Cutting Edge Thinking

The Credit Crunch ushered in an era of austerity with massive cuts and job losses. It highlighted the gulf between the world of real people and the abstraction of high finance. Put simply, to prevent the melt‐down of the global economy, the needs, hopes and ambitions of millions are being sacrificed. Who controls and issues money is key. To be viable any system must be big enough for people to have faith it won't fail, and it has to be administered soundly. Local government is accountable to its electorate and, as such, should put their welfare first. It is essentially an administrative machine and certainly isn't going to go away. A truly local economy could emerge with authorities initially paying part of their staff's wages in local currency and accepting it in payment of rates. At a stroke, job cuts could be reversed and people's skills and experience valued again.     

体育运动影响大学生心理健康的正效应探析

体育运动对培养大学生意志品质,勇敢顽强的精神,树立高尚情操,发展健康良好的个性和智力,强化竞争意识,提高社会适应能力,净化心灵,去除杂念,缓解精神压力和治疗心理疾病,促进心理健康发展,都具有积极影响和良好效应。     

行政指导与公共卫生安全

本文针对近年来我国公共卫生安全的现状进行深入思考,围绕行政指导在维护公共卫生安全,尤其是应对突发性公共卫生事件中所起的作用,以及行政主体在实施行政指导行为的过程中所应遵循的原则展开论述,以求对行政指导在构建我国完善的公共卫生安全体系中所发挥的作用能有所裨益。     

心率变异性在警察心理健康工作中的应用

心率变异性（HRV）是近年来比较受关注的无创性心电监测指标之一,可用于评价个体自主神经系统功能的变化。文章着重评述了心率变异性的发生机制、检测分析方法、健康人群中的特点及其在警察心理健康工作中的应用。     

Benford's Law for Quality Assurance of Manner of Death Counts in Small and Large Databases

To assess if Benford's law, a mathematical law used for quality assurance in accounting, can be applied as a quality assurance measure for the manner of death determination. We examined a regional forensic pathology service's monthly manner of death counts (N = 2352) from 2011 to 2013, and provincial monthly and weekly death counts from 2009 to 2013 (N = 81,831). We tested whether each dataset's leading digit followed Benford's law via the chi‐square test. For each database, we assessed whether number 1 was the most common leading digit. The manner of death counts first digit followed Benford's law in all the three datasets. Two of the three datasets had 1 as the most frequent leading digit. The manner of death data in this study showed qualities consistent with Benford's law. The law has potential as a quality assurance metric in the manner of death determination for both small and large databases.     

Determinants of prisoners’ perceived need for care in association with criminal recidivism

This study explored determinants of perceived need for care among male inmates of general prison wards in Amsterdam (N = 208) with a normative need for care. Also, it assessed the relation between perceived need for care and criminal recidivism. Normative need for care was defined as having a mental health problem, assessed with the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen, or being substance dependent. Perceived need for care was defined as a subjective problem experience and a wish to receive care. Mental health and/or addiction problems were highly prevalent (68%). Of those inmates, only 29% had a perceived need for care. Age and borderline personality disorder were associated with perceived need for care, prior care utilization intermediated these associations. No direct relation between perceived need for care and criminal recidivism was observed. All inmates should be well screened and the benefits of mental health care should be promoted.     

Educator of the court: the role of the expert witness in cases involving autism spectrum disorder

The role of the expert witness in legal contexts is to educate fact finders of the court who may have no background in the expert’s area. This role can be especially difficult for those who assist in cases involving individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As expert assistance on ASD is crucial to ensuring just outcomes for individuals diagnosed with ASD, knowledge on how expert witnesses perceive and approach their roles, and what factors may influence these perceptions, is essential. This qualitative research utilizes semi-structured interviews with a sample of expert witnesses in cases involving ASD, analyzed using a grounded-theory constant-comparative analytic approach. Data reveal that experts appear to view their roles in court as reconstructionists, educators, myth-dispellers, and most of all, communicators, actively using their testimony to fill these roles in cases. These results also allow for the development of a model that illustrates two areas that coalesce to affect how experts view their roles in court: (1) personal experiences of experts in cases in which they have been involved; and (2) influences outside experts’ personal experiences, such as their general opinions or observations regarding ASD and its relationship to the criminal justice system.     

CRIME,FEAR, AND MENTAL HEALTH IN MEXICO

This article examines the effect of exposure to criminal violence on fear of crime and mental health in Mexico, a country that has experienced a dramatic rise in violent events resulting from the operation of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Data are drawn from more than 30,000 respondents to a national longitudinal survey of Mexican households. We use fixed‐effects models which allow us to control for time‐invariant individual and municipal characteristics affecting both exposure to violence and mental health. The results indicate a substantial increase in fear and psychological distress for individuals living in communities that suffered a rise in the local homicide rate even when exposure to other forms of victimization and more personal experiences with crime are taken into account. Because DTO killings occur in response to factors external to a specific neighborhood, they generate fear and psychological distress at a larger geographical scale. They also seem to create a generalized sense of insecurity, leading to increased fear of other types of crimes. We examine the effect of large surges in homicide and the presence of military and paramilitary groups combatting DTOs as these conditions may approximate those in conflict zones elsewhere in the world. We also explore differences in the relative sensitivity to homicide rates between sociodemographic groups.     

发展低碳经济的几个问题

低碳经济是为应对全球气候变化而提出的一种新的经济发展模式或经济发展形态,是未来世界经济发展的重要方向。目前,低碳经济在世界各国蓬勃兴起。中国作为世界上最大的发展中国家,一直坚定不移地为应对气候变化作出不懈努力和积极贡献,大力推进低碳经济的发展。随着世界低碳经济的进一步发展,中国将采取更为积极而有效的对策和措施,以发挥在世界低碳经济发展中的领军作用。     

The weakness of strong policies and the strength of weak policies: Law,experimentalist governance,and supporting coalitions in European Union health care policy

The experience of European Union (EU) health care services policy shows the importance of supporting coalitions in any effort to effect policy change and the extent to which the presence or absence of such coalitions can qualify generalizations about policymaking. EU health care services law is substantively liberalizing and procedurally driven by the courts, with little legislative input. But the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been much better at establishing an EU competency in law than in causing policy development in the EU or member states. Literature on courts helps to explain why: courts are most effective when they enjoy supporting coalitions and the ECJ does not have a significant supporting coalition for its liberalizing health care services policy. Based on interview data, this article argues that the hard law of health care services deregulation and the newer forms of health care governance, such as the Open Method of Coordination and the networks on rare diseases, depend on supporting coalitions in member states that are willing to litigate, lobby, budget, decide cases, and otherwise implement EU law and policy. Given the resistance that the Court has met in health care sectors, its overarching deregulatory approach might produce smaller effects than expected, and forms of experimentalist governance that are easy to deride might turn out to have supporting coalitions that make them unexpectedly effective.