The effect of being conflict non-avoidant: linking conflict framing and political participation

Abstract

The news media’s ability to mobilise citizens to participate politically by emphasising elite conflict in politics is not well understood. This article argues that citizens may gain knowledge when exposed to conflict news framing. It further theorises that whether they translate their knowledge into political participation is conditioned by their orientation towards conflict. Individuals who avoid conflict participate less frequently than individuals who do not. The proposed moderated mediation process was tested using a content analysis of news media coverage and a three-wave panel survey (n?=?2,061). Results show that the effect of exposure to conflict news framing on (changes in) political participation is positively mediated by knowledge. This mediation effect is moderated by conflict avoidance, where the effect is more positive among conflict non-avoiders than conflict avoiders. This study shows that understanding the news media’s mobilising effect on political participation requires attention to both news content and individual motivational factors.     

Gated communities: The new ideal way of life in natal,Brazil

Abstract

Gated communities have been growing quickly in Brazil's urban and suburban areas since the 1980s, bringing challenges to society through their privatization of public space, conflict with planning norms, and interference with the integrated planning of the cities in which they are built. My article analyzes this phenomenon to establish a clear basis for purposeful public policies in Brazil. The analysis is based on a case study of the first three closed condominiums in Natal. It involves 31 semistructured interviews focusing on legal, urban/architectural, and segregational factors and their implications.

Federal and local governments have contributed, deliberately or unwittingly, to the development of such enclosed complexes, which have social and spatial impacts and guarantee that the upper class will remain wealthy. There also seems to be a close relationship between the spread of fortified residences and the promotion of a “culture of fear.”     

Multiple Worlds in a Single Street: Ethnic Entrepreneurship and the Construction of a Global Sense of Place

Doreen Massey's rethinking of space and place has made a significant contribution to the understanding of place development. In this paper, a reading of Massey's work is applied to the issue of place-making; in particular, to the question of how to improve the social and economic position of an ethnically diverse neighbourhood. The case study is of the Willemsweg, a multiethnic shopping street in Nijmegen, Netherlands, which has recently received support for a major uplift. It is pointed out that each of the place meanings adhered to by different local actors embodies a specific global sense of place, yet the consequences of this plurality of ‘trajectories’ for actual place-making remain difficult to grasp empirically. For this reason, a relational approach is elaborated which joins Massey's notion of ‘throwntogetherness’ with various meso theoretical concepts which shed light on specific trajectories.     

A Macro–Micro Analysis of the Effects of Electricity Reform in Senegal on Poverty and Distribution

This paper uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) macro–micro model to explore the distributional effects of price reform in the electricity sector of Senegal. In the first part of the paper we analyse the distribution of electricity in Senegal by income quintiles, between 1995 and 2001. The analysis demonstrates that poor and rural households are not the main beneficiaries of the expanded network. The results of the CGE model show that direct price effects are weaker than general equilibrium effects on poverty and inequality. Moreover, compensatory policies tested can help attenuate some adverse effects.     

Filicide: A Comparison by Sex and Presence or Absence of Self-destructive Behavior

The purpose of this study was to identify sociodemographic, contextual, situational, and individual variables, as well as certain behavioral warning signs, associated with filicide as a function of sex of the agressors and the presence or absence of self-destructive behaviours. The data cover all officially registered filicides committed in Quebec from January 1, 1986, to March 31, 1994, against youths under the age of 18 years. For the group of individuals who have self-destructive behaviours, results indicate that men compared to women are more likely to commit spousal homicide, to kill a higher number of victims, to be going through a conjugal separation, to have committed conjugal violence, to have threatened suicide, and to have threatened to kill their spouse. For the group of individuals who commit no self-destructive acts, women are more likely to present with a depressive disorder, whereas men are more likely to maltreated their children. Men who do not commit a self-destructive act are characterized by a significantly higher likelihood of maltreatment against their children and of tyrannical discipline, whereas men who commit a self-destructive act perpetrate filicide as a means of reprisal against their spouse. Results underscore the importance of considering the different groups of individuals who commit filicide as a function of sex as well as presence or absence of self-destructive behaviour.

Results of the 2009 Paternity Testing Workshop of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics

Here we present the results of the 2009 Paternity Testing Workshop of the English Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics. The exercise included paternity testing of blood samples from a mother, a child and two alleged fathers. The laboratories were encouraged to answer questions concerning their laboratory routines and a paper challenge was distributed in order to compare statistical calculations. A total of 62 laboratories participated. The laboratories used a total of 49 autosomal STRs and PCR-investigated VNTRs, 19 Y-chromosomal STRs, 8 X-chromosomal STRs, 7 VNTR systems investigated with RFLP, 49 autosomal SNPs and 11 mtDNA SNPs. The rate of typing and reporting errors was 0.1%.     

Solving Double‐Sided Puzzles: Automated Assembly of Torn‐up Banknotes Evidence

Reconstruction of 2D object is a problem concerning many different fields such as forensics science, archiving, and banking. In the literature, it is considered as one‐sided puzzle problem. But this study handles torn banknotes as a double‐sided puzzle problem for the first time. In addition to that, a new dataset (ToB) is created for solving this problem. A selection approach based on the Borda count method is adopted in order to make the right decision as to which keypoint‐based method is to be used in the proposed reconstruction system. The selection approach was determined the Accelerated‐KAZE (AKAZE) as the most successful keypoint‐based method. This study also proposes new measures determining the success ratio of the reconstructed banknotes and calculating their loss ratio. When the torn banknotes were reconstructed with the AKAZE‐based reconstruction system, the average success rate was calculated as 95.55% by the proposed metric.     

The usefulness of a crime harm index: analyzing the Sacramento Hot Spot Experiment using the California Crime Harm Index (CA-CHI)

Journal of Experimental Criminology - This study introduces the California Crime Harm Index (CA-CHI) and explores in what context a Crime Harm Index is a meaningful measure, comparing crime count...