Media Multitasking Behavior: Concurrent Television and Computer Usage

PubMed Central

Gips, James

2011-01-01

Abstract Changes in the media landscape have made simultaneous usage of the computer and television increasingly commonplace, but little research has explored how individuals navigate this media multitasking environment. Prior work suggests that self-insight may be limited in media consumption and multitasking environments, reinforcing a rising need for direct observational research. A laboratory experiment recorded both younger and older individuals as they used a computer and television concurrently, multitasking across television and Internet content. Results show that individuals are attending primarily to the computer during media multitasking. Although gazes last longer on the computer when compared to the television, the overall distribution of gazes is strongly skewed toward very short gazes only a few seconds in duration. People switched between media at an extreme rate, averaging more than 4 switches per min and 120 switches over the 27.5-minute study exposure. Participants had little insight into their switching activity and recalled their switching behavior at an average of only 12 percent of their actual switching rate revealed in the objective data. Younger individuals switched more often than older individuals, but other individual differences such as stated multitasking preference and polychronicity had little effect on switching patterns or gaze duration. This overall pattern of results highlights the importance of exploring new media environments, such as the current drive toward media multitasking, and reinforces that self-monitoring, post hoc surveying, and lay theory may offer only limited insight into how individuals interact with media. PMID:21381969

Effect of curcumin on the binding of cationic, anionic and nonionic surfactants with myoglobin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mondal, Satyajit; Ghosh, Soumen

2017-04-01

Interaction of a globular protein, myoglobin and different surfactants has been studied in the absence and presence of curcumin in phosphate buffer at pH = 7.4 by UV-VIS spectrophotometry, fluorimetry and fluorescence polarization anisotropy methods. Results show that heme environment of myoglobin is changed by cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium N-dodecanoyl sarcosinate (SDDS). In the presence of curcumin, CTAB cannot change the heme; but SDDS can make change. Nonionic surfactant N-decanoyl-N-methylglucamine (Mega 10) cannot change the heme environment. Protein is unfolded by the surfactant. Curcumin can prevent the unfolding of protein in the low concentration region of ionic surfactants such as CTAB and SDDS. In nonionic surfactant media, curcumin accelerates the denaturation process. Due to myoglobin-curcumin complex formation, rotational motion of curcumin decreases in surfactant media and so anisotropy increases.

Diffusion Dominant Solute Transport Modelling In Deep Repository Under The Effect of Emplacement Media Degradation - 13285

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kwong, S.; Jivkov, A.P.

2013-07-01

Deep geologic disposal of high activity and long-lived radioactive waste is being actively considered and pursued in many countries, where low permeability geological formations are used to provide long term waste contaminant with minimum impact to the environment and risk to the biosphere. A multi-barrier approach that makes use of both engineered and natural barriers (i.e. geological formations) is often used to further enhance the containment performance of the repository. As the deep repository system subjects to a variety of thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical (THCM) effects over its long 'operational' lifespan (e.g. 0.1 to 1.0 million years, the integrity of the barrier systemmore » will decrease over time (e.g. fracturing in rock or clay)). This is broadly referred as media degradation in the present study. This modelling study examines the effects of media degradation on diffusion dominant solute transport in fractured media that are typical of deep geological environment. In particular, reactive solute transport through fractured media is studied using a 2-D model, that considers advection and diffusion, to explore the coupled effects of kinetic and equilibrium chemical processes, while the effects of degradation is studied using a pore network model that considers the media diffusivity and network changes. Model results are presented to demonstrate the use of a 3D pore-network model, using a novel architecture, to calculate macroscopic properties of the medium such as diffusivity, subject to pore space changes as the media degrade. Results from a reactive transport model of a representative geological waste disposal package are also presented to demonstrate the effect of media property change on the solute migration behaviour, illustrating the complex interplay between kinetic biogeochemical processes and diffusion dominant transport. The initial modelling results demonstrate the feasibility of a coupled modelling approach (using pore-network model and reactive transport model) to examine the long term behaviour of deep geological repositories with media property change under complex geochemical conditions. (authors)« less

Engagement in social media environments for individuals with who use augmentative and alternative communication.

PubMed

Caron, Jessica

2016-10-14

Communicative interactions, despite the mode (e.g., face-to-face, online) rely on the communication skills of each individual participating. Some individuals have significant speech and language impairments and require the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) (i.e., signs, speech generating devices) to maximize their communication participation across a variety of on and offline contexts. Use of social media has brought about changes to communication environments, contributing new contexts for engagement. To provide a framework for considering application of engagement theory for interventions around social media use by individuals who use AAC. The author has applied examples from qualitative social media and AAC research to a framework of engagement. No formal data collection was used. Social media use has become a conventional form of communication. Yet recognition of the value of social media (and other electronic modalities) for individuals who use AAC has not been fully translated into practice. The examples used illustrated how the proposed framework can assist in clinical practice and future research directions. Engagement, including the proposed framework for considerations of social media engagement activities, can provide a systematic way to approach social media use for individuals who use AAC.

Introduction of Mobile Media into Formal Classroom Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laskin, Alexander V.; Avena, Joseph

2015-01-01

Among all the technological changes in the society, smartphones have become one of the most adopted innovations. Yet, in the classroom a common response to phones in students' hands is to ban them! This study uses Social Construction of Technology theory to investigate whether mobile media can have a place in the classroom. Using in-depth…

Dangerous news: media decision making about climate change risk.

PubMed

Smith, Joe

2005-12-01

This article explores the role of broadcast news media decision makers in shaping public understanding and debate of climate change risks. It locates the media within a "tangled web" of communication and debate between sources, media, and publics. The article draws on new qualitative research in the British context. The main body of it focuses on media source strategies, on climate change storytelling in news, and the "myth of detachment" sustained by many news decision makers. The empirical evidence, gathered between 1997 and 2004, is derived primarily from recordings and notes drawn from a series of seminars that has brought together equal numbers of BBC news and television decision makers and environment/development specialists. The seminars have created a rare space for extended dialogue between media and specialist perspectives on the communication of complex climate change science and policy. While the article acknowledges the distinctive nature of the BBC as a public sector broadcaster, the evidence confirms and extends current understanding of the career of climate change within the media more broadly. The working group discussions have explored issues arising out of how stories are sourced and, in the context of competitive and time-pressured newsrooms, shaped and presented in short news pieces. Particularly significant is the disjuncture between ways of talking about uncertainty within science and policy discourse and media constructions of objectivity, truth, and balance. The article concludes with a summary of developments in media culture, technology, and practice that are creating opportunities for enhanced public understanding and debate of climate change risks. It also indicates the need for science and policy communities to be more active critics and sources of news.

