An investigation into the relationship between edge counts and the variability of the refractive index of glass. Part I: Edge morphology

The effect of glass fragment morphology on the variability of refractive index values in five different glass objects was investigated. Data are presented that suggest that the variability of refractive index values is increased when fragment edge morphology becomes unsuitable for phase contrast microscopy.     

Human service reorganization and its effects: a preliminary assessment of Florida's services integration 'experiment.'

The present discussion reports on some of the first statewide data gathering and analysis to assess the consequences of the 1975 reorganization of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. Two major concepts guiding the reorganization were: (1) integration of services in order to cover more adequately the needs of clients, including "multi-problem" clients, and (2) decentralization of administrative authority of all programs under a single, district-wide management structure. Despite widespread interest in the Florida system, and two previous studies, no systematic, detailed study of the impact of reorganization at the service delivery level has been conducted until now. The results of this study indicate that departmental employees perceive substantial decentralization of authority and progress toward integration of services since the 1975 reorganization. Perceived improvement in client services is also indicated. Major factors cited as influential in the change are the move toward collocation of services, the establishment of administratively interlinked service networks, and to a lesser extent, the development of generalist managers.     

Medicolegal aspects of 3 cases of bizarre self-mutilation

Three cases of bizarre self-mutilation are reported because of the unusual methods used and the unexpected good sequel in one of them.     

Examining the Criminal History and Future Offending of Child Pornography Offenders: An Extended Prospective Follow-up Study

We examined police occurrence and criminal records data for a sample of 201 registered male child pornography offenders originally reported by Seto and Eke (Sex Abus J Res Treat 17:201–210, 2005), extending the average follow-up time for this sample to 5.9 years. In addition, we obtained the same data for another 340 offenders, increasing our full sample to 541 men, with a total average follow-up of 4.1 years. In the extended follow-up of the original sample, 34% of offenders had new charges for any type of reoffense, with 6% charged with a contact sexual offense against a child and an additional 3% charged with historical contact sex offenses (i.e., previously undetected offenses). For the full sample, there was a 32% any recidivism rate; 4% of offenders were charged with new contact sex offences, an additional 2% of offenders were charged with historical contact sex offenses and 7% of offenders were charged with a new child pornography offense. Predictors of new violent (including sexual contact) offending were prior offense history, including violent history, and younger offender age. Approximately a quarter of the sample was sanctioned for a failure on conditional release; in half of these failures, the offenders were in contact with children or used the internet, often to access pornography again.     

Concentrations of free-morphine in peripheral blood after recent use of heroin in overdose deaths and in apprehended drivers

The concentration of free-morphine was determined in peripheral (femoral) blood from heroin-related deaths and compared with the concentration in venous blood from impaired drivers. The presence of 6-MAM in blood or urine served as a biomarker for recent use of heroin. Males dominated over females (p<0.001) in both the autopsy cases (88%) and the drivers (91%), although their mean age was about the same 33-35 y (p>0.05). Concentrations of free-morphine in blood were not associated with age of heroin users in Sweden (p>0.05). The median concentration of free-morphine was higher in autopsy cases (0.24 mg/L, N=766) compared with apprehended drivers with 6-MAM in blood (0.15 mg/L, N=124, p<0.05), and appreciably higher than in drivers with 6-MAM in urine but not in blood (0.03 mg/L, N=1823, p<0.001). The free-morphine concentration was above 0.20mg/L in 65% of autopsy cases, 36% of drivers with 6-MAM in blood but only 1.4% of drivers with 6-MAM in urine. Poly-drug deaths had about the same concentrations of free-morphine in blood (0.24 mg/L, N=703) as heroin-only deaths (0.25 mg/L, N=63). The concentration of morphine in drug overdose deaths (median 0.25 mg/L, N=669) was about the same as in traumatic deaths among heroin users (0.23 mg/L, N=97). However, the concentration of morphine was lower when the deceased had consumed alcohol (0.18 mg/L, N=104) compared with taking a benzodiazepine (0.32 mg/L, N=94). The concentration distributions of free-morphine in blood in heroin-related deaths overlapped with the concentrations in impaired drivers, which makes the interpretation of toxicology results difficult without knowledge about tolerance to opiates in any individual case.     

Child and adolescent suicide deaths in New Mexico, 1990-1994

The suicide death rate in New Mexico is consistently higher than the national rate. Among adolescents, suicide is the third leading cause of death nationally, but in New Mexico it is the second leading cause of death. This study describes the pattern of adolescent suicide deaths in New Mexico. We conducted a retrospective review of all medical examiner autopsies for adolescent suicides (ages 20 years and younger) in New Mexico from 1990-1994. Records were reviewed for demographics and possible contributing factors such as depression, previous attempts, and alcohol and drug use. We identified 184 suicide deaths among children and adolescents ages 9-20 years for an overall rate of 12.9 per 100,000. Our rates for ages 5-9 years (0.2), 10-14 years (3.8), and 15-19 years (22.3) are over twice the U. S. rates. Suicide deaths resulted primarily from firearms (67%), hanging (16%), poisoning (6%), inhalation (4%), and other methods (7%). Method varied by ethnicity (p = .01) and gender (p = .03); males and non-Hispanic Whites were overrepresented among firearm deaths. Firearm ownership was known in 60 (48%) of the firearm deaths. Of these, 53% of the firearms belonged to a family member, 25% to the decedent, and 22% to a friend. Over one-third of decedents (41%) experienced mental disorders, primarily depressed mood and clinical depression. Previous suicide attempts were noted for 15% of the decedents. Some 50% of the decedents had alcohol or drugs present at the time of death; among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 74% had drugs or alcohol present (p = .003). Targeted interventions are needed to reduce adolescent suicide in New Mexico. We suggest raising awareness about acute and chronic contributing factors to suicide; training physicians to look for behavioral manifestations of depression; and involving physicians, teachers, and youth activity leaders in efforts to limit firearm accessibility, such as advising parents to remove firearms from their households.     

