Metric forensic anthropology decisions: Reliability and biasability of sectioning-point-based sex estimates

Subjective decisions make human cognitive processes more susceptible to bias and error. Specifically, research indicates that additional context biases forensic anthropologists’ morphological analyses. To address whether metric analyses are also subject to bias, we conducted a pilot study in which 52 experienced osteologists measured a difficult-to-classify human femur, with or without additional contextual information. Using a metric sectioning-point sex-estimation method, participants provided a sex estimate for individual skeletal element(s) and, when given multiple elements, the combined skeletal assemblage. Control group participants (n = 24) measured only the femur. In addition to the femur, bias group participants (n = 28) either measured a female humerus and viewed a female-biasing photograph (n = 14) or measured a male humerus and viewed a male-biasing photograph (n = 14). We explored whether the experts in the different groups would differ in: (1) femoral measurements; (2) femoral sex-estimation conclusions; and (3) final sex-estimation conclusions for the skeletal assemblage. Although the femoral measurements and femoral sex estimates were comparable across groups, the overall sex estimates in the female-biased group were impacted by contextual information—differing from both the control and male-biased groups (p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate that cognitive bias can occur even in metric sex-estimation conclusions. Specifically, this occurred when the metric data and single-element sex estimates were synthesized into an overall estimate. Thus, our results suggest that metric methods are most vulnerable to bias when data are synthesized into an overall conclusion, highlighting the need for bias countermeasures and comprehensive statistical frameworks for synthesizing metric data to mitigate the effects of cognitive bias.     

Lethal small bowel obstruction due to pica

Up to 25% of institutionalized patients with cognitive deficiencies display pica-like behavior, with an estimated annual incidence of small bowel obstruction of 2%. We present a case based on the forensic autopsy of a 41-year-old woman who died as a result of a missed diagnosis of small bowel obstruction after ingesting a foreign body. The case underlines the importance of precaution when treating patients with cognitive deficiency and/or language deficits and gastrointestinal symptoms. In such cases, it is important to employ a liberal threshold for radiological investigations and, if possible, obtain a medical history from a person close to the patient.     

侦查认识原理初探

侦查认识原理既包括侦查认识活动最基本的客观规律,也包括根据最基本的规律而制定的侦查认识的基本方法和基本原则。研究侦查认识原理的意义是多方面的,而这一主题在中外侦查学著作中都只简单地提到,而尚未进行充分地挖掘。探索侦查认识原理应当从侦查认识的基本假设入手,根据侦查认识活动的本质提出侦查认识的三大原理,继而根据侦查认识的三大原理设立评价侦查认识结果的标准,最后根据三大原理和标准设计克服侦查认识错误的对策。     

脑震荡后综合征伤残评定研究进展

由于症状表现的主观性以及当前客观检查方法所能提供证据的匮乏,加之赔偿伴生的症状伪装和夸大等问题,脑震荡后综合征患者的伤残评定鉴定意见一致性不高.在人体损伤赔偿纠纷中,脑震荡后综合征患者的伤残评定成为法医精神病鉴定的争议点和难题.通过对脑震荡及相关术语变化、脑震荡后综合征的发生率、症状表现及诊断标准、脑震荡后综合征客观评...     

腐败心理的内涵、构成及抑制策略

腐败心理是支配腐败行为人实施腐败行为的复杂心理现象的总称。腐败心理不仅是腐败行为发生的内在动因,其构成要素的组合状况和特点还决定了腐败行为的性质、类型和发生频次。因此,抑制腐败心理的生成,需要培育积极的心理动力结构要素、合理的心理认知结构要素和有效的心理自控结构要素,从源头上构筑起预防腐败行为发生的内在防线。     

Body and experiment – reflecting Kawabata Yasunari's counter-aesthetics

Abstract

From his earliest works, Kawabata, known as an explicit aestheticist, deals in his works with flawed and disabled bodies in contrast to beautiful ones, evoking feelings of revulsion, awkwardness, disgust and premonitions of decay and death. The dynamism created out of these tensions and ruptures in the aestheticized world is scrutizined as hidden counter-aesthetics through questions such as: Which kinds of impairments are to be observed? Can they be classified according to grades? Are there gender specificities? How are these tensions and ruptures organized, and which categories (semantic, biological, political, moral) are concerned? Which narratorial and other functions are served through the counter-image of the flawed (impaired) body? And finally, how do the findings from these investigations into the flipside, the ‘Other’ of Kawabata's aesthetic universe, contribute to complementary or alternative ways of reading and understanding his literature? In a final section, Kawabata's treatment of female bodies as a site of experimenting with extreme situations of passivity and agency is highlighted, challenging more conventional readings of this and other works. The works discussed are from a deliberately broad chronological and generic range, including canonical and popular works. They range from the newspaper novels ‘Utsukushii!’ (1927) and ‘Maihime’ (1950/1), the novel ‘Senbazuru’ (1952) to the stories and palm-of-the-hand stories ‘Ningen no ashioto’ (1925),’Izu no odoriko’ (1926), ‘Mekura to shōjo’ (1928), ‘Utsukushiki haka’ (1929) ‘Hokuro no tegami’ (1940), ‘Sasabune’ (1950), and, in the final section, ‘Kataude’ (1963/4) and ‘Nemureru bijo’ (1960/1).     

通督调神针法对轻度认知障碍患者注意网络功能的影响

目的 探讨通督调神针法对轻度认知障碍（mild cognitive impairment,MCI）患者注意网络功能的影响。方法 将60例MCI患者随机分为对照组和治疗组,每组30例。对照组接受常规针刺治疗,治疗组接受通督调神针刺疗法,疗程均为8周。治疗前后分别进行注意网络功能检查。结果 两组患者治疗后警觉效率和正确率均较治疗前显著升高（P<0.05）,两组治疗后执行控制效率和总反应时均较治疗前显著降低（P<0.05）,治疗组警觉效率、执行控制效率、总反应时和正确率的治疗前后差值均显著大于对照组（P<0.05）。结论 通督调神针法可一定程度恢复MCI患者的认知功能,其疗效优于常规针刺疗法。     

再议“合一论”与“复合罪过说”

德国关于间接故意与有认识过失的合一论的主张与我国学者所提出的复合罪过的概念各有特定含义,“合一论”的罪过形式的出现有其特定的类型划分和观念为前提。复合罪过现象的原始含义不同于合一论。应该结合我国《刑法》分则的具体罪名来进行真正复合罪过形式的研究。     

交通事故脑外伤所致精神障碍伤残评定有关问题

在交通事故受伤人员脑外伤所致精神障碍伤残评定中,由于《道路交通事故受伤人员伤残评定》中涉及精神伤残评定条款内容可操作性差,精神伤残评定客观检查及量化指标较少,导致评定意见不一致,给交通事故理赔带来困难。在此就精神伤残评定技术操作中的有关问题提出一些经验性观点。