190 research outputs found
Performing the Union: the Prüm Decision and the European dream
No full textIn 2005, seven European countries signed the so-called Prüm Treaty to increase transnational collaboration in combating international crime, terrorism and illegal immigration. Three years later, the Treaty was adopted into EU law. EU member countries are obliged to have systems in place to allow authorities of other member states access to nationally held data on DNA, fingerprints, and vehicles by August 2011. In this paper, we discuss the conditions of possibility for the Prüm network to emerge, and argue that rather than a linear story of technological and political convergence and harmonisation, the (hi)story of Prüm is heterogeneous and patchy. This is reflected also in the early stages of implementing the Prüm Decision which proves to be more difficult than it was hoped by the drivers of the Prüm process. In this sense, the Prüm network sits uncomfortably with success stories of forensic science (many of which served the goal of justifying the expansion of technological and surveillance systems). Instead of telling a story of heroic science, the story of Prüm articulates the European dream: One in which goods, services, and people live and travel freely and securely
Inquisitorial forensic DNA profiling in the Netherlands and the expansion of the forensic genetic body
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Bracketing off population does not advance ethical reflection on EVCs: A reply to Kayser and Schneider
No full textIn a recent contribution to this journal, Kayser and Schneider reviewed the relevance of external visible characteristics (EVCs) for criminal investigation [1]. Their aim was to broaden the debate about the scientific, legal, and ethical dimensions of the use of EVCs for criminal investigation, which will help to achieve a firm legal basis for the application of EVCs eventually. While we applaud Kayser's and Schneider's overall very thoughtful and nuanced discussion of this topic, we were surprised to read that they suggest that a discussion of ‘the challenges of using problematic definitions of populations […] has to be kept separate from using EVCs’ (p. 158). In contrast to these authors, we contend that questions about defining populations – both at the level of scientific research, and the application of EVCs in criminal investigation – lie at the core of most social, ethical, and legal issues raised by the translation of EVCs into forensic and police practice
An indicator of the multiple equilibria regime of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation
No full textRecent model results have suggested that there may be a scalar indicator ? monitoring whether the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is in a multiple equilibrium regime. The quantity ? is based on the net freshwater transport by the MOC into the Atlantic basin. It changes sign as soon as the steady Atlantic MOC enters the multiple equilibrium regime because of an increased freshwater input in the northern North Atlantic. This paper addresses the issue of why the sign of ? is such a good indicator for the multiple equilibrium regime. Changes in the Atlantic freshwater budget over a complete bifurcation diagram and in finite amplitude perturbation experiments are analyzed in a global ocean circulation model. The authors show that the net anomalous freshwater transport into or out of the Atlantic, resulting from the interactions of the velocity perturbations and salinity background field, is coupled to the background (steady state) state freshwater budget and hence to ?. The sign of ? precisely shows whether this net anomalous freshwater transport is stabilizing or destabilizing the MOC. Therefore, it can indicate whether the MOC is in a single or multiple equilibrium regime.<br/
Effect of Atmospheric Feedbacks on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
No full textThe impact of atmospheric feedbacks on the multiple equilibria (ME) regime of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is investigated using a fully implicit hybrid coupled model (HCM). The HCM consists of a global ocean model coupled to an empirical atmosphere model that is based on linear regressions of the heat, net evaporative, and momentum fluxes generated by a fully coupled climate model onto local as well as Northern Hemisphere averaged sea surface temperatures. Using numerical continuation techniques, bifurcation diagrams are constructed for the HCM with the strength of an anomalous freshwater flux as the bifurcation parameter, which allows for an efficient first-order estimation of the effect of interactive surface fluxes on the MOC stability. The different components of the atmospheric fluxes are first considered individually and then combined. Heat feedbacks act to destabilize the present-day state of the MOC and to stabilize the collapsed state, thus leaving the size of the ME regime almost unaffected. In contrast, interactive freshwater fluxes cause a destabilization of both the present-day and collapsed states of the MOC. Wind feedbacks are found to have a minor impact. The joint effect of the three interactive fluxes is to narrow the range of ME. The shift of the saddle-node bifurcation that terminates the present-day state of the ocean is further investigated by adjoint sensitivity analysis of the overturning rate to surface fluxes. It is found that heat feedbacks primarily affect the MOC stability when they change the heat fluxes over the North Atlantic subpolar gyre, whereas interactive freshwater fluxes have an effect everywhere in the Atlantic basin
Sensitivity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to South Atlantic freshwater anomalies
No full textThe sensitivity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to changes in basin integrated net evaporation is highly dependent on the zonal salinity contrast at the southern border of the Atlantic. Biases in the freshwater budget strongly affect the stability of the AMOC in numerical models. The impact of these biases is investigated, by adding local anomaly patterns in the South Atlantic to the freshwater fluxes at the surface. These anomalies impact the freshwater and salt transport by the different components of the ocean circulation, in particular the basin-scale salt-advection feedback, completely changing the response of the AMOC to arbitrary perturbations. It is found that an appropriate dipole anomaly pattern at the southern border of the Atlantic Ocean can collapse the AMOC entirely even without a further hosing. The results suggest a new view on the stability of the AMOC, controlled by processes in the South Atlantic. <br/
Dynamics of pneumococcal colonization in healthy Dutch children
No full textA recent study of pneumococcal colonization in 3198 healthy children of 1-19 years of age in The Netherlands showed pneumococcal colonization in 19 % of the children, with a peak incidence of 55 % at the age of 2 years; an age-related serotype distribution was also found. In the present study, the genetic background and resistance profiles of 578 pneumococcal isolates from the latter study were characterized by means of chromosomal genotyping and susceptibility testing. In contrast to the age-related serotype distribution observed previously, the genetic background of the strains was not age related. Few strains were found showing close homology (>95 %) with the international clones Spain(9V)-3 (ten isolates showed homology), England(14)-9 (four isolates), Tennessee(23F)-4 (two isolates), CSR(14)-10 (one isolate) and Sweden(15A)-25 (one isolate). In total, 19 % of strains showed resistance to one or more antibiotics. Resistance to cotrimoxazole, tetracycline, erythromycin and penicillin was found in 12.9, 5.6, 5.0 and 2.7 % of isolates, respectively. Multidrug resistance was found in 1.9 % of strains. In conclusion, pneumococcal colonization isolates from healthy Dutch children represent a heterogeneous, mostly antibiotic susceptible, genetic population.<br/
Indoor Location Estimation
No full textElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer ScienceSoftware TechnologyEmbedded systemsTI380
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