Delinquency and learning disabilities: Evidence for compensatory behaviors and adaptation

There has been a great deal of debate as to whether or not there is a direct relationship between learning disabilities and delinquent behavior. While the relationship was well established for adjudicated youth, it was more uncertain for adolescents not actively involved with the juvenile justice system. There are indications, however, that the relationship is more complex, with learning disabled (LD) adolescents more likely to develop severe delinquent behaviors than are their nondisabled peers, but unlikely to exhibit a middle ground between delinquent and nondelinquent behavior. It is hypothesized that this difference is due to the ability of most LD children and adolescents to adapt through developing skills that allow them to compensate for their handicapping conditions. Implications for future research are discussed.Partial funding for research support provided by Texas Christian University Research Fund.This article was written by a member of the editorial board of theJournal of Youth and Adolescence as a response to the article by Daniel B. Pickar and Christopher D. Tori, entitled The Learning Disabled Adolescent: Eriksonian Psychological Development, Self-Concept, and Delinquent Behavior, which appeared in Volume 15, Number 5. —Daniel Offer, M. D., Editor-in-Chief.Received Ph. D. in personality and abnormal psychology at Northwestern University. Current research interests include social development and social skills training of both learning disabled and nondisabled adolescents.     

The environments of U.S. R&D laboratories: political and market influences

R&D laboratories in the United States have during the past decade undergone much structural and environmental change. Much of this change has been in response to public policy initiatives and changing markets. One result of the changing environments of R&D laboratories is that traditional sector-based (government, industry, university) classification of laboratories tells us little about their structure and behavior. This study based on survey data derived from 966 U.S. R&D laboratories, develops an environmental input taxonomy, based not on sector but on the mix of political and market influence on laboratories. This taxonomy is examined in connection with three central policy issues: amount of cooperative research, red tape and bureaucratization, and laboratory output. Traditonal sector classification accounts well for red tape, but the environmental input taxonomy provides additional insights into laboratories' scientific and technical output and cooperative research.     

Bringing the Company Back In: A Firm-Level Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment

The industry standard for studying multinational corporations (MNCs) has been to evaluate patterns in aggregate country-level measures of foreign direct investment (FDI). Though certainly related, these data are at best a proxy for the actual commercial and productive activities of multinationals that most political scientists purport to be interested in. Simply put, this is a very indirect way of testing theories about the sociopolitical and economic factors that motivate MNCs’ choice of host countries. This article introduces a new firm-level data set designed to get around this problem by permitting more direct analysis of multinationals’ foreign operations. It then revisits the relationship between regime type and direct investment, finding evidence that MNCs are more likely to establish new subsidiaries in democracies than in nondemocracies. However, further analysis reveals that the strength of this relationship varies by context. Specifically, MNCs rely on regime type as an indicator of political risk when they lack an existing relationship with the host state. In addition, those operating in extractive industries are generally less responsive to political institutions than those operating in manufacturing or services. These results suggest that firm- and sector-specific factors deserve greater consideration than they have been given in the existing literature.     

Voluntarism and its limits: Canada's search for radioactive waste-siting candidates

Abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that extensive public involvement can play a constructive role in the cooperative resolution of waste-facility siting decisions. The Canadian experience in pursuing a voluntary strategy for siting of a low-level radioactive waste facility provides some support for this consensus view, in light of its early stages of deliberation and public participation. However, a number of factors have served to limit the effectiveness of a voluntary strategy in this case, more generally, as well as undermine the prospects for a cooperative siting agreement in Deep River, Ontario. This article considers the recent experience in this case and attempts to draw lessons for future use of voluntary siting strategies. The article concludes that extensive public involvement remains an important element of siting but must be viewed as one component of an integrated process of waste-facility siting and management. Sommaire: Les preuves s'accumulent à l'effet que la participation du public peut jouer un rôle constructif dans la prise collaborative des décisions concernant l'emplacement des dépôts de déchets. La stratégie canadienne d'emplacement volon-taire d'un certain dépôt de dechets faiblement radioactifs favorise dans une certaine mesure cette approche collective, au vu des premières étapes de délibération et de participation du public à cette stratégie. Cependant, plusieurs facteurs ont limité l'efficacité d'une stratégie volontaire, dans ce cas particulier ainsi que plus générale-ment, et ont sapé la possibilité d'un accord collectif d'emplacement à Deep River (Ontario). Dans cet article, on examine l'expérience récente de ce cas et on s'efforce de tirer des lecons générales pour l'emploi futur de stratégies d'emplacement volontaire. En conclusion, une participation extensive du public demeure un élément important de la localisation, mais elle n'est qu'une composante d'un processus intégré de localisation et de gestion des dépôts de déchets.     

