Parental influences on the development of adolescent autonomy and identity

Two studies were undertaken to examine parental influences on autonomy and identity development. In Study 1, 262 adolescents in seventh and eleventh grades were given Kurtines's autonomy measure, Simmons's identity measure, and Elder's questions regarding the adolescents' perceptions of their parents' autocratic, democratic, or permissive parenting styles. Study 2 was a replication with 168 subjects. Across both studies it was found that sex-role socialization is more influential for automony development than is either level of parental power or age. Both age and father's use of democracy were the most influential variables on identity development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. Major interests are cognitive development and theories of personality.     

The admission of Alzheimer's patients to hospital inpatient psychiatric units

Alzheimer's Disease presents extreme challenges not only to the individuals afflicted with it and their families, but also to both our legal and healthcare systems. The nature of the disease is such that current legal standards and requirements simply fail to function in an appropriate manner. So too, the health system currently is not in a position to handle the anticipated influx of Alzheimer's patients over the next several decades. This Article examines some of the challenges presented by this disease, and suggests several possible methods to improve our response to it.     

A one-step fluorescent detection method for lipid fingerprints; Eu(TTA)3.2TOPO

This paper describes the development of a one-step fluorescent lipid reagent that involves europium chelates whose generic formula can be represented as europium(organic ligand)3.2(synergic reagent). An optimized formulation is presented and a comparison with physical developer was conducted which showed the new technique to be very good when fresh fingerprints were recovered but inferior to physical developer on aged prints (over a week). In addition, the compatibility of the technique with sequential methods such as ninhydrin and DFO is reported. The experimentation, results and chemical formulation of this study were presented to delegates of the International Symposium on Fingerprint Detection and Identification held in Israel in June 1995. Prior to that a patent application had been made.     

Knitted fractures of the laryngopharynx framework as a medico-legal matter

The article presents the analysis of knitted trauma to the hyoid bone and laryngeal cartilages, revealed while searching for fresh fractures of the laryngopharynx skeleton for medico-legal purposes. Neck organocomplexes (n = 440) were completely prepared after fixation in formalin. Old injuries were found in 17.3% of cases, and in 3.2% of cases two elements of the complex were formerly broken. More often there was consolidated trauma to the thyroid (11.4% of cases) and cricoid cartilages (7.3%) and, rarely, to the hyoid bone (1.6%) and cervical part of the trachea (0.2%). These injuries occurred twice as often in men (20.3% of cases) than in women (P < 0.01). Substantiated conclusions are: (1) people of working age are most prone to neck trauma; and (2) from the 1960s the percentage of such traumas in the St. Petersburg region has grown due to urbanization. This article presents data on the localization and morphology of the injuries, as well as a review of symptoms and the course of blunt neck trauma. Despite the difficulties associated with the complete regeneration of injured tissues, forensic pathologists can obtain certain information which police officials may be interested in.     

Assessing Stability and Change in Criminal Offending: A Comparison of Random Effects, Semiparametric, and Fixed Effects Modeling Strategies

An important theoretical problem for criminologists is an explanation forthe robust positive correlation between prior and future criminaloffending. Nagin and Paternoster (1991) have suggested that the correlationcould be due to time-stable population differences in the underlyingproneness to commit crimes (population heterogeneity) and/or thecriminogenic effect that crime has on social bonds, conventionalattachments, and the like (state dependence). Because of data andmeasurement limitations, the disentangling of population heterogeneityand state dependence requires that researchers control for unmeasuredpersistent heterogeneity. Frequently, random effects probit models havebeen employed, which, while user-friendly, make a strong parametricassumption that the unobserved heterogeneity in the population follows anormal distribution. Although semiparametric alternatives to the randomeffects probit model have recently appeared in the literature to avoid thisproblem, in this paper we return to reconsider the fully parametric model. Viasimulation evidence, we first show that the random effects probit modelproduces biased estimates as the departure of heterogeneity from normalitybecomes more substantial. Using the 1958 Philadelphia cohort data, we thencompare the results from a random effects probit model with a semiparametricprobit model and a fixed effects logit model that makes no assumptions aboutthe distribution of unobserved heterogeneity. We found that with this dataset all three models converged on the same substantive result—evenafter controlling for unobserved persistent heterogeneity, with models thattreat the unobserved heterogeneity very differently, prior conduct had apronounced effect on subsequent offending. These results are inconsistentwith a model that attributes all of the positive correlation between priorand future offending to differences in criminal propensity. Sinceresearchers will often be completely blind with respect to the tenabilityof the normality assumption, we conclude that different estimationstrategies should be brought to bear on the data.     

Reforming rural Ontario

Abstract: This paper turns the scholarly spotlight onto an overlooked aspect of the Ontario municipal system by exploring the issue of county government reform in four selected communities in southern Ontario. Various proposals for county government reform have been advanced by the provincial government during the last quarter-century; here we consider the “common sense” approach to municipal government reform adopted by the Harris government after its election in 1995. We analyse how four counties have responded to this concerted and forceful attempt to bring about major county restructuring. The study has two major objectives. First, it illustrates the forces that have at once advanced and constrained county government reform in recent years; second, it attempts to explain major differences in the manner in which individual counties have responded to the Harris government's drive for reform. Finally, the paper concludes with some reflections on the viability of rural government in Ontario in the light of the substance and process of county government reform. Sommaire: Cet article examine un aspect négligé du système municipal ontarien en explorant la question de la réforme des gouvernements de comté dans quatre communautés choisies du sud de l'Ontario. Le gouvernement provincial a fait diverses propositions de réforme du gouvemement de comté au cours du demier quart de siècle; ici, nous examinons l'approche basée sur le « ban sens » adoptée par le gouvernement Harris en ce qui concerne les gouvernements municipaux, après son élection en 1995, et nous analysons la manière dont quatre comtés ont réagi à cette tentative concertée et vigoureuse de déclencher une forte restructuration au niveau du comté. Cette étude a deux grands objectifs. Premièrement, elle illustre les forces qui ont à la fois promu et retenu la réforme des gouvernements de comté au cours de ces dernières annèes; deuxièmement, elle essaie d'expliquer les principaux écarts dans la façon dont chaque comté a réagi aux efforts de réforme du gouvemement Harris. Enfin, I'article offer quelques réflexions sur la viabilité du gouvernement rural en Ontario à la lumière du fond et du processus de réforme des gouvernements de comté.     

Harvesting experience: A reappraisal of the U.S. Climate Change Action Plan

For mitigating climate change and adapting to whatever impacts we cannot avoid, there are no politically feasible alternatives to improvements in the U.S. Climate Change Action Plan at this time or for the foreseeable future. Yet improvements in the Action Plan have been obstructed by the diversion of attention and other resources to negotiating a binding international agreement, to developing a predictive understanding of global change, and to documenting the failure of the Action Plan to meet its short-term goal for the reduction of aggregate greenhouse gas emissions. Continuous improvements depend upon reallocating attention and other resources to the Action Plan, and more specifically, to the many small-scale policies that have already succeeded by climate change and no regrets criteria under the Action Plan. Sustaining the effort over the long term depends on harvesting experience from these small-scale successes for diffusion and adaptation elsewhere on a voluntary basis.