Enabling Collaboration and Communication Across Law Enforcement Jurisdictions: Data Sharing in a Multiagency Partnership

Offenders do not always operate within jurisdictional boundaries and, as such, neighboring law enforcement agencies can benefit from sharing crime data and other investigation-related information with one another, with the shared goal of reducing crime throughout their region. In 2016, one such partnership was formed with seven law enforcement agencies, the District Attorney’s Office, and public health officials in King County, Washington. As part of a larger evaluation of this regional collaboration, the authors assessed the data and intelligence-sharing behaviors of key personnel from each participating agency over an 18-month period. This was done through a series of interviews with key personnel and the use of social network analysis. Results suggest that, although data-sharing networks increased in size and project personnel were able to identify benefits to sharing crime data with one another (e.g., seeing the “bigger picture” regarding crime in their region, using shared crime data to track and combat violent crime), they also identified a number of obstacles associated with cross-jurisdictional data sharing. Findings from this evaluation contribute to the collective understanding and implementation of a regional approach to crime control. If criminal justice agencies plan to work together to reduce crime, data and information sharing are essential. Therefore, it is imperative that agencies are aware of the positive outcomes associated with regional data sharing and the challenges that can arise throughout this collaborative effort.

Provincial division of economic zones based on the improved urban gravity model: A case study of Hunan Province, China

Regional collaboration and the division of economic zones have been widely discussed for sustainable development. This paper aims at building a framework for analyzing the provincial division of economic zone (DEZ) via considering spatial interaction among regions based on the improved gravity model and clustering approaches. The proposed framework of province DEZ is applied in the case study of Hunan Province, China. The results reveal that Chenzhou city in the south of Hunan Province is always excluded from the DEZ due to its larger external gravity from other cities in neighboring provinces. It also shows that the city components of economic zones (EZs) have experienced a fluctuation at a higher degree from 2002 to 2006 to 2009 while it reached to a stable phase in 2013. Furthermore, cross-provincial regional integration and the highway construction have a significant impact on the change of city components of EZ. The findings are of great potential in regional planning that should be incorporated to the toolkit of regional policy and sustainable development for local governments.

The Role of Proximity in Developing an Inter-Regional Innovation System

While most innovation collaboration projects consist of partners who are located at close proximity, recent literature has explored the development of innovation collaboration in the context of non-spatial proximity. Using a longitudinal mixed methods design, this article explores the inter-regional collaboration of triple helix partners from four non-contiguous European regions (Bucharest-Ilfov, Romania; Central Hungary, Hungary; Castilla-La Mancha, Spain; and South East, Ireland) which worked together to develop an inter-regional innovation system. The results from the study identified three non-spatial forms of proximity (social, cognitive and organisational) that were key determinants for developing the successful inter- regional innovation collaboration studied in this research. Based on the findings derived from this research, an inter-regional innovation system framework was developed to facilitate collaboration between stakeholders based in non-contiguous regions without them having to depend on geographical proximity. The major contributions of this research to theory and practice are the development of a novel framework for inter-regional innovation systems (iRIS) which can be applied by stakeholders in regions that want to collaborate from a distance. Furthermore, the research suggests that the substitution mechanism of geographical proximity consists of not just one non-spatial form, but it consists of the three non-spatial forms identified in this research.

Missing Cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean

Resource discoveries and an emerging maritime arms race in the Eastern Mediterranean have created incentives for an overarching security cooperation framework However, collaboration in the mentioned sectors remains absent and the former regional coalitions have been reconfigured. This article investigates why a lack of cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean persists. In answering this question, Securitzation Theory and Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) serve as a theoretical foundation. Building on the latter theories, seeing the Eastern Mediterranean as a regional security complex leads to the contention that if two or more units of this system securitize each other’s activities within the said complex, this will lead to negative ramifications on regional collaboration. The chosen case is the reciprocal securitization of Turkey and Greece in 2020. Finally, the case study reveals blind spots in RSCT and introduces a new concept to cope with these: the buffer subcomplex.

Atmospheric oxidation capacity and ozone pollution mechanism in a coastal city of Southeast China: Analysis of a typical photochemical episode by Observation-Based Model

