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Expert assessment of organized crime (OC) group capabilities is often the basis for national threat assessments; it is rare, however, for variations in collective expert opinions of OC success factors to be systematically evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in how 150 criminal intelligence experts from a variety of national and organizational backgrounds sort and organize perceived attributes for OC group success.

The paper uses the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sleipnir framework as a foundation for a Q-sort survey regarding the characteristics of OC group success. The survey was delivered to over 150 criminal intelligence specialists at a national conference in 2011. Descriptive statistics, seemingly unrelated regression, and biplots reveal different aspects of survey responses.

Results show that perceptions of the ingredients for OC group success both vary by nationality and by analysts’ level within the hierarchy of the law enforcement structure (local, state, national). These differences are marked; particular characteristics are viewed as differentially important for the perceived success of OC groups. Furthermore, the results suggest that there are shared and structured differences in perceptions of OC group success characteristics.

The survey has identified distinct differences between the characteristics for OC group's success perceived by analysts in the USA, Canada, and beyond. Furthermore, the organizational level of the analyst (local, state, national) shapes the perceptions of success factors. It is possible variations identified merely reflect differentials in training and experience, i.e. different organizational perceptions of the same problem. That aside, the patterning of results seem likely to be based to some degree on external factors linked to OC group operations, and not just on individual characteristics of the surveyed intelligence professionals.

The current research raises a number of questions regarding the confidence that should be placed in OC group assessments. The research has highlighted areas of professional dissonance that were not apparent from the RCMP Sleipnir research alone. Causes of the dissonance in assessments, and connections of these variations to both intelligence analysts’ experience, training, and organizational ethos; and to OC group capabilities, seem deserving of additional attention.

Expert intelligence analyst interpretation of OC group capability is central to most national risk and threat assessments, yet the assessment processes themselves are rarely examined. This is a unique survey of over 150 intelligence personnel that highlights significant differences in perceptions of OC groups, differences that raise questions about how the authors evaluate the OC threat.

The purpose of this paper is to generate information about the contours of police responsiveness, focussing on how quickly and precisely police make firearm arrests after a shooting incident.

Using a modified version of the Knox close pair method, a spatio-temporal clustering technique, over 11,000 shooting incidents and firearm arrests between 2004 and 2007 in Philadelphia, PA were analyzed.

Police are responding quickly and in a geographically targeted fashion to shootings. Across Philadelphia elevated patterns of firearm arrests were approximately two and a half times greater than would be expected if shootings and firearm arrests lacked a spatio-temporal association. Greater than expected patterns of firearm arrests persisted for roughly one-fourth of a mile and for about one week from the shooting incident but the strength of these associations waned over space and time. The pattern of police response varied slightly across different police divisions.

The current method uncovered spatio-temporal patterning and determined when these patterns were significantly different from what would be expected if the events were completely independent. Specific events and processes surrounding each event are not known.

Findings can help inform the knowledge about police behavior in terms of how police produce arrests.

The patterns observed here provide more micro-level detail than has been revealed in previous studies regarding police responsiveness to firearm violence while also introducing a more integrated spatially and temporally specific framework.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

In the June issue of THE BRITISH FOOD JOURNAL reference was made to a recently issued Report by the Ministry of Health upon the subject of bovine tuberculosis. In that Report the pasteurisation of cow's milk is referred to as a means of reducing the resulting human infection, and it is stated that “milk so treated appears to retain its valuable food properties practically unimpaired.”

Many apparel brands use growth strategies that involve extending a brand’s line horizontally (same price/quality) and/or vertically (different price/quality). While such opportunities for growth and profitability are enticing, pursuing them could dilute a highly profitable parent brand. Categorization theory’s bookkeeping model and the cue scope framework provide the theoretical framework for this study. The purpose of this study is to test whether specific attributes of a line extension (i.e. direction of extension, brand concept, price discount and perceived fit) make a parent brand more susceptible to dilution.

