Expected closeness and turnout: An empirical analysis for the German General Elections, 1983--1994

This paper investigates whether expected closeness had a significant impact on turnout in the different electoral districts of the German General Elections, 1983-1994. We find no closeness effect for the 1983 but a significant positive one for the 1987 election. The 1990 election revealed an asymmetry: In West Germany we find a positive and statistically significant closeness effect, in East Germany a negative but also significant one. This result is lacking a theoretical explanation so far. For 1994 we find a positive significant effect in West and a positive but not significant one in East Germany.     

Environmental hazards of interest to the forensic pathologist

The hazards associated with occupational exposure to various workplace contaminants (lead, silica, etc.) have been known for a number of years. Until recently, the potential toxic effects of exposures on the male reproductive system had not been appreciated. This article not only discusses recent studies in that area, but gives clinical examples of how environmental exposures (water, soil, air, and dwellings) can affect various organs in the human body. Awareness that these injuries can occur without obvious relationship to these environmental exposures may help the forensic pathologist discover previously unsuspected hazards.     

The Kaprun cable car fire disaster--aspects of forensic organisation following a mass fatality with 155 victims

In November 2000, a tunnel-bound cable car in Kaprun caught fire, with the subsequent death of 155 persons. No passenger list was in existence and bodies were burnt to such an extent that morphological identification was not feasible. A full post-mortem examination was performed on all bodies. All bodies were positively identified within 19 days after the incident by DNA analysis. Cause of death was determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning in combination with suffocation due to inhalation of smoke. The organisational aspects of processing are portrayed.     

Alternative measures of economic success among TANF participants: Avoiding poverty,hardship, and dependence on public assistance

Current debates about the success of TANF reforms have been obscured by the use of inconsistent indicators of success, as well as by measurement difficulties associated with alternative indicators. This paper considers conceptual and measurement issues associated with three different indicators of economic well‐being: independence from public assistance, having income above the poverty threshold, and freedom from material hardship. Survey and administrative data from a sample of TANF participants illustrate the sensitivity of conclusions to alternative ways of measuring each indicator. Also considered is the extent to which dependence, poverty, and hardship coincide, or capture important differences in outcomes. The principles underlying TANF reforms have implications for appropriate measures of economic well‐being, as the empirical importance of these implications demonstrates. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Concentrations of mustard gas [bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide] in the tissues of a victim of a vesicant exposure

An Iranian soldier died at a toxicological intensive care unit at Munich seven days after a vesicant exposure. At the autopsy the typical symptoms of mustard gas intoxication were found. The vesicant was detected qualitatively by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the abdominal fat and quantified in the tissues and in the body fluids by the following method: (1) extraction by dichloromethane, (2) cleanup of the extracts by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) on silica plates, (3) extractive derivatization with gold-chloride, and (4) quantitative determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS). The equal extracts, after heating, served for blanks. The following concentrations were found (milligrams of mustard gas/kilograms of tissue wet weight): brain 10.7, cerebrospinal fluid 1.9, liver 2.4, kidney 5.6; spleen 1.5, lung 0.8, muscle 3.9, fat 15.1, skin 8.4, skin with subcutaneous fatty tissue 11.8, liquid from a skin blister: below detection limit, blood 1.1, and urine: below detection limit.