Deliberation and Forgiveness in the Public Sphere

A common objection to the argument for deliberative democracy is that it cannot provide mechanisms for achieving its ideal of all-inclusiveness. This does, however, not in itself refute the deliberative ideal. In a reading of Hannah Arendt and Jacques Derrida’s writings on forgiveness, we argue that forgiving involves a renegotiation of our enemies and of ourselves. Hereby a renegotiation of the seemingly unbridgeable understandings of who our enemies are can be achieved. Forgiving involves a realisation that we have something in common with our foes. This opens the question: Why did our paths separate? We become puzzled and start to search for reasons. This does not mean that we have to accept ways of life that we detest. But it does mean that we need to be able to articulate counter arguments. Hereby limitations of prevailing understandings of who to include in deliberative processes can be overcome.     

A rapid and sensitive method for the identification of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in oral fluid by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

This paper proposes a new approach for automatic classification of counterfeit Viagra(?) and Cialis(?) tablets using image processing and statistical analysis. A high resolution VSC 5000 is used for image acquisition in a controlled environment, and the combination of a thresholding technique with morphological operators is used to segment the tablet from the background. A statistical model based on the RGB color components of original samples is built, and the detection of counterfeit tablets was performed by checking the adherence of a test sample to the obtained distribution using the Bhattacharyya distance. Our experimental results indicated that counterfeit tablets can be effective detected using the proposed approach.     

The effect of generation and age on turnout to the European Parliament – How turnout will continue to decline in the future

Electoral turnout has been declining at national elections in almost all Western democracies. European Parliament (EP) elections have followed the same trend. We utilize a previously suggested method for separating the effect of generation, age and period and show that a major part of the decline can be attributed to the difference in turnout between pre- and post-baby-boomer generations though there are substantial differences across countries. Age has a curvilinear effect on turnout even when generation is taken into account, but the age composition has remained relatively stable over time. We utilize the estimated coefficients to predict future changes in turnout as a result of the expected shifts in the generational and age compositions over the next 30 years. The results point to a continued decline in turnout to EP elections – especially between the years of 2020 and 2040.     

The last Viking King: a royal maternity case solved by ancient DNA analysis

The last of the Danish Viking Kings, Sven Estridsen, died in a.d. 1074 and is entombed in Roskilde Cathedral with other Danish kings and queens. Sven's mother, Estrid, is entombed in a pillar across the chancel. However, while there is no reasonable doubt about the identity of Sven, there have been doubts among historians whether the woman entombed was indeed Estrid. To shed light on this problem, we have extracted and analysed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from pulp of teeth from each of the two royals. Four overlapping DNA-fragments covering about 400bp of hypervariable region 1 (HVR-1) of the D-loop were PCR amplified, cloned and a number of clones with each segment were sequenced. Also a segment containing the H/non-H specific nucleotide 7028 was sequenced. Consensus sequences were determined and D-loop results were replicated in an independent laboratory. This allowed the assignment of King Sven Estridsen to haplogroup H; Estrid's sequence differed from that of Sven at two positions in HVR-1, 16093T-->C and 16304T-->C, indicating that she belongs to subgroup H5a. Given the maternal inheritance of mtDNA, offspring will have the same mtDNA sequence as their mother with the exception of rare cases where the sequence has been altered by a germ line mutation. Therefore, the observation of two sequence differences makes it highly unlikely that the entombed woman was the mother of Sven. In addition, physical examination of the skeleton and the teeth strongly indicated that this woman was much younger (approximately 35 years) at the time of death than the 70 years history records tell. Although the entombed woman cannot be the Estrid, she may well be one of Sven's two daughters-in-law who were also called Estrid and who both became queens.     

A replication of “the effects of making public service employees aware of their prosocial and societal impact”

Recent studies show that simple recall tasks can make public employees more aware of the positive impact they have on others and society. This in turn increases their motivation. However, studies often draw on paid survey respondents, such as respondents recruited via Amazon MTurk, resulting in an unfortunate mismatch between test sample and target population. Addressing the need to test recall tasks among real-world public servants, we conducted a wide replication (n = 412) of a recent study by Vogel and Willems. Our findings suggest that the effect sizes of recall tasks are likely relatively smaller when deployed “in the wild.” Based on our findings, we propose three themes for a future research agenda and point practitioners to areas of attention when implementing recall tasks in real-world settings.     

Arms control: Focus on denial and deception

Conclusion Arms control continues to be a key element of U.S. national security policy. Yet, to be a constructive part of our national strategy, stringent arms control verification is required. Of late, the government has moved from agreements incorporating effective monitoring methods to multilateral, feel-good agreements that are very difficult, if not impossible, to monitor. Since the United States is not going to violate agreements, we could be placed at a long-term strategic disadvantage.     

Representative Government and Network Governance – In Need of 'Co-governance': Lessons from Local Decision Making on Public Schools in Denmark

The article argues for the importance of reconciling the institutions of representative government and network governance by means of a combined structure of 'co-governance', and the need for elected politicians in a role as co-governing guardians of democracy in network governance. Based on an examination of two different cases of interactive governance within the field of school reform at the local level in Denmark, some lessons are drawn as to an appropriate new role for elected politicians in a structure of co-governance.     

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF BARGAINING FOR ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS

Families that adopt children who are in foster care may receive monthly adoption assistance payments to offset the cost of raising the adopted child. The amount of the adoption assistance payment is the subject of bargaining between the family and the child welfare authority. This article uses a bargaining model to highlight factors that, in addition to the expected costs of raising the child, might influence the outcome of bargaining over adoption assistance payments. Findings indicate that married parents who adopt children already in their care have an advantage in bargaining, and single women who adopt their kin or foster children have a disadvantage in bargaining.     

Race relations in police operations: A legal and ethical perspective for officers

This presentation looks beyond the contemporary controversy over the use of race in drug courier profiling and examines the broad spectrum of rare relations affecting police operations. Racial controversy is not new to law enforcement, nor is it a recent phenomenon in American society. American police do not get enough credit for the enormous amount of positive daily interaction within minority communities. Police are pervasively present within minority communities around the clock successfully solving disputes, responding to calls for service, and addressing community concerns. It is against this backdrop that many in law enforcement are becoming increasingly frustrated by the perception, if not the reality of deteriorating race relations between police and minorities. One thing is certain: police cannot withdraw from racial conflict. Police will continue to operate within minority communities, regardless of the racial composition of either the community or the law enforcement agency. Therefore, officer and supervisory training should not only focus on how to avoid racial conflict, but also on how to ethically and legally perform in an environment where treatment of minorities is critically examined.