Crisis Management Europe: An Integrated Regional Research and Training Program

This article describes the Crisis Management (CM) Europe program that seeks to produce scientific knowledge that can be used also in order to train practitioners to cope more effectively with national and regional crises. Initiated in 1997 with a focus on the Baltic Sea area, the program has recently been broadened to cover all of Europe. The program documents and analyzes specific cases of national and regional crises. It relies upon a contextually grounded process tracing strategy for case reconstruction and dissection derived from relevant literatures in political science, psychology, and organizational sociology. To facilitate comparison and cumulation of case findings, a systematic four-step research procedure has been developed. Ten analytical themes of potential interest to both scholars and practitioners are identified as targets for structured focused comparison. More than a hundred cases have been studied by researchers working in research teams based in many European countries. Training tools have been successfully deployed in training practitioners from more than a dozen countries. An ongoing dialogue between academics and practitioners from across the Continent promises to make a contribution toward bridging the gap between these two different communities.     

Analysis of Explosives by GC‐UV

A mixture of explosives was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) linked to ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry that enabled detection in the range of 178–330 nm. The gas‐phase UV spectra of 2,4,6‐trinitrotoluene (TNT), 2,4‐dinitrotoluene (DNT), ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN), glycerine trinitrate (NG, nitroglycerine), triacetone triperoxide (TATP), and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) were successfully recorded. The most interesting aspect of the current application is that it enabled simultaneous detection of both the target analyte and its decomposition products. At suitable elevated temperatures of the transfer line between the GC instrument and the UV detector, a partial decomposition was accomplished. Detection was made in real time and resulted in overlaid spectra of the mother compound and its decomposition product. Hence, the presented approach added another level to the qualitative identification of the explosives in comparison with traditional methods that relies only on the detection of the target analyte. As expected, the decomposition product of EGDN, NG, and PETN was NO, while TATP degraded to acetone. DNT and TNT did not exhibit any decomposition at the temperatures used.     

A defence model for the Baltic states

It is often argued that the Baltic states should not be accepted in NATO because they are not defensible and NATO forces would not be able to intervene in time if they were attacked. This article presents a possible Baltic defence concept which appears to be well adapted to Baltic terrain and Baltic material and manpower resources, and which should at the very least impose significant delay (weeks) and heavy losses on a massive attack. Friendly intervention could be in the form of air strikes against aggressor columns blocked on the roads.     

Daunorubicin-induced chronic cardiomyopathy — An experimental model system for study of sudden death. A preliminary report

Experimental cardiomyopathy in terms of heart hypertrophy and noninflammatory myocardial lesions was induced in rabbit by i.v. administration of anthracycline antibiotic daunorubicin during 2 to 12 weeks. The animals showed a high rate of unexpected mortality in comparison with controls. This mortality was evaluated from the point of view of the unexpected death as a forensic pathologic term.     

Analyzing Criminal Trajectory Profiles: Bridging Multilevel and Group-based Approaches Using Growth Mixture Modeling

Over the last 25 years, a life-course perspective on criminal behavior has assumed increasing prominence in the literature. This theoretical development has been accompanied by changes in the statistical models used to analyze criminological data. There are two main statistical modeling techniques currently used to model longitudinal data. These are growth curve models and latent class growth models, also known as group-based trajectory models. Using the well known Cambridge data and the Philadelphia cohort study, this article compares the two “classical” models—conventional growth curve model and group-based trajectory models. In addition, two growth mixture models are introduced that bridge the gap between conventional growth models and group-based trajectory models. For the Cambridge data, the different mixture models yield quite consistent inferences regarding the nature of the underlying trajectories of convictions. For the Philadelphia cohort study, the statistical indicators give stronger guidance on relative model fit. The main goals of this article are to contribute to the discussion about different modeling techniques for analyzing data from a life-course perspective and to provide a concrete step-by-step illustration of such an analysis and model checking.

Implementing and Integrating Policies on Performance-Based Pay: Coordinating the “One-Employer Approach” in a Swedish Municipality

In Sweden, performance-based pay has gone furthest in the public sector. This development has placed demands on employers to have a transparent and salient salary review process with which to evaluate employees uniformly and fair – and to act in a unitary manner, as one employer. Pay policies aim to coordinate salary reviews in organizations. However, the transfer of policy to practice is not easy and research has shown a gap between intended and implemented policies. Drawing on a case study in a municipality, this article expands knowledge on policy transfer by exploring and describing how HR, unions, managers and employees perceive implementation and integration of the pay policies, and to what extent the municipality succeeds in a one-employer approach. The findings suggest that the municipality fails to act as one employer and that the units that are most successful in implementing the policy are those closer to top management.     

Coping with transnationalism in Northern Europe

This report communicates findings on the management techniques devised to cope with the effects of transnationalism in Northern Europe. The most important aspect of this collective policy coordination effort is extensive and intensive interactions among governmental elites across national boundaries. Recently, an effort has been made to increase central, cabinet control of these trans‐Nordic activities. The national bureaucracies remain the most crucial actors while the regional officials have an influence on outcomes to the extent that they can mobilise political commitments or transgovernmental coalitions.     

Refinement and Preliminary Testing of an Imagery-Based Program to Improve Coping and Performance and Prevent Trauma among Urban Police Officers

Police officers are regularly exposed to traumatic critical incidents. The substantial mental, behavioral, and social costs of police trauma indicate a substantial need for prevention. We have refined and enhanced a previously tested Swedish program to the harsh conditions of U.S. inner cities. The program was designed to strengthen resilience during stressful encounters and teach methods of coping after exposure, thereby preventing the emergence of maladaptive symptoms and behaviors with adverse effects on professionalism. In an uncontrolled demonstration project, junior officers were trained by senior officers to engage in imaginal rehearsal of specific dangerous situations while incorporating optimal police tactics and healthy emotional reactions. A class of 32 officers in the police academy engaged in the program, and they and the trainers reported high satisfaction with it. After their first year of field work, 22 officers were reassessed. Compared to pre-training, these officers showed significant increases in the use of positive reframing and humor and significant reductions in anxiety and alcohol use over the year. Trauma symptoms did not increase. These results offer preliminary evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of this trauma prevention program for new police officers.