The impact of culture on acceptance of soft drugs across Europe

Purpose

This paper applies Welzel and Inglehart's new human development/modernization theory to explain variation of tolerance in soft drug taking. It hypothesizes that tolerance of illegal drugs is linked to the human development and strength of a general cultural axis of nations: survivalism vs. self-expressionism.

Methods

Data are from the fourth wave of the World Values Surveys and from the United Nations’ Human Development Report 2001. Using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Regression (HGLM), this study examines variation of tolerance in soft drugs in 30 European nations with 38,719 respondents.

Results

Results support the hypothesis that residents from nations with higher levels of human development and with higher self-expressionist scores are more tolerant of soft drug use than residents in nations with lower human development levels and lower self-expressionist scores.

Conclusions

Our findings point to the troublesome relationship between cosmopolitan culture characteristic of liberal democracy and soft drug tolerance. As liberal democracy empowers ordinary people with civil and political rights, it also nurtures the growth of human freedom, making it evident in the mass liberty aspiration of self-expressionism and self-management.     

Youth violence at school and the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity

Purpose

Research has revealed that school-based activities are related to youth violence at school; however, the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity in this relationship remains uncertain.

Methods

This study utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and incorporates multilevel modeling techniques to examine the intersectionality of gender, race, and ethnicity in the relationship between school-based activities and youth victimization at school.

Results

Racial and ethnic minority male involvement in school sports is linked to an increase in school-based victimization, while White American male involvement in school sports is associated with a decrease in school-based victimization. On the other hand, school sports appears to be an insulating factor against victimization for girls regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Conclusions

This research underscores the importance of understanding the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity when examining youth violence.     

The Institutional Bottleneck and Innovation of the Mortgage of the Contracted Land Management Right

土地承包经营权抵押禁止的制度安排严重束缚了农地的融资功能.由地方政府推动的各种抵押试点探索虽具有积极意义,但都走不出“假抵押”、“变相抵押”怪圈,这不但增加了交易成本,且加大了政府自身的市场风险.解决问题的前提在于在城乡统筹和城乡社会保险均等化前提下通过立法重构上地承包经营权抵押制度,将土地承包经营权永久化、物权化.同时应当允许成渝两地城乡统筹实验区率先逐步展开土地承包经营权抵押试验,司法也应当区分情况,审慎回应各地的抵押试点.     

PM2.5标准与《环境保护法》的完善

我国2012年新修订的《环境空气质量标准》在公众的广泛关注与呼吁之下,规定了PM2.5标准。与此同时,我国正在讨论《环境保护法》的修改,拟定修改重点内容中也涉及环境标准制度的完善。那么,讨论PM2.5标准的出台与《环境保护法》的完善就具有现实意义。PM2.5标准示《环境保护法》在价值取向上要通过环境基准的制定以实现保障人体健康的立法目的,借鉴欧美防控PM2.5的经验,我国应系统构建环境区域协调制度,PM2.5也提供了新型的专门环境法律责任制度类型的确立根据。     

《工伤保险条例》实施效果及立法完善——基于定量分析的思考

统计分析煤矿、铁路行业等风险较大行业和中等风险行业在1995年至2010年间工伤事故数大幅下降,说明《工伤保险条例》实施效果显著。工伤保险立法应扩大保护覆盖范围,细化行业差别费率和行业内费率档次;应注意同类立法时间的恰当衔接,有效提升各法的实施效果;下一次修正《工伤保险条例》宜与本次修正间隔4-5年;加快配套法规立法,争取工伤保险法实施效果最大化。     

论国际组织与国家利益的关系--兼论东盟不干涉内政原则演变的原因

本文讨论了国际组织与成员国共同利益、国际组织与成员国个体利益以及国际组织与非成员国国家利益之间的关系,并从国际组织与国家利益之间关系的角度,对东盟不干涉内政原则演变的原因做出了个案分析.同时指出,国际风云变幻只是为国际组织的行动提供了外部推动力,从本质上看,国际组织的一切行动最终根据其代表的利益而变化.     

论《专利法》第5条的审查要素

审查发明创造是否符合<专利法>第5条时,<专利法>、<专利法实施细则>和<专利审查指南>均未明确给出审查要素.在参考<专利审查指南>、借鉴其他国家专利法以及相关判例的基础上,提出<专利法>第5条的主要审查要素是发明创造的根本目的,包括本来用途和意欲用途.此外,还比较了作为审查要素的"根本目的"与现行审查规范的相容性.     

行政行为转变研究——行政私法行为之凸显

随着社会的发展与时代的变迁,行政行为也在＂行进中＂演变,行政私法行为凸显出来,因而行政行为类型体系、行为方式、法律适用都发生了具体的转变。     

域外医疗损害之举证责任分配比较与我国的策略

举证责任,是民事诉讼的核心问题,它直接规划着民事诉讼的构造形态,在民事诉讼中有着举足轻重的地位。而举证责任的分配,又是举证责任制度的核心,也是理论研究最有争议的问题。大陆法系与英美法系在举证责任和举证责任分配上各有特点,美国、德国、日本和我国台湾地区医疗损害的举证责任分配规则也各有千秋,作者建议,我国现阶段医疗损害举证责任分配的规则应当进行相应改造。     

Organizational stressors and police performance

This study examines the impact organizational stressors have on police performance. Evidence on police stress is mixed whether or not the nature of police work is inherently stressful. A growing body of research suggests police officers are no more stressed than other groups and police work is not especially stressful. Instead, organizational stressors may be a greater source of stress due to various structural arrangements, policies and practices. This cross-sectional study uses survey data (n = 461) from two large urban police departments in Michigan and New Jersey. Multiple regression predicts lower performance as perceived stressors increase and paired-sample t test reveals organizational stressors are significantly different from operational stressors. The results imply the need for structural changes in police organizations. Future research should examine police performance in smaller and mid-size police agencies as well as suburban and rural agencies and widen the participant pool to include superior officers and civilian personnel.