What do forensic analysts consider relevant to their decision making?

In response to research demonstrating that irrelevant contextual information can bias forensic science analyses, authorities have increasingly urged laboratories to limit analysts' access to irrelevant and potentially biasing information (Dror and Cole (2010) [3]; National Academy of Sciences (2009) [18]; President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2016) [22]; UK Forensic Science Regulator (2015) [26]). However, a great challenge in implementing this reform is determining which information is task-relevant and which is task-irrelevant. In the current study, we surveyed 183 forensic analysts to examine what they consider relevant versus irrelevant in their forensic analyses. Results revealed that analysts generally do not regard information regarding the suspect or victim as essential to their analytic tasks. However, there was significant variability among analysts within and between disciplines. Findings suggest that forensic science disciplines need to agree on what they regard as task-relevant before context management procedures can be properly implemented. The lack of consensus about what is relevant information not only leaves room for biasing information, but also reveals foundational gaps in what analysts consider crucial in forensic decision making.     

From discourse to policy: US policy communities’ perceptions of and approaches to climate change and security

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, a diverse set of policy communities, including those with defence, development and environmental mandates, frame climate change as a security threat. Most often this discursive formation labels climate change as a ‘threat multiplier’. This framing, however, is vague, linear and leaves many questions unanswered regarding how institutions can develop and implement policy that addresses the joint challenges of climate change, conflict and security. Utilising a mixed-methods approach, and grounding data collection in US policy communities, this article examines how policy actors and institutions integrate climate-security discourses into policy processes. The objective of this research is to provide direct insight into how the discourses and technical understandings of climate-security transition into policy priorities and implementation realities. This research identified three common approaches to climate-security: (1) A challenge of adaptation and resilience; (2) A potent political argument; and (3) An issue of limited importance and feasibility. These approaches, however, are inconsistent across sectors and within organisations, suggesting a lack of cohesion and considerable challenges in identifying and responding to climate change as a ‘threat multiplier’.     

猪圆环病毒2型感染裸鼠及BALB/c小鼠的研究

用猪圆环病毒2型(PCV2)经腹腔注射BALB/c小鼠及裸鼠各15只,每隔2周1次,共感染3次。BALB/c小鼠初次、再次感染后均未出现明显的临床症状,仅有2只小鼠出现病理变化;从血清中可检测到PCV2核酸及其ORF2抗体;同时淋巴细胞增殖反应显著增强,NK和CTL细胞杀伤率显著升高;CD4+、CD8+、CD3+T淋巴细胞及CD19+B淋巴细胞数量显著减少。裸鼠也未出现明显的临床症状,从血清中可检测到PCV2核酸,但未检测到PCV2 ORF2抗体;除NK细胞杀伤率显著升高外,其余免疫学指标无显著改变。结果表明,BALB/c小鼠比裸鼠对PCV2易感,各项免疫学指标变化与PCV2感染猪一致,但不表现临床症状,仅个别BALB/c小鼠出现病理变化,说明BALB/c小鼠对PCV2不如猪易感。     

工伤认定中若干法律问题探讨

正确认定工伤,首先要根据工伤的构成要件准确把握工伤的概念,其次要能够准确把握劳务关系、雇佣关系、委托关系与事实劳动关系之间的异同,最后需要结合实际对工作原因、工作场所、上下班途中等三大要素作出合理认定。     

The New Antidemocrats

Democratization has lately received new rounds of criticism from antidemocrats on both the right and the left. As the prevalence of democracy throughout the world has surpassed that of dictatorship and other forms of undemocratic government, nostalgia for authoritarianism has blurred the realities of the depredations of dictatorship. Increasingly, the new antidemocrats suggest that the problems of democracy require nondemocratic solutions. But while all democracies will necessarily fall short of their ideal, the solution lies within democratic traditions. The challenge is to motivate future generations to improve on existing democracy, not to replace democratic structures with a system that is simpler, more comfortable, and less demanding of those who live under it.     

The impact of a gasoline tax on auto exhaust emissions

The EPA implements its policy of exhaust emission control by setting standards specified in terms of grams of pollutants per mile traveled. As a result, the tax must first restrain the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) if it is to have an impact on emission at all. EPA's choice of miles traveled as the medium through which its policy of pollution control must run is unfortunate, because travel is an activity that people resist giving up. This is reflected in a low long-run price elasticity of travel demand. Consequently, it takes substantial increases in the gasoline tax to make an impact on long-run travel demand. Simulation results show that under an alternative policy option, where EPA's standards are specified in terms of grams of pollutant per gallon of fuel burned, the same long-run reduction in exhaust emissions achievable today can be achieved (at an even higher level of confidence) with less than one-tenth of the increase in gasoline price required under the existing policy regime.     

经济诈骗犯罪被害人的被害性分析及预防

市场经济条件下,资源的流动性加强,社会成员对经济的参与程度加深,但由于社会成员心理因素、行为方式以及社会组织的制度、组织成员等方面存在的诸多问题,加剧了经济主体自身的被害性。为了有效地减少和预防经济诈骗犯罪被害的发生,我们必须发现和认识其被害性,从而帮助经济主体减少被害的可能性,以更好地维护经济秩序和社会秩序。