Selection and Transmission Processes for Information in the Emerging Media Environment: Psychological Motives and Message Characteristics

PubMed Central

Cappella, Joseph N.; Kim, Hyun Suk; Albarracín, Dolores

2014-01-01

The emerging media environment introduced fundamental changes in the quality and format of information available to the public, which can now flexibly seek, alter, and disseminate the information they receive. Therefore, the two processes of information selection and information retransmission are crucial for understanding the reach of any information available in the online information environment. From this starting point, we examine the common psychological motives driving information selection and transmission of attitude-relevant information: Defense and accuracy motives adding a focus on interpersonal motives. We also review message factors that can activate psychological motives leading to selection of retransmission of information, such as the desire for novelty and emotional stimulation. We speculate about the directions for the next generation of research necessary to understand exposure as a core outcome in media effects research and theory. PMID:26190944

Romania and the New Cold War Security Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-09

social media with deep economic repercussions. The continuous changes in the Eastern Europe have a great influence on the Romanian security...environment, raising many challenges for the decision makers. This study tried to decipher this security paradigm, unfolding the Russian economic , political...and military unrest, magnified by the modern era domains such as informational, cyber and social media with deep economic repercussions. The

Urban Public Space Context and Cognitive Psychology Evolution in Information Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Chen; Xu, Hua-wei

2017-11-01

The rapid development of information technology has had a great impact on the understanding of urban environment, which brings different spatially psychological experience. Information and image transmission has been full with the streets, both the physical space and virtual space have been unprecedentedly blended together through pictures, images, electronic media and other tools, which also stimulates people’s vision and psychology and gives birth to a more complex form of urban space. Under the dual role of spatial mediumlization and media spatialization, the psychological cognitive pattern of urban public space context is changing.

Virtual Transformations: The Evolution of Publication Media.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Kenneth

1995-01-01

Examines the developing publication forms in the electronic environment in light of critical perspectives on textuality, historical dimensions of technological change, and economic and political considerations. Suggests that books will be significantly altered in the networked future and concludes that impediments to change are cultural, not…

Integrating Media Production By Students Into Climate Change Education: Within and Beyond the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rooney-Varga, J. N.; Brisk, A. A.; Grogan, M.; Ledley, T. S.

2012-12-01

Through the Climate Education in an Age of Media (CAM) Project (http://cleanet.org/cced_media/), we have developed approaches to integrate media production by students into climate change education in ways that are engaging, empowering, and can be readily adopted in a wide range of instructional environments. These approaches can be used to overcome many of the challenges that climate change education presents and provide a means to evoke experiential, affective, and social learning pathways. Video production combines many key twenty-first century literacy skills, including content research, writing, an understanding of the power of images and sounds, the ability to use that power, and the ability to manipulate, transform, and distribute digital media. Through collaboration, reflection, and visual expression of concepts, video production facilitates a deeper understanding of material and, potentially, shifts in mental models about climate change. Equally importantly, it provides a means to bridge formal and informal learning by enabling students to educate those beyond the classroom. We have piloted our approach in two intensive summer programs (2011 and 2012) for high school students, during which students learned about climate change science content in lessons that were paired with the production of short media pieces including animations, public service announcements, person-on-the-street interviews, mock trailers, mock news programs, and music videos. Two high school teachers were embedded in the program during the second year, providing feedback and assessment of the feasibility, accessibility, and utility of the approach. The programs culminated with students presenting and discussing their work at public screening events. The media lessons and climate change science content examples used in these programs form the backbone of a toolkit and professional development workshops for middle and high school teachers, in which teachers learn how to incorporate student media-making into their science classes. Here, we share the toolkit, describe the scope and structure of the teacher professional development workshops, and share several of the media products created by YEP participants. The confluence of falling financial and technological barriers to producing media; the need for innovative approaches to meet climate change education challenges; and the potential for media literacy to empower young people to add their voice to the societal discourse about climate change science creates an ideal opportunity for integration of science and media production in education.

Patient loyalty and the social media effect.

PubMed

Verkamp, Jamie

2013-01-01

In a changing healthcare environment, patient loyalty has never been more important. However, creating patient loyalty can mean more than providing quality health services within the four walls of the medical office. With patients turning to online sources and social media in search of advice and a better patient experience, we must now ensure that patients have meaningful engagements with us across the continuum of care, from the phone, to the office, to social media tools like Facebook and YouTube as we look to build loyalty and grow our referral volumes.

Frames and knowledge in mixed media: how activation changes information intake.

PubMed

Veenstra, Aaron S; Sayre, Ben; Shah, Dhavan V; McLeod, Douglas M

2008-08-01

Many people consider strategic framing, the journalistic tendency to reduce politics to a game or competition focused on the tactical maneuvers of political actors, to be harmful to democracy because it erodes citizen interest in the democratic process. Our results demonstrate that this is not always the case. Testing the effects of textual strategic frames and video processing in a digital environment, we show that strategic frames may also provide a context that is more conducive to learning in mixed media news environments than that provided by value frames, those focused on the value conflict between principled policy opponents. Further analysis reveals that this effect is most clearly seen among people who read political blogs (i.e., those who are already active and interested in politics). Our data suggest that for individuals with cognitive networks built around ideological concerns, such as blog readers, value-framed messages provide cues to stop encoding new information, while strategically framed messages lead people to continue absorbing and learning in mixed media environments.

Alamar blue reagent interacts with cell-culture media giving different fluorescence over time: potential for false positives.

PubMed

Munshi, Soumyabrata; Twining, Robert C; Dahl, Russell

2014-01-01

The cell viability assay by alamar blue is based on the principle of reduction of the non-fluorescent reagent (resazurin) to a fluorescent compound (resarufin) by the intracellular reducing environment of living cells over time. In the present study, we have for the first time shown that even in the absence of cells, there occurs significant interaction between alamar blue and cell-culture media causing an increase in fluorescence. We have used Opti-MEM, DMEM and 1:1 DMEM:Opti-MEM as three different media and determined the changes in their relative fluorescence units (RFUs) over time after the addition of 10% (v/v) alamar blue using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) followed by Tukey's post-hoc test. Our results show that upon the addition of alamar blue, there occurs a significant increase in RFUs in all the three media over time along with a significantly higher RFU for the Opti-MEM overall (p<0.05). We also show that the time-dependent change in RFU of 1:1 DMEM:Opti-MEM was more gradual compared to that of the other two media. These findings indicate that the reagent can itself interact with the media causing significantly different fluorescence over time in a manner independent from the effect of intracellular reducing environment of living cells on alamar blue. In addition our results indicate that fluorescence varies as a function of incubation time with the reagent. These findings signify the need for routine subtraction of the background fluorescence of media-only with alamar blue reagent during measurement of cell viability by this method in order to determine an accurate measurement of cell viability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cybersecurity and privacy issues for socially integrated mobile healthcare applications operating in a multi-cloud environment.

