The (partisan) role of the press in direct democratic campaigns : Evidence from a Swiss vote on European integration

This article analyzes the role of the press in direct democratic campaigns. The paper argues the press has a dual role: On news pages, newspapers ought to inform citizens about the issue positions and frames of the pro and con camps in a balanced way. In editorials, newspapers act as political advocates that promote their own issue frames and try to shape public opinion through voting recommendations. Comparing the issue positions and frames in editorials and news reports in the run-up to the vote on the popular initiative "Yes to Europe" in Switzerland, this article shows that newspapers give similar visibility to the pro and con camps regardless of the papers' own editorial position. However, some newspapers favor issue frames that are in line with their editorial perspectives. In conclusion, newspapers are more similar in news report content than in editorial views.

Three-party entanglement from positronium

The decay of orthopositronium into three photons produces a physical realization of a pure state with three-party entanglement. Its quantum correlations are analyzed using recent results on quantum information theory, looking for the final state that has the maximal amount of Greenberger, Horne, and Zeilinger like correlations. This state allows for a statistical dismissal of local realism stronger than the one obtained using any entangled state of two spin one-half particles.

Directly Elected Mayors and their Parties: The Cases of Genoa and Lausanne

While the literature on directly elected mayors has largely neglected the relationship between mayors and their parties, studies of party transformation have generally ignored how changes in local democratic rules and practices affect parties. This article addresses these questions using a qualitative case study of the relationship between mayors and the three faces of their parties (in local public office, local central office and on the ground) in Genoa and Lausanne. Based on interviews with the mayors, elected representatives and party members, it finds in the two cases that, as long as these mayors can count on high levels of popularity and are not nearing the end of their term, they are 'party detached'. When these factors do not apply and/or party institutionalization increases, the relationship with the party in local central office (although not with the party in local public office or on the ground) becomes more significant.

The Limits of Issue Ownership Dynamics : The Constraining Effect of Party Preference

Issue ownership theory argues that when a voter considers a party to be the most competent amongst others to deal with an issue (that is, the party "owns" the issue), chances are the voter will vote for that party. Recent work has shown that perceptions of issue ownership are dynamic: they are affected by the media coverage of party messages. However, based on the broad literature on partisan bias, we predict that parties' efforts to change issue ownership perceptions will have a difficult time breaching the perceptual screen created by a voter's party preference. Using two separate experiments with a similar design we show that the effect of partisan issue messages on issue competence is moderated by party preference. The effect of issue messages is reinforced when people already like a party, and blocked when people dislike a party.

Els remences de l'Almoina del Pa de la Seu de Girona (Segles XIV i XV)

Aquest article és un resum de la tesi doctoral titulada Els remences de l'Almoina del Pa de la Seu de Girona (segles XIV i XV), on s'ha analitzat el funcionament real de la servitud catalana medieval. Així doncs, el seu objectiu ha estat estudiar tots els mals usos i tots els homenatges servils aplicats i rebuts per una sola senyoria, els remences de la qual van participar activament en les dues guerres que van emprendre contra els seus senyors a final del segle XV. La senyoria escollida, l'Almoina del Pa de la Seu de Girona, és, sense cap mena de dubte, representativa del que succeïa en la diòcesi gironina. El fet que s'hagin conservat la majoria dels llibres de comptes dels seus pabordes ha permès estudiar el funcionament real i l'evolució dels pagaments derivats de la servitud en una sola senyoria i durant més de cent anys.

Aspectos epidemiológicos da vassoura-de-bruxa do cupuaçuzeiro na microrregião de Belém, PA

Foi conduzido experimento no campo da Embrapa-Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária do Trópico Úmido, em Belém, PA (1°28' S; 48°27' W), de junho/91 a maio/94, com plantas de cupuaçuzeiro (Theobroma grandiflorum (Willd. ex Spreng.) K. Schum.) com sete anos de idade, objetivando acompanhar o desenvolvimento de vassouras-de-bruxa vegetativas causadas por Crinipellis perniciosa ((Stahel) Singer), desde a sua emissão até a produção de basidiocarpos. Foram determinados coeficientes de correlação entre as variáveis epidemiológicas (emissão de vassouras, período verde, período de secamento, período pré-frutificativo, produção de basidiocarpos) e as variáveis climáticas (umidade relativa do ar máxima, brilho solar, precipitação pluvial). A emissão de vassouras vegetativas foi maior em julho e agosto. Estas permaneceram verdes por 34,9 a 65,2 dias e secaram entre 5,8 e 10 dias. Após sua emissão, as vassouras demoraram de 79,5 a 347 dias para iniciar a produção de basidiocarpos, que ocorreu principalmente a partir de maio, com pico em junho. As variáveis climáticas, umidade relativa do ar máxima e brilho solar, correlacionaram-se significativamente apenas com a produção de basidiocarpos, com efeito negativo e positivo, respectivamente.

Measuring Party Positions and Issue Salience from Media Coverage: Introducing and Cross-Validating New Indicators

Recent studies have started to use media data to measure party positions and issue salience. The aim of this article is to compare and cross-validate this alternative approach with the more commonly used party manifestos, expert judgments and mass surveys. To this purpose, we present two methods to generate indicators of party positions and issue salience from media coverage: the core sentence approach and political claims analysis. Our cross-validation shows that with regard to party positions, indicators derived from the media converge with traditionally used measurements from party manifestos, mass surveys and expert judgments, but that salience indicators measure different underlying constructs. We conclude with a discussion of specific research questions for which media data offer potential advantages over more established methods.