Organization Of Campaigns Research Articles

Absolute Calibration or Validation of the Altimeters on the Sentinel-3A and the Jason-3 over Lake Issykkul (Kyrgyzstan)

Calibration/Validation (C/V) studies using sites in the oceans have a long history and protocols are well established. Over lakes, C/V allows addressing problems such as the performance of the various retracking algorithms and evaluating the accuracy of the geophysical corrections for continental waters. This is achievable when measurements of specific and numerous field campaigns and a ground permanent network of level gauges and weather stations are processed. C/V consists of installation of permanent sites (weather stations, limnigraphs, and GPS reference points) and the organization of regular field campaigns. The lake Issykkul serves as permanent site of C/V, for a multi-mission purpose. The objective of this paper is to calculate the altimeter biases of Jason-3 and Sentinel-3A, both belonging to an operational satellite system which is used for the long-term monitoring of lake level variations. We have also determined the accuracy of the altimeters of these two satellites, through a comparison analysis with in situ data. In 2016 and 2017, three campaigns have been organized over this lake in order to estimate the absolute bias of the nadir altimeter onboard the Jason-3 and Sentinel-3A. The fieldwork consisted of measuring water height using a GPS system, carried on a boat, along the track of the altimeter satellite across the lake. It was performed at the time of the pass of the altimeter. Absolute altimeter biases were calculated by averaging the water height differences along the pass of the satellite (GPS from the boat system versus altimetry). Jason-3 operates in a Low Resolution Mode (LRM), while the Sentinel-3A operates in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mode. In this study we found that the absolute biases measured for Jason-3 were −28 ± 40 mm with the Ocean retracker and 206 ± 30 mm with the Ice-1 retracker. The biases for Sentinel-3A were −14 ± 20 mm with the Samosa (Ocean like) retracker and 285 ± 20 mm with the OCOG (Ice-1-like) retracker. We have also evaluated the accuracy of these two altimeters over Lake Issykkul which reached to 3 cm, for both the instruments, using the Ocean retracker.

Assessing Employee Support during Union Organizing Campaigns

Many labor unions assess support among prospective members to guide decision making during organizing campaigns, and to predict voting in representation elections. However, research on the actual practice of how unions make assessments is limited. We fill this void through a study that combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of the assessment activities. The quantitative portion involved a survey of eligible voters in the 2010 flight attendant representation election at Delta Air Lines. The qualitative portion involved in-depth interviews with staff involved in that campaign and organizing directors or key organizing staff in nine of the largest labor unions in the United States. We focus on the factors that influence the accuracy of assessment predictions, describe practices currently being used to predict votes in these campaigns, and discuss future research needs.

Dosimetry Techniques and Radiation Test Facilities for Total Ionizing Dose Testing

This paper will address dosimetry and monitoring techniques for total ionizing dose (TID) testing of electronics devices. We will first discuss the basic principles of dosimetry, as well as the most common dosimetric quantities and units, used for the determination of the energy deposited in a given medium by ionizing radiation. In Section III , we will give an overview of the available dosimetry techniques for ionizing radiation, along with the basic mechanisms exploited for their operation. In Section IV , we will address issues and factors affecting the dosimetry measurements, as well as we will give some practical “hints” about the selection and use of the presented techniques. Finally, a synthesis of the existing radiation test facilities, focusing on the one for TID testing, will be given in Section V . Their interest, limitations, and some practical aspects involving the organization of radiation test campaigns will also be discussed in this paper.

Tones from a Narrowing Race: Polling and Online Political Communication during the 2014 Scottish Referendum Campaign

The use of negative political communication is a predominant characteristic of modern politics. However, literature doesn't provide an answer to the following question: what explains fluctuations in the use of negative messages within political organisations during a given political campaign? The present paper examines this question in the context of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Data consists of all tweets distributed by the official Twitter account of both campaign organisations (@YesScotlandand@UK_Together) between June 16, 2014 and September 17, 2014. Results are obtained by a non-parametric local regression and by time-series regression analyses. Our model demonstrates that having an advance in the polls had a statistically significant influence on the tweet sentiment of at least one organisation during the referendum campaign: Better Together's messages were more negative when it was ahead in the polls. Meanwhile, Yes Scotland's messages were more negative after each of the leaders' debates.