PubMed

Al-Muhtadi, Jalal; Shahzad, Basit; Saleem, Kashif; Jameel, Wasif; Orgun, Mehmet A

2017-05-01

Social media has enabled information-sharing across massively large networks of people without spending much financial resources and time that are otherwise required in the print and electronic media. Mobile-based social media applications have overwhelmingly changed the information-sharing perspective. However, with the advent of such applications at an unprecedented scale, the privacy of the information is compromised to a larger extent if breach mitigation is not adequate. Since healthcare applications are also being developed for mobile devices so that they also benefit from the power of social media, cybersecurity privacy concerns for such sensitive applications have become critical. This article discusses the architecture of a typical mobile healthcare application, in which customized privacy levels are defined for the individuals participating in the system. It then elaborates on how the communication across a social network in a multi-cloud environment can be made more secure and private, especially for healthcare applications.

Emerging technologies to measure neighborhood conditions in public health: implications for interventions and next steps.

PubMed

Schootman, M; Nelson, E J; Werner, K; Shacham, E; Elliott, M; Ratnapradipa, K; Lian, M; McVay, A

2016-06-23

Adverse neighborhood conditions play an important role beyond individual characteristics. There is increasing interest in identifying specific characteristics of the social and built environments adversely affecting health outcomes. Most research has assessed aspects of such exposures via self-reported instruments or census data. Potential threats in the local environment may be subject to short-term changes that can only be measured with more nimble technology. The advent of new technologies may offer new opportunities to obtain geospatial data about neighborhoods that may circumvent the limitations of traditional data sources. This overview describes the utility, validity and reliability of selected emerging technologies to measure neighborhood conditions for public health applications. It also describes next steps for future research and opportunities for interventions. The paper presents an overview of the literature on measurement of the built and social environment in public health (Google Street View, webcams, crowdsourcing, remote sensing, social media, unmanned aerial vehicles, and lifespace) and location-based interventions. Emerging technologies such as Google Street View, social media, drones, webcams, and crowdsourcing may serve as effective and inexpensive tools to measure the ever-changing environment. Georeferenced social media responses may help identify where to target intervention activities, but also to passively evaluate their effectiveness. Future studies should measure exposure across key time points during the life-course as part of the exposome paradigm and integrate various types of data sources to measure environmental contexts. By harnessing these technologies, public health research can not only monitor populations and the environment, but intervene using novel strategies to improve the public health.

Mass Media: The Invisible Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glessing, Robert J.; White, William P.

This anthology for students of media consists of essays and articles grouped under four topics: media forms, media content, media environments, and "the last word." Media forms deals with the nature of these kinds of media: electronic, print, film, music, and comics, graffiti, and clothing. Media content contains articles on the news, advertising,…

A Higher Education Case: Millennial Experience toward Learning in a Virtual World Designed as an Authentic Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franetovic, Marija

2012-01-01

Current educational initiatives encourage the use of authentic learning environments to realistically prepare students for jobs in a constantly changing world. Many students of the Millennial generation may be social media savvy. However, what can be said about learning conditions and student readiness for active, reflective and collaborative…

Environmental Progression: The Psychological Justification for Reframing Climate Change and Global Warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veldey, S. H.

2016-12-01

On-going research in climate science communication through environmental media has uncovered critical barriers to reducing denial and increasing agency in addressing the threat of climate change. Similar to framing of our changing environment as "global warming", the term "climate change" also fails to properly frame the most critical challenge our species has faced. In a set of preliminary studies, significant changes in climate crisis denial, both positive and negative, have resulted from different media messaging. Continuation of this research utilizes social judgement theory (SJT) to classify a broader spectrum of effective avenues for environmental communication. The specificity of the terms global warming and climate change limit inclusion of issues critical to understanding their impacts. Now that the masses know what climate change is, it's time to teach them what it means.

Antismoking mass media campaigns and support for smoke-free environments, Mobile County, Alabama, 2011-2012.

PubMed

Fosson, Gabriel H; McCallum, Debra M; Conaway, Michael B

2014-09-04

In 2011, the Mobile County Health Department began a 12-month antismoking educational media campaign to educate citizens on the dangers of secondhand smoke. The campaign overlapped with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 3-month national antismoking Tips from Former Smokers media campaign. We aimed to evaluate the effect of these campaigns on support for smoke-free environments and knowledge of the dangers of secondhand smoke. Cross-sectional precampaign and postcampaign telephone surveys collected data from a random sample of Mobile County adults in the summers of 2011 and 2012. Outcome measures included changes in support for smoke-free environments and knowledge of the dangers of secondhand smoke. The participation rate among the households that were successfully reached was 45% in 2011 and 44% in 2012. On the postcampaign survey, 80.9% of respondents reported seeing a television advertisement, 29.9% reported hearing a radio advertisement, and 49.0% reported seeing a billboard. Overall, support for smoke-free bars increased significantly after the intervention (38.1% to 43.8%; P = .01) but not for workplaces or restaurants. Self-reported exposure to the media campaign was associated with higher levels of support for smoke-free workplaces, restaurants, and bars. Educational mass media campaigns have the potential to increase support for smoke-free protections and may increase knowledge about the dangers of secondhand smoke among certain populations.

Greening Spires: Universities and the Green Agenda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Universities UK, 2008

2008-01-01

We are in a time of unprecedented interest in the environment, especially climate change. What used to be purely an environmental issue has been pushed to the forefront of public and media interest by the release of the "Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change" and Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."…

Opportunities and Constraints in Disseminating Qualitative Research in Web 2.0 Virtual Environments.

PubMed

Hays, Charles A; Spiers, Judith A; Paterson, Barbara

2015-11-01

The Web 2.0 digital environment is revolutionizing how users communicate and relate to each other, and how information is shared, created, and recreated within user communities. The social media technologies in the Web 2.0 digital ecosystem are fundamentally changing the opportunities and dangers in disseminating qualitative health research. The social changes influenced by digital innovations shift dissemination from passive consumption to user-centered, apomediated cooperative approaches, the features of which are underutilized by many qualitative researchers. We identify opportunities new digital media presents for knowledge dissemination activities including access to wider audiences with few gatekeeper constraints, new perspectives, and symbiotic relationships between researchers and users. We also address some of the challenges in embracing these technologies including lack of control, potential for unethical co-optation of work, and cyberbullying. Finally, we offer solutions to enhance research dissemination in sustainable, ethical, and effective strategies. © The Author(s) 2015.

