Suchergebnisse

The ability of the mass public to recall the name of the incumbent congressional repre sentative is compared to the ability to recognize their congressman's name. Name recog nition is substantially higher than name recall. The implications for the study of congres sional elections are discussed.

The Information & Public Awareness (I&PA) Programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been existing since the inception of the Ministry in 1992. The programme is being implemented as a central sector scheme with full funding from the central budget. The Ministry uses variety of media like electronic, print and outdoor publicity through exhibitions, bus panels, hoardings, kiosks, paintings and other outdoor media activities for popularization of new and renewable energy systems and devices throughout the country. The Ministry participates in different Districts, States and National level exhibitions mainly through State Nodal Agencies (SNAs). With the analytical frame of reference, the study has taken into account mixed approaches to suitably take the feedback of stakeholders. In the study, the purpose was to analyze the progress of programme at all India level. Accordingly, data and information were collected through survey method and participatory discussion with target groups i.e. rural women, farmers (solar pumps), rooftop solar users, other sources of renewables, etc. There were several meetings with renewable energy beneficiaries/potential users and agencies created at State/district level to implement ministry's scheme. Both quantitative and qualitative information have been garnered. The evaluation study attempts to assess the impact of I&PA and to identify specific bottlenecks in implementation and optimum levels of support needed for effective implementation. It is found that the implementation of I&PA Programme is meeting the desired objectives. Awareness about the scheme is found among the state governments and public in the field. Thus, the scheme has largely been effective in the promotion of renewable energy, in its overarching objectives.

Background: Public awareness and engagement are among the main prerequisites for protecting the rights of research participants and for successful and sustainable functioning of research biobanks. The aim of our study was to analyse public awareness and attitudes towards research biobanks in Latvia, and to compare these data with the results of the 2010 Eurobarometer study. We also analysed the influence of awareness and attitudes towards biobanks on willingness to participate in biobank studies and on preferred type of informed consent. Methods: We developed a 12-question survey repeating seven questions about biobanks from the 2010 Eurobarometer questionnaire and adding five others. After describing the study variables, we performed a two-stage analysis of the results. In the first stage we analysed differences between the answers from 2010 and 2019 and conducted univariate analyses of relationships among particular variables, and between those variables and the socio-demographic characteristics of participants. In the second stage we investigated multivariable associations of willingness to participate and type of consent with awareness, trust and the socio-economic characteristics of participants. Results: According to our study, the general public in Latvia is still not well informed about research biobanks. Fewer respondents have heard about research biobanks than in 2010. At the same time, the number of respondents who are willing to donate biological samples and personal data to a biobank has increased, e.g. the number of respondents who would definitely or probably be willing to provide information about themselves has increased from 25.8.% to 40.7 since 2010. Overall, concerns about the donation of different types of biological samples and data to a biobank have slightly decreased. Conclusions: Public awareness about biobanks is important for their sustainability. It needs to be increased not only by traditional methods of informing the public, but also by more innovative and participatory approaches, e.g. by citizen science projects. There is a need to strengthen the public visibility and trustworthiness of ethics committees in Latvia in the field of biobanking.

Belief in conspiracies is not restricted to the fringe dwellers of society. International research suggests that such beliefs are quite common and that conspiracy theories may serve three basic psychological motives (i.e., epistemic, existential, and relational) for individuals. Yet, little is known about conspiracy theory awareness or belief in Australasia. We report the first large systematic investigation of system‐justifying motives using two nationally representative samples of Australians (n = 1011) and New Zealanders (n = 754). Our findings show that almost all are aware of local and international conspiracies, the majority endorse one or more, and that all three psychological motives consistently relate to conspiracy belief, but not to awareness. In a series of hierarchical multiple regressions, we find that relational (i.e., increased anomie and disillusionment with the government) and existential motives (i.e., less trust in others and increased religiosity) are uniquely and relatively more important than epistemic needs (i.e., decreased analytic thinking) as predictors of increased local and international conspiracy belief. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of understanding conspiracy theories as an ideological belief system that may function to serve underlying psychological motives.