It has been suggested that the police tend to respond to the unusual behaviors of mentally disordered individuals with coercive tactics that should be reserved for criminal offenders, such as arrest. Although recent research tested, and rejected, this perspective regarding arrest decisions, the present study investigated the most coercive form of police authority, the use of force. Using officer self-report data from two municipal law enforcement agencies, the present study investigated whether mentally disordered suspects were more likely than nondisordered suspects to receive physical force from the police. The findings revealed that mentally disordered suspects were significantly more likely to act violently, resist the police, and possess a weapon. After these characteristics were controlled, mentally disordered suspects were not more likely than nondisordered suspects to receive physical force.

No abstract

The total cross sections for K+ mesons on carbon and deuterium nuclei have been measured at eleven momenta in the range 450-740 MeV/c. The experimental technique was of the standard transmission type. The K+ meson is the least strongly interacting of available hadronic probes, with a long mean free path in nuclear matter. At low incident momentum the K+K interaction is dominated by the Szz phase shift and varies slowly with energy. These characteristics make the K+ an ideal tool for probing the nuclear volume to reveal nuclear medium effects. Measurements of the ratio of the total cross sections, per nucleon, of K+-C to K+-d have been suggested as a way to reveal effects of the nuclear medium. The total cross section ratios are found to lie significantly above those predicted by the usual nuclear medium corrections. This suggests that novel phenomena are taking place within the nucleus. Several models which incorporate such phenomena are discussed, including nucleon swelling, " mass rescaling, nuclear pions, and relativistic efFects.

A number of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) seed vigor tests are available through seed testing laboratories for use by seed producers and farmers. In order to determine if these tests provide more information on field performance than the standard warm germination test, seed lots differing in quality were planted in different field environments at a constant seeding rate (350,000 seeds/ha) and evaluated for percent emergence, final stand at maturity, and grain yield. Several germination tests, including the warm germination test (also evaluated for percent strong seedlings and percent diseased seeds), cold test, accelerated aging test, and tetrazolium test were conducted by seed analysts and statistically correlated with field performance. Experiments were conducted on Cisne silt loam (Mollic Albaqualf) at Brownstown, Ill. and Proctor silty clay loam (Typic Argiudoll) at Urbana, Ill. When the same seed lots were planted at different planting dates and locations, field performance differed markedly depending on seedbed conditions. Stress seedbed conditions were difficult to predict in advance. For example, at one location poorer emergence was observed with a warm, dry seedbed than with a cold, moist seedbed. A greater number of laboratory tests correlated with field emergence in favorable seedbed environments than in unfavorable environments. The cold test showed a consistent high correlation with field emergence and final stand. In general, reduction in yield was associated with a loss in stand. The cold test was the most effective germination test for identifying seed lots that would perform well in the field and should provide more assistance than the standard warm germination test in identifying problem seed lots.

Police officers are afforded a high degree of discretion in the exercise of their authority, and the control of this discretion is an important issue. While it is assumed that individual officer attitudes and preferences shape their discretionary activity, these officers are also members of a paramilitary organization with leaders appointed over them. The present study explored the influence of both officer attitudes and supervisor influences to explain variation in officer traffic citation issuing rates. Hierarchical linear modeling was used with a sample of 312 patrol officers and 60 supervisors from 21 municipal police agencies. The results revealed that both officer occupational attitudes and supervisor influences (through informal rewards and behavior modeling) significantly influenced the degree to which officers issued traffic citations. The findings emphasize the need for both the supervision of officers and the shaping of officer attitudes in the control of officer discretion.