Insomnia, nightmare frequency, and nightmare distress in victims of sexual abuse: the role of perceived social support and abuse characteristics

In this study of victims of sexual abuse, the aim was to investigate the role of perceived social support and abuse characteristics in self-reported insomnia, nightmare frequency, and nightmare distress. Four hundred sixty Norwegian victims of sexual abuse completed a questionnaire assessing perceived social support, abuse characteristics, insomnia, nightmare frequency, and nightmare distress. Results show that higher levels of perceived social support were related to lower scores on all symptom outcome measures. Abuse involving oral, genital, or anal penetration was related to more insomnia symptoms. Longer duration of abuse and threatening conducted by the perpetrator were related to higher nightmare frequency, while threats and abuse involving penetration were related to higher degrees of distress associated with nightmares. In conclusion, the present study provides preliminary data indicating that perceived social support may affect the nature of sleep difficulties in sexual abuse victims. Also, more severe forms of sexual abuse are related to higher levels of sleep difficulties.     

Network Governance and Public Participation in Policy‐Making: Federal Community Cabinets in Australia

The Australian Labor Party's (ALP) 2007 Policy Platform asserted ‘Labor will pursue new and innovative measures designed to foster greater participation and engagement of the Australian population in the political process’ ( Manwaring 2010 ). As such they seemed to have a clear commitment to a more participatory form of democracy. This commitment appeared to be reflected in two initiatives they introduced in power: the 2020 Summit (on this see Fawcett, Manwaring and Marsh 2011 ) and federal community cabinets. More broadly it could be argued that Labor were following a trend identified internationally as a move from government to governance, more specifically to ‘network governance’ (Rhodes 1997) in which governments encouraged greater participation in policy‐making, recognising that governments could at best steer, not row. Indeed, as Marinetto contends ( 2003 : 593), this idea has taken on a ‘semblance of orthodoxy’ in discussions of public policy.     

Identification of organic pigments in automotive coatings using laser desorption mass spectrometry

When one looks at an automotive coating, one sees color due to pigments. Modern organic pigments, with high molar absorptivities, may be only minor components of the mixture. Laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) has been shown to be a useful tool for the analysis of colorants such as pen ink dyes. Here, LDMS is used to determine its utility for the identification of pigments, in simple media and in more complex paints. Small paint chips can be introduced into the LDMS instrument, and when an ultraviolet laser is focused on a portion of a chip, ions representative of the pigment(s) are selectively formed. Some pigments such as quinacridones and copper phthalocyanine are very stable and are desorbed and ionized intact. In contrast, benzimidazolones, which contain some single-skeletal bonds, form fragment ions. This method proves to be sensitive and convenient, as no sample preparation is required. The presence of inorganic pigments in addition to modern organic pigments can be determined, and pigments can be directly identified in actual automotive paint chip samples.     

School Smoking Policy Characteristics and Individual Perceptions of the School Tobacco Context: Are They Linked to Students’ Smoking Status?

The purpose of this study was to explore individual- and school-level policy characteristics on student smoking behavior using an ecological perspective. Participants were 24,213 (51% female) Grade 10–11 students from 81 schools in five Canadian provinces. Data were collected using student self-report surveys, written policies collected from schools, interviews with school administrators, and school property observations to assess multiple dimensions of the school tobacco policy. The multi-level modeling results revealed that the school a student attended was associated with his/her smoking behavior. Individual-level variables that were associated with student smoking included lower school connectedness, a greater number of family and friends who smoked, higher perceptions of student smoking prevalence, lower perceptions of student smoking frequency, and stronger perceptions of the school tobacco context. School-level variables associated with student smoking included weaker policy intention indicating prohibition and assistance to overcome tobacco addiction, weaker policy implementation involving strategies for enforcement, and a higher number of students smoking on school property. These findings suggest that the school environment is important to tobacco control strategies, and that various policy dimensions have unique relationships to student smoking. School tobacco policies should be part of a comprehensive approach to adolescent tobacco use.     

Urgent issues and prospects in reforming interrogation practices in the United States and Canada

The current article presents a series of commentaries on urgent issues and prospects in reforming interrogation practices in Canada and the United States. Researchers and practitioners, who have devoted much of their careers to the field of police and intelligence interrogations, were asked to provide their insights on an area of interrogation research that they believe requires immediate attention. The submitted independent commentaries covered a variety of topics – from police recruitment, interrogation training, use of proper interrogation practices, and the treatment of confession evidence in court. Common concerns from the contributions pertained to the lag between scientific knowledge on interrogations and the application of such knowledge in the justice system, and the glaring disparity between the treatment of similar issues in the interrogation context versus other criminal justice contexts. A primary intent of this collection of commentaries is to serve as a resource pointing researchers in the direction of the fundamental areas that require immediate consideration and encouraging them to simultaneously pursue solutions to the overarching concerns that emerged from this project.     

Ireland

European Journal of Political Research -