The “Cultural Mission” in Indigenous Non-fiction Book Publishing in Australia 1960–2000

Non-fiction books by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have arguably played a crucial role in the framing of public discussion of Indigenous issues in Australia since the 1950s. In this article, I track quantitative trends in the publishing of the approximately 769 such books for the Australian retail trade between 1960 and 2000, as part of what I describe as an emerging “cultural mission” among Australian book publishers through the period. The article then discusses two major trends within the data. The first is an overall increase in the number of titles published annually through the period, while the second is a declining interest by mass-market trade publishers in publishing books in the area from the 1980s onwards versus an increased publication rate by smaller independent presses and two large trade publishers with a particular interest in the area, one of which is also independently owned. The article concludes with a discussion of possible reasons for the latter trend in the context of ongoing debates about white Australian colonialism.     

Cerebral tissue pulmonary embolization due to head trauma: a case report with immunohistochemical confirmation

Pulmonary embolization of cerebral tissue as the result of severe head trauma is an uncommon, if not rare, phenomenon, and few cases have been reported in the literature. The authors discuss the case of a 51-year-old male who died six days after suffering extensive head trauma in a motor vehicle collision. At autopsy, white-gray emboli were found in several subsegmental pulmonary arteries. The results of histologic examination with the hematoxylineosin stain gave the impression that the emboli were necrotic cerebral tissue; however, routine special stains for neural tissue produced inconclusive results. Immunohistochemical staining of the emboli with monoclonal mouse anti-human neurofilament protein (Dako Corp., Carpinteria, California) confirmed the cerebral nature of the emboli. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of pulmonary embolization of cerebral tissue confirmed by immunohistochemistry.     

Two six-shot suicides in close geographic and temporal proximity

Two six-shot suicides are reported that occurred in adjoining counties in Ohio eleven-and-one-half weeks apart. There is no indication of any connection between victims, and it is doubtful that the second individual knew of the first death since there was no news media coverage of the first death. The most significant points of commonality between the two cases are the location of the gunshot wounds (anterior chest and upper abdomen) and the responses of disbelief from those outside the medicolegal professions. Knowledge of such cases with a high number of shots and more than one fatal wound can assist death investigators in confronting similar cases.     

The effects of adult and peer social initiations on the social behavior of withdrawn and aggressive maltreated preschool children

The effects of programmed peer- and adult-mediated play initiations were compared for socially dysfunctional, maltreated preschool children. An N = 1, alternating treatments design was used to compare these strategies. Two withdrawn nonmaltreated (control), two withdrawn maltreated, and three aggressive maltreated children served as subjects. Dyadic play sessions were videotaped and rated at the completion of the study by naive raters according to an 18-category observation system. Overall, the control children showed no difference in levels of interaction between peer and adult conditions. The withdrawn maltreated children showed a clear preference for interaction with the peer over the adult. The aggressive maltreated children showed a clear preference for interaction with the peer over the adult. The aggressive maltreated children showed a clear preference for interaction with the adult. They also demonstrated a decrease of positive behavior and increase in negative behavior in response to the programmed initiations. Implications of these differential responses were discussed.     

Critical Factors for Enhancing Municipal Public Hearings

Although public hearings are the most common form of citizen input, they often fail to achieve their objectives. This nationwide survey of city administrators identifies factors that contribute most to successful public hearings. The most successful hearings have (1) a greater number of prehearing educational methods, (2) more media types and greater media frequency in the formal presentation, (3) more control over speakers' presentation time, (4) greater use of open follow-up meetings, and (5) more use of newspaper and direct mail to communicate posthearing decisions to the public. The qualitative data reveal city managers' 10 critical factors that are essential to the success of public hearings: effectively notifying and educating the public before the hearing; carefully planning the meeting; giving a clear, media-rich presentation of the issues; properly facilitating the meeting; and conducting appropriate follow-up.