Public Administration Dilemmas: An Analysis of Teachers’ Perceptions of the Effects of Performance Evaluation in Post-Colonial South Africa

The adoption of the principles of New Public Management by many governments across the world was invariably accompanied by the implementation of performance evaluation. It is generally accepted that performance evaluation optimizes the performance of workers. As part of a broader investigation which employed a mixed methods approach, the study used data from six interviews with high school principals and 100 survey questionnaires with purposively selected high school teachers in uMgungundlovu District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In the analysis of this data, the paper demonstrates that beyond the obvious benefits of performance evaluation such as improvement in performance, there are also unintended consequences such as a narrow focus on measured output, teacher burnout, and falsification of information in order to maximize credit or to avoid punishment. This study illustrates the understandings of high school educators in uMgungundlovu District of the effects of performance evaluation. The findings have important implications for public administration and scholars alike.     

傅里叶红外光谱技术在法医学脑挫裂伤鉴定中的应用展望

脑挫裂伤是常见的一类颅脑损伤,单纯的组织病理学技术可能难以早期发现及精确诊断。傅里叶变换红外面扫描成像技术(FTIR-mapping)是病理学研究领域的新技术,因其结合了傅里叶变换红外光谱、红外显微镜技术以及面扫描成像技术的特点,具有测定方法简便、对样本无损、灵敏度高、准确、直观等优点,突破了传统技术的局限,能检测出发生了物质数量、结构以及构象变化但缺乏明显形态学变化的脑挫裂伤,从而实现早期精准地诊断脑挫裂伤。FTIR-mapping虽已能绘制某些损伤组织的红外光谱病理图像,但其在法医病理学中的价值有待全面深入开发。本文综述了脑挫裂伤的法医病理学研究进展以及傅里叶变换红外面扫描成像技术在法医病理学中的应用。     

传播宣传活动模式：大学生社会主义核心价值体系教育的可选模式

诺瓦克和沃内德的传播宣传活动模式是大众传播理论中策划传播的一种模式，其意在探索使传播宣传活动取得实效的策略。在对大学生进行社会主义核心价值体系教育时，可借鉴传播宣传活动模式，把教育目标分为认知、认同与践行，让校园媒介坚守新闻“把关人”角色，以“分众传播”理念为指导，重视“目标受众”的主动性，通过不同的传播宣传渠道并选取合适的传播者来传播社会主义核心价值体系。     

论我国司法鉴定制度改革重心的转换

现行的司法鉴定制度从整体上可以归纳为“中立性保障模式”，该模式主要特点是注重鉴定人的中立性保障，忽视鉴定结论的科学性审查。该模式对保障鉴定结论的客观性和公正性都存在不足。我国应当进行制度重点建设的转换．即从中立性保障转换为鉴定结论的科学性保障，主要应从强化当事人的鉴定启动权、强化鉴定结论质证程序、建立科学性审查标准以及建立专家辅助人等几个方面着手。同时，还要注意处理好科学性保障与鉴定人客观义务的关系、鉴定结论与其他证据的关系以及当事人权利保障与诉讼效率的关系等等。     

An electrocortical correlate of a history of alcohol abuse in criminal offenders

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that a history of chronic alcohol abuse is the key variable underlying the previously reported association between criminal recidivism, impulsivity and differentiation of the Go/NoGo contingent negative variation (CNV). Forty male Singaporean prison inmates were assessed for presence of antisocial personality disorder (APD), a history of alcohol and other substance abuse, and psychopathy. CNV was recorded in the Go/NoGo paradigm in groups comprising inmates with (ALC+: N = 29) and without (ALC?: N = 11) a history of alcohol abuse. As predicted, the ALC+ group showed significantly degraded Go/NoGo CNVs (poor differentiation). This suggests that the “high risk” group of mentally disordered found to recidivate in studies by Howard and Lumsden (1996; 1997) may have shared a history of alcohol abuse. Results are discussed in the context of a developmental biopsychosocial model of risk for engaging in criminal behaviour.     

Evaluation of four digestive methods for extracting diatoms

Objective

To compare the merit of four digestive methods (nitric acid plus hydrogen peroxide, proteinase K, nitric acid in Disorganization Can and Soluene-350) for extracting diatoms in order to choose the best digestive method for the diagnosis of drowning.

Methods

Liver, kidney and bone marrow of rabbits were minced and then digested by four digestive methods separately with the following indices compared: (1) time demanded for complete digestion; (2) degree of digestion for different tissues; (3) the reclaiming ratio of diatoms; (4) the degree of digestive destruction to diatoms.

Results

For sufficiently digesting the same tissue, the demanded times for the different methods ranked from the longest to the shortest were as follows: Soluene-350, proteinase K, nitric acid plus hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid in Disorganization Can. Nitric acid in Disorganization Can method and nitric acid plus hydrogen peroxide method digested the tissues more thoroughly than proteinase K, than Soluene-350 methods. For Cyclotella and Cybella, proteinase K method reclaimed most diatoms and nitric acid plus hydrogen peroxide method reclaimed less, while nitric acid in Disorganization Can and Soluene-350 methods reclaimed the least. For Navicula, the majority of diatoms could be extracted using proteinase K method, but only a few diatoms with other three methods. Under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the structure of diatoms remained almost perfect after digestion with proteinase K, but destroyed to some extent with other three methods.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that different diatoms (in fresh or sea water) have different resistance to different digestive reagents. As far as the reliability and applicability of the diatom test is concerned, proteinase K method is of the best choice, nitric acid plus hydrogen peroxide can be its substitute. Soluene-350 cannot be used for extracting sea water diatoms.     

大蒜素对卵巢癌细胞株HO8910生长的抑制作用

目的：观察大蒜素对卵巢癌细胞株HO8910的抑制作用。方法；用不同时间不同剂量大蒜素作用于HO8910，通过肿瘤细胞药敏试验。观察肿瘤细胞存活率，并通过透射电镜观察一定剂量的大蒜素作用于HO8910一定时间后，肿瘤细胞形态的改变。结果：50-100μg/ml大蒜素可显抑制肿瘤细胞的生长。且在作用2h时即出现显的抑制，随着作用时间的延长，抑制作用愈明显，72h害到高峰，透射电镜结果显示：50μg/ml的大蒜素作用HO891024h。细胞肿胀。细胞膜破碎，胞浆脱落。细胞核裸露；小剂量（25μg/ml)则HO8910呈现细胞凋亡样改变；细胞胞浆呈空泡，染色质边集，核仁固缩，胞质呈片状脱落。结论：大蒜素可显抑制HO8910的生长，且有明显的时间及剂量效应，大剂量的大蒜素对HO8910细胞呈直接杀伤作用。而小剂量则诱导细胞凋亡。     

Focus on form理论在英语交际课堂中的应用

传统的语法翻译法和后来的交际法都不完全适合我国外语教学的国情,而90年代新兴的focus on form理论兼容了双方的优越性。本文在回顾了相关背景之后,重点阐明了该理论在我国英语交际课堂中融合的五种途径,即协商性任务、整体听写活动、利用结构型任务、增强意识型任务以及输入加工,从而使学生在关注语言形式的同时更好的表达意义。     

以人为本的四个理念

综观以往的科研成果,以人为本的科学含义可以概括为以下四个基本理念,即以人为本的哲学理念、以人为本的政治理念、以人为本的发展理念和以人为本的文化理念。在四者的关系上,哲学理念是基础,政治理念是核心,发展理念和文化理念则从根本上规划了贯彻实施以人为本原则的基本途径。