Higher education facing the challenges of the information age

It is claimed that traditional higher education has become obsolete. It was justified as long as knowledge was concentrated in the hands of a few experts and in not-easily accessed libraries. However today, the three pillars of higher education - the production of new knowledge, teaching, and the preservation of knowledge - can easily be and more efficiently replaced by electronic means. One can learn whatever and wherever one wants. This can make the diffusion of knowledge far more affordable, more democratic, and less elitist. However, there are a number of social, psychological and societal factors that need to be taken into consideration, serving as counter-forces to the rush to provide electronic replacements to higher education. These factors cast strong doubts on the true value and efficacy of virtual higher education. The solution may lie neither in the wholesale abolishment of institutions of higher education nor in ignoring the opportunities afforded by novel information technologies, but rather in pursuing differentiation between virtual universities and regular ones such that each will excel in its own way. Similarly, we will have to think of differentiation within our institutions so that we come to harvest the new technological opportunities to improve existing higher education. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

鞋内底不同部位接触DNA提取初探

目的探讨鞋内底不同部位接触DNA提取检出率。方法取100名20-30岁的志愿者，将其穿用过的运动鞋和皮鞋鞋垫设置成不同穿用时间组、不同材料鞋垫组、穿用后不同放置时间组，根据脚的形态学及运动力学特点，将鞋垫分成8个区域进行脱落细胞提取，并进行DNA进行检验。结果鞋垫上8个不同区域提取到的脱落细胞DNA分型检验效果不同。足弓外侧区（足引折弓除外）的接触DNA检出率最高；足弓内侧、第1趾骨区、第1跖骨区及足跟区次之；第2～5趾骨区、第2～3跖骨区、第4～5跖骨区不容易成功提取到接触DNA。结论鞋内底接触DNA检出率与接触时间、放置时间、鞋垫材质均相关，分区提取检验DNA更有针对性。     

不良交往与青少年犯罪

社会交往是青少年社会化的基本方式和途径 ,其在青少年成长过程中发挥着重要作用 ,但这必须是正常交往。青少年由于其身心特点很容易发生不良交往 ,而不良交往往往是青少年走向犯罪的第一步。本文主要探讨了什么是不良交往 ,不良交往的特点、原因、危害及预防 ,从而预防、减少青少年犯罪。     

从就业保障权看我国劳动法

就业保障权是我国宪法保护的工作权的衍生权利。国际法对此权利的丰富内涵已有明确的标准。以这些国际标准为基准,分析我国现行劳动法对就业保障权的保护程度,并分别从反对任意解雇,限制固定期限合同,提高就业能力三方面对劳动法条文及其实践进行了考察。     

Detection of Contact Traces of Powdery Substances

The current practice in securing the contact traces of chemical substances taken from clothes belonging to a person suspected of manual handling explosives is focused on pockets and cuffs. The outerwear worn by people who had contact with fluorescent powders that simulate explosives and drugs was the subject of this study. Clothes were first exposed to the test substance for a period of time and then analyzed by fluorescence methods to determine the location of the highest quantity of traces. The results obtained from the study confirm that the areas with the highest concentration of powdery traces are different from those suggested by current forensic practice. They appear to be promising for a more efficient identification of the suspects involved in illegal manufacturing of drugs of abuse or explosives. Moreover, they may be helpful for developing the methodology for handling the evidence material in the forensic clothing examination process.     

The legal and administrative processes in adoption: views and experiences of newly formed adoptive families

The early stages of adoptive placements are important in achieving successful long-term outcomes for adopted children and their families. This paper reports on findings from the Wales Adoption Study, in which adoptive parents shared their views and experiences of the legal and administrative processes in obtaining an adoption order. Parents described a range of difficulties that added to anxieties and delays. These arose mainly through poor communication about the steps in the legal process and avoidable administrative errors or oversights. Some parents also experienced lack of information and support regarding agreed contact arrangements and work with their child to help them make sense of their adoptive status.     

论中国古代契约与国家法的关系--以唐代法律与借贷契约的关系为中心

中国古代法律 (如唐代律令 )对契约的规制或指导 ,在总体上是 :部分的民间事务靠习俗调整 ,部分的则由法律调整。国家承认“私契”的地位 ,并承认它的规则。有关借贷契约的法律和契约实践表明 ,契约内容和契约活动是在法律规制下进行的。国家通过受理 (官为理 )、不受理 (官不为理 ) ,表达契约自由的限度 ;并有质物处理、保人责任等程序性的和实体权利义务的设定 ;律令规定往往是相衔接的。但在实践中 ,契约内容对法律又有遵守与抵触两种情形同时存在。在契约的履行方式、利息限制、质物交付与处理、保人代偿等问题上 ,这种冲突都比较明显。契约中还有“抵赦”条款 ,专门应对国家对私人债负的赦免效力问题。     

Transferring custody from birth parents to foster parents – an ambiguous matter

In this study, we analyse 32 district court decisions regarding custody transfers from the birth parents to the foster parents in Sweden. When a child has been in foster care for three years, in order to enhance stability for child, the local social welfare committee considers a transferral of custody to the foster parents following an application to the district court. Although all but one of the decisions in our study favoured a custody transfer, the courts acknowledge different reasons for this. Specifically, there is vagueness about whether or not functioning contact between the child and birth parents is a hindrance in custody transfer. Our findings stress the need for clarification in the law regarding the criteria for custody transfer in order to reach a more unified judgment. Furthermore, the district courts do not sufficiently acknowledge children’s views, and we suggest that children and young people should be made more visible in the decision-making process.     

A Life Table Approach to Estimating Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System

Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in the U.S. juvenile justice system persists despite substantial efforts to reduce it. The juvenile justice system is comprised of a series of interconnected stages, yet few studies to-date use methods to measure DMC that take the cascading nature of the decision-making process into account. Our study addresses this gap by applying life table analysis to identify the cumulative nature of DMC across multiple stages of the juvenile justice system using data from 2008 to 2010 in Georgia that include white, black, and Hispanic/Latino youth. We then compare these state-level results to life tables from a national sample of black youth and a subnational sample of Hispanic/Latino youth. Our findings show that arrest/referral accounts for the greatest proportion of total system-wide DMC for black youth, but most of the total DMC for Hispanic/Latino youth results from later stages.