Using an evolutionary perspective to understand the relationship between physical aggression and academic performance in late adolescents

In this study, we applied an evolutionary perspective to analyze the relationship between aggressiveness, academic performance, and sociality in a population of 528 adolescents of both sexes. In men, we expect physical aggression (PA) and sociality to be negative predictors of academic performance. However, in women, PA would be a negative predictor of academic performance, and sociality a positive one. Our results report a negative association between academic performance and PA in both sexes. As we expected, social effect derived from the use of PA seems to be different for each sex, where men could display a rebellious attitude to increase chances of finding a mate. In contrast, results for women are not conclusive, because no relationship between academic performance and any aggressive mechanism, were predicted by sociality. We conclude that an evolutionary framework, which includes sex-specific hypotheses, is appropriate to obtain a holistic perspective of this phenomenon.     

Citrate Content of Bone as a Measure of Postmortem Interval: An External Validation Study

The postmortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is a crucial piece of information that can help establish the time dimension in criminal cases. Unfortunately, the accurate and reliable determination of PMI from bone continues to evade forensic investigators despite concerted efforts over the past decades to develop suitable qualitative and quantitative methods. A relatively new PMI method based on the analysis of citrate content of bone was developed by Schwarcz et al. The main objective of our research was to determine whether this work could be externally validated. Thirty‐one bone samples were obtained from the Forensic Anthropology Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office. Results from analyzing samples with PMI greater than 2 years suggest that the hypothetical relationship between the citrate content of bone and PMI is much weaker than reported. It was also observed that the average absolute error between the PMI value estimated using the equation proposed by Schwarcz et al. and the actual (“true”) PMI of the sample was negative indicating an underestimation in PMI. These findings are identical to those reported by Kanz et al. Despite these results this method may still serve as a technique to sort ancient from more recent skeletal cases, after further, similar validation studies have been conducted.     

Improving the quality of drug court clinical screening: a call for performance measurement policy reform

Despite the widespread use of the drug court model, standardized performance measures for drug courts are not uniformly utilized, and rarely include process measures. To ensure that drug courts are being implemented in the most effective manner, the use of performance measurement tools should be considered for wide scale adoption. Drug court effectiveness is moderated by participant characteristics, and is most effective for individuals with the highest substance use needs. Therefore, having quality clinical screening processes is crucial to ensuring that drug courts are serving the population for which they are effective. This paper examines clinical screening in drug courts, to answer the following 1) what is the current state of screening, 2) what works, and 3) why measurement matters. It also proposes a clinical screening performance measure to improve fidelity and ensure appropriate participant enrollment. The creation of a performance measure would create opportunities to improve drug court outcomes, and leverage pay-for-performance models.     

Can APB 2000 Be Used to Discern Sincerity of Effort in Unimpaired Subjects from Maximal Performance in Subjects with Shoulder Pain?

The automated pegboard (APB 2000), which has been found to objectively quantify motor performance, was used to differentiate maximal motor performance among subjects with shoulder pain, healthy unimpaired subjects performing normally and also while feigning shoulder pain. Six participants with shoulder pain and 15 healthy unimpaired individuals participated. Individuals with shoulder pain were tested on the APB 2000 using their affected upper extremity. Unimpaired participants were instructed to perform normally on the test with randomly selected upper extremity and to feign shoulder pain with the other upper extremity. The two tests for the unimpaired participants were conducted 1 week apart. There were significant differences in mean performance time for normal, patient, and feigned performance, with 80, 111, and 149 sec for the three groups respectively (p < 0.0005). There was also considerable overlap in the three distributions of performance times. These preliminary findings suggest that the APB 2000 is able to distinguish performance time between these three groups. Whether it can be used to distinguish between maximal performance and submaximal performance in individuals suspected of submaximal performance requires further study.     

