It depends whose data are being shared: considerations for genomic data sharing policies

There is an urgent need for consistent data sharing policies that promote the advancement of science while respecting the values and interests of those providing their genetic data for research. Responding to the article of Jalayne J. Arias, Genevieve Pham-Kanter, and Eric G. Campbell, ‘The Growth and Gaps of Genetic Data Sharing Policies in the United States’, this commentary further explores the challenges of human subjects’ protection in existing data sharing policies. We will elaborate on the need for data sharing policies to accommodate variation in individual and group preferences around data sharing and privacy concerns by comparing our previously published data on patients’ and parents’ consent to data sharing and attitudes about privacy to data from focus groups with HIV-positive, underserved individuals who were asked about their willingness to participate in genetic research and share their data broadly. These studies support the observation of Arias, Pham-Kanter, and Campbell that researchers, and funding agencies will need to balance the privacy interests of groups as well as individuals in future genomic data sharing policies.     

.biz Means Business--Fact or Fiction?

Seven new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) proposals were approved by the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) at its Annual Meeting on 16 November 2000 for negotiation towards appropriate agreements between ICANN and the registry operator or sponsoring organization or both for registration and entry into the Domain Names System (DNS) including. biz for businesses. These seven, namely .info,. biz,. name,. pro,. aero,. coop and .museum , are the first new gTLDs, other than country code gTLDs to be added to the DNS since 1988. Appropriate agreements for all the new TLDs except .pro have been concluded and .biz is available for applicants for registration as a gTLD. The scope of this article is to examine the gTLD .biz against the background of electronic commerce (e-commerce) having regard to the factors leading to the introduction of this new gTLD, including certain problems or criticisms arising before and since the launch of .biz and, to consider whether .biz is likely to fulfil the claim of its registry operators, NeuLevel, that this new arrival is the best gTLD for the promotion of business on the world wide web.     

Arts and Cultural Engagement,Reportedly Antisocial or Criminalized Behaviors,and Potential Mediators in Two Longitudinal Cohorts of Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Arts and cultural engagement is a potential strategy for reducing or preventing reportedly antisocial or criminalized behaviors (those previously and...     

Strategies,tactics and the question of un lieu propre : what/where is “media theory”?

This paper uses the work of Michel de Certeau (1988 de Certeau M 1988 The practice of everyday life Berkeley: University of California Press  [Google Scholar]) to argue that it is possible to distinguish between “expert” or “authorised” approaches to media theory, construed as existing “strategically” within the “proper place” of the academy, and “tactical” appropriations of media theory operating in audience discourses. It takes media fan audiences as one case study in relation to this process, arguing that fans should be viewed as “poaching” from “official” media theory as well as from “official” media texts. It then goes on to suggest that we should not univocally celebrate or romanticise fans' uses of media theory, but should remain alert to the sociological and cultural reproductions that otherwise “tactical” media theory can participate in. This means rethinking fans' “tactics” not merely as the “arts of the weak” (de Certeau 1988 de Certeau M 1988 The practice of everyday life Berkeley: University of California Press  [Google Scholar], 37), but simultaneously as forms of appropriation that might enact forms of (sub)cultural power for fans.     

Policing,good-enough governance and development: the evidence from Mogadishu

Prompted by Grindle's identification of a next-steps approach to governance, this article uses the experience of Mogadishu's police force to consider the minimal conditions of governance required to address development-related challenges. At one level, the introduction of development-oriented governance is obstructed by the inability of international actors to influence local power brokers or mitigate the distrust and insecurity affecting daily life in a city such as Mogadishu. More fundamentally, the capacity of an approach predicated on contextually-based analytics is limited by its advocates' understanding governance and development in technical terms aligned to liberal goals, rather than as entrepreneurial opportunities reliant on negotiation and trust-based relationships. In practice, minimal governance has more to do with the stability needed for people to go about their everyday business in relative safety than with democracy or poverty reduction. For such reasons, the new diagnostics is a refinement of existing approaches, rather than a significant analytical advance.     

