Richard Davis

Congress and the Internet

Information technologies have permeated society and political life. Congress also has been incorporating these new technologies as members have established their own Web sites and acquired e-mail addresses. Using a survey of congressional offices and a content analysis of congressional Web sites, we describe how Congress as an institution uses the Internet to disseminate information to the public and how individual members of Congress use the Internet and e-mail to interact with constituents. We conclude that congressional response to these technologies has been mixed and that, to the extent that members have embraced the new technologies, they have done so not to facilitate interactivity with constituents, but primarily as an extension of their strategies of advertising themselves to constituents.

Speaking for the Public: Representation and Audience Participation during the 1997 British General Election Campaign

Audience-participation programs are designed to provide interaction between politicians and voters. Through voters questions, politicians gain a valuable gauge of public opinion. However, for this to happen, participants must be representative of the general public. Previous U.S. research suggests that this is not the case, but this failure may be caused by that countrys commercialized media structure. Callers to the premiere British election phone-in program, Election Call, broadcast by the non-commercial BBC, are compared with members of the general public to determine whether its participants are socially and politically representative of the general public. The results are negative, at least in part because simply reflecting the public mood would conflict with the rules and norms of public-interest broadcasting.

The Invisible Dance: The Supreme Court and the Press

he relationship between the Supreme Court and the press has been but a footnote in scholarly analysis of political institutions and the press. Some explanations for that neglect are obvious. Press coverage of the Court is meager, purticularly compared to that of Congress or the president.’ Moreover, the limited coverage that the Court receives is often criticized as inadequate and superficial.? News coverage tends to be driven by journalistic values rather than legal salience.3 Given the scant and often superficial coverage, the lack of scholarly interest is understandable. Yet such elementary explanations fail to address the important question of whether the Court seeks a relationship with the press. The obvious answer would be negative. But is that the correct answer’? It is widely assumed that the Court has little interest in the press and public opinion because its only constituency is the legal profession. Such a view implies that the Court has no need or desire to communicate with the press. But Larry Berkson has identified two separate constituencies of the Supreme Court: the legal profession, as is generally assumed, and a less attentive but more important portion of the general public.‘ This second, more subtle constituency is the base of power for the Court. In Federalist 78 , Alexander Hamilton argued that because the Court lacks the power of either sword or purse,

The Foreign Policymaking Role of Congress in the 1990s: Remote Sensing Technology and the Future of Congressional Power

In the midst of a period of Congressional assertiveness on foreign policy, a new technology has emerged for commercial use with the potential for enhancing Congress information-gathering processes and agenda-setting role. The effect may alter the balance of power in the relationship between Congress and the President. Congress access to news media stories of imagery may provide an independent information source on U.S. or foreign military installations and activities. Such a source could be utilized to assess issues such as Pentagon appropriations, treaty compliance, and foreign aid funding. The thesis of this article is that when interest groups and the news media use remote sensing imagery on foreign policy issues, the foreign and national security policymaking process will be transformed by enhancing the information status and the public agendasetting role of previously excluded segments such as interest groups, the news media, and the general public. The expanded role of these groups will decentrali...

Passive gravitational sedimentation of peripheral blood increases the sensitivity of microscopic detection of malaria.

OBJECTIVEnTo determine if passive gravitational sedimentation of blood samples, followed by buffy coat thin smear preparation could increase the sensitivity of malaria diagnosis when compared to conventional thin smear preparation without the additional cost of centrifuges or molecular diagnostics.nnnMETHODSnBlood samples were collected from 205 patients. Each patient sample was analyzed using all three methods of sample preparation.nnnRESULTSnBuffy coat analysis of centrifuged blood samples greatly increased the sensitivity of malaria diagnosis when compared to standard thin smear techniques. Sensitivity between mechanically centrifuged samples and gravitationally sedimented samples showed equal improvement in sensitivity when compared to standard thin smear preparation.nnnCONCLUSIONSnPassive gravitational sedimentation of red blood cells followed by buffy coat analysis dramatically improves the sensitivity of malaria diagnosis without the additional costs associated with centrifugation.