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Psychopathy is an important forensic mental health construct. Despite this importance, the research base of psychopathy among individuals convicted of capital murder is limited. Archival data were collected from a sample of 636 persons convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the State of California. Psychopathy was assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R) instrument. Data on criminal careers and other behavioral disorders were also extracted. The sample mean PCL-R total score was 23.31 (SD = 9.92) and one-third of individuals in this sample were considered clinically psychopathic with PCL-R total scores of 30 or greater. Factor analytic examination yielded support for four facets: affective, interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial. Criterion validity findings revealed positive correlations of psychopathy scores with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ρ = 0.72), Conduct Disorder (ρ = 0.46), sexual sadism (ρ = 0.24), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ρ = 0.20), ADHD (ρ = 0.15), arrest charges (r = 0.56), prison sentences (r = 0.53), and age of arrest onset (r = -0.57). Individuals convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death reflect heterogeneity in psychopathy with some individuals exhibiting pronounced psychopathic features.

CRISPR-Cas, ZFN, and TALEN provide gene editing opportunities which may lead to new food and agricultural products with identifiable benefits for end-use consumers. Given the public perceptions and backlash faced by previous generations of genetically modified food products, there is a lot of speculation regarding how gene edited food products will come to be understood, and if they will be accepted or avoided by society. This study provides timely and reliable data which reports representative coordinated study of the United States public as to what factors influence their willingness to eat- or purposeful avoidance of gene-edited foods. This study fills this gap to identify influential factors which, in concert, help to explain not only if members of the public trust GEF and are willing to eat GEF foods or choose to avoid them, but why they hold the trust attitudes they do. From our analysis, we find that social values, institutional trust, and awareness are the most important factors in why Americans would choose to either eat or avoid gene edited foods. Surprisingly, the public’s attitudes about the tangible characteristics of food (such as safety, cost, taste, and appearance) had no bearing on GE food perceptions. This helps explains why the American public makes little distinction between willingness to eat processed or raw foods made with GE crops.

Despite declines in prescription opioid overdoses, rural areas continue to have higher prescription opioid overdose rates than urban areas. We aim to understand high overdose places were resilient to the prescription opioid overdose crisis (better than predicted), while others were vulnerable (worse than predicted). First, we predicted prescription opioid overdose mortality in 2016-18 for

Micropolitan areas (between 10,000 and 50,000 people) are not immune to economic shocks that threaten their vitality. Factors related to economic shocks can range from local companies leaving a town or national economic crises affecting local economies. Using the perspective of local micropolitan area stakeholders, this research seeks to identify why certain micropolitan areas recover from an economic shock while others do not. The research included the case study of two micropolitan areas in the U.S. Midwest (one resilient and one vulnerable), based on 22 interviews with key stakeholders representing diverse for-profit and government organizations. Our results reveal differences in the collective capacity and its underlying practices in the two micropolitan areas. We found that stakeholders built collective capacity by aligning effort, interacting face-to-face, supporting participation, sharing identity and building organizational capacity. Collective capacity ultimately enhanced the resilient micropolitan area’s ability to adopt place-based, or localized, strategies at a higher rate and larger scale than the vulnerable micropolitan area. The results contribute to theory of constitutive collaboration and help policy makers and stakeholders make informed decisions regarding practices to promote economic resilience.

Rural communities in the American Midwest have experienced upheaval since the 1980s with shrinking populations, an exodus of younger people, job losses, and aging infrastructure. Evidence shows that these trends are unlikely to be reversed in most places. Despite this, high-cost and unproven economic growth strategies are still promoted as the most appropriate responses. This chapter presents findings from an interdisciplinary research project about quality of life (QoL) in rural Iowa that proposes changing the analytical paradigm in this context from growth to one that sees adaptation to population loss as a form of resiliency. Using qualitative and quantitative data, the research considers how some shrinking rural communities in Iowa have been better able to adapt than others. The research shows that negative trends in QoL perceptions in these towns were best mitigated by investing in community services and social capital, rather than in economic development. This process is described as rural smart shrinkage, a term borrowed from research on shrinking cities and applied here to rural communities for the first time. The framework shifts away from associating population loss with community decline and instead emphasizes intentional and low-cost strategies that may sustain shrinking rural communities into the future.

