Pro-bullying attitudes among incarcerated juvenile delinquents: Antisocial behavior,psychopathic tendencies and violent crime

The objective was to evaluate a new scale aimed at assessing antisocial attitudes, the Pro-bullying Attitude Scale (PAS), on a group of 259 voluntarily-recruited male juvenile delinquents from a juvenile correctional institution in Arkhangelsk, North-western Russia. Exploratory factor analysis gave a two-factor solution: Factor 1 denoted Callous/Dominance and Factor 2 denoted Manipulativeness/Impulsiveness. Subjects with complete data on PAS and Childhood Psychopathy Scale (CPS) (n = 171) were divided into extreme groups (first and fourth quartiles) according to their total scores on PAS and the two factor scores, respectively. The extreme groups of total PAS and PAS Factor 1 differed in CPS ratings and in violent behavior as assessed by the Antisocial Behavior Checklist (ABC). They also differed in the personality dimension Harm Avoidance as measured by use of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), and in delinquent and aggressive behavior as assessed by the Youth Self Report (YSR). The extreme groups of PAS Factor 2, in turn, differed in aggressive behavior as assessed by the YSR, and in the TCI scale Self-Directedness. When PAS was used as a continuous variable, total PAS and PAS Factor 1 (Callous/Dominance) were significantly positively related to registered violent crime. The possible usefulness of PAS in identifying high-risk individuals for bullying tendencies among incarcerated delinquents is discussed.     

A Fatal Case of CO2 Intoxication in a Fermentation Tank

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is an odorless constituent of air. Higher concentrations can be detected in geothermal and automotive emissions, fermentation, and sublimation of dry ice. An unskilled worker entered a fermentation tank to clean it, which had not been done for about 5 months allowing for high concentrations of CO₂ to build up. A second worker entered the tank to rescue the first one. Shortly after both were found the first worker was rescued directly whereas the tank had to be rotated to pull the second worker out. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was successful only for the first worker. Medico‐legal autopsy showed bruises, hematoma, myocardial hemorrhage, and edema of the lungs. The right lung was vacuum degassed in an argon atmosphere and quadrupole‐mass‐spectrometry showed an elevated CO₂ content in lung gases. Thus, CO₂ intoxication/asphyxia in a vitiated atmosphere due to fermentation of wine mash was established as the cause of death.     

MARKET ANALYSIS IN THE PRESENCE OF INDIRECT CONSTRAINTS AND CAPTIVE SALES

In antitrust cases as well as for regulated industries, thequestion of how to treat indirect constraint and captive salescorrectly has become of major importance in Europe. The (im-)propertreatment of indirect constraints has lead the CFI to overturnthe Commission's decision in the proposed merger of Schneiderand Legrand. Moreover, with regards to the definition of wholesalebroadband access markets, there is an ongoing controversy betweenthe Commission and some National Regulatory Authorities, centeringon the question of whether to incorporate indirect constraintsalready at the stage of market definition. To inform this debate,we present in this article some of the insights from a detailedformal analysis into markets with indirect constraints and captivesales. We show how indirect constraints are appropriately takeninto account through the elasticity of derived demand and commentalso on the informativeness of concentration measures on boththe wholesale and retail market. We further derive insightsinto when indirect constraints may be more or less importantcompared with direct constraints. Finally, we also discuss themore practical difficulties that are encountered when analyzing(or estimating) market structures where forward integrated firmsalso sell to other, competing retail firms.