Three Faces of Constituency Campaigns in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems. Parties and Candidates in Germany, 2005–13

Constituency campaigns are multidimensional and complex: parties and candidates are deeply entangled, and, at least in mixed-member electoral systems, local constituency campaigns are embedded within national party campaigns. Recent discussions have focused on aspects of campaign change in European democracies, especially disentanglement in terms of individualisation, personalisation, and/or localisation. This study contributes to the discussion both conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, three dimensions (‘faces’) of constituency campaigns are differentiated: organisational partyness, vertical integration, and communicative personalisation. This threefold differentiation allows for a more precise analysis of campaign patterns by differentiating party–candidate (organisation, communication) and intra-party (vertical integration) aspects. Constituency campaigns in the 2005, 2009, and 2013 German federal elections are empirically examined. The analysis explains why candidates decide for one or another campaign pattern. These three faces are empirically distinct as well. Furthermore, we argue that parties remain vital for the organisation of campaigns despite a decline in centralisation. Addressing the communicative face, the analysis shows that candidate-related issues are important, but a mix of party- and candidate-related communication gains importance.

ESWIRP: European Strategic Wind tunnels Improved Research Potential program overview

“European Strategic Wind tunnel Improved Research Potential” ESWIRP was a project in the EU 7th Framework Program (FP7—Grant agreement no: FP7-227816), which was aiming at improving the performance capabilities of three strategic wind tunnels in Europe, by strengthening the cooperation between these wind tunnels in a new consortium. The research consortium members are Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (operating the S1MA as its largest sonic wind tunnel), German–Dutch wind tunnels [operating the large low-speed facility (LLF) as its largest low-speed wind tunnel], and European transonic wind tunnel (ETW) (operating its cryogenic wind tunnel). Together, these wind tunnels cover a wide range of experimental capabilities of relevance to civil aviation and aeronautical research in general. The project started in October 2009 for a period of 5 years. The European financial contribution was €7.2 million. The project consist of two major parts: (1) improvements to the testing infrastructure; and (2) the provision of wind tunnel access to research groups which do not usually have the means to access such large-scale test facilities. These topics also involved public dissemination and information activities. Although the tunnels covered in this project are of a complementary nature, the infrastructure activities were joined together, by a common representation of, and approach to, the tunnel performance characteristics. To this end, a generic model of a virtual wind tunnel was developed, enabling operators to assess the effect of the control parameters upon the testing conditions. The final aim of all participants was to provide the user community with an improved set of capabilities to test their innovative ideas. To provide better access to these three major wind tunnels, mainly research groups from European universities were contacted. The approach taken has included maximum transparency of the process and support of the researchers by the organizations responsible for the tunnels. In addition, when possible, we encouraged research groups to work together, to obtain the full benefit of economies of scale in research projects. ESWIRP responded to the targeted approach of the Integrating Activities of the FP7 Capacities Work Program: Networking activities, essentially focused around four topics: (1) organization of information campaigns, lectures and workshops to disseminate knowledge between the partners and future users. (2) Opening of a website for the consultation of wind tunnel standards. (3) Exchange of personnel between the Consortium partners, to foster the spread of good practices and the exchange of technical know-how. (4) Joint development of a reference wind tunnel parameter database. Trans-national access and/or testing services: after the call for proposals by the facility providers, groups of researchers had the opportunity to benefit from free wind tunnel services, including technical assistance to support the corresponding scientific research team(s). Joint research activities, innovative modeling of wind tunnels has helped designers to make better decisions, before the implementation of any novel hardware. Based on a generic finite volume type of modeling approach, the operational behaviour and the time-dependent flow quantities around the wind tunnel circuit have been simulated. Such model can be used, for example, to conceive and tune particular sub-system control laws, or explore the implications of hardware changes. Based on a common approach, dedicated models were developed for S1MA, LLF and ETW. The infrastructure improvements targeted the capability to obtain unsteady test data (with high accuracy) in the ETW, to improve the capability to simulate aircraft behaviour in ground effect in the LLF, and to establish a reliable closed-loop control of test Mach number in the S1MA wind tunnel. European Strategic Wind tunnels Improved Research Potential Program is European support for strategic wind tunnels, key research infrastructures in the development process of current and future aircraft. This is the first time that European authorities have given such support.

