Agenda-Setting and Priming in Prime Time Television: Crime Dramas as Political Cues

The effects of agenda-setting and priming are well established in regard to the news media. Considerably less attention has been paid to these phenomena in entertainment media, in spite of the fact that entertainment media enjoy larger audiences than do news media and often address political topics. This article argues that the psychological mechanism hypothesized to lead to agenda-setting and priming effectsthat is, changes in construct accessibilityapplies as equally to entertainment media as it does to news media. Moreover, we contend that the frequency, consistency, and duration of entertainment media treatments of political issues encourage chronic accessibility of those issues. We test these hypotheses looking at television crime dramas as a source of political information. Using data from two controlled laboratory experiments and the 1995 National Election Study Pilot Study, we demonstrate that viewing crime dramas significantly increases concerns about crime and that these concerns significantly affect viewers' opinions of the president. The NES Pilot Study data suggest that these effects are restricted to frequent viewers of crime dramas, supporting a chronic accessibility model of agenda-setting and priming. These findings extend our growing understanding of how non-news sources of political information contribute to the construction of political attitudes.     

The evolution of authoritarian rule in Algeria: linkage versus organizational power

This article draws on the Algerian regimes of Chadli Benjedid and Abdelaziz Bouteflika to critically evaluate Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way’s dimension of linkage. The paper shows that, despite the intensification of the country’s ties to the European Union (EU) from one regime to the other, the willingness and ability of Brussels to put democratizing pressure on Algiers decreased rather than increased. This development challenges Levitsky and Way’s thesis and the importance they place on linkage in relation to their other dimensions of leverage and organizational power. The article concludes that: strengthening linkage does not always result in greater EU or Western democratizing pressure; the balance of importance Levitsky and Way strike between their dimensions is open to question; and, the EU has grown less willing to press for political change in Algeria.     

Contested views of expertise in children’s care and permanence proceedings

In this article, we consider different perspectives on who is best able to provide relevant and helpful expertise in public law cases where the long-term care of children is under consideration. Opinions vary and sometimes conflict on the respective importance of legal, child development, and lay understandings. These opinions relate to views on rights, appropriate procedures, decision-making processes, and the effects of decisions on children. Firstly, we summarise literature relevant to the knowledge and skills of three key groups of decision-makers within the Scottish child care system: legal professionals, child care professionals and lay decision-makers, and outline literature about guardians ad litem and their counterparts. We then discuss issues of expertise emerging from a study exploring the reasons for, and impact of, the appointment of safeguarders (who, in Scotland, perform a similar role to guardians). We conclude that there may be an increasing tendency for disagreement and a lack of clarity about who brings the most relevant and helpful expertise to hearings; this may have negative effects for children.     

An initial evaluation of stable isotopic characterisation of post-blast plastic debris from improvised explosive devices

A number of two-way radios, similar to those which have been employed to initiate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), were acquired from a commercial supplier and grouped into four pairs. Samples of plastic material were collected from five distinct regions of each radio and analysed by Infrared and Raman spectroscopy to identify the nature of the material. One radio of each pair was then subjected to detonation with a commercially available plastic explosive. The combination of radio and explosive was considered to be representative of the components of an IED. Following detonation, fragments were recovered and, where possible, identified as specific sampling points of the radio.A combination of δ²H and δ¹³C stable isotopic analysis of material from each of the five sampling points was found to provide a pattern which was characteristic of a given radio and provided a means to associate pairs of radios. When few fragments were recovered, no positive association could be made between the fragments and the paired, undamaged radio. This was attributed, in part, to manufacturing variation in the radios. However, when three or more post-blast fragments were recovered it was possible to associate these with the paired, undamaged radio with a high degree of certainty.     

