moia rodnaia istoriia. Oqituwchi, Tashkent, 1990, 304 pp. + colour plates.

Robert L. Canfield (ed.), Turko‐Persia in Historical Perspective. A School of American Research Book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, xiv + 256 pp., $54.00.