1,721,138 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Rethinking police accountability and transparency within the EU: reconciling national and supranational approaches
Full text linkThe new terrain of increasing interaction between national and supranational legal systems within the European Union presents new challenges for conventional approaches to police accountability and transparency. Each EU Member State is responsible for policing within its jurisdiction, and the EU institutions are increasingly responsible for enhancing the conduct of police cooperation between the Member States. The thesis explores the challenges of reconciling national approaches in the international sphere by conducting a critical analysis of ‘how and to what extent national legal and administrative norms on police accountability and transparency are informing the concept, design and operation of EU cross-border policing instruments’.
Building on the work of Peter K. Manning, Geoffrey Marshall and David Bayley amongst others, the thesis develops a pragmatic typology of police accountability through which to view the evolution and adequacy of national and supranational approaches. The typology contains three key dimensions, namely codes, co-option and complaint. Using the typology to critique conventional approaches in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, the thesis identifies legal and procedural anomalies and challenges at both the national and supranational level since the traditional elements of police accountability were originally formulated within the confines of national legal, political, historical and cultural constraints.
Employing the typology to both elucidate problems and suggest methods of internalisation, the thesis argues that the EU should follow the lead of the Member States’ legislatures by seeking to regulate a wider range of policing processes through more expansive procedural ‘codes’ which facilitate police discretion and co-option. The thesis shows that it is not sufficient for the EU to prioritise its post-Lisbon policy of ‘co-decision’ in order to remedy its democratic deficits but that it must oversee the establishment and enhancement of parliamentary committees, inspectorates and other oversight bodies in the interest of police accountability. A number of recommendations are made for police reform at both the national and supranational levels to this end. More particularly, the research indicates that additional treaty changes are needed beyond the Lisbon Treaty in order to adequately reconcile national and supranational approaches to police accountability.
I am grateful to the Irish Research Council for supporting this research by the award of a Government of Ireland Research Scholarship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
The Retention and Processing of Communications Data for Law Enforcement: A Challenge for Privacy
Full text linkLaw enforcement agencies are dominant end users of information communication technologies. These technologies are not necessarily created for pursuing criminal justice objectives. They are mechanisms that are built, administered, and maintained by private actors for their own purposes and later incorporated into law enforcement processes. They serve an effective role in the investigation, detection, and prosecution of crime, particularly through their collection and processing of relevant data. For the purposes of this thesis, the data at issue concerns the who, where, when, and how of a communication. Broadly classed as 'communications data' this information is readily and consistently available due to technological developments which result in blanket collection and retention, enable easier access, and create opportunities to derive greater meaning from the information through data analysis. The thesis examines the challenges of reconciling privacy with the use of this data in policing by conducting a critical analysis of 'how, and to what extent, do the current legal and policy frameworks governing the retention of, access to, and analysis of communications data by law enforcement, constitute a violation of privacy which requires substantive changes to the legal regime?'.
Employing the approach of Thomas P. Hughes for examining socio-technical systems, the thesis argues that technology and privacy are co-constructed. This is evidenced though the evolution of the technology and the relevant legal and policy factors which contributed to the information communication system's development and acceptance as a policing tool. Three key areas, namely data retention, access to data, and data analysis are used to explore how communications data intersects with law enforcement objectives. Each element of the system is critiqued to assess significant changes in actors and roles, information types, and transmission principles. Utilising Helen Nissenbaum's theory of contextual integrity, it is argued that changes in each of the three key areas represent a prima facie violation of informational norms. Where a violation of these norms is identified, it is then evaluated against the perceived benefits of the technology to determine the impact on privacy. The impact on privacy is weighed against the existing legal safeguards in the investigatory powers mechanisms. Examining the privacy interest in a contextual manner allows for the specifics of the technology system to be incorporated into the assessment of the privacy violations.
The thesis concludes that it is insufficient to apply traditional interpretations of privacy to technologies which have fundamentally altered social expectations through the scale/scope of data, the deconstruction of traditional boundaries, the limitation of ephemerality, and changes in technologically mediated presence. Applying a legal framework which does not acknowledge this impact fails to guarantee fundamental privacy rights. A number of recommendations are advanced for reform of the investigatory powers mechanisms to ensure privacy is protected when communications data is utilised by law enforcement
The confiscation of criminal assets: tackling organised crime through a ‘middleground’ system of justice
No full text―The Innocent Have Nothing To Fear‖Over the past quarter of a century, conventional criminal procedure has often been perceived as inadequate in the face of increasing levels of (and concern surrounding) organised crime. Against this backdrop, the criminal justice system has undergone significant substantive, institutional and procedural reform, with a demonstrative shift in the direction towards a crime control model at the expense of due process norms. This is particularly evident in the adoption of civil forfeiture as a tool of law enforcement, which sees criminal law objectives being pursued in the civil process. While this might be attractive to police and prosecution authorities in terms of enhanced efficiency and expediency, it does raise a number of serious concerns as to the rights of the individual – not least that a person can be ―punished‖ in ―civil‖ proceedings stripped of the benefit of enhanced procedural protections inherent in the criminal process.