A typical multi-day ozone (O3) pollution event was chosen to explore the atmospheric oxidation capacity (AOC), OH reactivity, radical chemistry, and O3 pollution mechanism in a coastal city of Southeast China, with an Observation-Based Model coupled to the Master Chemical Mechanism (OBM-MCM). The hydroxyl radical (OH) was the predominant oxidant (91±23 %) for daytime AOC, while NO3 radical played an important role for AOC during the nighttime (64±11 %). Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs, 30±8 %), NO2 (29±8 %) and CO (25±5 %) were the dominant contributors to OH reactivity, accelerating the production of O3 and recycling of ROx radicals (ROx=OH+HO2+RO2). Photolysis of nitrous acid (HONO, 33±14 %), O3 (25±13 %), formaldehyde (HCHO, 20±5 %), and other OVOCs (17±2 %) were the important primary sources of ROx radicals, which played initiation roles in atmospheric oxidation processes. O3 formation was VOC-sensitive, and controlling emissions of aromatics, alkenes, and long-chain alkanes were benefit for ozone pollution mitigation. Combined with regional transport analysis, the reasons for this O3 episode were the accumulation of local photochemical production and regional transport. The results of sensitivity analysis showed that VOCs were the limiting factor of radical recycling and O3 formation, and the 5 % reduction of O3 would be achieved by decreasing 20 % anthropogenic VOCs. The findings of this study have significant guidance for emission reduction and regional collaboration on future photochemical pollution control in the relatively clean coastal cities of China and similar countries.

Estimation of COVID-19 waste generation and composition in Vietnam for pandemic management

Despite its initial success in COVID-19 pandemic control, Vietnam faces a growing risk of outbreaks as new infection waves driven by the highly contagious Delta variant surge in the region. In the context of preparedness through waste management, this study estimated the rate and quantity of generation and the composition of COVID-19 waste in Vietnam from the supply of resources and equipment. Over a year under COVID, 1486 t of COVID-19 waste was produced from the treatment of isolated COVID-19 patients (4.64 kg bed−1 day−1), quarantine in medical facilities (3.86 kg bed−1 day−1), centralised quarantine (46.43 g bed−1 day−1), testing (50 g test−1) and vaccination (10.46 g shot−1). Plastic dominated the waste at 76.7%, followed by paper. The additional management of waste from households with persons under quarantine is likely to reduce infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – contaminated waste. Thorough assessment is recommended for the establishment of regional collaboration to secure COVID-19 waste treatment capacity. These findings will support COVID-19 waste planning in Vietnam in association with pandemic scenarios and could be used as a reference by other developing countries for pandemic control.

Collaboration on evidence synthesis in Africa: a network study of growing research capacity

Background Evidence-based practice in medicine and social policy relies heavily on evidence synthesis. To translate evidence into practical guidelines for low- and middle-income countries, local expertise is essential. The objectives of this study are to assess the change in capacity for conducting evidence synthesis in Africa and to identify key African institutions for regional capacity-building. We take on a network perspective, considering that the position of an institution in the African evidence ecosystem is one constituent of its research capacity. Methods We systematically identified 3548 evidence synthesis publications between 2008 and 2019 with at least one author in Africa from the Web of Science Core Collection. These articles involved 3769 institutions. Longitudinal institution-level collaboration network data were constructed based on co-authorship information. We used social network analysis to examine the institutions’ connectivity and tendency for intra- and interregional collaboration. We also identified the degree- and betweenness-central African institutions and explored the structure and composition of their local network neighbourhoods. Results The number of African institutions involved in evidence synthesis has increased substantially over the last decade, from 31 in 2008 to 521 in 2019, and so has the number of evidence synthesis publications with authors in Africa. African institutions in the evidence ecosystem have also become more connected during this period. Although the amount of intercontinental collaboration continues to exceed that of regional collaboration, the tendency for African institutions to collaborate with partners in Africa is increasing. We identified seven institutions—in South Africa, Egypt and Uganda—as central to the collaboration networks between 2008 and 2019, all of whom showed a tendency to collaborate across sectors. Conclusion The development of more regionally based network-building initiatives would help to foster communities of practice and inter-institutional collaboration, strengthening regional research capacity. Moreover, the analysis in this study adds depth beyond a simple bibliometric analysis and illustrates that network analysis could provide a useful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of capacity-building strategies and programmes in the future.

An Item Response Theory Model of Inter-Regional Collaboration for Transportation Planning in the United States

Regional governments and regional intergovernmental organizations play an increasingly important role in land use and transportation planning in many countries. In the U.S., regional organizations such as metropolitan planning organizations provide regional forums and institutions to coordinate actions of local government necessary to overcome collective action problems that result from the fragmentation of local authority. Their regional scope allows them to directly address collaboration problems or broker collaborative arrangements among local governments within their boundaries. Nevertheless, the scale of regional problems often extends beyond the boundaries of these regional entities. Thus, collaboration across regional governance organizations is necessary to address problems that have multi-regional impacts, such as large transportation projects. Extant research generally measures regional collaboration based on counts of collaboration actions undertaken, but this does not account for the fact that some are symbolic, while others require resources and commitment. Drawing insights from the institutional collective action framework, we advance an explanation for how regional organizations overcome collaboration risks to participate in collaborative solutions to regional and multi-regional problems. The analysis employs a unique national survey of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and adds a novel application of item response theory (IRT) to capture differences in risk or difficulty among collaborative actions. The IRT results offer support for our ICA-based explanation of collaboration commitments. The implications of the findings for theory development and empirical study of RIGOs are discussed in conclusion.