Search

Is cyber conflict more like war, intelligence, or something else? The stakes of this debate are not simply conceptual but institutional. United States Cyber Command emerged from the American intell...

Students of world politics have long shown a special interest in sea power. International relations, however, tends to treat the means of power as homogeneous and interchangeable. Are military capa...

The land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains have distinct operational characteristics. Specialization in the means of using or threatening force is not just a technical issue because choices to us...

In theory, a fully functional quantum computer could break the cryptographic protocols that underwrite cybersecurity everywhere, which would be disastrous for national security, global trade, and c...

Sexual harassment and assault are realities in the military. Recent reports indicate that these types of behaviors are not decreasing despite updated policies, better reporting procedures and incre...

In DSM-5 there has been a move to dimensional personality disorder (PD) diagnosis, incorporating personality theory in the form of the five-factor model (FFM). It proposes an alternative assessment system based on diagnostic indicators and the FFM, while retaining DSM-IV categorical criteria. Four individuals with intellectual disability are assessed for PD utilizing the Assessment of Global Personality Functioning Index (AGPF), the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE), and, in terms of the FFM, through an adapted version of the NEO-PI short form. PD ratings (self, staff, and observer) tended to converge for borderline, antisocial, and narcissistic PDs. NEO-PI ratings converged on Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness, with discrepancies on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (staff rating lower). A structured DSM-5 system is easily usable but takes more time than a diagnostic interview.

Background. The Dynamic Risk Assessment and Management System (DRAMS) was created to measure dynamic risk in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Steptoe, Lindsay, Murphy, and Young, (2...

It is widely believed that cyberspace is offense dominant because of technical characteristics that undermine deterrence and defense. This argument mistakes the ease of deception on the Internet for a categorical ease of attack. As intelligence agencies have long known, deception is a double-edged sword. Covert attackers must exercise restraint against complex targets in order to avoid compromises resulting in mission failure or retaliation. More importantly, defenders can also employ deceptive concealment and ruses to confuse or ensnare aggressors. Indeed, deception can reinvigorate traditional strategies of deterrence and defense against cyber threats, as computer security practitioners have already discovered. The strategy of deception has other important implications: as deterrence became foundational in the nuclear era, deception should rise in prominence in a world that increasingly depends on technology to mediate interaction.

This longitudinal study explored the relative strength of job satisfaction, components of organizational commitment, dimensions of job embeddedness and person–organization fit as predictors of volu...

Although some authors have suggested that there are higher rates of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in forensic and offending groups, systematic studies have not supported the hypothesis. The present study reviewed 477 referrals made to forensic intellectual disability (ID) services in one calendar year. It was found that 10% of referrals had ASD, a figure similar to the general population of people with ID. Those with ASD had similar patterns of offending to those without but they showed a lower prevalence of contact sexual offences and fewer had been previously charged. We concluded that there is no persuasive evidence that ASD is a risk factor for offending or for any particular type of offending.

Without a violence risk assessment designed for people with an intellectual disability (ID), assessors are reliant upon tools developed for mainstream offenders or develop their own tools. This study describes the early stages of development of the Current Risk of Violence (CuRV), an informant-reported measure of dynamic risk for aggression in adults with an ID. The pool of items was generated from a multitude of sources. Predictive accuracy for aggression was tested prospectively among 64 adults with an ID and history of aggression. The 34-item CuRV was found to be a brief, uncomplicated risk assessment. Initial findings revealed good predictive validity over a five-month period: area under the curve (AUC) range from .72, 95% CI [.59, .85] to .77, 95% CI [.66, .89]. These preliminary findings suggest that the CuRV may assist staff to perform assessments of risk in busy clinical settings. Future research effort is needed to fully explore the psychometric properties of the CuRV.

Stuxnet, the computer worm which disrupted Iranian nuclear enrichment in 2010, is the first instance of a computer network attack known to cause physical damage across international boundaries. Some have described Stuxnet as the harbinger of a new form of warfare that threatens even the strongest military powers. The influential but largely untested Cyber Revolution thesis holds that the internet gives militarily weaker actors asymmetric advantages, that offense is becoming easier while defense is growing harder, and that the attacker's anonymity undermines deterrence. However, the empirical facts of Stuxnet support an opposite interpretation; cyber capabilities can marginally enhance the power of stronger over weaker actors, the complexity of weaponization makes cyber offense less easy and defense more feasible than generally appreciated, and cyber options are most attractive when deterrence is intact. Stuxnet suggests that considerable social and technical uncertainties associated with cyber operations ...

