Effects of Human Electro‐Muscular Incapacitation (HEMI) Devices on Cardiovascular Changes in Anesthetized Swine as Measured by Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE)

The abundance of, and reliance upon, human electro‐muscular incapacitation (HEMI) devices, especially in law enforcement, has generated scrutiny and examination of these technologies. The purpose of this study was to examine cardiovascular effects resulting from typical (5 sec) and longer activation (20 sec) HEMI applications studying myocardial function and peripheral vascular system using a combination of invasive cardiovascular catheters and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Six healthy swine (Sus scrofa) 3–5 months in age and weighing between 60 and 86 kg were anesthetized and exposed to the TASER Model X26 waveform while transesophageal echocardiography was performed. Stroke volume was shown to statistically decrease during HEMI application indicating an increase in systemic vascular resistance, but HEMI application did not result in myocardial dysfunction (“cardiac stunning”).     

Does caregiver abuse history relate to caregiver focus,support, and attendance at follow-up sessions in a child advocacy setting?

Utilizing quantitative and qualitative clinical service data collected at a Child Advocacy Center, the present study investigated whether caregiver history (history of childhood abuse or adult victimization, mental health treatment history) was associated with caregiver focus and attendance at a scheduled follow-up appointment. Results of mixed method analyses indicated that caregiver history of abuse was positively associated with caregivers being supportive/protective. Other than a history of prior service-related problems, our study did not identify any predictors of attendance at follow-up sessions. This and other findings are discussed in the context of engaging caregivers in child welfare services.     

A revised model of unilateral accidents

This paper suggests and justifies a revised formulation of the unilateral accident model based on relaxing two assumptions of the standard model: the precaution function and the harm function. The revised model is, therefore, more general and corresponds better to various situations. A resulting trait of the generalized model is its account for the interaction between the injurer’s care and activity levels, which was implicitly assumed away so far. The revised model is examined using a few standard issues in tort and the analysis brings new results and insights for the unilateral accident case. For example, the view that, under a negligence regime, due care can be defined regardless of the optimal level of activity holds under very restrictive assumptions. In general, due care must be defined simultaneously with the optimal activity level. In addition, the common view suggests that underestimation of the level of actual damages under strict liability would induce injurers to take insufficient care and to engage excessively in a risky activity (and vice versa, for overestimation). This paper shows that underestimation of actual damages may counter-intuitively lead to insufficient activity or excessive care levels. Similarly, the results of underestimating harm under a negligence regime prove to be different than commonly thought. In addition, the revised model questions the intuitive similarity between the underestimation of harm and the judgment-proof problem, and provides some new results for the latter problem.     

Police attitudes in assigning responsibility for wife abuse

Prevailing myths concerning wife abuse generally tend to blame the victim. The present study examines the degree of responsibility assigned by police officers to the wife, the husband, as well as the couple's socioeconomic situation in cases of wife abuse. The officer's position (neutral vs supportive) adopted toward the woman is also investigated. The influence of eight characteristics related either to the spouses or to the situation of violence on both the officer's position and the attribution of responsibility is analyzed. The characteristics are: couple's socioeconomic status, type of household, drinking by husband, alleged antagonism on the part of the wife, ambivalence of wife to press charges, type of abuse, history of assault, and violence toward children. The results are based on answers to case vignettes provided by 235 municipal police officers. The data were analyzed by performing a multivariate analysis of variance. Results indicate the type of abuse to be the characteristic with the greatest impact on police attitudes. While the husband is systematically considered more responsible than the wife, police officers always consider the wife somewhat responsible, particularly when there is alleged antagonism by the woman and when threats of violence are present.     

The difficulty with ethics education in public administration

This article suggests that ethics education has not become a regular part of the public administration curriculum for two reasons: (1) the issue has been misperceived as a pedagogical problem, and, more importantly, (2) the field has developed three competing paradigms for moral conduct-do what is right, do good, and do no harm. The origins of each paradigm and the implications for the teaching of ethics in public administration are discussed.