Equality and Sharing: Views of Household Across the Iron Curtain

Before they reunified, the two Germanies provided a natural experiment in whether law could rectify what many have seen as injustice between men and women in the household. East German legislation mandated that equal hours of housework be contributed by husband and wife, while West Germany allowed the couple to reach any arrangement they chose. This paper explores the predicted and actual consequence of the two regimes for labor force participation, divorce, and equality within marriages.     

Image analysis of gunshot residue on entry wounds. II--A statistical estimation of firing range.

A statistical investigation of the relationship between firing range and the amount and distribution of gunshot residue (GSR), used automated image analysis (IA) to quantify GSR deposit resulting from firings into pig skin, from distances ranging between contact and 45 cm. Overall, for a Ruger .22 semi-automatic rifle using CCI solid point, high velocity ammunition, the total area of GSR deposit on the skin sections decreased in a non-linear fashion with firing range. More specifically there were significant differences in the amount of GSR deposited from shots fired at contact compared with shots fired from distances between 2.5 and 45 cm; and between shots fired from a distance of 20 cm or less, with shots fired at a distance of 30 cm or more. In addition, GSR particles were heavily concentrated in the wound tract only for contact and close range shots at 2.5 cm, while the particle distribution was more uniform between the wound tract and the skin surfaces for shots fired from distances greater than 2.5 cm. Consequently, for future scientific investigations of gunshot fatalities, once standards have been established for the weapon and ammunition type in question, image analysis quantification of GSR deposited in and around the gunshot wound may be capable of providing a reliable, statistical basis for estimating firing range.     

Fatality caused by a combined trimipramine-citalopram intoxication

A 53-year-old woman who was diagnosed as suffering from depression was found dead in her bed. The autopsy revealed no morphological changes sufficient to explain death. Toxicological analysis was performed and the drugs trimipramine (2.33 mg/l), citalopram (4.81 mg/l) and zolpidem (0.07 mg/l) were identified in the femoral blood. A combined drug intoxication resulting in synergistic effects to cardiovascular disorders was proposed as the cause of death. An acute overdose and suicide was suggested by calculation of the parent drug to main metabolite ratios in femoral blood and liver tissue. The trimipramine to desmethyltrimipramine ratios were calculated to be 2.06 and 3.18, the citalopram to desmethylcitalopram ratios were 1.96 and 2.02.     

Reversal of fortune: the politics and economics of the superconducting supercollider

Congress approved the superconducting supercollider (SSC), but later cut all funding after construction for the project had begun. We claim that this reversal was due, in part, to a problem of time inconsistency. Representatives from states in contention to receive the project had an incentive to support it early in the process. Once Texas was chosen as the SSC site, the other contender states had a greatly diminished incentive to continue to support it. Our empirical results show that the probability of switching from ‘for’ to ‘against’ the project is significantly higher for representatives from the former contender states.     

Latin America in a time of global financial turmoil∗

Following the financial turmoil in Asia and Russia, Latin America has suffered dramatic setbacks, including major economic slowdown, threats to democratization, and worsening social conditions. For the medium term, neither prosperity nor political stability are assured, says Abraham F. Lowenthal, founding president of the Pacific Council on International Policy at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Lowenthal identifies three positive shifts that have occurred in the region over the past few years: a convergence among economic policymakers on the main tenets of sound policy; an even more widespread embrace of constitutional democracy as an ideal; and a growing disposition on the part of Latin American nations toward pragmatic cooperation with each other and with the industrialized countries, including the United States.     

The psychological impact of stalking on female undergraduates.

This study examined the psychological impact of stalking upon female undergraduates, a population previously determined to experience a surprising stalking prevalence rate. Despite common understanding that stalking has deleterious effects, there have been no previous efforts to systematically assess them with standardized measures. Thirty-six female stalking victims were compared with 43 females who had been harassed and 48 controls. Psychological impact was assessed with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale, the Symptom Checklist-90-R, and the Self-Report Interpersonal Trust Scale. Stalked subjects endorsed significantly more PTSD symptoms and with greater severity than the harassed or control subjects. Stalked subjects also had significantly higher scores on several subscales of the SCL-90, and had significantly higher positive symptom totals and distress indices.     

