Designing a Choice Architecture for Regulators

The emergence of behavioral public administration has led to increasing calls for public managers and policy makers to consider predictable cognitive biases when regulating individual behaviors or market transactions. Recognizing that cognitive biases can also affect the regulators themselves, this article attempts to understand how the institutional environment in which regulators operate interacts with their cognitive biases. In other words, to what extent does the “choice architecture” that regulators face reinforce or counteract predictable cognitive biases? Just as knowledge of behavioral insights can help regulators design a choice architecture that frames individual decisions to encourage welfare-enhancing choices, it may help governments understand and design institutions to counter cognitive biases in regulators that contribute to deviations from public interest policies. From these observations, the article offers some modest suggestions for improving the regulatory choice architecture.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adult Sexual Perpetration

Empirical findings indicate that many adult sexual offenders experienced sexual abuse during childhood. It has been suggested that characteristics of offenders' sexual perpetrating behaviors may resemble their own victimization experiences, although there has been minimal empirical investigation in this area. The purpose of the present study was to provide preliminary data on the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and characteristics of sexual offending behavior. A sample of adult male sexual offenders with histories of sexual abuse completed the Sexual Victimization Survey as well as a measure on their sexual offenses. Such characteristics as the nature of sexual activities, duration and frequency of experiences, and age and relationship of participants were examined. Results showed trends in the hypothesized direction and revealed a variety of similarities between childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual perpetration. Findings of this exploratory study suggest the importance of addressing the nature of victimization in the treatment of sexually abused boys and offenders with histories of sexual abuse.     

Roentgen imaging of stab wounds in parenchymatous organs

Stab wounds were made in parenchymatous organs (e.g. liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs) using a variety of instruments. The shape of the resulting canal was investigated by X-ray analysis after introduction of an X-ray contrast medium. The best contrast was obtained using a contrast medium containing barium. The shape of the canal gave a direct representation of the outline of the instrument used. The width of the canal was however, always several millimeters smaller than the corresponding blade of the instrument. The position of the blade back in single-edged blades could be demonstrated with stronger contrast.     

The diagnosis of the mechanisms of bone tissue destruction from the surface of the break]

Data on bone tissue fractography are summarized and systematized. Possibilities of a microscopic fractography method in analysis of skeletal bone fractures in order to determine conditions of traumatic exposure were shown. Destruction of bone tissue is considered from the point of view of fragile and tough destruction using as a model solid body with crack at the top of which deformations of detachment, lateral and longitudinal shifts are acting. Morphologic features for different types of destruction were singled out. Use of these features may help to determine character and type of deformation at concrete areas of fracture during all destruction process.     

High performance liquid chromatographic determination of alcohols with reference to body distribution of methanol

A method has been developed on reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography for simultaneous determination of methyl, ethyl and isopropyl alcohols under refractive index detection using pure water as the mobile phase. A good separation has been achieved between these alcohols. Detector response was linear with a detection limit of 5 mg/100 ml. Recovery studies were performed by adding known amounts of methyl and ethyl alcohols to blood, lung and liver within the range 80–90%. The reproducibility of the results was always >90%. The quantitative distribution of methyl alcohol in postmortem body tissues and fluids has been reported in three cases of poisoning.