Gender-specific differences – first results from a survey on dental surgery

This study focuses on dental surgery from the perspective of practicing dentists through a nationwide survey among practicing dentists in Germany. Subjects were surveyed with respect to patient care and their training in dental surgery. With respect to surgical activity, this survey confirms male dominance in the field and that female dentists may be inclined grade surgical interventions as ‘complicated and risky’. Male dentists appear to be willing to take the same risks with greater self-confidence, whereas female dentists appear to overrate their personal uncertainty by underestimating their real technical capabilities. Though dental treatment in general is increasingly dominated by women, surgery is still dominated by male dentists. This can be viewed through observed gender differences with respect to risk perception and we advocate additional professional training of risk competence as mandatory for the future.     

“Making It”: Understanding Adolescent Resilience in Two Informal Settlements (Slums) in Nairobi,Kenya

Many adolescents living in contexts characterized by adversity achieve positive outcomes. We adopt a protection–risk conceptual framework to examine resilience (academic achievement, civic participation, and avoidance of risk behaviors) among 1,722 never-married 12–19 year olds living in two Kenyan urban slums. We find stronger associations between explanatory factors and resilience among older (15–19 years) than younger (12–14 years) adolescents. Models for prosocial behavior and models for antisocial behavior emerge as key predictors of resilience. Further accumulation of evidence on risk and protective factors is needed to inform interventions to promote positive outcomes among youth situated in an ecology of adversity.     

Are integrated impact assessments the way forward for mainstreaming in the European Union?

This article assesses the utility of impact assessments (IAs) as an effective tool for mainstreaming. Specifically, it analyses whether the European Union's (EU's) system of integrated impact assessments (IIAs) contributes to the realization of six mainstreaming objectives defined in the EU treaties. The article first studies whether the legal framework for the EU's system of IIAs makes it a viable tool for mainstreaming. It then proceeds with an empirical analysis of 35 IAs to assess the extent to which mainstreaming objectives are taken into account in practice. The analysis shows that all six mainstreaming objectives have a place within the IIA system, but the system does not ensure systematic consideration of them. There is considerable variation across mainstreaming agendas, as well as across Directorates‐General. The article concludes that the IIA system is no panacea for mainstreaming, and proposes changes to the institutional framework to improve its mainstreaming potential.     

Continuity and catastrophe: business continuity management and the security of financial operations

This paper discusses business continuity management (BCM) and its role in contemporary financial institutions. BCM is a nascent disaster preparedness and recovery strategy that seeks to protect vital business operations from disruptions. The paper traces contemporary BCM back to Cold War continuity of government planning, and shows how BCM came to comprehend security as continuity of processes rather than integrity of goods. BCM is prominent in finance because it promises to mitigate operational risks, and it focuses on risks stemming from interdependencies in financial infrastructures. By engaging with two events that triggered continuity management in banks, Hurricane Sandy in New York City and the ‘Blockupy’ demonstrations in Frankfurt, the paper highlights how BCM is challenged by large-scale disasters as well as acts of public criticism.     

美国的矫正评估

监狱行刑的效果如何,一直是监狱学界争议的问题。美国监狱行刑的效果评估最具代表性。在评估决策方面,矫正评估委员会独立运作。矫正协会设立的标准委员会负责提出标准,交由两个组织审评;评估证书由标准委员会授予;由矫正协会颁发。对监狱矫正评估的基本内容包括了警戒、安全、秩序、看护、活动(计划方案)、公正、生活状况和有效个人管理等因素。对罪犯的个案评估包括对个人或小组咨询、职业训练、工作释放、假释监督以及整容手术等。     

Risk of Structured Transfer of Non-Performing Assets of Commercial Banks and Its Prevention

China implements license management for AMC and strictly controls the license in limited quantities. Under the influence of the declining economy, non-performing assets increase sharply, which causes an oversupply of non-performing assets in the transaction market. If commercial banks directly transferred the assets to AMC, the price is relatively low,which may result in great losses to banks. To relieve the dilemma, commercial banks should work out methods for treating the non-performing assets. By fully utilizing the structured financing model and the bank’s own financing advantages to broaden the actual purchaser of non-performing assets, transfer incomes should be raised and direct capital losses should be reduced. Structured transfer of non-performing assets as a new mode of disposing non-performing assets to ordinary investors or the bank’s own investment funds via all kinds of AMCs, trusts, funds, brokerages, SPV (such as LP)and other institutions contains four business risks, including channel operation risk, pricing risk, recovery risk and tax risk and three legal risks, such as regulatory compliance risk, the ambiguous orientation of bank legal subject and the ambiguous orientation of return rights. These risks require in-depth study into their causes for proper prevention.     

Legislative Transparency and Credit Risk

Open governance requirements are designed to improve accountability, which implies that transparent governments are more trustworthy stewards of their publicly invested power. However, transparency may also reduce institutional effectiveness and inhibit political compromise, diminishing the capacity to manage resources responsibly. We assess empirical support for these competing perspectives in the context of American state legislatures, many of which have become exempt from state sunshine laws in recent decades. We leverage variation in the timing of these legislative exemptions to identify the effect of removing transparency in a crucial governing institution on investors’ risk perceptions of states’ general obligation bonds. Our analysis of these data during the period 1995–2010 suggests that removing legislative transparency reduces state credit risk. We conclude that while openness in government may be normatively desirable, shielding legislative proceedings from public view may actually be better for states’ debt repayment capacity, improving their overall fiscal health.     

环境行政许可的八个立法原则

在现代社会,许可证制度是防范环境风险最主要的法律制度。目前,学界对行政许可的一般立法原则(法律保留原则、便民效率原则、信赖保护原则、公开公平原则等)探讨甚多,而对环境行政许可具有自身特色的立法原则探讨较少。环境行政许可具有风险品性、科技背景、利益权衡、代际平衡、国际关联等五个特征,因此,环境行政许可的立法,除了须遵循行政许可的一般立法原则外,还须遵循预防、谨慎行事、合理开发利用、污染者负担、科技促进、公众参与、协同合作、国家环境资源主权与不损害国外环境等八个立法原则。这八个原则对具体制度的建构均有明确的要求,并在特定情况下使许可举证责任发生转移。     

全球科研评价体系的演进与发展--以美国、英国、澳大利亚、荷兰四国为例

通过对美国、英国、澳大利亚、荷兰四国科研评价体系发展的纵向梳理，以及对四国最新科研评价体系的横向比较，可以发现此四国科研体系具有一些共同的演进逻辑和发展趋势：评价体系的精细化、评价成本效益的最大化、政府引导的明朗化。这些评价体系的特点对我国建设科学而多元的科研评价体系具有重要的借鉴意义。     

Sensory speculations:Visual discourse and the vision of visuality

It is now commonplace within the discipline of art history and visual culture to speak to theories of vision and visuality. Recent questions concerning the subject of vision, sexed positionalities and discourses of viewing are indebted to theories of visuality, which now occupy a privileged place within the study of visual culture. Theories of visuality have revealed both the terms of cultural visibilities and significantly the how of what we see. And yet despite this engagement of the opacity and duplicity of the visual, recent work into visuality has been plagued by a re‐occurring myopia regarding the corporeal This oversight within the visibilites of visual discourse is the unchallenged idea of a ‘human vision’ within the social constructivist project. In this article I assess how this universal operates as the matter for theories of visuality and of the ramifications of this for the project of the critique of vision.