bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Solving the Forward Kinematics of a Gough-Type Parallel Manipulator with Interval Analysis
Authors: Merlet J. -P.
Published: May 2004

We consider in this paper a Gough-type parallel robot and we present an efficient algorithm based on interval analysis that allows us to solve the forward kinematics, i.e., to determine all the possible poses of the platform for given joint coordinates. This algorithm is numerically robust as numerical round-off errors are taken into account; the provided solutions are either exact in the sense that it will be possible to refine them up to an arbitrary accuracy or they are flagged only as a “possible” solution as either the numerical accuracy of the computation does not allow us to guarantee them or the robot is in a singular configuration. It allows us to take into account physical and technological constraints on the robot (for example, limited motion of the passive joints). Another advantage is that, assuming realistic constraints on the velocity of the robot, it is competitive in term of computation time with a real-time algorithm such as the Newton scheme, while being safer.
OpenHRP: Open Architecture Humanoid Robotics Platform
Authors: Kanehiro Fumio , Hirukawa Hirohisa , Kajita Shuuji
Published: May 2004

This paper presents the open architecture humanoid robotics platform (OpenHRP) which consists of a simulator and motion control library of humanoid robots. The binary software developed on OpenHRP can be applied to the real counterpart as is, thank to the proposed hardware abstraction and synchronization mechanism. The compatibility between the simulation and corresponding experiment has been successfully examined. OpenHRP is expected to initiate the exploration of humanoid robotics on open architecture software and hardware.
Human-Centered Robotics and Interactive Haptic Simulation
Authors: Khatib Oussama , Brock Oliver , Chang Kyong-Sok , Ruspini Diego , Sentis Luis , Viji Sriram
Published: May 2004

A new field of robotics is emerging. Robots are today moving towards applications beyond the structured environment of a manufacturing plant. They are making their way into the everyday world that people inhabit. This paper focuses on models, strategies, and algorithms associated with the autonomous behaviors needed for robots to work, assist, and cooperate with humans. In addition to the new capabilities they bring to the physical robot, these models and algorithms and, more generally, the body of developments in robotics is having a significant impact on the virtual world. Haptic interaction with an accurate dynamic simulation provides unique insights into the real-world behaviors of physical systems. The potential applications of this emerging technology include virtual prototyping, animation, surgery, robotics, cooperative design, and education among many others. Haptics is one area where the computational requirement associated with the resolution in real time of the dynamics and contact forces of the virtual environment is particularly challenging. This paper describes various methodologies and algorithms that address the computational challenges associated with interactive simulations involving multiple contacts and impacts between human-like structures.
A Gain-Switching Control Scheme for Position-Error-Based Bilateral Teleoperation: Contact Stability Analysis and Controller Design
Authors: Ni Liya , Wang David W. L.
Published: May 2004

To lower the cost of a force-reflecting teleoperation system, position errors instead of direct measurements from force/torque sensors can be used for force feedback. An investigation on transparency shows that position-error-based teleoperation provides poor transparency when using constant controller gains, and this can be overcome by gain switching. The scenario studied in this paper is a position-errorbased bilateral teleoperation system when the slave robot is either in free motion or colliding with a stationary stiff environment. A contact stability analysis is presented for teleoperation systems with constant controller gains and then extended to a gain-switching teleoperation system. Issues on the design of a gain-switching control scheme are discussed. The effectiveness of the proposed gain-switching control scheme is evaluated experimentally.
Static Modeling of Linear Object Deformation Based on Differential Geometry
Authors: Wakamatsu Hidefumi , Hirai Shinichi
Published: May 2004

We describe the modeling of linear object deformation based on differential geometry and its applications to manipulative operations. A particle-based approach, the finite element method, and the Cosserat theory have been applied to the modeling of linear object deformation. In this paper, we establish an alternative modeling approach based on an extension of differential geometry. First, we extend differential geometry to describe linear object deformation including flexure, torsion, and extension. Secondly, we show computational results to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed modeling technique, and we compare computational and experimental results to demonstrate the accuracy of the model. Next, we apply the proposed approach to the grasping of a deformable linear object. We propose a disturbance force margin to indicate the stability of the grasping and we describe the computation of the margin using the proposed approach. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to the deformation path planning of a linear object. We formulate the minimization of potential energy during a deformation path. We compute the optimal deformation path and a feasible deformation path, which are compared with an experimental result.
A New Actuation Approach for Human Friendly Robot Design
Authors: Zinn Michael , Roth Bernard , Khatib Oussama , Salisbury J. Kenneth
Published: May 2004

