Semiconductor chips, genes, and stem cells: new wine for new bottles?

This Article analogizes early semiconductor technology and its surrounding economics with isolated genes, stem cells, and related bioproducts, and their surrounding economics, to make the case for sui generis (of its own class) intellectual property protection for isolated bioproducts. Just as early semiconductors failed to meet the patent social bargain requiring novelty and non-obviousness in the 1980s, isolated genes and stem cells currently fail to meet the patent bargain requirements of non-obviousness and eligible subject matter that entitle them to traditional intellectual property protection. Like early semiconductor chip designs, nevertheless, the high cost of upstream bioproduct research and development, coupled with the need to sustain continued economic growth of the biotechnology industry, mandates that Congress provide some level of exclusive rights to ensure continued funding for this research. Sui generis intellectual property protection for isolated bioproducts would preserve the incentive to continue innovation in the field. As illustrated by the semiconductor industry, however, such sui generis protection for this technology must include limitations that address the need to provide an appropriate level of public access to facilitate downstream product development and enrich the public domain.     

Mental Health and Educational Experiences Among Black Youth: A Latent Class Analysis

Disproportionately lower educational achievement, coupled with higher grade retention, suspensions, expulsions, and lower school bonding make educational success among Black adolescents a major public health concern. Mental health is a key developmental factor related to educational outcomes among adolescents; however, traditional models of mental health focus on absence of dysfunction as a way to conceptualize mental health. The dual-factor model of mental health incorporates indicators of both subjective wellbeing and psychopathology, supporting more recent research that both are needed to comprehensively assess mental health. This study applied the dual-factor model to measure mental health using the National Survey of American Life—Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), a representative cross-sectional survey. The sample included 1170 Black adolescents (52% female; mean age 15). Latent class analysis was conducted with positive indicators of subjective wellbeing (emotional, psychological, and social) as well as measures of psychopathology. Four mental health groups were identified, based on having high or low subjective wellbeing and high or low psychopathology. Accordingly, associations between mental health groups and educational outcomes were investigated. Significant associations were observed in school bonding, suspensions, and grade retention, with the positive mental health group (high subjective wellbeing, low psychopathology) experiencing more beneficial outcomes. The results support a strong association between school bonding and better mental health and have implications for a more comprehensive view of mental health in interventions targeting improved educational experiences and mental health among Black adolescents.     

从网络成瘾少年的被强制戒除看家庭保障应当承担的社会责任

从近期有关于中国知名戒网瘾专家杨永信用强行禁闭、电休克等非人道的手段进行治疗网瘾患者的事件为引,从家庭保障的角度出发,重点探讨家庭在青少年网络成瘾的问题中应该承担的责任。     

Integrating Institutional and Behavioural Measures of Bribery

Bribery involves individuals exchanging material benefits for a service of a public institution. To understand the process of bribery we need to integrate measures of individual behaviour and institutional attributes rather than rely exclusively on surveys of individual perceptions and experience or macro-level corruption indexes of national institutions. This paper integrates institutional and behavioural measures to show that where you live and who you are have independent influence on whether a person pays a bribe. The analysis of 76 nationwide Global Corruption Barometer surveys from six continents provides a date set in which both institutional and individual differences vary greatly. Multi-level multivariate logit analysis is used to test hypotheses about the influence of institutional context and individual contact with public services, socio-economic inequalities and roles, and conflicting behavioural and ethical norms. It finds that path-determined histories of early bureaucratization or colonialism have a major impact after controlling for individual differences. At the individual level, people who frequently make use of public services and perceive government as corrupt are more likely to pay bribes, while socio-economic inequality has no significant influence. While institutional history cannot be changed, changing the design of public services is something that contemporary governors could do to reduce the vulnerability of their citizens to bribery.     

论"布什主义"

文章分析了布什主义产生的历史背景 ;阐述了布什主义的主要内容和特征 ;并对布什主义的本质及其影响作了评价。文章指出 ,布什主义的主要内容是 :(一 )以“恐怖分子”和“无赖国家”作为美国的主要现实对手 ;(二 )以防止能对美国霸权地位构成挑战的大国的崛起作为长期战略目标 ;(三 )推行“先发制人战略” ;(四 )重视维护美国本土安全 ;(五 )倚重军事力量的作用 ;(六 )单边主义倾向突出 ;(七 )意识形态色彩严重。     

基于似然率方法的语音证据评价

法庭话者识别技术引入我国已有二十多年,目前该技术已经广泛应用于各类刑事和民事案件中。纵观世界各国的法庭证据评价体系,除了DNA证据以外,其他证据检验鉴定结论的表述通常有三种:同一认定、否定排除和倾向性意见。简单肯定和否定的结论存在很大的弊端,即过高估计了证据的力度,因而有时可能会造成错案。鉴于此,国外一些学者提出在鉴定结论的表述和价值评判上引入基于贝叶斯理论的"似然率"方法。本文结合目前的法庭话者鉴别方法,重点介绍基于贝叶斯理论下的"似然率"理论体系,并阐明该方法的优越性、局限性以及一些亟待解决的问题。