Citizen oversight of independent police services: Bifurcated accountability,regulation creep,and lesson learning

By examining developments in England and Wales this article considers police reform in the context of the tension between operational independence and citizen oversight. The article assesses the nexus between regulation and accountability in order to shed light on how a bifurcated accountability paradigm has protected police autonomy. Particular significance is attached to the cold‐blooded police shooting of an innocent man as a critical moment in the recent history of police governance. The lesson‐learning strategy of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, created under the Police Reform Act 2002, is singled out as an important driver of police reform. Although police governance reform in England and Wales is context specific, it is held that appreciation of the regulation accountability nexus and complaints as lesson‐learning opportunities are of significance in other jurisdictions and sectors.     

How Organizational Learning Is Supported by Performance Management Systems: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study

Abstract

Performance management is meant to encourage organizational change by providing better and more relevant feedback to managers. But there is no denying the complexity of learning and change. How performance management helps this process goes beyond the simple availability of performance information. In this study, we examine the learning processes in a large Belgian public organization through interviews of managers, directors, and administrators. By using 4Is framework of organizational learning—from Intuitions to Interpretation to Integration to Institutionalization—we identify critical blocks and enablers of learning and change. Critical impediments include off-topic discussions of performance information, lack of opportunity to share and discuss management practices, and limited motivation to change entrenched processes of work. Performance management also provides reliable enablers of organizational learning, such as giving credibility-by-results to new management practices, focusing discussions on processes that lead to measurable results, the ability to follow new innovations closely as they are implemented, and the possibility of creating a learning culture supported by performance information. Finally, we discuss how perceived credibility of performance information is crucial to organizational learning and how it is reinforced by use and dialogue.     

War and Peace in International Relations Theory: A Classroom Simulation

Simulations are increasingly common pedagogical tools in political science and international relations courses. This article develops a classroom simulation that aims to facilitate students’ theoretical understanding of the topic of war and peace in international relations, and accomplishes this by incorporating important theoretical concepts about the causes of war found in international relations theory into the design and implementation of the simulation. In addition to sharing a successful classroom simulation with other international relations instructors, the article makes two important contributions to the pedagogical literature on simulations. First, it shows how simulation design can be usefully based on the theoretical concepts and/or substantive problems that course instructors aim to impart to their students. Second, it demonstrates that it is possible to achieve important learning objectives with low-intensity simulations that do not require a big investment of time, energy, and resources.     

Policy learning and change during crisis: COVID-19 policy responses across six states

Whereas policy change is often characterized as a gradual and incremental process, effective crisis response necessitates that organizations adapt to evolving problems in near real time. Nowhere is this dynamic more evident than in the case of COVID-19, which forced subnational governments to constantly adjust and recalibrate public health and disease mitigation measures in the face of changing patterns of viral transmission and the emergence of new information. This study assesses (a) the extent to which subnational policies changed over the course of the pandemic; (b) whether these changes are emblematic of policy learning; and (c) the drivers of these changes, namely changing political and public health conditions. Using a novel dataset analyzing each policy's content, including its timing of enactment, substantive focus, stringency, and similar variables, results indicate the pandemic response varied significantly across states. The states examined were responsive to both changing public health and political conditions. This study identifies patterns of preemptive policy learning, which denotes learning in anticipation of an emerging hazard. In doing so, the study provides important insights into the dynamics of policy learning and change during disaster.     

网络多媒体在大学英语阅读教学中的应用研究

网络多媒体为大学英语阅读教学提供了重要的方法和手段。笔者通过对哈尔滨医科大学98名非英语专业本科学生进行的实证分析证实:网络多媒体教学比传统教学更能激发学生的英语阅读兴趣并能够有效地提高学生的英语阅读能力。建议要通过合理地选择阅读材料、发挥网络互动优势、建立科学的评估体系,从而激发学生的英语阅读兴趣,促进大学英语教学整体水平的提高。     

学习实践社会主义荣辱观着力提升职工思想道德建设水准

以“八荣八耻”为核心内容的社会主义荣辱观,旗帜鲜明地强调坚持社会主义的基本道德规范,揭示了当代社会价值观的深刻内涵,为深入开展公民道德建设确立了鲜明的价值尺度,为树立社会主义新风尚指明了方向。     

应用博客文化开拓公安教育技术新手段

博客文化的兴起,与黑客文化和自由软件文化一样,已经成为互联网时代重要的文化现象,这些文化现象必将影响我们的学习方式、教学模式、甚至是教育的理念。本文通过讨论博客的起源和特征,尝试性提出了博客文化在现代公安教育中的若干应用方面。     

学习型政党视角下的政党文化建设

党的十七届四中全会明确提出,要把建设马克思主义学习型政党作为重大任务抓紧抓好。建设学习型政党离不开政党文化建设,政党文化建设对于学习型政党的构建具有重要的意义。     

Ancestry Estimation Using Cranial and Postcranial Macromorphoscopic Traits

Ancestry estimation methods using macromorphoscopic (MMS) traits commonly focus exclusively on cranial morphology. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the value of postcranial MMS traits, highlighting a combined cranial/postcranial trait approach to ancestry estimation using quadratic discriminant function and a variety of machine learning classification models including artificial neural networks (aNN), random forest models, and support vector machine. Eight cranial and eleven postcranial MMS traits were collected from the Terry and Bass Skeletal Collections (American Black = 81; American White = 173). Our classification models using cranial and postcranial traits correctly classified 88–92% of the sample, improving classification accuracies by nearly fifteen percent over models relying exclusively on cranial data. These same results demonstrate the importance of a multivariate statistical framework incorporating cranial and postcranial data and the nearly unlimited potential of machine learning models to improve the accuracy of ancestry estimates over traditional methods of analysis. To facilitate implementation in casework, one of the more robust models (aNN) is incorporated into a web-based application, ComboMaMD Analytical, to facilitate cranial and postcranial MMS traits analysis for ancestry estimation.     

劳动参与缓解老年抑郁症状的影响研究

在中国积极老龄化的政策背景下,老年人的劳动参与得到鼓励。劳动参与是否更加有利于抑制老年人抑郁症状的发生,从而促进其精神健康,正逐渐引起社会关注。利用2015年中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）数据,对老年人劳动参与影响其抑郁症状抑制或改善的程度进行分析。研究认为,第一,性别、婚姻状况、受教育程度等人口和社会因素对老年人抑郁症状的影响呈现统计显著性;第二,劳动参与对老年人抑郁症状呈现负向影响。与非劳动参与相比,从事劳动参与的老年人抑郁症状水平较低;第三,劳动参与在性别分层上具有影响差异,对女性抑郁症状的影响高于男性。最后,文章针对劳动参与对老年人抑郁症状的影响及其差异进行了讨论,并指出今后需要进一步研究的问题。