What can a government do? Government issue ownership and real‐world problems

Despite major interest in issue ownership, what shapes it remains a puzzle. In his pioneering work on issue ownership, John Petrocik emphasises the importance of a party's performance. Recent research acknowledges this by pointing to the role of real‐world problems and incumbency for issue ownership. However, if performance truly matters, it should be difficult to understand the impact of such problems without taking into account the government's response to it. Based on novel data on issue ownership, policy development and government attention across five issues in nine countries over time, the analysis shows that the government's issue‐handling reputation is associated with the policy development, and the government's attention to the problem is important for this association. This is especially true for parties with no history of issue ownership on the issue and if the government is a coalition or in minority.     

Post-termination use of licensed intellectual property by licensees

Legal and practical context: The ongoing dispute between Nokia and Qualcomm exemplifies thecomplex issues that arise when the licensor–licensee relationshipbreaks down. It illustrates that any means by which a licenseecan secure rights to use licensed IP after termination of alicence agreement can be of great commercial importance, notto mention significant economic value. If a licensee can continueto use licensed IP notwithstanding that its agreement has beenterminated, a licensor's ability to control and derive maximumeconomic benefit from its IP may be fundamentally compromised. Key points: The means available to licensees to secure such rights varydepending on the kind of IP right licensed, but there are severalcommon themes, which draw on a diverse range of legal rulesand concepts, including specific IP concepts and laws (includingthe rules relating to assignment and licensing, the exhaustionof rights, revocation and invalidation, and defences to infringementclaims), contract law and competition law. This article discussespractical implications to be considered when drafting IP licenceagreements. Conclusions: From a licensee's perspective, the termination of its licenceagreement is not necessarily the end of the road. Licenseesshould be aware of these post-termination rights when expectingto face difficult renegotiations with a licensor. From bothparties' perspectives, but particularly that of licensor, thisarticle should demonstrate the importance of drafting to avoidany uncertainty that may arise on the termination of a licenceagreement.     

当前我国农村女性就业问题初探

就业是衡量妇女地位的关键指标。在社会主义市场经济体制逐步完善的今天,我国的就业体制已经悄然发生了变化,农村就业形式呈现出一些新特点,也凸显不少问题和矛盾。鉴于农村女性就业的现状和存在的问题,政府在宏观上应提供有利于农村女性的就业环境及法律支持,从微观上给农村女性的就业予以应有的关注,同时针对农村女性自身特征,提高农村女性的就业能力,这对构建一个公正和谐的社会具有重要的意义。     

交通肇事逃逸案件法医检验鉴定应注意的问题

在对交通肇事逃逸案件进行法医检验鉴定时,应注意认真确定案件性质,分清损伤主要特征,认真勘验、记录死伤者的损伤情况,仔细提取微量物证,切实做好社会调查取证工作。     

Setting the Agenda or Responding to Voters? Political Parties,Voters and Issue Attention

Why do political parties prioritise some policy issues over others? While the issue ownership theory suggests that parties emphasise policy issues on which they have an advantage in order to increase the salience of these issues among voters, the riding the wave theory argues instead that parties respond to voters by highlighting policy issues that are salient in the minds of citizens. This study sheds new light on the selective issue emphasis of political parties by analysing issue attention throughout the entire electoral cycle. On the basis of a quantitative text analysis of more than 40,000 press releases published by German parties from 2000 until 2010, this article provides empirical support for the riding the wave theory. It shows that political parties take their cues from voters by responding to the issue priorities of their electorate. The results have important implications for political representation and the role that parties play in democracies.     

The Influence of New Technologies on the Visual Attention of CSIs Performing a Crime Scene Investigation

Currently, a series of promising new tools are under development that will enable crime scene investigators (CSIs) to analyze traces in situ during the crime scene investigation or enable them to detect blood and provide information on the age of blood. An experiment is conducted with thirty CSIs investigating a violent robbery at a mock crime scene to study the influence of such technologies on the perception and interpretation of traces during the first phase of the investigation. Results show that in their search for traces, CSIs are not directed by the availability of technologies, which is a reassuring finding. Qualitative findings suggest that CSIs are generally more focused on analyzing perpetrator traces than on reconstructing the event. A focus on perpetrator traces might become a risk when other crime‐related traces are overlooked, and when analyzed traces are in fact not crime‐related and in consequence lead to the identification of innocent suspects.     

Characterising the psychiatric comorbidities among adults with ADHD who have a history of offending

The prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among adult offenders is significantly higher than in the general population. Adults with ADHD often present with multiple psychiatric comorbidities. This study aims to characterise the comorbidities presented by adults with ADHD who have offended and also to investigate predictors of offending among this population. Seventy-three participants with a diagnosis of adult ADHD were divided into a group with a history of offending behaviour (n = 30) and a group of non-offenders (n = 43). Groups were compared on measures of ADHD symptoms, substance use and DSM-IV Axis I and Axis II disorders using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory – 3rd Edition. Major depression, cannabis use and childhood hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms predicted offending. These findings indicate that adults with ADHD who have a history of offending behaviour are more likely to present with complex psychiatric needs.     

Of guns and geese: a meta-analytic review of the ‘weapon focus’ literature

Abstract

Weapon focus is frequently cited as a factor in eyewitness testimony, and is broadly defined as a weapon-related decrease in performance on subsequent tests of memory for those elements of an event or visual scene concurrent to the weapon. This effect has been attributed to either (a) physiological or emotional arousal that narrows the attentional beam (arousal/threat hypothesis), or (b) the cognitive demands inherent in processing an unusual object (e.g. weapon) that is incongruent with the schema representing the visual scene (unusual item hypothesis). Meta-analytical techniques were applied to test these theories as well as to evaluate the prospect of weapon focus in real-world criminal investigations. Our findings indicated an effect of weapon presence overall (g= 0.53) that was significantly influenced by retention interval, exposure duration, and threat but unaffected by whether the event occurred in a laboratory, simulation, or real-world environment.     

《刑法》第一百九十八条第四款引发的思考

我国《刑法》第一百九十八条第四款关于保险诈骗共犯的规定,引发刑法理论界诸多争议。文章阐述了对本法条中保险诈骗共犯的理解,非身份者不能成为身份犯罪共犯的观点,以及注意规定与法律拟制的区分、法条竞合的处理原则等相关问题。     

论注意力经济与公共关系产业的发展

注意力经济是新经济发展的主要驱动力,它与公共关系产业的发展关系非常密切.该文阐述了目前中国公共关系产业非常落后的现状,指出加强对公共关系进行产业经济学方面的研究,吸收国外公共关系产业发展过程中的一些先进经验,对于中国公共关系产业的健康发展乃至整个中国经济的发展都有着十分重要的意义.