Purpose This study creates a COVID‐19 susceptibility scale at the county level, describes its components, and then assesses the health and socioeconomic resiliency of susceptible places across the rural‐urban continuum. Methods Factor analysis grouped 11 indicators into 7 distinct susceptibility factors for 3,079 counties in the conterminous United States. Unconditional mean differences are assessed using a multivariate general linear model. Data from 2018 are primarily taken from the US Census Bureau and CDC. Results About 33% of rural counties are highly susceptible to COVID‐19, driven by older and health‐compromised populations, and care facilities for the elderly. Major vulnerabilities in rural counties include fewer physicians, lack of mental health services, higher disability, and more uninsured. Poor Internet access limits telemedicine. Lack of social capital and social services may hinder local pandemic recovery. Meat processing facilities drive risk in micropolitan counties. Although metropolitan counties are less susceptible due to healthier and younger populations, about 6% are at risk due to community spread from dense populations. Metropolitan vulnerabilities include minorities at higher health and diabetes risk, language barriers, being a transportation hub that helps spread infection, and acute housing distress. Conclusions There is an immediate need to know specific types of susceptibilities and vulnerabilities ahead of time to allow local and state health officials to plan and allocate resources accordingly. In rural areas it is essential to shelter‐in‐place vulnerable populations, whereas in large metropolitan areas general closure orders are needed to stop community spread. Pandemic response plans should address vulnerabilities.

To better understand the spatial pattern of organic agriculture in the United States, this research investigates multiple measures of organic farming and examines its environmental and socioeconomic correlates at the meso-level between 2007 and 2012. Drawing data from the Census of Agriculture, the organic index indicates that organic farming is primarily located in New England, along the Pacific Coast, the Northern Great Lakes, and the Western Mountains. Although neighborhood effects did play an important role in organic conversion, a small number of organic intensive counties are expanding in areas that are dominated by conventional agriculture. The regional differences of organic agriculture are associated with ecological factors such as climate and topography. Organic intensive areas tend to have more diverse farm operations, with more women operators and direct sales to people and the community. However, the results show mixed support linking organic production with better socioeconomic setti...

While wetlands are recognized to be a potential nature-based tourism destination, little information has been known regarding wetlands visitors for outdoor recreation activities. This study developed an extended model of goal-directed behavior to examine the impact of perceived benefits of wetlands on the decision-making process and to identify differences between residents and non-residents. An online survey was conducted to outdoor recreationists in Iowa and 462 responses were used for data analysis. The structural equation modeling revealed that perceived benefits of wetlands were significant in the decision-making process. Desire was an important key element, conceptually different from behavioral intention, to link attitude, anticipated emotions, and frequency of past behavior to behavioral intention. Compared to non-residents, residents showed that positive attitude and past experience were significant in forming desire and intention to visit wetlands. The research contributes to highlighting the importance of wetlands benefit and group differences, extending the literature on decision-making process in the outdoor recreation context. This study suggests wetland operators develop differentiated marketing promotions by recognizing complicated decision-making processes and group differences by residential status. Management implications 1. This study shows that the perceived benefits of wetlands play a vital role in strengthening the decision-making process to visit wetlands. Wetlands management are suggested to recognize the essential values of wetlands and develop promotional programs based on the environmental, educational, and recreational resources in wetlands. 2. Furthermore, this study suggests marketing managers should consider differences between residents and non-residents in the decision-making process for planning effective advertisements or promotions. 3. Residents showed that a positive attitude toward wetlands played a significant role in forming a strong desire to visit wetlands. And they were more likely to revisit wetlands if they were frequent visitors in the past, compared to non-residents. Therefore, tourism organizers are suggested to recognize frequent visitors as an important market among residents and to develop an appropriate marketing program, meeting the corresponding needs and demands of the consumers.

