Preliminary observations on the effects of hydrocortisone and sodium methohexital on development of Sarcophaga (Curranea) tibialis Macquart (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), and implications for estimating post mortem interval.

Larvae of Sarcophaga (Curranea) tibialis (S. tibialis) were reared at constant temperature on chicken liver treated with a steroid or a barbiturate at concentrations that would be lethal, half-lethal and twice-lethal doses for humans. Trends to greater mortality at higher drug concentrations were not statistically significant. Larvae exposed to either drug took significantly longer to reach pupation compared to those in the control, while larvae exposed to sodium methohexital passed through pupation significantly faster than those in the control. No systematic relationship was found between drug concentration and development time of larvae or pupae. The total developmental period from hatching to eclosion did not differ between treatments, implying that estimates of post mortem intervals- (PMI) based on the emergence of adult flies will not be affected by the involvement of these drugs in a case. On the other hand, anomalous pupation spans may indicate the presence of barbiturates. These findings are compared with patterns found in another fly fed other contaminants.     

Democratic and aggressive political participation: Estimation of a nonrecursive model

Previous empirical research concerning political participation has made either one of two errors. In the first case, the research has omitted aggressive or extralegal forms of political participation. In the second case, the research included aggressive forms of participation but estimated models of aggressive and democratic participation separately despite the strong positive correlation between them. Each error leads to an incorrectly specified model of political participation. To correct this situation, we specify a nonrecursive model and test it using data from two disparate sample surveys. In each test the results indicate that earlier participation models were incorrectly specified in that aggressive behavior is a significant cause of democratic participation while the reverse is not true.     

Auf dem Weg in eine europäische Gesellschaft?

After half a century of European integration it is legitimate to ask if, how and in how far a ?European society“ has emerged. But how is this difficult notion to be conceptualized? What is European, what denotes society? Following the distinction of unity and difference, this article sets out to discuss the analytical options of the perspective of unity (the model of the nation state, the United States of Europe, a reality sui generis) and of difference (the ?other“ of Europe by comparing Europe to the regions of the world). According to the main thesis, European society denotes a reality sui generis, i.e., is an emergent phenomenon which can neither be conceptualized by the old model of the nation state nor the new notion of world society. European society should be characterized according to its leitmotif of structured diversity, its cultural and historical legacies, its logic of institutional separation and differentiation and its common basic institutional infrastructure. European society, therefore, rests upon a shared historical community of fate and exhibits a multiple unity of economy, work, education, solidarity, law, religion and culture. The engine of Europeanization is the European Union which together with nation states and regions fosters a veritable pressure of convergence upon the European space. Given its taken-for-granted character, the European society is half latent, half manifest, half empirically traceable and analytically conceivable, half normatively desirable or controversial.     

Attachment as a Mediator between Childhood Maltreatment and Adult Symptomatology

This study examined the mediating role of attachment in the relationship between childhood maltreatment perpetrated by parents and adult symptomatology. Young adults (N = 803), with and without a history of abuse, were recruited from a local university to complete a series of questionnaires inquiring about past maltreatment experiences, adult attachment in current close relationships, and psychological symptomatology. While attachment was found to be a mediator for all three types of abuse when they were looked at individually, a more robust mediated effect was found in the case of psychological abuse. When all three types of parental maltreatment (psychological, physical, and exposure to family violence) were considered simultaneously, attachment mediated the relationship between only psychological abuse and symptomatology. Parallel meditated effects were observed across two measures of symptomatology: trauma-related symptomatology and externalizing and internalizing symptomatology. The results of this study further our understanding of psychological maltreatment and its intra-individual correlates.     

Ideologie,kultuur en hegemonie: Toerusting vir media-ontleding

SUMMARY

This paper has four aims. The first is to present the major tenets of an emergent paradigm in cultural studies by critically outlining the three main concepts of that paradigm, viz., ideology, culture and hegemony; secondly, to relate this paradigm to concerns in communication and media studies; thirdly, to establish some connections between this paradigm and some recent work done in this area in SA; and finally to indicate some of the new directions this paradigm is taking in current social theorizing.     

Attachment and Psychopathology Among Formerly Maltreated Adults

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of attachment security and psychopathology in an adult sample of high-risk abuse survivors. Attachment security was conceptualized in terms of two underlying dimensions, the working models of self and other. A sample of 66 survivors of childhood maltreatment completed measures of abuse history, attachment style, and psychopathology. Results demonstrated a strong relationship between a negative view of self and reported psychopathology, regardless of whether attachment was conceptualized continuously or categorically. Findings also revealed that the association of negative view of self and psychopathology was much stronger than that of negative view of other and psychopathology.