Is health care different? Popular support of federal health and social policies

Over the past several years there has been a striking increase in policy-makers' attention to health care reform. This paper explores whether there has been a corresponding shift in popular attitudes and identifies factors that may have changed these attitudes. The first part of the analysis relies on survey data collected between 1975 and 1989 to estimate a set of regression models, relating support for federal involvement in health care, antipoverty programs, and general domestic policies to a set of sociodemographic characteristics.... The second part of this study explores motivations that might account for these patterns. We identify a half dozen ways in which health care may be viewed as "different," that is, more or less appropriate for federal action. Analysis of survey data from 1987 suggests that there are relatively small differences in the attitudes and perceptions that motivate support for federal health initiatives, relative to federal domestic policies in general. However, there are more striking differences between health programs and more overtly redistributive policies.... We suggest that the growing support for federal intervention in health care, relative to other social policies, is in part an inadvertent by-product of ideological positions popularized during the Reagan and Bush administrations. We draw from these results some predictions about the course of the ongoing debate over federal health policies.     

谈谈“侦审合一”后的侦查办案

自实施侦审一体化的运作机制以来,侦查办案工作在调查取证、讯问犯罪嫌疑人、办案时限、法律文书制作等方面出现了一些问题,其生成原因是多层面、多方面的,需要通过加大培训力度提高综合素质、完善相关制度、确保取证质量等措施来加以解决。     

Northern Democrats and Party Polarization in the U.S. House

Abstract: Over the last 25 years, there has been a steady increase in party voting in the U.S. House, with much of this increase attributed to changes in the South. We argue that changes in the North are also important. Democrats now win a higher percentage of elections in the North, and a larger percentage of the congressional party comes from the North. Northern Democrats became steadily more liberal in the 1980s and 1990s, which increased the liberal record of the entire party. We examine two factors in the rise in liberal voting in the North. First, Democrats now win more seats in urban, lower‐income, nonwhite districts that tend to generate liberal voting records. Second, there has been an increase in the number of districts that tend to produce liberal‐voting Democrats. Together, these changes have resulted in more liberal Democratic Party voting and greater polarization between the parties.     

Suppurative pericarditis due to Angelchik prosthesis

Hiatus hernia is a common condition and while medical treatment is often sufficient, in some cases surgery may be necessary. Although there are a number of surgical treatments available, none has been totally successful. We report a case in which use of the Angelchik prosthesis proved fatal.     

A Field Experiment on the Effects of Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status on the Quality of Representation

The principle of equal representation is the cornerstone of modern democracy, yet there have been concerns that the benefits of representation can be skewed, advantaging some over others. We argue that elected officials will be more responsive to constituents whom they perceive as more like themselves and more likely to be politically active. We examine inequalities in representation in a parliamentary democracy where, intrinsic to the institutional framework, there is a long‐standing reputation for serving constituent needs: the United Kingdom. We also advance the literature by focusing on the expediency of responsiveness and the helpfulness of response. Drawing on a field experiment, we find both an overall high level of responsiveness and helpfulness but also biases affecting MP's responsiveness. Our findings raise important questions about equal access to representation, even in a political system where constituency service is the norm and expectation.     

我国《婚姻法》中夫妻财产制度的完善

婚姻法是民法的重要组成部分,也关系到千千万万个家庭和每一个人。在经过激烈的争论和探讨后,我国新《婚姻法》终于尘埃落定,并相继出台了两个司法解释,但理论研究和学术讨论并未因此而结束。本文通过对作为婚姻法重要内容的财产关系的若干问题的论述,指出了某些尚值得商榷的地方,并对此提出了一点建议。     

Command-level Police Officers’ Perceptions of the “War on Cops” and De-policing

Policing has been the subject of intense public scrutiny for the better part of two years after several high-profile police killings of unarmed African Americans across the United States. The scrutiny has been so extreme that some contend there is currently a “war on cops”—whereby citizens are emboldened by protests and negative media coverage of the police, and are lashing out by assaulting police officers more frequently. In response, it is argued that officers are de-policing (i.e. avoiding proactive stops). We surveyed command-level police officers from a southeastern state about their attitudes concerning the war on cops and de-policing. The majority of our sample believed there has been a war on cops over the last two years. Moreover, officers who felt strongly about the existence of a war on cops were more likely to believe that de-policing is common among officers in today’s world of law enforcement.     