Two big ideas have shaped recent debate about military doctrine: the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and Counterinsurgency (COIN). These ‘network centric’ and ‘population centric’ worldviews appear contradictory, but this is a false dichotomy. American forces have actively developed RMA concepts in COIN environments during recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the exemplar par excellence is innovation by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in doctrine, technology, and organization for counterterrorism. Ironically, SOCOM's reimagining of the RMA managed to both improve the strengths and underscore the weaknesses of the American military's technological prowess.

This study compared 131 sex offenders with ID and 346 other types of offenders with ID using case file records. All the females in the study were non sexual offenders. Significantly more sexual offenders were referred from court and criminal justice services while significantly fewer were referred from secondary healthcare. A higher percentage of sex offenders had some form of legal status at time of referral. Greater proportions of non sexual offenders were referred for aggression, damage to property, substance abuse and fire setting while only the sex offenders had an index sex offence. For previous offending, the non sexual offenders had higher rates of aggression, cruelty and neglect of children, property damage and substance abuse while the sexual offenders had higher rates of previous sexual offending. For psychiatric disturbance and adversity in childhood, only ADHD showed a significant difference between groups with the non sexual offenders recording higher rates.

Shared leadership involves building a broader and deeper capacity for leadership that goes beyond a formally appointed leader. Several models of team leadership are reviewed, distinguishing between...

XELOX is a 3-weekly chemotherapy combination of oral capecitabine and intravenous oxaliplatin. The central hypothesis that led to its development was that it would provide a convenient and cost-effective alternative to intravenous fluorouracil-based chemotherapy doublets, without compromising on anti-tumor efficacy. Recently its role in colorectal cancer has become more established in both the metastatic and adjuvant setting. Ongoing investigation of XELOX continues in a number of directions: its combination with novel biological agents, its efficacy and safety in the elderly, and the development of biomarkers that can predict its anti-tumor effect. This article provides a comprehensive and up-to-date synopsis of all pertinent clinical studies detailing this regimen and its promise for the future.

In mainstream offender work there has been a significant amount of theory and applied research linking moral development, perspective taking and poor social problem solving to offending. Given that...

This editorial places the papers in the special issue into the relevant research contexts including engagement with the criminal justice services, and assessment and treatment of offence related issues. The papers make contributions in each of these areas while also adding to the growing theoretical framework for the field.

Clinical and research work on offenders with intellectual and developmental disabilities has developed considerably in the last 20 years. This editorial places the papers in this special issue into the relevant research contexts. We note the work that has been conducted in the areas of prevalence of offenders with intellectual disability, and risk assessment.

The implementation of stratified medicine in modern cancer care presents substantial opportunity to refine diagnosis and treatment but also numerous challenges. Through experience in a UK tumor profiling initiative, we have gained valuable insights into the complexities and possible solutions for routine delivery of stratified cancer medicine.

This article details a Combat Stress Control and Prevention (CSCP) team's tour during Operation Iraqi Freedom. It highlights the similarities between battlefield and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) behavioral health care methods and practices. A CSCP team's mission is to provide battle-front direct mental health services to commanders and combatants via consultation, education, advocacy and proximal prevention, intervention and stabilization, and if indicated, evacuation of overstressed troops. This team's access, credibility, and social networking were critical in preventing and responding to war-fighter's combat stressors in a timely manner. As in EAP work, credibility with leadership and bridging social capital are essential components for workplace behavioral health prevention success.

In mainstream studies on offenders and on individuals with psychopathology, relationships have been found between personality characteristics, emotional problems and personality disorders. This study reviewed the relationships between the Emotional Problems Scale, two circumplex measures of personality, personality disorder assessments and risk assessments in 212 offenders with intellectual disability. Previous studies had established the reliability and validity of these measures with the client group. Strong relationships emerged between externalizing emotional problems and dominant and hostile personality dimensions with weaker but significant relationships between internalizing problems and submissive and hostile dimensions. Externalizing problems were strongly associated with risk for violence, while internalizing problems had a weaker but significant relationship with some historical and clinical risk scales. Dominant personality dimensions were associated with narcissistic personality disorder and ...