Drawing on interviews with 24 correctional practitioners who use risk assessment instruments daily, we examine barriers to the use and implementation of these instruments. Findings reveal that practitioners have confidence in the state of risk assessment generally, but are skeptical about risk assessment on the job due to limited resources. They also point to barriers that inhibit their effectiveness including recognition of population heterogeneity, predictive misspecification due to data lags and overemphasis on stable predictors, and lacking guidance on appropriate use of vast available data. Instruments for measuring risk serve purposes beyond those intended by the social scientists who developed measures. We conclude with lessons for increasing the utility and legitimacy of risk assessments and with a call for incorporating latent uses of assessments into design.

The rapid increase of fatal opioid overdoses over the past two decades is a major U.S. public health problem, especially in non-metropolitan communities. The crisis has transitioned from pharmaceuticals to illicit synthetic opioids and street mixtures, especially in urban areas. Using latent profile analysis, we classify n = 3,079 counties into distinct classes using CDC fatal overdose rates for specific opioids in 2002-2004, 2008-2012, and 2014-2016. We identify three distinct epidemics (prescription opioids, heroin, and prescription-synthetic opioid mixtures) and one syndemic involving all opioids. We find that prescription-related epidemic counties, whether rural or urban, have been "left behind" the rest of the nation. These communities are less populated and more remote, older and mostly white, have a history of drug abuse, and are former farm and factory communities that have been in decline since the 1990s. Overdoses in these places exemplify the "deaths of despair" narrative. By contrast, heroin and opioid syndemic counties tend to be more urban, connected to interstates, ethnically diverse, and in general more economically secure. The urban opioid crisis follows the path of previous drug epidemics, affecting a disadvantaged subpopulation that has been left behind rather than the entire community. County data on opioid epidemic class membership are provided.

Objectives. To examine associations of county-level demographic, socioeconomic, and labor market characteristics on overall drug mortality rates and specific classes of opioid mortality. Methods. We used National Vital Statistics System mortality data (2002–2004 and 2014–2016) and county-level US Census data. We examined associations between several census variables and drug deaths for 2014 to 2016. We then identified specific classes of counties characterized by different levels and rates of growth in mortality from specific opioid types between 2002 to 2004 and 2014 to 2016. We ran multivariate and multivariable regression models to predict probabilities of membership in each “opioid mortality class” on the basis of county-level census measures. Results. Drug mortality rates overall are higher in counties characterized by more economic disadvantage, more blue-collar and service employment, and higher opioid-prescribing rates. High rates of prescription opioid overdoses and overdoses involving both prescription and synthetic opioids cluster in more economically disadvantaged counties with larger concentrations of service industry workers. High heroin and “syndemic” opioid mortality counties (high rates across all major opioid types) are more urban, have larger concentrations of professional workers, and are less economically disadvantaged. Syndemic opioid counties also have greater concentrations of blue-collar workers. Conclusions. Census data are essential tools for understanding the importance of place-level characteristics on opioid mortality. Public Health Implications. National opioid policy strategies cannot be assumed universally applicable. In addition to national policies to combat the opioid and larger drug crises, emphasis should be on developing locally and regionally tailored interventions, with attention to place-based structural economic and social characteristics.

Using two data sets, containing 582 total cases, this study investigates whether classifying offenders on trajectories of risk scores helps predict parolee recidivism. One data set has 4 years of risk scores and another has three. Both data sets contain control variables measuring released inmates’ characteristics. The dependent variable measures arrest or return to prison over a 2-year span. A growth mixture model, classifies offenders into three classes, a stable and high trajectory group, a group with a high but declining risk trajectory, and a small, low-risk group with little change. Trajectory class membership correlates with recidivism in both data sets. Supplementary analyses show that assigned classes are better predictors of recidivism than last risk scores or simple change scores. Discussion centers on the appeal and relevance of trajectories of risk, as opposed to static measures, for predicting offender misconduct and other outcomes.

