Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication

An increasing number of citizens change and adapt their party preferences during the electoral campaign. We analyze which short-term factors explain intra-campaign changes in voting preferences, focusing on the visibility and tone of news media reporting and party canvassing. Our analyses rely on an integrative data approach, linking data from media content analysis to public opinion data. This enables us to investigate the relative impact of news media reporting as well as party communication. Inherently, we overcome previously identified methodological problems in the study of communication effects on voting behavior. Our findings reveal that campaigns matter: Especially interpersonal party canvassing increases voters’ likelihood to change their voting preferences in favor of the respective party, whereas media effects are limited to quality news outlets and depend on individual voters’ party ambivalence.     

Influence of Voter Demographics and Newspaper in Shaping Political Party Choice in India: An Empirical Investigation

Choice of political party is an important decision a citizen faces in a democracy. In recent times, as democracies in many countries have matured, a number of studies are focusing on party and candidate choice and their various determinants. India, being the largest democracy, provides a fertile ground for such research. Accordingly, in this paper we concentrate on demographic characteristics, newspaper-reading habits of voters, and their political choice. To study this we have considered a very unique data set collected just before the watershed elections in the state of West Bengal in India, where the ruling Communist coalition was defeated after thirty-four years of power in the state. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire to collect information on demographic characteristics of voters and their political choice. The respondents were asked to indicate their party choice from among the three major political parties. As the literature shows that gender, age, education, income levels, marital status, occupational status, and choice of newspaper have significant impact on political choice, we have considered these as predictor variables for our study. From our study it is seen that among the demographic determinants, gender, marital status, and income of the respondents do not influence the choice of political party in our sample. However, occupation and newspaper choice of voters have significant impact on political party choice in our sample. In addition, we have observed that certain categories of age of voters significantly influence decision making of voters along with occupation and newspaper choice categories.     

Tax Compliance as a System: Mapping the Field

Tax evasion is a serious and growing problem all over the world. In most cases, non-compliant tax behavior is associated with tax evasion. Such approach, however, is incomplete. There is a lack of clear definitions of compliance and non-compliance. This article focuses on defining the key terms related to tax compliance and on mapping and systematizing the determinants of tax compliance and proposes a way to develop an administrative strategy for tax compliance. The novelty of the study lies in approaching tax compliance as a systemic whole. A systemic approach to tax compliance as a comprehensive whole could serve as the basis for the tax authority in developing administrative strategies.     

Carnal teachings: raunch aesthetics as queer feminist pedagogies in Yo! Majesty's hip hop practice

This essay puts forward a notion of “raunch aesthetics,” theorizing raunch as an aesthetic, performative, and vernacular practice: an explicit mode of sexual expression that transgresses norms of privacy and respectability. Raunch aesthetics describe creative practices that often blend humor and sexual explicitness to launch cultural critiques, generate pleasure for minority audiences, and affirm queer lives. The author activates her formulation of raunch in analyzing Yo! Majesty, a hip hop group comprised of black female emcees who openly describe their sexual desire for women, and explores how the queer youth of color she works with have responded to their music. Working beyond the unexamined moralisms that give critiques of raunch culture their legitimacy, the author argues that Yo! Majesty's raunch aesthetics transmit queer and feminist teachings. While celebrating carnal pleasures, these artists critique heterosexism, subvert narratives about the incompatibility of belief in Christ and queer sexualities, and trouble notions concerning the emancipation of coming out of the closet and declaring a stable homosexual identity. In demonstrating how raunch aesthetics generate consciousness raising, the author discusses how her youth participants critically read and consume hip hop while negotiating unwieldy meanings of sexuality and gender presentation.     

