Scholars of responsive forms of governance tend to analyze agreements, arrangements, and architectures. Yet, these forms of governance also require actual actors to act and interact, something that... Show moreScholars of responsive forms of governance tend to analyze agreements, arrangements, and architectures. Yet, these forms of governance also require actual actors to act and interact, something that has been scarcely empirically studied. Taking a practice-theoretical approach, I explore how responsive governance is accomplished in and through meetings. This study is based on participant observation, interviews, and document analysis of governance of child and family services in the Netherlands. It contributes to our current understanding of responsive forms of governance by situating its everyday practice in meetings. A second contribution can be found in the thorough analysis of its everyday practices, with actors continuously calibrating tasks, performance, scope, and authority. Third, this study develops an understanding of how practices of responsive governance relate to structural governance arrangements, exposing how structural contours can be challenged and changed, while other actions result in changes that remain invisible. Show less
Deliberation is ubiquitous in street-level work. Scholars and practitioners increasingly promote it, as it has the potential to improve existing practices and procedures and provide customized, yet... Show moreDeliberation is ubiquitous in street-level work. Scholars and practitioners increasingly promote it, as it has the potential to improve existing practices and procedures and provide customized, yet consistent, services. Little is known, however, about the situated performance of deliberation in street-level work. Drawing on Routine Dynamics Theory and based on an ethnographic study of street-level decision-making in child and family services in the Netherlands (including document analysis, ~300 hours of observations, and interviews in two teams in one organization), we uncover the performance of deliberative routines and their development over time. Demonstrating how contextual factors and the prioritization of particular ends play a role in these routines, we contribute to a better understanding of the dynamic and reflective performance of street-level deliberation. In addition, providing a more nuanced view of routines and elaborating on some possibilities for enabling management thereof, we contribute to a better understanding of the complex and iterative organization of street-level work. Show less
A guaranteed source of neutrinos is the production in cosmic ray interactions with the interstellar matter in our Galaxy. The signal has never been detected however and only an upper limit on this... Show moreA guaranteed source of neutrinos is the production in cosmic ray interactions with the interstellar matter in our Galaxy. The signal has never been detected however and only an upper limit on this flux of neutrinos has been published by the AMANDA-II detector. The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located in the Mediterranean Sea, offers a high visibility of the central region of the Milky Way, from where the highest signal is expected. ANTARES data from 2007-2012 were used to compare the flux from a region extending 39 degrees in Galactic longitude and 4.5 degrees in Galactic latitude on either side of the Galactic centre, with the flux from multiple equivalent off-source regions. No significant excess has been observed, and upper limits have been placed on the neutrino flux. The flux limits produced with ANTARES are more than a factor of 10 above the model predictions, which means that a bigger neutrino telescope is needed to constrain the models further. The future KM3NeT telescope is well suited to perform this measurement. Simulations show that by using all neutrinos flavours, KM3NeT should be able to seriously constrain the neutrino flux after about 3 years of operation. Show less