Attitudes, believes, determinants and organisational barriers behind the low seasonal influenza vaccination uptake in healthcare workers – A cross-sectional survey

BackgroundSeasonal influenza threatens hospitalised patients and residents of nursing homes annually. Due to age and chronic disease their protection following immunisation is diminished. Additional immunisation of direct contacts and in particular healthcare workers (HCWs) has proven added value. As vaccination coverage in HCWs remains low, we aimed to gain insight in the factors behind the demotivation for influenza vaccination. MethodsAttitudes and believes towards influenza vaccination and socio-demographic and professional determinants were surveyed in 5141 Belgian HCWs from 13 hospitals and 14 nursing homes. Additionally, influenza campaign coordinators of the participating healthcare institutions were interviewed about the factors of success/failure in their campaigns. ResultsThe mean vaccination coverage registered by the participating healthcare institutions was 40.4% in the hospitals and 45.3% in the nursing homes. Overall, up to 90% of HCWs found it important not to infect their patients. However, only 20% of non-vaccinated HCWs considered influenza vaccination a duty to not harm their patients. Up to 40% of unvaccinated staff believed they could get influenza after vaccination and that vaccination weakens their immune system. Also, only about 20% of unvaccinated staff thought to have a high chance of getting influenza. Reasons for unvaccinated staff to get vaccinated in the future are self-protection and protection of family members. Factors that positively influenced vaccination coverage are encouragement by supervisors (OR, hospitals: 7.1, p < 0.001; nursing homes: 7.5, p < 0.001) and well-organized vaccination campaigns with on-site vaccination. Factors that negatively affected vaccination coverage are misconceptions about influenza and its vaccine (OR, range 0.1–0.7, p < 0.001 for most misconceptions) and underestimation of the risk of contracting influenza by patients or HCWs (OR of perceived susceptibility, range 2.1–5.1, p < 0.001 for most factors). ConclusionThere is a need for guidance for the organization of seasonal influenza campaigns, in which education, communication and easy accessible vaccination are promoted.

Increasing Awareness about Contagious Diseases through Information Campaigns in Romania

Abstract The article presents an analysis of the awareness of the population about the kinds of contagious diseases to which it is exposed, as well as ways to prevent known and applied in everyday life. Presentation exposes results of a survey in the Dambovita county of Romania and tries to explain it by reference to information campaigns on contagious diseases. The empirical study reveals the main contagious diseases known and those less known by people, the favourite sources of information, the main measures of prevention known and applied by individuals. Finally some considerations are made regarding the future organization of information campaigns in this area.

Hand hygiene “hall monitors”: Leveraging the Hawthorne effect

Unfortunately, more than a decade after the World Health Organization's campaign launched, many centers still face challenges with low rates of hand hygiene compliance. Several electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems are available, and the cost of setup and maintenance varies by institution. At our institution, with extremely limited funds for complex interventions, we instead hired a pragmatic teenager in search of a summer job and trained her as a hand hygiene "hall monitor." We describe an effective, inexpensive intervention that improved our unit's hand hygiene performance while also providing youth employment.

Understanding the Implications of Social Media Usage in the Electoral Processes and Campaigns in Nigeria

This paper sheds light on the implications of social media usage in the Nigerian electioneering campaigns and political processes. This study is anchored on the agenda setting and uses and gratification theory. The study found that in the Nigerian 2015 and 2011 general elections, social media was employed due to its participatory nature. It was used as a platform for political campaign organization, electioneering crusades, ideological trumpeting exercises, and mobilization of voters. Specifically, in the 2015 elections, it was found that during the collation of results, citizen journalists and the civil society used social media to inform the public as regards the results in several states across the country. Social media was thus applied to influence the thoughts of many young people, increasing their political awareness and cognizance, which in turn resulted in an unbelievable presidential win of the opposition party All Progressives Congress (APC) over the ruling party People's Democratic Party (PDP). Conversely, social media were also used as a weapon to undermine and even destroy the image of political parties. Character assassination, violence, and abuses (hate) speeches were carried out, which further increased the divide between the North and Southern part of the country. This study recommends that political messages should be based on truth and full of information that will enable the electorate to make a proper decision that will assist in bringing the right people into governance. Future investigators are required to examine computational propaganda in electioneering campaigns in Nigeria. Keywords: Electioneering campaigns, Nigeria, political processes, propaganda, social media.