Rapid amplification of commercial STR typing kits

Forensic DNA typing is currently conducted in approximately 8–10 h. The process includes DNA extraction, quantitation, multiplex PCR amplification, and fragment length detection. Today's commercial multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) typing kits are not optimized for rapid PCR thermal cycling. Current protocols require approximately 3 h for amplifying a multiplex containing 15 STR loci plus amelogenin. With the continuing development of miniaturization technologies such as microfluidic and micro-capillary devices, there is a desire to reduce the overall time required to type DNA samples. Such miniature devices could be used for initial screening at a crime scene, at a border, and at airports. There is also the benefit of reducing the required PCR amplification time for labs typing single-source reference samples. Surveys of fast processing polymerases working in combination with rapid cycling protocols have resulted in the development of a ‘rapid’ PCR amplification protocol. Results are obtained in less than 36 min run on a standard peltier-based thermal cycler employing a heating rate of 4 °C/s. Capillary electrophoresis characterization of the PCR products indicates good peak balance between loci, strong signal intensity and minor adenylation artifacts. Genotyping results are concordant with standard amplification conditions utilizing a standard 3 h (non-rapid) thermal cycling procedure. The rapid assay conditions are robust enough to routinely amplify 0.5 ng of template DNA (with 28 cycles).     

A 26plex Autosomal STR Assay to Aid Human Identity Testing*†

Abstract: A short tandem repeat multiplex assay has been successfully developed with 25 autosomal loci plus the sex‐typing locus amelogenin for a total of 26 amplified products in a single reaction. Primers for the loci were designed so that all of the amplicons present were distributed from 65 base pairs (bp) to less than 400 bp within a five‐dye chemistry design with the fifth dye reserved for the sizing standard. A multiplex design strategy was developed to overcome challenges encountered in creating this assay. The limits of the multiplex were tested, resulting in the successful amplification of a wide range of genomic DNA sample concentrations from 2 ng to as low as 100 pg with 30 cycles of PCR. The 26plex has the potential to benefit the forensic community for reference sample testing and complex relationship evaluation.     

Toxic waste and public procurement: The defense sector as a disproportionate contributor to pollution from public–private partnerships

Public procurement is a large sector of the economy with most procurement going to the defense sector. Procurement by the defense sector includes purchases made through contracts to private businesses that manufacture durable goods. Manufacturing of these goods results in pollution production with toxic wastes being among the most dangerous pollutants for public health. Despite green purchasing policy goals, most transactions in the United States through defense contracts result in disproportionately high-toxic pollution releases by manufacturers. We find that persistent exemptions granted defense agencies from following green purchasing policy result in a landscape where contractor environmental performance is unchanging with defense contractors persistently polluting in high amounts. Further, we find that defense contractors are linked to most toxic releases from procurement meaning that exemptions may be hindering potential advancements from green purchasing policy. Results can inform the design of new guidance about procurement and expand understanding of environmental inequality.     

Australian Democracy and Priveleged Parliamentary Speech

This article responds to recent cases of parliamentary speech which reflect the ascendancy of a totalising 'mainstream' approach to public discourse and a political leadership that may, at times, be overly attentive to the majority-rule dimension of democracy. These developments spark a more general discussion of the phenomenology of privileged parliamentary speech, the role of speech freedoms in liberal democratic orders and the duties of parliamentary representatives within them. I make two general conclusions. First, the ways in which we normally argue and think about free speech will not generally apply to the speech of parliamentarians because their speech rights cannot be universalised. Secondly, even if parliamentary speech could be treated as standard speech there would be no legitimate defence (from a liberal democratic point of view) for a strictly populist approach to its use since this could undermine the deliberative function of parliament and lead to the violation of other important liberal democratic principles.     

Uncounted Votes: Informal Voting in the House of Representatives as a Marker of Political Exclusion in Australia

This article examines the implications of high levels of informal (or invalid) voting in Australian national elections using a social exclusion framework. The rate of the informal vote is an indicator of social and political exclusion with particular groups of Australians experiencing inordinate electoral disadvantage. Poorer voters, voters from non‐English speaking backgrounds and those with low education levels are especially disadvantaged by factors peculiar to the Australian voting experience. We begin by exploring the character and pattern of informal voting and then canvass the technical and socio‐economic factors which explain it. We conclude by considering proposed options for reducing informality, some of which are: the abandonment of compulsory voting, major structural change to the voting system as well as ballot re‐design, electoral education and community information initiatives.