Negative expectations and self-evaluations in dysphoria

In a sample of female college students, dysphoric and intermittently dysphoric subjects, in comparison to nondysphoric subjects, were expected to perform more poorly on a game requiring eye-hand coordination. Actual performance showed no differences between these three groups. Following performance, relative to nondysphoric subjects, dysphoric and intermittently dysphoric subjects evaluated their performance more negatively. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of depression and recent research. Implications for future research are suggested.     

The office of policy analysis in the department of the interior

The history of a particular policy office, located in the U.S. Department of the Interior, is reviewed from the standpoint of a long-time participant-observer. This office played an active part in the formation of federal policies with respect to the leasing of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas, the leasing of federally owned coal, and the supply and distribution of federally controlled water in the west, but in many other areas the office was less involved. The article examines the factors that affected the level of office involvement and, more generally, the character of office interactions with the various parts of the Interior Department. The problems of sustaining long-term agency support for a policy office and other issues with respect to the practice of policy analysis in government are discussed.     

Recent developments in medicine and law

This article addresses important developments in the field of medicine and the law during the last year and highlights some of the significant areas of law affecting health care providers that should be considered. Actions against health care providers may include challenges to peer review immunity, allegations concerning the practice of medicine across state lines without a license, and even accusations of wrongfully assisting a patient to commit suicide. These areas are addressed in turn by this article. Finally, antitrust developments over the last year are briefly addressed as an emerging area of concern for providers forming complex practice networks in today's health care arena.     

Estimation of short-term postmortem interval utilizing core body temperature: a new algorithm

The use of temperature-based short-term postmortem interval (PMI) estimation methods can be useful to homicide investigators at the scene of a questionable death; however, a number of current PMI estimation techniques have high error rates such that they are of limited utility to law enforcement investigators and forensic professionals. These methods fail to control confounding errors present in individual data. An averages-based method of short term postmortem interval estimation was compared to eight other methods, and found to predict postmortem interval considerably more accurately, and for much longer periods of time.     

On the accuracy of regulatory cost estimates

This study compares ex ante estimates of the direct costs of individual regulations to ex post assessments of the same regulations. For total costs the results support conventional wisdom, namely that the costs of regulations tend to be overestimated. This is true for 14 of the 28 rules in the data set discussed, while for only 3 rules were the ex ante estimates too low. For unit costs, however, the story is quite different. At least for EPA and OSHA rules, unit cost estimates are often accurate, and even when they are not, overestimation of abatement costs occurs about as often as underestimation. In contrast, for those rules that use economic incentives, unit costs are consistently overestimated. The difference between the total‐cost and the unit‐cost results is caused by frequent errors in estimates of the effects of individual rules, which suggests, in turn, that the rule's benefits may also be overestimated. The quantity errors are driven both by difficulties in determining the baseline and by incomplete compliance. In cases of unit‐cost overestimation, unanticipated technological innovation appears to be an important factor — especially for economic incentive rules, although procedural and methodological explanations may also apply. © 2000 by the Association for Public Policy and Management.     

Detection of acute fentanyl exposure in fresh and decomposed skeletal tissues part II: The effect of dose–death interval

The effects of dose–death interval on the detection of acute fentanyl exposure in fresh and decomposed skeletal tissues (marrow and bone), by automated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are described. Rats (n = 14) were administered fentanyl acutely at a dose of 0 (n = 2) or 60 μg/kg (n = 12) by intraperitoneal injection, and euthanized within 20, 45, 135, or 225 min. Femora and tibiae were extracted from the fresh corpses and marrow was isolated from the femoral and tibial medullary cavities. The remains were then allowed to decompose outdoors to the point of complete skeletonization, and vertebrae, pelvi and miscellaneous (humeri and scapulae) were recovered for analysis. In all cases, bones were cleaned in alkaline solution and then ground into a fine powder. Marrow was homogenized in alkaline solution. Fentanyl was extracted from ground bone by methanolic extraction. Extracts were adjusted to pH 6 and analyzed by ELISA. Perimortem heart blood was also collected and diluted in phosphate buffer prior to screening by ELISA. The effect of tissue type on ELISA response was examined through determination of binary classification test sensitivity and the relative decrease in absorbance (%DA, drug-positive tissues vs. drug-free controls) in each tissue type. Overall, the %DA varied significantly between extracts from different skeletal tissues at a given dose–death interval, according to the general order of marrow > decomposed bone > fresh bone. Binary classification test sensitivity values for fentanyl in marrow, fresh epiphyseal (femoral and tibial) bone, fresh diaphyseal (femoral and tibial) bone, decomposed vertebrae, decomposed pelvic bone, and decomposed miscellaneous bone were 67–100%, 0–33%, 0–33%, 0–67%, 0–67% and 0–33%, respectively, over all dose–death intervals. Although group mean %DA values showed a strong negative correlation with dose–death interval in marrow, fresh epiphyseal bone, decomposed vertebrae, pelvic and miscellaneous bone (r = ?0.989, ?0.930, ?0.955, ?0.903, and ?0.974, respectively), the high variability in both fresh and decomposed bone precluded differentiation of the dose–death intervals based on %DA value alone. Overall, the results suggested that the type of skeletal tissue sampled may not be as important as the amount of residual marrow remaining in skeletonized remains.     

After the storm comes the sun: A rhetorical analysis of Melbourne Storm's advertising campaigns after the 2010 salary cap scandal

One of the most common motifs surrounding sports, sports teams, and sports stars is “the scandal.” One typifying feature of mediated scandals is the ease with which they can be presented as, or massaged into, an unfolding narrative. Although some research has been conducted into the initial stages of these narratives, there is significantly less that focusses on the ways in which the “transgressor” can be rehabilitated in a separate but linked part of that overarching story. This article addresses that gap by analysing two television commercials that significantly assisted the Melbourne Storm rugby league franchise in encouraging and maintaining identification and, coterminously, overcoming disidentification with its membership. Furthermore, we contend that the Melbourne Storm purposively used rhetorical strategies to emphasise the socially desirable aspects of its identity to repair damage done to its organisational image. Using rhetorical analysis, the article explicates the various techniques through which this was accomplished.     

Identification of forensically important Chrysomya (Diptera: Calliphoridae) species using the second ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS2)

The identification of forensically important blowflies of the genus Chrysomya (Diptera: Calliphoridae) may be hampered by their close morphological similarities, especially as immatures. In contrast to most previous studies, the utility of a nuclear rather than mitochondrial genetic marker was investigated to solve this problem. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was amplified and sequenced from all nine Chrysomya species known from Australia. Difficulties encountered with direct sequencing of ITS2 for Chrysomya flavifrons necessitated cloning prior to sequencing for this species, which revealed a low level (0-0.23%) of intraindividual variation. Five restriction enzymes (DraI, BsaXI, BciVI, AseI and HinfI) were identified that were able to differentiate most members of the genus by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The PCR-RFLP analysis revealed characteristic restriction profiles for all species except the closely related species pairs Chrysomya latifrons+Chrysomya semimetallica and Chrysomya incisuralis+Chrysomya rufifacies. Ch. incisuralis and Ch. rufifacies were able to be separated using the size differences resulting from amplification of the entire ITS region. The lack of intraspecific ITS2 sequence variation among eight Ch. incisuralis specimens was verified by the identical restriction profiles generated from these specimens. A DNA-based approach, such as PCR-RFLP, has the capacity to be useful for the identification of forensic entomological evidence in cases where morphological characters are unreliable.