Following social policies of deinstitutionalisation, few offenders with intellectual disability (ID) are diverted into local hospitals and they are now referred to a range of community and secure services. Of 197 participants, the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide was completed on 181 and the Static-99 on 83. Assessed risk was then related to six levels of service: community generic, specialist community forensic ID, learning disability in patient, low secure, medium secure and high secure. On both assessments, those in high secure had a significantly greater average assessed risk than in the community. Correlations between assessed risk and level of service showed low to medium effect sizes. Despite an orderly relationship between assessed risk and level of security, the effect sizes are not large suggesting that factors may intervene to place some individuals of a high risk in community settings and others of a low risk in secure settings.

We examined whether completion of a military Freefall parachuting program enhanced self-efficacy in the domains of leader self-control and leader assertiveness. The Freefall program was particularl...

Provision of health and social support to people who engage in anti-social or offending behaviour and have intellectual disabilities (ID) remains a challenge to services. Numerous population studies have produced contradictory findings with reviews calling for the development of more fruitful approaches and recommending investigation of the care pathways operating within ID services. This study reports on the pathways through services encountered by adults with offending or anti-social behaviour referred to 15 UK community ID services in 2002. Pathways through services were tracked for 24 months post referral. Referral rates, demographic characteristics, and associations with anti-social or offending behaviour were statistically analysed for 237 cases. Most referrals originated from the local community (66%); a high proportion were female (40.5%). Community services appeared encapsulated, serving adults with offending behaviour over the long term, but predominantly (74%) those already known to local ID services. Implications for services and future research strategies are considered.

This article reviews the development and evaluation of treatment programmes for offenders with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID). Prevalence studies have shown that a significant percentage of individuals in the criminal justice system have ID and that around 50% of those individuals, if untreated, will go on to re-offend. Over the past 15–20 years, adaptations have been made to assessments that are relevant to offending issues. These include assessments for anger and aggression, a range of psychiatric symptoms, sexual offending and criminal thinking. Generally, the results have been positive, with assessments showing good reliability, internal consistency and the integrity of the factor structures. Adaptations to treatment methods include simplification of communication and the methods of cognitive therapy, alterations in the use of recording and assessment techniques and promoting motivation in participants. A review of a range of treatment interventions showed that successful case studie...

Training participants' cognitions (training self-efficacy and training instrumentality) can be powerful motivational forces (and impact their motivation to learn and motivation to transfer) and influence important distal outcomes (such as training transfer). Our paper provides a set of ideas linking training cognitions with training outcomes. In addition, we support our propositions with a preliminary empirical test, based on a sample of 254 employees, who provide information on their training perceptions of training and development efforts at their organization. The results indicate that although the ‘can do’ (training self-efficacy) is a primary predictor or motivation to learn, the ‘will do’ aspect (training instrumentality) is the primary predictor for motivation to transfer. In addition, training transfer is predicted primarily by motivation to transfer, and has a strong relationship with training instrumentality. Given the paucity of research on the instrumentality aspect, we discuss theoretical and...

Background The prevalence and consequences of anger and aggression in people with intellectual disability (ID) are of great concern. It is essential that appropriate assessment tools are developed to aid formulation of treatments and to evaluate progress and outcomes. Method This study evaluates the Dundee Provocation Inventory (DPI), a 20-item assessment measure for anger provocation. A group of 114 participants were administered the DPI, and 62 of these were also administered the Novaco Anger Scale (NAS) and NAS Provocation Inventory (NAS-PI), two well-validated measures. Results Preliminary analysis revealed that the DPI correlated significantly with the NAS (r = .57) and NAS-PI (r = .77). The DPI had high internal consistency (alpha = .91) and moderate to high inter-item and item-to-total score correlations. Factor analysis revealed a 5-factor solution which accounted for 63% of the variance and was most easily interpreted. Conclusion The analysis suggests that the DPI is a suitable tool for assessing anger in people with ID. Further replication of the factor structure would be valuable.

