Economic inequality in satisfaction with healthcare in the Baltic countries during and after the economic crisis (2008–2014)

ABSTRACT

Public satisfaction with healthcare systems is an important dimension of healthcare legitimacy. The paper analyzes how satisfaction with healthcare systems depended upon the economic situation of our respondents during and after the economic recession in the Baltic states. The results show that there were no differences in public satisfaction with healthcare between better and worse off people in Estonia (except in 2009). In Lithuania, however, satisfaction among the economically better off was higher compared to other groups between 2008 and 2014. In Latvia, inequality in satisfaction between groups in different economic situations became significant from 2010.     

Domestic Costs, the U.S. Public, and the Isolationist Calculus

This article examines and tests two models of the circumstances shaping the extent of the American public&;apos;s isolationist sentiment. The first, termed the "elastic band" model, assumes a constant popular disinclination toward foreign involvements, one that may, at most, temporarily be stretched to accommodate responses to major external threats. A second model assumes the operation of a "cognitive shortcut" based on low-information rationality. It proposes that acceptable levels of domestic involvement depend on the gravity of the domestic opportunity costs of foreign involvement, and it is termed the "domestic costs" model. While the former model implies a constant public resistance to international activism, a resistance that is relaxed only in proportion to the gravity of external threats, the latter model suggests that the U.S. public displays a relatively constant internationalist attitude, and that variations around that threat are largely explained by fluctuations in the perceived domestic opportunity costs of international involvement.
Both models are subjected to statistical testing, a testing that vindicates the domestic costs model. Further insights are obtained by examining attitudes toward internationalism as they are affected by levels of education. Although internationalism increases with education, and although levels of education predict differential impacts of the variables encompassed by the model, each segment of the public seems to operate within the general parameters of the "domestic costs" model.     

The age at death assessment in a multi-ethnic sample of pelvic bones using nature-inspired data mining methods

Recently published studies showed that age assessment methods are population specific. Authors analyse the senescence changes in pubic symphysis and sacro-pelvic surface of a pelvic bone using data mining methods. The multi-ethnic data set consists of 956 adult individuals ranging from 19 to 100 years of age derived from 9 different populations with known age and sex. The results show that accurate and reliable age assessment is possible to three age classes (less than 30, 30-60, 60 and more). The study confirms that population specificity of the methods exists and the variable "sex" is not important in age classification.     

An Unusual Zip Gun Suicide—Medicolegal and Ballistic Examination

Abstract:  Home-made guns are imitations of typical firearms and usually have handgun characteristics. This article presents an unusual case of a suicide carried out by means of a fatal gunshot wound to the head using a home-made zip gun. A 49-year-old male, with a history of paranoid psychosis was found dead in the dwelling place of a family house. The investigation at the crime scene did not lead to suspicion of a gunshot wound because of the unusual nature of the firearm used. A medical examiner diagnosed an opened head injury as the primary cause of the victim's death. The autopsy findings provided immediate grounds for further inspection of the crime scene. Subsequently, a simple zip gun, which had been overlooked during the scene investigation, was discovered. An undeformed projectile recovered from the victim's head was consistent with the use of the home-made firearm. Following the completion of the investigations and autopsy, the death was classified as a suicide.     

Metternich and Mustafa Reshid Pasha's Fall in 1841

The goal of the article is to explain the attitude of Austrian Chancellor Prince Metternich towards the Ottoman reformer, Mustafa Reshid Pasha, and refute the widespread and deep-rooted allegation against the chancellor of plotting against Reshid and causing his political fall in late March 1841. The article attempts to prove that it was Metternich who was on good terms with Reshid and did his best to prevent the latter's fall. The article also provides some new evidence for the claim that Metternich exerted certain influence over the reformatory ideas of the reformers at the early Tanzimat period like Mustafa Reshid Pasha and Sadik Rifat Pasha. To prove Reshid's high esteem to Metternich in this respect as well as his confidence in the chancellor's goodwill, an important document from the Austrian State Archives is quoted in full at the end of the article.     

Czech extreme right parties an unsuccessful story

This article describes the extreme right in the Czech Republic, where, in contrast to several other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, this part of the political spectrum has been unsuccessful for the past ten years. The aim of this article is to analyse the position of the extreme right in the Czech party system and the internal ideological and strategic cleavages within the extreme right. The conclusion of this article is that organized party-political extremism is after two decades of modern political development only a marginal part of the Czech political spectrum, with many internal problems and without real chances of significant success in the near future.     

Social Media Engagement of Berlin and Prague Museums

ABSTRACT

Attracting visitors and engaging them effectively in the highly competitive and saturated environment shaped by Web 2.0 and online social networking forces museums to creatively and purposefully examine channels for extended interaction with audiences. This exploratory and comparative research aims to compare the state of social media strategies across museums of two regions and to identify the influence of applied strategies on users’ reactions. The surveyed sample considers 296 museums from two European capitals—Berlin and Prague—whose activity has been observed during a three-month period. The findings identify the differences in the approaches of museums and suggest that the frequency and characteristics of published messages correlate to the level of fan reactions, facilitating targeted relationship-building possibilities with online audiences. They further imply that the museums can influence the engagement of visitors by focusing on the particular properties of their posts, both in the sense of post structure, media application, and underlying semantic features.     

Shooting Through Clothing in Firearm Suicides

Abstract: There is a longstanding empirical rule that people who commit suicide rarely shoot through their clothing, but rather put it aside to expose the nude skin. Signs of shots through clothing have always been considered suspicious, raising presumptions of the presence of an abettor. Our report, based on a retrospective study of fatal suicidal firearm injuries from the years 1980 to 2007, points out that suicide victims only rarely remove clothing from the site of the future entry wound. The report covered 43 cases with fatal gunshot wounds in the area of the thorax, with only four persons (9%) removing the clothing present in the area of the subsequent self‐inflicted wound. Defects present on the clothing of a victim cannot, therefore, be understood as an absolute criterion for disproving the possibility of suicide, and nor do they necessarily indicate an unfortunate accident or homicide. If, however, the suicide victim removes the clothing from the area of the future wound, then this is almost always an indication of suicide.