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This agenda-building study employed a path analysis model to examine the three-way relationship among the public, the media, and the president on the issue of drug abuse during the Nixon administration. The path model also measured the extent to which these actors were influenced by real-world conditions about the number of drug-related arrests in the United States. Past studies have suggested a cyclical relationship should exist among the president, the press, and the public. This study, however, found a linear relationship with issues moving first, from real world to the media and the public, then from the media to the public, and finally from the public to the president.

Comparative political analysts seek empirical generalizations which will hold water across systems and over a period of time. Yet, modeling important political phenomena over more than a handful of countries is still rather unusual. One focus for substantial comparative research has been the coup d'état—an irregular change of governmental leadership by force—in African countries. Scholars who have engaged in this research find they have various conceptual and methodological differences of opinion. In thisControversy, Robert Jackman and Rosemary O'Kane raise the issues in dispute. Their contentions are answered by Thomas Johnson, Pat McGowan, and Robert Slater. The exchange highlights important research issues without necessarily resolving them.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has been described as the "signature injury" of the Global War on Terror. Explosive blast TBI has become a leading cause of injury as a result of the widespread use of improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan. We present a retrospective cross-sectional study of patients with blast-related mild TBI (mTBI, N = 303) seen at the Intrepid Spirit Concussion Recovery Center at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune. The objective was to predict outcomes of return to duty (RTD) vs. medical retirement via medical evaluation board (MEB), based on brain imaging, neuropsychological data, and history of mTBI. The motivation is to inform prognosis and target resources to improve outcomes for service members who are less likely to RTD through the standard treatment program. The RTD was defined operationally as individuals who completed treatment and were not recommended for medical retirement or separation for TBI or related sequelae. Higher scores on the Repeatable Battery for Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) test were associated positively with RTD (p = 0.001). A history of three or more lifetime concussions was associated negatively with RTD, when compared with one concussion (p = 0.04). Elevated apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in the anterior corona radiata was associated negatively with RTD (p = 0.04). A logistic regression model was used to classify individuals with RBANS and imaging data (n = 81) as RTD or MEB according to RBANS, ADC, and a history of multiple (≥3) concussions. The RBANS (p = 0.003) and multiple concussions (p = 0.03) were significant terms in the logistic model, but ADC was not (p = 0.27). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.77 (95% confidence interval 0.66–0.86). These results suggest cognitive testing and TBI history might be used to identify service members who are more likely to be retired medically from active duty.

How do online news and social media use relate to public support for the European Union? To answer this question, this study compares the effect of institutional websites, news websites, online social networks, blogs, and video hosting websites on five important dimensions of public attitudes toward the EU: strengthening, performance, fear, efficacy, and utilitarianism. Cases were selected by choosing the samples from the largest country in each stage of EU enlargement: Germany, the United Kingdom, Greece, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Romania. After controlling for demographic and political factors, results show that getting European news from blogs fosters negative attitudes toward the EU, whereas social network sites contribute to a positive view of the EU's performance and support for further strengthening. In addition, the use of YouTube and news websites interacts with off-line discussion to enhance political effects.