Fukuyama Is Right about Measuring State Quality: Now What?

Much has recently been written about how to best measure governance or “state quality.” Should we evaluate government performance by looking at what government achieves (outputs) as Robert Rotberg and Craig Boardman recently suggested? Or should we focus on measuring state capacity and bureaucratic autonomy, as Francis Fukuyama concludes? This commentary argues in support of Fukuyama's approach by using a public administration lens to disaggregate the public sector into two domains: upstream bodies at the center of government and downstream delivery bodies that deliver, commission, or fund services under the policy direction of government. It goes further by recommending a measurement framework that focuses on identifying indicators that are behavioral and action worthy in relation to five public management systems ultimately owned and operated by the central, upstream agencies.     

Loners,Colleagues, or Peers? Assessing the Social Organization of Radicalization

This study explores the utility of a sociological model of social organization developed by Best and Luckenbill (1994) to classify the radicalization processes of terrorists (i.e., extremist perpetrators who engaged in ideologically motivated acts of violence) who are usually categorized as loner or lone wolf attackers. There are several organizational frameworks used to define or classify violent acts performed by individuals who may or may not have ties to extremist groups, but these studies largely ignore the role of social relationships in radicalization and the extent to which they inform our knowledge of terror. To address this gap, we apply the Best and Luckenbill model of social organization using a qualitative analysis of three case studies of four lone actor or small cell terrorists. The findings demonstrate lone actors are not always true loners in the context of radicalization, and highlights the ways that the Internet and social ties foster the radicalization processes of terror.

     

The Hazards of Investigating Internet Crimes Against Children: Digital Evidence Handlers’ Experiences with Vicarious Trauma and Coping Behaviors

Over the last two decades there has been a substantive increase in the number of cybercrime and digital forensic units in local and state police agencies across the US. There is, however, little research on the occupational responses of individuals serving in specialized roles within criminal justice agencies. Individuals tasked to these units are likely to encounter psychologically harmful materials on a regular basis due to the number of child pornography and sexual exploitation cases they are assigned. As a result, this study examined the experiences of vicarious trauma and coping behaviors of digital forensic examiners in a sample culled from across the country. The findings suggest that exposure to content involving crimes against children directly and indirectly increases the likelihood of trauma and incidence of coping strategies employed.     

Constructing universal multiplex PCR systems for comparative genotyping

Analysis of length polymorphisms at STR loci in the human genome has become a standard approach for comparative genotyping in many areas including disease research and diagnostics, parentage assessment, investigations of human diversity, and forensic science. The simultaneous analysis of multiple STR loci through multiplex PCR and multicolor fluorescence detection offers sample conservation, high throughput, and automated genetic analysis. Careful design and optimization of tetranucleotide STR multiplexes has led to reliable, standardized systems that powerfully differentiate and distinguish individual human DNA profiles. The development of these multiplex systems involved a rigorous experimental strategy that included careful selection of PCR primer sequences (for yield, specificity, and multiplex compatability), along with optimization of PCR component concentrations, thermal cycling parameters, and fluorescence detection conditions. This developmental approach rendered well-characterized DNA typing systems that are high performing (sensitive, specific, and balanced), optimized to universal parameters (same reaction conditions), resilient to fluctuations in reaction conditions, and simple to implement and use routinely.     

The scholar as artisan

In an age when there are increasing pressures on social scientists to produce knowledge that is directly relevant for dealing with problems confronting societies, it is useful to look at the scholar as an artisan. A producer-consumer relationship can then be identified. In such a relationship the kind of protection that consumers have under modern commercial codes for ordinary products should also protect them when they purchase the products of social scientists. While such protection is reasonable, it is not reasonable to have the state enforce the warranties. This might destroy the independent academy. The professoriate collectively must enforce the warranties in a guild-like manner.This essay is a revised version of a paper presented at a seminar sponsored by the International Studies Association at the Villa Serbelloni, Italy, in August–September 1971.     

For Those Who Care: The Effect of Public Service Motivation on Sector Selection

Public service motivation (PSM) theory suggests that the alignment of values may explain sorting into public service work. Evidence suggests that people with high PSM cluster in government and nonprofit organizations. However, reliance on cross‐sectional data leaves open the question of whether observed patterns are the result of public and nonprofit organizations attracting and selecting high‐PSM people or cultivating PSM through socialization within the sector. Using longitudinal data, this article analyzes the relationship between motivational bases, such as PSM, and sorting into the public, for‐profit, and nonprofit sectors. The results indicate that PSM‐related values, measured before labor market entry, predict the sector a person will select for employment. Moreover, the effect on sector selection does not operate through some commonly cited alternative predictor of sector employment, such as college completion. Rather, PSM predicts sorting into college majors in a manner consistent with sector sorting in the labor market.     

AutoMate Express™ forensic DNA extraction system for the extraction of genomic DNA from biological samples

Abstract: The AutoMate Express? Forensic DNA Extraction System was developed for automatic isolation of DNA from a variety of forensic biological samples. The performance of the system was investigated using a wide range of biological samples. Depending on the sample type, either PrepFiler? lysis buffer or PrepFiler BTA? lysis buffer was used to lyse the samples. After lysis and removal of the substrate using LySep? column, the lysate in the sample tubes were loaded onto AutoMate Express? instrument and DNA was extracted using one of the two instrument extraction protocols. Our study showed that DNA was recovered from as little as 0.025 μL of blood. DNA extracted from casework‐type samples was free of detectable PCR inhibitors and the short tandem repeat profiles were complete, conclusive, and devoid of any PCR artifacts. The system also showed consistent performance from day‐to‐day operation.