Psychopathy and Female Gender: Phenotypic Expression and Comorbidity; A Study Comparing a Sample of Women Hospitalized in Italy's Maximum Security Facility with Women Who were Criminally Sentenced and Imprisoned,

Various studies have shown that women with psychopathy tend to commit crimes that are less violent than those of psychopathic men. The present study was designed to address the influence of psychopathy on the crimes committed by female offenders. A national sample of female offenders found NGRI or of diminished responsibility and at risk for criminal recidivism (OPG patients) was compared with a sample of female offenders who were convicted and imprisoned. Results of this comparison between the two groups of female offenders indicate that psychopathy is a transversal psychopathological dimension which may or may not be associated with other mental disorders. In both samples, the most commonly reported offenses among women with high PCL‐R scores were minor offenses, not particularly violent, but they appear to be related to typical psychopathic features such as superficial charm, pathological lying, and manipulation.     

Does the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle exist among South Asian countries? A regime‐switching approach

A plethora of literature has been undertaken to study the validity of the Feldstein–Horioka (FH) puzzle. However, divergent views continue to persist in the FH puzzle literature. This study explores the empirical validity of the FH puzzle in the case of South Asian countries using annual data from 1960 to 2017. Both panel data approach and Markov‐switching regression approach are used to empirically analyze the FH puzzle. The results of the cointegration test confirm the long‐run relationships between saving and investment in the selected South Asian countries. The results of Markov‐switching regression confirm that the saving‐retention coefficient has shifted from high to low values and also from low to high values. Thus, the FH puzzle exists for a particular time period and mostly depends on the regime shifts in the South Asian countries. The results of panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) methods also confirm that FH puzzle holds for the South Asian countries. Therefore, the study suggests that any saving promotion policies are desirable for enhancing investment among the South Asian regions.     

Sample Mining and Data Mining: Combined Real-Time and Retrospective Approaches for the Identification of Emerging Novel Psychoactive Substances

Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are synthetic drugs that pose serious public health and safety concerns. A multitude of NPS have been identified in the United States, often implicated in forensic investigations. The most common and effective manner for identifying NPS is by use of mass spectrometry and the true utility lies within nontargeted acquisition techniques. During this study, a liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) assay was developed, validated, and implemented for forensic toxicology testing. A SCIEX TripleTOF™ 5600 + with SWATH^® acquisition was used. Resulting data were compared against an extensive library database containing more than 800 compounds. The LC-QTOF-MS assay was applied to the reanalysis of biological sample extracts to discover emergent NPS. More than 3,000 sample extracts were analyzed, and more than 20 emerging NPS were detected for the first time. Among these were isopropyl-U-47700, 3,4-methylenedioxy-U-47700, fluorofuranylfentanyl, N-methyl norfentanyl, 2F-deschloroketamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-alpha-PHP, eutylone, and N-ethyl hexedrone.     

Applying Stone in a Western Landscape: Ranchers,Conservationists, and Causal Stories in the “American Serengeti”

As the emergence of nongovernmental conservation efforts generates conflict among various stakeholders, the causal story that each party articulates regarding conservation and the causes of land degradation reflects their unique interests. This study uses existing literature to evaluate causal stories surrounding a contemporary conservation effort: Montana's American Prairie Reserve. Through qualitative review of web‐based documents and newspaper articles, it generates a preliminary account of key stakeholders' causal stories. The case study suggests that parties who might be disadvantaged by ascribing responsibility for environmental harms in an adversarial fashion may instead elect to articulate causal stories that are more neutral than existing approaches might forecast. The study concludes by suggesting that further development of causal story literature may enable it to better address contemporary conservation efforts.     

THE EVOLUTION—OR END—OF MARRIAGE?: REFLECTIONS ON THE IMPASSE OVER SAME‐SEX MARRIAGE

The debate over legalizing same‐sex marriage implicates the question of whether doing so would signal the end—or destruction—of the institution of marriage. The appeal to preserving a millennia‐old tradition of marriage against change fails to reckon with the evolution that has already occurred. Invocations of gender complementarity between parents as essential to child well‐being also conflict with growing recognition in family law that children's best interests can be served by gay and lesbian parents. Canada's path toward same‐sex marriage suggests that impasse need not be inevitable. In the United States, this impasse stems in part from the problem that same‐sex marriage serves as an emblem of everything that threatens marriage.     

A LOG‐MULTIPLICATIVE ASSOCIATION MODEL FOR ALLOCATING HOMICIDES WITH UNKNOWN VICTIM‐OFFENDER RELATIONSHIPS*

This research note critically evaluates conventional methods for allocating homicides with an unknown victim/offender relationship to meaningful categories, and it proposes an alternative approach. We argue that conventional methods are based on a problematic assumption, namely, that the missing data mechanism is “ignorable.” As an alternative to these methods, we propose an imputation algorithm derived from a log‐multiplicative model that does not require this assumption. We apply this technique to estimate levels of homicides disaggregated by victim/offender relationship using the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data for 1996 and 1997, and we compare the resulting estimates with those obtained from the application of conventional procedures. Our results yield a larger proportion of stranger homicides than are obtained from the conventional methods.     

韩国1998-2001行政改革的基本经验

此次韩国行政改革在政府机构、管理制度、行政文化等相关层面施行了平衡到位相互协调的改革举措 ;改革的切入点是以职能转变为中心的政府机构重组、开放型人事制度的推开、高级公务员年薪制的试行、责任运营制度的建立、绩效管理制度的试验 ,顾客宪章制度的引进 ,以及部分公共管理事务外部委托制的探索 ;其基本经验是 ,机构改革的效度有赖于行政系统内相关要素的全面优化 ,行政改革的效度则有赖于整体改革环境的优化 ,民间专家参与是促进政府改革的重要资源 ,政府间行政架构模式决定了地方机构改革的成效。     

鸡白细胞介素-2受体基因γ链的转录分析与表达

以脾单个核细胞总RNA为模板,对鸡白细胞介素-2受体基因γ链(chIL-2Rγ)进行了RT-PCR,获得了一1 047 bp的开放阅读框,编码由348个氨基酸残基组成的分子质量为37.8 ku的蛋白多肽。预测的鸡IL-2Rγ多肽链中包含4个保守半胱氨酸残基、1个WSXWS基序和7个N连接的糖基化位点。鸡IL-2Rγ与其他动物IL-2Rγ在氨基酸水平上的同源性仅为21.4%~38.2%。RT-PCR检测发现,鸡IL-2RγmRNA分布于大脑、小脑、脊髓、腔上囊、脾、胸腺、骨髓、盲肠扁桃体、腺胃、肌胃、空肠、卵黄囊憩室、回肠、盲肠、直肠、心脏、肾、肺、肝、骨骼肌和皮肤,而在十二指肠和睾丸中没有检测到其转录。构建了鸡IL-2Rγ胞外区的原核重组表达载体,进行了表达和鉴定。     

鸭传染性腔上囊病毒VP2基因的克隆与序列分析

应用RT PCR法对分离于当地典型发病鸭群的鸭传染性腔上囊病毒 (IBDV )YL997株进行了VP2基因的克隆与序列分析 ,并和相关毒株进行了比较。结果表明 ,YL997株与STC株的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性只有 92 .5 %和 91.8% ,与超强毒株UK6 6 1的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性均为97.6 % ,而与当地鸡群中分离的超强毒株HN94 2的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性则高达 98.1%和98.4 % ,该毒株的VP2基因序列完全具备了超强毒株的主要特征。