The structure of political e-expression: What the Brexit campaign can teach us about political talk on Facebook

Abstract Social media represents a space where the more politically engaged can commune around issues and events of importance and exchange views. Often the spaces created, especially when hosted by a partisan or campaign organization, tend to be ideologically homogenous eschewing debate or critique. The UK’s referendum on EU membership represents an opportunity to explore how citizens use social media, in this case Facebook, to express their political views in relation to a controversial and polarizing issue of significant national importance. The data extracted from the public pages of the four most important Leave and Remain campaigns are used to explore the strategies of Leave and Remain campaigns as well as the reactions of subscribers. The data show the Leave campaign the most proactive posters, creating more engaging content and, in turn, gaining an advantage in terms of visibility online. Leave supporters were also more prone to act as cheerleaders for the campaign applauding attacks on Remain leaders and spokespeople and promoting campaign slogans. Remain subscribers similarly endorsed negative messages but were keener to debate the detail behind slogans and critique the ­official campaign strategy and messaging. Endogenous factors relating to the demographic of the supporter groups and the campaign messages, as well as exogenous factors relating to the social norms of behaviour with the pages, are discussed as explanatory factors for the different dynamics observed. Notwithstanding the limitations of big data discourse analysis, we thus suggest the Facebook communities around each campaign page can be seen as microcosms of wider supporter groups and thus we propose that analysis of discourse within social media platforms such as Facebook allow better understanding of wider societal engagement with political communication and the dynamics of contestation that exist around political issues and events.

‘Once My Relatives See Me on Social Media… It Will be Something Very Bad for My Family’: The Ethics and Risks of Organizational Representations of Sporting Girls From the Global South

This paper explores the ethics of representing girls and young women from the global South in Sport for Development (SfD) organizational campaigns via the case of Skateistan—an international SfD organization with skateboarding and educational programs in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa. Focusing particularly on Skateistan’s representations of skateboarding girls and young women in Afghanistan, we draw upon interviews with staff members as well as digital observations and organizational curriculum materials, to reveal some of the nuanced power relations within such media portrayals. In so doing, we also draw attention to some of the unintended risks of “positive” representations of sporting girls from the global South, and some of the strategies employed by Skateistan to navigate such issues.

Taking up the baton? New campaigning organisations and the enactment of representative functions

Political parties have historically provided a key means by which citizens gain representation in the state, with parties enabling participation, integration, aggregation, conflict management, and linkage. Over recent years, parties’ representative credentials have declined and new organisations have emerged as vehicles of representation. What is, however, unclear is the extent to which these new organisations have taken on the representative functions parties are traditionally seen to have performed. In this article, we examine Citizens UK and 38 Degrees as indicative examples to argue that, while opportunities for participation and integration can be found, aspects of aggregation, conflict management and linkage are no longer being performed. Diagnosing this change, we argue that these shifts in representation are having significant but as yet unrecognised consequences for how citizens relate to and engage with contemporary politics.

Friends of the Earth as a policy entrepreneur: ‘The Big Ask’ campaign for a UK Climate Change Act

ABSTRACTFriends of the Earth’s (FoE) ‘Big Ask’ campaign played a critical role establishing the path-breaking UK Climate Change Act (CCA) 2008. FoE exploited the window of opportunity that opened in climate politics during 2006, first to win cross-party support for the Bill and then to strengthen its content. It then rolled-out the ‘The Big Ask’ across Europe, helped by an innovative collaborative seminar programme with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Multiple Streams Framework is used to identify FoE as an effective policy entrepreneur shaping the agenda-setting process. This contributes to the policy entrepreneurship literature where there are relatively few examples of effective collective entrepreneurship by environmental non-governmental organizations and makes an original empirical contribution through a detailed analytical narrative about a remarkably successful environmental non-governmental organization campaign. Qualitative methodology is employed, drawing on public and private documentary sources and interviews with key campaigners, politicians and officials involved in climate policymaking.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Garment Industry. The Case of the Clean Clothes Campaign and Developing States