In recent years, many successful robotic manipulator designs have been introduced. However, there remains the challenge of designing a manipulator that possesses the inherent safety characteristics necessary for human-centered robotics. In this paper, we present a new actuation approach that has the requisite characteristics for inherent safety while maintaining the performance expected of modern designs. By drastically reducing the effective impedance of the manipulator while maintaining high-frequency torque capability, we show that the competing design requirements of performance and safety can be successfully integrated into a single manipulation system.
Embodied Symbol Emergence Based on Mimesis Theory
Authors: Inamura Tetsunari , Toshima Iwaki , Tanie Hiroaki , Nakamura Yoshihiko
Published: May 2004

“Mimesis” theory focused in the cognitive science field and “mirror neurons” found in the biology field show that the behavior generation process is not independent of the behavior cognition process. The generation and cognition processes have a close relationship with each other. During the behavioral imitation period, a human being does not practice simple joint coordinate transformation, but will acknowledge the parents’ behavior. It understands the behavior after abstraction as symbols, and will generate its self-behavior. Focusing on these facts, we propose a new method which carries out the behavior cognition and behavior generation processes at the same time. We also propose a mathematical model based on hidden Markov models in order to integrate four abilities: (1) symbol emergence; (2) behavior recognition; (3) self-behavior generation; (4) acquiring the motion primitives. Finally, the feasibility of this method is shown through several experiments on a humanoid robot.
Torque-Controlled Lightweight Arms and Articulated Hands: Do We Reach Technological Limits Now?
Authors: Hirzinger G. , Sporer N. , Schedl M. , Butterfaß J. , Grebenstein M.
Published: May 2004

In this paper we briefly address DLR’s (German Aerospace Center) background in space robotics by hand of corresponding milestone projects including systems on the International Space Station. We then discuss the key technologies needed for the development of an artificial “robonaut” generation with mechatronic ultra-lightweight arms and multifingered hands. The third arm generation is nearly finished now, approaching the limits of what is technologically achievable today with respect to light weight and power losses. In a similar way DLR’s second generation of artificial four-fingered hands was a big step towards higher reliability, manipulability and overall performance.
Navigation and Mapping in Large Unstructured Environments
Authors: Guivant Jose , Nebot Eduardo , Nieto Juan , Masson Favio
Published: May 2004

In this paper we address the problem of autonomous navigation in very large unstructured environments. A new hybrid metric map (HYMM) structure is presented that combines feature maps with other metric representations in a consistent manner. The global feature map is partitioned into a set of connected local triangular regions (LTRs), which provide a reference for a detailed multidimensional description of the environment. The HYMM framework permits the combination of efficient feature-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms for localization with, for example, occupancy grid maps for tasks such as obstacle avoidance, path planning or data association. This fusion of feature and grid maps has several complementary properties; for example, grid maps can assist data association and can facilitate the extraction and incorporation of new landmarks as they become identified from multiple vantage points. In this paper we also present a path-planning technique that efficiently maintains the estimated cost of traversing each LTR. The consistency of the SLAM algorithm is investigated with the introduction of exploration techniques to guarantee a certain measure of performance for the estimation process. Experimental results in outdoor environments are presented to demonstrate the performance of the algorithms proposed.
Modeling and Experimental Validation of the Locomotion of Endoscopic Robots in the Colon
Authors: Dario Paolo , Ciarletta Pasquale , Menciassi Arianna , Kim Byungkyu
Published: May 2004

In this paper we present a biomechanical study to evaluate the efficiency of the motion of endoscopic robots in the colon, with a special focus on “inchworm” locomotion. A quasi-linear viscoelastic model for soft tissues has been introduced in order to find the mechanical behavior of colon and mesenteries. A study of efficiency of the motion phases, through biomechanical and geometrical factors, allowed us to calculate the “critical stroke” to perform motion inside intestinal walls. This study has provided the guidelines to design a high-stroke pneumatic robotic prototype for colonoscopy. Phantom and in vivo tests have been extensively performed and have shown high efficiency of the robot in navigating inside a pig’s intestine; the performance of the semi-autonomous robot has achieved that of traditional colonoscopes in terms of traveled colon length.
Smoothing the Waters
Authors: Jeffrey Paul
Published: May 2004

Although both research funders and knowledge users continue to call for more and higher-quality collaboration between researchers from different disciplines, there is little evidence available to inform the structure and management of cross-disciplinary research teams. A descriptive account of cross-disciplinary collaboration is presented based on a study of a cross-disciplinary team researching natural resource degradation issues. A number of tools are identified that characterize and support the collaboration process, including the use of story-lines and metaphor, choice of vocabulary, the nature of dialogue and the role of mediating agents. Four products of collaboration are also identified: ‘process’, ‘understanding’, ‘utility’ and ‘knowledge integration’. Conclusions focus on the implications for research programme design and the content of research training curricula.
Constituting the Postwar Earth Sciences
Authors: Doel Ronald E.
Published: May 2004

