The measurement of electoral competition,with application to Indian states

We investigate the measurement of three distinct, but related dimensions of electoral competition in a majoritarian electoral system: contestability in the struggle for governing power; competition among candidates at the constituency level; and competition among existing parties at the level of the legislature. At each step, the analysis is made concrete by calculating our preferred indexes of these dimensions of competitiveness for 14 major Indian states from 1972 to 2009 (and from 1952 in some cases), while comparing them to others that have been widely used, though not always calculated for Indian states. We also use our preferred indexes to study the importance of the level of development for an understanding of how competition has evolved across the states. The paper concludes by posing questions about the measurement of competitiveness, in general and in the Indian case, that arise in the course of our investigation.     

基于利益平衡视角的个人信息法律保护探析

大数据时代信息主体需要对其个人信息更强有力的法律保护,与此同时,信息业者呼唤对合理收集、处理信息的法律认可,信息主体和信息业者都对法律提出自己的利益诉求。基于对人格利益和信息自由的利益平衡以及对信息人格属性和财产属性的利益归属,应以利益平衡思想指导个人信息保护立法,对信息主体和信息业者的不同利益诉求进行不同保护,并对个人信息不同权利主体的权利内容进行科学界定。     

The importance of personal vote intentions for the responsiveness of legislators: A field experiment

Individual legislators can be important agents of political representation. However, this is contingent upon their responsiveness to constituency requests. To study this topic, an increasing number of studies use field experiments in which the researcher sends a standardized email to legislators on behalf of a constituent. In this paper, we report the results of an original field experiment of this genre with the members of the German Bundestag. Supplementing previous research, we explore whether constituency requests in which voters mention a personal vote intention (rather than a partisan vote intention) increase legislators’ responsiveness, and how this treatment relates to electoral system's incentives. We find that legislators treated with a personal vote intention were more likely to respond (67 per cent) and respond faster than those treated with a partisan vote intention (59 per cent). However, we also show that the treatment effect is moderated by electoral system incentives: it is larger for nominally-elected legislators than for those elected via a party list. Our results suggest that electoral system's incentives matter for legislators’ responsiveness only when constituents explicitly signals an intention to cast a personal vote.     

必要性与可行性:“被遗忘权”制度的引入之辩

数字化记忆是互联网信息时代的重要表征。“被遗忘权”制度的提出,突显了公众对“过度记忆”这一时代发展趋势的抗拒。但是,“被遗忘权”在本土化移植问题上面临着权利实施必要性、权利实现可行性双重困境。一方面,“被遗忘权”所欲保护的利益与我国《个人信息保护法》中“删除权”所涵摄之内容重叠;另一方面,“被遗忘权”的引入会影响公众言论自由权及知情权的行使,危害良性社会秩序的建立。同时,由于“被遗忘权”的权利内容过于宽泛,易被异化为一种“特权”,从而影响互联网信息的流动,抑制我国信息产业的发展。因此,我国目前不宜引入“被遗忘权”。     

Exploring Personal Political Brands of Iceland’s Parliamentarians

This paper focuses on an under-researched and under-developed typology of political branding and conceptualizes politicians as personal political brands. Further, this study answers explicit calls for more research devoted to exploring the development of intended brand identity particularly from a brand creator perspective. Members of Parliament from the Republic of Iceland contextualizes this study. This qualitative case-study approach reveals how personal political brands create, construct and communicate their identity. Personal political brand identities were established and managed via a clear brand mantra and offline-online communication tools, which in turn revealed a degree of alignment with their party-political brand. However, this paper also demonstrates the challenges of managing the identities of personal political brands in terms of authenticity and integration particularly with coalition partners. Our paper builds on the six-staged analytical process of personal branding and proposes the Personal Political Brand Identity Appraisal Framework as an operational tool to introspectively evaluate personal political brand identity. This framework can be used by political actors across different settings and contexts to assess personal political brands from multiple perspectives.     

