No-show at a forensic psychiatric outpatient clinic: risk factors and reasons

Nonattendance for and late cancellations of scheduled appointments, that is no-show, is a well-known phenomenon in psychiatric outpatient clinics. Research on the topic of no-show for initial and consecutive appointments in the field of forensic psychiatry is scarce. This study therefore aims to determine the prevalence and causes of no-show and to explore reasons for nonattendance. The study was carried out in an outpatient clinic in northern Netherlands. Telephone interviews were administered to 27 no-show clients, 84 follow-up no-show clients, and 41 attendees of 18 years and older. A no-show rate of 24.9% and a follow-up no-show rate of 9.8% was found. The majority of appointments missed were in the beginning phase of clinic contact. No-show clients were younger than their attending counterparts and more often dropped out from clinic contact. Also, less family social support was experienced by nonattendees. Reasons for nonattendance were having forgotten about appointment and work commitments.     

Arbitration and Incentives: How to Preclude the Chilling Effect?

We seek to establish a mechanism for an arbitrator, as a set of rules used to control parties' incentives. We assume that the arbitrator is allowed to commit himself to a decision rule ex ante. The results show that the parties' messages reveal their private information if the costs of lie are high enough and if the decision rule is random. The decision rule described can apply to conventional arbitration and to final-offer arbitration.     

Die Bedeutung des regionalen Kontexts für die programmatische Positionierung von Schweizer Kantonalparteien1

Zusammenfassung: In Mehrebenensystemen agierende Parteien sind mit sozialstrukturell sehr unterschiedlich zusammengesetzten Wählerschaften konfrontiert. Da für regionale Parteigliederungen – insbesondere in föderal organisierten Demokratien – der Wettbewerb um Wählerstimmen zuvorderst innerhalb der Grenzen der jeweiligen Region stattfindet, müssen sie den unterschiedlich zusammengesetzten Elektoraten differenzierte inhaltliche Angebote machen, die auf die spezifischen Präferenzen der Wählerschaft eingehen. Wir evaluieren diese Überlegungen am Beispiel der Schweiz als einem Mehrebenensystem, in dem sich die Wählerschaft von Kanton zu Kanton in ihrer sprachlichen, konfessionellen und sozioökonomischen Struktur deutlich unterscheidet. Dabei nehmen wir eine Analyse der programmatischen Dokumente der Schweizer Parteien auf kantonaler Ebene vor, um deren inhaltliche Präferenzen zu bestimmen. Die dabei herangezogenen Wahlprogramme von kantonalen Parteigliederungen sind eine bisher wenig beachtete Quelle zur Bestimmung von Parteipositionen, die jedoch gerade für die Arbeiten zur subnationalen Politik grosses Potential bietet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich sozialstrukturelle Eigenschaften der Wählerschaft eines Kantons in der Tat in den programmatischen Positionen der Kantonalparteien widerspiegeln. So sind Parteien in der französischsprachigen Schweiz wirtschaftspolitisch “linker”, wohingegen die Parteien in ländlichen Kantonen tendenziell konservativere Haltungen in Fragen der Gesellschaftspolitik einnehmen.     

Putting endogenous development into practice

The gap between theories and the actual practice of development is often great, but the gap between concepts of endogenous approaches and the practice of endogenous development may be hardest to bridge, particularly when the funding agency is a global actor. Nathalie Tinguery, Country Program Coordinator for US African Development Foundation (USADF) in Burkina Faso, reflects on her experience of incorporating values and goals into her development practice of working with communities and for an international funder. She describes how she remains focused on endogenous development, what this means in her development practice, and what it is about USADF policies and practice that make this brand of endogenous development possible. Views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official positions of USADF.     

Holding governments accountable? Individual heterogeneity in performance voting

This study suggests that performance voting is characterised by extensive individual heterogeneity. Most economic voting studies to date treat voters as rather homogeneous in their reactions to economic performance of incumbents. Yet, a large and well‐established line of research from the American context demonstrates the conditional impact of political sophistication and salience on voters' political attitudes and behaviour. Building on this work, this article explores individual‐level variation in performance voting due to political sophistication and salience. Utilising cross‐national data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) including 25 democracies, performance voting is examined across an array of policy areas including the economy, social welfare, immigration and national security, and it is shown that political sophistication and salience are key moderators of performance voting. The findings suggest that holding governments to account for past performance is mainly the prerogative of the highly sophisticated and thus may be more laborious than previously assumed. At the same time, the results indicate that the sophistication gap in performance voting narrows when voters attach a higher degree of salience to a policy area. As long as voters care enough about government activities in a particular policy area, incumbents can expect credit or blame for policy outcomes. This should provide at least some impetus for responsive policy making.     

Sudden death following exercise testing related to abnormalities of the cardiac conduction system and coronary artery pathology

A case of sudden death following exercise testing in a 33-year-old man is reported. The forensic autopsy showed atherosclerotic stenosis of the left coronary artery, as well as some changes in the cardiac conduction system, including anomalies of the atrioventricular node and moderate fibrosis and fatty infiltration of the branching bundle. This case demonstrates that cardiac arrest during vigorous exercise may be multifactorial and that abnormalities of the cardiac conduction system may have played some role in the fatal issue.     

The Informational Role of the Arbitration Clause

We analyse the role of an arbitration clause as a quality signal. We model a contractual relationship between one buyer and two sellers, one of which offers a high-quality product, the other a low-quality product. With a certain probability, the product is defective. The sellers have the choice of either taking the case to court if the product is defective, or including an arbitration clause in which case an arbitrator determines the indemnity payment. Under some conditions, only the high-quality seller offers an arbitration clause, which then serves as a quality signal.     

Suicide by injection of a veterinarian barbiturate euthanasia agent: report of a case and toxicological analysis

The history and toxicological findings of a suicidal case involving injection of a veterinarian barbiturate euthanasia agent (Vetanarcol containing pentobarbital are presented. Blood pentobarbital concentrations compatible with drug overdose were determined. Almost identical levels were found in blood, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and vitreous humour (VH). The highest concentration was measured in the bile. The present case is compared with similar rare cases in the literature.     

Addressing academic researcher priorities through science and technology entrepreneurship education

The Journal of Technology Transfer - A key feature of the movement to create more entrepreneurial universities is incentivizing researchers to move discoveries beyond the laboratory and into...     

When Children are the Least Vulnerable to False Memories: A True Report or a Case of Autosuggestion?

In this case report, a legal case revolving around the reliability of statements given by a 6‐year‐old girl is described. She claimed to have witnessed her mother being murdered by her father. Two psychological experts provided diametrically opposed opinions about the reliability of her statements. One expert, a clinician, opined that the girl's statements were based on autosuggestion whereas the other expert, a memory researcher, stated that autosuggestion was unlikely to have played a role. This case and the analysis of the experts' opinions illustrate what may happen when experts in court are unaware of the recent literature on (false) memory. That is, recent studies show that autosuggestion is less likely to occur in young children than in older children and adults. The current case stresses the importance and implications of relying on memory experts in cases concerning the reliability of eyewitness statements.