Doubling Down: Inequality in Responsiveness and the Policy Preferences of Elected Officials

Is bias in responsiveness to constituents conditional on the policy preferences of elected officials? The scholarly conventional wisdom is that constituency groups who do not receive policy representation still obtain some level of responsiveness by legislators outside of the policy realm. In contrast, we present a theory of preference‐induced responsiveness bias where constituency responsiveness by legislators is associated with legislator policy preferences. Elected officials who favor laws that could disproportionately impact minority groups are also less likely to engage in nonpolicy responsiveness to minority groups. We conducted a field experiment in 28 US legislative chambers. Legislators were randomly assigned to receive messages from Latino and white constituents. If legislators supported voter identification laws, Latino constituents were less likely to receive constituency communications from their legislators. There are significant implications regarding fairness in the democratic process when elected officials fail to represent disadvantaged constituency groups in both policy and nonpolicy realms.     

Examining the good lives model and antisocial behaviour

This study examined the utility of the Good Lives Model (GLM) (Ward, T., &; Stewart, C. A. (2003). The treatment of sex offenders: Risk management and good lives. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34(4), 353–360. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.34.4.353) in understanding offending behaviour in students. Two hypotheses were made, consistent with the assumptions of the GLM. First, that participants would endorse the importance of the primary goods set out in the GLM. Second, that reports of antisocial behaviour would relate to a lack of effective strategies, or use of maladaptive strategies, to achieve primary goods. Participants (n?=?340, M age?=?20 years) completed a questionnaire (Measure of Life Priorities) assessing their pursuit, valuation, and achievement of the primary human goods as set out in the GLM and a Self-Report of Offending questionnaire. Results supported our hypotheses, and subsequently the assumptions of the GLM. Our findings support the continued use of the GLM as a theoretical and treatment oriented framework in diverse groups engaged in offending behaviour. Future research should continue to ground the GLM in empirical support.     

Achieving zero hunger: implementing a human rights approach to food security in Ethiopia

A human rights approach to food security seeks to empower vulnerable groups to claim their rights. It also reinforces a government’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food. Furthermore, it encourages the integration of the right to food into the design and implementation of food security policies. This article examines the human rights approach to food security, with specific reference to Ethiopia. It assesses the historical causes of Ethiopia’s food insecurity, and examines the legislative and policy measures that the country has adopted over the last three decades in order to achieve food security. Food insecurity in the country is largely explained by the absence of government accountability. In 1973 and 1984, the hunger caused by drought was transitioned to famine not because of overall unavailability of food in the country, but because the government failed to provide food aid to the starved people and concealed the occurrence of famines from the international donors. Despite designing some food security policies over the last three decades, the country has not yet adopted sufficient legislative and judicial measures to enforce the right to food. This article argues that Ethiopia should introduce a framework law on the right to food to end hunger in the context of achieving national food security.     

HRM: Performance Relationship: Need for Further Development?

The last decade of empirical research on the HRM value additions, also known as the “HRM and performance” debate, demonstrates evidence that HRM does matter (Huselid, 1995 Huselid, M. 1995. The impact of human resource management on turnover, productivity and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38(3): 635–672. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Guest et al., 2003 Guest, D.E., Michie, J., Conway, N. and Sheehan, M. 2003. Human resource management and corporate performance in the UK. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41(2): 291–314. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Wright et al., 2003 Wright, P., Gardner, M. and Moynihan, L. 2003. The impact of HR practices on the performance of business units. Human Resources Management Journal, 13(4): 21–36.  [Google Scholar]; Rehman et al., 2010). Unfortunately, the relationships are often statistically weak and the results ambiguous. This article reviews and attempts to extend the theoretical and methodological issues in this debate. Its aim is to build an agenda for future research in this area. A brief overview of achievements to date is followed by the theoretical and methodological issues related to what constitutes HRM, what is meant by the concept of performance, and the nature of the link between these two. In the final section, it is argued that research designs should start from a multi-dimensional concept of performance, including the perceptions of employees, and build on the premise of HR systems as an enabling device for a whole range of strategic options. This implies a reversal of the strategy-HRM linkage.     