Getting out what we put in: productivity of the English National Health Service

Many countries are incorporating direct measures of non-market outputs in the national accounts. For any particular output to be included there has to be data about it for two adjacent periods. This is problematic because the classification of non-market outputs is often subject to wholesale revision. We outline the challenges associated with classification changes and propose a solution. To illustrate we construct output and input indices and estimate productivity growth of the English National Health Service (NHS) for the period 2003-2004 to 2007-2008. Our index of output growth incorporates all care provided to NHS patients and captures improvements in survival rates, waiting times and disease management. We find that more patients are being treated and the quality of the care they receive has been improving. We implement our approach to dealing with changes as to how health services are defined and show what effect this has on estimates of output growth. Our index of input growth captures all labour, intermediate and capital inputs into health service production and we improve on how capital has been measured in the past. Inputs have increased over time but there has also been a slowdown since 2005-2006, primarily the result of a levelling off in staff recruitment and less reliance on the use of agency staff. Productivity is assessed by comparing output growth with growth in inputs, the net effect being constant productivity growth between 2003-2004 and 2007-2008.     

Does contextual information bias bitemark comparisons?

A growing body of research suggests that the interpretation of fingerprint evidence is open to contextual bias. While there has been suggestion in the literature that the same might apply to bitemarks – a form of identification evidence in which a degree of contextual information during the comparison phase is generally unavoidable – there have so far been no empirical studies to test this assertion. We explored dental and non-dental students' ability to state whether two bitemarks matched, while manipulating task ambiguity and the presence and emotional intensity of additional contextual information. Provision of the contextual information influenced participants' decisions on the ambiguous bitemarks. Interestingly, when participants were presented with highly emotional images and subliminally primed with the words ‘same’ and ‘guilty’, they made fewer matches relative to our control condition. Dental experience also played a role in decision-making, with dental students making more matches as the experiment progressed, regardless of context or task ambiguity. We discuss ways that this exploratory research can be extended in future studies.     

Sudden unexpected death in a patient with splenic sequestration and sickle cell-beta+-thalassemia syndrome

Acute splenic sequestration crisis is a rare disorder that usually occurs in children, with sickle cell anemia, who are under the age of five years. A few cases have been described in adults with heterozygous sickle cell syndromes. Though this entity can be fatal there have been no reported cases associated with sudden death. We describe a case of sudden, unexpected death, associated with splenic sequestration, in a 29-year-old African-American man with undiagnosed sickle cell-beta-thalassemia syndrome.     

Helping formulate propositions in forensic DNA analysis

The Bayesian paradigm is the preferred approach to evidence interpretation. It requires the evaluation of the probability of the evidence under at least two propositions. The value of the findings (i.e., our LR) will depend on these propositions and the case information, so it is crucial to identify which propositions are useful for the case at hand. Previously, a number of principles have been advanced and largely accepted for the evaluation of evidence. In the evaluation of traces involving DNA mixtures there may be more than two propositions possible. We apply these principles to some exemplar situations. We also show that in some cases, when there are no clear propositions or no defendant, a forensic scientist may be able to generate explanations to account for observations. In that case, the scientist plays a role of investigator, rather than evaluator. We believe that it is helpful for the scientist to distinguish those two roles.     

