Economic performance and presidential trait evaluations: A longitudinal analysis

Presidential traits (i.e. morality, intelligence, leadership) have generally been assumed to be idiosyncratic personal characteristics of the individual and are treated as exogenous from other political and economic factors. Prior literature has shown that presidential characteristics and economic performance are important elements of vote choice and approval. Using ANES data from 1984 to 2008, we demonstrate an important link between these factors, showing that objective and subjective indicators of economic performance are significant predictors of trait evaluations. Specifically, evaluations of the incumbent president at election time are directly related to changes in economic performance earlier in the year. The effects of economic performance are not isolated to retrospective policy evaluations, but also influence the overall evaluation of the president as a person.     

Semiotics and performing arts: contemporary issues

ABSTRACT

Contemporary experiences highlight a crisis in representation which reveals itself through profound changes in the processes and instances at work in the postmodern/post-dramatic performance. As well at the level of production as at the one of reception, important transformations have occurred regarding action, feeling, perception of the stage, fragmentation, crisis of the body mediation, and crisis of the invariant supports of the performance. The consequences of those innovative processes are numerous: they influence the theoretical approaches, and among others the semiotic perspectives. Three types of questions about the relationship between semiotics and nowadays theatrical practices should be explored: First, the place of externality. By reconsidering the issue of the origin of meaning, as general semiotics does, the semiotics of performing arts opens the way for externalizing theories (embodiment, the study of bios/life, and theories of corporeity). Second, the issue of the researcher and in particular his or her exteriority regarding the object. This question points the demand of scientific rigor which characterizes recent research on the performing arts. A paradox which is virtually a dual injunction: the more ephemeral the object, the more imperious the need for scholarship. Although particularly relevant with regard to contemporary concerns centred on the subjectivity of the utterance (presence, effect of presence, intermediality, body–machine relations, etc.), does semiotics still have a universalizing vocation? How can one reproduce the experience of subjectivity?     

Portuguese Citizens’ Support for Democracy: 40 Years after the Carnation Revolution

Abstract

Forty years after the Carnation Revolution, the relatively young Portuguese democracy is experiencing dramatically low levels of public specific support for democracy. This article tests the leverage of demand-side and supply-side accounts to explain differentials in public satisfaction with democracy. Through ordinary least squares regression analyses that draw on the unique data of the ‘Barometer 40 Years of Democracy in Portugal (2014)’, this articles shows that age cohort, identification with extreme parties, evaluation of the country’s political past, and economic performance are strong correlates of citizens’ specific support for democracy.     

Public confidence in the judiciary: the interaction between political awareness and level of democracy

Apart from the studies that focus on public attitudes toward higher courts in advanced democracies, we know little about the factors that can explain public confidence in the judiciary in a comparative setting. In this regard, the goal of this study is to explain whether, and to what extent, the country's level of democracy moderates the impact of political awareness on public confidence in the judiciary. This study uses hierarchical linear models to analyse the interaction between individual and country level factors by using the World Values Survey (2005–2009) data for 49 countries and various other data sources. Our empirical results show that in advanced democracies political awareness variables like education and political participation have a positive impact on public confidence in the judiciary, whereas in countries with weak levels of democracy higher political awareness leads to increased cynicism about the judiciary. These results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to explain confidence in the judiciary is not possible when we are dealing with a wide range of societies that vary in terms of many characteristics, both institutional and cultural.     

反相HPLC法同时测定大麻植物中的三种有效成分

目的建立同时测定大麻植物中四氢大麻酚(tetrahydrocannabinol,THC)、大麻二酚(cannabidiol,CBD)和大麻酚(cannabinol,CBN)三种有效成分的高效液相色谱(HPLC)法。方法采用通用C_(18)色谱柱,以乙腈-磷酸盐缓冲液(0.015 mol/L KH_2PO_4)为流动相,流速为1.0 m L/min,检测波长为220 nm,同时收集波长190~400nm的紫外光谱图,并以此光谱图及保留时间作为定性依据。结果所建方法能良好地分离THC、CBD和CBN,三种成分在0.4~40μg/m L范围内线性关系良好(R~2≥0.999 3),回收率大于87%,最低检出限分别为1.8、2.0和1.3 ng,日内精密度与日间精密度均小于5%。结论反相HPLC法简便、快速、准确,适用于大麻植物中THC、CBD和CBN的定性定量检测。     

The Relationship Between Child Maltreatment,Intimate Partner Violence Exposure,and Academic Performance

This article presents a longitudinal examination of the association between children's experiences of child maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV), alone and in combination, with children's academic performance. Integrated, administrative data from the Minnesota Departments of Education and Human Services were used to obtain a sample of 2,914 children. Data provided an opportunity to study comparisons of single (CM or IPV) and combined experiences (CM-IPV), longitudinally observe the impact of these experiences on academic functioning, and make comparisons to the general population. Results revealed significant differences in school attendance and math and reading performance by adverse experience. Children exposed to CM and IPV, individually or in combination, underperformed at school. IPV-exposed children had the poorest outcomes. Findings highlight the need for dedicated screening for adverse childhood experiences, particularly IPV exposure, and devoting greater educational and social service resources as a means of promoting future school achievement and adult functioning.     

论犯罪被害人被害性心理表现及其预防

无论是犯罪人还是被害人都不是一个绝对静止的概念,它们是犯罪行为过程中的一对矛盾体。犯罪被害人存在被害性,有其被害性的心理表现。因此,重视对犯罪主体的心理研究,加强对犯罪被害人心理的探讨并提出有效对策,是预防或减少犯罪发生的有效途径。     

浅析警察职业倦怠

长期处于高危险、高压力、高强度、高应激状态下的警察是职业倦怠的高发群体。研究警察职业倦怠产生的原因和对策对提高警务活动的效率有重要的现实意义。消除警察职业倦怠可以通过优化社会环境,提高警察机关管理水平,健全法制保障和增强警察个体素质等途径来实现。     

上市公司股权集中度与经营绩效关系的行业特征分析

本文利用上海证券交易所采掘、电力和煤气行业的40家及批发、零售贸易业,电子信息产业的91家上市公司的数据,在进行适当的筛选和剔除之后,对它们2003年至2005年三年的数据进行了实证研究。结果表明,在不同的行业特征条件下,股权集中度对公司经营绩效的影响是不同的:在竞争性行业的上市公司中,股权相对集中,且有若干个大股东的股权集中度有利于公司绩效的提升;在垄断性行业的上市公司中,则是较高的股权集中度有利于公司绩效的提升,无论是第一大股东、前五大股东或前十大股东的持股比例都应保持较高水平。这些实证结果为完善我国的上市公司治理提供了有益的启示。     

政府绩效评估指标设计的开发思路

政府绩效评估指标设计在整个政府绩效评估过程中居于核心地位,指标设计应遵循业绩指标与通用指标相结合、定性指标和定量指标相结合、传统指标与现代指标相结合、正数指标与负数指标相结合、基本指标与修正指标相结合、过程指标与结果指标相结合的开发思路。