POLICING CORRUPTION AND ECONOMIC CRIME — HOW CAN WE DO IT BETTER?

While history records that economically motivated crime and misconduct in its various forms has existed since the earliest civilizations and has always raised issues of fairness and integrity, in recent years additional concerns have come to the fore. Economic stability particularly in an interdependent world, has thrown up issues related to stability and security. The tools that have been developed to address certain manifestations of economic misconduct and in particular the development of financial intelligence are now used across a much broader spectrum than merely the control of fraud and corruption. We use, for example, the regimes that have been designed to identify suspect wealth for a variety of purposes including the raising of revenue which have less relevance to the direct interdiction of financial crime. This paper considers from a practical rather than conceptual standpoint how best to address the risks and issues thrown up by economically motivated crime and also the mechanisms that have been adopted to address it. In particular it seeks to examine various ways in which economically motivated crime may be better discouraged and its impact mitigated. It does not pretend to be a deeply conceptual analysis of the relevant law given its aspiration to have a wider significance and purchase than one jurisdiction. What it does do, however, is to seek to build upon practical experience and apply it to the fashioning of enhanced weapons in the fight against economic crime.     

Reinventing Government: City Manager Attitudes and Actions

With the aim of helping move research from rhetoric to empirical reality, this article reports results of a national survey of city managers on attitudes towards and actions taken to implement principles of reinventing government. A large majority of managers support key principles of reinvention. A smaller proportion of managers has taken actions to recommend adoption of reinvention programs in their budget proposals to council. Managers' action-taking is influenced by certain characteristics of city managers, their communities, and their governments, including managers' attitudes and experiences, slack resources, and region.     

A Multi-Drug Intoxication Fatality Involving Xyrem® (GHB)

Abstract:  Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is best known as a recreational depressant drug, whose use has also been implicated in drug facilitated sexual assault cases. It is also available as a therapeutic agent (Xyrem^®) used for the treatment of daytime sleepiness or cataplexy associated with narcolepsy. This is a report of a case of a 53-year-old woman undergoing treatment with Xyrem^® for narcolepsy. The decedent was also prescribed tramadol, gabapentin, cetirizine, modafinil, carisoprodol, and Xyrem^®. Toxicological analysis of the blood revealed GHB 165.6 mg/L, and 90.7 mg/L in the urine. Blood GHB concentrations in the range 156–260 mg/L have been reported to induce moderately sound sleep. The combined use of central nervous system depressant drugs, together with her problematic sleep apnea, and snoring (both contraindications for GHB use) were determined to have caused this subject's death. The manner of death was determined to be accidental.     

Toluene-Impaired Drivers: Behavioral Observations, Impairment Assessment, and Toxicological Findings

Abstract:  Toluene is an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent frequently abused for its euphoric and intoxicating properties. This report describes a series of six cases involving drivers arrested for driving under the influence who subsequently tested positive for toluene. Case data including driving behavior, physiological signs and symptoms, evidence of impairment, and toxicology findings were reviewed. Blood toluene concentrations in the drivers ranged from 12 to 45 mg/L (median 23 mg/L, mean 25 mg/L, SD 12.1 mg/L). All drivers were determined to be intoxicated, and displayed symptoms including balance problems, confusion and disorientation, loss of coordination, and inability to follow instructions. They also displayed horizontal but not vertical nystagmus, elevated pulse and blood pressure, and lower body temperature. These findings are consistent with prior reports that subjects with blood toluene concentrations above 10 mg/L are invariably under the influence and their driving skills are affected.