Knowledge of child abuse and neglect in nursing students: Assessment and perspectives

Misdiagnosis of child abuse and neglect can delay early treatment. Some authors have pointed out that nurses can miss child abuse and neglect diagnoses due to a lack of knowledge. It is unclear whether the lack of knowledge is due to students' insufficient preparation in nursing school and/or a deficiency in continuing education. An 18-item questionnaire was administered to final-year nursing students to assess their degree of knowledge on child abuse and neglect and to evaluate if the lack of knowledge was due to insufficient teaching/training during nursing school. The students were also asked to evaluate themselves by assigning a score to their knowledge. A statistical comparison was performed to define whether sufficient/insufficient results were associated with the following variables: sex, pediatric or general nursing student, attending pediatric lectures, training in pediatric wards/ambulatories, and attending specific lectures on child abuse and neglect. The study population comprised 175 students (154 females, 20 males, 1 unknown). Exactly 66.3% of the participants had ≤9/18 correct answers. Of all students, 77.7% self-evaluated their level of knowledge as ≤5/10. The comparisons yielded statistically significant differences between the groups with sufficient objective knowledge and those unrelated to training in pediatric wards/ambulatories or pediatric nursing students. Overall, there was little objective knowledge on the subject, which may be related to insufficient teaching/training in nursing schools. Useful corrective strategies include further teaching on child abuse and neglect, preferably using a practical approach. Further, common teaching/training programs should be conducted by both pediatric and general nursing schools.     

A systematic approach to improve downstream single-cell analysis for the DEPArray™ technology

Most commercially available STR amplification kits have never been fully validated for low template DNA analysis, highlighting the need for testing different PCR kits and conditions for improving single-cell profiling. Here, current strategies rely mainly on adjusting PCR cycle number and analytical threshold settings, with a strong preference for using 30 amplification cycles and thresholds at 30–150 RFU for allele detection. This study aimed to (1) determine appropriate conditions for obtaining informative profiles utilizing a dilution series, and (2) test the outcome on single cells using the DEPArray™ technology. Four routinely applied forensic STR kits were compared by using three different amplification volumes and DNA dilutions down to 3.0 pg, while two well-performing kits were used for single/pooled leucocyte and sperm cell genotyping. Besides reduced costs, the results demonstrate that a 50%–75% PCR volume reduction was beneficial for peak height evaluation. However, this was counteracted by an increased artifact generation in diluted DNA volumes. Regarding profile completeness, the advantage of volume reduction was only prominent in samples processed with Fusion 6C. For single and pooled cells, ESIFast and NGMDetect provided a solid basis for consensus profiling regarding locus failure, although locus dropouts were generally observed as stochastic events. Amplification volume of 12.5 μL was confirmed as appropriate in terms of peak heights and stutter frequencies, with increased stutter peaks being the main artifact in single-cell profiles. Limitations associated with these analyses are discussed, providing a solid foundation for further studies on low template DNA.     

Psychopathy among condemned capital murderers

Psychopathy is an important forensic mental health construct. Despite this importance, the research base of psychopathy among individuals convicted of capital murder is limited. Archival data were collected from a sample of 636 persons convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the State of California. Psychopathy was assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R) instrument. Data on criminal careers and other behavioral disorders were also extracted. The sample mean PCL-R total score was 23.31 (SD = 9.92) and one-third of individuals in this sample were considered clinically psychopathic with PCL-R total scores of 30 or greater. Factor analytic examination yielded support for four facets: affective, interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial. Criterion validity findings revealed positive correlations of psychopathy scores with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ρ = 0.72), Conduct Disorder (ρ = 0.46), sexual sadism (ρ = 0.24), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ρ = 0.20), ADHD (ρ = 0.15), arrest charges (r = 0.56), prison sentences (r = 0.53), and age of arrest onset (r = −0.57). Individuals convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death reflect heterogeneity in psychopathy with some individuals exhibiting pronounced psychopathic features.     

Accuracy of comparison decisions by forensic firearms examiners

This black box study assessed the performance of forensic firearms examiners in the United States. It involved three different types of firearms and 173 volunteers who performed a total of 8640 comparisons of both bullets and cartridge cases. The overall false-positive error rate was estimated as 0.656% and 0.933% for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively, while the rate of false negatives was estimated as 2.87% and 1.87% for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively. The majority of errors were made by a limited number of examiners. Because chi-square tests of independence strongly suggest that error probabilities are not the same for each examiner, these are maximum-likelihood estimates based on the beta-binomial probability model and do not depend on an assumption of equal examiner-specific error rates. Corresponding 95% confidence intervals are (0.305%, 1.42%) and (0.548%, 1.57%) for false positives for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively, and (1.89%, 4.26%) and (1.16%, 2.99%) for false negatives for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively. The results of this study are consistent with prior studies, despite its comprehensive design and challenging specimens.     

和谐社会构建中私营企业主社会态度研究——对武汉市私营企业主的调查分析

社会和谐是中国特色社会主义的本质属性。在我国社会主义建设的新时期,出现了一些新的阶层变化,其中私营企业主的出现和发展壮大就是一个非常显著的社会现象,他们的社会态度将不可避免地影响到和谐社会的构建。本文运用实证研究的方法,通过单变量描述分析和双变量的相关分析,分析了私营主的社会态度及其影响因素,并在此基础提出了相应的对策。     

从荣格原型理论看现代人的心理保健

原型理论是荣格分析心理学理论的核心。心理原型包含人格面具、阿尼玛与阿尼姆斯、阴影、灵魂自我、儿童原型和母亲原型等。逐一解读荣格的原型理论,对于现代人进行心理健康的维护具有重要的启示作用。     

区域规划研究进展与我国区域规划重大问题探讨

区域发展规划作为对未来一定时空范围内经济、社会、资源环境等方面发展的总体部署,是国家协调发展关系与优化区域空间布局的重要政策和工具。在系统评述了国内外对区域规划在理念、理论与方法、效应评估和体制机制建设等方面的研究进展与趋势特征的基础上,针对新时代区域发展面临的新任务和新挑战,指出未来我国区域规划研究的重大理论问题是以新区域主义为导向,建构新时代中国区域规划理论新范式;重大现实问题包括四大内容:一是捋清我国区域规划历史与时空演进逻辑;二是构建中国特色区域规划评估体系,解决谁来评、评什么、何时评、如何评和给谁评五大核心评估问题;三是研究解决区域规划时效性与其目标有限性问题;四是兼顾宏观、中观和微观三个层面创新和完善新时代区域规划体制机制与政策。     

The Evolution of Chinese Administrative Studies: Where Is the Field of Chinese Administrative Science Headed?

Is Public Administration (PA) as a field of study a basic science? If not, could PA generally and Chinese PA (CPA) in particular become a basic science or a design science? To address these questions, this essay reviews pertinent literature to underscore the major problems, basic deficiencies, and critical issues of CPA, and then reviews ongoing CPA research to shed light on its future development. Our review shows that PA lacks an intellectual core that defines the nature of public administration as a professional practice, and in turn, the nature of PA as an academic discipline. Further, while CPA bears the same deficiencies, it also suffers from three maladies, namely, reductionism, traditionalism, and conservatism, which together reinforce mediocrity. In view of all these issues and problems, where CPA is headed? Our literature review reports some ongoing research breakthroughs in CPA, including ontological confirmation of public administration nature and identification of necessary conditions for effective administrative results, which form a basis to suggest that CPA may become a basic science and design science.