A Ten‐year Study of Suicides from a Rural/Suburban County

This study will discuss trends in suicide data compiled over 10 years in Dutchess County, NY, from 2004 to 2013. These data were based on reporting and examination standards recommended by the National Association of Medical Examiners and Department of Justice death investigation standards. Almost 300 cases were analyzed in terms of the deceased's gender, age, race, method of suicide, and weapon used. Results from this study agree with other reports showing significant differences for method of death both in terms of age and gender, with men more likely to choose firearms and women more likely to choose overdose. Furthermore, older persons were more likely to commit suicide by firearms, and the younger persons were more likely to commit suicide by overdose. However, other areas, such as method of suicide, differ from national statistics.     

A Computational Framework for Age‐at‐Death Estimation from the Skeleton: Surface and Outline Analysis of 3D Laser Scans of the Adult Pubic Symphysis

In forensic anthropology, age‐at‐death estimation typically requires the macroscopic assessment of the skeletal indicator and its association with a phase or score. High subjectivity and error are the recognized disadvantages of this approach, creating a need for alternative tools that enable the objective and mathematically robust assessment of true chronological age. We describe, here, three fully computational, quantitative shape analysis methods and a combinatory approach that make use of three‐dimensional laser scans of the pubic symphysis. We report a novel age‐related shape measure, focusing on the changes observed in the ventral margin curvature, and refine two former methods, whose measures capture the flatness of the symphyseal surface. We show how we can decrease age‐estimation error and improve prior results by combining these outline and surface measures in two multivariate regression models. The presented models produce objective age‐estimates that are comparable to current practices with root‐mean‐square‐errors between 13.7 and 16.5 years.     

Special-interest groups and growth

This paper explores empirically the relation between special-interest groups and economic growth. Our analysis exploits new data on the number of groups observed across countries and time, in order to mitigate the identification problems associated with earlier studies. Also in contrast to earlier work, we examine the impact of groups on two sources of growth??capital accumulation and technological change??in addition to the impact of groups on output growth. The findings are consistent with Olson??s (The rise and decline of nations: the political economy of economic growth, stagflation, and social rigidities. New Haven, Yale, 1982) claim that societies with greater numbers of interest groups grow slower, accumulate less capital, and experience reduced productivity growth relative to others.     

What the Secretary Said Next: ‘Public Rhetorical Leadership’ in the Australian Public Service

Every year, senior departmental secretaries in Australia deliver keynote speeches to a range of audiences. What are these secretaries talking about, and to whom are they directing their comments? This article will examine keynote addresses by the secretaries of the two key central agencies in Australia – the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and The Treasury – over the calendar years 2009 and 2010. I argue that ‘public rhetorical leadership’ by secretaries poses challenges for traditional understandings of Westminster governance. Utilising the concepts of public value theory, the significance of this ‘public rhetorical leadership’ is assessed in terms of its impacts on policy implementation and questions of accountability.     

Extraterritorial enforcement: US court refuses to enforce foreign patents

Upholding principles of territoriality, the US Court of Appealsfor the Federal Circuit has refused to extend its jurisdictionto enforce related foreign patents.     

An empirical assessment of the process of restorative justice

This study involved an empirical assessment of restorative justice processes with an application of a theoretical model proposed by Presser and Van Voorhis (2002). Their model identified three common procedural activities associated with restorative justice: dialogue, relationship building, and communication of moral values. This study utilized secondary data, consisting of observation and interview data, originally obtained by Sherman, Braithwaite, Strang, and Barnes (1999) for their Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE) in Australia, 1995-1999, to test the theoretical model. The results generally supported the hypothesis that the restorative justice program engaged offenders in dialogue, relationship building, and moral communication to a greater degree than traditional court proceedings. An unexpected result emerged in the interview data showing that violent offenders in the restorative justice program did not report a greater sense of relationship building than those in court proceedings. Possible explanations accounting for the anomaly are provided. Implications for policy and future studies derived from the findings are also discussed.     

Disaster Governance in the Philippines: Issues,Lessons Learned,and Future Directions in the Post-Yolanda Super Typhoon Aftermath

The article analyzes the importance of disaster governance as an emerging paradigm in the context of the post-Yolanda Super Typhoon devastation in the Philippines. The article offers various lessons which may be heeded in times of disaster in which various stakeholders of governance are involved with. Consequently, the article posits future challenges and directions hurled in the conduct of disaster governance in the Philippines in terms of policies and programs. Finally, the article enunciates that both the national government and local government must play an active role in disaster governance through policy-making and policy implementation changes in both theory and praxis.