The impact of victim-perpetrator relationship, reputation, and initial point of resistance on officers’ responsibility and authenticity ratings towards hypothetical rape cases

Purpose: Previous studies suggest that judgments of responsibility and authenticity made towards hypothetical rape cases differ when specific case factors are varied. However, few studies have examined whether police officers exhibit similar variations in judgment. Methods: Sixteen vignettes depicting a hypothetical rape scenario were created. Vignettes varied on victim-perpetrator relationship, victim reputation, and initial point of resistance. Police officers from a large police force in the United Kingdom (n = 808) provided judgments of victim and perpetrator responsibility, as well as rape authenticity. Results: Officers rated perpetrators as less responsible and gave lower rape authenticity ratings when a partner was the perpetrator, and in ‘late’ resistance scenarios. Officers rated victims as more responsible in ‘bad’ reputation conditions and in ‘late’ resistance conditions. Additional effects of officer sex and receipt of specialist training were also found (i.e., male officers rated the victim as more responsible than female officers), as were several interactions between factors. Conclusions: Results suggest that police officers in the UK may judge victims of rape differentially based on extra-legal case factors. The potential impact on the investigation of rape cases is discussed, and a recommendation for thorough and prompt review of specialist and non-specialist training is made

The Influence of ‘high’ vs. ‘low’ rape myth acceptance on police officers’ judgements of victim and perpetrator responsibility, and rape authenticity

Purpose: Previous studies suggest that officers’ level of rape myth acceptance (RMA) is predictive of their case decision making and judgements towards victim-survivors. However, few studies have directly assessed the relationship between RMA and responsibility and authenticity judgments. Methods: 808 UK police officers categorised as ‘high’ or ‘low’ in rape myth acceptance made judgements of victim and perpetrator responsibility, and case authenticity, towards one of 16 vignettes depicting a hypothetical rape scenario varying on victim-perpetrator relationship, victim reputation, and initial point of resistance. Results: Officers categorised as ‘high’ in RMA rated victims as more responsible, perpetrators as less responsible, and cases as less authentic than those deemed to be ‘low’ in RMA. When rape-myth related factors were present, both individually and in combination, judgements by officers ‘high’ in RMA were more negative than those ‘low’ in RMA. Conclusions: Results suggest that officers ‘high’ in RMA may judge victims of rape differently to those ‘low’ in RMA, particularly when rape myth-related extra-legal case factors are present. The potential implications for training and selection are discussed

Investigating the demographic and attitudinal predictors of rape myth acceptance in U.K. Police officers: developing an evidence-base for training and professional development

Efforts to understand rape myth acceptance (RMA) as a cognitive framework in police, unifying key cognitive/attitudinal and demographic factors into one coherent model, are lacking. Using a cross-sectional survey design, predictors of RMA were assessed by linear hierarchical regression, including demographic (age, length of service, gender, experience of specialist rape investigation training) and attitudinal factors (hostility towards women, sexist attitudes, and explicit power/sex beliefs) among officers from a large U.K. police force (N = 912). The final model explained 44% of variance in RMA. Gender and previous specialist training significantly predicted RMA, but to a much lesser extent than attitudinal variables, which explain 42% of RMA variance. Only specialist rape investigation training remained significant when attitudinal variables were added. The greater contribution from attitudinal variables suggests that efforts to address RMA in officers must consider the broader attitudinal structures underpinning RMA. Findings highlight implications for evidence- based training for rape investigators

A new species of Mugilicola parasitic on South African elvers (Copepoda, Therodamasidae)

A new species of parasitic copepod belonging to the genus Mugilicola Tripathi, I960 (CYCLOPOIDA: THERODAMASIDAE) is described. The copepods were embedded in the buccal cavity of elvers of Anguilla mossambica caught in South African rivers

“I Didn’t Feel I Was A Victim”: A Phenomenological Analysis of the Experiences of Male-on-male Survivors of Rape and Sexual Abuse