This experimental study manipulates brand concept (premium or value brand) and price level (horizontal or vertical: −20per cent, −80per cent) and measures perceived fit to test effects on parent brand dilution. ANOVA and t-tests are used for the analysis.

Vertical extensions dilute the parent brand, but horizontal extensions do not. Dilution is strongest for premium (vs value) brands and when line extensions are discounted (i.e. −20per cent or −80per cent lower than the parent brand), regardless of the perceived fit between brand concept and brand extension price. Overall, brand concept is the strongest predictor of parent brand dilution in the context of vertical-downward extensions.

This study establishes which factors emerge as important contributors to parent brand dilution. Although previous studies on brand dilution are abundant, few studies have compared the effects of horizontal and vertical extensions on brand dilution. This study offers strong theoretical as well as practical implications.

University methods instructors emerging from disciplinary silos (art, English, mathematics, science, and foreign language) co-created a seminar to support candidates’ using video reflection. They explored how the Inquiry into My Practice protocol (IMP) could be used as a vehicle to surface Three Durable Practices critical for educators: intentional collaboration, instruction, and reflection.

Grounded in an interactional ethnographic perspective, this analysis draws on two telling cases to examine how the faculty team and teacher candidates co-constructed an intentional ethnographic learning community using physical and video-based practices (TeachingChannel.org).

Three Durable Practices came to life in the IMP, and through this shared and coherent conceptual approach, candidates made visible their process for bridging the disconnected worlds of theory and practice as they took up video analysis of their teaching.

Orienting across disciplinary boundaries to a shared conceptual language with associated protocols, faculty and candidates are afforded approaches to navigate their face-to-face and virtual worlds of practice.

THE luncheon given by the Lord Mayor, Sir Ralph Perring, to more than 700 guests at Guildhall on November 14, officially launched the country on National Productivity Year. Apart from representatives of the 120 local committees these were people from trade and employers' associations, trades unions, professional bodies and research organisations. It was, in effect, a token mobilisation of Britain's industrial might, because behind it stands a large army devoted to the task of increasing the country's output.

We are seeing a growing number of efforts to strengthen the capacity of leaders in higher education, such as those programs offered by the American Council on Education and the Big Ten Academic Alliance; yet, the existing scholarly literature is limited in this area. The purpose of this paper is to add to the body of scholarship on academic leadership education by summarizing the current state of formal training and development initiatives within the Association of American Universities (AAU), focusing primarily on the experiences and perspectives of academic deans and associate deans.

This study consisted of a qualitative review of current academic leadership initiatives promoted on the AAU member institution websites. Additionally, the author conducted interviews with deans and associate deans from AAU institutions to explore dominant themes associated with academic leadership in more detail.

An analysis of the AAU member websites led to the development of a comprehensive matrix consisting of nearly 30 single-spaced pages of leadership initiatives, separated by institution and coordinating office(s). Based on the interviews with deans and associate deans, three communication-centered themes related to the study and practice of academic leadership emerge: academic leadership as the art of cultivating relationships, academic leadership as a direct response to “wicked problems,” and academic leadership as a mosaic of administrative competencies.

Acknowledging the value of their experience in variety leadership development programs, the responses from current deans and associate deans may encourage the development of future programs in this area – programs that provide opportunities for faculty and staff collaboration and equip current and future leaders with the skills and concepts for navigating the complex and contested environment within which contemporary colleges and universities must survive. Additionally, the initial findings from this project may be included in the curriculum of formal and informal academic leadership initiatives.

As leading academic research institutions, one may expect to find a number of well-developed best practices in the area of leadership training and development. Focusing on this group provides a useful benchmark for understanding the methods and content of academic leadership programs. Furthermore, representing the diversity of American research institutions, the AAU provides a broad sample of institutions for this research project. As a point of entry into this area of research, the conversations with deans and associate deans, coupled with the findings of the AAU website review, provide a unique perspective into academic leadership development – an area of growing scholarly and applied importance.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.