The relationship between cynicism and dispositional attributions: Examining individual differences of police officers

Previous research has shown that veteran police officers are more cynical than less experienced police officers. Research has also shown that veterans are more likely than less experienced officers to make dispositional attributions for the actions of suspects in interpersonal disputes. This study examined these two premises and the relationship between cynicism and attributions. Participants included 127 police officers and 70 undergraduate students who completed a cynicism scale and were then asked to read two scenarios depicting interpersonal disputes. Participants answered several questions pertaining to their attributions of responsibility and their perceptions of credibility of the suspect and the victim in each scenario. This study proposed that police officers differing in length of police service would also differ in their attributions of responsibility and perceptions of credibility of suspects and victims in interpersonal disputes. It was also proposed that veteran police officers would score higher in cynicism than less experienced officers. In addition, this study predicted that a relationship existed between cynicism and attributions of responsibility. No relationships or significant differences were found between length of police service and attributions of responsibility. There was some evidence that individuals differing in length of police service differed in their perceptions of credibility. No significant differences in cynicism were found as a function of length of police service. Although cynicism was not related to length of police service, exploratory analyses indicated that cynicism was inversely related to the total length of service, which included any previous military or police experience. No relationship was present between attributions of responsibility and cynicism as predicted by this study. The results of this study do not replicate previous research regarding police cynicism and attributions. The lack of significant differences in cynicism, attributions of responsibility, and perceptions of credibility indicates that there may be no need for a great deal of concern about changes in these aspects as police officers gain experience

Properties of Portland Cement Made From Contaminated Sediments

Hundreds of millions of cubic meters of contaminated sediments are dredged from US harbors and waterways annually for maintenance of navigation, environmental remediation, or both. In recent years, inexpensive ocean dumping has been largely eliminated as a disposal alternative causing a crisis in the management of sediment. This paper presents a new beneficial use alternative for contaminated dredged material, which is to use dredged material as a feedstock in the conventional manufacture of Portland cement. The paper demonstrates the efficacy of the process at the bench and pilot scales, and presents a summary of practical and economic considerations. A bench scale manufacture was carried out with feedstock mixtures containing 1–12% dredged material from the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) harbor. The clinkers were quantitatively analyzed with X-ray powder diffraction and differences in phase concentrations were observed in the clinker samples manufactured with dredged material (decreased alite and increased belite) suggesting that additional burn time was needed to account for the quartz present in the sediments. The free chloride concentrations in the clinker samples were below ACI limits for cement used with reinforcing steel; however, the chloride in the dredged material remains a manufacturing concern and is expected to increase annual maintenance costs. A pilot scale manufacture was carried out in a batch rotary kiln; X-ray diffraction analysis and ASTM tests for strength, soundness, and setting time suggested that with better optimized burning conditions, dredged material can be successfully incorporated into full scale manufacture

The Promise and Potential Pitfalls of a ‘Learning-Centered’ Approach to Creative Social Inquiry: Lessons Learned from an Undergraduate Seminar on Authoritarianism through Literature and Film

Political science faculty have access to a wealth of innovative pedagogies thanks to a comprehensive literature on teaching and learning in the discipline and related fields. Yet, from among the hundreds of documented possibilities, how does one go about deciding which to incorporate into a given course? Few articles have much to say in response to this basic question, as most begin with a particular method, assignment, or assessment in mind and proceed from there. Drawing on the work of Fink (2003 Fink , L. Dee. 2003 . Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses . San Francisco : Jossey-Bass . [Google Scholar]) and Wiggins and McTighe (2005 Wiggins , Grant and Jay McTighe . 2005 . Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd ed. Alexandria , VA : The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development . [Google Scholar]), among others, I argue that, instead of taking the choice of activities as the starting point in course design, teachers—and, by extension, students—would be better served by first contemplating the desired results of the course and only thereafter devoting consideration to content and instructional methods. In making this claim, I reflect critically on my experience teaching a writing-intensive first-year seminar on comparative authoritarianism using “learning-centered” and “backward” course design. My experience speaks to both the potential pitfalls associated with the learning-centered model and the enormous promise that it represents

Spinocerebellar ataxia with axonal neuropathy: consequence of a Tdp1 recessive neomorphic mutation?

Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (Tdp1) cleaves the phosphodiester bond between a covalently stalled topoisomerase I (Topo I) and the 3′ end of DNA. Stalling of Topo I at DNA strand breaks is induced by endogenous DNA damage and the Topo I-specific anticancer drug camptothecin (CPT). The H493R mutation of Tdp1 causes the neurodegenerative disorder spinocerebellar ataxia with axonal neuropathy (SCAN1). Contrary to the hypothesis that SCAN1 arises from catalytically inactive Tdp1, Tdp1−/− mice are indistinguishable from wild-type mice, physically, histologically, behaviorally, and electrophysiologically. However, compared to wild-type mice, Tdp1−/− mice are hypersensitive to CPT and bleomycin but not to etoposide. Consistent with earlier in vitro studies, we show that the H493R Tdp1 mutant protein retains residual activity and becomes covalently trapped on the DNA after CPT treatment of SCAN1 cells. This result provides a direct demonstration that Tdp1 repairs Topo I covalent lesions in vivo and suggests that SCAN1 arises from the recessive neomorphic mutation H493R. This is a novel mechanism for disease since neomorphic mutations are generally dominant