The earth sciences expanded dramatically during the first decades of the Cold War. Their growth largely resulted from military patronage, for the earth sciences appeared vital to emerging weapons systems, such as guided missiles, and to the pursuit of anti-submarine warfare. The earth sciences were also seen as important for achieving US foreign-policy objectives. By the mid-1960s military funds had helped create myriad new academic institutes in the earth sciences, and military leaders joined with national security advisors in expanding space and oceanography as strategic fields. In the present paper, I explore the history and significance of this transformation. The prominence of the earth sciences after 1945 was unmatched since the wave of geological exploration in the 1870s, and represents an important revival of federal support for the field sciences. But the particular form the rise of the earth sciences took had great implications for the institutional, intellectual, and professional character of the environmental sciences in the US. I argue that patronage for military-relevant fields in the earth sciences shaped the questions that researchers asked and valued, and limited their interactions with colleagues in the biological realms of environmental sciences research.
Research from the Boundary Layer
Authors: Harper Kristine C.
Published: May 2004

In the USA, civilian meteorological organizations traditionally controlled weather services during peacetime, and the military controlled them during wartime. However, after World War II, the military retained control of meteorological research funding. Academics pursued theoretical issues, and the US Weather Bureau concentrated on improving forecasts. Post-war advances in electronic computing encouraged these groups to pool funding, theoretical knowledge, and forecasting skills, to develop numerical weather prediction techniques that would radically change 20th-century meteorology. The Institute for Advanced Study’s Meteorology Project illustrates how research is negotiated across intra-disciplinary boundaries, in relation to Cold War era themes of international scientific exchange, the integration of practice with theory, the role of research schools, and the tension between military and civilian control of science. The present paper also raises a significant epistemological issue characteristic of 20th-century science: who possesses the better scientific understanding - those who crunch numbers, or those for whom observational data hold meaning?
Underlying Yucca Mountain
Authors: MacFarlane Allison
Published: May 2004

Nuclear waste disposal in the USA is a difficult policy issue infused with science, technology, and politics. This issue provides an example of the co-production of scientific knowledge and politics through public policy. The proponents of a repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, argue that their decision to go ahead with the site is based on ‘sound science’, but the science they use to uphold their decision is influenced by politics. In turn, the politics of site selection has been altered by the scientific knowledge produced. Interestingly, changes in the scientific understanding of the site have forced policy-makers to look elsewhere for solutions. In the case of Yucca Mountain, they turned to engineering solutions that have, ironically, rendered any benefits of the site location superfluous. The Yucca Mountain example has significant implications for the ability of policy-makers to carry out an apparently democratic process for a science policy issue.
An Equation and its Worlds
Authors: MacKenzie Donald
Published: May 2004

This paper describes and analyses the history of the fundamental equation of modern financial economics: the Black-Scholes (or Black-Scholes-Merton) option pricing equation. In that history, several themes of potentially general importance are revealed. First, the key mathematical work was not rule-following but bricolage, creative tinkering. Second, it was, however, bricolage guided by the goal of finding a solution to the problem of option pricing analogous to existing exemplary solutions, notably the Capital Asset Pricing Model, which had successfully been applied to stock prices. Third, the central strands of work on option pricing, although all recognizably ‘orthodox’ economics, were not unitary. There was significant theoretical disagreement amongst the pioneers of option pricing theory; this disagreement, paradoxically, turns out to be a strength of the theory. Fourth, option pricing theory has been performative. Rather than simply describing a preexisting empirical state of affairs, it altered the world, in general in a way that made itself more true.
Organizing Credibility
Authors: Kinchy Abby J. , Kleinman Daniel Lee
Published: May 2004

In the present paper, we show that in its efforts to maintain credibility and claim social relevance, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and its members repeatedly negotiate a boundary between science and politics. While the boundaries of ecology are flexibly defined, contingent on political context and what is at stake, they are also shaped and constrained by the already constructed social world. Several factors shape the ESA’s boundary-work: (1) historically resonant discourses of both value-freedom and the utility of science; (2) national politics, including social movements and the demands of funding bodies; (3) the structure and actions of other, often more prestigious, scientific societies; and (4) established orthodoxies of scientific behavior. We contribute to the scholarly literature on credibility in science by showing that the construction of boundaries between science and politics is, in some cases, better understood as the reproduction of the already constructed social world than as a product of strategic efforts in pursuit of individual interests.
Can an Insect Speak?
Authors: Crist Eileen
Published: May 2004

