Profiling and imaging of forensic evidence – A pan-European forensic round robin study part 1: Document forgery

The forensic scenario, on which the round robin study was based, simulated a suspected intentional manipulation of a real estate rental agreement consisting of a total of three pages. The aims of this study were to (i) establish the amount and reliability of information extractable from a single type of evidence and to (ii) provide suggestions on the most suitable combination of compatible techniques for a multi-modal imaging approach to forgery detection. To address these aims, seventeen laboratories from sixteen countries were invited to answer the following tasks questions: (i) which printing technique was used? (ii) were the three pages printed with the same printer? (iii) were the three pages made from the same paper? (iv) were the three pages originally stapled? (v) were the headings and signatures written with the same ink? and (vi) were headings and signatures of the same age on all pages? The methods used were classified into the following categories: Optical spectroscopy, including multispectral imaging, smartphone mapping, UV-luminescence and LIBS; Infrared spectroscopy, including Raman and FTIR (micro-)spectroscopy; X-ray spectroscopy, including SEM-EDX, PIXE and XPS; Mass spectrometry, including ICPMS, SIMS, MALDI and LDIMS; Electrostatic imaging, as well as non-imaging methods, such as non-multimodal visual inspection, (micro-)spectroscopy, physical testing and thin layer chromatography. The performance of the techniques was evaluated as the proportion of discriminated sample pairs to all possible sample pairs. For the undiscriminated sample pairs, a distinction was made between undecidability and false positive claims. It was found that none of the methods used were able to solve all tasks completely and/or correctly and that certain methods were a priori judged unsuitable by the laboratories for some tasks. Correct results were generally achieved for the discrimination of printer toners, whereas incorrect results in the discrimination of inks. For the discrimination of paper, solid state analytical methods proved to be superior to mass spectrometric methods. None of the participating laboratories deemed addressing ink age feasible. It was concluded that correct forensic statements can only be achieved by the complementary application of different methods and that the classical approach of round robin studies to send standardised subsamples to the participants is not feasible for a true multimodal approach if the techniques are not available at one location.     

The Scharff technique: training military intelligence officers to elicit information from small cells of sources

ABSTRACT

Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the Scharff technique for gathering human intelligence, but little is known about how this efficacy might vary among different samples of practitioners. In this training study we examined a sample of military officers (n?=?37). Half was trained in the Scharff technique and compared against officers receiving no Scharff training. All officers received the same case file describing two sources holding information about a terrorist attack. University students (n?=?74) took the role of the semi-cooperative sources. Scharff-trained officers adhered to the training as they (1) aimed to establish the ‘knowing-it-all’ illusion, (2) posed claims as a means of eliciting information, and (3) asked fewer explicit questions. The ‘untrained’ officers asked many explicit questions, questioned the reliability of the provided information, pressured the source, and displayed disappointment with the source's contribution. Scharff-trained officers were perceived as less eager to gather information and left their sources with the impression of having provided comparatively less new information, but collected a similar amount of new information as their untrained colleagues. The present paper both replicates and advances previous work in the field, and marks the Scharff technique as a promising technique for gathering human intelligence.     

民族地区女性罪犯矫正的现实困境及路径研究——以广西N监狱为例

自上世纪90年代以来,我国女性罪犯数量呈明显的上升趋势,在押女犯结构也发生了较大的变化,监狱应根据罪犯矫正工作的实际情况,针对女犯特点开展教育矫正工作,积极探寻突破困境的有效对策,创新监管模式,不断提高矫正女犯的质量和水平,推动监狱管理工作顺利开展。     

法学研究目标受众选择的大数据分析

文章为谁而写,是法学研究需要解决的基础性命题。从近二十年约2.5万篇法学核心期刊文章的大数据机器学习分类结果看,我国的法学研究成果呈多重目标格局,其中近三成服务于执法机关(包括行政机关和司法机关),同时也有为立法者、执政者建言献策的成果。经检验,目标受众类型的选择与论文的传播能力以及获得基金支持的机会之间有显著相关性。这一决定成果影响力大小的机制迟早会被个体习得并不断强化,成为研究者选择目标受众类型的重要因素。该机制良性运转的关键是处理好学者和实践受众的关系,保持学术研究必要的自主性,警惕学术研究在追逐发表、经济支持时被有关主体“认知俘获”。     