Social Media in the Dental School Environment, Part A: Benefits, Challenges, and Recommendations for Use.

PubMed

Spallek, Heiko; Turner, Sharon P; Donate-Bartfield, Evelyn; Chambers, David; McAndrew, Maureen; Zarkowski, Pamela; Karimbux, Nadeem

2015-10-01

Social media consist of powerful tools that impact not only communication but relationships among people, thus posing an inherent challenge to the traditional standards of who we are as dental educators and what we can expect of each other. This article examines how the world of social media has changed dental education. Its goal is to outline the complex issues that social media use presents for academic dental institutions and to examine these issues from personal, professional, and legal perspectives. After providing an update on social media, the article considers the advantages and risks associated with the use of social media at the interpersonal, professional, and institutional levels. Policies and legal issues of which academic dental institutions need to be aware from a compliance perspective are examined, along with considerations and resources needed to develop effective social media policies. The challenge facing dental educators is how to capitalize on the benefits that social media offer, while minimizing risks and complying with the various forms of legal constraint.

Quick-change filter cartridge

DOEpatents

Rodgers, John C.; McFarland, Andrew R.; Ortiz, Carlos A.

1995-01-01

A quick-change filter cartridge. In sampling systems for measurement of airborne materials, a filter element is introduced into the sampled airstream such that the aerosol constituents are removed and deposited on the filter. Fragile sampling media often require support in order to prevent rupture during sampling, and careful mounting and sealing to prevent misalignment, tearing, or creasing which would allow the sampled air to bypass the filter. Additionally, handling of filter elements may introduce cross-contamination or exposure of operators to toxic materials. Moreover, it is desirable to enable the preloading of filter media into quick-change cartridges in clean laboratory environments, thereby simplifying and expediting the filter-changing process in the field. The quick-change filter cartridge of the present invention permits the application of a variety of filter media in many types of instruments and may also be used in automated systems. The cartridge includes a base through which a vacuum can be applied to draw air through the filter medium which is located on a porous filter support and held there by means of a cap which forms an airtight seal with the base. The base is also adapted for receiving absorbing media so that both particulates and gas-phase samples may be trapped for investigation, the latter downstream of the aerosol filter.

Impact of mineral precipitation on flow and mixing in porous media determined by microcomputed tomography and MRI

DOE PAGES

Bray, Joshua M.; Lauchnor, Ellen G.; Redden, George D.; ...

2016-12-21

Here, precipitation reactions in porous media influence transport properties of the environment and can control advective and dispersive transport. In subsurface environments, mixing of saline groundwater or injected solutions for remediation with fresh groundwater can induce supersaturation of constituents and drive precipitation reactions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) were employed as complimentary techniques to evaluate advection, dispersion and formation of precipitate in a 3D porous media flow cell. Two parallel fluids were flowed concentrically through the porous media under two flow rate conditions with Na 2CO 3 and CaCl 2 in the inner and outer fluids, respectively.more » Upon mixing, calcium carbonate became supersaturated and formed a precipitate at the interface of the two fluids. Spatial maps of changing local velocity fields and dispersion in the flow cell were generated from MRI, while high resolution imaging of the precipitate formed in the porous media was achieved via µ-CT imaging. Formation of a precipitate layer minimized dispersive and advective transport between the two fluids and the shape of the precipitation was influenced by the flow rate condition.« less

Impact of mineral precipitation on flow and mixing in porous media determined by microcomputed tomography and MRI

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bray, Joshua M.; Lauchnor, Ellen G.; Redden, George D.

Here, precipitation reactions in porous media influence transport properties of the environment and can control advective and dispersive transport. In subsurface environments, mixing of saline groundwater or injected solutions for remediation with fresh groundwater can induce supersaturation of constituents and drive precipitation reactions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) were employed as complimentary techniques to evaluate advection, dispersion and formation of precipitate in a 3D porous media flow cell. Two parallel fluids were flowed concentrically through the porous media under two flow rate conditions with Na 2CO 3 and CaCl 2 in the inner and outer fluids, respectively.more » Upon mixing, calcium carbonate became supersaturated and formed a precipitate at the interface of the two fluids. Spatial maps of changing local velocity fields and dispersion in the flow cell were generated from MRI, while high resolution imaging of the precipitate formed in the porous media was achieved via µ-CT imaging. Formation of a precipitate layer minimized dispersive and advective transport between the two fluids and the shape of the precipitation was influenced by the flow rate condition.« less

Nanomotor dynamics in a chemically oscillating medium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robertson, Bryan, E-mail: bryan.robertson@mail.utoronto.ca; Kapral, Raymond, E-mail: rkapral@chem.utoronto.ca

2015-04-21

Synthetic nanomotors powered by chemical reactions have potential uses as cargo transport vehicles in both in vivo and in vitro applications. In many situations, motors will have to operate in out-of-equilibrium complex chemically reacting media, which supply fuel to the motors and remove the products they produce. Using molecular simulation and mean-field theory, this paper describes some of the new features that arise when a chemically powered nanomotor, operating through a diffusiophoretic mechanism, moves in an environment that supports an oscillatory chemical reaction network. It is shown how oscillations in the concentrations in chemical species in the environment give risemore » to oscillatory motor dynamics. More importantly, since the catalytic reactions on the motor that are responsible for its propulsion couple to the bulk phase reaction network, the motor can change its local environment. This process can give rise to distinctive spatiotemporal structures in reaction-diffusion media that occur as a result of active motor motion. Such locally induced nonequilibrium structure will play an important role in applications that involve motor dynamics in complex chemical media.« less

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy study on the structure changes of 4-Mercaptophenylboronic Acid under different pH conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Hongyang; Wang, Yue; Yu, Zhi; Liu, Yawen; Zhang, Xiaolei; Wang, Xiaolei; Sui, Huimin; Sun, Chengbin; Zhao, Bing

2017-10-01

4-Mercaptophenylboronic Acid (4-MPBA) plays pivotal role in various fields. The orientation and existing form of the 4-MPBA strongly depend on the pH value of the media. The general aim of this work is to obtain information about the structure changes of 4-MPBA absorbed on Ag nanoparticles in different pH environment. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique is a simple and rapid method to study adsorption phenomena at molecule level. The investigation is done by means of SERS. In order to interpret the experimental information, a series of SERS spectra is carried out. The relative intensities of the totally symmetric (a1 mode) and non-totally symmetric (b2 mode) bands in the SERS spectra of 4-MPBA change depend on the environmental pH values, which is a manifestation of charge transfer (CT) processes. The degree of charge transfer increases with the pH value of the media changing from acidity to alkalinity. The structure changes of MPBA had been carried out in different pH environment. We envision that this approach will be of great significance in related fields of 4-MPBA-involved detection.

