MOTHERING,FATHERING, AND DIVORCE: THE INFLUENCE OF DIVORCE ON REPORTS OF AND DESIRES FOR MATERNAL AND PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT*

The present study investigated the extent to which young adults' reports of—and desires for—maternal and paternal involvement differed between intact and divorced families. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,376 young adults completed measures of reported and desired mothering and fathering across 20 parenting domains. Results indicated that both reports of and desires for father involvement differed sharply by family form (intact versus divorced), whereas few family form differences emerged for reported or desired mother involvement. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for custody and access decisions within the family court system.     

Fatal hemorrhage from a periumbilical wound: Stabbing or hemorrhage from a caput medusae?

Varices are the main clinical manifestation of portal hypertension, and their bleeding is the predominant cause of mortality from this condition. Periumbilical varices are known as “caput medusae.” Reports of their bleeding are rare, with only three fatal cases described in the literature. The antemortem diagnosis is relatively simple, while the postmortem diagnosis is more complex. This paper is the first report of fatal hemorrhage from a caput medusae for which the diagnosis was made postmortem, thanks to a complete diagnostic process including scene and circumstances, medical history, and autopsy with detailed histology. The circumstantial analysis showed the presence of a large amount of blood at the scene, blood which originated from a small abdominal wound; an analysis of the subject's clinical data reported that he was affected by portal hypertension. The autopsy revealed some dilated and convoluted veins in the subcutaneous tissue of the umbilical region; a fistula between these veins and the abdominal wound was detected. The histological study confirmed the presence of periumbilical varices, one of them ruptured and connected with the overlying skin. The cause of death was attributed to a massive hemorrhage generated by a periumbilical varix in a patient affected by portal hypertension.     

3D forensic facial approximation: Implementation protocol in a forensic activity

The primary objective of this paper is to report on the successful implementation of forensic facial approximation in a real case in the forensic context. A three‐dimensional (3D) facial approximation protocol of the skull was performed with free software, applying techniques in a virtual environment that have already been consolidated in the literature. The skull was scanned with the photogrammetry technique, the digital replica was imported in the Blender software (Blender Foundation, Amsterdam) and individualized model sketches of the face were traced with the MakeHuman software (MakeHuman Org) according to the anthropological profile of the victim. The face created was imported in Blender, where it was adapted, modeled, and sculpted on the 3D skull and its soft tissue markers, using an American open‐source application of the technique in the digital environment. The face created in a virtual environment was recognized and legal identification procedures were started, resulting in the more agile delivery of the disappeared body to its next of kin. It is therefore concluded that facial approximation may not be a primary method of human identification, but it can be satisfactorily applied in the forensic field as an individual recognition resource. It has great value in narrowing the search, reducing the number of alleged victims, and leading to identification tests, therefore significantly reducing the number of genetic DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) tests—which are considered costly for the State or Federation—and consequently reducing the waiting time before delivery of the body to its family.     

Primary intimal sarcoma of the pulmonary artery misdiagnosed as pulmonary thromboembolism: A case confirmed at medicolegal autopsy

Misdiagnosed PAS confirmed at medicolegal autopsy Pulmonary artery sarcoma (PAS) is a rare disease and usually indistinguishable from acute or chronic thromboembolic disease of the pulmonary arteries. We present a case of pulmonary artery sarcoma in a 54‐year‐old male, who was clinically misdiagnosed as pulmonary thromboembolism. The patient died of disease; however, the actual diagnosis of PAS was made after a medicolegal autopsy. PAS can be a diagnostic challenge for both clinicians and pathologists. In an autopsy case with a clinical suspicion of pulmonary thromboembolism, if there is an abnormal gross appearance in the pulmonary artery, the forensic pathologist should have a high index of suspicion of PAS, which should be ruled out by a histopathologic examination.     

