The Influence of Personal Values on Legal Judgments

The non‐legal factors that influence judicial decisions have been the subject of extensive debate. Theoretical and empirical work has focused on factors including political ideology, activism, attitudes, and demographics. Personal values are related to these factors and are central to decision making. The study described in this article translated theories and techniques from psychological research to examine the role of personal values in judicial decision making. A novel method of assessment of value expression in legal opinions revealed a different pattern of values expressed in the majority and minority opinions of a case that divided the Supreme Court. An empirical study of legal academics extended this analysis and highlighted the significant influence of personal values on legal decisions. The value:decision paradigm provides a new framework to analyse judicial decision making, judicial division, and judicial discretion and has significant implications for judicial diversity.     

马克思劳动权利思想的内涵及其启示——基于《资本论》的文本分析

作为马克思主义政治哲学的核心范畴,权利在《资本论》中被核心表征为了劳动权利。马克思通过对劳动所有权的权能分离、劳动权利与资本权力的冲突展开对劳动权利的阐释,完成了对劳动权利的核心内涵的事实判断。也正是基于这一指认,马克思在《资本论》中以劳动权利的未来图景为启示,搭建了以保障劳动权利的劳工权益为手段,以劳动权利的价值评价为目的的框架,以期使劳动权利获得自由的价值从而实现人的自由全面发展。     

虚假诉讼检察监督实证分析

对虚假诉讼进行监督是人民检察院的必要职责。当前虚假诉讼检察监督面临诸多困境,如虚假诉讼识别、虚假诉讼查证等。检察机关应从构建虚假诉讼线索发现机制、监督查证机制、强化虚假诉讼的打击效果等方面加强对虚假诉讼进行监督,以维护公民的合法权益,保障司法公正与权威。     

Portable high‐resolution automated 3D imaging for footwear and tire impression capture

The forensic science community raised the need for improved evidence recognition, collection, and visualization analytical instrumentation for field and laboratory use. While the 3D optical techniques for imaging static objects have been extensively studied, there is still a major gap between current knowledge and collecting high‐quality footwear and tire impression evidence. Among optical means for 3D imaging, digital fringe projection (DFP) techniques reconstruct 3D shape from phase information, achieving camera‐pixel spatial resolution. This paper presents a high‐resolution 3D imaging technology using DFP techniques dedicated to footwear and tire impression capture. We developed fully automated software algorithms and a graphical user interface (GUI) that allow anyone without training to operate for high‐quality 3D data capture. We performed accuracy evaluations and comparisons comparing with the commercial high‐end 3D scanner and carried out qualitative tests for various impressions comparing with the current practices. Overall, our technology achieves similar levels of accuracy and resolution with a high‐end commercially available 3D scanner, while having the merits of being (1) more affordable; (2) much easier to operate; and (3) more robust. Compared with the current practice of casting, our technology demonstrates its superiority because it (1) is non‐destructive; (2) collects more evidence detail than casts, especially when an impression is fragile; (3) requires less time and money to collect each piece of evidence; and (4) results in a digital file that can easily be shared with other examiners.     

Estimating Individual Contributions to Complex DNA SNP Mixtures.,

High‐throughput sequencing (HTS) of large panels of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) provides an alternative or complimentary approach to short tandem repeats (STRs) panels for the analysis of complex DNA mixture forensic samples. For STRs, methods to estimate individual contribution concentrations compare capillary electrophoresis peak heights, peak areas, or HTS allele read counts within a mixture. This article introduces three approaches (mean, median, and slope methods) for estimating individual DNA contributions to forensic mixtures for HTS/massively parallel sequencing (MPS) SNP panels. For SNPs, the major:minor allele ratios or counts, unique to each contributor, were compared to estimate contributor proportion within the mixture using the mean, median, and slope intercept for these alleles. The estimates for these three methods were typically within 5% of planned experimental contributions for defined mixtures.     

TAKING THE ECONOMIC PULSE

<正>Collective wisdom on how to meet challenges and seize chances at the Boao forum On March 24,Yang Kai,Chairman of China Huishan Dairy Holdings,a company that covers the entire dairy value chain from plantation to dairy farming and manufacturing and is based in northeast China’s Liaoning Province,issued an announcement.