Research on spatial features of streets under the influence of immersion communication technology brought by new media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Hua-wei; Feng, Chen

2017-04-01

The rapid development of new media has exacerbated the complexity of urban street space’s information interaction. With the influence of the immersion communication, the streetscape has constructed a special scene like ‘media convergence’, which has brought a huge challenge for maintaining the urban streetscape order. The Spatial Visual Communication Research Method which should break the limitation of the traditional aesthetic space research, can provide a brand new prospect for this phenomenon research. This study aims to analyze and summarize the communication characteristics of new media and its context, which will be helpful for understanding the social meaning within the order change of the street’s spatial and physical environment.

Audience Duplication in the Video Age: Changes in Prime Time Inheritance Effects between 1976 and 1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, James R.

Evaluating the impact of the changing media environment on television programming, a study examined inheritance effects--the percentage of one television program's audience that also watches the program immediately following--in network prime time programming between 1976 and 1985. Inheritance effect was calculated as the correlation between a…

Media advocacy: lessons from community experiences.

PubMed

Jernigan, D H; Wright, P A

1996-01-01

Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media and community organizing as a resource for advancing a social or public policy initiative. Across the United States, communities are using media advocacy to promote healthier public policies and environments. The U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention commissioned numerous case studies of media advocacy on alcohol and tobacco issues in a diverse array of communities, including efforts in African-American and Latino communities or using computer-based electronic communication systems. The paper describes these efforts briefly, and summarizes lessons learned, including: media advocacy can lead to larger victories when used as a complement to community organizing in the context of a larger strategic vision for policy change; like policy advocacy, media advocacy is best done in the context of clear long-term goals; conscious framing, guiding the choice of spokespeople, visuals, and messages, can alter media coverage and public debate of health policies; advocates need to respect the media but also remember that they have power in relation to the media; and media advocacy is often controversial and not suited to every situation. The case studies show that media advocacy is a potent tool for public health workers, making an important contribution to campaigns to promote healthier public policies.

Antismoking Mass Media Campaigns and Support for Smoke-Free Environments, Mobile County, Alabama, 2011–2012

PubMed Central

Conaway, Michael B.

2014-01-01

Introduction In 2011, the Mobile County Health Department began a 12-month antismoking educational media campaign to educate citizens on the dangers of secondhand smoke. The campaign overlapped with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 3-month national antismoking Tips from Former Smokers media campaign. We aimed to evaluate the effect of these campaigns on support for smoke-free environments and knowledge of the dangers of secondhand smoke. Methods Cross-sectional precampaign and postcampaign telephone surveys collected data from a random sample of Mobile County adults in the summers of 2011 and 2012. Outcome measures included changes in support for smoke-free environments and knowledge of the dangers of secondhand smoke. The participation rate among the households that were successfully reached was 45% in 2011 and 44% in 2012. Results On the postcampaign survey, 80.9% of respondents reported seeing a television advertisement, 29.9% reported hearing a radio advertisement, and 49.0% reported seeing a billboard. Overall, support for smoke-free bars increased significantly after the intervention (38.1% to 43.8%; P = .01) but not for workplaces or restaurants. Self-reported exposure to the media campaign was associated with higher levels of support for smoke-free workplaces, restaurants, and bars. Conclusion Educational mass media campaigns have the potential to increase support for smoke-free protections and may increase knowledge about the dangers of secondhand smoke among certain populations. PMID:25188275

Root Growth Patterns and Morphometric Change Based on the Growth Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultz, Eric R.; Paul, Anna-Lisa; Ferl, Robert J.

2016-12-01

Arabidopsis thaliana roots skew with minimal waving in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. Root skewing and root waving have been studied on the ground as well as in spaceflight, but often using different media types. In this study, Arabidopsis seedlings were grown on nutrient media plates that were comprised of various gelling agents with varied hardness in order to better assess these media for spaceflight research experiments. ImageJ was used to quantify the root morphology of 8-dayold seedlings, while R was used to perform statistical analyses. Root growth was drastically different between Difco agar, agarose, and Phytagel. Additionally, root waving masked skewing in certain media. Regression analysis revealed overall patterns when organized by hardness but also revealed that differences in media type had more of an impact on root growth than hardness itself. Different arrangements of media around the root tip revealed that roots grown on the media surface were longer and had fewer waves per millimeter than roots grown embedded in media. The implications for spaceflight research are discussed.

[Blood donation in the media between 1950 and 1980].

PubMed

Lefrère, J-J; Garraud, O

2016-02-01

Anecdotes, such as found in the media and chiefly the humor journals and magazines aim at bringing revisited insights on society subjects, which can even be the most serious. Anecdotes reported here on blood transfusion and the transfusion environment, that were retrieved from French news released in the media press between the 1950s to 1980s give a view on what has been achieved since then, but also on what is at a standstill by some incapability in moving forward or in changing minds. Those anecdotes would be used to stimulate or refresh debates in transfusion related-ethics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Public Affairs, the Self-Directed Information Environment and Strategic Integration

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-10

approach. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Public Affairs, Information Operations, Social Media , Strategic Communication, Information Environment, Media , Media ...2004 Orange Revolution ............ 32 ISIS, Social Media and Recruiting...Russian president Vladimir Putin’s army of experienced, state- employed Internet trolls spend hours using slick, state-sponsored social media

The Development and Impact of a Social Media and Professionalism Course for Medical Students.

PubMed

Gomes, Alexandra W; Butera, Gisela; Chretien, Katherine C; Kind, Terry

2017-01-01

Inappropriate social media behavior can have detrimental effects on students' future opportunities, but medical students are given little opportunity to reflect upon ways of integrating their social media identities with their newly forming professional identities. In 2012, a required educational session was developed for 1st-year medical students on social media and professional identity. Objectives include identifying professionalism issues and recognizing positive social media use. The 2-hour large-group session uses student-generated social media examples to stimulate discussion and concludes with an expert panel. Students complete a postsession reflection assignment. The required social media session occurs early in the 1st year and is part of the Professionalism curriculum in The George Washington University School of Medicine. Reflection papers are graded for completion. The study began in 2012 and ran through 2014; a total of 313/505 participants (62%) volunteered for the study. Assessment occurred through qualitative analysis of students' reflection assignments. Most students (65%, 203/313) reported considering changes in their social media presence due to the session. The analysis revealed themes relating to a broader understanding of online identity and opportunities to enhance careers. In a 6-month follow-up survey of 76 students in the 2014 cohort who completed the entire survey, 73 (94%) reported some increase in awareness, and 48 (64%) made changes to their social media behavior due to the session (response rate = 76/165; 46%), reflecting the longer term impact. Opportunities for discussion and reflection are essential for transformational learning to occur, enabling understanding of other perspectives. Incorporating student-submitted social media examples heightened student interest and engagement. The social media environment is continually changing, so curricular approaches should remain adaptable to ensure timeliness and relevance. Including online professionalism curricula focused on implications and best practices helps medical students develop an awareness of their electronic professional identities.

