The examination of vaginally inserted plastic tampon applicators for genetic markers and evidence of prior sexual intercourse

Vaginally inserted plastic tampon applicators were obtained from 42 female volunteers. The applicators were examined for the presence of ABH blood group substances, phosphoglucomutase (PGM), amylase, acid phosphatase, P30, and intact spermatozoa. Each applicator was accompanied by a control blood sample, a saliva specimen, a brief sexual and menstrual history, and method of birth control of the donor. Eight of the male sexual partners of the donors submitted blood and saliva samples. One male sexual partner submitted only a saliva sample. ABH blood group substances corresponding to the donor were recovered from 36 of the 42 applicators. The remaining 6 applicators revealed a combination of the donor's and sexual partner's ABH substances. The female's PGM type was recovered from 34 of the applicators. The remaining 8 applicators failed to show PGM activity. Of the applicators, 15 indicated evidence of prior sexual intercourse by the detection of ABH substances not consistent with the applicator donor (6 samples), high levels of acid phosphatase (11 samples), or recovery of spermatozoa (8 samples) or some combination of these. All applicator samples failed to show the presence of either P30 activity or PGM factors foreign to the female.     

The contractual alternative to patents

A patent grants the holder a monopoly over the use of the patented invention for a specified time period. Although economists are generally opposed to monopoly, there seems to be a general consensus that the patent system is desirable.¹ The rationale for the patent system is that without ownership rights in inventions, there would not be optimal allocation of resources to inventive activities, just as with any other valuable resource over which there are not well-defined property rights. However, the patent system, since it confers monopoly rights, has its drawbacks as well. If independent parties are working simultaneously toward an invention, the first to produce the invention will receive a monopoly over its use, even though others may have been only a month behind. This may encourage inventors to work too intensively toward a patent, and could also have the effect of producing monopoly in a market that was characterized by competition before the patent was issued. In addition, competitors have an incentive to develop substitute processes to avoid infringement of the patent, when the use of the patented process would be more economical. A substitute for patents which provides ownership rights in an invention without governmental grant of a monopoly is the trade secret. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and develop the idea of the law of trade secrets as a contractual alternative to patents.     

Assessment and management of risk for intimate partner violence by police officers using the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a crime that is present in all countries, seriously impacts victims, and demands a great deal of time and resources from the criminal justice system. The current study examined the use of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide, 2nd ed. (SARA; Kropp, Hart, Webster, & Eaves, 1995), a structured professional judgment risk assessment and management tool for IPV, by police officers in Sweden over a follow-up of 18 months. SARA risk assessments had significant predictive validity with respect to risk management recommendations made by police, as well as with recidivism as indexed by subsequent contacts with police. Risk management mediated the association between risk assessment and recidivism: High levels of intervention were associated with decreased recidivism in high risk cases, but with increased recidivism in low risk cases. The findings support the potential utility of police-based risk assessment and management of IPV, and in particular the belief that appropriately structured risk assessment and management decisions can prevent violence.     

The Impact of Anger on the Intimate Partner Violence Decision-Making Process

McFall’s (1982, 1989) Social Information Processing (SIP) model outlines different stages in cognitive processing and decision-making that may be deficient in men who engage in interpersonal violence (IPV). A decision-making task was developed to assess the utility of abusive and nonabusive behaviors among 32 men who engage in mild IPV, 32 maritally distressed men, and 32 nondistressed men. Because anger impacts appraisal and decision-making (e.g., Lerner and Tiedens in Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19, 115-137, 2006), all participants were randomly assigned to an anger induction or neutral induction condition. As hypothesized, the perceived utility for abusive behavior was greater for angry abusive men and the perceived utility of control appeared to significantly contribute to this difference. Specific deficits in the IPV group were found, supporting a SIP model of IPV, aiding in understanding the function of violent behavior. Despite study limitations, these findings have implications for enhancing specific skill training components of treatment for abusive men.     

Entropy and the trajectory of world politics: why polarity has become less meaningful

The random and indeterminate nature of the current unipolar world suggests a condition of increasing entropy. There are two reasons for this claim. First, relative capability advantages under unipolarity do not translate as easily as they once did into power and influence over others. Second, systemic constraint is a property that limits actors' freedom of action by imposing costs and benefits on certain kinds of actions. Unlike past multipolar and bipolar systems, the current unipolar system exerts only weak, if any, systemic constraints on the unipolar power and all other actors as well. Thus, polarity has become a largely meaningless concept. Today, system process rather than structure best explains international politics, and this process is one of entropy. Finally, I suggest two pathways from unipolarity to a more balanced system: one is fairly consistent with standard balance-of-power realism but adds an ideational component; the other restores equilibrium by means of entropy.