In this paper I investigate the scientific understanding of the honeybee dance language. I elucidate the implicit and explicit reasons why the honeybees’ communication system has been referred to as a ‘language’, and examine the ways this designation has entangled the themes of animal mind and human– animal continuity. I end with an investigation of a scientific controversy surrounding the honeybee dance language. I argue that this controversy was a battle over assumptions regarding insect capacities, and a willingness or unwillingness to abandon those assumptions in the face of a phenomenon that undermined them.
Shaping the Intimate:
Authors: Healy David
Published: May 2004

Before 1980, most people experiencing common nervous problems and who sought medical help complained of anxiety and were treated for anxiety. Similar experiences increasingly led to complaints of or treatment for panic attacks in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and to complaints of or treatment for mood disorders by the mid-1990s. Today, such patients seem once again increasingly likely to complain of and be treated for anxiety. This paper reviews a series of mechanisms whereby company marketing can both transform the perceptions of physicians and shape the experiences of those seeking treatment and the self-understanding of those not in treatment. These include the standard ploys of company sales departments to increase demand for products, including celebrity endorsements, the sponsoring of educational events and a host of reminders. The portfolio of marketing manoeuvres has grown, though, by translating educational events and celebrity events into the arena of scientific research: clinical trials have increasingly become part of the marketing of disorders and their treatments; ghost-written scientific papers are authored by celebrity researchers. The portfolio of marketing manoeuvres has also grown to encompass new ways of creating fashion through medical activism, by setting up patient groups and disease awareness campaigns. The result is a transformation and growth in disorders tailor-made to fit ever more visible drugs.
‘Lab Hands’ and the ‘Scarlet O’
Authors: Doing Park
Published: May 2004

This paper is a history of the promotion and use of models of technical knowledge production over a seven-year period at a modern physics laboratory. In this analysis, models are seen as reflexively performed in the course of laboratory practice and intertwined with issues of authority and control in the laboratory. Attempts to associate or disassociate different models of knowledge production with different identities at play in the laboratory, in particular those of ‘scientist’ and ‘operator’, are traced. The concepts of ‘epistemic politics’ and ‘identity work’ are explicated. To account for the relationship between technical knowledge claims, laboratory identities, modes of accountability, and the control of labor both inside and outside of the laboratory. Changes in this relationship over time at the laboratory are considered. In combining sensibilities from labor relations with insights from science and technology studies (STS) writings on expertise, the paper provides an example of a new kind of laboratory study in which accepted modes of authority and control are seen as implicated in the day to day production of technical knowledge in the laboratory, and performances of ‘legitimate’ means of technical knowledge production, and ‘legitimate’ technical identities, are likewise implicated in the ongoing negotiation of laboratory organization and order. Through this kind of analysis, issues of gender, race, and labor are engaged with the detailed world of technical knowledge production. The status of the account itself as a performance and intervention is highlighted through the intertwined narratives of experience on the part of the author of both the laboratory and of different strands of STS literature.
Mapping Collaborative Work and Innovation in Biomedicine
Authors: Cambrosio Alberto , Keating Peter , Mogoutov Andrei
Published: May 2004

This paper analyses a major episode in contemporary biomedical research using a new semi-quantitative approach. In the late 1970s, immunologists began producing new kinds of antibodies targeting molecules on the surface of normal and malignant blood cells. These tools quickly transformed biomedical research in immunology and oncology-hematology. Laboratories worldwide produced thousands of these new reagents and reorganized the classification, diagnosis, and prognosis of diseases such as leukemia and the lymphomas. The rapid development of these reagents initially generated considerable confusion. To avoid the impending chaos, researchers in the field, officially supported by the World Health Organization and the International Union of Immunological Societies, launched an ongoing series of distributed workshops that led to the establishment of a nomenclature of antibody reagents and cell surface molecules. The First Workshop (1981-82) mobilized 54 research groups from 14 countries and resulted in the establishment of 15 antibody/molecule categories. By the late 1990s the number of these categories had increased to more than 247 and the number of participating laboratories had risen to more than 500. Sociological analyses of this kind of large-scale collaborative research usually adopt one of two equally unsatisfactory alternatives: either they provide thick descriptions of selected sites, thus missing the figurational dimension of the collaborative network, or they attempt to account for figurational complexity by reducing it to a few quantitative indicators, thus destroying for all practical purposes the very phenomena under investigation. To avoid these two alternatives, we opted for a combination of ethnographic methods (interviews, content analysis) and a computer-based analysis of the more than 6000 antibodies examined during the first six workshops, using Réseau-Lu, a software program specifically designed for the treatment of heterogeneous relational data.
The Soul of Man under Globalism
Authors: Seabrook Jeremy
Published: May 2004