Population loss in North America is often viewed as a problem best addressed through economic development efforts promoting growth. In Europe, an alternative view sees depopulation as a process needing to be managed properly, by scaling down community services and infrastructure while maintaining social equity. Called smart shrinkage, this approach argues places can lose population yet still possess a high quality of life. We first clarify the concept by distinguishing the outputs of smartness from its inputs using the entrepreneurial social infrastructure framework. Second, we apply the smart shrinkage concept to n = 98 small towns in the Midwestern state of Iowa using longitudinal data collected in 1994 and 2014. Shrinkage is measured by faster than average population loss; and smart outcomes by faster than average quality of life gains. We then examine correlates of smart shrinkage using demographic, economic, social capital, and civic engagement indicators. Demographic and geographic factors have little impact on smart shrinkage. Smart towns have stronger local labor markets, lower poverty and inequality, and job opportunities in goods-producing sectors. Lastly, smart shrinking towns exhibit higher social infrastructure by possessing more bridging social capital across diverse groups, greater quantities of linking social capital such as memberships in local organizations, and frequent civic engagement by participation in local projects. These activities are supported by a community culture of openness, tolerance, and support.

Objectives Ascertaining the effect of treatment on recidivism is a core area of investigation in criminology and corrections research. The two objectives of the current analysis are: (1) to determine the true effect of treatment regimen completion on time to recidivism controlling for propensity to complete treatment; and (2) to examine the sensitivity of results under various propensity score methods.

Moral engagement produces strong emotions that help individuals refrain from serious criminal behavior, but what if a youth is unable to experience these emotions. Based on a sample of adjudicated delinquents and using a series of structural equation models, we test whether moral disengagement varies by level of psychopathy in relation to criminal onset and assess this stability across gender. Psychopathic personality features, moral disengagement, and family stress intermixed in diverse ways depending on the severity of psychopathic personality and gender. At higher levels of psychopathy, the effect of psychopathy on criminal onset was unmediated. However, moral disengagement was found to have mediating effects on criminal onset at lower levels of psychopathy. Study findings lend support to the hypothesis that due to core emotional deficits, youth high on psychopathy are unaffected by the mechanisms of moral disengagement. Results are discussed in light of theories of morality and psychopathy and the treatment of moral deficits among youthful offenders.

Green occupations are identified using the diversity, use, and relevance of green tasks in the United States. Results find 176, of nearly 1,000, occupations use at least one green task, but only 70 intensively use green tasks. Green-intensive jobs are quality jobs that are full-time, pay above average wages, and have health insurance. The employment outlook for all green jobs is positive, but new job growth lags behind other sectors. Green jobs are accessible to disadvantaged workers with limited education and experience, but most are not well paid. The majority of green jobs are male dominated, yet are racially and ethnically diverse. Implications for green jobs policies are discussed.

Fledgling psychopathy is a construct that has proven useful in organizing the nomological network of conduct problems and psychopathology in children and adolescents. Drawing on data from an institutionalized sample of delinquents (n = 252), the current study compared ADHD, CD, and ADHD+CD youth on psychopathic personality features and their association with pathological delinquency. Youths with ADHD+CD were significantly more psychopathic than their peers. Although callousness, unemotionality, and remorselessness are generally theorized to define the fledgling psychopathic youth, ROC-AUC models found that thrillseeking and impulsiveness were the strongest classification variables for delinquency and violent delinquency at the 90th percentiles. Implications for research and practice with antisocial youth are proffered.

Recently developed inmate behavior frameworks have expanded the discussion from deprivation/importation models to a life-course perspective. DeLisi and associates (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 55;1186–1207, 2011) presented the life-course importation model of inmate behavior based on a sample of state incarcerated offenders; however, their analyses were unable to distinguish indirect and direct effects of delinquent career and distal family background factors. The current study builds on the life-course importation model of inmate behavior by using path analysis to understand the direct and indirect effects of distal pre-incarceration indictors on gang-related inmate misconduct for 2,520 incarcerated youthful offenders. The findings lend support to the life-course importation model as the familial gang indicator was associated directly with individual gang affiliation, gang affiliation was associated directly with gang-related misconduct, and familial gang associations was associated indirectly with gang-related misconduct.

This article examines the spatial distribution of income inequal- ity and the socioeconomic factors affecting it using spatial analysis techniques across 16,285 block groups, 5,050 tracts, and 618 counties in the western part of the North Central Region of the United States. Different geographic aggregations result in different inequality outcomes, suggesting spatial scale needs to be carefully considered in inequality research. Inequality is spatially clustered in suburban areas of larger metro areas and around Native Ameri- can reservations in the Dakotas. Higher inequality is associated with better socioeconomic conditions, counter to the social inequality literature but consistent with the inequality growth literature. However, growing inequality is associated with worse socioeconomic outcomes. Results partially support the polarization thesis that declines in industrial sectors and growth in ser- vices has caused incomes to diverge. Higher and growing inequality is asso- ciated with both low-skill and high-skill services jobs. However, employment in agricultural and industrial sectors experiencing large losses over the past three decades is also linked to higher and growing inequality. This suggests a dual process where many former agricultural and industrial workers are now employed in other sectors at lower wages, while the remaining workers in these sectors earn higher and growing wages.