新藤黄酸对人表皮癌细胞A431增殖和凋亡的影响

目的 观察新藤黄酸（gambogenic acid,GNA）对人表皮癌细胞A431增殖和凋亡的影响。〖JP〗方法 以体外培养的人表皮癌A431细胞株为研究对象,采用甲基噻唑基四唑检测GNA对A431细胞增殖活性的影响;倒置显微镜下观察GNA对A431细胞株细胞形态的影响;荧光显微镜下观察GNA对Hoechst 33342染色的A431细胞凋亡的影响;采用流式细胞仪检测膜联蛋白Ⅴ-异硫氰酸荧光素/碘化丙碇双染的A431细胞的凋亡率。结果 随着GNA剂量的增大,GNA对A431细胞增殖活性的抑制作用增强。倒置显微镜和荧光显微镜下观察显示,GNA作用的A431细胞形态发生明显的变化并出现显著的凋亡特征。流式细胞仪检测显示A431细胞凋亡率随着GNA作用剂量的增大而升高。结论 0.75~12.0 μmol/L GNA能够剂量依赖性地抑制A431的增殖。     

我国集体建设用地使用权流转制度的建构

我国集体建设用地使用权可流转制度的建立,将集体建设用地纳入土地一级市场,充分发挥土地的资源性作用,对于我国经济保持持续稳定发展具有重要意义。此项制度的建立,必然会增加农民收入,促进农村经济发展,推动"城乡一体化"建设,加快社会主义新农村建设。一项制度的建立需要以相关配套制度为依托,我国集体建设用地使用权可流转制度的建立需要以相关经济制度、社会保障制度为基础。     

法医遗传学研究新进展

法医遗传学经过近30年发展,已经形成了一套系统的理论和技术体系,相关技术和方法在实际工作中发挥着重要作用。随着实际应用需求的变化和相关基础学科研究的进展,法医遗传学的研究也出现了新变化。本文针对法医遗传学领域的研究进展和发展趋势进行综述,希望能对相关研究和实践提供参考和借鉴。     

我国侵权责任法的侵权构成模式——以“民事权益”的定位与功能分析为中心

依国内学术界多数观点,由于侵权责任法没有对权益进行区分保护,所以我国侵权责任法的侵权构成模式属于法国法模式。但是否将民事权益作为侵权责任构成要件的判断要素,才是法国法模式与德国法模式的本质区别。我国侵权责任法契合未来民法典的整体布局,明文以民事权益作为侵权责任成立的判断要素,在立法模式上属于德国法模式。但在适用层面,德国法模式未必是一个很好的选择。侵权责任法（尤其是第2条）的独特规定及特色不同于德国法,并缺少与德国民法典第823条第2款和第826条类似的法规范支撑。可依“欧洲侵权法原则”提出的“弹性制度”解释权益的区分保护问题。     

死亡人体胸肌组织中rRNA亚基的稳定性评价

目的观察尸体胸大肌组织中rRNA各亚基表达水平的死后稳定性,探讨其在死亡时间推断中应用的价值。方法选取6例（3例成人、3例婴幼儿）外界温、湿度环境基本一致、死亡时间基本一致（24h以内）的个体,提取左侧胸大肌组织,在PBS缓冲液中低温冻存,分别在尸检即刻、2、3、4、5、6、7、8、9、10d提取微量组织保存于RNA固定液中,通过实时荧光定量RT-PCR技术检测rRNA 5srRNA、5.8srRNA、18srRNA、28srRNA亚基的表达水平。并分析年龄、死因对rRNA亚基表达水平的影响。结果死后各时间点rRNA各亚基的表达随死后经过时间延长无显著性降解,Ct值变化与死后经过时间无相关性（P值均大于0.05）,其中5s rRNA在18.503±2.655~20.937±2.340之间,5.8s rRNA在17.687±3.011~20.617±2.204之间,18s rRNA在16.457±3.920~22.330±2.571之间,28s rRNA在15.077±6.051~22.207±2.685之间。结论人体胸肌组织中rRNA各亚基稳定性好,其各亚基的表达量与死因、年龄无关,适于作为晚期死亡的推断的内参基因。     

试论《食品安全法》中关于消费者权益保护的欠缺

消费者是食品链中最大的群体。《食品安全法》的立法之本是为了保护消费者的安全,但是《食品安全法》在消费者权益保护方面却存在很多问题,比如,食品安全概念的狭隘,某些法条难以实施,与其它法律之间互相矛盾等。本文分析了《食品安全法》关于消费者权益保护的欠缺之处,并提出了修改建议。食品药品监督管理总局的成立及食品安全监管部门职能的调整改变了以前分段管理的模式,《食品安全法》要做相应的修改。希望在《食品安全法》的修订过程中可以加强对消费者权益的保护,增加该法的实用性。