There are many macro-economic accounts of globalisation, but we rarely learn how it affects the psyche and sensibility of lives uprooted and radically reshaped by the penetration of their world by the market economy. This essay is an attempt to convey the common subjective experience of people all over the world as they enter the global market. It shows how, once they do so, the path they will follow is predictable. The market generates immediate and obvious benefits, while longer-term losses are deferred. The freedoms bestowed by the market obscure the forfeit of deeper liberties. The people of the South may pursue the western way of wealth, but the possibility that everyone in the world will attain the same degree of affluence is remote, for at least two reasons. One, that the accumulation of wealth is attended by growing inequality and, two, that the transformation of the planet required to bring this about probably exceeds its capacity to bear it.
The Western Media and the Algerian Crisis
Authors: Slisli Fouzi
Published: May 2004

In the Name of Allah, the Clement, the Merciful And if two groups of believers fight each other, reconcile them. If one of them assaults the other still, then fight the aggressor till they comply with the law of Allah. If they comply, then reconcile them with justice and be equitable. Allah loves those who are equitable. Believers are brothers to each other. Establish agreement among your brothers, and fear Allah, so that we grant you mercy.
The Terrorism Act 2000: An Interview with Gareth Peirce
Authors: Fekete Liz
Published: May 2004

In 2000, a new Terrorism Act, incorporating the broadest ever definition of terrorism and giving police and prosecutors freedom to arrest almost anyone involved in some way with refugee solidarity work, was passed. Then, on 29 March 2001, under the first order made under the Act, twenty-one organisations were proscribed through provisions which allow for the banning of organisations which the home secretary believes are involved in terrorism, or promote or encourage terrorism.1 As refugee communities began mobilising against the law, and particularly its Proscribed Organisations Order, Liz Fekete asked the civil rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, who has defended those accused of terrorist offences for over two decades, to examine the historical and political context of this the latest addition to the UK’s anti-terrorist legislation.
Commentary
Authors: Kundnani Arun , Athwal Harmit , Grandon Vicky , Hingorani Monica
Published: May 2004

From April to July 2001, the northern English towns of Oldham, Burnley and Bradford saw violent confrontations between young Asians and the police, culminating in the clashes of 7–9 July in Bradford in which 200 police officers were injured. The clashes were prompted by racist gangs attacking Asian communities and the failure of the police to provide protection from this threat. In the scale of the damage caused and the shock they delivered to the nation, the 2001 riots were the worst riots in Britain since the Handsworth, Brixton and Tottenham uprisings of 1985.
From Columbus to Hitler and Back Again
Authors: Cox Clinton
Published: May 2004

It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in thefire and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent thereof; but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice and they gave praise thereof to God; who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy.
Race and Problem Drug Use in an English City
Authors: Kalunta-Crumpton Anita
Published: May 2004

The primary aim of this article is to look at the impact of drugs on the drug-using Black population, and in doing so, the article draws comparative attention to drug use within the White community. The article is based on a research study of problem drug users registered with a London drugs project in 2000 and 2001. During the period of fieldwork, the vast majority of clients of the drug project were male, and the gap in the sex composition of the clients was more conspicuous in the Black group. For the sake of clarity in the use of statistical information, the article draws substance solely from information on the Black and White male clients. The findings present the Black community as a group who is also victimised by drugs but whose experiences of drug victimisation have often been undermined in the “war on drugs” rhetoric about drug trafficking.
Prisoners’ Perception of Informing to the Authorities: An Analysis in Terms of Functional Moral Judgment
Authors: Wolf Yuval , Addad Moshe , Arkin Nilly
Published: May 2004

A series of functional measurement experiment show that prisoners modulate their moral judgments of violations of their in-group regulations. The participants were 67 women and 80 men, sentenced for at least three years for murder, robbery, drug-traffic or white collar offenses. Each was asked, individually, to imagine a series of incidents where incriminating information on in-group or out-group inmates is delivered to the prison authorities or to an in-group source and to rate the deserved denigration of the informer, who was characterized as a leader or not and as a drug-addict or not who had a prison-leave or not. An assignment of approximately equal weight for social status, drug use and prison leave was found, beyond gender and type of offense. In line with the hypothesis of judgmental modularity, informing to an out-group source was judged much more severely than informing to in-group arbiter and than informing on an out-group inmate.
The Effects of Criminal Justice Contact on Employment Stability for White-Collar and Street-Level Offenders
Authors: Kerley Kent R. , Copes Heith
Published: May 2004