论《著作权法》对“网播”的规制

“网播”不是“网络传播”的缩略语,也不包括“网络转播”,而是指通过网络实施的初始非交互式传播。修改前的《著作权法》对广播权的定义移植自《伯尔尼公约》的规定,不能规制“网播”,当时只能对“网播”适用“兜底权利”。《著作权法》修改后,广播权被改造为涵盖以任何技术手段进行非交互式传播的专有权利,可以规制“网播”。其规制范围不限于传播作品创作完成时的原始形态,还包括传播作品的表演和表演的录制品。     

Administrative leaders as institutional entrepreneurs in developing countries: A study of the development and institutionalization of performance management in Ghana's public service

Performance management (PM) has become one of the most important reforms in the public sector in both developed and developing countries. Unfortunately, institutionalizing PM in the sector continues to be a major problem. Although a number of scholars continue to study the PM in the public sector from different theoretical perspectives, there has been paucity of research concerning the process of institutionalization. The few studies that have attempted to look at the process have done so from a “coercive isomorphism” perspective, especially through legislation. The lack of studies to examine the process of institutionalization has therefore created a gap, which needs to be filled. We therefore attempt to contribute to this discussion by exploring the role of institutional entrepreneurs and their impact on the development and institutionalization of PM in developing countries, with a particular focus on Ghana, a country obsessed with PM but was only able to institutionalize one in 2013 under the leadership of its Public Services Commission. How was the leadership of the PSC able to succeed where previous leaders could not? What characteristics did they display, and what strategies did they use to get things done? The research is a qualitative one.     

政治嵌入行政:乡村拆迁补偿安置政策的弹性运作

当前乡村拆迁补偿安置政策实施实效不彰,弹性执行现象多发。对此,学界有政策不完备论、街头官僚论、地方性知识论和府际关系论等几种解释,但都存在不足。在深度调研的基础上,从乡村拆迁补偿安置政策的运行实际出发,探究了实践中拆迁补偿安置政策的多种弹性运作表现及实施机制,揭示出基层政治运行中存在的治理逻辑、政绩逻辑。分析表明,压力型体制下的政治嵌入行政是导致乡村拆迁补偿安置政策执行出现目标替代及弹性运作的根本原因,并在一定程度上阻碍了乡村社会治理的法治化、规范化。     

“互联网+政务服务”绩效评估主体的协调机制研究——基于利益相关者的视角

评估主体是整个“互联网+政务服务”评估体系的主导因素,直接影响评估质量和水平。“互联网+政务服务”评估涉及政府各职能部门、公众、第三方评估机构等多方主体切身利益,推进评估主体间的协调是确保“互联网+政务服务”评估有效性的基本原则之一。以利益相关者理论为分析视角,形成基于权威型利益相关者、客观型利益相关者及潜在型利益相关者的评估主体体系,探讨其利益诉求与表达,构建“互联网+政务服务”评估主体确定、制定标准及实施评估活动的协调机制,确保各类评估主体在“互联网+政务服务”评估活动中得到协调,优势充分发挥,功能得到耦合,不断提升评估实际效能。     

HPLC测定爽咽茶中绿原酸的含量

目的：建立爽咽茶中绿原酸含量的测定方法。方法：采用HPLC测定炎咽茶中绿原酸的含量，采用C18柱，乙腈-4．0g／L磷酸(10：90)为流动相，检测波长为327nm。结果：平均加样回收率为97．75％，RSD为1．40％。结论：本法操作简便、易行，具有实用性。     

Investigating the Roots of Civic Morality: Trust, Social Capital, and Institutional Performance

In the last decade considerable research in social sciences has focused on interpersonal trust, treating it as a remedy for most maladies modern democracies suffer from. Yet, if others act dishonestly, trust is turned into gullibility, thus mechanisms linking interpersonal trust with institutional success refer implicitly to honesty and civic morality. This paper investigates the roots of civic morality. It applies hierarchical models to data from 38 countries, and tests the individual, community and structural explanatory factors. The results of the analysis point to the relevance of an institutional dimension, both in the form of individuals’ perceptions as well as the quality of governance: confidence in political institutions and their objective quality are the strongest predictors of civic morality. At the same time, the findings show that the recently popular claims about the importance of social capital for citizens’ moral standards are largely unfounded.