Virtual determination of sex: metric and nonmetric traits of the adult pelvis from 3D computed tomography models

Examination of the adult os coxae and sacrum is one of the most common methods of sex estimation from bone. Medical imaging, such as computed tomography (CT), provides the opportunity for three-dimensional (3D) imaging of the skeleton from clinical scans of known individuals in situ. In this study, a randomly selected subset of abdominopelvic CT-derived models were used to evaluate simple, repeatable metric methods of sex estimation based on a combination of obstetric measurements and the traditionally nonmetric Phenice-derived traits. A four-variable discriminant function for sex estimation was developed based on statistical analyses. Overall, the cross-validated accuracy of this method was 100%, with inter-observer error showing an average of only 2.2%. Comparative analysis was run on the data set using FORDISC 3.0. This study shows that current sex determination standards from the pelvis should be updated to include more in vivo data to increase the accuracy of identification.     

政治哲学视野下的“无赖假设”

休谟的"无赖假设",绝不是对人性的贬低,它只是一种"应然"和"实然"、公共领域与私人领域的区分,以及方法论上描述与分析的不同应用。"人性善"不能作为政治制度设计基础的主要原因在于,"人性善"从未得到过有效的证明,将其视作政治制度的基础也不具有普遍同意和普遍接受的特性。"无赖假设"并不排除政治家道德修养的必要性,二者是一个可以相互融合的人性。     

高校纪检监察部门推进“三转”工作存在的问题及对策

新形势下,高校纪检监察部门推进"三转"工作是深入贯彻落实党章,履行纪委监督责任的必然要求,也是创新高校反腐败体制机制的必然要求。但在实际工作中,高校纪检监察部门仍存在思想认识缺位、方法措施缺乏、机构队伍薄弱等问题。因此,为适应党风廉政建设和反腐败工作的需要,我们应注重加强顶层设计,深化高校纪检监察体制机制改革;筑牢主责意识,突出主业转职能;筑牢问题意识,围绕中心转方式;筑牢宗旨意识,从严要求转作风,为全面推进党风廉政建设和反腐败工作提供有力保障。     

Measuring knowledge management in a virtual chat room: A case study

Abstract

Many organisations deem the virtual workplace to be a solution to challenges such as global competition, accelerated product development, improved quality and customer service, to mention but a few. In spite of the success of virtual communities on the Internet and although a significant amount of research has been conducted on virtual organisations, very few studies have focused on the evaluation of the combined effects of the theoretical variables of knowledge management in virtual communities. Advanced web analytics have been used in some instances to test the content of virtual communities, like discussion forums, hat rooms and the like. Because a plethora of chat rooms are devoted to special interest topics that may implicitly contain information and insights on consumers, knowledge creation and sharing, it creates the ideal opportunity to measure the management of knowledge therein. The aim of this article is, therefore, to measure knowledge management in a virtual community (an online chat room of an academic institution). Firstly, the article propounds a brief overview of the theoretical underpinning of the study by proposing a conceptual framework for the measurement of knowledge management in virtual communities. Secondly, the methodology to measure the knowledge management in a chat room of an educational institution is outlined. Finally, the research results are presented and recommendations are made for future research.     

Mass Graves and Imagined Identities in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the construction of imagined identities of Zimbabwean nationhood in two televised documentaries, Nyadzonia Massacre and Colonial Era Atrocities, aired on Zimbabwe national television. Using qualitative semiotic analysis and borrowing from post nationalism, this article analyses how the two documentaries interweave memory and violence with the politics of nationhood and belonging during the Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe. The paper also analyses how the films were packaged in order to undermine the semiotic resistance and autonomy of the viewer to create oppositional readership of the films.     