Analysis of Factors of Overpricing in Public Procurement: A Study for Low-performing EU Countries

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the issue of overpricing of public procurement in low-performing EU countries. It examines a uniquely large sample of public procurement in 11 Central and Eastern European countries. Hierarchical regression is used to analyze the factors that influence public contract. Our results indicate that institutional factors have a greater impact on overpricing than individual decisions by the contracting authority. Our analysis for low-performing EU countries provides interesting results and also draws attention to behavior that is not typical of the better established and more advanced EU countries. Our results are particularly important for public policy in each country, as they show the direction of regulatory action in the field of public procurement. The results introduce a debate on the appropriateness of “one size fits all” regulations within the EU.     

Coming out of the shadow? Studies of local governments in Central and Eastern Europe in European academic research

This article is an analysis of the changing role of research on local governments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) within mainstream European studies. It refers to dependency theory (Wallerstein, Prebish) as applied to scientific research. It classifies CEE as being in the semi-periphery of academic research. The empirical analysis consists of two parts: (1) qualitative review of the most important of the comparative studies of European local governments. It includes a discussion on the role of local governments and researchers from CEE in these studies; (2) quantitative based on an analysis of articles published in international journals and citations for those articles in Scopus. The analysis covers 14 countries (all new member states who joined the EU from 2004 onwards, plus the Balkan countries: Albania, Macedonia, and Serbia).     

韩国毛泽东思想研究述评

韩国学者对毛泽东思想的研究,很大程度上受制于韩国学者的毛泽东思想研究的历史条件。受冷战、朝鲜战争及韩国国内政治等因素的影响,在相当长的时期内,韩国对中国的敌意达到了极点,所以相当多的韩国学者对毛泽东、毛泽东思想及中国现代的革命史的研究几乎是“绝对进不了的历史领域,”韩国学者的毛泽东思想研究受到了很大的制约。但是,毛泽东思想对现代中国所产生的巨大影响却吸引着韩国学者对这一领域进行不断的探索。韩国学者研究毛泽东思想的深度和广度可以在两个方面去考察:一是他们在介绍外国学者毛泽东思想研究成果基础上做出的评析,二是他们直接研究毛泽东思想而取得的成果。     

Towards virtuous and ethical organisational performance in the context of corruption: A case study in the public sector

With the increasing number of ethical violations reported across the public sector, the emphasis on ethics and values in governance is on the rise. Corruption is widely accepted as a form of unethical behaviour that can have detrimental effects on organisations as well as society at large. Research calls for empirical studies focusing on the contextual factors surrounding corruption. Based on the Contextually Based Human Resource Theory and using the case study method, this paper examines the role of context through a systematic analysis of corruption in a public sector organisation. We integrate corruption and human resource literature to understand employee behaviour, employee relations, HRM strategies, and organisational outcomes in the context of organisational corruption.     

Productivity,craftwork and flexibility: the Mobil agreements

ABSTRACT

Using original documents, this paper describes and analyses the case study of one of the productivity bargaining agreements from a leading exponent of productivity bargaining, Mobil’s Coryton Refinery. As well as being important in the UK oil industry these agreements spread throughout the economy. They resulted in major concessions by the unions to relax inter-craft and craft-production trade boundaries and to changes in work methods. These are illustrated in detail and placed in context. Such changes were heralded as ‘new look industrial relations’ and as such were based on a conception of joint regulation. However, other interpretations are possible, and these are then explored and discussed.     

公司共同决策法律制度研究——以“职工满意度”为视角

职工参与共同决策是公司资本民主化和管理民主化的主要实现途径,起源于德国共同体文化的这一制度旨在保护职工权益、协调企业中劳资关系.寻找两者利益的平衡点,通过对不同企业的探索性调研,借助职工满意评价工具分析共同决策制度实施与职工满意之间的联系,探索我国公司法共同决策制度的引入模式.