The New Ghana

Mr. Dennis Austin, of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies,London University, gave the address that follows at a jointmeeting of the Royal African Society and the Royal Common-wealthSociety on November 5, 1959. Mr. David Williams, editor of "WestAfrica‘, ’, took the chair.     

Clinical observations of ghetto four-year-olds: Organization,involvement, interpersonal responsiveness,and psychosexual content of play

This study attempted to refine the assessment of the effectance of four-year-old children through observation of their play. Two scales were developed; the first scale defined organization, involvement, and interpersonal responsiveness in play, and the second operationally defined psychosexual content of play. The validity and reliability of both scales and the inter correlations among the four major variables were explored. The results confirmed the validity and reliability of the instruments as measures of the children's effectance and important indicators of a child's capacity as a learner at age four.This research was carried out at the Dr. Martin Luther King Family Center and was supported by the Kenneth F. Montgomery Charitable Foundation in collaboration with the State of Illinois Department of Mental Health. Additional support was provided by the National Institutes of Health, General Research Support Grant No. 1-So 1 FR 05 666-01.Received M.D. from Tulane University School of Medicine in 1957. Presently Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Research interests lie in cross-cultural personality development and in psychophysiologic studies of human sexual arousal.Received Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1967. Presently Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center. Research has been mainly in the area of development and interference of effective learning in children.Graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1954. Presently Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Primarily interested in the effects of poverty on personality and social organization.     

"Insuring" the continued solvency of pharmaceutical companies in the face of product liability class actions

Costly product liability lawsuits continue to plague the pharmaceutical industry, and insurance to cover these losses is severely inadequate. Furthermore, questionable regulation of drugs exists once a pharmaceutical has passed FDA approval. This article describes a plan that uses a capitalistic, rather than a governmental, approach to solve both the insurance and the quality control problems. Although the proposed plan has never been used to insure pharmaceutical companies, different permutations of it have been used to insure other litigation-prone industries. Success from the proposed insurance entity results from the combined knowledge of scientists and actuaries to provide both protection from product liability lawsuits for the pharmaceutical industry and enhanced post-market surveillance of pharmaceuticals.     

Global and Neighborhood Attitudes Toward the Police: Differentiation by Race,Ethnicity and Type of Contact

This study focused on a series of hypotheses regarding residents’ attitudes toward the police: (1) residents’ attitudes toward the police are better represented by a two-dimensional model that differentiates global perceptions of the police from assessments of the police in the respondents’ neighborhood; (2) the structure of residents’ attitudes toward the police is different for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos; (3) direct experiences with the police in the respondents’ neighborhood will be more strongly associated with the respondents’ assessment of police in their neighborhood than global perceptions of the police; and (4) the influence of direct experiences with the police will be stronger for African Americans and Latinos than for Whites. Results based on structural equation modeling offer strong support for the need to differentiate between global and neighborhood perceptions of the police. The underlining measurement structure of attitudes toward the police was similar for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos. However, the relationship between global and neighborhood attitudes was stronger for African Americans and Latinos. Negative contact with the police was associated with both negative global and neighborhood assessments of the police. Non-negative contact was associated with positive neighborhood perceptions of the police; however, only when it occurred within the neighborhood. The influence of direct experiences with the police (both inside and outside the neighborhood) was similar for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos.     

Decompositional odor analysis database

This study, conducted at the University of Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility (ARF), describes the establishment of the Decompositional Odor Analysis (DOA) Database for the purpose of developing a man-portable, chemical sensor capable of detecting clandestine burial sites of human remains, thereby mimicking canine olfaction. This "living" database currently spans the first year and a half of burial, providing identification, chemical trends and semi-quantitation of chemicals liberated below, above and at the surface of graves 1.5 to 3.5 ft deep (0.45 to 1.0 m) for four individuals. Triple sorbent traps (TSTs) were used to collect air samples in the field and revealed eight major classes of chemicals containing 424 specific volatile compounds associated with burial decomposition. This research is the first step toward identification of an "odor signature" unique to human decomposition with projected ramifications on cadaver dog training procedures and in the development of field portable analytical instruments which can be used to locate human remains buried in shallow graves.     

