Patrol planning in the Rotterdam Police Department

A detailed analysis leading to the development of a specialized police department planning section has resulted in an improved patrol operation for Rotterdam, based on Larson's travel time model combined with a three-priority queuing model, and the prospect of improved police dispatching and patrol allocation for other cities in the Netherlands.     

Personalised parliamentary behaviour without electoral incentives: the case of the Netherlands

Most theories of legislative behaviour explain the behaviour of MPs through electoral incentives. However, they fail to explain variation in parliamentary activity when individual electoral incentives are largely absent. This article studies MPs’ activity in such a parliament: the Dutch Tweede Kamer. It examines four clusters of incentives that may drive parliamentarians to be active. Party and committee environments provide the best explanation for the level of activity of individual MPs. Reselection and promotion prospects explain MPs’ behaviour, but only under more particular specifications. Re-election prospects were not found to affect activity levels.     

Organizing for Crisis Management: Building Governance Capacity and Legitimacy

What makes a well‐functioning governmental crisis management system, and how can this be studied using an organization theory–based approach? A core argument is that such a system needs both governance capacity and governance legitimacy. Organizational arrangements as well as the legitimacy of government authorities will affect crisis management performance. A central argument is that both structural features and cultural context matter, as does the nature of the crisis. Is it a transboundary crisis? How unique is it, and how much uncertainty is associated with it? The arguments are substantiated with empirical examples and supported by a literature synthesis, focusing on public administration research. A main conclusion is that there is no optimal formula for harmonizing competing interests and tensions or for overcoming uncertainty and ambiguous government structures. Flexibility and adaptation are key assets, which are constrained by the political, administrative, and situational context. Furthermore, a future research agenda is indicated.     

Schools or Pools of Democracy? A Longitudinal Test of the Relation Between Civic Participation and Political Socialization

In this contribution we demonstrate how the usage of panel data offers possibilities for testing new hypotheses in a research tradition with a long history in political science. Focusing on citizens’ transitions in and out of voluntary associations, we tested four possible explanations for the well-documented correlation between civic engagement and political socialization. Two are due to self-selection effects (pools of democracy), and two are due to socialization effects (schools of democracy). Our analyses offer little support for the idea of voluntary associations playing a major role in political socialization processes: our latent growth curve models showed no or very little increase of political discussion, interest, efficacy, and action among those who became actively involved in voluntary associations. In contrast, we found convincing evidence for our pools-of-democracy hypotheses, and the self-selection turns out to be a double-edged sword: politically engaged citizens are more likely to join voluntary associations and less likely to leave them. These findings challenge the conclusions of many studies based on cross-sectional data.     

Should competition policy in banking be amended during crises? Lessons from the EU

This article investigates the nexus of competition and stability in European banking. It analyzes the European legal framework for competition policy in banking and several cases that pertain to anti-cartel policy, merger policy, and state-aid control. It discusses whether and how competition policy should be amended in order to preserve the stability of the banking system during crises. The article argues for increased cooperation between prudential regulators and competition authorities, as well as an enhanced framework for bank regulation, supervision, and resolution that could mitigate the need to change competition policy in crisis times.     

Analytical Characterization of Erythritol Tetranitrate,an Improvised Explosive

Erythritol tetranitrate (ETN), an ester of nitric acid and erythritol, is a solid crystalline explosive with high explosive performance. Although it has never been used in any industrial or military application, it has become one of the most prepared and misused improvise explosives. In this study, several analytical techniques were explored to facilitate analysis in forensic laboratories. FTIR and Raman spectrometry measurements expand existing data and bring more detailed assignment of bands through the parallel study of erythritol [¹⁵N₄] tetranitrate. In the case of powder diffraction, recently published data were verified, and ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁵N NMR spectra are discussed in detail. The technique of electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry was successfully used for the analysis of ETN. Described methods allow fast, versatile, and reliable detection or analysis of samples containing erythritol tetranitrate in forensic laboratories.     

Responsible research and innovation training programmes: implementation and evaluation of the HEIRRI project

Responsible research and innovation, or RRI, is a concept that aims to bring together society and science for a better future. There are six key elements of RRI: public engagement, gender equality, science education, open access, ethics and governance. Higher Education Institutions and Responsible Research and Innovation (HEIRRI) project aimed to bring the concept of RRI into the educational system. Using state-of-the-art review of good practices, HEIRRI team developed 10 training programmes on RRI for different higher education institution educational levels, including a summer school and a massive open online course (MOOC). We conducted pilot of the trainings and evaluated participants' experiences. Satisfaction with HEIRRI training programmes on responsible research and innovation was high, both for participants and for the trainers, and trainings raised awareness of RRI. Participants' feedback was used to identify areas that need improvement and provided for recommendations for final versions of the HEIRRI training programmes. In order to equip researchers with skills to recognize and apply RRI values, RRI should be included in their education. HEIRRI training is suitable for a range of different disciplines, including forensic science, and is free to use and adjust for specific contexts (available from: https://rri-tools.eu/heirri-training-programmes).     

Comparing colonial differences: Baltic literary cultures as agencies of Europe’s internal others

ABSTRACT

The article discusses the Baltic colonial experience in historical and comparative perspective. It sketches the ways in which Baltic societies are best linked to theoretical discussions on postcolonial issues, and whether they might be looked upon in a more global context. The main question posed by the article is in what ways Baltic identity has been determined by processes of foreign settlement, occupation and colonization of the territory of each respective country and whether we can see Baltic societies as potential agencies of Europe’s internal others.     

Macedonia after the 2001 conflict: towards social cohesion and reconciliation?

The paper aims to contribute to the on-going debate in the literature about reconciliation after an armed conflict through presentation of the Macedonian experience. It focuses upon the following questions: Is the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA), which put an end to the armed conflict in the country, supported by the process of reconciliation? Has the state found the right way to deal with the past? In order to answer the questions, the paper describes briefly the Agreement and the process of its implementation. In this context, it identifies the type of power-sharing system established by the OFA through analysis of the Agreement within the integrative and consociational theory. Then, the paper examines how the state dealt with the past. Further, it discusses the impact of the amnesty for grave crimes on reconciliation in the country using the existing literature. The paper argues that it is questionable whether the state chose the best approach to dealing with the past.     

STR data for the AmpFlSTR profiler plus loci from Majorcan, Minorcan and Valencian populations (Eastern Spain)

Frequency data of the nine STRs included in the AmpFlSTR profiler plus kit were determined in a sample of 304 unrelated individuals from three Spanish populations: 103 from Majorca, 100 from Minorca, and 101 from Valencia.