Among mainstream offenders, the severe personality disorder of psychopathy has considerable importance as a construct. The disorder has long been associated with failure to make treatment progress. Previous work has identified that psychopathy as a disorder occurs in samples of offenders with intellectual disability (ID), and suggests that the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R: Hare, 1991, 2003) as a measure of the disorder has adequate reliability and validity (Morrissey et al., 2005). The present study aimed to compare the predictive power of the PCL-R in relation to treatment progress with a more general assessment of violence risk, the HCR-20 (Webster, Douglas, Eaves,Hart, 1997).A sample of 73 residents in a high security intellectual disability service, who had previously been assessed using the PCL-R and the HCR-20, were followed up at 2 years post-assessment, and their outcome determined in terms of two distinct dichotomous variables reflecting definite positive treatment progress and definite negative treatment progress respectively.In line with predictions, the PCL-R Total score and Factor 1 score (Interpersonal and Affective aspects of psychopathy) and the HCR-20 Total score were significantly inversely associated with a positive move from high to medium security hospital conditions within 2 years of assessment. However against prediction, the PCL-R Total score had incremental validity over the HCR-20. The PCL-R Total and Factor 1, but not the HCR-20 Total score, were also significantly associated with negative treatment progress in terms of a move to more restricted treatment conditions.Psychopathy, and in particular its interpersonal and affective manifestations, is a construct which appears to be associated with indirect measures of treatment progress in this high security ID group. However, caution should be applied in the use of a construct with potentially negative connotations in an already devalued population.

The Journal of IntellectualDevelopmental Disability has a well-respected history of establishing the parameters and contributing to developments in the field of offenders with intellectual disability (ID).The field has seen a number of developments over the past 15 years, and this paper identifies several trends that have emerged in the research during this period, including work on prevalence of ID in prison populations, development of risk assessment, consideration of staff issues, developing the psychometrics of offence-specific assessments, evaluating treatment methods, and testing the underlying theoretical frameworks which attempt to account for offending.We refer to a number of studies which have advanced these developments in the field and draw the reader's attention to the way in which papers in this special issue contribute to and further develop each of these research trends.

Resistance to the anti-neoplastic drug paclitaxel is frequent in breast cancer patients. Most studies of paclitaxel resistance have focused on pathways that elicit cellular response, while little is known about players involved in the acquirement of taxane resistance. By screening a cohort of breast cancer cell lines, we observed a correlation between level of protein Daxx and response to paclitaxel. Cells lines expressing increased level of Daxx displayed a robust paclitaxel response with nearly all cells undergoing micronucleation, while cell lines with low amount of Daxx showed a decrease in micronucleation, and accumulation in mitosis. At used paclitaxel concentrations, apoptotic levels were negligible in all cell lines tested. Human cell lines expressing anti-Daxx siRNA as well as Daxx-/- mouse fibroblasts showed similar cellular response to paclitaxel. Importantly, absence or depletion of Daxx resulted in cell survival after paclitaxel treatment, as measured by colony formation assay. We conclude that Daxx may be an important predictive factor in cellular response to paclitaxel, which emphasizes a critical but unknown function of this protein in mitotic progression, which, when disabled, leads to survival advantages upon paclitaxel treatment.

What is courage? This question garners significant interest and attention but little empirical research. An operational definition of courage is essential to good research, yet no consensus definition has fully emerged. This article systematically investigates people's conceptions of courage and courageous behavior through a series of studies employing well-grounded implicit methodologies. The organizational structure and components of courage are investigated using a response-generating task (Study 1) and alternate methods (Studies 2 and 3), followed by an experimental approach to determine if people actually use their implicit theories in their evaluations of others (Study 4). Collectively, these studies reveal an organizational structure of people's implicit theories of courage. Further, they indicate that people apply their implicit theories accurately in evaluating others. Then, Laches, suppose that we first set about determining the nature of courage … Tell me, if you can, what is courage Socrates...

