Supervision practices in specialty mental health probation: What happens in officer-probationer meetings?

As the correctional population continues to increase, probation agencies struggle to adequately supervise offenders with unique needs, including those with mental disorder. Although more than 100 U.S. probation agencies have implemented specialty mental health case-loads, little is known about their practices. Based on detailed observations of 83 audio-taped meetings, we examined interactions between probationers and officers in a prototypic specialty agency, focusing on the extent to which practices comport with evidence-based risk reduction principles. We found that specialty officers (a) more frequently discussed probationers' general mental health than any individual criminogenic need, (b) chiefly questioned, directed, affirmed, and supported (rather than confronted) probationers, and (c) relied more heavily on neutral strategies and positive pressures (e.g., inducements) rather than negative pressures (e.g., threats of incarceration) to monitor and enforce compliance. Implications for "what works" to promote community integration for probationers with mental disorder are discussed.     

What’s Sex (Composition) Got to Do with It? The Importance of Sex Composition of Gangs for Female and Male Members’ Offending and Victimization

Sex composition of groups has been theorized in organizational sociology and found in prior work to structure female and male members’ behaviors and experiences. Peer group and gang literature similarly finds that the sex gap in offending varies across groups of differing sex ratios. Drawing on this and other research linking gang membership, offending, and victimization, we examine whether sex composition of gangs is linked to sex differences in offending in this sample, further assess whether sex composition similarly structures females’ and males’ victimization experiences, and if so, why. Self-report data from gang members in a multi-site, longitudinal study of 3,820 youths are employed. Results support previous findings about variations in member delinquency by both sex and sex composition of the gang and also indicate parallel variations in members’ victimization. These results are further considered within the context of facilitating effects such as gender dynamics, gang characteristics, and normative orientation.     

Technology Transfer Trends in the Department of Education

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education, is the only federal agency mandated to improve the functional capabilities of people with disabilities. The application of technology is one means for addressing this mandate, so NIDRR operates programs that research, develop and commercialize assistive technology devices and services. To support this activity, the NIDRR collaborates with other federal agencies, and supports a national technology transfer center focused on bringing new or improved products to the marketplace.     

地缘政治理论研究的新篇章——读陆俊元《地缘政治的本质与规律》有感

在当今学界，地缘政治可谓是一个热门话题，各种论说让人应接不暇，但深层的学理探究似乎远不能胜任地缘政治理论建设的客观需要。因此，当我读到时事出版社以“专家纵论”专题推出的陆俊元教授的专著《地缘政治的本质与规律》一书时，即深深地为其丰富的理论含量、积极的创新和精湛的阐论所吸引。全书立意新颖，逻辑严谨，述论有据。从地缘政治的根本性质、内在规律，到地缘政治的形态与结构，作者对地缘政治涉及的重大理论问题进行了积极而审慎的思考与探索。全书主线突出，前后环环相扣，读来引人人胜。书中关于地缘政治的界定、对地缘政治规律的分析以及对地缘政治研究方法的创新等重要篇章，可圈可点之处颇多。     

The Effects of Soil Texture on the Ability of Human Remains Detection Dogs to Detect Buried Human Remains

Despite technological advances, human remains detection (HRD) dogs still remain one of the best tools for locating clandestine graves. However, soil texture may affect the escape of decomposition gases and therefore the effectiveness of HDR dogs. Six nationally credentialed HRD dogs (three HRD only and three cross‐trained) were evaluated on novel buried human remains in contrasting soils, a clayey and a sandy soil. Search time and accuracy were compared for the clayey soil and sandy soil to assess odor location difficulty. Sandy soil (p < 0.001) yielded significantly faster trained response times, but no significant differences were found in performance accuracy between soil textures or training method. Results indicate soil texture may be significant factor in odor detection difficulty. Prior knowledge of soil texture and moisture may be useful for search management and planning. Appropriate adjustments to search segment sizes, sweep widths and search time allotment depending on soil texture may optimize successful detection.     

The Words of Violence: Autobiographical Narratives of Abused Women

Personal narratives tell the stories of people’s lives as well as provide insight into the meaning of those experiences. These narratives both reflect and are influenced by the relationships within which an individual is embedded. In this study, autobiographical narratives for two groups of women were compared: women who had experienced habitual gender-based domestic violence in their couple relationships and women who had not. The language of narratives was analyzed by LIWC (Language Inquiry and Word Count procedure). Results showed that the language and structure of narratives by women with a history of domestic violence indicated greater stress and trauma, more incoherent space-time organization, and poorer relationship quality. Women who experienced violence wrote longer narratives that contained proportionately more negative emotion words and more references to cognitions and physical/body issues, and indicated more disorganized structure by means of incoherent use of verbal tense, more impoverished use of connectives, and greater use of negative sentence syntax and discrepancy words. They also included proportionately more pronoun references to ‘I’,‘You’,’ and ‘He’, indicating self vs. partner conflictual relationships. However, women who had experienced relationship violence for longer decreased their references to the emotions of fear and anxiety, suggesting adaptation to violence over time.     

发展数控实训培养创新人才

数控实训是学生进行工程实践的主要途径，培养创新型应用人才是数控人才教学培养目标的选择。只有合理安排课程设置、确培养目标，增强实训基地软硬件，提高识字能力，完善安全管理制度；才能培养出符合社会需要的创新型人才。