The emotional and psychological impact of mass casualty incidents on forensic odontologists

Motivated by the findings of a previous research project, 38 forensic odontologists with known occupational experience of mass casualty incidents completed a questionnaire designed to elicit both quantitative and qualitative data. The questionnaire sought to provide an insight into the psychological and emotional impact of conducting work of this nature. Two psychometric scales were included in the questionnaire, The Positive and Negative Affect scale (PANAS) and the Impact of Events Scale (IOE). In addition, a number of open-ended questions relating to the personal experiences of the respondent during the mass casualty incident were also included. Quantitative findings indicate that on the whole mass casualty incidents resulted in a positive experience for the respondents, although over a third reported being distressed, upset or irritable at some time during the event. Sense of achievement and camaraderie were among the qualitative themes elicited that help explain the positive reactions. Working conditions, politics and the ictims were cited as sources of negativity.     

Political marketing and traditional values: 'Old Labour' for 'new times'?

Is New Labour a party with values or a skilfully manufactured entity designed to win elections? Considerable debate currently surrounds this question. This article argues that New Labour adopted a market-oriented model to gain voter support and examines whether this necessarily means a rejection of underpinning values. Analysing New Labour discourse, the authors argue there is a clear ethos underpinning New Labour even though the policies developed from its foundation are designed to have electoral appeal.     

Think tanks and strategic policy-making: the contribution of think tanks to policy advisory systems

Think tanks have proliferated in most Western democracies over the past three decades and are often considered to be increasingly important actors in public policy. Still, their precise contribution to public policy remains contested. This paper takes the existing literature in a new direction by focusing on the capacity of think tanks to contribute to strategic policy-making and assessing their particular role within policy advisory systems. We propose that strategic policy-making capacity requires three critical features: high levels of research capacity, substantial organizational autonomy and a long-term policy horizon. Subsequently, we assess the potential of think tanks to play this particular role in policy-making, using empirical evidence from structured interviews with a set of prominent Australian think tanks.     

Sudden Cardiac Death in a Young Man with Migraine-associated Arrhythmia

A 31-year-old man with migraine-induced syncope and bradycardia with subsequent pacemaker implantation died unexpectedly. Clinically unsuspected cardiac anomalies were found at autopsy including myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending artery and shelf-like coronary artery ostia. Nortriptyline was identified by toxicologic analysis. A review of the autopsy findings, the historical information, and the effects of the possible arrhythmogenic circumstances is undertaken and the potential contributions to the death are discussed. Cardiac arrhythmias have been documented during migraines. Coronary artery bridging has been known to lead to ischemia and infarction, ventricular tachycardia, and sudden death; however, these are very rare sequelae. Congenital coronary artery anomalies have been linked to sudden cardiac death, but only rarely cause death in people younger than 31 years. Migraines and the autopsy findings described have been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Altogether, they led to the unexpected death of this young man.     

Observing protest: media use and student involvement on 7 April 2010 in Bishkek,Kyrgyzstan

Individuals in and around protests are generally classified as either participants or nonparticipants. However, observers witnessing protests can also play an important role in collective actions by sharing their experiences. This paper explores the characteristics of observers during the 7 April 2010 demonstrations in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Based on data collected via a survey of university students, I demonstrate that protest observers differed from nonparticipants on a range of variables. A key factor differentiating student observers from nonparticipants was their online activity prior to the protests. Logistic regressions show that students with higher rates of online activity were significantly and substantially more likely to be protest observers than nonparticipants. These findings provide empirical evidence for categorizing observation as a distinct level of protest involvement, shed light on the demonstration in Bishkek on 7 April 2010, and suggest that examining online activity can contribute to a better understanding of protest involvement levels.     

Autonomy,paternalism, and institutional interest: why some conflicts can't be waived

This paper asks the question of why, in some cases, a client is precluded from demanding of their lawyer that they act for them and their adversary simultaneously. We accept that in numerous instances a lawyer can act for clients whose interests may diverge (or in some cases do in fact diverge) providing informed consent has been obtained. This paper enquires as to why the line between waivable and non-waivable conflicts is drawn where it is, and examines the theoretical underpinning of the waiver rule and its boundaries. It does so by first looking at the client autonomy argument for allowing waivers. It then turns to explore the paternalistic justifications for rendering a consensual waiver of a conflict inoperative. Finally it looks at those cases where a waiver is not permitted that are left unexplained by paternalism. It argues that paternalism, properly understood, is a legitimate justification for most refusals to accept a waiver of conflict. However, a residual body of cases remain unexplained by paternalism. Those cases are best explained by the propensity of the law and the legal profession to protect its institutional values and interest.