Analyzing factors influencing readmission to a battered women's shelter

Factors that distinguished first admission and readmission to an emergency woman's shelter were examined using discriminant function analysis. Records from 563 women who were residents were analyzed. Results suggest that source of income, number and developmental stage of children, and prior history of physical assault are precursors of readmissions. This study was discussed in terms of improving follow-up services to former residents of emergency shelters.     

Institutional Change,Party Discipline,and the House Democratic Caucus, 1911–19

Abstract The House Democratic Caucus of 1911 to 1919 is a largely understudied institution in the literature on congressional party government, despite the claims of many scholars that the caucus functioned as a significant instrument of party government by binding legislators' floor votes. An analysis of roll‐call votes, new data from the caucus journal, and contemporary accounts from the period indicate that these claims are largely exaggerated, although the caucus did, on occasion, improve floor discipline within the party. I find that intraparty homogeneity on crosscutting issues was related to caucus success. In addition, I argue that the adoption and use of the binding caucus can best be understood from the “multiple goals” viewpoint of congressional politics. These findings have important implications for understanding the development of party‐based institutions in Congress.     

文化性的缺失—论课程的文化锁定现象

课程起源于化传承的需要，传递、复制、再生产社会化是学校课程唯一不变的使命。在课程发展中形成了特定的化锁定现象。它造成了课程应具有的自的化品性及其所必然引发的内在的、独立的价值标准与宗旨的消解。课程成了现实社会主流化的“代言人”。它具有诠释、粉饰及原样传递的职责，却无反思、批判、创新的品质。学校教育的工具品性、灌输与训练机制、教育教学理论的学术品质等，都是课程化锁定现象所造成的化性缺失的必然结果。揭示课程化性缺失的病理表征，是使课程由化的工具存在转变为化的主体存在的重要前题。     

Insurance Rationing versus Public Political Rationing: The Case of the Oregon Health Plan

This article describes the development and evolution of the Oregon experiment with public political rationing in health care. As dissatisfaction with current health care rationing has mounted, the search has accelerated for alternatives to replace the de facto rationing generated by the private health insurance marketplace. As the foremost example of public rationing, the closely-watched Oregon Health Plan is widely offered as an alternative to traditional private health insurance. Other health care rationing alternatives include health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and proposals that encourage self-rationing by individual consumers.     

The use of isoelectric focusing to identify rhinoceros keratins.

Keratins represent the principal structural proteins of hair. They are also found in horn, nail, claw, hoof, and feather. Hair and nail samples from human and canine sources and hair samples from mule deer, white tail deer, cat, moose, elk, antelope, caribou, raccoon, and goat were studied. Parrot and goose feathers were also analyzed. Keratins are polymorphic, and species differences are known to exist. Proteinaceous extracts of deer and antelope antlers and bovine and rhinoceros horn were prepared by solubilizing 10 mg of horn sample in 200 microL of a solution containing 12M urea, 74mM Trizma base, and 78mM dithiothreitol (DTT). Extraction took place over a 48-h period. A 25-microL aliquot of extract was removed and incubated with 5 microL of 0.1 M DTT for 10 min at 25 degrees C. Keratins were then separated by isoelectric focusing (IEF) on 5.2% polyacrylamide gels for 3 h and visualized using silver staining. At least 20 bands could be observed for each species studied. However, band patterns differed in the position of each band, in the number of bands, and in band coloration resulting from the silver staining process. Horn from two species of rhinoceros was examined. For both specimens, most bands occurred in the pH range of 4 to 5. Although similar patterns for both species were observed, they differed sufficiently to differentiate one from the other. As might be expected, the closer two species are related phylogenetically, the greater the similarity in the IEF pattern produced from their solubilized keratin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Courtroom Applications of Virtual Environments, Immersive Virtual Environments, and Collaborative Virtual Environments

This article examines the possibilities and implications of employing virtual environments (VEs), immersive virtual environments (IVEs), and collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) in the courtroom. We argue that the immersive and interactive reality created by these tools adds significant value as a simulation of experience to enhance courtroom practice. The obvious boundaries between real and virtual enhance the attractiveness of these tools as technologies of rhetorical persuasion that can be used to demonstrate subjective perspective, strengthen or impeach the credibility of witnesses, and provide the trier of fact with a better understanding of each side's perception of the facts at issue. The article introduces the concepts of VEs, IVEs, and CVEs, describes the manners in which these technologies have been applied to settings other than the courts system, and review the relevant psychological and legal literature. It discusses specific applications of the technology to the court system and suggests how it could improve upon current procedures. Finally, it discusses some of the limitations and problems, and suggests legal reforms necessary to the adoption of these technologies, specifically rules of procedure that provide for all parties to be able to access, manipulate and inspect any virtual environment, the trier of fact to be able to interact with, rather than just accept the lawyer's rendition, and rules that provide for the parties to introduce at trial an inventory of all digital assets contained in the virtual environment, making those that are stipulated to and those that are in controversy.