Radiodense bullet wipe around osseous entrance gunshot wounds

“Bullet wipe” is the material deposited by a bullet on any surface with which it comes into contact after it is fired and may contain debris from the gun barrel, including particles of primer and metal fragments from previously fired bullets. X‐ray analysis is a non‐destructive method by which traces of metallic elements can be visually detected. The analysis of osseous defects for radiodense bullet wipe (RBW) assists in determining the presence or absence of perforating gunshot wounds, especially in fragmented, skeletonized remains. The aim of our current study was to determine the frequency of RBW around entrance firearms injuries that perforated bone. We prospectively analyzed entrance gunshot wounds for RBW over a three‐year period using digital X‐ray analysis (n = 59). We retrospectively reviewed the corresponding autopsy reports to determine the frequency of RBW by biologic sex, reported ancestry, age‐at‐death, location of wound, manner of death, range of fire, bullet caliber, and presence of bullet jacket. Data were analyzed by Fisher's exact test or Chi‐square test with significance levels accepted at p < 0.05. RBW was present in 66% (n = 39) of examined cases. Decedent characteristics did not significantly alter RBW distribution, including biologic sex (p = 0.75), reported ancestry (p = 0.49), and age‐at‐death (p = 0.43). Additionally, the location of the osseous entrance gunshot wound, manner of death, range of fire, and cartridge caliber did not affect RBW detection. All cases involving non‐jacketed rounds (n = 5) showed RBW (p = 0.30). To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the frequency of RBW detection from osseous entrance gunshot wounds.     

Parliamentary procedure: principal forms and political effects

A standard conclusion of theorists who model bargaining as a non-cooperative game is that the party designated to make the first move—the formateur party—will determine the bargaining outcome. Most empirical studies of parliamentary coalition formation have paid surprisingly little attention to the formation process. In this paper we model government formation as a two-stage unordered discrete choice problem that better reflects this process. The first step involves the selection of a formateur party, and the second involves the choice of partners by the predicted formateur. We evaluate several hypotheses for the two stages, using a data set of all cabinets formed in the Western European countries from 1970 to 2006. In our analyses of formateur selection, we find that party size is clearly the dominant feature. In the second stage, we show that when predicting government composition it is fruitful to add information drawn from a first stage analysis.     

Myth-Free Space Advocacy Part II: The Myth of the Space Frontier

Space advocates commonly compare the settling of the “space frontier” to the settling of the “western frontier” in the United States, arguing that space settlement will realize the same benefits purportedly realized by the western expansion of the United States: the generation of new cultures; the development of new technologies; and the empowerment of democratic governance. However, much of the reasoning here is based on a faulty understanding of history and on an overly optimistic view of what it will be like to live in a space settlement. Thus, I argue that ardent faith in the promises of settling the space frontier is a mythological belief, rather than a well-confirmed one.     

Interpersonal and Personal Antecedents and Consequences of Peer Victimization Across Middle Childhood in Hong Kong

Although much is known about peer victimization, the majority of the longitudinal research in this area has been restricted to Western settings. The main objective of this study was to examine the interpersonal (rejection) and personal (withdrawal, aggression) antecedents and consequences of victimization for Chinese children living in Hong Kong. A sample of 1,058 children (501 boys; M age = 9.5 years) in Hong Kong was followed longitudinally from the 3rd and 4th grades to the 7th and 8th grades. Consistent with a transactional framework, rejection and withdrawal contributed to, as well as resulted from, victimization. Although victimization predicted later aggression, aggression was unrelated to later victimization. These findings closely replicate past research conducted in North America and European settings, and suggest considerable correspondence in the links between maladaptive child characteristics and victimization across Western and Hong Kong schools.     

Freethought,Free Love and Feminism: secularist debates on marriage and sexual morality,England c. 1850–1885

This article examines the previously unexplored current of Freethinking feminism in the second half of the nineteenth century. Active in the women’s movement of this period, Freethinking feminists were nonetheless viewed as a liability—an attitude that contributed to their exclusion from much of the subsequent historiography. Such marginalisation was due not only to their vocal opposition to all forms of religion, but also their openness to discussing new ways of organising heterosexual relationships. This article focuses on Freethinking feminist critiques of marriage and support for free unions. It demonstrates that these issues continued to be debated in the Secularist movement at a time when many other radical organisations—including much of the women’s movement—kept silent on such topics. In this way, Freethinking feminists kept alive the more radical and libertarian critiques of traditional sexual morality developed by Owenite feminists in the 1830s and 40s. The author argues that the ideology of Freethought propelled its adherents to readdress questions of sex within a new ‘Secularist’ ethical framework. Fierce debate ensued, yet commitment to freedom of discussion ensured that ‘unrespectable’, libertarian voices were never entirely silenced. Freethinking feminism might, then, be viewed as the ‘missing link’ between early nineteenth‐century feminist visions of greater sexual freedom and the more radical discussions of sexuality and free love that began to emerge at the fin de siècle.