Civil forfeiture was adopted in Ireland primarily through the Proceeds of Crime Act. Even in the absence of a criminal conviction, a person may be restrained in dealing with specified property where the courts are satisfied that that property constitutes, or was acquired with, proceeds of crime. This is on the civil standard, proof on the balance of probabilities, rather than the criminal standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt. Moreover, there are rules of evidence and investigatory powers that enhance efficiency and expediency but are particularly burdensome on a person faced with proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Alongside this Act, a new policing body was formed, composed of officials from different state agencies working together for crime control purposes. The Criminal Assets Bureau is, it is contended, a multi-agency policing body, exercising police powers for crime control purposes but also empowered with enhanced powers and resources as a result of its multi-agency character. By virtue of its civil/ administrative persona, though, the Bureau is able to circumvent many of the checks and balances that apply to An Garda Síochána. While the Bureau does have the potential to enhance the efficacy of law enforcement, there are a number of concerns as to governance, transparency and accountability.
Given executive enthusiasm for the use of the civil process as a tool of law enforcement, it is left to the courts to ensure that before criminal punishment is meted out a person is afforded standard due process protections. The difficulty here, however, is how to distinguish the civil from the criminal, and when criminal procedural safeguards ought be applied. Indeed, in light of the demarcation between the civil and criminal paradigms being blurred and fragmented, the courts have, regrettably, failed to insist upon enhanced procedural protections in ―criminal‖ matters proceeding under the guise of a ―civil‖ matter. This thesis contends that civil forfeiture, while purportedly a civil procedure, is, de facto, a form of criminal punishment and, as such, ought to attract enhanced procedural safeguards
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
DNA and the criminal process: \u27striking the right balance\u27: the case for a \u27reflective\u27 approach
No full textDNA profiling has become synonymous with modern criminal investigation. Since its
discovery in 1984 its rapid acceptance into the criminal process has been ‗driven‘ by its
exciting potential: inter alia, its ability to rapidly include and exclude individuals in a
criminal investigation, to reach back through time to provide the ‗silent witness‘ to a crime
that has long gone ‗cold‘ and to provide reliable, probative and ‗objective‘ evidence in a court
of law, while also proving to be a useful ‗liberator‘ in exposing miscarriages of justice in the
post-convictional sphere. This alluring potential has been enhanced by continuing
developments in technology and science which enabled the collected DNA to be placed on
searchable electronic repositories in 1995, in the form of a DNA database.
However, despite its potential, the use of DNA within the criminal process (exacerbated by
the sensitive information contained within a DNA sample) creates substantial human rights,
due process and ethical concerns. Thus it is imperative that any regime enabling the state to
utilise this powerful identification technology is embedded with adequate safeguards and
protocols to protect those targeted by the process.
The concern is that in a modern ‗security conscious‘ society in which individual rights and
due process values are coming under increasing pressure an appropriate balance for its use
should be located. A concern that is heightened by the increasingly distorted public
perception surrounding the ‗oracle‘ like ability of DNA profilng. This distortion has aided the
apathy surrounding the incremental growth and ‗function creep‘ of DNA policies and
techniques within the criminal process. Discourse that has occurred has habitually been
situated within pugilistic contests in which both sides have been guilty of adopting aggressive
defensive postures – often resulting in an impasse inhibiting progressive debate.
The scope of this thesis extends to the investigative phase of the criminal process as opposed
to the entirety of the process. The thesis offers a ‗reflective‘ approach as an amenable
solution to the conflicts that are often encountered during the earlier stage of the process. The
approach is predicated on a number of ideals: firstly, it promotes an all encompassing
‗reflective‘ approach to decisions (i.e. it incorporates opinions from the divergent schools of
thought); and secondly, it recognises the developing nature of DNA technology so it
postulates an adaptive, organic and discursive approach to the scope, application and
safeguards surrounding its use. The aim of such a methodology is to seek to benefit from the
exciting potential of DNA technology whilst concomitantly ensuring that those targeted by
the process remain sufficiently protected
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