Criminologists increasingly have studied the effects of criminal justice contact on a broad range of offenders’adult outcomes. However, virtually all of this research focuses exclusively on street-level offenders. With the use of a unique data set that includes street-level and white-collar offenders, we investigated the odds of regaining steady employment following criminal justice contact by offender type. Specifically, we investigated the effects of age of onset, number of prior arrests, total time sentenced, timing of first arrest, and timing of first incarceration on employment stability for both types of offenders, while controlling for family background factors, race, educational attainment, and age. Overall, we found that whitecollar offenders are better able to rebound following contact with the criminal justice system. However, when they accrue multiple arrests and are arrested or incarcerated before the age of 24, white-collar offenders face the same obstacles to employment stability as their street-level counterparts.
Effect Sizes in the Treatment of Sexual Offenders
Authors: Marshall W. L. , McGuire J.
Published: May 2004

This article considers the benefits of sexual offender treatment in terms of the magnitude of the effect size produced by these interventions. Comparisons are made of the effect sizes with those generated by treatment of other offenders, by treatment for mental health problems, and by treatment for physical health problems. In all cases, effect sizes with sexual offenders are comparable to (and in some cases better than) effect sizes for the treatment of the other groups. As a final note, it is suggested that using a harm reduction index to estimate effect sizes for treatment with sexual offenders would produce more meaningful results.
Nonsex Offences Committed by Child Molesters: Findings From a Longitudinal Study
Authors: Parkinson Patrick N. , Shrimpton Sandra , Oates R. Kim , Swanston Heather Y. , O’Toole Brian I.
Published: May 2004

This study, which used a prospective as well as a retrospective methodology, examined the criminal records of 30 child molesters prior to, and up to 10 years after an index event of sexual abuse for which they were convicted: 73% had convictions for other offences, 60% had convictions for offences other than sex offences, 50% had convictions for property offences, 27% had convictions for offences involving violence, and 23% had convictions for drug offences. Offending levels for nonsex offences were significantly higher than the general adult male population. Any theory concerning the dynamics of sex offending against children needs to account for the level of nonsex offences committed by child molesters.
Standardized Assessment of Substance-Related, Other Psychiatric, and Comorbid Disorders among Probationers
Authors: Lurigio Arthur J. , Cho Young Ik , Swartz James A. , Johnson Timothy P. , Graf Ingrid , Pickup Lillian
Published: May 2004

This study examined the prevalence of alcohol-and substance-related disorders in a random sample of 627 adult probationers in Illinois. The investigation also explored the prevalence of major psychiatric disorders and their co-occurrences with alcohol and substance use disorders. To detect the presence of psychiatric disorders, researchers employed standardized assessment tools based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria. Overall, results showed that probationers had significantly higher rates of psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders compared with persons in the general population. In light of these findings, probation administrators are urged to invest more resources in treating drug use, mental illness, and codisorders, the latter of which is associated with a higher risk of violent behaviors.
Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Comorbidities, and the Law
Authors: Palermo Mark T.
Published: May 2004

Scattered reports propose that pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) are risk factors for criminal behavior, yet the association between PDD and delinquent behavior is untrue for the majority of patients. However, individuals with PDDs may be at risk for legal trouble in the presence of comorbid psychopathology, and not solely on the basis of their developmental disability. This article analyzes theoretically the relationship between complex developmental disorders and delinquency with the hypothesis that the delinquent behaviors reported in it resulted from comorbid psychopathology and not as a direct consequence of a developmental disorder. A small series of patients diagnosed with a PDD and comorbid psychiatric illnesses whose admission to the hospital was precipitated by delinquent behavior is presented.
Criminal Diversity and Paraphilic Interests Among Adult Males Convicted of Sexual Offenses Against Children
Authors: Smallbone Stephen W. , Wortley Richard K.
Published: May 2004

Official demographic and offense history data (n = 362) and confidential self-report data on paraphilic interests and behavior (n = 221) obtained on adult males convicted of sexual offenses against children were analyzed. Considerable criminal diversity was observed, with all standard categories of offenses represented in offenders’ criminal histories. Most (86%) of the offenders’previous convictions were for nonsexual offenses, and most (92%) of the recidivist offenders had previously been convicted of at least one nonsexual offense. The prevalence of diagnosable paraphilias was low, with only 5% meeting formal diagnostic criteria for multiple (two or more) paraphilias other than pedophilia. Sexual offenders’paraphilic interests were unrelated to the extent of their sexual offense convictions but were significantly related to the extent of their nonsexual offense convictions. The results are better explained by a general theory of crime than by traditional clinical conceptions linking sexual offenses specifically with sexual psychopathology.
Personality Typologies of Male Juvenile Offenders Using a Cluster Analysis of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory Introduction
Authors: Stefurak Tres , Calhoun Georgia B. , Glaser Brian A.
Published: May 2004