The difference between drug money and a "lifetime's savings"

In many countries, monies suspected of being associated with drug trafficking can be seized by the authorities. One of the ways of investigating this association is through the analysis of seized banknotes for traces of controlled drugs. We report three studies which may assist the expert in assessing whether banknotes contaminated with diamorphine are part of the general population of notes in circulation or whether they show unusual contamination patterns which require explanation. Study 1 is based on three plausible contamination scenarios as they may occur during the various stages of an illicit drug transaction and seizure. It shows that notes which have been in direct contact with visible traces of diamorphine show significantly higher contamination to those in more indirect contact with the drug. Study 2 investigates the transfer of diamorphine from one highly contaminated note to other notes in a bundle over a period of 10 weeks with and without agitation. It was found that the total amount of drug transferred was smaller than 6% and no more than 4 out of a bundle of 10 previously clean notes became lightly contaminated. Based on extensive background data, study 3 proposes a probabilistic model to assess whether an observed proportion of diamorphine bearing banknotes is likely to have been contaminated by chance. The model predicts that there is only a 0.3% chance that a bundle of 100 notes from the general banknote population contains more than six contaminated specimens. Jointly, the three studies give useful indications for the spread of contamination throughout a sample and the amounts of heroin which may be expected given plausible contamination scenarios.     

Using indirect questions to detect intimate partner violence: the SAFE-T questionnaire

A screening instrument for detecting intimate partner violence (IPV) was developed using indirect questions. The authors identified 5 of 18 items studied that clearly distinguished victims of IPV from a random group of health conference attendees with a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 87%. This 5-item instrument (SAFE-T) was then tested on 435 women presenting to three emergency departments and the results compared to a direct question regarding current abuse. The SAFE-T questions detected only 54% of the women who admitted being abused and correctly classified 81% of the women who said they were not victims. The 1-year prevalence of IPV in this sample of women presenting to an emergency department was 11.6%. The authors conclude that indirect questioning of women appears to be more effective at ruling out IPV in an emergency department population and may be less useful for women "early" in an abusive relationship.     

Desistance and Attitudes Towards Sex Offenders: Facilitation or Hindrance?

In an ideal world, there would be a seamless relationship between interventions that focus on risk factors causally associated with sexual reoffending and the subsequent release of, and ongoing support for, offenders into the community. However, emotionally fueled and uninformed public responses to news of released sex offenders, and the legislation such responses have inspired, severely hinder this process. Our aims in this paper are to review findings of research on community attitudes about sex offenders within a desistance framework. More specifically, we provide a synthesis of the current research literature on attitudes towards sex offenders. Second, we consider in more detail those studies that include community member samples. Third, we review interventions aimed at promoting attitude change amongst professionals working with sex offenders and finally formulate some recommendations for promoting positive attitude change amongst the general public.     

Development and Initial Validation of the Miranda Vocabulary Scale

Miranda vocabulary forms the essential foundation for Miranda comprehension and subsequent decisions to exercise or waive Miranda rights. The purpose of the current study is the development of the Miranda Vocabulary Scale (MVS), designed to evaluate key vocabulary words found in Miranda warnings and waivers across American jurisdictions. A preliminary list of MVS words was refined by expert ratings and by each word’s discriminability between failed and good Miranda comprehension. Miranda and other measures were collected at multiple sites on 376 pretrial defendants. With further refinements, the MVS is composed of 36 words with excellent scale homogeneity and interrater reliability (r = .99). It also demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity for cognitive abilities and psychological impairment.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Subsequent Substance Abuse in a Sample of Sexual Offenders: Implications for Treatment and Prevention

The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence of substance abuse indicators in a sample of male sexual offenders (N = 679) and to examine the influence of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) on the likelihood of substance abuse outcomes. Half of these sex offenders reported a history of drug or alcohol abuse, and nearly one in five reported a substance-related arrest. Higher ACE scores were associated with endorsement of a greater number of substance-abuse-related problems, suggesting that accumulation of early trauma may increase the likelihood for substance misuse. By enhancing our understanding of the frequency and antecedents of dynamic risk factors such as substance abuse, we can better devise clinical interventions that respond to the comprehensive needs of sexually abusive individuals and reduce risk for sexual reoffense. As well, early interventions for at-risk families and maltreated youth may interrupt their trajectory toward adulthood substance abuse and criminal behavior, including sex offending.