Fluorescence of a Natural Fluorophore as a Key to Improve Fingerprint Contrast Image

The optical and morphological properties of resveratrol were investigated. This nontoxic fluorescent natural material, emitting in the visible blue light, was used as an optical marker, enabling the enhancement of the image contrast coming from relief pictures marked on challenging surfaces. By applying appropriated imaging softwares, this marker was verified to be very useful in the latent fingerprint recognition deposited on different wood surface types, mainly those with high level of roughness, where conventional forensic materials do not allow effective fingerprint image visualization.     

法律英语的语言特点及课程设计

随着中国入世，法律英语作为一门新兴的专业英语将在中国迅速发展，然而，传统的通用英语教学不能满足培养涉外法律专业人才的需求。本文通过对法律英语的语言特点及其课程设计中应注意的若干问题的表述，谈对法律英语教学的一些看法。     

实施“大警务”战略的探索与思考——以杭州市萧山区为例

在社区和农村警务建设全面推进并取得重大成效之时,从新形势下深化"三基"工程建设的要求出发,从贯彻落实浙江省公安厅提出的"两个最大"理念的要求出发,进一步研究和探索基层警务工作的新思路和新模式,具有积极的现实意义。实施"大警务"战略,积极打造社会化、复合型、整体性的警务新架构,做强警务平台,延伸工作触角,突出管控重点,有助于基层公安机关进一步提升对社会治安局势的驾驭能力。     

行政协助的法律定位与控制

行政协助制度是行政程序法上的一个重要制度,但对这一制度的研究在我国却显得相对落后。随着行政职权的有限性和专业化与管理事项日益复杂化之间矛盾的不断加深,建立行政协助制度已成为解决现行管理体制弊端的必然要求。本文从对行政协助的法律定位入手,界定了行政协助的涵义、特征及与相似概念的区别,在此基础上进一步提出了从程序和责任两个方面对行政协助进行有效的法律控制。     

Delaying Justice(s): A Duration Analysis of Supreme Court Confirmations

Presidents traditionally have had great success when nominating justices to the Supreme Court, with confirmation being the norm and rejection being the rare exception. While the confirmation process usually ends with the nominee taking a seat on the Court, however, there is a great deal of variance in the amount of time it takes the Senate to act. To derive a theoretical explanation of this underlying dynamic in the confirmation process, we draw on a spatial model of presidential nominations to the Court. We then employ a hazard model to test this explanation, using data on all Supreme Court nominations and confirmations since the end of the Civil War. Our primary finding is that the duration of the confirmation process increases as the ideological distance between the president and the Senate increases. We also find evidence that suggests that the duration increases for critical nominees and chief justices and decreases for older nominees, current and previous senators, and nominees with prior experience on state and federal district courts .     

A Prospective Study of Mexican American Adolescents’ Academic Success: Considering Family and Individual Factors

Mexican American youth are at greater risk of school failure than their peers. To identify factors that may contribute to academic success in this population, this study examined the prospective relationships from 5th grade to 7th grade of family (i.e., human capital [a parent with at least a high school education], residential stability, academically and occupationally positive family role models, and family structure) and individual characteristics (i.e., externalizing symptoms, bilingualism, gender, and immigrant status) to the academic performance of 749 Mexican American early adolescents (average age = 10.4 years and 48.7% were girls in 5th grade) from economically and culturally diverse families as these youth made the transition to junior high school. Results indicated that while controlling for prior academic performance, human capital and positive family role models assessed when adolescents were in 5th grade positively related to academic performance in 7th grade. Further, being a girl also was related to greater 7th grade academic success, whereas externalizing symptoms were negatively related to 7th grade academic performance. No other variables in the model were significantly and prospectively related to 7th grade academic performance. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.     

Protective Predictors of Alcohol Use Trajectories Among Canadian Aboriginal Youth

Some Aboriginal youth are at disproportionate risk of using substances and developing abuse and dependence disorders. However, not all Aboriginal youth misuse substances and limited research has examined the protective factors conferring against substance use among these youth. The present study aimed to identify protective factors related to the alcohol use trajectories from early adolescence to emerging adulthood among off-reserve Canadian Aboriginal youth. Participants (N = 330; 50.3% male) aged 12–23 were selected from cycles 2–7 of Statistics Canada’s NLSCY. Multilevel modeling was employed to identify protective factors for two constructs of alcohol use. Participation in weekly activities and optimism were found to be protective for both the frequency of alcohol use and heavy drinking trajectories. Attendance of religious services was also found to be protective for heavy drinking behaviors. In contrast, positive peer relationships were a risk factor for frequency of alcohol use, but not heavy drinking. The results provide preliminary evidence of important developmental factors to integrate into substance use intervention programs targeting Aboriginal youth.     

cultivating the edge: an ethnography of first-generation women farmers in the American Midwest

In the US, an emergent cultural icon of resistant agriculture, the agrarian heroine, attests to growing popular interest in first-generation women farmers. Drawing on practice theory, historical geographical materialism, intersubjective ethnography and feminist scholarship, this ethnography focusses on three first-generation women farmers growing organic vegetable crops for the Chicago market, with critical attention to the body, the land and their uses. By applying permaculture’s theory of ‘the edge’ anthropologically, this study explores the work these women do to cultivate relational spaces that promote fluidity, diversity and solidarity in opposition to industrial agriculture and the homogenising forces of globalisation. The portraits that emerge problematise popular representations of first-generation women farmers.     

The Public Service Mutual: Theories of Motivational Advantage

Public service mutuals are a form of employee‐led organization in which service workers spin out of the public sector to form “mutuals” that contract back with government to provide a service. This article draws on economic and psychological theory to demonstrate that mutuals can align both self‐interested and altruistic or public service motivations so as to serve the social good; moreover, by offering greater autonomy to public service professionals, mutuals are predicted to encourage energetic and persistent behaviors. In both cases, there is an advantage over alternative forms of organization such as the public sector bureaucracy, the shareholder‐owned private firm, or the nonprofit organization. The employee‐led mutual form, however, may not appeal to risk‐averse workers, its collective decision‐making systems may be inefficient, and external mechanisms may be required to ensure that organizational outcomes are always directed toward the social good.