Polarizing cues

People categorize themselves and others, creating ingroup and outgroup distinctions. In American politics, parties constitute the in- and outgroups, and party leaders hold sway in articulating party positions. A party leader's endorsement of a policy can be persuasive, inducing co-partisans to take the same position. In contrast, a party leader's endorsement may polarize opinion, inducing out-party identifiers to take a contrary position. Using survey experiments from the 2008 presidential election, I examine whether in- and out-party candidate cues—John McCain and Barack Obama—affected partisan opinion. The results indicate that in-party leader cues do not persuade but that out-party leader cues polarize. This finding holds in an experiment featuring President Bush in which his endorsement did not persuade Republicans but it polarized Democrats. Lastly, I compare the effect of party leader cues to party label cues. The results suggest that politicians, not parties, function as polarizing cues.     

The Effects of Building Strong Families: A Healthy Marriage and Relationship Skills Education Program for Unmarried Parents

This article examines the impacts of Building Strong Families, a healthy marriage and relationship skills education program serving unmarried parents who were expecting or had recently had a baby. Based on a random assignment research design, the analysis uses survey data from more than 4,700 couples across eight research sites to estimate program effects. Results varied across sites, with one site having a pattern of positive effects (but no effect on marriage) and another having numerous negative effects. However, when impacts are averaged across all research sites, the findings indicate that the program had no overall effects on couples’ relationship quality or the likelihood that they remained together or got married.     

Effect of chloride ion concentration on the galvanic corrosion of α phase brass by eccrine sweat

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry measurement of the relative concentration of sodium, chloride, calcium, and potassium ions in eccrine sweat deposits from 40 donors revealed positive correlations between chloride and sodium (ρ = 0.684, p < 0.01) and chloride and calcium ions (ρ = 0.91, p < 0.01). Correlations between ion concentration and the corrosion of α phase brass by the donated sweat were investigated by visual grading of the degree of corrosion, by measuring the copper/zinc ratio using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and from a measurement of the potential difference between corroded and uncorroded brass when a large potential was applied to the uncorroded brass. An increasing copper/zinc ratio (indicative of dezincification) was found to correlate positively to both chloride ion concentration and visual grading of corrosion, while visual grading gave correlations with potential difference measurements that were indicative of the preferential surface oxidation of zinc rather than copper.     

Laboratories of Statehood: Legal Intervention in Colonial Africa and Today

The immense body of contemporary work aimed at ‘promoting the rule of law’ is often accused of ‘neo‐imperialism’. Yet, despite many points of contiguity between past and present legal interventions, the charge is overbroad and rarely illuminating. This article attempts to move beyond polemic to track concrete historical and structural forerunners of today's rule of law work. Focusing mainly (though not exclusively) on late imperial British endeavours, it traces colonial legal interventions over time, the techniques adopted (and rejected), the shifting normative bases of legitimacy, and moments of strategic recalibration in the face of resistance. Three broad attitudes towards law across the period are (provisionally) characterised as ‘regulative’, ‘constitutive’ and ‘institutive’ moments. In each phase, the Powers treat colonial territories as laboratories of statehood, within which experiments are conducted to locate the optimal configuration of law. In conclusion some counterparts to these moments in today's ‘rule of law’ activities are identified.     

Circumflex artery from the right coronary sinus: a not-so-benign anomaly

The origin of the circumflex coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva is generally considered a benign anomaly. Herein we report the sudden unexpected death of a 6-year-old boy who died after jumping into a swimming pool and whose only pathologic finding was this usually inconsequential coronary artery anomaly. A discussion of the pathophysiology of the disorder and a literature review are included. This is the youngest patient to die with this entity.     

The Sutta on Understanding Death in the Transmission of Borān Meditation From Siam to the Kandyan Court

This article announces the discovery of a Sinhalese version of the traditional meditation (borān yogāvacara kammaṭṭhāna) text in which the Consciousness or Mind, personified as a Princess living in a five-branched tree (the body), must understand the nature of death and seek the four gems that are the four noble truths. To do this she must overcome the cravings of the five senses, represented as five birds in the tree. Only in this way will she permanently avoid the attentions of Death, Māra, and his three female servants, Birth, Sickness and Old Age. In this version of the text, when the Princess manages not to succumb to these three, Māra comes and snatches her from her tree and rapes her. The Buddha then appears to her to explain the path to liberation. The text provides a commentary, padārtha, which explains the details of the symbolism of the fruit in terms of rebirth and being born, the tree in terms of the body, etc. The text also offers interpretations of signs of impending death and prognostications regarding the next rebirth. Previously the existence of Khmer and Lānnā versions of this text have been recorded by Francois Bizot and Francois Lagirarde, the former publishing the text as Le Figuier a cinq branches (Le figuier à cinq branches, 1976). The Sinhalese version was redacted for one of the wives of King Kīrti Śrī Rājasiṅha of Kandy by the monk Vara?āṇa Mahāthera of Ayutthayā. This confirms earlier speculation that this form of borān/dhammakāya meditation was brought to Sri Lanka with the introduction of the Siyam Nikāya in the mid-eighteenth century. It also shows that in Sri Lanka, as in Ayutthayā, this form of meditation—which in the modern period was to be rejected as ‘unorthodox’—was promoted at the highest levels of court and Saṅgha.     

The role of empathy in anger arousal in violent offenders and university students

A lack of empathic responsiveness toward others has been consistently identified as an important antecedent to aggressive behavior and violent crime, with many rehabilitation programs for violent offenders incorporating treatment modules that are specifically designed to increase offender empathy. This study examined the extent to which cognitive (perspective taking) and affective (empathic concern, personal distress) empathy predicted anger in a clinical (male prisoners convicted of a violent offense) and a nonclinical (student) sample. Perspective taking emerged as the strongest predictor of self-reported anger in response to an interpersonal provocation, as well as being most consistently related to scores on measures of general trait anger and methods of anger control. While the relationship between perspective taking and anger was apparent for offenders as well as students, the results did not support the idea that an inability to perspective take is a particular characteristic of violent offenders.     

Detection of latent bloodstains beneath painted surfaces using reflected infrared photography

Bloodstain evidence is a highly valued form of physical evidence commonly found at scenes involving violent crimes. However, painting over bloodstains will often conceal this type of evidence. There is limited research in the scientific literature that describes methods of detecting painted-over bloodstains. This project employed a modified digital single-lens reflex camera to investigate the effectiveness of infrared (IR) photography in detecting latent bloodstain evidence beneath a layer or multiple layers of paint. A qualitative evaluation was completed by comparing images taken of a series of samples using both IR and standard (visible light) photography. Further quantitative image analysis was used to verify the findings. Results from this project indicate that bloodstain evidence can be detected beneath up to six layers of paint using reflected IR; however, the results vary depending on the characteristics of the paint. This technique provides crime scene specialists with a new field method to assist in locating, visualizing, and documenting painted-over bloodstain evidence.     

What would they do? Latino church leaders and domestic violence

Understanding what Latino church leaders believe about domestic violence, and what they do when they confront it, is a key step in developing programs to help them engage in domestic violence prevention and intervention activities in their congregations. This article presents the findings from an exploratory study of 28 Latino church leaders. The study surveyed respondents' beliefs about domestic violence and asked for their reactions to three domestic violence vignettes they might encounter. We found that study participants were willing to respond to cases of domestic violence in what we would define as constructive ways. However, some responses suggested potentially unsafe and ill-advised reactions to the vignettes. We discuss our study's implications for practice and suggest future directions for additional research.