Metric forensic anthropology decisions: Reliability and biasability of sectioning-point-based sex estimates

Subjective decisions make human cognitive processes more susceptible to bias and error. Specifically, research indicates that additional context biases forensic anthropologists’ morphological analyses. To address whether metric analyses are also subject to bias, we conducted a pilot study in which 52 experienced osteologists measured a difficult-to-classify human femur, with or without additional contextual information. Using a metric sectioning-point sex-estimation method, participants provided a sex estimate for individual skeletal element(s) and, when given multiple elements, the combined skeletal assemblage. Control group participants (n = 24) measured only the femur. In addition to the femur, bias group participants (n = 28) either measured a female humerus and viewed a female-biasing photograph (n = 14) or measured a male humerus and viewed a male-biasing photograph (n = 14). We explored whether the experts in the different groups would differ in: (1) femoral measurements; (2) femoral sex-estimation conclusions; and (3) final sex-estimation conclusions for the skeletal assemblage. Although the femoral measurements and femoral sex estimates were comparable across groups, the overall sex estimates in the female-biased group were impacted by contextual information—differing from both the control and male-biased groups (p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate that cognitive bias can occur even in metric sex-estimation conclusions. Specifically, this occurred when the metric data and single-element sex estimates were synthesized into an overall estimate. Thus, our results suggest that metric methods are most vulnerable to bias when data are synthesized into an overall conclusion, highlighting the need for bias countermeasures and comprehensive statistical frameworks for synthesizing metric data to mitigate the effects of cognitive bias.     

Lethal small bowel obstruction due to pica

Up to 25% of institutionalized patients with cognitive deficiencies display pica-like behavior, with an estimated annual incidence of small bowel obstruction of 2%. We present a case based on the forensic autopsy of a 41-year-old woman who died as a result of a missed diagnosis of small bowel obstruction after ingesting a foreign body. The case underlines the importance of precaution when treating patients with cognitive deficiency and/or language deficits and gastrointestinal symptoms. In such cases, it is important to employ a liberal threshold for radiological investigations and, if possible, obtain a medical history from a person close to the patient.     

李步云与当代中国法哲学

李步云既是当代中国颇有成就的法理学家和宪法学家 ,又是“新时期”最早“自觉”到“法哲学”的法学家。他是从当代中国法理学和宪法学的“局限性”意识出发 ,而提出其法哲学主张的 ,其法哲学体系是围绕法的唯物论与认识论、法的辩证法与发展观而构筑并加以逻辑展开的 ,是对法理学问题的既深入又超出。为中国法理学研究提供基础、方向和标准 ,是李步云法哲学研究的根本目的所在     

脑震荡后综合征伤残评定研究进展

由于症状表现的主观性以及当前客观检查方法所能提供证据的匮乏,加之赔偿伴生的症状伪装和夸大等问题,脑震荡后综合征患者的伤残评定鉴定意见一致性不高。在人体损伤赔偿纠纷中,脑震荡后综合征患者的伤残评定成为法医精神病鉴定的争议点和难题。通过对脑震荡及相关术语变化、脑震荡后综合征的发生率、症状表现及诊断标准、脑震荡后综合征客观评价技术以及伤残评定的现状及未来发展方向进行综述,以期提高对脑震荡、脑震荡后综合征的认识,提高鉴定意见的一致性。     

