Media coverage of the unfolding crisis of domestic terrorism in the United States, 1990–2020

Public relations research has paid considerable attention to foreign terrorist crises but relatively little attention to domestic ones—despite the growing salience of domestic terrorism in the United States. This study content analyzes 30 years of network television news coverage of domestic terrorism to gain insight into four theoretical issues of enduring interest within the literature on news framing and crisis management: sourcing, contextualization, ideological labeling, and definitional uncertainty. Results indicate that the sources called upon to contextualize domestic terrorism have shifted over time, that ideological labels are more often applied on the right than the left, and that definitional uncertainty has increased markedly in recent years. Implications for the theory and practice of public relations and crisis management are discussed.

The problem of, and with, financial crime

Financial crime is a term that is widely used, but it is a label or category that is bedevilled by definitional uncertainty and this uncertainty impacts upon how it is perceived and acted upon by law enforcement and other regulatory actors. This is perhaps not surprising and echoes many of the difficulties that have plagued efforts to counter white-collar crime. This article considers the definitional and other ambiguities that have permeated debates about both white-collar and financial crime. The analysis draws on a short survey which asked law enforcement and other regulatory actors in Australia and the UK whose responsibilities included countering behaviours that could be viewed as financial crime, what operational definitions of financial crime they employed in the course of their work. Results indicate that definitional uncertainty ensures that there are numerous understandings of what constitutes financial crime and no immediate prospect of a universal legal definition. However, there are some interesting classification developments for financial crime emerging from the business sciences literature and interdisciplinary approaches would seem to offer the most promise for categorising the suite of evolving behaviours that comprise financial crime.

Inadequacy for mathematical models of measurement objects and risk calculations according to ISO/IEC 17025-2019

The problem of inadequacy of mathematical models of measurement objects is considered in connection with the problem of “definitional uncertainty of measurement” and the need for risk management in accordance with GOST ISO/IEC 17025-2019 “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories”. The prehistory of the problem is described: from the formation of moment and compositional approaches to estimating accuracy to the introduction of a special term “inadequacy error for mathematical model of measurement object”. The negative impact of hopelessness of conceptual and terminological transformations in metrology and critical contradiction of the applicability estimates for “statistical methods” of GOST R ISO/IEC 31010-2011 “Risk management – Risk assessment techniques” and “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement” is noted. It is shown that taking into account the inadequacy of probabilistic models in risk calculations is a necessary condition for results reliability.

What are we? The nature of and motivations behind emerging adults' in between relationships

In between relationships (IBRs) constitute relationships that overlap between friendships and romantic relationships. They are characterized by definitional uncertainty, as well as the other types of relational uncertainty identified by Knobloch and Solomon (1999). The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews among emerging adults with ongoing or terminated IBRs. Topic avoidance reinforced the prevalent relational uncertainty among IBRs. Being in an IBR had advantages, such as companionship, perceived safety, and positive feelings, that motivated emerging adults to initiate and maintain them. However, the disadvantages that followed, such as stress, lack of exclusivity, and negative feelings, became a contributing factor to its termination. The researchers also proposed three types of IBRS, and conceptualized a framework that illustrates the development of IBRs.

Privatization: Towards a Concept for Comparative Policy Analysis

ABSTRACTAffected by the ideological symbolism and political controversy surrounding privatization, much of the work on this subject is marred by definitional uncertainty; what should be included in the concept? To get away from this, and to prepare the ground for meaningful comparative analysis of the phenomenon, I propose both a definition and a taxonomy. I argue that it is the active and conscious transfer of reponsibility from the public to the private realm that should form the core of the concept. Furthermore, I argue that neither the principles for, nor the level of, provision of goods and services should be included in the definition. Finally, I propose that the taxonomy should be based on the public/private dichotomy of responsibility allocation included in the definition, as well as on three main activities in goods and services production which the government could privatize; regulation, financing, and production.