The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) is a unique adolescent instrument that attempts to delineate between personality and acute symptoms. This study sought to explore typologies based on the Personality Pattern scales of theMACI in a sample of detained male juvenile offenders (N = 103). A Ward’s method cluster analysis yielded a four-cluster solution, and each cluster was provided a clinically relevant label: (a) disruptive, antisocials; (b) agreeable, antisocials; (c) anxious, prosocials; and (d) reactive, depressives. The largest group consisted of the reactive depressives (n = 41). This suggests the importance of considering the role of internalizing problems as a conduit to delinquency in addition to antisocial personality. No interaction between cluster membership and offense history or race was found.
Believing Is Seeing II: Beliefs and Perceptions of Criminal Psychological Profiles
Authors: Kocsis Richard N. , Heller Gillian Z.
Published: May 2004

This study built upon previous research by Kocsis and Hayes (2004) by investigating whether a bias exhibited by police officers in their perception of profiles would replicate in a sample of nonpolice participants. Additionally, the relationship, if any, between the degree of belief harbored by an individual concerning the merits of profiling and their perceptions of a given profile was also investigated. The findings of this study add to the contention that the biases observed in Kocsis and Hayes’s previous study with regard to author label may be related to some intrinsic feature of the previously sampled police participants. Additionally, evidence was found to support the proposition that an individual’s degree of belief in profiling is related to their perceptions concerning the merits of a profile. Namely, the more an individual believes in the profiling technique, the greater the merit that will be perceived in a profile.
Rationalizing Criminal Behaviour: The Influence of Criminal Sentiments on Sociomoral Development in Violent Offenders and Nonoffenders
Authors: Stevenson Sally F. , Hall Guy , Innes J. M.
Published: May 2004

Cognitive developmental theory suggests that mature-level sociomoral reasoning (Stages 3 and 4) can provide a protective factor, or buffer, against antisocial and violent criminal behavior. This study explored whether the influence of internalised criminal sentiments could undermine this buffer. The sample was high-risk men and women offenders (n =99) convicted of serious violent index offences, and men and women nonoffender university students (n = 101). Moral reasoning was measured using the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, whereas criminal sentiments were assessed using the Criminal Sentiments Scale. Based on moral reasoning development level the sample was classified into groups: mature- or immature-level moral reasoners. The results suggested that mature-level sociomoral development might not protect a person from identifying with criminal others, and that law violation could be rationalized regardless of sociomoral level. Gender differences were neither expected nor found. The applied implications of the findings are considered.
The Trouble with Psychopathy as a General Theory of Crime
Authors: Walters Glenn D.
Published: May 2004

The concept of psychopathy, as defined by Robert Hare, is reviewed with respect to its status as a general theory of crime. A hybrid of the medical pathology model and personality trait approach, the psychopathy concept proposes that a significant portion of serious crime is committed by psychopathic individuals. Hare’s version of psychopathy, besides demonstrating weak applicability and a propensity for tautology, is subject to labeling effects, over simplicity, reductionism, the fundamental attributional error, inattention to context, and disregard for the dynamic nature of human behavior. It is concluded that the psychopathy concept is substantially limited with respect to its ability to describe and clarify general criminal behavior but that it may still have value as a partial explanation for certain types of noncriminal predatory behavior.
Heterogeneity in the Association Between Social-Emotional Adjustment Profiles and Deviant Behavior Among Male and Female Serious Juvenile Offenders
Authors: Cauffman Elizabeth , Piquero Alex R. , Broidy Lisa , Espelage Dorothy L. , Mazerolle Paul
Published: May 2004

This article examines the relation among gender, social-emotional adjustment, and deviant behavior among serious juvenile offenders. A sample of 105 adolescent offenders completed questionnaires assessing social-emotional characteristics and self-reported involvement in deviant behaviors. Results indicate significant associations between distress and restraint in predicting deviance, a finding that was invariant across gender. Analysis of four distinct social-emotional profiles found that membership in the reactive group was associated with the greatest amount of deviant behavior. Results also indicate that not only do serious offending girls internalize more than serious offending boys, they appear equally likely to externalize. However, although boys exhibit less distress than girls, those boys who report high rates of deviance may exhibit internalizing and externalizing problems similar to girls. The use of social-emotional measures in general, and distinct profiles in particular, may aid in targeting specific programming and treatment in an effort to provide offenders with more effective interventions.
Criminal Justice Institutional Referrals and Selections: a Comparative Portrait of Sexual Aggressions and Aggressors
Authors: Guay Jean-Pierre , Ouimet Marc , Proulx Jean
Published: May 2004

