The shielding capacity of the standard military flak jacket against ballistic injury to the kidney

An animal model was designed to evaluate the ability of the standard military flak jacket to protect the kidneys from direct ballistic trauma. Yorkshire swine were anesthetized and their flanks were protected by flak jackets. Ballistic insults ranging from a low-velocity handgun to a high-velocity rifle were evaluated. The results demonstrate that a flak jacket provides adequate protection against low- and mid-velocity projectiles since none of the animals from this group had evidence of internal trauma and because only minor superficial surgical attention would have been required. Survivability in each case was considered to be excellent. The flak jacket failed to provide any protection against several types of high-velocity bullets. These weapons caused severe internal injury to the genitourinary system as well as to other major organ systems. Survival would have been unlikely.     

Stocktaking after two sessions of the commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

B.A., Victoria University of Wellington 1964; LL.B., Victoria University of Wellington 1964; LL.M., Victoria University of Wellington 1967; LL.M., Columbia University 1968; J.S.D., Columbia University 1972. Professor Clark was a member of the former United Nations Committee on Crime Prevention and Control and represented New Zealand as an observer at the first two meetings of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Any views expressed here are his own.See generally Roger S. Clark,United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program: Formulation of Standards and Efforts at Their Implementation (forthcoming 1994).     

Cardiac pathology in 470 consecutive forensic autopsies

Cardiovascular disease continues to be the single most common generic cause of sudden and unexpected deaths. Atherosclerotic coronary heart disease and acute myocardial infarction are the most prevalent forms of fatal cardiac disease observed at autopsy. Other cardiac lesions are frequently listed as causes of death, but the prevalence of such lesions as incidental findings in the general population is unknown. In this study, 470 consecutive forensic autopsies were evaluated for minor and major anomalies. The most frequently observed major congenital finding was floppy mitral valve (5%). Tunneled coronary arteries, considered minor congenital findings, were seen in 29%. Atherosclerotic coronary heart disease was the most common major acquired finding, observed in 16% of cases. Of the 470 hearts, only 8% were considered normal.     

Policy Diffusion and Program Scope: Research Directions

A major omission in diffusion research is the scope of changein program adoptions. Diffusion studies focus almost exclusivelyon the rate of change, thus ignoring possible variance in thecontent of programs selected by leaders, followers, and laggards.States may adopt new programs in one area, such as state-mandatedstudent testing. While most states now have a testing policy,these policies vary in terms of the number of students subjectto examinations. Thus, the amount of program change dependson the content of each state's policy. An interstate diffusionstudy of the pattern of program adoptions ignores this variance.It is also possible that policy scope is influenced by certainaspects of the diffusion process. One possibility is that programinnovators generally select more extensive programs than followers.Similarities or differences in policy scope among adopters mayalso be related to innovation attributes (e.g., whether a newprogram is symbolic, redistributive, or administratively complex).Finally, the number of years required for interstate diffusionmay result in similarities or differences in policy content.     

Sharing American and European economic experiences in technology conversion

After 50 years, the cold war is finally over. It was the longest and most costly war in modern history. The soldiers can return home. The world can go back to being normal. But what, after all this time, is “normal”? In what kind of world are the soldiers returning home? It is a world in economic chaos; a world in recession; a world redefining itself and everything in it. It is a world like none ever seen before in history. While some argue that the American economy converted successfully before and after WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and even the Vietnam War, the depth and extent of those earlier conversions were of much smaller magnitude as compared to the end of the cold war.     

Policy research in sub-Saharan Africa: An exploration

This article argues that a major problem with contemporary policy analysis is that it has difficulty coming to terms with complex economic change. This in turn is probably influenced by a view of socioeconomic systems that still harks back to the classical mechanics of the nineteenth century and a relatively stable world in which social action could reasonably be informed by disinterested scientific research of a traditional kind. By means of a review of some recent policy analysis literature and by focusing on issues relating to development issues in contemporary Africa, the article maintains that a more realistic approach would recognize the evolutionary nature of modern socioeconomic systems and base policy interventions accordingly. In particular, there is a need to see ‘policy’ as a process of complex change requiring innovative institutional contexts and novel managerial capabilities.