The medical licensing examination debate

National licensing examinations are typically large‐scale examinations taken early in a career or near the point of graduation, and, importantly, success is required to subsequently be able to practice. They are becoming increasingly popular as a method of quality assurance in the medical workforce, but debate about their contribution to patient safety and the improvement of healthcare outcomes continues. A systematic review of the national licensing examination literature demonstrates that there is disagreement between assessment experts about the strengths and challenges of licensing examinations. This is characterized by a trans‐Atlantic divide between the dominance of psychometric reliability assurance in North America and the wider interpretations of validity, to include consequences, in Europe. We conclude that the debate might benefit from refocusing to what a national licensing examination should assess: to achieve a balance between assessing a breadth of skills and the capacity for such skills in practice, and focusing less on reproducibility.     

Reproducibility of Artificial Cut on Heel Area of Rubber Outsole

Randomly acquired characteristics (RAC) are seldom used for exclusion in footwear examinations because they can disappear owing to wear. To help examiners explain discrepancies in RAC, this study investigated the reproducibility of cuts. One cut was made on the heel area of each shoe outsole and then measured. Changes in cuts were statistically evaluated, correlations between their variations and the weight/height of the subject were assessed, and the Support Vector Machine was used for the first time to study their discrimination probability. Most cuts became larger at first and then became smaller. The solidities of most cuts increased after 21 days, and the variation in the cut and the subject's weight/height were negatively correlated. Although the discrimination probability declined as the cut aged, 77% of the same-source and 96.88% of the different-source cuts could be identified correctly after 6 months, indicating that cuts on the heel area are relatively reliable.     

The potential of collaborative learning as a tool for forensic students: Application to signature examination

Transferring theoretical knowledge to practical skills remains a big challenge in forensic science, especially in questioned documents. The examination of handwriting and signatures requires years of practice to develop the necessary skills. While students (and to some extent the general population) often have the impression that it is easy to differentiate handwriting from different persons, in practice, particularly when dealing with simulated signatures, there is a high risk of reaching a wrong conclusion when questioned document experts do not use a systematic approach and/or are not sufficiently experienced (see for example the famous French Dreyfus case). Thus, a novel teaching approach, based on collaborative learning, has been introduced in a theoretical handwriting class to improve the students’ theoretical knowledge, and additionally make them aware of the limitations of their practical skills and give them tools to improve them in their future practice. Through five activities, the students took the roles of victims, forgers, teachers and experts and created their own learning materials (i.e. signatures and mock casework). During those interactive activities, they learned to describe their signature’s characteristics, intra-variability and complexity, and thus evaluate their own signature’s vulnerability (as potential victims). They learned techniques to simulate signatures and detect the resulting forgeries’ characteristics (in the role of forgers). In the role of teachers, they prepared mock casework scenarios and gave feedback to their colleague’s examination of the produced material. As experts, they carried out signature examination as they would in a proficiency test and were exposed to the difficulties an actual expert may encounter in practice. The evaluation of this novel teaching scenario was very positive, as students learned more extensively the possibilities and limitations of signature comparison. They were more active and motivated in their learning experiences. The teaching team also had an improved experience. Some students complained of an increased workload and imprecise instructions. Improvements were tested and are discussed in this paper.     

Investigation of the new possibility of mathematical processing of Raman spectra for dating documents

The use of spectral analysis methods to determine the age of writing inks is an important forensic task. However, the use of spectral data for this purpose has a number of limitations and difficulties. This paper considers the application of the Raman spectroscopy method to an urgent forensic task. The known mechanisms of dye degradation are analyzed; Raman bands are identified that are related to the age of the sample. In a sample of 5 randomly selected writing inks, temporary markers were identified. Narrow sections of Raman spectra containing characteristic lines were used for analysis. It was shown that processing narrow sections of the Raman spectra using the PCA chemometric method allowed the separation of writing inks into groups (clusters) corresponding to different creation intervals.     

“乡政村治”治理架构的优化探析

新时期中国“乡政村治”体制是国家在市场经济背景下封农民个人权利承认和保护的制度性承诺,是一种基于市场、民主和法制理念的新的行政管理结构和乡村治理方式,它标志着国家行政权与乡村自治权的相对分离、国家与社会的边界的重新确定,对国家民主建设意义也特别重大。但从实践层面上看,“乡政村治”运行中也暴露了不少矛盾与问题,调整和完善农村治理架构显得刻不容缓。因此,本文着重分析“乡政村治”治理架构下的体制缺憾与运行中存在的偏差,并提出制度完善与体制优化的建议。     

关于应用恒锐软件分析笔迹特征方法的研究

恒锐痕检/文检图像处理系统是一种专门针对公安机关侦查破案设计研发的新型图像处理系统软件,它在综合了原有通用图像处理软件功能的基础上,又为文字检验工作专门设计了＂文件工具＂和＂灰度走势＂功能,以其与长度和角度测量相结合,为笔迹鉴定提供认定依据。文章利用该软件对笔迹进行＂口＂字折的角度及＂辶＂偏旁的长度测量,研究了应用恒锐痕检/文检图像处理系统分析笔迹特征的几种方法,为客观分析笔迹提供科学的方法和思路。     

完善我国违宪审查制度刍议

世界各国的违宪审查模式主要分为三种:一是权力机关审查模式;二是普通司法机关审查模式;三是专门机关审查模式,几种模式各有利弊。我国现行的是权力机关审查模式,由于我国的违宪审查缺乏有效性和可操作性,使得违宽审查制度发挥应有的作用,因此应结合我国国情,通过设立宪法委员会进行违宪审查。     

论排除非法口供举证责任之分配

通过刑讯逼供、威胁、引诱、欺骗等非法方法所获得的口供是不能作为定案根据的,但是对于排除此类非法口供的举证责任应当如何来分配,立法没有作出规定,理论界也存有争议,这给司法实践带来了诸多问题;对各种观点进行评析,控辩双方应合理分担排除非法口供之举证责任.     

痕迹检验学成绩评定方式方法改革构想

成绩评定的方式方法对于教学质量有着重要的影响,充分发挥成绩评定的评价作用和导向作用,是提高教学质量、提高学员素质的重要途径之一。笔者通过对以往成绩评定方式方法的反思,借鉴其他学科的经验,提出了本课程成绩评定改革的初步方案。     

四要件犯罪构成的结构性缺失及其颠覆——从正当行为切入的学术史考察

对于我国目前的四要件的犯罪构成理论是否应当加以推倒重构,在刑法学界存在较大的争议。从正当行为的体系性地位出发,采用学术史的考察方法进行分析,可以发现正当行为在四要件的犯罪构成中地位之阙如,使得极度宣称以社会危害性为中心的犯罪构成实际上具有形式化的特征,这是四要件的犯罪构成的结构性缺失。正是这一结构性缺失决定了四要件的犯罪构成不可避免地被颠覆的最终命运,本文只不过是"发现"并从逻辑上论证了这一客观事实。