Predictors of Early Engagement in Home Visitation

Predictors of engagement in mothers receiving home visitation in the first year of service was examined. Early engagement was studied in three ways: (1) length of time active in the program during the first year of service (duration), (2) number of visits received (quantity), and (3) gaps in service between visits (consistency). Examined visits received in 515 first-time mothers in a Healthy Families America (HFA) program. Parameters of engagement were investigated, and predictors of engagement were identified using demographics and the Kempe Family Stress Inventory. Inclusive of the Assessment Visit, 31.8% of mothers disengaged prior to the first month of service. Remaining active in the program was associated with being Caucasian, and increased parenting risk (mental health/substance abuse history, low social support, increased stress). Most mothers had fewer home visits than prescribed. Gaps in prescribed service were common, with 89.4% of mothers experiencing gaps between visits of 1 month, and dropping to 16.4% having gaps of 2 months. In contrast to findings from clinic-based interventions, early engagement in home visitation is associated with lower levels of functioning and acute needs. These findings add to a growing body of literature suggesting that increased adversity promotes engagement in prevention programs in general, and home visitation programs in particular. To the extent that mothers who are actively engaged in home visitation are likely to have increased psychosocial needs, curricula may require modification and augmentation to address these needs and optimize program effectiveness.     

Back Home? Refugees' Experiences of their First Visit back to their Country of Origin

This paper argues that the first visit ‘back home’is important for refugees because it acts as a catalyst forrenewed engagements with host country and country of origin.The study shows that conditions in both countries impact ondecision-making and ultimately that integration and return cancoexist. The first re-connection with ‘home’ isdescribed as a memorable event in and of itself. Marked by anawareness of the passing of time, it provides both an end towaiting and worrying and a measure of one's progress (or lackof) in life, thus enabling participants to move on. Establishmentof safety nets in both host and home countries as a conditionfor permanent return distinguishes the predicament of theserefugees from that of other migrants. As the meeting betweenimagination and reality, the first visit contributes to there-examination of the refugee cycle, the myth of return andthe meaning of home in a context where return encompasses onediscrete experience, the visit, and subsequent events. Overall,the paper provides a link between the literature on return asimagined while in exile and accounts of the reality of post-return.     

无电流斑电击伤的研究进展

无电流斑电击伤的鉴定是法医学中的难点之一,由于缺少明显的体表痕迹,此类案件的鉴定难度较大。国内外学者采用光镜、电镜、原子吸收光谱等仪器,利用组织化学等方法,对无电流斑电击伤进行了大量的研究,笔者在此将相关研究成果进行综述,希望能够为此类案件的鉴定提供一定的依据。     

An unusual case of high-voltage electrocution of a truck driver due to inadvertent contact of the truck with an overhead wire

Electrocution deaths are mostly accidental. However, reconstruction of events in unusual electrocution death is challenging. This article reports an accidental death due to electrocution in a highly unusual circumstance, in which a truck driver reversing his vehicle was electrocuted when his truck inadvertently touched an overhead high-voltage wire. The electric injury marks were present over the sole of the right foot. The scene investigation revealed that the high-voltage wire was loose and was below the level of the prescribed height. The truck was passing over an elevated area made up of dirt and stone. The interior of the cabin of the truck revealed a few non-insulated metallic areas over the floor of the truck, between the accelerator and the brake, which were attributed as the sources of entry of electricity into the body. The electric injury marks were different than those usually seen in high-voltage electrocution as there was an intermediate object (truck) involved, and the contact period between the truck and the electric wire was minimal. This fatality was attributed to the non-proper insulation of the interior of the truck, the negligent driving of the truck driver over the elevated surface, and the loose high-voltage wire without proper maintenance.     

Child protection as surveillance of African American families

The over-representation of black children in US out of home care results from racial bias in placement decisions and a political choice to address startling rates of child poverty by investigating parents instead of tackling poverty's societal roots. The impact of state disruption and supervision of African American families is intensified when it is concentrated in inner-city neighbourhoods – the system's ‘racial geography.’ A small case study of a black neighbourhood in Chicago with high rates of out of home placement found profound effects on both family and community social relationships, as well as reliance on child protective services for financial assistance, linking surveillance of black families to the neoliberal shrinking of public programmes. The surveillance of African American women by the child welfare system is also intensified by these women's disproportionate involvement in the prison system. Acknowledging racial bias in child welfare reveals the need to radically transform the system from one that relies too much on punitive disruption of families to one that generously supports them.     

近百年来海内外儒学研究述评

以儒家文化为主导的传统文化是中华民族最基本的文化基因。考察近百年来儒学在海内外发展的命运可以发现,儒学研究者对其态度大致经历了从全面批判到积极肯定再到创造性转化三个阶段。儒家思想在海内外的发展历程证明了中华传统文化经过创造性转化不但可以与现代文明相适应,而且能够对治由西方文化引发的人类生存危机,体现了中华传统文化历久弥新的魅力。     

The enduring influence of electoral systems: investigating Green parties’ attention to local issues in parliament

Scholars argue that members of parliament (MPs) in first-past-the-post (FPTP) systems have stronger incentives to cater to their electoral district than those in proportional representation (PR) types. Yet, few studies have explored whether MPs in PR systems or MPs from small parties engage local issues in general. I build new theory and explore its support through a case study that compares Green party behaviour in an FPTP system (the UK) to a PR system (New Zealand). Results show that MPs focus on local issues in both systems, but the distribution of attention varies in ways consistent with differing electoral incentives.     

House or home? Constituent preferences over legislator effort allocation

In many political systems legislators face a fundamental trade‐off between allocating effort to constituency service and to national policy‐making activities, respectively. How do voters want their elected representatives to solve this trade‐off? This article provides new insights into this question by developing a conjoint analysis approach to estimating voters’ preferences over their legislator's effort allocation. This approach is applied in Britain, where it is found that effort allocation has a significant effect on voter evaluations of legislators, even in a political system where other legislator attributes – in particular, party affiliation – might be expected to predominate. This effect is nonlinear, with voters generally preferring a moderate balance of constituency and national policy work. Preferences over legislator effort allocation are not well‐explained by self‐interest or more broadly by instrumental considerations. They are, however, associated with voters’ local‐cosmopolitan orientation, suggesting that heuristic reasoning based on underlying social dispositions may be more important in determining preferences over representative activities.     

日本家庭牧场农牧业纵横一体化规模经营启示

目前家庭养殖业面临成本高、风险大、产品质量要求高,以及污染物处理难等问题。所以,需要创新养殖业规模化经营模式。文章通过对日本北海道家庭牧场经营模式的调查分析,得出结论为:农牧业纵横一体化是家庭牧场经营的一种有效而理想的模式,该模式横向一体化是指以饲料饲草和肥料为纽带的种养业结合经营,纵向一体化是家庭牧场与加工企业、服务组织等联结的模式。并提出对策建议:引导农牧业经营主体采用横向一体化经营模式;鼓励农牧业经营主体采用纵向一体化经营模式;完善农牧业纵横一体化经营机制。     

论虚拟侦查

虚拟侦查是与实体侦查相对而言的.它是指通过对数据信号的收集、分析和利用,获取侦查线索和犯罪证据,揭露和证实犯罪的活动.在实体侦查面临严峻的时代挑战的形势下,虚拟侦查的开展是必要的,同时也是可行的.虚拟侦查具有现实合法性.从国内外虚拟侦查的实践状况和发展趋势看,虚拟侦查活动在侦查实践中的运用空前活跃,效果良好,前景广阔.