The determinants of the choice between public and private production of a publicly funded service

The public choice literature contains little formal analysis of the bureaucratic choice of production modes — public or private — of publicly funded services. An important question to be addressed is why some governmental bodies choose to provide a publicly funded service with publicly owned and operated production units whereas other governmental bodies contract with private firms to provide the same publicly funded service. This paper is the first formal attempt to remedy this gap in the literature. We develop a theoretical explanation of the government decision maker's choice between public and private production modes based on utility maximizing behavior. We then examine empirically this choice employing logit analysis. The empirical results, which include several tests for robustness, confirm our theoretical explanation. The results are significant and suggest that non-monetary constraints are an important factor affecting this choice of production modes and that monetary constraints are less influential.     

Development and evaluation of a standard method for the quantitative determination of elements in float glass samples by LA-ICP-MS

Forensic analysis of glass samples was performed in different laboratories within the NITE-CRIME (Natural Isotopes and Trace Elements in Criminalistics and Environmental Forensics) European Network, using a variety of Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) systems. The main objective of the interlaboratory tests was to cross-validate the different combinations of laser ablation systems with different ICP-MS instruments. A first study using widely available samples, such as the NIST SRM 610 and NIST SRM 612 reference glasses, led to deviations in the determined concentrations for trace elements amongst the laboratories up to 60%. Extensive discussion among the laboratories and the production of new glass reference standards (FGS 1 and FGS 2) established an improved analytical protocol, which was tested on a well-characterized float glass sample (FG 10-1 from the BKA Wiesbaden collection). Subsequently, interlaboratory tests produced improved results for nearly all elements with a deviation of < 10%, demonstrating that LA-ICP-MS can deliver absolute quantitative measurements on major, minor and trace elements in float glass samples for forensic and other purposes.     

Scanning electron microscope study of the lung in drowning

The authors describe the results obtained using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to study drowned lungs and control lungs. Results are compared with a previous study carried out using laboratory animals. The results from both studies are analogous, in the absence of chronic pulmonary emphysema. The diagnosis of chronic pulmonary emphysema is simple with the SEM even when dealing with autoptic material obtained 24 to 48 h after death, but the diagnosis of drowning becomes difficult in lungs with chronic emphysema.     

Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in a population sample from continental Greece, and the islands of Crete and Chios

Eight Y chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) polymorphisms (DYS19, DYS385, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, and DYS393) were analyzed in the sample of 117 unrelated Albanian males living in Kosovo. A general STR allelic frequency pattern in the Albanian population from Kosovo corresponds to other European populations. Fourty six haplotypes were observed in single copy. The most frequent haplotypes were (DYS19-DYS385-DYS389I-DYS389II-DYS390-DYS391-DYS392-DYS393) 14-11/11-13-29-24-11-13-13 (10.26%), 14-14/17-12-28-24-10-11-12 (9.40%), 13-16/18-13-30-24-10-11-13 (9.40%), and 14-17/17-13-31-24-10-11-13 (9.40%).     

Trace analysis of peroxide explosives by high performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-APCI-MS/MS) for forensic applications

An HPLC-APCI-MS(/MS) method for the (trace) analysis of the most commonly encountered peroxide explosives, hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine (HMTD) and triacetonetriperoxide (TATP), has been developed. With this method, HMTD and TATP have been analyzed in the same run. (Pseudo-)molecular ions of these peroxides have been obtained as base peak under the same condition. A series of product ions was produced from these pseudo-molecular ions ([HMTD - 1]+ and [TATP + NH4]+) in the MS/MS analysis. We also pioneered in showing that a TATP molecular ion [TATP + H]+ can be observed with HPLC-MS/MS. The limit of detection for HMTD and TATP was 0.26 and 3.3 ng, respectively, on column by HPLC-MS in the Full Scan mode and 0.08 and 0.8, respectively, by HPLC-APCI-MS/MS in Selected Reaction Monitoring (single mass unit) mode. The method presented has been applied successfully for the identification of peroxides in the bulk solid state (powder sample), as well as in post-blast extracts originating from a forensic case. For the post-blast extracts, the use of tandem MS has been shown clearly to be of crucial importance for the identification and detection of the peroxide explosives.     

Explaining Regulatory Non-compliance: A Survey Study of Rule Transgression for Two Dutch Instrumental Laws, Applying the Randomized Response Method

Within a rational choice framework, secondary data analysis of a survey study on compliance with two Dutch regulatory laws is carried out. Selection of explanatory variables to be considered is guided by a heuristic device, called the Table-of-Eleven. Using adapted logistic regression analysis, we show that self-reported compliance, measured by means of a randomized response procedure, can be explained in terms of benefits of non-compliance, social norms and deterrence, while knowledge and general norm-conformity have no role to play. The impact of various contributing factors turns out to be rather different in size for the two laws.