Calculation of percent shrinkage in human fetal diaphyseal lengths from fresh bone to carbonized and calcined bone using Petersohn and K?hler's data.

Calculation of age from fetal and newborn remains may be problematic, and when these remains are altered by maceration, decomposition or burning, age may be more difficult to discern. When soft tissue indicators are transformed, then two techniques exist for accurate age determination; dental development, which may prove difficult given the degree of tissue alteration; and appearance, size and fusion of ossification centers, including diaphyseal length, which may yield inaccurate ages if shrinkage is not accounted for. This study is undertaken to facilitate age calculation by systematically re-evaluating diaphyseal shrinkage and determine shrinkage rates from wet to carbonized states and wet to calcined states using Petersohn and K?hler's data, originally published in German and then published in Fazekas and Kósa (1978:362-369). Average shrinkage, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values are calculated for each diaphysis and then for all diaphyses between 4-10 lunar months (LM) and for newborns. Associated values for carbonized diaphyses are: 4 LM--32.50% +/- 12.12%; 5 LM--14.04% +/- 4.44%; 6 LM--6.78% +/- 1.06%; 7 LM--4.18% +/- 0.31%; 8 LM--3.47% +/- 0.42%; 9 LM--3.05% +/- 0.18%; 10 LM--2.46% +/- 0.67%; and in newborns 2.16% +/- 0.29%. Similar values for calcined diaphyses are: 4 LM--40.11% +/- 17.51%; 5 LM--18.29% +/- 4.42%; 6 LM--9.84% +/- 1.27%; 7 LM--9.82% +/- 0.51%; 8 LM--9.42% +/- 0.72%; 9 LM--9.45% +/- 0.33%; 10 LM--8.94% +/- 0.37%; and in newborns 8.96% +/- 0.49%. These findings suggest that percent shrinkage due to carbonization and calcination is greatest in the earliest age groups, decreasing substantially with advancing age. The rates of shrinkage, however, vary by the burning process utilized and age group studied. These general findings are similar to those of Petersohn and K?hler, yet specific values for percent shrinkage vary greatly from values cited in this analysis. These data provide a means to assess the degree of shrinkage that occurs for each diaphysis for each given age group.     

Paternity analysis when the putative father is missing: first case in Chile.

Genetic marker analysis is a powerful tool for solving paternity-related problems when the putative father is missing. This report describes the first time this approach was employed in Chile to solve such a problem. In the case presented, the alleged father was missing as a result of the political detentions that took place in Chile during 1973. It was not possible to obtain any biological sample from him because he was missing. Thus, the case was resolved by means of genetic marker analysis of the alleged father's close relatives.     

DISTANCE DECAY REEXAMINED

The "journey to crime," or the study of the distance between an offender's residence and offense site, has been a subject of study within criminology for many years. Implications arising from such research touches the majority of criminological theories. An overriding conclusion from this line of research is that most crimes occur in relatively close proximity to the home of the offender. Termed the distance-decay function, a plot of the number of crimes that an offender commits decreases with increasing distance from the offender's residence. In a recent paper, Van Koppen and De Keijser raise the concern that inferring individual distance decay from aggregate-level data may be inappropriate. They assert that previous research reporting aggregated distance-decay functions conceals individual variations in the ranges of operation, which leads them to conclude that the distance-decay function is an artifact. We do not question the claim that researchers should not make inferences about individual behavior with data collected at the aggregate level. However, Van Koppen and De Keijser's analysis raises four important issues concerning (1) the interpretation of the ecological fallacy, (2) the assumption of linearity in offender movements, (3) the interpretation of geographic work on profiling, and (4) the assumption of random target selection within a delimited range of operation. Using both simulated and nonsimulated data, we present evidence that reaches vastly different conclusions from those reached by Van Koppen and De Keijser. The theoretical implications of our analyses and possibilities for future research are addressed.