Procedural Justice Post-9/11: The Effects of Procedurally Unfair Treatment of Detainees on Perceptions of Global Legitimacy

[Excerpt] “The Global War on Terror has been ideologically framed as a struggle between the principles of freedom and democracy on the one hand and tyranny and extremism on the other. Although this war has arguably led to a short-term disruption of terrorist threats such as al-Qaeda, it has also damaged America’s image both at home and abroad. Throughout the world, there is a growing consensus that America has “a lack of credibility as a fair and just world leader.” The perceived legitimacy of the United States in the War on Terror is critical because terrorism is not a conventional threat that can surrender or can be defeated in the traditional sense. Instead, this battle can only be won through legitimizing the rule of law and undermining the use of terror as a means of political influence. Although a variety of political, economic, and security policies have negatively impacted the perceived legitimacy of the United States, one of the most damaging has been the detention, treatment, and trial (or in many cases the lack thereof) of suspected terrorists. While many scholars have raised constitutional questions about the legality of U.S. detention procedures, this article offers a psychological perspective of legitimacy in the context of detention. I begin with a discussion of the psychology of terrorism. Next, I argue that the U.S. response to terrorism has been largely perceived as excessive, which has undermined global perceptions of U.S. legitimacy. I address this issue by drawing on a well-established body of social psychology research that proposes “a causal chain in which procedural fairness leads to perceived legitimacy, which leads to the acceptance of policies.” In other words, the fairness of the procedures through which individuals are detained and tried will significantly affect the perceived legitimacy of U.S. conduct in the War on Terror. In contrast to current detention policies, which have largely been implemented in an ad hoc manner, I suggest that procedural fairness can be increased through the establishment of a domestic terror court specifically designed to try detainees. Finally, I balance fairness with the competing values of effectiveness and efficiency to provide a framework through which U.S. legitimacy in the War on Terror can be enhanced.

Applying metabolomics to cardiometabolic intervention studies and trials: past experiences and a roadmap for the future

Metabolomics and lipidomics are emerging methods for detailed phenotyping of small molecules in samples. It is hoped that such data will: (i) enhance baseline prediction of patient response to pharmacotherapies (beneficial or adverse); (ii) reveal changes in metabolites shortly after initiation of therapy that may predict patient response, including adverse effects, before routine biomarkers are altered; and( iii) give new insights into mechanisms of drug action, particularly where the results of a trial of a new agent were unexpected, and thus help future drug development. In these ways, metabolomics could enhance research findings from intervention studies. This narrative review provides an overview of metabolomics and lipidomics in early clinical intervention studies for investigation of mechanisms of drug action and prediction of drug response (both desired and undesired). We highlight early examples from drug intervention studies associated with cardiometabolic disease. Despite the strengths of such studies, particularly the use of state-of-the-art technologies and advanced statistical methods, currently published studies in the metabolomics arena are largely underpowered and should be considered as hypothesis-generating. In order for metabolomics to meaningfully improve stratified medicine approaches to patient treatment, there is a need for higher quality studies, with better exploitation of biobanks from randomized clinical trials i.e. with large sample size, adjudicated outcomes, standardized procedures, validation cohorts, comparison witth routine biochemistry and both active and control/placebo arms. On the basis of this review, and based on our research experience using clinically established biomarkers, we propose steps to more speedily advance this area of research towards potential clinical impact

The reform of urban policing in Victorian England : a study of Kingston upon Hull from 1836 to 1866

Chapter 1 introduces the economy, society and politics of Hull in the nineteenth century, concentrating on the middle decades of the century. The characteristics of the old police system in the early 1830s are analysed in chapter 2, along with the proposals which were made for its reform in 1836 and the very similar measures actually introduced. Chapters 3 and 4 constitute the main part of the thesis arranged thematically. A loose distinction can be made between them, with chapter 3 examining what the Hull Police was as a body (its organization, manpower, discipline etc.), while chapter 4 analyses what it did (dealing with crime, public order and issues relevant to serving policemen, etc.). However, it must be stressed that this is not a rigid division of subject matter. Chapter 5 is concerned with two subjects: first, a service provided by the police, fire-fighting, which was usually effective but led to one controversial incident; second, an operational feature of the police, its police stations, which were a recurrent problem for many years until the issue was resolved handsomely. Finally, some of the early policemen are introduced in chapter 6: their working lives are analysed and the effects which this had on them as individuals are considered. The conclusion draws together the main findings of the research and the appendices contain relevant information which is supplementary to the argument and analysis or too detailed to be easily presented in the text or footnotes

The development of compensation and conservation: Young children\u27s understanding of number, length, and liquid quantity.

