Jugendliche Sexualstraftäter: Spezialfälle der Prognoseerstellung?

This study compared a sample of 273 juvenile (aged 14 to under 18), 178 adolescent (aged 18 to under 21) and 273 adult (older than 20 years) male sex offenders modus operandi (or MO, the way in which they committed their offenses), frequency of recidivism and predicted recidivism via the static-99. In terms of the frequencies of the MO aspects we found that juveniles and adolescents differed significantly from adult sexual offenders. However, concerning the frequency of sexual violent behaviors, adolescents committed more severe offenses in contrast to the two other groups. The comparison of recidivism rates indicated that adolescent sexual offenders were significantly less likely to commit a new sexual offense, but were considerably more likely to commit a non-sexual violent offense compared to adult sexual offenders. For juvenile offenders, only few static-99 variables were predictive of future recidivism in comparison to the other groups, suggesting that the static-99 may only have a restricted utility in juvenile offenders. Further, juvenile offenders risk levels were found to fall primarily within the medium risk group making individual differentiation of potential risk difficult. It is suggested that additional predictors, which help to differentiate young sexual offenders must be investigated.     

Growing Up Perfect: Perfectionism,Problematic Internet Use,and Career Indecision in Emerging Adults

Among emerging adults who are career indecisive, perfectionism and problematic Internet use (PIU) are underdeveloped areas of inquiry. The authors examined the relationship between perfectionism and PIU to measure their contributions to career indecision. The full model was significant, yielding an R² of .46 (p < .0001). PIU accounted for the majority of variance in career indecision (adjusted R² = .32). Career indecision was also related to maladaptive but not adaptive perfectionism. Counseling implications are discussed.     

The influence of background music on learners with varying extraversion: Seductive detail or beneficial effect?

Seductive details in general affect learning and cognitive load negatively. However, especially background music as a seductive detail may also influence the learner's arousal, whose optimal level depends on the learner's extraversion. Therefore, the effects of extraversion and background music on learning outcomes, cognitive load, and arousal were investigated. We tested 167 high school students and found better transfer outcomes for the group with background music. They also reported higher germane load, but no impact of background music on extraneous cognitive load or arousal was found. In the group without background music, learners with higher extraversion reached better recall scores, which was not found in the group with background music. Results may cautiously be interpreted that there is a beneficial impact of background music that compensates for the disadvantages of low extraverted learners and which cannot be explained through arousal.     

The Intended Reader of Ladino Rabbinic Literature and Judeo-Spanish Reading Culture

This essay explores rabbinic musar literature in Ladino from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries within the context of the emerging Ladino reading-culture in the Ottoman Empire. Rabbinic literature in the Judeo-Spanish vernacular opened the field of rabbinic knowledge for the first time to social groups hitherto excluded from the study of rabbinic literature: those who were ignorant of Hebrew, and women, to whom the rabbis now reached out explicitly in Ladino writings. Whereas the preferred forum for the reading and studying of vernacular rabbinic literature was the study group, or meldado, Ladino literature opened the opportunity of individual reading to an average Ottoman Jewish reading public, men and women alike. The rabbis clearly saw the dangers of individual reading and tried to contain its undesired consequences by encouraging reading with the mediating guidance by a talmid hakham. Nevertheless, ample evidence from at least the mid-nineteenth century demonstrates that individual readers challenged the rabbinical monopoly over the communication of traditional knowledge and its interpretation. It was this increasingly independent and critical reading public that would prove a most receptive audience for the secular genres of Ladino literature that developed at this time. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mechanism of action and kinetics of lithium. I. Biochemical and experimental pharmacological findings after administration of lithium-conclusions on the mechanism of the therapeutic effect of lithium]

A comprehensive consideration of biochemical and pharmacodynamic lithium (Li) effects enabled an explanation of the Li mechanism (Fig 1). According to this concept, Li might possibly affect the activity of membrane-bound ATPases in dependence on the initial situation, dose and duration of application. Research into Li-kinetics suggested the participation of active process in the transport of the ion through the organism. Li-kinetics describes distribution within a multiple-compartment system and, with the exception of the resorption phase, its independent of the anion used. The elimination (half-life time 22 to 25 hrs) is limited by backward flow form the tissue.     

Repeatedly reactivated memories become more resistant to hippocampal damage

We examined whether repeated reactivations of a context memory would prevent the typical amnesic effects of post-training damage to the hippocampus (HPC). Rats were given a single contextual fear-conditioning session followed by 10 reactivations, involving a brief return to the conditioning context (no shock). Subsequently, the rats received sham or complete lesions of the HPC. When tested for retention, the HPC rats that experienced the reactivations froze significantly more than nonreactivation HPC rats and did not significantly differ from their respective control group. These findings suggest that memory reactivations contribute to long-term memories becoming independent of the HPC.     

The Understanding of Pans in 3- to 6-Year-Old Children

In this study, we examined the extent to which preschool children were able to understand pans (continuous sideward shifts of a scene generated by rotating the camera around a virtual axis), one of the most typical technical elements of films. This was done by showing 60 participating children a film in which a teddy bear asked them questions about pan sequences. The questions could be answered correctly only if the underlying pan was understood. The study revealed that the increase in the children's comprehension of the pans was significantly correlated with age and was facilitated by gains in visual working memory (VWM). It was found that VWM in 3 year olds is generally so low that they are still not able to understand any pan sequences. Most of the pans were understood by those children who could remember the locations of two simple objects. This VWM level is sex dependent and is usually reached by boys at age 4 and by girls at age 5; thus, boys understand pans quite a bit earlier. Perception speed, pan speed, and television consumption played rather limited roles. An appropriate model for the understanding of pans is subsequently introduced and discussed.