This analysis identifies and describes clusters of persistently low and high income inequality for N = 7,353 non-metropolitan block-groups in the western part of the North Central Region. Analysis finds more low inequality than high inequality places in the region, but there are also large numbers of rising inequality places. Lower inequality places are found to have poorer demographic and economic outcomes than higher inequality places, contrary to what is found in the literature. Lower inequality places are also found to be more specialized in traditional agricultural and industrial sectors, while higher inequality places are more specialized in higher skilled services industries. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.

Application of the industry cluster concept by development agencies is limited because cluster policies benefit economically powerful core regions over periphery regions and are of little use when a region has no competitive industries. To address these limitations, industry complexes can be used as an alternative to traditional cluster approaches. To demonstrate this, 49 labor complexes in Missouri are identified using cluster and discriminant function analyses, and their application to workforce development policy in Missouri is discussed. Labor complexes can be used to assist (a) job placement programs by identifying industries that are similar in labor but dissimilar in primary economic activity, (b) economic development by identifying existing pools of specialized labor for recruitment, and (c) development of customized training and education programs that meet industry demands.

The prevalence of polyps and cancer in the proximal colon among patients who have polyps detected on sigmoidoscopy was determined in a large rural referral hospital in north central Pennsylvania. Eleven thousand one hundred sixty patients underwent sigmoidoscopy between 1991 and 1997. Polyps were detected in 709 patients. Five hundred twenty-three patients who had a polyp at sigmoidoscopy and full colonoscopy completed within one year were included in this study. 120 patients (23%) had a proximal polyp detected at colonoscopy. The prevalence of proximal polyps and histologically advanced polyps was related to the size, number, and histology of the distal index polyp found at sigmoidoscopy. However, the absolute difference in prevalence of proximal polyps stratified by dings at sigmoidoscopy was small. A total of 5 adenocarcinomas were detected in the proximal colon. All proximal cancers detected at colonoscopy occurred in patients with a distal polyp less than 10 mm. Our data emphasize the importance of colonoscopy in all patients with a polyp detected at sigmoidoscopy independent of its size and histology.

OBJECTIVE: We determined the outcome of patients with chronic abdominal pain of unknown etiology referred by gastroenterologists to a chronic pain clinic. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 43 consecutive patients seen by a university-based gastroenterology group was referred to our Chronic Pain Clinic for evaluation and treatment. Pain character and location, the referring diagnosis, and initial Chronic Pain Clinic diagnosis was compared between responders and nonresponders. Early and long-term pain relief was scored by standard questionnaire. RESULTS: Of the 43 patients with chronic abdominal pain of undetermined etiology, 70% reported complete or substantial pain relief by the end of chronic pain management. Pain character and location and the referring diagnosis were not predictors of pain relief. Long-term pain relief was reported by 35% of patients. CONCLUSION: A substantial group of patients with chronic abdominal pain of unknown etiology benefited from Chronic Pain Clinic services.

Herpes simplex-induced fulminant hepatitis is an infrequently reported cause of hepatitis in adults. Pregnant females and patients with impaired cellular immunity may be at increased risk, although healthy adults have been affected. The diagnosis may be underrecognized due to nonspecific presenting symptoms and lack of typical cutaneous herpes lesions. We present three cases of fatal herpes simplex fulminant hepatitis. Our review of case reports of herpes simplex hepatitis in adults demonstrates improved survival with intravenous acyclovir therapy. We believe that empiric use of acyclovir should be considered while the diagnostic evaluation of non-acetaminophen-induced fulminant hepatitis is underway. Recognition of characteristic liver function abnormalities seen with fulminant herpes simplex hepatitis include marked elevation of transaminases with AST > ALT and a mild hyperbilirubinemia (anicteric hepatitis), and they should prompt acyclovir therapy. This is especially true when there are no obvious risk factors for other forms of hepatitis.

