Pretend It Doesn'T Work: The ‘Anti-Social’ Bias In The Maryland Scientific Methods Scale

The social constructs and methodological principles embodied in the Maryland Scientific Methods Scale (SMS), comprising part of the Campbell Collaboration in Crime and Justice assessment protocol, induce a series of biases in the evaluation of evidence of crime prevention policy interventions that focus on collective social phenomena, such as communities. Applying these principles leads to negative conclusions about effectiveness; yet their inherent ‘anti-social’ bias may induce Type II error with regard to the desirability of ‘social’ interventions to reduce crime. Policy-making is poorly served as a result. This point is illustrated, first, through a scrutiny of the social constructs used, including those that typify treatments, institutional settings and units of analysis. These are seen as being constructed in a way that is congenial to the underlying methodological issue of ‘control’ but that constitute nevertheless a distorted definition of the governance issues involved in crime reduction in community settings. A model more appropriate for evaluating voluntaristic action in civil society is needed. Second, it is suggested that this methodological bias arises particularly in policy interventions and change programmes that address issues concerning the ‘collective efficacy’ of local communities in reducing crime. An empirical exemplification of these arguments is presented with reference to a completed evaluation research study (Foster and Hope, 1993).     

英语专业外贸英文函电写作错误实例分析与建议

针对外贸英语函电写作错误的研究,目前虽有少数学者将语言研究与商务语境结合起来,但主要集中在语言能力方面。从文化和语用学的角度分析函电写作错误尚不多见,也未见学者对函电写作中的外贸业务知识错误进行系统的分析和研究。通过对英语专业学生的大量函电习作进行研究,我们发现学生的语用错误和国际贸易实务知识错误比较突出。对这些错误进行分析,旨在引发同行对外贸英语函电教学的思考和研究。     

医疗事故诉讼中过失认定

医疗事故属于医疗执业侵权。医疗执业侵权中医方的过失来自于其违反了法律要求的照护义务。美国的医疗执业侵权法从“医疗常规标准”已经发展出了“群体接受的标准”,以及在此基础上的过失认定原则。在程序上,美国的原告依赖于专家证人举证证明医方过错。我国的医疗事故诉讼的过失标准是“医疗常规标准”,存在着许多法律缺陷;程序没有专家证人制度,但实行单一举证责任倒置。事实上,过失的认定上交给了医疗事故技术鉴定,成为了医疗事故诉讼的核心。“医疗常规标准”和举证责任、医疗事故鉴定存在很多法律上的冲突。医疗事故鉴定和医疗事故诉讼间的关系,现有法律存有许多待讨论的问题;鉴定人的欠缺法律责任的规范。但现有达到专家辅助人和可能有的医学专家充当陪审员,很可能有助于解决我国医疗事故诉讼中的专业问题。     

Trading old errors for new errors? The impact of electronic voting technology on party label votes in Brazil

In the mid-1990s, Brazil introduced electronic voting technology that reduced residual ballots and consequently expanded de facto enfranchisement. We employ a regression discontinuity design similar to that of previous studies of the Brazilian electronic voting technology to show that electronic technology also caused a sharp rise in party label votes (votos de legenda) that can only be explained by voting error. We show that this error offsets a large portion of the gains in enfranchisement, highlighting the fact that even generally positive changes in voting procedures can have negative effects. Our results also suggest that party label votes should not be considered a measure of party strength in the Brazilian context.     

Police officers’ actual vs. recalled path of travel in response to a threatening traffic stop scenario

The purpose of this study was to measure the amount of error incurred by police officers when trying to accurately draw a previously completed movement path, which occurred during their response to a high-stress encounter. Secondary purposes of the study examined whether gridlines on a diagram or a distractor situation would influence memory accuracy. Officers (n = 23) were taken through a high-stress stimulus phase, followed by a memory recall phase where they were required to accurately draw their path of travel. Average distance traveled was 5.15 ± 1.98 m. Average discrepancy for all participants was an area of 3.23 ± 4.13 m² and length of 1.43 ± 1.30 m. Significant length differences were found between actual and recalled paths of travel (p < .01). No other significant area or length differences were found.     

