文莱:2016年回顾与2017年展望

2016年,文莱继续保持多年来的格局,政治社会稳定,人民生活富裕;由于受到国际油价低位徘徊的影响,导致经济没有完成年度计划,呈现了负增长;外交上,根据国家既定的对外政策尽力参与地区及世界上的外交活动.展望2017年,文莱仍然保持这种发展格局.     

Reciprocal Relationships between Teacher Ratings of Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors in Adolescents with Different Levels of Cognitive Abilities

Are internalizing and externalizing behavior problems interrelated via mutually reinforcing relationships (with each behavior leading to increases over time in levels of the other behavior) or mutually suppressing relationships (with each behavior leading to decreases over time in levels of the other behavior)? Past research on the directionality of these relationships has led to ambiguous results, particularly in adolescence. Furthermore, the extent to which prior results will generalize to adolescents with low levels of cognitive abilities remains unknown. This second limit is particularly important, given that these adolescents are known to present higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors than their peers with average-to-high levels of cognitive abilities, and that the mechanisms involved in the reciprocal relationships between these two types of behaviors may differ across both populations. This study examines the directionality of the longitudinal relationships between externalizing and internalizing behavior problems as rated by teachers across three measurement waves (corresponding to Grades 8–10) in matched samples of 138 adolescents (34.78?% girls) with low levels of cognitive abilities and 556 adolescents (44.88?% girls) with average-to-high levels of cognitive abilities. The results showed that the measurement structure was fully equivalent across time periods and groups of adolescents, revealing high levels of developmental stability in both types of problems, and moderately high levels of cross-sectional associations. Levels of both internalizing and externalizing behaviors were higher among adolescents with low levels of cognitive abilities relative to those with average-to-high levels of cognitive abilities. Finally, the predictive analyses revealed negative reciprocal longitudinal relationships (i.e., mutually suppressing relationships) between externalizing and internalizing problems, a result that was replicated within samples of adolescents with low, and average-to-high levels of cognitive ability.     

An assessment of sexual health risk behaviors among female youth in juvenile detention

This study investigated the association between risky sexual behavior and drug use among female youth sentenced to a regional juvenile detention center. Preincarceration behavioral health risk data were collected from a modified version of the Youth Risk Behaviors Surveillance Survey completed by respondents. Almost all of the 105 participants had been detained before their current sentence, more than half of them were sexually active before the age of 13, and 70% had smoked marijuana or drank alcohol by age 14. A regression analysis was conducted to determine if preincarceration sexual health risk behaviors were significant enough to predict continued risk behaviors related to pregnancy, disease prevention, and substance use. Findings indicate that youth detention-based prevention programs should emphasize sexual and drug-risk reduction strategies as a means to reduce risky behaviors for this population.     

Associations of Participation in Service Activities with Academic, Behavioral, and Civic Outcomes of Adolescents at Varying Risk Levels

Youth who participate in service activities differ from those who do not on a number of key demographic characteristics like socio-economic status and other indicators of risk; and most studies demonstrating positive outcomes among service participants employ small non-representative samples. Thus, there is little evidence as to whether the outcomes associated with service participation are similar among students with varying levels of risk. The National Household Education Survey of 1999, a large nationally representative cross-sectional data set that focused on community service, was analyzed to investigate associations between the risk status of 4,306 adolescent students (50.2% female; 63.3% European American, M age?=?15.9), their participation in community service, and their academic adjustment, behavioral problems, and civic knowledge. Because adolescents who participate in service differ from those who do not with respect to demographic characteristics, propensity score analyses were used to correct for potential selection bias in the examination of these relationships. Analyses tested competing theoretical models of service??protective versus compensatory??among students at varying levels of risk, and suggested that service acts as a compensatory factor with respect to academic, behavioral, and civic outcomes. Propensity score analyses revealed patterns suggesting that, in some cases, students with certain demographic profiles that are themselves related to the likelihood of service participation may benefit from service participation more than others. Findings are discussed in terms of their significance for adolescent development, for planning service programs, and for educational policy.     

People,power, change: three pillars of a food sovereignty research praxis

ABSTRACT

This article is situated within nascent debates on the role of academics within food sovereignty movements. Drawing on insights from a collective autoethnography, we report on our experiences conducting three food sovereignty research projects in different contexts and at different scales. We suggest that that the principles and practices of food sovereignty translate into a food sovereignty research praxis. This consists of three pillars focusing on people (humanizing research relationships), power (equalizing power relations) and change (pursuing transformative orientations). This article discusses these pillars and analyzes the extent to which we were able to embody them within our projects.     

Population Pressures and the North–South Divide between the first century and 2100

This article examines the relationship between the populations of the more and less developed societies between the first century and 2100. Such an analysis reveals a changing dependency between the level of development (and GDP) achieved and population numbers between the first century and 1998. In relation to the past the article suggests a dynamic model for dividing the world into more and less developed areas. In relation to the present and the future it bases the population analysis on the developmental division of the world as published by one of the co-authors of this article. The article largely uses population estimates (with those referring to the past taken from Angus Maddison and those referring to the future from the most recent projections by the United Nations). Taking the 2013 UN projection as a model, it discusses three variants for demographic development in the North and South up to 2100. It argues that the more restrictive population growth variants of the UN projection predict a greater relative ‘Third Worldisation’ of the world than does the most dynamic projection.     

Development of a Novel Finger-Trigger Interface for Trigger Pull Measurement

Trigger pull is the force that needs to be exerted on the trigger to discharge a firearm. The measurement of trigger pull can assist in the evaluation of the safety, function, and manufacturing characteristics associated with a firearm during the forensic firearm examination process. Nonetheless, the accuracy and uncertainty of trigger pull measurements may be affected by the measuring device, test procedure, and environmental conditions. In this work, an innovative finger-trigger interface device was developed to facilitate accurate trigger pull measurements. The idea was to reduce the variation related to the position of the measurement device on the trigger in existing measuring methods and devices. Three force sensors based on different technologies were initially evaluated. While two of the three sensors failed to produce data, the miniature capacitive plate sensor exhibited high precision and a linear response over the range of typical trigger pulls. To examine the effects of the finger-trigger interface on trigger pull measurement, different sensor housing prototypes were designed in silico and 3D printed for the construction of three finger-trigger interface devices. The performance of each finger-trigger interface device was evaluated by measuring the trigger pulls of several selected firearms and comparing the data to a previously published study. Our preliminary results demonstrated the novel finger-trigger interface device offered a new way to measure trigger pull in situ with acceptable accuracy and precision.