Do Absentee Voters Differ from Polling Place Voters?: New Evidence from California

In the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election 2,775,785absentee ballots were cast, representing about 30 percent ofall voters statewide. Given the number of absentee ballots andthe increasing propensity for voters in California and elsewhereto choose this voting method, we some basic questions: Who areabsentee voters, and are they different from polling place voters?To answer these questions, we fielded a statewide survey ofabsentee voters in the days before the October 7 recall election,asking respondents why they voted absentee, their partisan andideological preferences, demographic characteristics, and otherrelevant questions. We find that absentee voters do not differsignificantly from the overall state electorate in terms oftheir vote preferences, despite being older and better educated.For example, 56 percent of absentee voters in our survey voted"yes" on the recall, compared with 55 percent for the entirestate, according to official returns. Further, absentee votersfavored Arnold Schwarzenegger over Cruz Bustamante by a considerablemargin, similar to the overall election results. We found partyregistration among absentee voters to be nearly identical tostatewide partisan registration.     

Neonate and Infant Emotion Expression Perceived by Adults

This exploratory study investigates the meaning that adults attribute to the facial expressions of neonates and young infants using different types of scales, and tries to assess whether adult judgments get more precise as the infants get older. We videotaped longitudinally six infants' facial expressions in 5 everyday life situations at 3 days, 1 month, and 3 months old. Untrained adult decoders had to assess the activation and pleasure/displeasure levels signaled by the isolated videotaped facial expressions, recognize the stimulus situations, and attribute a verbal label to each expression. Our results showed that inter-decoder agreement was higher when the babies' facial expressions were considered as signals of activation or of pleasure/displeasure, and decreased significantly when the expressions had to be interpreted as signals of specific situations or when a verbal label had to be ascribed. The specificity and the accuracy of the answers, and inter-decoder agreement, were higher for the older infants.     

The family culture of negotiation—a result of changing parent‐child relationships

Case studies of parent‐child relations in three different European regions—West Germany, East Germany and the Netherlands—offer material for the comparative analysis of the ongoing intra‐familial process of modernization and civilization in post‐war West European societies. The data are drawn from extended narrative interviews with twelve‐year‐olds and from parallel but separate semi‐structured ‘mirrored’ interviews with the same children and their parents. The results of the analysis show that family relations in general, and parent‐child relations in particular, are increasingly marked by a familial ‘culture of negotiation’. This suggests that the balance of intergenerational power relations is currently in the process of change. To a greater or lesser extent, contemporary family relations are characterized by situationally grounded processes of negotiation between parents and children.     

Perceived leader integrity: Supporting the construct validity and utility of a multi-dimensional measure in two samples

The empirical study of perceived leader integrity has lagged its intuitively appealing role as a fundamental characteristic of effective leaders. Following theoretical examinations of the definition of integrity and previous work arguing that perceived integrity emerges from judgments of leader consistency and leader morality, we developed a multidimensional measure that includes both perceived morality and consistency items. In a first sample of university students, confirmatory factor analyses and results from regression analyses relating the dimensions to direct measures of leader integrity and trust offer partial support for the utility of including dimensions of moral behavior and consistency (represented by behavioral integrity). Further, we replicated these findings in a second sample of working professionals and found support for our hypotheses showing that dimensions assessing behavioral integrity and moral behavior related to leader effectiveness, job satisfaction, work engagement, and intent to quit as mediated by trust in the leader.     

Project Re•Vision: disability at the edges of representation

The representational history of disabled people can largely be characterized as one of being put on display or hidden away. Self-representations have been a powerful part of the disability rights and culture movement, but recently scholars have analysed the ways in which these run the risk of creating a ‘single story’ that centres the experiences of white, western, physically disabled men. Here we introduce and theorize with Project Re?Vision, our arts-based research project that resists this singularity by creating and centring, without normalizing, representations that have previously been relegated to the margins. We draw from body becoming and new materialist theory to explore the dynamic ways in which positionality illuminates bodies of difference and open into a discussion about what is at stake when these stories are let loose into the world.     

Estimating Listeria monocytogenes Growth in Ready-to-Eat Chicken Salad Using a Challenge Test for Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment

Currently, there is a growing preference for convenience food products, such as ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, associated with long refrigerated shelf-lives, not requiring a heat treatment prior to consumption. Because Listeria monocytogenes is able to grow at refrigeration temperatures, inconsistent temperatures during production, distribution, and at consumer's household may allow for the pathogen to thrive, reaching unsafe limits. L. monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis, a rare but severe human illness, with high fatality rates, transmitted almost exclusively by food consumption. With the aim of assessing the quantitative microbial risk of L. monocytogenes in RTE chicken salads, a challenge test was performed. Salads were inoculated with a three-strain mixture of cold-adapted L. monocytogenes and stored at 4, 12, and 16 °C for eight days. Results revealed that the salad was able to support L. monocytogenes’ growth, even at refrigeration temperatures. The Baranyi primary model was fitted to microbiological data to estimate the pathogen's growth kinetic parameters. Temperature effect on the maximum specific growth rate (μ_max) was modeled using a square-root-type model. Storage temperature significantly influenced μ_max of L. monocytogenes (p < 0.05). These predicted growth models for L. monocytogenes were subsequently used to develop a quantitative microbial risk assessment, estimating a median number of 0.00008726 listeriosis cases per year linked to the consumption of these RTE salads. Sensitivity analysis considering different time–temperature scenarios indicated a very low median risk per portion (<−7 log), even if the assessed RTE chicken salad was kept in abuse storage conditions.     

States and the nuclear power. An international perspective

This paper analyzes the evolution of public policies on nuclear energy from an international perspective highlighting an interesting sociological paradox: the opposition to nuclear power contributed to the development of the environmental movement; and at present, the promoters of this kind of energy are including environmental arguments in their discourses, the fear of climate change and the reduction of CO₂. Although the Kyoto Protocol does not accept this kind of energy as a clean development mechanism (CDM), its promotion is carried out on the basis of environment objectives, so that the nuclear lobby is obtaining more social acceptation thanks to the environmental discourse in the last four decades. For this research, the nuclear policies at an international level are analyzed inside a wider research about the nuclear debate financed by Encuentro Foundation (Spain).     

The importance of user centered design methods applied to the design of a new workstation: a case study

This paper presents a case study of the application of user centered design methodologies in the product development for a line of ergonomic office furniture. The study aimed to analyze the experience of using a workstation from the perspective of two groups of users, installers and end users. The observation of users in their natural context of use not only allowed the development team to identify key needs and strategies of the users, transforming them into design solutions, but mainly it warned them of the importance and impact of user involvement in the product development cycle.     

Exploring dialogic strategies in social media for fostering citizens’ interactions with Latin American local governments

Although the benefits of social media for enhancing citizens’ interactions with their local governments are well known in a more global context, few studies have focused on Latin America, or on the MERCOSUR countries in particular. This paper examines the use of dialogic strategies in the social media activities of local governments in MERCOSUR countries in order to generate citizens’ online engagement. Analysis of this question enhances our understanding of the use of social media by local governments in less developed countries and highlights the need for empirical evidence on the use of dialogic communication theory regarding stakeholder engagement with social media. The findings obtained reflect the positive influence of dialogic strategies on citizens’ online engagement, particularly those based on dialogic loop, useful information and generation of return visits, aimed at fostering participation via social media.