Developmental validation of a single-tube amplification of the 13 CODIS STR loci, D2S1338, D19S433, and amelogenin: the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit

Analysis of length polymorphism at short tandem repeat (STR) loci utilizing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process has proven to be an ideal assay for human identification purposes. The short length of STR loci coupled with the amplification of target sequence through PCR allows for a robust, sensitive, and specific assay for highly polymorphic markers. A multiplex containing fifteen STR loci plus the gender-determining locus Amelogenin was developed to provide a single amplification/detection of all CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) STR loci (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, FGA, TH01, TPOX, and vWA) as well as two internationally-accepted STRs (D2S1338 and D19S433). By incorporating five-dye fragment analysis technology and non-nucleotide linkers, previously optimized AmpFlSTR kit primer sequences have been maintained. This kit has been developed in accordance with the standards of the forensic community as defined by the DNA Advisory Board. Validation studies were performed to include developmental validation, and the results support the use of the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit for human identity and parentage testing.     

Thermogravimetric analysis as a polymer identification technique in forensic applications

This paper investigates the potential of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) as a tool for determination of different species of polymers. Materials analyzed include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), polystyrene, polypropylene, nitriles, and nylon. Analyses showed excellent discriminating results even when samples were contaminated with silicates, organics, moisture, and char. The techniques developed were designed with a forensic-type analysis in mind, such as analysis of blast fragments and arson debris. Techniques were developed that gave satisfactory results even when sample sizes were less than five milligrams.     

Toward a multidimensional model for sexual recidivism risk

The paradigm underlying current sexual offender recidivism risk assessment procedures conceptualizes such risk in a linear fashion, ranging on a single continuum from 0% to 100%. Each risk and protective characteristic thought of relevance in an evaluation is used as an indicator of increased or decreased risk, respectively, along that same continuum. This conceptualization of risk was useful as a starting place for the application of empirically supported risk and protective factors. On the other hand, this perspective is likely simplistic and therefore potentially results in some errors that a more sophisticated assessment model would avoid. Recent research findings indicate support for a multidimensional model for sexual recidivism risk. This article explores what we already know about the existence of multiple risk dimensions, what those dimensions may be, and which risk factors assess which dimension. Implications for risk assessment procedures are discussed including how risk evaluations using this model might be conducted.     

Duverger's Law, Penrose's Power Index and the Unity of the UK

As predicted by Duverger's Law, the UK has had two-party competition for long periods in most electoral districts. However, there are different patterns of two-party competition in different districts and more than two effective parties in the Commons. Since 1874, parliament has always contained parties wishing to modify the Union and contesting seats only outside England. By calculating the Penrose power index for all parties in the House of Commons for all general elections since 1874, we identify when such parties were pivotal. We explain various legislative changes (for example the Crofters Act 1886, the first three Irish Home Rule Bills, the Parliament Act 1911) and non-changes (for example the failure to enact female suffrage before 1914) by reference to the Penrose index scores. The scores also explain how and why policy towards Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland changed and did not change in the 1970s.     

Voting power and voting blocs

We investigate the method of power indices to study voting power of members of a legislature that has voting blocs. Our analysis is theoretical, intended to contribute to a theory of positive political science in which social actors are motivated by the pursuit of power as measured by objective power indices. Our starting points are the papers by Riker (Behavioural Science, 1959, “A test of the adequacy of the power index”) and Coleman (American Sociological Review, 1973, “Loss of Power”). We argue against the Shapley–Shubik index and show that anyway the Shapley–Shubik index per head is inappropriate for voting blocs. We apply the Penrose index (the absolute Banzhaf index) to a hypothetical voting body with 100 members. We show how the power indices of individual bloc members can be used to study the implications of the formation of blocs and how voting power varies as bloc size varies. We briefly consider incentives to migrate between blocs. This technique of analysis has many real world applications to legislatures and international bodies. It can be generalised in many ways: our analysis is a priori (assuming formal voting and ignoring actual voting behaviour) but can be made empirical with voting data reflecting behaviour; it examines the consequences of two blocs but can easily be extended to more.