Tweeting about emergency: A semantic network analysis of government organizations’ social media messaging during Hurricane Harvey

While social media like Twitter have been increasingly adopted by public-sector organizations, it remains less explored as to how government and emergency management (EM) organizations use these platforms to communicate with the public in response to emerging natural disasters. Extending the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) to the realm of social media, this study examines the emerging semantic networks from 67 government and EM organizations’ official tweets during Hurricane Harvey over a three-week period. It identifies how multiple crisis response strategies—including instructing information, adjusting information, and bolstering—are constituted of different issues, actions, and organizational actors before, during, and immediately after the disaster event. Results suggest that government agencies use the strategy of instructing information predominantly before and during the disaster, whereas adjusting information and bolstering strategies are utilized more during post-disaster recovery. The study offers theoretical and practical implications of using a semantic network approach to studying organizational crisis responses.     

Experimental Coastal Land Reclamation: Qianhai as a Case Interpreted

ABSTRACT

Informed by a Coasian transaction cost paradigm enriched by the concept of Schumpeterian innovations, this paper discusses the advantages of using experimental coastal reclamation of the sea to build new cities with a policy for fostering innovations. A new development area at the margin of Shenzhen in China, Qianhai, is used to demonstrate how urban expansion by urban sprawling in a megacity can be avoided by reclamation of marginal land as analytically less costly than along intra-marginal land and more suitable for experimentation for the type of megacity concept that Qianhai aims to achieve.     

从话语权看中国特色大国外交话语的建构原则

中国特色大国外交话语体系的建构需要考虑多元文化之间的话语权竞争,结合话语传播中要素资源的利用来确定基本原则。这要求我们克服西方二元对立的话语权力观,树立社会建构主义的辩证话语权力观。我们需要挖掘中国优秀传统文化,融合其他民族的优秀文化,建立科学的中国特色外交话语理论体系,适时提出中国话题和中国方案,增强我国的内容掌控权。在参与者上,除传统外交中的政府机构和人员外,还需要组织调动各种非政府组织、企业、机构、个人参与公共外交话语活动,利用通俗方式对外方的普通民众进行潜移默化的宣传解释。在平台上,在加强对传统媒介资源的利用之外,还要充分调动书刊、影视、广告、自媒体等大众传媒手段,增强我国的媒体控制权。这些原则须置于整体外交话语体系之中,保证我国外交话语体系的建构有助于增强我国的外交话语权。     

Characterizations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-cutwidth critical trees

The cutwidth problem for a graph G is to embed G into a path such that the maximum number of overlap edges (i.e., the congestion) is minimized. The investigations of critical graphs and their structures are meaningful in the study of a graph-theoretic parameters. We study the structures of k-cutwidth \((k>1)\) critical trees, and use them to characterize the set of all 4-cutwidth critical trees.     

Effects of mediator competence and mediation process on user satisfaction with child custody,finances, and property outcomes

This study draws on survey data from 205 family mediation service users concerning their satisfaction with the outcomes of mediation to address two research questions: (a) how satisfied are service users? and (b) what factors account for users' satisfaction with the outcome of child custody arrangements and the allocation of finances and property? Overall, users' level of satisfaction with outcomes was high. While the mediation process explained a significant variance in satisfaction with the outcomes for child custody and for finances and property, the mediator's perceived professional competence did not predict user satisfaction with the outcomes for either issue. This study contributes to our knowledge on the significance of mediators' process skill, specifically their calm and clear responses to the socioemotional needs of the mediated parties, on the service outcomes for both types of dispute. The implications for mediation training are discussed.