A study of the performance and utility of annealing in forensic glass analysis

The use of annealing in forensic glass casework is reviewed. New data is presented that suggests a continuous approach to the interpretation of such data may be superior to the classification approach. Data are presented supporting the previously observed relationship between change in refractive index (RI) and the thickness of the glass pane. An examination of the possible assumption of independence between RI and change in RI is undertaken.     

Comparison of blood-ethanol concentration in deaths attributed to acute alcohol poisoning and chronic alcoholism

Ethanol concentrations were measured in femoral venous blood in deaths attributed to acute alcohol poisoning (N = 693) or chronic alcoholism (N = 825), according to the forensic pathology report. Among acute alcohol poisonings were 529 men (76%) with mean age 53 years and 164 women (24%) with mean age 53 years. In the chronic alcoholism deaths were 705 men (85%) with mean age 55 years and 120 women (15%) with mean age 57 years. The blood-ethanol concentrations were not related to the person's age (r = -0.17 in acute poisonings and r = -0.09 in chronic alcoholism). The distribution of blood-ethanol concentrations in acute poisoning cases agreed with a normal or Gaussian curve with mean, median, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and spread of 0.36 g/100 mL, 0.36 g/100 mL, 0.086 g/100 mL, 24% and 0.074 to 0.68 g/100 mL, respectively. The corresponding concentrations of ethanol in chronic alcoholism deaths were not normally distributed and showed a mode between 0.01 and 0.05 g/100 mL and mean, median, and spread of 0.172 g/100 mL, 0.150 g/100 mL, and 0.01 to 0.56 g/100 mL, respectively. The 5th and 95th percentiles for blood-ethanol concentration in acute poisoning deaths were 0.22 and 0.50 g/100 mL, respectively. However, these values are probably conservative estimates of the highest blood-ethanol concentrations before death owing to metabolism of ethanol until the time of death. In 98 chronic alcoholism deaths (12%) there was an elevated concentration of acetone in the blood (>0.01 g/100 mL), and 50 of these (6%) also had elevated isopropanol (>0.01 g/100 mL). This compares with 28 cases (4%) with elevated blood-acetone in the acute poisoning deaths and 22 (3%) with elevated blood-isopropanol. We offer various explanations for the differences in blood-ethanol and blood-acetone in acute poisoning and alcoholism deaths such as chronic tolerance, alcohol-related organ and tissue damage (cirrhosis, pancreatitis), positional asphyxia or suffocation by inhalation of vomit, exposure to cold coupled with alcohol-induced hypothermia, as well as various metabolic disturbances such as hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis.     

Urine/blood ratios of ethanol in deaths attributed to acute alcohol poisoning and chronic alcoholism

The concentrations of ethanol were determined in femoral venous blood (BAC) and urine (UAC) and the UAC/BAC ratios were evaluated for a large case series of forensic autopsies in which the primary cause of death was either acute alcohol poisoning (N=628) or chronic alcoholism (N=647). In alcohol poisoning deaths both UAC and BAC were higher by about 2g/l compared with chronic alcoholism deaths. In acute alcohol poisoning deaths the minimum BAC was 0.74 g/l and the distribution of UAC/BAC ratios agreed well with the shape of a Gaussian curve with mean+/-standard deviation (S.D.) and median (2.5th and 97.5th centiles) of 1.18+/-0.182 and 1.18 (0.87 and 1.53), respectively. In alcoholism deaths, when the BAC was above 0.74 g/l (N=457) the mean+/-S.D. and median (2.5th and 97.5th centiles) UAC/BAC ratios were 1.30+/-0.29 and 1.26 (0.87 and 2.1), respectively. When the BAC was below 0.74 g/l (N=190), the mean and median UAC/BAC ratios were considerably higher, being 2.24 and 1.58, respectively. BAC and UAC were highly correlated in acute alcohol poisoning deaths (r=0.84, residual S.D.=0.47 g/l) and in chronic alcoholism deaths (r=0.95, residual S.D.=0.41 g/l). For both causes of death (N=1275), the correlation between BAC and UAC was r=0.95 and the residual S.D. was 0.46 g/l. The lower UAC/BAC ratio observed in acute alcohol poisoning deaths (mean and median 1.18:1) suggests that these individuals died before absorption and distribution of ethanol in all body fluids were complete. The higher UAC/BAC ratio in chronic alcoholism (median 1.30:1) is closer to the value expected for complete absorption and distribution of ethanol in all body fluids.     

行政法的发展和性质

授权立法的正当理由授权立法以下列的理由来说是现代政府必然具有的特征:1、压缩国会时间。假使国会试图自己立一切法的话,那末立法机器会破坏,除非考虑议案的程序有根本的改变。将立法权授与正在管理公用事业的部门能够彻底避免修改议案之需要。虽然许多法