Engaging Learners through Interactive Media: Findings and Implications from a Technology Enhanced Problem-Based Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Lucas; Liu, Min; Olmanson, Justin; Toprac, Paul

2011-01-01

In this paper we explore students' engagement in a new media enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) environment and investigate the characteristics of these environments that facilitate learning. We investigated both student experiences using a new media enhanced PBL environment and the specific elements students found most supportive of their…

Integrated Multimedia Modeling System Response to Regional Land Management Change

EPA Science Inventory

A multi-media system of nitrogen and co-pollutant models describing critical physical and chemical processes that cascade synergistically and competitively through the environment, the economy and society has been developed at the USEPA Office of research and development. It is ...

Social Media Influencing C2 in Underdeveloped and Degraded Operational Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

gather highly skilled IT professionals and technicians who worked for several months to help citizens affected by the disaster . In just twelve hours, the...because the downtown bombing was perceived as the crucial event. • In several events, the disaster cause destruction of the communications...of emergencies and crises is rapidly changing the C2 operational environment for responses to natural disasters , terrorist threats and social

Participatory Culture as a Model for How New Media Technologies Can Change Public Schools. WCER Working Paper No. 2016-7

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halverson, Rich; Kallio, Julie; Hackett, Sarah; Halverson, Erica

2016-01-01

Students who have mastered the ability to create their own learning environments have an advantage over students who rely on traditional environments to structure their learning. Students who understand how to use new tools for school learning typically do not pick up these skills at school--they learn from the habits of parents and peers who work…

Dawn of the Social Cyborg

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Joe; Finegan, William

2011-01-01

Corporate learning environments have undergone disruptive changes over the last 20 years due to the explosion of information technology, globalization of the workforce, and shrinking travel and training budgets. Those disruptions are accelerating with the introduction of new technologies such as social media. Potentially the most disruptive change…

The Numerical Solution of Acoustic Propagation through Dispersive Moving Media

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

environments. The benthic nepheloid layer ( BNL ) is an example of a moving turbid water layer in the ocean. The BNL is characterized by changing vertical...this change. There are however situations where this assumption doesn’t hold. For example when a benthic nepheloid layer ( BNL ) is present. A BNL is...shoaling and breaking of internal waves on the continental shelf. The BNL is dynamic, characterized by changing vertical thickness, concentration and

Arctic Warming as News - Perils and Possibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Revkin, A. C.

2015-12-01

A science journalist in his 30th year covering human-driven climate change, including on three Arctic reporting trips, reflects on successes and setbacks as news media, environmentalists and Arctic communities have tried to convey the significance of polar change to a public for which the ends of the Earth will always largely be a place of the imagination.Novel challenges are arising in the 24/7 online media environment, as when a paper by a veteran climate scientist proposing a mechanism for abrupt sea-level rise became a big news story before it was accepted by the open-review journal to which it had been submitted. New science is digging in on possible connections between changing Arctic sea ice and snow conditions and disruptive winter weather in more temperate northern latitudes, offering a potential link between this distant region and the lives of ordinary citizens. As cutting-edge research, such work gets substantial media attention. But, as with all new areas of inquiry, uncertainty dominates - creating the potential for distracting the public and policymakers from the many aspects of anthropogenic climate change that are firmly established - but, in a way, boring because of that.With the challenges, there are unprecedented opportunities for conveying Arctic science. In some cases, researchers on expeditions are partnering with media, offering both scientists and news outlets fresh ways to convey the story of Arctic change in an era of resource constraints.Innovative uses of crittercams, webcams, and satellite observations offer educators and interested citizens a way to track and appreciate Arctic change. But more can be done to engage the public directly without the news media as an intermediary, particularly if polar scientists or their institutions test some of the established practices honed by more experienced communicators at NASA.

[Media for 21st century--towards human communication media].

PubMed

Harashima, H

2000-05-01

Today, with the approach of the 21st century, attention is focused on multi-media communications combining computer, visual and audio technologies. This article discusses the communication media target and the technological problems constituting the nucleus of multi-media. The communication media is becoming an environment from which no one can escape. Since the media has such a great power, what is needed now is not to predict the future technologies, but to estimate the future world and take to responsibility for future environments.

Inferring Social Influence of Anti-Tobacco Mass Media Campaign.

PubMed

Zhan, Qianyi; Zhang, Jiawei; Yu, Philip S; Emery, Sherry; Xie, Junyuan

2017-07-01

Anti-tobacco mass media campaigns are designed to influence tobacco users. It has been proved that campaigns will produce users' changes in awareness, knowledge, and attitudes, and also produce meaningful behavior change of audience. Anti-smoking television advertising is the most important part in the campaign. Meanwhile, nowadays, successful online social networks are creating new media environment, however, little is known about the relation between social conversations and anti-tobacco campaigns. This paper aims to infer social influence of these campaigns, and the problem is formally referred to as the Social Influence inference of anti-Tobacco mass mEdia campaigns (Site) problem. To address the Site problem, a novel influence inference framework, TV advertising social influence estimation (Asie), is proposed based on our analysis of two real anti-tobacco campaigns. Asie divides audience attitudes toward TV ads into three distinct stages: 1) cognitive; 2) affective; and 3) conative. Audience online reactions at each of these three stages are depicted by Asie with specific probabilistic models based on the synergistic influences from both online social friends and offline TV ads. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of Asie.

Community interventions for cardiovascular disease.