针刺督脉组穴治疗血管性认知障碍临床观察

目的 观察针刺督脉组穴治疗血管性认知障碍（vascular cognitive impairment，VCI）的临床疗效。方法 将51例VCI患者随机分为针刺组（25例）和药物组（26）例，针刺组采用针刺督脉穴位神庭、百会、风府、大椎进行治疗，药物组采用口服多奈哌齐进行治疗。观察并比较治疗前后患者血清血红蛋白（hemoglobin, Hgb）水平及中医证候量表、MMSE量表、Hachinski量表、额叶功能评定量表（frontal assessment battery, FAB）评分。结果 两组治疗前Hgb水平比较，差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05）。两组治疗后Hgb水平均较治疗前显著升高（P＜0.05），且针刺组升高值显著大于药物组（P＜0.05）。两组治疗前中医证候评分比较，差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）。两组治疗后中医证候评分均较治疗前显著降低（P＜0.05），且针刺组降低值显著大于药物组（P＜0.05）。两组治疗前MMSE、Hachinski、FAB评分比较，差异均无统计学意义（P＞0.05）。与治疗前比较，两组治疗后MMSE、FAB评分均显著增加(P＜0.05)，且针刺组增加值显著大于药物组（P＜0.05）。与治疗前比较，两组治疗后Hachinski评分显著降低（P＜0.05），且针刺组降低值显著大于药物组（P＜0.05）。两组疗效分布比较，差异具有统计学意义（P＜0.05），针刺组疗效优于药物组。结论 针刺督脉组穴可改善VCI患者认知能力，且疗效优于多奈哌齐。     

Young people with cognitive disabilities and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system: service provider perspectives on policing

Young people with cognitive disabilities (YPWCD) are overrepresented as offenders in the criminal justice system. However, most existing research on this topic examines overrepresentation in courts and corrections rather than at the police gatekeeping stage of the criminal justice process. Furthermore, while the views of other groups have been documented, the perspectives of service providers – who often bear witness to YPWCD’s interactions with police – have yet to be examined. This research addresses this gap by analysing qualitative interviews with service providers from Queensland, Australia, using the three most common theoretical explanations for the overrepresentation of PWCD (the susceptibility, differential treatment and psychosocial disadvantage theses) as an analytic framework. A number of implications emerged from the study. There is a need to take a critical and intersectional lens to YPWCD’s experiences, as well as to equip police to work with YPWCD to de-escalate interactions with this group.     

腐败心理的内涵、构成及抑制策略

腐败心理是支配腐败行为人实施腐败行为的复杂心理现象的总称。腐败心理不仅是腐败行为发生的内在动因,其构成要素的组合状况和特点还决定了腐败行为的性质、类型和发生频次。因此,抑制腐败心理的生成,需要培育积极的心理动力结构要素、合理的心理认知结构要素和有效的心理自控结构要素,从源头上构筑起预防腐败行为发生的内在防线。     

Body and experiment – reflecting Kawabata Yasunari's counter-aesthetics

Abstract

From his earliest works, Kawabata, known as an explicit aestheticist, deals in his works with flawed and disabled bodies in contrast to beautiful ones, evoking feelings of revulsion, awkwardness, disgust and premonitions of decay and death. The dynamism created out of these tensions and ruptures in the aestheticized world is scrutizined as hidden counter-aesthetics through questions such as: Which kinds of impairments are to be observed? Can they be classified according to grades? Are there gender specificities? How are these tensions and ruptures organized, and which categories (semantic, biological, political, moral) are concerned? Which narratorial and other functions are served through the counter-image of the flawed (impaired) body? And finally, how do the findings from these investigations into the flipside, the ‘Other’ of Kawabata's aesthetic universe, contribute to complementary or alternative ways of reading and understanding his literature? In a final section, Kawabata's treatment of female bodies as a site of experimenting with extreme situations of passivity and agency is highlighted, challenging more conventional readings of this and other works. The works discussed are from a deliberately broad chronological and generic range, including canonical and popular works. They range from the newspaper novels ‘Utsukushii!’ (1927) and ‘Maihime’ (1950/1), the novel ‘Senbazuru’ (1952) to the stories and palm-of-the-hand stories ‘Ningen no ashioto’ (1925),’Izu no odoriko’ (1926), ‘Mekura to shōjo’ (1928), ‘Utsukushiki haka’ (1929) ‘Hokuro no tegami’ (1940), ‘Sasabune’ (1950), and, in the final section, ‘Kataude’ (1963/4) and ‘Nemureru bijo’ (1960/1).     

交通事故脑外伤所致精神障碍伤残评定有关问题

在交通事故受伤人员脑外伤所致精神障碍伤残评定中,由于《道路交通事故受伤人员伤残评定》中涉及精神伤残评定条款内容可操作性差,精神伤残评定客观检查及量化指标较少,导致评定意见不一致,给交通事故理赔带来困难。在此就精神伤残评定技术操作中的有关问题提出一些经验性观点。