Making space for a new role – gender differences in identity changes in couples transitioning to parenthood

Changes in life roles reflect the process of reorganization of identity, which is an important component of adaptation during transition to parenthood. During this family transition gender differences are significant. Despite the fact that in Western societies women and men are encouraged to share family and work responsibilities, female self-concept is more strongly associated with motherhood, whereas men still highly value the role of a breadwinner. Therefore, relative perceived and desired salience, and directly assessed importance of main life roles (a spouse, a worker and a parent) before and after the birth of the child were examined. One hundred and eighty-seven couples participated in the study. The perceived (relative and directly assessed), and relative desired salience of a parental role increased after the child’s birth in both genders. Women valued the parent role higher than men who deemed the worker role more salient to their identity after the child’s birth. Spouse identity seemed to be created in the couple itself as both partners assessed it similarly. Inclusion of couples and repeated measurement of all variables allowed for the analysis of complex changes in self-perceptions in transitions to motherhood and fatherhood.     

Postmortem examination of transepithelial ion currents in rabbit colon and trachea in relation to temperature of storage and its importance for interlethal reactions

Electrical phenomena resulting from transepithelial ion transport have been a subject of clinical, physiological, pharmacologic and toxicologic studies. These examinations concern mainly electric phenomena in live organisms. The changes of transepithelial ion pathways which take place postmortem have not been yet established. The aim of the study was an attempt to trace variability of electrophysiological parameters related to transepithelial ion transport in specimens of rabbit trachea and colon depending on temperature at which specimens were stored after death. It was observed that postmortem electric phenomena in epithelium of airways and alimentary tract of rabbit occur well-ordered but with slower course in trachea samples and in tissues which were preserved at low temperature after death.     

The Possibility of Interimperial Law

This article identifies the contemporary criteria of imperiality and then considers the normative aspects of the existence of certain great powers (empires) in international relations. It is argued that there is a body of norms valid among empires that may be referred to as interimperial law, in the sense of a normative order that is intended to lower the costs and dangers of competition between empires. The article outlines a basic theory of coexistence between the emerging interimperial law and the existing international law, derived from theoretical and historical models of the coexistence of various legal orders within one territory.     

American penology: Words, deeds, and consequences

A primary argument underlying this paper is that it is possible to capture a particular theory or conceptual rationale in the development of a penal program strategy. Further, it is possible to implement the program in a way that corresponds to both the program strategy and theory and then to evaluate the program to determine the adequacy of both the program strategy and the theory upon which it is based. The history of U.S. penal reform does not illustrate this potential, however. Rather, U.S. penal reforms have been implemented without evaluation and have resulted in a pattern of unintended consequences, most notably increased social control and an associated undermining of democratic rights and individual freedoms, without any corresponding decline in crime. These trends and outcomes are documented in order to draw penal program and evaluation policy implications for the U.S. and their ever expanding penal complex and the Czech Republic in their ongoing efforts to implement a penal system consistent with their newly emerging democratic society. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Complex Suicide by Self‐stabbing with Subsequent Drowning in the Sea

The paper presents a unique case of a complex suicide committed by a young man, mostly probably triggered by a disappointment in love. The uniqueness of the suicide lies in the fact that the victim inflicted several deep stab wounds on himself, in the chest and abdomen, while standing partly submerged in the sea and, having done so, he dropped and disappeared in the water. The postmortem examination showed, apart from deep wounds in the trunk, characteristics of drowning that manifested itself in the form of aqueous emphysema of the lungs. Suicide was clearly determined on the basis of the circumstances preceding death, the location, and arrangement of the trunk wounds and the testimony given by a witness of the incident. The circumstances preceding the suicidal act clearly suggest an underlying undiagnosed mental disorder.     

Group Size, Group Heterogeneity, and Voting Rules: An Application of the Buchanan-Tullock Model to the European Union

In The Calculus of Consent, Buchanan and Tullock develop a theory of voting rules in which the optimal rule is determined by minimizing the sum of voters' external and decision costs. Other researchers have extended the Buchanan-Tullock model to include the effects of group size and heterogeneity on external and decision costs and, subsequently, on the optimal voting rule. Despite the prominence of the Buchanan-Tullock model in the constitutional, legal, and public-choice literature, their theory has not (to our knowledge) been tested. In this paper we test the Buchanan-Tullock model by examining the establishment and evolution of voting rules in the European Union. Over the past four decades, the European Union has experienced significant changes in number and heterogeneity, and we interpret the general movement towards, and call for, less inclusive voting rules as support for Buchanan and Tullock's original theory.     

Democracy,dictatorship and decision costs

This paper tries to help bridge the inductive and the deductive traditions in the study of democracy. I identify two empirical patterns, which I call the paradox of conflict and the paradox of decision importance. More conflict ridden societies are both less likely to be democracies, and, when democratic, more likely to be consensual rather than majoritarian. Similarly, important (revolutionary, regime-transforming) decisions are less likely to be democratic but, when democratic, they are more likely to be consensual. I use a decision-cost-minimizing model of democracy to explain those patterns. The model is developed out of the metaphor of institutions as decision producing firms, attempting to maximize quality and minimize cost of those decisions. Its main intellectual source is the transaction cost-minimizing view of organizations but the formalism owes most to Buchanan and Tullock's Calculus of Consent.