As water is poured from one container to another, its quantity remains unchanged, no matter what size or shape of container it is poured into. Similarly, five objects do not become more or less simply because they are grouped together or spread apart. Quantity remains invariant—is conserved—under such irrelevant transformations. Interestingly enough, Paiget (1952) has shown that children below the age of six or seven fail to manifest any understanding of conservation. Such children indicate, for example, that if the water in a standard container is poured into a narrower, taller container it becomes “more” water because it rises to a higher level in the comparison container. However, at some point in their cognitive development, these same children will reverse their earlier judgment and maintain quite steadfastly that the amount of water has not changed simply because it looks different

Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) ≥2.5mU/l in early pregnancy: prevalence and subsequent outcomes

Objective: There remains controversy over how women with abnormal thyroid function tests in pregnancy should be classified. In this study we assessed the proportion of women with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) ≥ 2.5 mU/l in a large obstetric cohort, and examined how many have gone on to develop thyroid disease in the years since their pregnancy. Study design: 4643 women were recruited and samples taken in early pregnancy between 2007 and 2010. Thyroid function tests were analysed in 2014; in women with raised TSH computerised health records and prescription databases were used to identify thyroid disease detected since pregnancy. Results: 58 women (1.5%) had a TSH over 5 mU/l and 396 women (10.3%) had TSH between 2.5 and 5 mU/l. Women with TSH > 5mU/l delivered infants of lower birthweight than those with TSH < 2.5 mU/l; there were no other differences in obstetric outcomes between the groups. Of those who have had thyroid tests since their pregnancy, 78% of those with TSH > 5 mU/l and 19% of those with TSH between 2.5 and 5 mU/l have gone on to be diagnosed with thyroid disease. Conclusions: Using a TSH cut-off of 2.5 mU/l in keeping with European and US guidelines means that over 12% of women in this cohort would be classified as having subclinical hypothyroidism. Treatment and monitoring of these women would have major implications for planning of obstetric services

Many-body localization in Fock-space: a local perspective

A canonical model for many-body localization (MBL) is studied, of interacting spinless fermions on a lattice with uncorrelated quenched site-disorder. The model maps onto a tight-binding model on a `Fock-space (FS) lattice' of many-body states, with an extensive local connectivity. We seek to understand some aspects of MBL from this perspective, via local propagators for the FS lattice and their self-energies (SE's); focusing on the SE probability distributions, over disorder and FS sites. A probabilistic mean-field theory (MFT) is first developed, centered on self-consistent determination of the geometric mean of the distribution. Despite its simplicity this captures some key features of the problem, including recovery of an MBL transition, and predictions for the forms of the SE distributions. The problem is then studied numerically in $1d$ by exact diagonalization, free from MFT assumptions. The geometric mean indeed appears to act as a suitable order parameter for the transition. Throughout the MBL phase the appropriate SE distribution is confirmed to have a universal form, with long-tailed L\'evy behavior as predicted by MFT. In the delocalized phase for weak disorder, SE distributions are clearly log-normal; while on approaching the transition they acquire an intermediate L\'evy-tail regime, indicative of the incipient MBL phase.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures Phys Rev B in pres

Owens Sawmill: A Family Business Facing a Social Responsibility Dilemma

This is a real case involving an SME that produces southern hardwood finished lumber. The family business faces a social responsibility dilemma in terms of displaced workers and limited job opportunities in the surrounding labor market if they purchase a new saw that would modernize production, improve profitability, and eliminate 50 percent of their labor costs. The most logical employment for these workers would be a cutter, loader, or hauler of logs, which have been determined to be some of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. This case requires students to examine the decision-making process of a modest family business in a small, cohesive community and the ramifications of these decisions, as well as issues concerning technology and production improvements, displaced workers, social responsibilities, and the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees

Moving the Ball Forward in Consumer and Employment Dispute Resolution: What Can Planning, Talking, Listening and Breaking Bread Together Accomplish?

Article Extract: Mandatory pre-dispute arbitration has been a divisive issue for many years, particularly since the Supreme Court began enforcing the arbitration clauses that businesses and employers impose on consumers and employees, respectively, in contracts of adhesion. In 2009, the Dispute Resolution Section’s Council proposed to weigh in on this issue through the vehicle of an ABA House of Delegates resolution. The compromise position developed by the Section, expressing support for pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clauses provided they offer a meaningful opt-out, generated such a firestorm of opposition from both pro-arbitration and anti-arbitration advocates that the Council ultimately chose to abstain from expressing any position at all

Secondary injury in traumatic brain injury patients - A prospective Study

Objective. Secondary insults of hypotension and hypoxia significantly impact on outcome in patients  with traumatic brain injury (TBI). More than 4 hours' delay in evacuation of intracranial haematomas has  been demonstrated to have an additional impact on outcome. The objective of this study was to document the incidence of these preventable secondary insults in patients admitted with moderate or severe brain  injury.Methodology. All moderate and severe head injury patients admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital over a  3-month period were studied prospectively. Data were obtained from ambulance dockets, referral letters, patient charts and attending medical staff. Preventable secondary insults (hypotension, hypoxia) and time delay to assessment and surgery were documented. Outcome was assessed using the Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) at discharge or outpatient follow-up.Results. Ninety-six patients were studied. Forty-nine patients experienced at least one recorded  preventable event of hypoxia or hypotension. Seventeen had an intracranial haematoma requiring  evacuation. The mean time interval between injury and surgery was 455 minutes. No haematoma was evacuated within 4 hours of injury. Patients referred via a primary or secondary care facility experienced a mean additional delay of 70 minutes. These results demonstrated a significant incidence of secondary injury and delay to assessment and surgery. We believe that education and a raised awa reness of the impact of secondary insults may have a positive impact on TBI outcome in our referral area