Fetal death due to nonlethal maternal carbon monoxide poisoning

Fetal death due to acute carbon monoxide poisoning is rarely reported in the medical literature. Of the eight cases found in literature review, only one documented the fetal carboxyhemoglobin concentration. This paper reports a fetal death due to accidental nonlethal maternal carbon monoxide intoxication in which both maternal and fetal carboxyhemoglobin concentrations were obtained. The corrected carboxyhemoglobin concentration was 61% at the time of death in utero, while the maternal carboxyhemoglobin was measured at 7% after one hour of supplemental oxygen. The authors review the mechanisms of fetal death and emphasize the different carbon monoxide kinetics in the fetal circulation.     

A test of candidate equilibrium

Richard McKelvey predicts that candidates will converge to an equilibrium if candidates and voters maximize their utility and voters' preferences conform to stringent assumptions. Although there are discrepancies between electoral data and the requirements of the theory, an analysis of 1972 and 1976 survey data lends support to basic components of the theory. First, most voters did choose the candidate who provided the greater utility. Second, voter distribution was not asymmetrical enough to allow a candidate to win by moving away from the median toward a concentration of voters. Third, the winning strategy for a candidate was to locate at or near the median. While formal theories' predictions will not hold in their precisely stated form, the assumptions can be robust enough to offer an explanation of electoral choices.     

Is There a Future for Contracting in the Australian Public Sector?

Contracting has moved from the margins to the centre of public management. Significant sections of the public workforce, from benefits delivery to corporate services, now find their functions open to tender. Governments prefer to concentrate on policy analysis and development, leaving service delivery to the market. As purchasers rather than providers, governments are redefining the role and scope of the state. But are Australian governments ready for this shift to contracting? Do they possess the full array of control and reporting mechanisms necessary if contracting is to deliver its promised benefits? There are significant difficulties finding evidence that answers such questions. Yet on the basis of concerns discussed across Australian jurisdictions, it appears contracting has developed so quickly it outstrips the capacity of government to monitor what is happening, and so learn from mistakes. In time governments will become better at maintaining accountability for contracted functions, because experience reduces the risks of moral hazard.     

Sentencing: Must justice be even-handed?

The question considered is whether a convicted criminal has been treated unjustly if the only reason he receives a much heavier sentence than another criminal convicted of the same crime is that he came before a different judge. The answer offered is that such a criminal would not be treated unjustly. The principle of equality in punishment, properly understood, does not forbid even such gross disparities in sentence (though it also does not require them). The paper discusses the 1978 Model Sentencing and Corrections Act in detail and has important consequences for the current movement to reform punishment to assure just deserts.Work on this paper was supported in part by a Summer Research Grant from Illinois State University, 1981.     

The MMPI-2 and statisfactory police academy performance: Differences and correlations

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and its later revision (MMPI-2) have been the most frequently employed psychological instrument in the selection of law enforcement officers (Bartol, 1996). In this study, state police trooper cadets were given a broad number of measures including the MMPI-2 prior to academy admission. Their performance at the police academy was then analyzed and related to their performance on the MMPI-2. Using step-wise multiple linear regression. Hy3 and Sc4 scores produced significant negative correlation’s with academy final grade point average. Student’s unpaired 1-tests between successful and unsuccessful cadets revealed differences between the groups for several MMPI-2 subscales including, but not limited to, K, MA, and SI, Lastly, logistic regression revealed no single subscale, or combination of subscales, which significantly predicted classification of the cadets as either successful or unsuccessful based on their MMPI-2 scores alone. Author Note: Elements of this article have been presented at the 27^th Annual Conference of the Society of Police and Criminal Psychology in Portland, OR, October 1998.     

Suicidal drowning in south Florida.

Autopsy protocols at the office of the Chief Medical Examiner were reviewed with respect to suicidal drowning. Between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 1998, there were 267 drownings and 873 people committed suicide in Broward County, Florida. Of those, 25 were suicidal drownings, representing 2.86% of all suicides, and overall the 8th leading cause of suicidal death. When considering suicide in the age group of 65 years and older, (n = 239), which accounts for 19.8% of the population and 27.4%, of all suicides, drowning represents 6.7% of all suicidal deaths, and within females in this group represents the third most common form of suicidal death (13.8%). The presence of alcohol or other drugs is less usual in elderly suicide victims than younger victims. Of the 25 drowning suicides, there was a preference for swimming pools, canals, and lakes as the locations of choice. Additional drowning and suicide related criteria were evaluated including marital status, mental health, clothing worn, previous attempts or threats, suicide notes, and personal effects at the scene; with the intention of establishing a profile for drowning by suicide. Given the relative abundance of water, the suicidal drowning rate appears to be lower than what might otherwise be anticipated.     

Stereotype Threat and Race of Interviewer Effects in a Survey on Political Knowledge

Social desirability is generally thought to underlie the propensity for survey respondents to tailor their answers to what they think would satisfy or please the interviewer. While this may in fact be the underlying motivation, especially on attitudinal and opinion questions, social desirability does not seem to be an adequate explanation for interviewer effects on factual questions. Borrowing from the social psychology literature on stereotype threat, we test an alternative account of the race-of-interviewer effects. Stereotype threat maintains that the pressure to disconfirm and to avoid being judged by negative and potentially degrading stereotypes interferes with the processing of information. We argue that the survey context contains many parallels to a testing environment in which stereotype threat might alter responses to factual questions. Through a series of framing experiments in a public opinion survey and the reliance on the sensitivity to the race of the interviewer, our results are consistent with expectations based on a theory of "stereotype threat." African American respondents to a battery of questions about political knowledge get fewer answers right when interviewed by a white interviewer than when interviewed by an African American interviewer. The observed differences in performance on the political knowledge questions cannot be accounted for by differences in the educational background or gender of the respondents.