PubMed

Parker, Donna R; Assaf, Annlouise R

2005-12-01

Review of the community-based CVD intervention programs suggests that a number of components have been successful using varying methods and materials for CVD risk reduction. It should be noted, however, that in multi-intervention programs it is often difficult to determine which components of the intervention were responsible for the overall success of the study. The community-based approach to CVD prevention is generalizable, cost-effective (because of the use of mass communication methods), and has the potential for modifying the environment and influencing health policies. Based on the experiences and successes of a number of community projects, recommendations have been proposed for developing future programs. Although they are not totally comprehensive, it has been suggested that a community-based intervention program should consider the following recommendations: 1) An understanding of the community: the needs and priorities of the community should be assessed, and close collaboration with individuals from the community, including community leaders, opinion leaders, community health care providers, and community organizations from various sectors of the community, should be consulted. Efforts should be focused on underserved and vulnerable populations. 2) Inclusion of community activities: these activities should be integrated within the context of the community environment, including primary health care services, voluntary organizations, grocery stores, restaurants, work sites, schools, and local media. 3) Inclusion mass media messages: the mass media can provide information and reinforcement of the behavior change. 4) Develop cost-effective interventions to assure that the community is exposed to an effective dose of the intervention. 5) Work with community organizations to help change social and physical environments to make them more conducive to health and healthy life-styles changes. 6) Develop a reliable monitoring and evaluation system: monitor the change process and conduct summary evaluations. 7) Disseminate the results to ensure that the benefits from the community program reach all communities. 8) For national implementation, the intervention program should work closely with national policy makers throughout the project.

Media Environment as a Zone of Personal and Social Risk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medvedeva, Tatyana; Kazantseva, Galina; Karpukova, Albina; Serova, Olga; Sizova, Olga; Bikteeva, Lolita

2016-01-01

The paper considers elements of modern media environment taking more and more space in day-to-day life of people. The modern media environment enriched with various informational and technological resources, information transfer speed and availability of all kinds of content in unlimited quantities, requires careful examination--first of all,…

Audience Selectivity and Involvement in the Newer Media Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perse, Elizabeth M.

1990-01-01

Examines cable television viewer selectivity and involvement. Concludes through study of 342 cable subscribers who owned remote control devices that "zapping" (changing television channels during commercials) is an indication of ritualistic television viewing. Suggests that more salient motives are linked to the preexposure activities of…

Alcohol advertising and violence against women: a media advocacy case study.

PubMed

Woodruff, K

1996-08-01

This article describes one effort to help prevent violence against women by addressing some of the larger societal factors involved. The Dangerous Promises campaign is based on the premise that sexist advertising images contribute to an environment conducive to violence against women. The goal of the campaign is to convince alcohol companies to eliminate sexist alcohol advertising and promotions. Using the tools of community organizing and media advocacy, the campaign pressures the alcohol industry to change the ways in which they portray women in much of their advertising. Media advocacy has been instrumental in the successes of the campaign. This article examines the strategies and outcomes of the Dangerous Promises efforts to date and makes a case for application of media advocacy as a tool for increasing community voice in policy-making processes.

Media-Education Convergence: Applying Transmedia Storytelling Edutainment in E-Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalogeras, Stavroula

2013-01-01

In the era of media convergence, transmedia (cross-media/cross-platform/multi-platform) narratives are catering to users who are willing to immerse themselves in their favorite entertainment content. The inherent interactivity of the Internet and the emotional engagement of story can lead to innovative pedagogies in media rich environments. This…

Response of a One-Biosphere Nutrient Modeling System to Regional Land Use and Management Change

EPA Science Inventory

A multi-media system of nitrogen and co-pollutant models describing critical physical and chemical processes that cascade synergistically and competitively through the environment, the economy and society has been developed at the USEPA Office of Research and Development (see fig...

The Polish Education System and Issues of Violence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wojciechowski, Mirek

2005-01-01

Uncontrolled outbursts of violence, of both an individual and group nature, are distinctive elements of social and economic changes occurring in Poland. They affect all social environments and institutions in this country, and unfortunately many people believe in violent solutions of problems (at least as represented in the media). Between…

Operational Planning with Uncertain and Ambiguous Information: Command and Control and the Natural Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

1974). In the present work, we do not modify the collaborative structure but instead examine the changes in media richness ( Daft & Lengel, 1986) for...Postgraduate School) and Dr. Jim Hansen (Naval Research Laboratory) regarding weather forecasting, risk and uncertainty. References Daft , R.L. and

Generalized Optical Theorem Detection in Random and Complex Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tu, Jing

The problem of detecting changes of a medium or environment based on active, transmit-plus-receive wave sensor data is at the heart of many important applications including radar, surveillance, remote sensing, nondestructive testing, and cancer detection. This is a challenging problem because both the change or target and the surrounding background medium are in general unknown and can be quite complex. This Ph.D. dissertation presents a new wave physics-based approach for the detection of targets or changes in rather arbitrary backgrounds. The proposed methodology is rooted on a fundamental result of wave theory called the optical theorem, which gives real physical energy meaning to the statistics used for detection. This dissertation is composed of two main parts. The first part significantly expands the theory and understanding of the optical theorem for arbitrary probing fields and arbitrary media including nonreciprocal media, active media, as well as time-varying and nonlinear scatterers. The proposed formalism addresses both scalar and full vector electromagnetic fields. The second contribution of this dissertation is the application of the optical theorem to change detection with particular emphasis on random, complex, and active media, including single frequency probing fields and broadband probing fields. The first part of this work focuses on the generalization of the existing theoretical repertoire and interpretation of the scalar and electromagnetic optical theorem. Several fundamental generalizations of the optical theorem are developed. A new theory is developed for the optical theorem for scalar fields in nonhomogeneous media which can be bounded or unbounded. The bounded media context is essential for applications such as intrusion detection and surveillance in enclosed environments such as indoor facilities, caves, tunnels, as well as for nondestructive testing and communication systems based on wave-guiding structures. The developed scalar optical theorem theory applies to arbitrary lossless backgrounds and quite general probing fields including near fields which play a key role in super-resolution imaging. The derived formulation holds for arbitrary passive scatterers, which can be dissipative, as well as for the more general class of active scatterers which are composed of a (passive) scatterer component and an active, radiating (antenna) component. Furthermore, the generalization of the optical theorem to active scatterers is relevant to many applications such as surveillance of active targets including certain cloaks, invisible scatterers, and wireless communications. The latter developments have important military applications. The derived theoretical framework includes the familiar real power optical theorem describing power extinction due to both dissipation and scattering as well as a reactive optical theorem related to the reactive power changes. Meanwhile, the developed approach naturally leads to three optical theorem indicators or statistics, which can be used to detect changes or targets in unknown complex media. In addition, the optical theorem theory is generalized in the time domain so that it applies to arbitrary full vector fields, and arbitrary media including anisotropic media, nonreciprocal media, active media, as well as time-varying and nonlinear scatterers. The second component of this Ph.D. research program focuses on the application of the optical theorem to change detection. Three different forms of indicators or statistics are developed for change detection in unknown background media: a real power optical theorem detector, a reactive power optical theorem detector, and a total apparent power optical theorem detector. No prior knowledge is required of the background or the change or target. The performance of the three proposed optical theorem detectors is compared with the classical energy detector approach for change detection. The latter uses a mathematical or functional energy while the optical theorem detectors are based on real physical energy. For reference, the optical theorem detectors are also compared with the matched filter approach which (unlike the optical theorem detectors) assumes perfect target and medium information. The practical implementation of the optical theorem detectors is based for certain random and complex media on the exploitation of time reversal focusing ideas developed in the past 20 years in electromagnetics and acoustics. In the final part of the dissertation, we also discuss the implementation of the optical theorem sensors for one-dimensional propagation systems such as transmission lines. We also present a new generalized likelihood ratio test for detection that exploits a prior data constraint based on the optical theorem. Finally, we also address the practical implementation of the optical theorem sensors for optical imaging systems, by means of holography. The later is the first holographic implementation the optical theorem for arbitrary scenes and targets.