The purpose of this study is to investigate the judicial treatment of sex offenders from police detection to treatment centers. Using three different samples, participants’trajectories are studied in the light of their age, the age and sex of their victims, the relationship with their victims, and the use of a weapon. First, the results show that although underrepresented at the federal institution, younger criminals tend to be overrepresented in the treatment sample. Second, the results also demonstrate that offenders against children tend to be overrepresented at the federal institution; this tendency is even stronger in the psychiatric treatment sample. Third, the objective seriousness of the offense, a proxy measured by the presence of a weapon, is of principal importance in case processing throughout the judicial system. Recommendations on how to facilitate the comparison of results from different studies, based on a better sample description, are also discussed.
Psychopathic and Nonpsychopathic Violence among Alcoholic Offenders
Authors: Walsh Thomas C.
Published: May 2004

Alcohol abuse and psychopathy continue to be associated with violent crime. In this study, 128 incarcerated alcoholic offenders (64 men and 64 women) were categorized as psychopaths or nonpsychopaths using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R), and comparisons were made regarding violence, alcohol use, and alcohol use in relation to violent crime. Qualitative and quantitative results are reported. Qualitative analysis found that psychopathic alcoholics (a) react violently to less provocation, (b) display a lack of emotion for their victim, (c) report increased self-esteem following violence, (d) indicate a lack of remorse, and (e) use alcohol as an excuse for violence less often. Quantitative analysis found that although psychopathic alcoholics committed more violent crimes and were more alcohol dependent, they used alcohol less frequently when causing serious injury (medical attention or death) to their victims. Theoretical and treatment implications are discussed.
The Minnesota SOST and Sexual Reoffending in North Dakota: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Hanlon Mark J. , Larson Stephen , Zacher Sandy
Published: May 2004

Using the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool (MnSOST), 26 sex offenders (SOs) released fromthe North Dakota StatePenitentiary (NDSP) from1993 to 1994 were rated retrospectively. These included all 10 SOs who had been reincarcerated since release and 10 others who were chosen randomly. Scores were compared between groups and correlated with the current status of these released SOs. Contingency tables also were devised to explore the comparative utility of cutting scores in correctly classifying the data. Findings support the validity of the MnSOST in predicting sexual reoffense risk with our released SO population. Cutting points to maximally classify released SOs’risk among our population and within the time parameters of this study are described.
Incarcerated Men and the Perceived Sources of Their Loneliness
Authors: Rokach Ami , Cripps Janice E.
Published: May 2004

The present study examined the influence of incarceration on perceived sources of loneliness. It was hypothesized that incarcerated offenders would perceive the causes of their loneliness differently than would the general population sample. On an 82-item, yes-or-no questionnaire, 162 men from the general population and 199 male offenders, all of which were recruited on a voluntary basis, reported the sources of their loneliness. Results indicated a significant difference in the perceived sources of loneliness among the two populations. It also was found that the duration of loneliness (i.e., chronic vs. episodic) and its presence at the time of testing affect the perception of its causes.
The Effects of Parent Education on Parental Locus of Control and Satisfaction of Incarcerated Fathers
Authors: Wilczak Ginger L. , Markstrom Carol A.
Published: May 2004

Incarcerated fathers have largely been ignored in parent education efforts. Yet, rehabilitation efforts aimed at improving family relationships have implications for the reduction of recidivism. This experimental study to assess positive benefits of parent education was conducted with 42 fathers incarcerated in a minimum security federal correctional institution. After pretesting of experimental and control group participants, 21 men completed an eightsession parenting class. All participants were posttested. It was shown through pairedt tests that the control group did not advance from pretest to posttest. The experimental group scored significantly higher at posttesting on a content/knowledge test and on certain subscales of the Parental Locus of Control Scale and the Cleminshaw-Guidubaldi Parent Satisfaction Scale. Research efforts in the future should include giving follow-up posttests, assessing behavioral change and recidivism, and examining the effects of parent education on children of inmates.
Working with Sex Offenders: The Perceptions and Experiences of Professionals and Paraprofessionals
Authors: Lea Susan , Auburn Tim , Kibblewhite Karen
Published: May 2004

The last 20 years have witnessed an increase in the attention paid to crimes of sexual violence. Academic research, social services, and the general public have responded to the steady rise in these crimes by subjecting them to increased scrutiny and address. Professionals and paraprofessionals responsible for the processing, supervision, and treatment of sex offenders are under increasing pressure. This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of professionals and paraprofessionals working with sex offenders. Such research is important because these perceptions influence practice. Using a semistructured interview schedule, 23 men and women were interviewed about various aspects of their work with sex offenders for between 1 and 2 hours. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings are discussed in terms of professionals’and paraprofessionals’ perceptions of sex offenders and their offences and the manner in which such perceptions affect their professional practice.