A comparative study of analytical methods to determine postmortem changes in carbon monoxide concentration

Twenty-one autopsy blood samples were analyzed using spectrophotometric and gas chromatographic procedures after storage for 30 and 150 days.When carboxyhemoglobin was measured spectrophotometrically at the absorbance ratio of $\text{540}\text{nm}\text{555}\text{nm}$, the observed average percent losses were 8 ± 9% and 35 ± 27% after 30 and 150 days of storage, respectively. When measured at the absorbance ratio of $\text{540}\text{nm}\text{579}\text{nm}$, the average percent losses of carboxyhemoglobin were 7 ± 8% and 34 ± 25% after 30 and 150 days, respectively. Wavelength shifts and distorted spectral scans were observed at 150 days.When carbon monoxide was determined by gas chromatographic methods based on combining capacity, the average percent loss was 15 ± 24% and 37 ± 36% after 30 days and 150 days, respectively. The average percent loss of calculated CO based on hemoglobin concentration after 30 days was 31 ± 14% and at 150 days, 40 ± 24%. The average percent loss of calculated CO based on iron content was 23 ± 13% and 37 ± 23% after 30 and 150 days, respectively.     

Self-reports of Police Speeding Stops by Race: Results from the North Carolina Reverse Record Check Survey

Survey reports of police stops and driving behavior are a potential methodology for examining the magnitude and prevalence of the “Driving While Black” phenomena. However, estimates of the magnitude or correlates of racial disparity in police stops from self-reported survey data are potentially compromised if the accuracy of self-reports of police stops and driving behavior differ by race. We report on the results of a reverse record check survey in which we directly assess the degree and consequences of differences by race in self-reports of police stops. In our sample of drivers who had been cited for speeding in the preceding year, we found that 77% of the White respondents and 71% of the African American respondents admitted to being stopped. While both groups underreport stops, African Americans do so at a higher rate. This finding is consistent with many past studies which report stronger social desirability effects on survey responses among African Americans. Thus, survey data will tend to underestimate the magnitude of the “Driving While Black” phenomena.

Effects of victims' characteristics on attitudes toward hate crimes

Hate crimes are motivated by perpetrators' prejudice toward targets' group. To examine individuals' attitudes toward hate crime perpetrators and targets, participants responded to vignettes of court cases in which the victim's group membership was varied. Results showed that participants recommended more severe sentences for perpetrators when the targets of their crimes were not White males or White females and reported those crimes as more closely fitting the definition of "hate crime." These results show that participants consider penalty enhancements appropriate for hate crimes and that they do not consider crimes against women to be hate crimes, consistent with present hate crime legislation. These results have implications for the utility and support of hate crime legislation but may showcase the resistance to expanding the legislation to protect individuals of other groups, especially women.     

Presidential prototypes

The American public expresses considerable consensus on those qualities of character and performance indispensable to a modern president. Contrary to expectations, however, such conceptions of an ideal president (or presidential prototypes) generally failed to provide standards by which actual presidential candidates were evaluated. Across five complementary tests, qualities that citizens thought important for an ideal president counted no more heavily in their evaluations of presidential hopefuls than did qualities thought less important—with one consistent and striking exception. Conceptions of an ideal president did set the standards by which the incumbent president was evaluated, and quite powerfully so. In the final section of the paper, we provide several interpretations of these results, suggest how public conceptions of an ideal president are acquired, and speculate about processes of presidential appraisal.     

Community police crime prevention

This study examines the opinion of citizens regarding the police becoming a part of the community, by locating police station in all communities irrespective of size, in order to prevent crime from occurring. The results indicate that a significant number of residents interviewed would want the police to live and work in their community, be integrated into the school system, as well as participating in the community activities. An earlier version of this paper was read at the 1993 Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Sociological Association (Criminal Justice Section), Governor’s House Hotel, Montgomery, Alabama October 27–30, 1993. I would like to thank Professors Donald Yates and Salathiel Ansah, and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.     

乙肝Ⅲ号合近红外信息辐照治疗乙型肝炎肝纤维化的临床研究

目的：观察乙肝Ⅲ号合近红外信息辐照治疗乙型肝炎肝纤维化的疗效。方法：选择乙型肝炎肝纤维化住院病人234例,分为乙肝Ⅲ号治疗组(76例)、近红外信息辐照组(73例)和联合治疗组(85例)。在基础治疗(包括甘利欣,复方丹参液等)上采用单纯的中药外敷、肝病治疗仪近红外信息辐照以及两联合治疗等三种不同方法,观察各组患临床症状、体征、肝功能以及相关指标如PGA、肝纤三项(透明质酸(HA)、层黏蛋白(LN)、CⅣ型胶原(CⅣ))、肝血流的变化。结果：3组皆能改善临床症状,但以联合治疗组为;3组肝功能复常比较,差异有显性,但组间比较,差异无显性;在改善PGA、肝纤三项和肝血流量方面,联合治疗组优于乙肝Ⅲ号治疗组和近红外信息辐照组。结论：乙肝Ⅲ号合近红外信息辐照对乙型肝炎肝纤维化有一定的治疗作用,且较单一方法疗效明显。