Evaluative research on a therapeutic community for adolescents

Findings from a 2-year research effort assessing the efficacy of the Young People's Unit (YPU) of Friends Hospital are presented. In one study, 79 patients were tested with the Offer Self-image Questionnaire for Adolescents (OSIQ) at the time of their admission to the YPU and at the time of their discharge (50 days later on the average). Data indicate significant improvements on all 11 scales of the OSIQ, but some subgroups improved more than others. A representative sample of 29 patients responded to a third administration of the OSIQ approximately 1 year after their discharge. As a group, these patients had maintained their level of improvement — there were no significant differences between discharge and followup OSIQs. Augmenting the followup sample through telephone contacts, 59 former patients could be separated into 44 treatment successes and 15 less well-adjusted adolescents: no significant differences on their admission OSIQs or on their demographic characteristics could be found. The findings permit the conclusion that the residential treatment approach used here can produce significant improvements which are stable over time, at least for the group as a whole, but that some exceptions exist. Further studies into the reasons for treatment failure are needed. Implications of this research for the reassessment of the unit are discussed.     

Die extraterritoriale Durchsetzung politischer Interessen im Wege der Ausübung extraterritorialer Jurisdiktion und unilateralen Drucks

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die rechtliche Zulässigkeit extraterritorial wirkender Handlungsanordnungen und der Ausübung unilateralen (wirtschaftlichen) Drucks in den internationalen Beziehungen. Diese Thematik, die anhand des Beispiels Österreich-bezogener Maßnahmen der jüngsten US-amerikanischen Außenpolitik illustriert wird, ist Ankerpunkt zahlreicher völkerrechtlicher und methodologischer Grundfragen.     

Tax amnesties, justice perceptions, and filing behavior: a simulation study

A simulation study demonstrates the influence of perceived justice of a tax amnesty on subsequent tax compliance. In addition, it investigates how the amnesty is perceived to serve the punishment objectives retribution (i.e., giving offenders what they "deserve") and value restoration (i.e., restoring the values violated by tax evasion). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed the expected positive influence of justice on subsequent tax compliance. However, when the influence of punishment objectives was controlled for, the influence of justice disappeared, while retribution and value restoration showed positive effects on post-amnesty tax compliance.     

Forensic Biomechanical Analysis of Falls from Height Using Numerical Human Body Models*

Abstract: This article describes the method of using human body models developed originally for the use in automotive safety in forensic reconstructions of falls from height. The MADYMO^® software package and multibody human body models were used in forensic analyses of two real cases—a fatal fall from a window c. 13.8 m above the ground and a fall into a c. 2.5‐m deep cellar pit resulting in isolated ankle joint injury. The performed series of numerical simulations helped to reconstruct the events and to resolve legally relevant questions concerning various aspects of the falls. The benefits as well as limitations and potential biases associated with the use of numerical simulation in forensic biomechanical settings are discussed. The method has proven to be effective under specific circumstances, though the cost (both financial and temporal) still prevents it from wider use.     

Bite motivation of sharks reflected by the wound structure on humans

Bite wounds on humans have rarely been comparatively analyzed, and the behavior leading to such bites is virtually unknown. Nevertheless, the behavior of a shark is reflected in the bite structure and should be an essential part of shark-accident analysis. This paper compares 3 nonfatal accidents on humans, caused by bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, that occurred within a 12-month period in the same area of the Bahamas. Examination focused on wound analysis and accident reconstruction to determine the most likely bite motivation of the sharks. Two sharks targeted the left calf areas of the victims; another one bit the back area of a person. Although both calf bites had a very similar appearance, examination concluded that one of them showed the same triggering behavior as for the shark who inflicted the very different-looking back bite. Those 2 bites were competitive, whereas the other calf bite was initially of exploratory nature, turning into a stress-related bite.     

Household,family, and economy among wine-growing peasants

This article discusses commercial viticulture as a peculiar form of agro-economic activity with certain analogies to proto-industry. Using cadastral surveys, parish registers, and census lists from two Lower Austrian villages, the main economic features, the household formation patterns, and the family forms of peasant wine-growers are analyzed within the broader framework of the demographic and social landscape of the Austrian Alpine provinces of the Habsburg monarchy in the nineteenth century. The prevalence of nuclear family forms, low proportions of permanent celibates and illegitimate births, highly fragmented landownership, small numbers of farm servants, and numerous lodgers are shown to be the main characteristics of this smallholder society. Due to the decline of Austrian viticulture in the first half of the nineteenth century, it underwent a process of “re-agrarianisation.”