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Concerns over the way in which judicial campaigns are conducted have been voiced since the 1970s. Judicial elections are thought to have become rough and tumble contests, featuring increasing campaign expenditures and controversial campaign speech. With the widespread deregulation of judicial candidate campaign speech in the early 2000s, scholars have become increasingly concerned with how judicial candidates campaign. This dissertation examines the role of the media in judicial elections, campaign communication methods used by candidates, how candidates develop campaign messages, controversial campaign speech, the consequences of campaigning, and candidates’ attitudes toward judicial selection reform. Data gathered from a survey of judicial candidates who ran for election in 2012 (n = 490) and follow-up interviews with candidates (n = 35) were used to address the research questions posed by this investigation. Findings reveal a number of areas of concern with judicial elections beyond campaign speech, including lack of media coverage, lack of access to adequate communication channels, and concerns over external group involvement in judicial elections. Controversial speech is rare in judicial campaigns and few candidates favor strong speech regulations, which are viewed as barriers between the office and the public.

The purpose of this investigation is to further an understanding of the spiral of silence theory as it functions within both face-to-face (FtF) and computer-mediated contexts. Computer-mediated communication (CMC is often touted for being an empowering medium as it affords its users anonymity. This finding could have an impact on whether the spiral of silence occurs within CMC. Previous studies have relied upon hypothetical scenarios and have established weak support for the theory. Despite this study’s utilization of a within-subjects experimental design, however, no significant differences in minority opinion holders’ fear of isolation were found. Similarly, no significant relationship was found between minority opinion holders’ attention paid to news and fear of isolation. In regards to both majority and minority opinion holders, no significant differences in perceptions of opinions expressed in either condition were found. Reasons for such unexpected findings, as well as strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

The study of the partial pressure of hydrogen chloride from solutions in various non-aqueous solvents has already been started by Schmelzle1 and Westfall. These investigators carried out their work using benzene and nitrobenzene as solvents. Their results show that solutions of hydrogen chloride in benzene and nitrobenzene agree with Henry's law. Also a method of calculating the equilibrium constants of hydrogen chloride in such solvents was devised. |Since then, Zellhoefer and coworkers have made an extensive study of the solubility of halogenated hydrocarbons (e.g. CHC12F and types such as CH3X, CH2X2, CHX2, CH4, C2X6) in a large variety of solvents at different pressures.