The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Nationalist Emulation during the COVID-19 Pandemic

As COVID-19 rapidly spread across the globe, every government in the world has been forced to enact policies to slow the spread of the virus. While leaders often claim responses are based on the best available advice from scientists and public health experts, recent policy diffusion research suggests that countries are emulating the COVID-19 policies of their neighbors instead of responding to domestic conditions. Political and geographic considerations play a role in determining which countries imitate one another, but even among countries that are politically or geographically distant, nationalist regimes seem to favor certain approaches towards the pandemic. We investigate why this is the case by examining whether countries that embrace a nationalist ideology are more likely to emulate the COVID-19 policies of similarly nationalist regimes. We demonstrate that, even after controlling for domestic circumstances and linguistic, trade, geographic, and political connections, nationalist countries are emulating each other’s responses. These results are robust and shed light not only on new mechanisms of policy diffusion but also on the growing international cooperation of nationalist regimes and leaders.

     

The impending transformation of public choice scholarship

I am grateful to Charles K. Rowley and Karen I. Vaughn for valuable advice on many of the issues I address here, and to the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation for its continuing support of my scholarly efforts.     

Background correction in forensic photography. II. Photography of blood under conditions of non-uniform illumination or variable substrate color--practical aspects and limitations

The combination of photographs taken at wavelengths at and bracketing the peak of a narrow absorbance band can lead to enhanced visualization of the substance causing the narrow absorbance band. This concept can be used to detect putative bloodstains by division of a linear photographic image taken at or near 415 nm with an image obtained by averaging linear photographs taken at or near 395 and 435 nm. Nonlinear images can also be background corrected by substituting subtraction for the division. This paper details experimental applications and limitations of this technique, including wavelength selection of the illuminant and at the camera. Characterization of a digital camera to be used in such a study is also detailed. Detection limits for blood using the three wavelength correction method under optimum conditions have been determined to be as low as 1 in 900 dilution, although on strongly patterned substrates blood diluted more than twenty-fold is difficult to detect. Use of only the 435 nm photograph to estimate the background in the 415 nm image lead to a twofold improvement in detection limit on unpatterned substrates compared with the three wavelength method with the particular camera and lighting system used, but it gave poorer background correction on patterned substrates.     

Accuracy of cause of death determination without forensic autopsy examination

Medical examiners and coroners commonly determine cause and manner of death without an autopsy examination. Some death certificates generated in this way may not state the correct cause and manner of death. From the case files of the Department of Forensic Medicine in Sydney, Australia, the authors retrospectively reviewed investigative information of all cases in a 6-month period that were initially considered natural deaths (429). The authors, blinded to autopsy results, accepted 261 cases as appropriate for certification without autopsy and assigned a cause of death to each. Per standard local practice, all cases had been autopsied. The actual causes of death as determined by autopsy were then revealed and compared with the presumed causes of death. Most presumed and actual causes of death were cardiovascular (94% and 80%, respectively). The majority of presumed causes of death were listed as ASCVD as the cases lacked features of a more specific cardiovascular process. A large majority of cases had a presumed cause of death of ischemic heart disease based on individual case details. The actual causes of death demonstrated a large breadth of cardiovascular and noncardiovascular disease processes, even though ischemic heart disease accounted for 62% of deaths. The presumed cause of death was completely wrong in 28% of cases. A nonnatural manner of death was present in 3% of cases. This study demonstrates that experienced forensic pathologists may generate erroneous death certificates for cases that are not autopsied.     

Death due to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) represents a group of collagen connective tissue disorders characterized by joint laxity, easy bruising, and various skin manifestations. Persons with type IV EDS are at risk for gastrointestinal, uterine, and arterial rupture. Mutations in the COL3A1 gene that encodes for type III procollagen underlie the pathologic abnormalities. Forensic pathologists must be aware of this rare, autosomal-dominant connective tissue disorder. Postmortem diagnosis is possible but requires specialized testing (fibroblast culture and subsequent biochemical assays, with or without molecular studies). When the condition is diagnosed or suspected at autopsy, it is important for forensic pathologists to notify family members of this potentially lethal disorder. Three cases of type IV EDS diagnosed by forensic pathologists are presented, followed by a discussion of the disorder.     

Deadlines,routines, and change

Routines, the habitual and predictable behavior patterns of an organization, play central roles in both maintaining organizational performance and in adapting such performance to changing conditions. Deadlines interact with routines in important ways in influencing the course of organizational adaptation. This paper examines the role of routines and deadlines in influencing change in a regulatory program. It describes the adaptation of routines in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) water pollution and pesticide programs in response to pressures and deadlines imposed by Congress, the courts, and the White House. The programs analyzed offer contrasting glimpses of the effects of routines on organizational change. Routines may be collective and shared by the members of an organization or unique to the specific groups or subgroups within it. When the organization primarily has widely-shared routines, few options will be perceived; consequently, collective routines tend to blunt the impact of pressures for change. On the other hand, routines that become fragmented, diverse, and individual in the face of repeated external pressures may facilitate change.     

Sexually abused girls' behavior during an initial counseling session

Three processes of psychotherapy scales, the Vanderbilt Process of Psychotherapy Scale-Revised (VPPS), the Perceptual Process of Psychotherapy Scale (PPPS), and a Rating Form, were utilized to assess sexually abused girls' behavior during an initial counseling session. The variable of interest was the interactional differences between those girls who were treated by male as opposed to female counselors. Videotape recordings provided the medium by which the sessions were assessed. Trained raters observed a continuous portion of videotaped assessment sessions. Results indicated that there was no significant effect for the sex of counselor on the observers' ratings for the VPPS, the PPPS, and the frequency of verbalization as exhibited by the child and counselor. These findings suggest that there is no significant difference in sexually abused girls' interaction with a male or female counselor during an initial counseling session.     

Normal responses to sexually anatomically detailed dolls

The behaviors and verbalizations of normal, preschool age boys and girls during interactions with sexually anatomically detailed (SAD) dolls were examined. A structured, nonsuggestive interview with each child was videotaped, and five behaviors and five verbalizations were coded for each of five phases of the interview. A two-way ANOVA (gender × phase) showed that during those phases when the dolls were undressed, both boys and girls showed more sexual exploratory play, aggressive behavior which was nonsexual, and active avoidance. Across all phases, nonsexual aggression accounted for 31% of the boys' and 22% of the girls' total responses. Behavioral and verbal sexual exploratory play represented 42% of the boys' responses and 50% of the girls' responses. In contrast, sexually aggressive behavior accounted for only 1% and 2% of the boys' and girls' responses, respectively. Girls interacted with the dolls more than did boys. Additionally, girls demonstrated more affection to the dolls than did the boys, and boys displayed more anxiety with the dolls than did girls. Investigators should be cautious as to inferences about preschoolers' interactions with SAD dolls, especially interactions of a sexual or aggressive nature which do not clearly depict fondling or intercourse.