Two theoretical developments, the Self-Regulation Model of the Offence and Relapse Process and the Good Lives Model, have recently offered promise in the advancement of sex offender treatment. The present paper represents a preliminary attempt to operationalize these theoretical principles by developing a number of practical treatment procedures. We have employed the method of a life map, which traces personal development from birth and which incorporates long-term future projections. This includes all actions, events, incidents and skills (whether positive or negative), which have led to a sense of self-esteem and the development of personal values. These will include risk factors and criminogenic needs which lead to offending as well as positive experiences and self-resources which can be incorporated into a future Good Lives Pathway. Two case illustrations are presented, which demonstrate the way in which all experiences from the past can be incorporated into alternative future pathways. These pathways will include positive self-resources and protective variables which develop into a non-offending future and negative self-resources with risk variables which develop into an offending future. The cases illustrate the way in which GLM and self-regulation pathways can be combined in a robust practical treatment procedure. Practical difficulties inherent in the procedure are also discussed.

Psychopathy has emerged as one of the constructs most predictive of violence risk in the forensic field. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) has previously been found to have acceptable reliability and validity in a sample of offenders with intellectual disability, but its predictive validity in this group has yet to be established. This prospective study examined the relative ability of the PCL-R and two other instruments, the Historical Clinical Risk-20 (HCR-20) and the Emotional Problem Scales' Behaviour Ratings Scale, to predict officially recorded institutional aggression. A sample of 60 offenders with intellectual disability in a high security forensic psychiatric setting was followed up for a period of 12 months. The PCL-R 20-item total, the PCL-R 13-item total, and PCL-R Factor 1 and Factor 2 scores did not significantly predict any type of aggressive behaviour. In contrast, the two more clinically based measures significantly predicted both interpersonal physical and verbal/propert...

There is an extensive research literature on the association between personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and risk of future violent and sexual offences. Several studies have found an elevated prevalence of personality disorder diagnoses amongst those individuals with severe mental illness and criminal populations. While there has been some work on the prevalence of personality disorder among intellectual disability populations, it has been criticised as being unreliable and inconsistent. The present authors have taken account of these criticisms and recommendations in this comparison of 164 offenders with intellectual disability across three settings – community, medium/low secure, and high secure. In Study 1, DSM-IV diagnoses were made on the basis of four information sources: file review, interview with clinician, observations by care staff, and the Structured Assessment of Personality Interview. Across the samples, total prevalence of PD was 39.3%. The most common diagnosis ...

Hayes (1991) and Day (1994) have developed hypotheses about the importance of social and developmental variables in the aetiology of sexual offences in offenders with intellectual disability. The present study is the first of its kind to investigate the perceived quality of life and relationships of sex offenders in comparison to an appropriate control group.A group of 28 sex offenders with intellectual disability (ID) were compared with 28 members of a control group of individuals with ID. All participants completed the Significant Others Scale (SOS) which assesses self-perceptions of potential and ideal support from significant others in the individual's life, and the Life Experience Checklist (LEC) which assesses experiences and opportunities across 5 living domains: home, leisure, freedom, relationships and opportunities.There were no differences between the groups on age and IQ. On the SOS there were no differences between the groups on the number of times each significant other was reported. Actual and ideal levels of support from both mother and father were lower for sex offenders than the control group. On the LEC, sex offenders reported lower scores on the relationships and leisure sections.Poorer relationships and little indication of any wish to change that state of affairs suggests lower levels of integration and identification with society for sex offenders compared with the control group.

Sexual assault in the military is an intolerable problem. A challenge in dealing with this problem has been the lack of a conceptual framework for comprehensively organizing needed interventions. Adapting the Toxic Triangle model developed by Padilla, Hogan, and Kaiser (2007), we examine military sexual assault from the interacting perspectives of conducive environments, destructive leaders, and susceptible followers. These components support tactical interventions, many of which can be conducted through the existing infrastructure of training and professional military education. Interventions include better leader development, accountability, and assertive followership.

As a part of a larger study, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) was used to assess psychopathy in 203 individuals from three UK National Health Service settings for offenders with intellectual disabilities (ID): a high security hospital, a medium and low security hospital and a community based service. The PCL-R was rated from file review combined with a clinician interview. Internal consistency and inter-rater reliability were acceptable, and broadly comparable to that reported for other offender populations. The instrument was also associated in largely expected ways with level of security, and with measures of antisocial personality disorder, risk, and current behavioural functioning, providing some preliminary indications of convergent validity. However, further empirical investigation is required before the PCL-R can be used with confidence to make clinical and risk-based decisions in this population.