回顾与展望:我国司法鉴定制度变迁与实践

《关于司法鉴定管理问题的决定》出台至今司法鉴定制度建设可大致划分为制度建立、细化管理、严格监管三个阶段。15年以来,鉴定制度建设成效显著,鉴定活动及管理日趋规范,鉴定数量和规模大幅增长,鉴定研究成果丰硕。但仍有一些问题有待进一步解决,更高层次的统一立法尚未突破,存在标准化与科学化的技术瓶颈,鉴定资源与司法需求仍的矛盾,行业自治和认证认可有待完善,鉴定研究手段和成果发表也存在局限。应进一步加强司法鉴定立法,关注司法鉴定实践,注重引导电子化时代司法鉴定的发展。     

Cocaine-related deaths: an enigma still under investigation

In recent years there has been an increase interest in cocaine-related death reflecting the rising trend in cocaine use in Europe. Nevertheless it is still now very difficult to attribute a death to cocaine. We can affirm that cocaine can be responsible for the cause of death only when there is a reasonably complete understanding of the circumstances or facts surrounding the death. Isolated blood cocaine levels are not enough to assess lethality, and should be always considered and evaluated in relation to concentrations of cocaine and benzoylecgonine concentrations in body tissue compartments, especially in brain and blood. We have reanalyzed all of our cocaine-related cases from 1990 to 2005, applying the methodology used by Spielher and Reed over 30 years ago. Our aim was to try to validate this model and verify its applicability and effectiveness after 20 years.     

Dementia as a risk factor for homicide.

We report a patient with dementia due to B-12 deficiency and syphilis who presented to a forensic hospital after killing his ex-wife with a gun. Despite current awareness on the occurrence of aggression and violence in patients with dementia, there has been no report discussing dementia secondary to an infectious or nutritional origin causing homicide or severe violent behavior. We discuss possible mechanisms and several predisposing factors for violent behavior in the elderly. We also discuss use and access of a gun in demented patients and its complications. We recommend availability of neuropsychiatric assessments in the elderly, limitation of gun access to demented patients and inquiry about weapon possession in the elderly.     

我国综合性大学法学本科专业课程体系的调查与思考

2 0世纪 90年代末以来 ,各综合性大学尤其是重点综合性大学对传统的法学课程体系进行了前所未有的改革 ,并取得了显著成绩。但仍然存在着单科性的部门法学课程多、跨学科的综合性课程少 ;重复性内容偏多、实践性课程偏少 ;通选课程门数多、精品课程少等问题。我们应该着眼学生全面素质提升的课程结构 ,以挑战眼光整合法学课程模块 ,把学生培养成为高素质的治国之才。     

A Cross‐National Analysis of Party Switching

Though instances of party switching have been widely documented, there is little cross‐national research on this phenomenon. The prevalence of switching is therefore unknown, and the factors influencing this behavior remain unclear. Using the most comprehensive dataset on party switching ever constructed, we illustrate both that interparty movement is more common than previously assumed and that there are substantial differences in its prevalence across parties. To explain this variation, we examine the relationship between legislators' motivations, institutional arrangements, and switching. We find that motivational explanations are correlated with interparty movement and that institutional arrangements exhibit only limited direct influence on switching.     

Suicidal asphyxiation by using pure helium gas: case report, review, and discussion of the influence of the internet

Suffocation by inhaled gases has been reported involving a variety of gases. We report a case of suicidal asphyxiation by forced replacement of oxygen with helium by using a complex homemade mask. In this case, a young woman researched suicide on the Internet and found an advocated method of suicide using helium. To our knowledge, there is only 1 previously reported case of suicidal asphyxia by using helium.     

Data breach notification law in the EU and Australia – Where to now?

Mandatory data breach notification laws have been a significant legislative reform in response to unauthorized disclosures of personal information by public and private sector organizations. These laws originated in the state-based legislatures of the United States during the last decade and have subsequently garnered worldwide legislative interest. We contend that there are conceptual and practical concerns regarding mandatory data breach notification laws which limit the scope of their applicability, particularly in relation to existing information privacy law regimes. We outline these concerns here, in the light of recent European Union and Australian legal developments in this area.     

The shortage of transplantable organs: an analysis and a proposal

During the last decade there have been enormous advances in the transplantation of vital organs - in particular, the kidney, lung, heart, liver and pancreas. Unfortunately, efforts to provide the benefits of these operations to patients have been severely hindered by limitations in the supply of organs -limitations which, in the view of the author, are a consequence of regulation prohibiting the use of market incentives to increase the supply. We conclude that the law should be changed to allow the use of incentives to induce the donation of both present and future interests in cadaver organs.