The aim of the article is to investigate the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) organization and its efforts to alleviate the poor situation of workers in developing states and to promote the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility. It starts with a brief example of two such developing countries, Bangladesh and Cambodia, data for which has been drawn from Eurostat, Trading Economics, and the CIA’s World Factbook. It then moves to its main focus, that is, the description of the structure of the CCC, the different ways in which it tries to achieve its goals, and the vast network of partnership between the campaign and NGO’s worldwide, as well as the cooperation with decisive bodies of the European Union. The article concludes that the work of the CCC is very important and is getting more and more recognition in recent years, both from formal bodies and the public.

Claiming Justice for Israel/Palestine: The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign and Christian Organizations

The Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) against Israel seeks to embed the Palestinian struggle within the Global Justice Movement in order to mobilize support from transnational business and civil society actors. The article analyzes how two important Christian faith-based organizations respond to the BDS movement’s global justice frame: the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Drawing on recent research into justice in international relations, the analysis shows the process of normative interaction between diverging justice claims of the BDS campaign and these Christian organizations.

Breast Cancer Screening Programmes across the WHO European Region: Differences among Countries Based on National Income Level.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent tumour affecting women all over the world. In low- and middle-income countries, where its incidence is expected to rise further, BC seems set to become a public health emergency. The aim of the present study is to provide a systematic review of current BC screening programmes in WHO European Region to identify possible patterns. Multiple correspondence analysis was performed to evaluate the association among: measures of occurrence; GNI level; type of BC screening programme; organization of public information and awareness campaigns regarding primary prevention of modifiable risk factors; type of BC screening services; year of screening institution; screening coverage and data quality. A key difference between High Income (HI) and Low and Middle Income (LMI) States, emerging from the present data, is that in the former screening programmes are well organized, with approved screening centres, the presence of mobile units to increase coverage, the offer of screening tests free of charge; the fairly high quality of occurrence data based on high-quality sources, and the adoption of accurate methods to estimate incidence and mortality. In conclusion, the governments of LMI countries should allocate sufficient resources to increase screening participation and they should improve the accuracy of incidence and mortality rates.

Electoral Map Fixed by Law, as a Phenomena that Changes the Economy and Strongholds

Abstract After emerging from communist dictatorship, with the implementation of the new political system, our country came under a few phenomena. As unlearned in this field started step by step to create a new political culture, pluralistic and built models of voting behavior. After years 90’ in everyday jargon of political discussion in Albania began to be used the stronghold, as a concept, in which showed the loyalty of the electorate in favor of one party. But over the years this process took shape choice of a phenomenon which became part of the scientific studies authenticated for representing fragments in certain parts of government either locally as well as centrally. Protracted situation of transition in Albania, forced international institutions to recommend the change of territorial configuration of the country. Political parties are often seen as actors who abuse their powerful position to extort bribes, providing members and followers with lucrative positions in public, or to channel public resources into the hands of party leaders and supporters. The main functions of political parties in modern democracies include mobilizing voters to support political agendas, selection of candidates for public office and the organization of election campaigns.

Social pressure and voting: A field experiment conducted in a high-salience election

A large-scale experiment assessed the turnout effects of the “Neighbors” mailer, which exerts social pressure to vote by disclosing the past turnout records of recipients and their neighbors. A prior large-scale experiment conducted in a low salience election found that this mailer increased turnout substantially. The experiment reported here gauges the effects of this mailer in the context of a hotly contested recall election. We find smaller but still sizable effects, especially for low-propensity voters. Turnout increases significantly in the presidential election several months later, and the immediate and downstream effects are similar regardless of whether the mailer is worded in partisan or nonpartisan terms. Using data furnished by the Obama campaign and several nonpartisan organizations, we find little evidence that receiving the Neighbors mailer caused people to become the targets of subsequent mobilizing activity, suggesting that the downstream effects of social pressure cannot be attributed to subsequent campaign contacts.

Rethinking Operation Dixie

Rethinking Operation Dixie