Summary Lysosomes are dynamic organelles receiving membrane traffic input from the biosynthetic, endocytic and autophagic pathways. They may be regarded as storage organelles for acid hydrolases and are capable of fusing with late endosomes to form hybrid organelles where digestion of endocytosed macromolecules occurs. Reformation of lysosomes from the hybrid organelles involves content condensation and probably removal of some membrane proteins by vesicular traffic. Lysosomes can also fuse with the plasma membrane in response to cell surface damage and a rise in cytosolic Ca 2 concentration. This process is important in plasma membrane repair. The molecular basis of membrane traffic pathways involving lysosomes is increasingly understood, in large part because of the identification of many proteins required for protein traffic to vacuoles in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mammalian orthologues of these proteins have been identified and studied in the processes of vesicular delivery of newly synthesized lysosomal proteins from the trans-Golgi network, fusion of lysosomes with late endosomes and sorting of membrane proteins into lumenal vesicles. Several multiprotein oligomeric complexes required for these processes have been identified. The present review focuses on current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of fusion of lysosomes with both endosomes and the plasma membrane and on the sorting events required for delivery of newly synthesized membrane proteins, endocytosed membrane proteins and other endocytosed macromolecules to lysosomes.

The present study compared the neumpsychologlcal pmfiles of a group of adult male sex offenden with a laming disability (n-42) with a group of adult male non-offenders with a learning disability (n-42) using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised (1986). The groups wen matched for full-scale IQ. Thc study found that the non-offender group had significantly higher Verbal 1Q scorn than the sex offender group. No significant differences wen found for Performance IQ. The non-ofinder group was also found to have significantly hlgher scores on the Vocabulary sub-test than the sex offender group and the sex offender group was found to have significantly higher scores on the ObJecr Assembly subtest than the non-ofinder group. Finally. the sex offender group was found to have a significantly lower Verbal IQ than Performance IQ. No significant Verbal-Performance discrepancy was found for the non-offender group. Possible implications of these findings are dlscusscd.

Summary For the past 20 years, forest modellers have largely used the Weibull distribution to summarize diameter distributions and to predict timber volume in a forest at clearfell time. The wider family of Burr distributions is investigated here as an alternative to the Weibull distribution. Using data from 20 permanent sample plots of Pinus radiata, we compare Burr and Weibull fits, showing that the Burr distribution enhances precision by roughly 13 . The effectiveness of the Burr distribution for prediction is found to be similar to that of the Weibull distribution.

Adjuvant hormonal therapy significantly reduces the risk of recurrence and death following surgery for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive early breast cancer. Previously, the gold standard hormonal therapy was tamoxifen, a selective modulator of the ER. However, large clinical trials conducted over the past decade have defined the efficacy of an alternative class of hormonal agent, namely the third-generation aromatase inhibitors (AIs): exemestane, letrozole, and anastrozole. On the basis of the pivotal International Exemestane Study (IES), exemestane, a steroidal third-generation AI, was licensed for the adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with ER-positive early breast cancer following 2–3 years of tamoxifen to complete a total of 5 years of adjuvant hormonal therapy. Here, we consider recent data to emerge primarily from the IES and Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multicenter trials and consider their implications for the role of exemestane in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer.

The current generation of novel anticancer therapies that are in preclinical and clinical development are based on exploiting our increasing understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of cancer development and progression. Accelerated rates of cell division and proliferation have been postulated to predispose to the development of malignant disease. The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling system has an important physiological role in regulating cellular proliferation and apoptosis. This function has led to considerable interest in its relevance to neoplasia over the last decade. In this review, we give an overview of the IGF system physiology, discuss the epidemiological significance of IGF signaling and neoplasia, and review the preclinical and clinical studies in targeting IGF receptors as cancer therapies.

Normal values for blood flow velocity in some terminal vascular units of the cochlea (stria vascularis and spiral ligament) and for carotid blood pressure are presented along with the percentage changes produced by administration of epinephrine, norepinephrine, vasopressin and serotonin. Increases in flow velocity in these cochlear vessels can be produced. These are closely related to the measured increases in mean carotid blood pressure. Cochlear function as measured by the microphonic response to a moderate acoustic stimulus is not altered by this increase in cochlear blood flow. Some general relations between flow velocity, oxygen utilization and cell function are discussed.