Political Reinforcement: How Rising Inequality Curbs Manifested Welfare Generosity

We propose a political reinforcement hypothesis, suggesting that rising inequality moves party politics on welfare state issues to the right, strengthening rather than modifying the impact of inequality. We model policy platforms by incorporating ideology and opportunism of party members and interests and sympathies of voters. If welfare spending is a normal good within income classes, a majority of voters moves rightward when inequality increases. As a response, the left, in particular, shift their welfare policy platform toward less generosity. We find support for our arguments using data on the welfare policy platforms of political parties in 22 OECD countries.     

Kalte Vertrautheiten – Private Kommunikation auf der Social Network Site Facebook

This paper argues that forms of private communication are not separable from the media they are communicated with. Methodologically this paper aims at comparing the literal culture of sentimentalism with the practices of private communication that is found today on the social network site (SNS) Facebook. This comparison shows that upon digital terms the historical coupling between the distinctions public/private and the metaphor of coolness/warmth intersect. The media therefore transforms a specific style of private communication. Within the literal culture of sentimentalism letters were written as emotional outpourings between fellow feeling friends. Within the empirical results of the DFG-project “Public and Privacy 2.0” rather cold intimacies of strange friends on SNS can be found. The networked digital friend has to perform his online intimacies while excluding unspecific other addresses within the network. Therefore practices of distance and irony, cool distinctions and the communication of indifference, as well as cryptic maneuvers of exclusion become functional. Privacy is not decomposed – as the sociological critique of SNS often states. Private communication is rather transformed by the technical and social affordances of network communication. Against the backdrop of the imperative of connection the users practice a cool conduct and a culture of distance on Facebook.     

on the orgasm of the species: female sexuality,science and sexual difference

This essay interrogates the assemblage of female sexuality. Drawing on an analysis of Masters and Johnson's anatomical research and primatological research on monkeys, I argue that the female sexuality was the product of encounters between women, machines and monkeys. Orgasm's extra-species life produced a conception of female sexuality as natural in evolutionary and anatomical terms. The set of assumptions that follow this naturalisation of female sexuality through an emphasis on orgasm allow us to further deconstruct notions of female sexuality, naturalness and the politics of knowledge that produce this assemblage. Ultimately, I argue that this focus on anatomy and female orgasm allows us to see the stakes of an anatomically based sexual difference.     

Children's eyewitness identification performance: Effects of a Not Sure response option and accuracy motivation

Purpose. Children who witness crimes are sometimes asked to view a photospread lineup to see if they can identify the culprit. Here, we examined the effectiveness of two manipulations designed to assist in overcoming the tendency of child eyewitnesses to choose from lineups, a tendency that manifests in false identifications from target‐absent lineups. Methods. Children aged around 12 years (N = 432) were randomly assigned to control, Not Sure, or accuracy motivation conditions in order to examine both target‐absent and ‐present identification test performance across multiple sets of stimulus materials. Results. The Not Sure option did not affect false alarms or hit rates, but the combination of accuracy motivating conditions and the Not Sure option reduced guessing, with overall rates of false identifications falling by 12.2%. The latter effect was much stronger under some stimulus conditions but not detectable under others, indicating that the manipulations could improve but not impair performance. While there were beneficial effects at the group level, the manipulation did not produce a general change in individual children's decision strategies. Conclusions. Eyewitness identification test manipulations that reliably reduce false alarms, without lowering hits, by child witnesses have not yet been identified. Here, we showed how a simple‐to‐implement accuracy motivation manipulation reduces false alarms under some conditions, while also highlighting the importance of evaluating the efficacy of interventions across varied encoding and test conditions. However, developing a procedure that can produce a generalized improvement in decision making at the individual level remains a major challenge for eyewitness researchers.     

Saddle Pulmonary Embolism with Paradoxical Coronary Artery Embolism through a Patent Foramen Ovale

A 35‐year‐old male patient was found in cardiac arrest in his vehicle, with no apparent injuries after a minor motor vehicle collision. The decedent was found to have a saddle pulmonary embolus with a thromboembolus impacted across a patent foramen ovale and a paradoxical embolism in the circumflex coronary artery, as well as significant clotting in the deep veins of both lower extremities. There were no risk factors in his history to explain the deep venous thrombosis; family history suggested the possibility of an unrecognized clotting disorder.     

Refining Stable Oxygen and Hydrogen Isoscapes for the Identification of Human Remains in Mississippi,

Isoscape refinement is an essential component for accurately predicting region‐of‐origin in forensic investigations involving isotope analysis of unidentified human remains. Stable oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and hydrogen (δ²H) isotopes were measured from 57 tap water samples collected across Mississippi to model refined isoscapes for the state. A tap water conversion equation, δ¹⁸O_tw=1.64 δ¹⁸Op?31.35, was developed for the southeastern USA to test the prediction accuracy of the δ¹⁸O_tw isoscape using individuals with known residential histories. A local Mississippi resident (USAFA‐134) was assigned with 90% probability to the correct region‐of‐origin reported by the participant. Assignments for Georgia residents (USAFA‐118 and USAFA‐205) had variable results, predicting USAFA‐118 from Mississippi and USAFA‐205 as a nonlocal resident. Stable isotope values often overlap geographically and a multi‐isotope approach should be used when narrowing region(s)‐of‐origin(s). This study demonstrates the utility of refining isoscapes and the importance of tissue calibration in prediction assignments of human remains.     

Skull-photo superimposition and border deaths: identification through exclusion and the failure to exclude

We report on the application of video skull-photo superimposition as an identification method in a case from Ajo, Arizona in which five individuals died after crossing into southern Arizona from Mexico. Initial analyses at the Pima County Forensic Science Center in Tucson, Arizona determined that the disarticulated skeletal remains represented two adult Hispanic males and three adult Hispanic females. Based on biological profiles, both the males and one of the females were tentatively identified and assigned names. The other two females were too similar in age and height, making skeletal separation and identification difficult. As a result, the Michigan State University Forensic Anthropology Laboratory assisted in the identification efforts by performing video skull-photo superimposition on the two unknown females. The skulls were compared to a photograph reported to be one of the missing females. By evaluating facial proportionality and by comparing a number of morphological features of the face and skulls, one skull was excluded as a possible match and one skull was not excluded as a match to the antemortem photo. Because this case was presumed to be a closed disaster, the exclusion of one skull and the failure to exclude the other represented circumstantial identifications.