When the Walls Come Crumbling Down: The Monarchy and Thai-style Democracy

Although many people date critical commentary on the Thai monarchy to Paul Handley's explosive biography The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, this article demonstrates the existence of a consistently critical body of work, in the English language, that emerged contemporaneously with the king's growing stature from the 1980s. It also considers the conditions that have led to wider and more vocal criticisms since the coup of 2006. The primary focus is an exploration of new contributions to this critical commentary by the authors of the edited collection Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. It identifies tensions across the chapters, including different emphases on liberalism and conservatism, and on the symbolic functioning of the monarchy.     

加强我国网络虚拟社会有效管理的若干思考

经济社会的快速发展,为我国网络虚拟社会的不断成长提供了强劲动力,也给我国网络虚拟社会管理带来了新的、更多的问题。面对当前我国网络虚拟社会的违法活动有增无减、网络失范现象越来越严重、网络群体性事件多发、网络虚拟社会管理薄弱等一系列棘手问题,当务之急是切实加强对我国网络虚拟社会的有效管理。要按照加快社会建设与强化社会管理相结合、政府负责主导与社会协同参与相结合、网络技术管控与社会综合管治相结合的基本思路,不断提高我国网络虚拟社会管理的法治化水平,建立健全我国网络虚拟社会自律机制,加大对我国网络虚拟社会的高科技化管理力度,提高我国网络虚拟社会管理队伍的专业化水平,建立并完善我国的网络公共危机应急管理体制。     

Factors affecting simulated jurors' decisions in capital cases

Abstract

Previous psycho-legal research has claimed that the process of selecting death-qualified jurors for capital cases creates conviction-prone juries. The studies on which these claims are based have employed simulation methodologies to examine the relationship between subjects' death-penalty attitudes and verdict decisions, as well as the effect of the death-qualifying voir dire itself. Despite admitted weaknesses of simulations in general, this method was employed in the present research so that conceptual comparisons to past findings could be drawn. Two experiments were designed to examine the issue of death-qualification and biased juries in a context of other potentially highly influential factors, namely, the strength of evidence and the degree of heinousness. Our results failed to find any of the relationships between death-penalty attitudes and verdict decisions that would be predicted from past research. Instead, the subjects' decisions were influenced, virtually exclusively, by the strength of the evidence presented in the case, as is legally prescribed. In the light of these findings, the discussion focused on the questions of reliability and external validity of simulation research, the potential problems caused by method-specific factors in determining the outcome of such methodology, the attitude-behavior link, and the danger of premature and un-warranted application to the legal system of findings from simulations.     

虚拟社会的现实化管控

随着信息化时代的到来,互联网的普及使得虚拟社会这一概念进入人们的视线中。在虚拟社会影响人类生活的同时,虚拟社会的秩序管控问题也成为公安工作的新难点。文章从虚拟社会与现实社会的区别与联系入手,探究传统侦查手段在虚拟社会中的新应用,以此为解决虚拟社会的现实管控问题提供新的视角。     

Warburg’s “Goddess in Exile”

Abstract

As regards Aby Warburg’s oeuvre, it is fascinating that three unfinished or unpublished projects have come to represent the very theorems now appearing of most interest for cultural historians and theorists: The Mnemosyne Atlas representing pictorial memory; the Serpent Ritual as theorem for a cultural-anthropological reading of pagan cultures; and the Nymph Fragment as a foundational figure of modern iconology. This essay undertakes an analysis of the fragmentary character of Warburg’s way of working, arguing that his search for an analytic model to account for the interplay between Christian and pagan/polytheistic traditions displays striking asynchronies and displacements. Rather than explicating these irregularities biographically, the conceptual problems tied to his methods and cognitive interests are investigated. The article thus examines a set of conceptual questions whose relevance extends well past Warburg’s methodology, considering the dimensions of religious and cultural-historical theory within a broader history of European arts and media. Concentrating on probably the most cited figure from Warburg’s repertoire of images, the “nymph” figure on Ghirlandaio’s fresco The Birth of St John the Baptist, the essay focuses on Warburg’s borrowings from Heinrich Heine and reveals Heine to be a blind spot in research on Warburg up until now.