Research on men’s experiences of sexual victimization is limited and largely outdated. The present study seeks to remedy this issue by qualitatively examining the accounts of nine male-on-male survivors of rape and sexual abuse in the UK. It examines survivors’ experiences of psychological distress post-incident, the influence and manifestation of male rape myths, challenges in self-recognition and disclosure, and barriers to accessing therapeutic support and reporting to the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Participants took part in one-to-one, semi-structured video interviews, and an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was utilized to identify four superordinate themes of participants’ experiences: i) gendered narratives, ii) coping with the abuse, iii) masculinity, and iv) reporting to the police. These themes emphasized the stigma and hostility repeatedly encountered by survivors after their victimization. Participants provided an account of short and long-term psychological issues following the abuse, emphasizing the role of self-perceptions of masculinity in the development of unhealthy coping mechanisms. Findings also highlighted the prevalence of prejudice and rape mythology that characterized negative encounters within the public, voluntary agencies, and the CJS. Results are discussed in relation to current service provision in the UK, recommendations for future research, and avenues for improvements across multiple vital entry points

Vanadium dioxide : A Peierls-Mott insulator stable against disorder

Vanadium dioxide undergoes a first order metal-insulator transition at 340 K. In this work, we develop and carry out state of the art linear scaling DFT calculations refined with non-local dynamical mean-field theory. We identify a complex mechanism, a Peierls-assisted orbital selection Mott instability, which is responsible for the insulating M$_1$ phase, and furthermore survives a moderate degree of disorder.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary material 8 pages, 4 figures. This version (v2) matches that accepted for Physical Review Letters on 16th May 201

On the Growth of Al_2 O_3 Scales

Understanding the growth of Al2O3 scales requires knowledge of the details of the chemical reactions at the scale–gas and scale–metal interfaces, which in turn requires specifying how the creation/annihilation of O and Al vacancies occurs at these interfaces. The availability of the necessary electrons and holes to allow for such creation/annihilation is a crucial aspect of the scaling reaction. The electronic band structure of polycrystalline Al2O3 thus plays a decisive role in scale formation and is considered in detail, including the implications of a density functional theory (DFT) calculation of the band structure of a Σ7 View the MathML source bicrystal boundary, for which the atomic structure of the boundary was known from an independent DFT energy-minimization calculation and comparisons with an atomic-resolution transmission electron micrograph of the same boundary. DFT calculations of the formation energy of O and Al vacancies in bulk Al2O3 in various charge states as a function of the Fermi energy suggested that electronic conduction in Al2O3 scales most likely involves excitation of both electrons and holes, which are localized on singly charged O vacancies, View the MathML source and doubly charged Al vacancies, View the MathML source, respectively. We also consider the variation of the Fermi level across the scale and bending (“tilting”) of the conduction band minimum and valence band maximum due to the electric field developed during the scaling reaction. The band structure calculations suggest a new mechanism for the “reactive element” effect—a consequence of segregation of Y, Hf, etc., to grain boundaries in Al2O3 scales, which results in improved oxidation resistance—namely, that the effect is due to the modification of the near-band edge grain-boundary defect states rather than any blocking of diffusion pathways, as previously postulated. Secondly, Al2O3 scale formation is dominated by grain boundary as opposed to lattice diffusion, and there is unambiguous evidence for both O and Al countercurrent transport in Al2O3 scale-forming alloys. We postulate that such transport is mediated by migration of grain boundary disconnections containing charged jogs, rather than by jumping of isolated point defects in random high-angle grain boundaries

Many-body position operator in lattice fermionic systems with periodic boundary conditions

A total position operator $X$ in the position representation is derived for lattice fermionic systems with periodic boundary conditions. The operator is shown to be Hermitian, the generator of translations in momentum space, and its time derivative is shown to correspond to the total current operator in a periodic system. The operator is such that its moments can be calculated up to any order. To demonstrate its utility finite size scaling is applied to the Brinkman-Rice transition as well as metallic and insulating Gutzwiller wavefunctions.Comment: to appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General (reference will be added later