Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment in the United States: The Impact of Polycentric Governance and Contextual Changes

Advanced metering infrastructure provides the first building block in smart grids by empowering customers and utilities with real‐time information regarding energy use. It is a key element in the U.S. government's push for electric grid modernization. Using a panel dataset for 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia over the years 2007–2012, we evaluate the impacts of a polycentric governance system and socioeconomic contexts on states' performance in smart metering deployment. We find that the advanced metering technological change in the United States has been exclusively created by the interdependencies and interactions between different layers of government. High‐tech industry is the only socioeconomic factor that has a negative impact on smart meter deployment, whereas other factors, such as pressures from energy consumers and environmental groups, and electric grid conditions, have negligible impacts.     

Effects of High‐g Impact on Physical,Electrical, and Optical Characteristics of Light‐Emitting Diodes

Previously, one of the tools available in automotive or aircraft accident analysis was the examination of the indicator bulbs. Currently, indicator bulbs have been largely replaced by light‐emitting diodes (LEDs). Here a series of studies was carried out on impact effects on LEDs to determine whether their properties change after impact, and whether it is related to its working status (lit or unlit). The LEDs were measured before mechanical shock with a series of tests, including current–voltage, current–light, bandwidth, subject to impact ranging from 450 g to 2000 g, and then retested. The tests showed consistent slight but statistically significant increases in forward voltages at a given current after impact, which could be used to estimate the impact. Some LEDS were imaged before and after impact with thermal and X‐ray imaging, but no mechanical changes were seen. It was not possible to determine the LED's working status from these test results.     

INDIA’S DEMONETISATION: MODI’S ‘NUDGE’ TO CHANGE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

This article offers an account of the impact of Indian PM Narendra Modi’s decision in November 2016 to withdraw suddenly all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from circulation in India with the avowed intent of combatting fraud, tax avoidance and other economic problems. The article assesses the impact from the demonetisation in November to the March 2017 Indian regional elections, where wide-scale victories for Modi’s political party, the BJP, appear to have vindicated his reforms. The article provides an analysis of the political background of the period, as well as looking at the economic and societal impact of the changes, including the way in which the behaviour of Indian citizens has been ‘nudged’ with particular regard to use of banking, transactions, social effects, and payment of tax.     

对我国合同法上强制性规定的类型分析

在我国合同法上,强制性规定包括效力性规定和管理性规定。如何妥善地对二者进行区分,是一个无法在立法技术层面通过改进合同法的规范配置来解决的问题。此问题的解决有赖于案例法体系的建立。在法律论证的过程中,只有以现行法上的规则为依托,以比较法上的研究为参照,在体系思考和案例思考相结合的基础上,对应当参照的各类因素给予充分的关注,才能对违反强制性规定的法律效果作出合理的判断。     

Caricaturing “traitors”: Communal reactions to indigenous collaboration in Japanese-occupied Korea

Under foreign rule, indigenous collaborators pose a serious challenge that betrays the trust and faith of their compatriots with whom they have long shared experiences. This being the case, the question arises concerning how the occupied define “betrayal” and execute their sense of morality and justice against those considered as switching allegiance from being their fellow nationals to being considered as outsiders. For this analysis, I investigate the practice of the Korean news media under Japanese colonial rule, developing the concept of verbal caricature. I find that the indigenous media create outrageous verbal images of collaborators: (1) sinners, (2) pawns, and (3) criminals. By exploring the media's social justice under political constraint, this project contributes to the accumulation of knowledge on the unique practices of deviance-making, prompting a dialog between the two isolated research realms – social deviance and foreign occupation.     

Revolution 2.0 in Egypt: Pushing for Change,Foreign Influences on a Popular Revolt

This article presents a case study of a movement for democratic change in Egypt. In particular, it reviews the uses of social media that helped to facilitate the revolution that led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's regime in February 2011. It looks at the movement in Egypt and the uses of social media from the perspective of public diplomacy, particularly in the context of U.S. efforts to drive public opinion in the Middle East. It reviews how the groups and individuals considered instrumental in the events that led to Mubarak's resignation are connected to the actors in U.S. “democracy promotion.” The article further discusses how social media, by dint of its characteristics, conveniently lends itself to democracy promotion. It highlights the risks involved in an instrumental approach to democracy promotion that treats the tools of social media as means to effect immediate policy gains country by country.     

The Branding of Candidates and Parties: The U.S. News Media and the Legitimization of a New Political Term

Political marketing research indicates that brands and branding are a robust aspect of politics. However, little is known of the broader cultural appreciation of political branding. Through a content analysis of major U.S. newspapers over a 40-year period, we provide evidence that the U.S. news media is increasingly aware of political branding. Moreover, we present a typology of media treatment that indicates that the national media in the U.S. increasingly perceive brands and branding in the public sphere as an innate, multifaceted, and effective part of modern politics.     

浅谈如何做好新媒体时期的企业工会工作

新媒体的快速发展极大地改变了社会的信息交流模式,这对工会组织开展工作提出了新的挑战,也带来了新的机遇。需要通过新媒体,宣传工会的职能和作为,畅通职工诉求表达渠道,充分发挥新媒体在职工参与企业民主管理、保障职工合法权益、提高职工综合素质等方面的积极作用,推动工会工作不断创新发展。     

论新闻媒体侵害隐私权的法律救济方式

随着人们生活方式的多元化,隐私及隐私权成为人们关注的话题。然而,以新闻自由权利为依托的新闻媒体在社会生活中的作用及其带来的影响越来越大。新闻自由的重要价值在于维护公共利益,而隐私权则强调个体权利,因此在行使这两种权利的过程中必然产生矛盾和冲突。因此,如何在两者的博弈中找到良好的契合点,既能发挥新闻媒体在现今社会中的重要作用、又能保障个人的隐私权已成为立法和司法的当务之急。     

The tone of laughter and the strangely warm comedy of Hagimoto Kin'ichi

Featuring the comedian Hagimoto Kin'ichi as on-screen father, the hybrid drama-variety show Kinchan no doko made yaru no! (How far will Kinchan go! 1976–1986) won a loyal following of viewers and critics who praised the ‘warmth’ of its parodic television family, describing it as affectively more real and compelling than depictions of the family in traditional dramatic portrayals. Through close readings of scenes from the show and the critical discourse surrounding it, I consider how the show created a consensus that its laughter was tonally warm, and thus well fitted to the domestic space in which television would be viewed. Further, I argue that the show's producers created this impression by inserting the show and Hagimoto's public persona within contemporary discourses on laughter, domesticity, and normative femininity. In doing so, my analysis highlights the ascendant role commercial television played in shaping and harnessing these discourses, and re-assesses, through the lens of the affective experience of 1970s and ’80s media culture, the cultural shifts taking place in Japan during these decades.