A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Swabbing and Flossing as a Means of Recovering Spermatozoa from the Oral Cavity

This study examined whether flossing the teeth is a more effective collection method in recovering spermatozoa than conventional swabbing techniques. It was hypothesized that inclusion of flossing as a collection method would extend the recovery of spermatozoa to longer postcoital intervals (PCIs). Eighteen individuals provided 174 oral cavity samples. Successful recovery of spermatozoa was assessed with respect to the collection method and reported activity in the oral cavity during the PCI. Samples were subjected to a differential extraction procedure prior to microscopic evaluation of the extracted pellet. The results indicate that swabbing is more effective than flossing when the PCI falls within 1.5–12 h. However, spermatozoa were recovered from seven floss samples where the corresponding swabs gave negative results. When combining the results from the two collection methods, the percentage of subjects from whom spermatozoa are recovered increases for each PCI beyond the 0‐h interval.     

Spatial patterning of vulture scavenged human remains

This article presents the results of a pilot study on the effects of vulture modification to human remains. A donated body from the Willed Body Donation Program was placed at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF), an outdoor human decomposition laboratory located at Texas State University-San Marcos. The effects of vulture scavenging on the timing and sequence, and the rate of skeletonization, disarticulation, and dispersal were observed via a motion sensing camera and direct observation. Using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning System) technologies and spatial analytical methods, the transport of skeletal elements was mapped in order to analyze dispersal and terrain-influenced patterns of active vulture scavenging. Results showed that the initial scavenging took place 37 days after placement at FARF. This delay in scavenging differs from previous research. After the initial appearance of the vultures, the body was reduced from a fully-fleshed individual to a skeleton within only 5h. This underscores the potential for errors in postmortem interval estimations made at vulture scavenged scenes. Additionally, spatial analysis showed that skeletal elements were dispersed by vultures to lower elevations, and that the disarticulation and dispersal of the skeletal elements occurs early in the scavenging sequence.     

Does Inequity Aversion Motivate Punishment? Cleaner Fish as a Model System

In human social interactions, punishment is often directed at cheating individuals. Subjective reports and neuro-imaging studies indicate that the experience of interacting with a cheat produces negative emotions and that the act of punishing a cheat assuages these feelings. However, while negative emotions may elicit punishment, the precise source of these emotions remains obscure. Specifically, it is often very difficult to tease apart whether punishing individuals are inequity averse (upset because cheating partner receives more than they should) or, more simply, whether they might be loss averse (upset because their payoffs did not meet their expectations). We compare results on punishment and inequity aversion in humans with results from a non-human model system, the cleaning mutualism between bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) and its reef-fish ??clients??. Male cleaner fish are known to punish females that cheat during joint client inspections, but a recent study failed to demonstrate evidence for inequity aversion in this species. We suggest that punishment in cleaner fish may be motivated by loss aversion rather than inequity aversion. Punishment in humans might also often be motivated by loss aversion??and empirical studies that disentangle the two competing motives for punishment are a clear research priority.     

THE COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE PROJECT: A Court-Based Intervention for Separating Parents with Young Children

The role the legal process of separation and divorce plays in affecting outcomes for young children and their families was examined in the Collaborative Divorce Project (CDP), an intervention designed to assist the parents of children six years old or younger as they begin the separation/divorce process (married and unmarried couples). Evaluation and outcome data were collected from 161 couples, their attorneys, teachers, and court records. In addition to positive evaluations from both parents, intervention families benefited through lower conflict, greater father involvement, and better outcomes for children than the control group. Attorneys and court records indicate that intervention families were more cooperative and were less likely to need custody evaluations and other costly services. The CDP illustrates how prevention programs can be located within the courts, can be systematically evaluated, and can aid in helping the legal system function optimally for families with young children.     

The Family of the Juvenile Delinquent

Juvenile delinquency has historically been responded to by “de-familization” of the young offender; that is, removal to a training school or other institutional setting. The trend over the past two decades toward deinstitutionalization has meant that delinquent youngsters, who are now remaining in the context of their own communities and families, have been “re-familized.” This poses a major challenge for the juvenile justice system and community, who are stuck with the family but are not sure what to do about it. Little objective and systematic information is available concerning families of delinquents, either as an aggregate group or in individual cases. It is hypothesized that the families are as heterogeneous as are delinquent youngsters, but the juvenile justice system tends to scapegoat families and assumes they are all necessarily dysfunctional. A 10-point continuum of family functioning is proposed. It is suggested that families of delinquent youngsters are found at various points on this continuum: from the extremely impaired or criminogenic family, through the family that has serious problems but has something to offer its youngster if it receives effective help with those problems, to the family of average functioning that can serve as a major rehabilitative resource for the youngster.     

A Comparison of uninformed and informed death penalty opinions: A replication and expansion

This study examines the influence on death penalty opinions of participating in a college class on the death penalty. Students in the class (the experimental group) and in another class offered at the same time (the control group) were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their attitudes toward capital punishment at the beginning and at the end of the semester. They were also asked factual questions that measured their knowledge about capital punishment. Overall, the results of the study suggest that both groups were not well informed during the pretest measure. However, at the end of the semester, the group enrolled in the death penalty class were more knowledgable, less supportive of the death penalty based on general/absrtact questions, and more likely to favor alternatives to capital punishment than were the students in the control group.     

“Who Does What” in Ontario: The process of provincial-municipal disentanglement

Abstract: Since the election of the Mike Harris Conservative government in 1995, Ontario has been the site of some of the most turbulent provincial-local relations ever experienced in a Canadian province. The province's agenda has included restructuring and realigning the responsibilities and resources of municipal governments and asserting control over the financing and governance of Ontario's education system. The sheer size of this agenda and the interconnections between its two main elements have made the quest to simplify or disentangle provincial-local relations impossible to achieve. This article documents events as the Conservatives moved from their “Common Sense Revolution” election manifesto to develop and implement a plan for disentanglement of provincial and local government services. It also identifies themes and potential lessons that emerge for government agenda setting and intergovernmental relations. Sommaire: Depuis que le gouvernment conservateur de Mike Harris fut élu au pouvoir en 1995, 1'Ontario a été aux prises avec des relations provinciales-locales qui sont parmi les plus turbulentes qu'une province canadienne n'ait jamais subies. La province a entrepris de restructurer et réaligner les responsabilités et les ressources des gouvernements municipaux et d'établir son contrôle sur le financement et la gérance du système d'éducation de l'Ontario. L'envergure même de cet agenda et les liens qui relient ses deux principaux éléments ont rendu impossible l'idée de simplifier ou de démêler les relations provinciales-locales. Cet article examine le déroulement des événements, lorsque les Conservateurs, partant de leur déclaration électorale concemant la eAvolution du bon sens, ont élaborté et mis en oeuvre un plan visant à démêler les services gouvemementaux provinciaux et locaux. II définit également des thèmes et des lecons qui pourraient être utiles lorsqu'un gouvernement veut formuler un plan d'action, ou lorsqu'il s'agit de relations intergouvernementales.