The impact of government form on resource allocation in local government,evidence from municipal court closures

Differences in managerial expertise and political incentives associated with local government form may affect local government spending levels as well as the allocation of resources. This paper explores the latter possibility by estimating how the distribution of resources in council-manager and mayor-council municipalities responds to a positive fiscal shock resulting from the abolition of a municipality's court. We find that court abolition has a distinct effect on the allocation of resources in council-manager and mayor-council governments. As expected, mayor-council municipalities allocate the marginal dollar to policing. However, council-manager municipalities react to court closure by reducing police expenditures over the long-term.     

China＇s Foreign Strategy： Constantly Deepening and Broadening

China has been constantly deepening and broadening foreign strategy in accordance with the changes of the world situation. With the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth CPC Central Committee, the Eleventh Diplomatic Envoy Conference and the Central Economic Working Conference as opportunities, the CPC Central Committee has made a series of new explanations and judgements on China＇s foreign strategy in the new era. China＇s external work has also entered a new period of great development. China has made substantial progress in countering the international financial crisis, promoting global issues such as climate change, maintaining the steady development of relations with major global powers and solidifying its strategy of reliance on surrounding countries. China＇s international status and influence has scaled new heights.     

Deadlock in the Fight Against Terrorism

Terrorism has introduced non-state actors onto the global stage. Terrorist groups exploit international conflicts and continually evolve their structure and methods,so as to render the international community powerless to defend itself effectively. To protect themselves against terrorists some countries solely focus on defense,leaving terrorist groups free to expand. The international community needs to urgently address factors affecting the fight against terrorism including double standards.     

人情社会与理性社会

从人情社会转变为理性社会是传统社会现代化的必然.构建和谐社会,应从制度理性着手,构建法理型的制度体系.法理型制度的合法性基础来自基于经济理性的自由竞争和交换,在其中,人际关系主要表现为一种非人格化的权利义务关系.传统人情社会本质上注重忠诚、亲疏远近等人格化的情感关系.与人情社会相比,理性社会具有开放性、进取性和革命性,而人情社会则具有封闭性、保守性和传统性.只有法理型的制度理性扬弃了人情社会的制度非理性,才是中国社会现代化的制度目标,和谐社会也才有可靠的制度保障.     

The Infant Injury Database: A Tool for the Study of Injury Patterns in Medicolegal Investigations of Child Abuse

In 2012, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences began prospectively collecting injury data from pediatric autopsies. These data and associated case information from 635 pediatric cases are archived in the Infant Injury Database (IID). This paper introduces the IID to the forensic community and demonstrates its potential utility for child abuse and infant fatality investigations. The database is intended to be a source of evidence‐based research for coroners/medical examiners and clinicians in the recognition and diagnosis of child abuse. RR estimates were employed to quantify the relationship between individual autopsy findings to trauma‐related and nontrauma‐related causes of death. For example, unsurprisingly, the RR of trauma cases with multiple injury types is significantly greater than other causes of death, but the RR results provide a quantitative representation of the relationship. ROC curve modeling of the presence/absence of various injury types performed well at discriminating trauma from other causes of death (AUC = 0.96).     

英美法国家科学证据的历史沿革评述

从18世纪到20世纪,英美法国家有关科学证据的法庭运用,所表明的基本思想是,将科学证据评价的事实问题,通过三种方法转化为法律问题,以此保证法官在科学证据评价中承担更多的审查义务,以减少陪审团在科学证据判断上出错的可能性。这三种法律转化方法分别是,专家资格审查、专家证言的形式审查、专家证言的实质审查。这在20世纪的美国审判中,表现得更为突出。     

中国特色社会主义的世界视野和世界意义

党的十七届四中全会提出划清＂四个界限＂,对中国特色社会主义进行了科学的定位。＂四个界限＂揭示了中国特色社会主义既是坚持了马克思列宁主义的基本原理,同时也是深深扎根于中国改革开放的实际,它表明中国特色社会主义鲜明的民族特色。中国特色社会主义充分吸收了人类创造的一切文明成果,深切关注世界的共同发展,对人类生存发展具有重大贡献,这些都体现了它宏阔的世界视野和重要的世界意义。     

网络时代和谐警民关系的构建

随着信息技术的迅猛发展,网络时代时间与空间的隔阂逐步消弭.网络成为群众意愿常态表达和社会监督的重要形式.但由于公安民警、人民群众的原因以及网络本身的虚拟性、自由性等特点,纷繁复杂的网络环境也为和谐警民关系建设添加了许多不和谐的因素.如何利用网络密切警民关系,促进公安工作的顺利开展,成为摆在各级公安机关面前的重要课题.     

关于新社会阶层政治认同问题的思考

新社会阶层的政治认同对社会阶层关系的动态稳定与和谐有着重要的价值.实践中需要审慎、理性地甄别新社会阶层的政治诉求,从多重维度入手来充分挖掘强化新社会阶层政治认同的资源,以发展的视角来拓展新社会阶层生发政治认同的空间,从而激发新社会阶层参与构建社会主义和谐社会的智慧与激情.