This analysis examines the spatial clustering of income inequality and its socioeconomic correlates at the meso-scale over the past four decades. Cluster analysis is used to group N = 3078 counties into five inequality clusters; and multinomial logistic regression is used to assess the effects of socioeconomic correlates. High and extreme inequality places are concentrated in large metropolitan centers, high amenity rural areas, and parts of the Great Plains and Mountain West. They tend to have better socioeconomic outcomes, with fewer at-risk populations, higher incomes, lower poverty, and greater economic participation. Unequal places are more specialized in high-skill finance and professional services, and in energy-based mining. By contrast, equality places are associated with low-skill services, education and health services, manufacturing, and stable farm economies.

A synthetic gene for human platelet factor 4 (hPF4) has been expressed at high levels as a fusion protein in Escherichia coli. The hPF4 sequence has been cleaved from the fusion protein by cyanogen bromide treatment and purified by column chromatography. Like hPF4, our recombinant hPF4 (rhPF4) is tetrameric under physiological conditions, binds heparin, and inhibits angiogenesis. Extensive purification to remove trace amounts of uncleaved fusion protein completely from the desired product rhPF4 was difficult. We have exploited recombinant DNA technology by modifying the fusion moiety to accomplish separation. This type of modification, which did not affect expression level, could be applied to other recombinant fusion proteins.

The prevalence of polyps and cancer in the proximal colon among patients who have polyps detected on sigmoidoscopy was determined in a large rural referral hospital in north central Pennsylvania. Eleven thousand one hundred sixty patients underwent sigmoidoscopy between 1991 and 1997. Polyps were detected in 709 patients. Five hundred twenty-three patients who had a polyp at sigmoidoscopy and full colonoscopy completed within one year were included in this study. 120 patients (23%) had a proximal polyp detected at colonoscopy. The prevalence of proximal polyps and histologically advanced polyps was related to the size, number, and histology of the distal index polyp found at sigmoidoscopy. However, the absolute difference in prevalence of proximal polyps stratified by dings at sigmoidoscopy was small. A total of 5 adenocarcinomas were detected in the proximal colon. All proximal cancers detected at colonoscopy occurred in patients with a distal polyp less than 10 mm. Our data emphasize the importance of colonoscopy in all patients with a polyp detected at sigmoidoscopy independent of its size and histology.

A seafloor process simulator (SPS) has been developed for experimental investigations of the physical, geochemical, and microbiological processes affecting the formation and stability of methane and carbon dioxide hydrates at temperatures and pressures corresponding to ocean depths of 2 km. The SPS is a corrosion-resistant pressure vessel whose salient characteristics are: (i) an operating range suitable for study of methane and carbon dioxide hydrates; (ii) numerous access and observation ports, and (iii) a large (0.0722 m3) internal volume. Initial experiments have shown that the SPS can be used to produce large amounts of high-purity methane hydrate over a wide range of experimental conditions.

A tropical cyclone model is developed for use in both hindcast and forecast applications. It is based on the work of Bretschneider with certain modifications. The model's reliability is tested by hindcasting wind and wave conditions at the locations of environmental buoys deployed in the Gulf of Mexico during the hurricanes Anita, Babe and Eloise. These hindcast data are compared to measured data recorded at the buoys during the passage of the three hurricanes. The comparisons reveal close agreement between the hindcast and measured data. A forecast program is then developed in which the model is used to provide numerical guidance to meteorologists preparing wind and wave forecasts under hurricane conditions.

Bromination, dehydrogenation, the Mannich reaction, the Cope–Knoevenagel reaction, and the Schmidt reaction of 1,2,4,5-tetrahydropyrrolo[3,2,1-ij]quinolin-6-one are described. The oxime derived from this ketone forms a p-tolylsulphonyl derivative, which under Neber reaction conditions (sodium ethoxide in benzene) yields the expected keto-amine hydrochloride. The latter has been converted into the corresponding keto-urethane, which has been subjected to dehydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, and reduction with both potassium borohydride and lithium aluminium hydride.