GAMarker基因分型专家系统的设计与实现

目的DNA基因分型软件是DNA检测技术体系不可缺少的一环,为拓展GA118系列遗传分析仪器的应用,须研制一套DNA基因分型专家系统,以满足法庭科学DNA检验鉴定工作的需要。方法基于已掌握的DNA片段定长和基因分型数据处理解决方法及相关核心算法,使用JAVA语言和MYSQL数据库,利用Maven进行项目管理,经对GA118系列、ABI系列数据文件解析和数据分析,研发了专家系统GAMarker。结果该系统实现了样本和数据呈现、样本分析要素质量评估、分析方法管理、分型结果展示和人工核查、电泳数据审查、生成分析报告、系统安全等功能,并可分析8色荧光数据。结论GAMarker可进行软件设定、数据分析与比对、图谱查看与编辑,是一套完整的DNA片段分析流程和直观的数据审核工具,可代替国外产品、有效支撑国产遗传分析仪相关系列型号的数据分析,能满足侦破案件、DNA数据库建设的需要。     

因果关系错误问题及其应对——以行为危险现实化说的再阐释为中心

因果关系错误,是为了解决在因果关系上认定过宽,让行为人对一些罕见的偶然结果也要承担既遂责任的问题而提出的概念,是试图将在客观违法阶段难以解决的问题转移至主观责任阶段加以解决的尝试。但这种尝试不仅无法解决具体问题,还会加重责任阶层判断的负担,导致违法阶层判断与责任阶层判断失衡。因此,在客观层面处理因果关系错误问题成为学说主流,其中,行为危险现实化说应当成为首选方案。只是,当前对行为危险现实化说的理解带有较浓厚的相当因果关系论色彩。行为危险现实化说强调因果关系的客观性,认为在有无因果关系的判断上,没有必要以内容模糊的规范性因素即“异常性”作为判断依据,而只要以科学鉴定所确认的行为对现实结果发生的贡献度或者参与度为根据,判断现实结果能否评价为行为危险的现实化即可。     

Error and its Meaning in Forensic Science

The discussion of “error” has gained momentum in forensic science in the wake of the Daubert guidelines and has intensified with the National Academy of Sciences' Report. Error has many different meanings, and too often, forensic practitioners themselves as well as the courts misunderstand scientific error and statistical error rates, often confusing them with practitioner error (or mistakes). Here, we present an overview of these concepts as they pertain to forensic science applications, discussing the difference between practitioner error (including mistakes), instrument error, statistical error, and method error. We urge forensic practitioners to ensure that potential sources of error and method limitations are understood and clearly communicated and advocate that the legal community be informed regarding the differences between interobserver errors, uncertainty, variation, and mistakes.     

Iatrogenic Burns of the Neckline in a Patient with Tetraparesis During Tracheotomy

The paper presents a case of an atypical iatrogenic complication after tracheotomy analyzed on the basis of the case dossier materials submitted to the authors by the court of justice to prepare a forensic medical opinion concerning the correctness of the medical procedure. A 37‐year‐old woman was brought by the ambulance service to the hospital with acute respiratory failure due to post‐tracheostomy tracheal stenosis. Tracheotomy was performed on an emergency basis. The patient suffered severe burns of the chest and neck. The experts concluded that the most probable cause of the incident was electrocautery‐induced ignition of the disinfectant used for cleaning the skin before the surgery. It was established that with correct handling of the procedure, the aforementioned incident should not have taken place. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as a normal complication inherent in the risk associated with the procedure, but as a consequence of a medical error.     

Comparing Methods to Assess Intraobserver Measurement Error of 3D Craniofacial Landmarks Using Geometric Morphometrics Through a Digitizer Arm

Intraobserver error (INTRA‐OE) is the difference between repeated measurements of the same variable made by the same observer. The objective of this work was to evaluate INTRA‐OE from 3D landmarks registered with a Microscribe, in different datasets: (A) the 3D coordinates, (B) linear measurements calculated from A, and (C) the six‐first principal component axes. INTRA‐OE was analyzed by digitizing 42 landmarks from 23 skulls in three events two weeks apart from each other. Systematic error was tested through repeated measures ANOVA (ANOVA‐RM), while random error through intraclass correlation coefficient. Results showed that the largest differences between the three observations were found in the first dataset. Some anatomical points like nasion, ectoconchion, temporosphenoparietal, asterion, and temporomandibular presented the highest INTRA‐OE. In the second dataset, local distances had higher INTRA‐OE than global distances while the third dataset showed the lowest INTRA‐OE.