Political Brand Communities as Social Network Clusters: Winning and Trailing Candidates in the GOP 2016 Primary Elections

This study integrates a brand community theoretical framework and a social networks approach to the study of political marketing on social media. It analyzes Twitter activity by and about all Republican candidates during the month of January 2016 prior to the Iowa primary caucus. Specifically, it identifies key patterns of information flow and political brand community emergence surrounding each candidate as well as brand social mediators who play influential roles in content flow. Findings detect network clusters - subgroups of siloed users - who converse to exchange information with one another rather than with disconnected others in any given political brand community. We classify these clusters in two groups: direct communities that surround a brand – here, a candidate – and indirect communities that consist of users who talk about the political brands but are not directly connected to the brand. Within this fragmented community structure, brand social mediators have the power to bridge direct and indirect brand communities across the network. Among the winning and trailing brand communities, different sets of brand social mediators, patterns of information flow, and network structures emerge. The findings suggest that the more successful a political brand is in voter polls, the weaker the social ties and relationships are within the brand communities. The interactions between political brands and their direct vs. indirect communities also exhibit different patterns of information flow. While direct brand communities demonstrate a higher level of reciprocity, indirect brand communities show a higher level of density. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Designing for equitable civic engagement: Participatory design and discourse in contested spaces

A common theme of research on participatory democracy and citizen engagement centres on the need for empirical studies that conduct a deep exploration of the nuances and complexities of these processes. This article offers a distinct response to this need through an examination of two ethnographic case studies of a participatory budgeting process in a multilingual, highly diverse community in which Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants were involved. By analyzing participants discourse from the case studies, the findings highlight the risks and rewards of reframing participatory processes as design decisions rather than static procedures.     

域外毒品鉴定错案成因分析与防范借鉴

近年来,域外毒品鉴定错案高发,深刻暴露出毒品鉴定管理的内源性问题,值得我国相关领域工作人员借鉴。本文首先概述了毒品鉴定的特点;其次,根据近年来美国、加拿大、英国等地出现的典型毒品鉴定错案,对相关成因做系统梳理,为提升毒品鉴定管理质量、降低毒品鉴定错案的负面影响提供参考依据。本文将鉴定错案分为"错误"和"失误"两大类,并提出了通过提升实验室内部管理、加强实验室外部监督以及落实鉴定意见的质证认证等环节,预防毒品鉴定错案的系统方法。对于防范毒物毒品错案的发生具有重要的参照意义。     

Simulation-based reconstruction of traffic incidents from moving vehicle mono-camera

Video recordings from digital cameras implemented in road vehicles present a valuable source of data concerning various dangerous traffic situations, i.e., road accidents or near-miss incidents. This data is readily available and numerous methods for forensic reconstruction of traffic situations from vehicle video were presented in the past. New alternative method for reconstruction of traffic situations from vehicle video is presented in this article. The method is based on the fusion of kinetic vehicle trajectory simulation within 3D laser scanner point cloud, projective geometry, and processing of video footage from moving vehicle camera. The method offers accurate reconstruction of general vehicle motion within relevant time domain whereby in-depth technical information about traffic incident can be quantitatively extracted from video footage. The result is physics-based 3D projection of simulated vehicle motion on the motion of real vehicle recorded by moving monocular camera. The method was validated within performed experimental test runs with respect to vehicle speed, distance travelled, acceleration/deceleration and directional quantities (yaw rate, yaw angle). The method was further applied in the reconstruction of real-world traffic events.     

环境行政规划的断片化分析

环境问题日益成为经济社会突出的问题,政府主导的环境行政规划,是对环境问题最直接的指南针。可是在目前阶段的环境行政规划中,还存在着很多的问题亟待解决。本文先引入环境行政规划的概念,分析目前我国环境行政规划的断片化现象,然后采用经济学中成本—收益的分析模型对目前环境行政规划立法与行政领域断片化现象产生的原因进行分析,继而得出如何解决环境行政规划断片化问题的方案。     

磁性纳米颗粒在法医学痕量分析中的应用进展

鉴于法医学痕量分析中生物样本的复杂性以及目标物的痕量性,需要一种简单有效的方法从复杂基质中获得足量的目标物。磁性纳米颗粒(magnetic nanoparticle,MNP)凭借其独特的超顺磁性、稳定的物理化学性质、生物相容性、尺寸小、较高的比表面积等特性,已在生物医药、药物递送和药物分离等多个研究领域显现出广泛的应用价值。为了将MNP应用于法医检材的前处理,最大程度地增加目标物的提取率,尽可能减少干扰因素以满足目标物痕量分析要求,本文综述了近年来MNP在法医毒物分析、环境法医学、痕量物证分析和刑事侦查领域的应用进展,为MNP在法医学痕量分析中的应用提供研究思路。     

刑事和解--作为一种纠纷解决方式的分析

通过和解解决刑事纠纷在本质上是个人权利(不追究权)对国家权力(刑罚权)的一种协调和平衡,在我国自古有之.它与刑事自诉制度、国家追诉制度、附带民事诉讼制度都有密切的理论联系.对刑事和解的法律规制可以从案件范围和和解方式来考虑.     

法官受制定法约束的理论谱系及其评价--基于德国法学方法论视角的考察

自19世纪以来,法官受制定法的约束问题成为法学方法论研究的主要问题之一。概念法学的理论追求是将法官视为"涵摄机器";自由法学理论则强调法官具有造法的权力,将法官视为"法官王";纯粹法学理论提出了"可能框架"模式,法律规范只是为法官的裁判提供一个可能的框架范围。评价法学理论将"法官受制定法的约束"转变为"法官受价值约束"的"价值导向"模式;在20世纪末,法律论证理论提出了一种"理性商谈"模式,尝试解决这一     

299例中小学生中医兼夹体质与近视相关性分析

目的 研究中小学生近视与中医兼夹体质的相关性。方法 以在北京同仁医院眼科门诊就诊的299例中小学生为样本,采用《中医体质分类与判定》判定其体质类型,采用logistic回归分析探究中医兼夹体质与中小学生近视的相关性。结果 299例受试者中,近视者237例,非近视者62例。兼夹体质者近视发病的危险度较平和质者显著增高（OR值为1.39;95% CI为1.04～1.86,P=0.03）。结论 兼夹体质是近视的危险因素,尚需大样本进一步确证。     

Empirical validation of a family-member prioritization approach to maximize statistical power in missing person cases

In order to prioritize the exhumation of the most informative reference relatives to increase the statistical power of a reference group, a conditional simulation approach for missing person identification that combines both exclusion and inclusion power in reference families has been previously developed. The aim of this study is to empirically validate this approach by comparing its predicted theoretical prioritization model with the observed changes in statistical power in real cases of our laboratory, in which new relatives had already been added. We conclude that this approach is a reliable tool to choose the most appropriate reference relatives to complete a family group and improve the identification power of a Missing Person (MP).