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.     

The politics of mortgage credit expansion in the small coordinated market economies

Abstract

Recent contributions to the comparative political economy literature claim that liberal market economies are vulnerable to asset booms and busts because of financial deregulation, shrinking welfare states and a political ideology emphasising financial self-sufficiency. This article examines the rapid expansion of mortgage lending in three coordinated market economies (CMEs): Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. This expansion is puzzling given that all three countries are CMEs with generous welfare states. Yet the pattern of mortgage lending resembles the Anglo-Saxon or liberal market economies (LMEs) more than other CMEs. The article argues that mortgage bubbles in the small CMEs emerged as the unintended outcome of pairing neoliberal programmes to expand home ownership with collectivist housing institutions. This resulted in supply restrictions and rising property values which saddled households with extraordinarily high mortgage debts. In short, mortgage credit bubbles are not unique to Anglo-liberal welfare states and may have different origins.     

李步云与当代中国法哲学

李步云既是当代中国颇有成就的法理学家和宪法学家 ,又是“新时期”最早“自觉”到“法哲学”的法学家。他是从当代中国法理学和宪法学的“局限性”意识出发 ,而提出其法哲学主张的 ,其法哲学体系是围绕法的唯物论与认识论、法的辩证法与发展观而构筑并加以逻辑展开的 ,是对法理学问题的既深入又超出。为中国法理学研究提供基础、方向和标准 ,是李步云法哲学研究的根本目的所在     

马克思主义全球化思想论要

从思想学术角度看,从马克思到邓小平的马克思主义全球化理论是一脉相承的有机整体,其核心理念是:全球化是难以阻挡的历史趋势;全球化进程由资本主义所开创并由资本主义生产方式所主导,它对非西方社会的发展道路和前途会产生重要影响;融入全球体系是任何国家工业化和现代化发展的必要前提条件;社会主义只有开放才能存在,只有在与资本主义全球经济体系的联系中才能得到发展。     

西方马克思主义女权主义在当前的新发展--评《资本主义的终结--关于政治经济学的女权主义批判》

吉布森和格雷汉姆作为西方马克思主义女权主义者,在其合著《资本主义的终结》中从女权主义的角度,运用了后结构主义的认识论和方法论解构了原本对资本主义的认识方式。主张打破资本主义/非资本主义二元对立中资本主义类似于男性的等级优势和霸权地位,寻求性别和阶级的多样化联合,力图解构全球化中假定的资本主义一统天下的男性霸权。     

总结历史经验坚定社会主义信念

正确评价社会主义实践，是坚定社会主义信念的必要前提；正确分析苏东剧变的根本原因．有利于坚定社会主义的必胜信念：正确理解社会主义必然代替资本主义的客观规律．则是坚定社会主义信念的理论基础。     

A CROSS‐NATIONAL TEST OF BONGER'S THEORY OF CRIMINALITY AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS*

Using international data for 100 countries, we test two hypotheses derived from Bonger's Marxian theory of crime. The analyses support the hypothesis that the degree of capitalism significantly predicts homicide rates, but they fail to confirm that the de‐moralization of the population (loss of moral feelings for others) mediates the relationship between capitalism and homicide. Although capitalism is not the best predictor among those considered, overall, the results underline the importance of Bonger's ideas because both capitalism and corruption (our indicator of de‐moralization) show reasonably strong relationships with homicide rates and compete with other variables commonly used as predictors of international homicide rates. The results confirm the usefulness of attempting to subject Marxian ideas to positivist, quantitative tests, with an eye to integrating Marxian theories with other mainstream theories, such as institutional anomie theory.     

论市场经济条件下原则上的平等与事实上的不平等——重读《经济学手稿（1857-1858年）》的一点体会

市场经济的平等主要是原则上的交换平等.但由于种种原因,在结果上、事实上又是不平等的.社会主义市场经济具有市场经济的一般共性,因此也必然存在着事实上的不平等.但它的社会主义性质决定了它必须保证市场前提、过程和结果应有的公平.     

经济法基本原则的新视野——经济法基础理论的反思之三

经济法的基本原则是经济法学界极富争议的论题之一。这些争议存在的根本原因是学者们对经济法基本原则的内涵有不同理解。经济法的基本原则是反映在宪法和经济法之中,贯穿于经济法的立法、执法、司法、守法和法律监督诸环节的根本性准则。因为不同社会制度条件下人们对经济法存在的基础——市场经济的认识存在深刻的分歧,所以根本就不存在中西通行的具有普遍意义的经济法基本原则,所以需要以新的视野展示经济法的基本原则。中国经济法的社会主义属性是国家与社会关系的现实表现,强调它并非走意识形态的老路,因此,中国经济法的基本原则应当由两部分构成:一是社会主义市场经济原则,二是国家调控原则,它们集中反映了社会主义条件下社会利益的政治表达形式和范围,可称之为“资本的社会主义”,它与资本主义条件下社会成为面具的“社会的资本主义”大异其趣。