Increasing the ERP signal in the detection of guilty knowledge

The N400 and P300, two event-related potentials (ERPs), were tested using a modified Guilty Knowledge Test for their effectiveness in discriminating people possessing guilty knowledge from those who did not. In the study phase, participants read different passages that detailed either a crime in a specific location (Guilty), some location, without a crime (Innocent but Knowledgeable) or an unrelated location without a crime (Naive). During EEG collection, participants viewed context phrases, some of which were relevant to the crime scene, and test words that were either congruent or incongruent to the context phrases. In Experiment 1, both Guilty and Innocent but Knowledgeable participants were originally classified as guilty because both produced large P300 amplitudes to the crimerelevant stimuli. However, few Innocent but Knowledgeable participants produced significant N400 amplitudes and thus were rejected as guilty in the final analysis. In Experiment 2, participants were assigned to either the Guilty or Innocent but Knowledgeable condition. Seventy-two hours after reading the appropriate passage, participants were divided into two groups: those reminded of the passage read earlier and those who were not. There was not effect of reminding Guilty participants on the discrimination but a strong effect on the Innocent but Knowledgeable participants suggesting a possible technique for discriminating guilty knowledge from other knowledge formats.     

Preemption of local smoke-free air ordinances: the implications of judicial opinions for meeting national health objectives.

Elimination of state laws that preempt local antismoking ordinances is a national health objective. However, the tobacco industry and its supporters have continued to pursue state-level preemption of local tobacco control ordinances as part of an apparent strategy to avoid the diffusion of grassroots antismoking initiatives. And, an increasing number of challenges to local ordinances by the tobacco industry and persons supported by the tobacco industry are being decided in state supreme courts and courts of appeals. The outcomes of seemingly similar cases about the validity of local smoke-free air ordinances vary significantly by state. This paper examines the common and unique aspects of the decisions and the potential implications of court rulings on preemption for future state tobacco control efforts and achievement of national health objectives around the elimination of preemption. Using a search strategy developed for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System, cases where a state or federal appellate level court made a finding on the validity of a local smoke-free air ordinance or regulation were identified in 19 states. In contrast to previous studies, we found that cases in approximately half of states were decided for local governments. We also found that across the states, courts were considering similar factors in their decisions including the extent to which: (1) the local government possessed the authority to pass the ordinance, (2) the ordinance conflicted with the state constitution, and (3) state statutes preempt the ordinance.     

Female prisoners' understanding of ‘bullying’ and their methods of coping: a multinational perspective

Abstract

Whilst prison bullying is a well-researched form of aggressive behaviour, recent studies have suggested that there may be discrepancy between how prisoners and researchers understand the term ‘bullying’. Interviews with 26 female prisoners were subject to constant comparison framework analysis. More than 150 themes were identified. These suggested that whilst there is overall agreement between prisoners and researchers as to what behaviours constitute bullying, a consensus does not exist within the prisoner population. Behaviours identified as bullying behaviours by prisoners are also reported as methods of coping. Cultural differences in behaviour and how these relate to perceptions of aggression were identified by the women prisoners. The findings of this study have implications for researching bullying in institutions such as prisons, and for managing and intervening with bullies in prisons.     

A Legal Semiotics Framework for Exploring the Origins of Hermagorean Stasis

Stasis is a process of classical rhetoric that identifies the core issue in a trial or a similar debate. Hermagoras of Temnos included the first comprehensive analysis of stasis in his second-century BCE treatise on rhetoric, now lost. Modern scholars tend to echo George Kennedy, who maintains that Hermagoras’ inspiration for the hierarchical structure of stasis is indeterminate. This article, however, employs scholarship in legal semiotics, including the work of Miklós K?ncz?l and Bernard S. Jackson, to argue that Hermagoras based stasiastic structure on Aristotle’s first-figure syllogism. Ideally, knowledge of that structure can enhance modern applications of stasis.