Speech Watermarking: An Approach for the Forensic Analysis of Digital Telephonic Recordings*

Abstract: In this article, the authors discuss the problem of forensic authentication of digital audio recordings. Although forensic audio has been addressed in several articles, the existing approaches are focused on analog magnetic recordings, which are less prevalent because of the large amount of digital recorders available on the market (optical, solid state, hard disks, etc.). An approach based on digital signal processing that consists of spread spectrum techniques for speech watermarking is presented. This approach presents the advantage that the authentication is based on the signal itself rather than the recording format. Thus, it is valid for usual recording devices in police‐controlled telephone intercepts. In addition, our proposal allows for the introduction of relevant information such as the recording date and time and all the relevant data (this is not always possible with classical systems). Our experimental results reveal that the speech watermarking procedure does not interfere in a significant way with the posterior forensic speaker identification.     

Whatever Gets you Through the Night: Officer Coping Strategies after the High-Profile Line of Duty Deaths in Dallas and Baton Rouge

The policing profession has recently experienced events that affected officers across the nation. Several high-profile cases involving police and members of minority communities intensified the tensions among these groups. Amid public criticisms of policing, law enforcement officers have become targets of attacks. Multiple cases of officer ambushes and assassinations have further troubled the already stressful occupational position of law enforcement. This study investigates what coping strategies officers used after the deadly attacks on police in Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana that occurred in July, 2016. We also investigate how the coping strategies used affects job motivation among officers. Our findings suggest officers turned to three coping strategies: support networks, stoic self-help, and self-medication. These coping strategies were found to be ineffective mechanisms for protecting officer job motivation; however, some strategies adversely affected motivation more than others. Understanding how officers are coping and why effective strategies are not being employed adequately is imperative for both the safety of officers and the public.     

Usability and Digital Inclusion: Standards and Guidelines

This article aims at discussing e-government website usability in relation to concerns about digital inclusion. E-government web design should consider all aspects of usability, including those that make it more accessible to all. Traditional concerns of social exclusion are being superseded by fears that lack of digital competence and information literacy may result in dangerous digital exclusion. Usability is considered as a way to address this exclusion and should therefore incorporate inclusion and accessibility guidelines. This article makes an explicit link between usability guidelines and digital inclusion and reports on a survey of local government web presence in Portugal.     

Determinants of Government Effectiveness

The direct relationship between government effectiveness and the population's well-being has generated a growing interest about the explanatory factors of governance quality. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the determinants of government effectiveness, in relation to the organizational environment and political and internal characteristics of public administrations. For this, we used a sample composed by 202 countries observed between 2002 and 2008. A World Bank governance indicator represents the government effectiveness. We estimated a panel data dependence model by the Generalized Method of Moments estimator to avoid heterogeneity and endogeneity problems. Furthermore, a CHAID algorithm provides a classification of governance quality according to the predicted determinants.

The results show that government effectiveness is initially explained by the organizational environment, related to economic development and educational status. Later, and according to countries’ income distribution, political constrains and some organizational characteristics, such as gender diversity and government size, may improve governance quality.     

Discussion Content and Perception of Deliberation in Western European Versus American Juries

Jury research has dealt almost exclusively with the American system wherein 6-12 laypersons decide verdicts under a unanimity or non-unanimity rule. However, most Western European countries follow the escabinado system, in which laypersons and judges together decide verdict and sentence, under a non-unanimous rule. We experimentally compared the processes and outcomes of both types of juries. Under the guise of a Student Judicial panel, seven undergraduate students in Spain comprised 10 juries, whereas five undergraduates and two fifth-year Law students comprised 10 escabinado juries. We assessed pre- and post-discussion verdict, penalty, and confidence, discussion content, and subjective reactions to the discussion and outcome. Escabinado jury deliberations were driven by the imbalance of power between trained and lay jurors. Escabinado and lay juries differed in their perception of the deliberation but not in their outcomes. Implications for the impact of cultural differences and task requirements in jury decision-making are drawn.     

Sexual victimisation,sexual cognitions,desire and excitation/inhibition in community Spanish male and female sexual aggressors

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between some aspects of sexuality and individuals' likelihood to perpetrate sexual aggression in men and women. We assessed the following sexuality variables: content of positive sexual cognitions (PSCs)/negative sexual cognitions (i.e., intimate, exploratory, dominance/submission or impersonal), dyadic and solitary sexual desire, propensity for sexual excitation (SE)/sexual inhibition and sexual victimisation during childhood and/or adolescence/adulthood. We examined a community sample of 228 men and 333 women, of whom 67 men and 43 women had perpetrated sexual aggression. Compared to non-aggressors, male aggressors reported a higher frequency of PSCs of dominance; female aggressors reported a higher frequency of PSCs of dominance and exploratory and impersonal sexual cognitions as both positive and negative and negative impersonal cognitions. All sexual aggressors reported higher levels of solitary desire and propensity for SE. Regression analyses revealed that the most relevant variable in the prediction of sexual aggression was sexual victimisation during adolescence/adulthood in both sexes. Differences between male and female sexual aggressors are discussed.     

Book reviews

Deane Curtin, Chinnagounders’ Challenge: The Question of Ecological Citizenship. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.

Jim Yong Kim, et ah, ed., Dying For Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000.

Lester R. Brown, Christopher Flavin, Hilary French, et al., eds., State of the World 1998. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998.

Margit Mayer and John Ely, eds., The German Greens. Paradox Between Movement and Party. Translated by Michael Schatzschneider. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.     

The Permeability of Urban Cultures

Stephen Dovers (ed.): Australian Environmental History: Essays and Cases . Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Tim Flannery: The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of Australasian Lands and People . Chatswood, NSW: Reed Books, 1994. Distributed in the USA by George Braziller Inc., New York.

Stephen J. Pyne: Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia , New York: Henry Holt, 1991.     

Management Roles in Political and Senior Civil Servant Positions: A Multiple-Study Approach

ABSTRACT

A recent trend in public administration studies has been to assess how public management is performed by politicians and top civil servants. Surprisingly, little is known about how these different posts develop their management roles. Following seminal management studies, we focus on core management roles to compare the ways in which politicians and top civil servants develop their management responsibilities within public organizations. Empirical evidence is provided by triangulating three separate studies developed in Spain. Results from the triangulation show that there is unmistakable evidence of differentiations between politicians and top civil servants when performing their managerial roles.