Ethyl Glucuronide Concentration in Hair of Detainees: A Preliminary Study

Through the measurement of ethyl glucuronide in hair (hETG), it is possible to assess chronic alcohol abuse over time. In this paper, we present a study on hETG in Italian prison inmates. Analyses were performed by LC-MS according to a previously published method. Results were evaluated using the cut-offs established by the Society of Hair Testing. Positives samples (ETG > 30 pg/mg) accounted for 6% of all subjects, with concentrations ranging from 42 pg/mg up to 270 pg/mg, abstinent subjects (ETG < 7 pg/mg) accounted for 88%, and moderate alcohol consumption (7 < ETG < 30 pg/mg) for 6% of the subjects. No females displayed ETG values above 30 pg/mg. Among positive samples, only two subjects did not declare heavy alcohol consumption and were found strongly positive at 210 and 270 pg/mg. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first study on ETG hair concentration on prison inmates.     

民事自助行为制度的功能分析及立法选择

自助行为属于私力救济的一种形式,它具有保护利益的特定性、行为的法定性和公力补充性的特征;自助行为制度有利于保护公民的合法权益,降低司法成本,提高司法效率,维护市场经济信用秩序等方面的功能;我国的民事立法中应该引入该制度,以促进我国法制现代化进程。     

人口年龄结构如何影响住房财富效应？——基于家庭微观视角的分析

人口年龄结构变动与高房价均为我国当前经济社会的重要特征,研究人口年龄结构对住房财富效应的影响对于房价调控、释放居民消费潜力具有较大的现实意义。基于中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,实证检验人口年龄结构对住房财富效应的影响,结果发现：老年抚养比和幼年抚养比升高显著增强了住房财富效应,且幼年抚养比升高对住房财富效应的影响更大;进一步,老年抚养比和幼年抚养比对拥有大产权房产家庭和低房价收入比家庭的住房财富效应有显著正向影响,但对拥有小产权房产家庭和高房价收入比家庭的影响不显著;并且,幼年抚养比对家庭住房财富效应的正向影响在高房价地区更为显著,老年抚养比对其的正向影响则在低房价区域更显著。     

犯罪对象概念的批判性考察

我国刑法理论中的犯罪对象概念面临着很多理论困境,这些困境产生的根源在于犯罪对象在犯罪构成中的体系性位置及功能产生了错位。在传统理论中,犯罪对象同时作为犯罪客体的物质承担者和犯罪行为所直接指向、作用的对象而存在。实际上,这两种功能的承担者在某些情况下是分离的。我们应彻底抛弃犯罪对象的概念,以行为对象和社会关系的物质承担者,来分别承担犯罪对象原有的两种功能。     

处罚法定视野下失信惩戒的规范进路

在新《行政处罚法》增设行政处罚定义条款的背景下,大部分失信惩戒措施都可以纳入行政处罚范畴。处罚法定原则是规范行政处罚的关键技术,现行失信惩戒制度在要件、效果、程序等维度上皆不同程度偏离了处罚法定原则,亟需纠偏。在要件法定层面,应对失信概念进行类型化提炼、拼接失信构成要件的规范分离,并增设主观过错要素;在效果法定层面,失信惩戒的设定应恪守法律保留、建立失信行为与惩戒措施的匹配规则,并在"一事不再罚"框架内实施惩戒;在程序法定层面,信息归集程序应符合《民法典》《个人信息保护法》设定的信息处理规则,处罚决定程序须在自动化处理和人工介入之间求得平衡并合理限定追究时效,信用修复程序则应完善修复条件,以及引入"信息修复"制度。     

基于能耗的碳排放研究

粗放式经济的发展导致高强度的碳排放,面对全球气候变化的严峻形势,低碳经济给出了一条可持续的发展之路。我国是一个人口大国,经济发展规模较大加上经济结构不合理,导致能耗高、碳排放强度大,为了减少碳排放,应对气候变暖的危机,我们必须走低碳经济之路,国家要开征碳税,引导合理的能源消费,由粗放型经济向集约型的低碳经济转变,调整产业结构,优化能源消费结构,提高能源的最终利用效率,从而达到经济效益和环境效益的＂双赢＂。