Oral and skin microbiome as potential tools in forensic field

The interest in the analysis of the human microbiome for personal identification purposes is based on the microbial diversity amongst individuals. The oral cavity hosts one of the most diverse and abundant microbial communities in the human body; the skin instead is a complex living ecosystem with unique microbial niches at different sites. Both skin and oral microbiomes are highly individual and relatively stable over time. As saliva and skin debris are often found at crime scenes, the analysis of their microbiome may represent a potential tool for personal identification. However, there are some gaps in knowledge on how factors such as age, sex, geographic origin, diet and pathologies can affect the composition of the microbiome. The aim of this study is to improve the existing knowledge by examining oral and skin microbiomes from the same individuals and evaluating the variability between anatomical sites and donors. For this study, 50 individuals living in Italy donated oral swab samples and provided information regarding their diet, lifestyle, health status, antibiotic use, and other demographic data. Skin swabs from 11 of the 50 individuals were also analysed and compared to the oral swabs from the same donors. All analyses were done through metabarcoding of the 16S rRNA region of DNA extracted from the samples. This research outlines the potential use of oral and skin microbiome signatures as added evidence in personal identification, providing useful investigative clues for future forensic caseworks.     

个人所得税法的空筐结构与规范续造

个人所得税法呈现"空筐"外观,实施条例及财税规范性文件循解释执行上位法、依授权制定规则、补充漏洞、创制规则四条进路实施规范续造。地方人大、政府的制度内规则创设权极其有限。税收事项技术性常被作为证成剩余立法权的理由,但此非充要条件。在组织财政收入的传统目标外,调控功能的植入吁求个税规则一定的灵活性。地区间差异使"净额所得"导向的个税规则应有区别,因地制宜的治理实践同样在应然层面消解税权集中的合理性。我国应区分财政目的规范与管制诱导性规范,施以不同程度的法定要求;在纵向适当授权的同时,在横向维度,于四条规范续造路径中分别甄选适于两类规范者。对各类规范续造,都要强化实体和程序控制,并建构审查机制。     

Identification of unknown bodies by using CT images of frontal sinus

The aim of the study was to define a simple system for the identification of unknown bodies by using CT images of frontal sinus and to discuss whether it was worth to add measurements to the system or not. The system was including simple features as F (presence or absence of frontal sinus), S (intersinus and intrasinus septum) and S (scalloping), and named as FSS system. Measurements selected for the study were width, height, anteroposterior length, total width of two sinuses, the distance between the highest points of the two sinuses and the distance of each sinus to its maximum lateral limit. The study was conducted retrospectively on the paranasal CT scans of 100 cases (38 male and 62 female) who had no apparent sinonasal pathology. All the features and measurements were coded according to the system defined by the authors for each case and coded formulas were compared. At least 93% of the formulas could be eliminated for a case by using FSS system. The rate of success was increased to 98% by adding measurements. Contrary to objective criteria of FSS system, measurements were prone to bias. Therefore, in practice success rate would be expected to be lower than calculated. In the study population, instead of making 100 measurements, eliminating the most of the cases with FSS system and later discriminating the rest by pattern matching was seen logical.     

The ‘Right to be Forgotten’ – Worth remembering?

In the last few years there has been a lot of buzz around a so-called ‘right to be forgotten’. Especially in Europe, this catchphrase is heavily debated in the media, in court and by regulators. Since a clear definition has not emerged (yet), the following article will try to raise the veil on this vague concept. The first part will weigh the right’s pros and cons against each other. It will appear that the ‘right to be forgotten’ clearly has merit, but needs better definition to avoid any negative consequences. As such, the right is nothing more than a way to give (back) individuals control over their personal data and make the consent regime more effective. The second part will then evaluate the potential implementation of the right. Measures are required at the normative, economical, technical, as well as legislative level. The article concludes by proposing a ‘right to be forgotten’ that is limited to data processing situations where the individual has given his or her consent. Combined with a public interest exception, this should (partially) restore the power balance and allow individuals a more effective control over their personal data.     

The integration hypothesis: How the European Union shapes economic voting

Whereas economic perceptions influence the national vote in Western European countries, globalization, or international openness, conditions the influence of economic perceptions on that national vote. But how do attitudes toward the EU itself influence the economic vote? After establishing the presence of a national economic vote in Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal) we test the hypothesis that heightened perception of European Union economic responsibility reduces the magnitude of the national economic vote coefficient. These tests are carried out on current (2009) survey data, via logistic regression analysis of fully specified voting behavior models, estimated country-by-country and in a data pool. Clearly, the national economic vote diminishes, to the extent the EU is held responsible for the economy.