Playing to the Crowd: Agenda Control in Presidential Debates

Presidential debates allow candidates to send a message directly to voters. We use an experimental design complemented with a content analysis of all presidential debates in 1992, 2004, and 2008 to explore how candidates should and do use agenda setting, framing, and message tone to shape the agenda in debates. We find that candidates are differentially attentive to various topics, depending on the comparative advantage provided by the topic. Yet, this agenda control occurs only at the margins because topic salience in public opinion predicts candidate attention and conditions voters' receptiveness to debate rhetoric. Our findings thus suggest that topic salience constrains candidates' abilities to focus the agenda strategically.

[Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Political Communication for the following free supplemental resources: Experimental Sample and Randomization; Experimental Treatments; Experimental Results; and the Presidential Debate Rhetoric Codebook.]     

宪法审查的穷尽法律救济原则

"穷尽法律救济原则"是各国宪法审查制度普遍采行的启动要件,它在集中式审查模式中主要存在于宪法诉愿程序中,而在分散式审查模式中主要体现为"穷尽行政救济"。然两类规范形态具有相通的双层结构规范内涵:在判断是否已穷尽相关法律救济之后,对于未穷尽者,进一步判断其是否属于具有普遍性意义或者会产生重大且无法避免之损害的例外情形,以谨慎决定宪法审查是否可提前。这既体现出宪法审查的备位性,也说明备位性须受到人权保障之价值目标的限制。     

Threshold Concepts Through Enactive Learning: How Effective Are They in the Study of European Politics?

Studying European Politics can be a challenge! And this is not surprising: even the best scholarly minds of European politics often struggle to give precise definition to such a young, but already so complex and constantly evolving polity as the European Union, and are increasingly at odds with identifying its prospects for survival. One way to achieve a better understanding of the subject is to utilize a threshold concept approach, which is essentially a "less is more" approach that chooses to work with a few "founding" concepts, and identifies a "road map" for independent learning of broader but essentially inter-connected issues of the discipline. The threshold concept approach becomes even more effective if combined with enactive learning—that is, learning-by-doing, through role taking and simulation of the threshold concepts during seminars. Such learning evidently exceeds the boundaries of conventional knowledge and becomes a useful transferable investment for the future.     

供给侧改革背景下财政社会保障支出对就业影响的非对称效应 —— 基于面板门限回归模型的实证分析

国内经济增长速度下降以及人口红利逐步消减,调动生产要素的积极性是供给侧改革的核心[1],劳动是生产要素的一部分,因此合理发挥社会保障对就业的促进作用至关重要。以中国31个省1998-2014年的面板数据为样本,对东、中、西部地区进行分组回归,并以人均GDP为门槛变量,运用双重门槛模型,实证研究了财政社会保障支出对就业的非对称效应:经济发展水平越高,正向促进作用越明显。     

略论网络诽谤行为——从“网络诽谤司法解释”切入

网络诽谤是利用网络平台故意损害他人名誉的行为。与传统诽谤行为相比,网络诽谤具有影响力大、隐匿性强等特点。近年来,数起网络诽谤事件严重损害了当事人的名誉,在社会上造成了恶劣的影响。《关于办理利用信息网络实施诽谤等刑事案件适用法律若干问题的解释》的出台为打击网络诽谤行为提供了法律依据,却也引发了一些争议。     

日本古代小说的佛学烙印与文化成因

日本古代小说大都具有浓郁的佛学色彩,净土、无常、果报是最典型的三个侧面。净土思想是日本佛教的主流且具有明显的现世特征:平安物语的净土信仰成为救赎宫廷贵族脱离苦难的精神支柱;中世战记物语的净土信仰多与死亡紧密相连,成为对战乱中人们渴求来世幸福的终极关怀。无常是日本小说尤其是中世物语中最浓墨重彩的一笔,无常既是对人间永无常住的感性叹息,也是对盛者必衰社会法则的理论解释,更成为武家社会切身感受的"生死观"。因果报应思想贯穿日本小说史的始终,它与宿世、轮回、转生等观念互为表里,成为孕育日本怪异小说流行的土壤之一,并表现出与儒家劝惩观念相结合的世俗化趋势。     

Run-specific limits of detection and quantitation for STR-based DNA testing

STR-based DNA profiling is an exceptionally sensitive analytical technique that is often used to obtain results at the very limits of its sensitivity. The challenge of reliably distinguishing between signal and noise in such situations is one that has been rigorously addressed in numerous other analytical disciplines. However, an inability to determine accurately the height of electropherogram baselines has caused forensic DNA profiling laboratories to utilize alternative approaches. Minimum thresholds established during laboratory validation studies have become the de facto standard for distinguishing between reliable signal and noise/technical artifacts. These minimum peak height thresholds generally fail to consider variability in the sensitivity of instruments, reagents, and the skill of human analysts involved in the DNA profiling process over the course of time. Software (BatchExtract) made publicly available by the National Center for Biotechnology Information now provides an alternative means of establishing limits of detection and quantitation that is more consistent with those used in other analytical disciplines. We have used that software to determine the height of each data collection point for each dye along a control sample's electropherogram trace. These values were then used to determine a limit of detection (the average amount of background noise plus three standard deviations) and a limit of quantitation (the average amount of background noise plus 10 standard deviations) for each control sample. Analyses of the electropherogram data associated with the positive, negative, and reagent blank controls included in 50 different capillary electrophoresis runs validate that this approach could be used to determine run-specific thresholds objectively for use in forensic DNA casework.     

恩格尔定律与财产犯罪数额标准之确定

通过对财产犯罪的历史性考察,以恩格尔定律为基础建立了确定和调整财产犯罪数额标准的理论模型,指出应以家庭平均年剩余财产数额作为财产犯罪的数额标准,并应在家庭平均储蓄余额等于当前年度家庭平均年剩余财产数额时将财产犯罪数额标准调升为当前年度家庭平均年剩余财产数额;并根据模型论证了财产犯罪与财产侵权的区别,对实定刑法上贪贿犯罪数额标准和法定刑的设置失当进行了反思。     

论教育学学科的学术建构

尽管教育学的主题随着时代精神的变化而变化，但教育学的核心问题、基本问题则始终未变，教育学的发展需要围绕这些问题进行始终不断地反思，我们需要与前人进行不断的对话。今天教育学的学术建构尤其应回到教育学的经典思想之中。我们需要树立“大教育学”的观念，不应仅仅停留于所谓纯粹的教育学典籍，而是将目光投向所有凝聚着教育思想与智慧的典籍中去。随着教育学学术性的确立，教育学学科发展需要我们重新明确教育学的学科视阈，并着力在实践关怀的同时进行学术性的重新建构。     

关于个人所得税中“工资薪金费用减除额”的法律分析

2005年和2007年的个人所得税改革引起了全社会的关注和热议,"起征点"一词成为使用频率很高的税法词汇。但从严格意义上讲,"起征点"和个人所得税改革中调整的工薪所得"费用减除额"性质是不同的。就法律性质而言,工薪所得"费用减除额"系税法为贯彻量能课税原则保障宪法规定的基本生存权和人格尊严而设,经济意义上系劳动力维持和再生产所需最低成本,而非税收优惠中减免税范畴。