Rethinking Environmental Protection: Meeting the Challenges of a Changing World.

PubMed

Burke, Thomas A; Cascio, Wayne E; Costa, Daniel L; Deener, Kacee; Fontaine, Thomas D; Fulk, Florence A; Jackson, Laura E; Munns, Wayne R; Orme-Zavaleta, Jennifer; Slimak, Michael W; Zartarian, Valerie G

2017-03-01

From climate change to hydraulic fracturing, and from drinking water safety to wildfires, environmental challenges are changing. The United States has made substantial environmental protection progress based on media-specific and single pollutant risk-based frameworks. However, today’s environmental problems are increasingly complex and new scientific approaches and tools are needed to achieve sustainable solutions to protect the environment and public health. In this article, we present examples of today’s environmental challenges and offer an integrated systems approach to address them. We provide a strategic framework and recommendations for advancing the application of science for protecting the environment and public health. We posit that addressing 21st century challenges requires transdisciplinary and systems approaches, new data sources, and stakeholder partnerships. To address these challenges, we outline a process driven by problem formulation with the following steps: a ) formulate the problem holistically, b ) gather and synthesize diverse information, c ) develop and assess options, and d ) implement sustainable solutions. This process will require new skills and education in systems science, with an emphasis on science translation. A systems-based approach can transcend media- and receptor-specific bounds, integrate diverse information, and recognize the inextricable link between ecology and human health.

Rethinking Environmental Protection: Meeting the Challenges of a Changing World

PubMed Central

Burke, Thomas A.; Cascio, Wayne E.; Costa, Daniel L.; Deener, Kacee; Fontaine, Thomas D.; Fulk, Florence A.; Jackson, Laura E.; Munns, Wayne R.; Orme-Zavaleta, Jennifer; Slimak, Michael W.; Zartarian, Valerie G.

2017-01-01

Summary: From climate change to hydraulic fracturing, and from drinking water safety to wildfires, environmental challenges are changing. The United States has made substantial environmental protection progress based on media-specific and single pollutant risk-based frameworks. However, today’s environmental problems are increasingly complex and new scientific approaches and tools are needed to achieve sustainable solutions to protect the environment and public health. In this article, we present examples of today’s environmental challenges and offer an integrated systems approach to address them. We provide a strategic framework and recommendations for advancing the application of science for protecting the environment and public health. We posit that addressing 21st century challenges requires transdisciplinary and systems approaches, new data sources, and stakeholder partnerships. To address these challenges, we outline a process driven by problem formulation with the following steps: a) formulate the problem holistically, b) gather and synthesize diverse information, c) develop and assess options, and d) implement sustainable solutions. This process will require new skills and education in systems science, with an emphasis on science translation. A systems-based approach can transcend media- and receptor-specific bounds, integrate diverse information, and recognize the inextricable link between ecology and human health. PMID:28248180

Immersive Media Environments for Special Education: Developing Agency in Communication for Youth with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tolentino, Lisa

2013-01-01

This dissertation describes the development of a state-of-the-art immersive media environment and its potential to motivate high school youth with autism to vocally express themselves. Due to the limited availability of media environments in public education settings, studies on the use of such systems in special education contexts are rare. A…

A Study of Learning and Motivation in a New Media Enriched Environment for Middle School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Min; Horton, Lucas; Olmanson, Justin; Toprac, Paul

2011-01-01

This study examines middle school students' learning and motivation as they engaged in a new media enriched problem-based learning (PBL) environment for middle school science. Using a mixed-method design with both quantitative and qualitative data, we investigated the effect of a new media environment on sixth graders' science learning, their…

Detecting Rumors Through Modeling Information Propagation Networks in a Social Media Environment.

PubMed

Liu, Yang; Xu, Songhua; Tourassi, Georgia

2015-01-01

In the midst of today's pervasive influence of social media content and activities, information credibility has increasingly become a major issue. Accordingly, identifying false information, e.g. rumors circulated in social media environments, attracts expanding research attention and growing interests. Many previous studies have exploited user-independent features for rumor detection. These prior investigations uniformly treat all users relevant to the propagation of a social media message as instances of a generic entity. Such a modeling approach usually adopts a homogeneous network to represent all users, the practice of which ignores the variety across an entire user population in a social media environment. Recognizing this limitation of modeling methodologies, this study explores user-specific features in a social media environment for rumor detection. The new approach hypothesizes that whether a user tends to spread a rumor is dependent upon specific attributes of the user in addition to content characteristics of the message itself. Under this hypothesis, information propagation patterns of rumors versus those of credible messages in a social media environment are systematically differentiable. To explore and exploit this hypothesis, we develop a new information propagation model based on a heterogeneous user representation for rumor recognition. The new approach is capable of differentiating rumors from credible messages through observing distinctions in their respective propagation patterns in social media. Experimental results show that the new information propagation model based on heterogeneous user representation can effectively distinguish rumors from credible social media content.

Small RNA fragments in complex culture media cause alterations in protein profiles of three species of bacteria.

PubMed

Pavankumar, Asalapuram R; Ayyappasamy, Sudalaiyadum Perumal; Sankaran, Krishnan

2012-03-01

Efforts to delineate the basis for variations in protein profiles of different membrane fractions from various bacterial pathogens led to the finding that even the same medium [e.g., Luria Bertani (LB) broth] purchased from different commercial sources generates remarkably dissimilar protein profiles despite similar growth characteristics. Given the pervasive roles small RNAs play in regulating gene expression, we inquired if these source-specific differences due to media arise from disparities in the presence of small RNAs. Indeed, LB media components from two different commercial suppliers contained varying, yet significant, amounts of 10-80 bp small RNAs. Removal of small RNA from LB using RNaseA during media preparation resulted in significant changes in bacterial protein expression profiles. Our studies underscore the fact that seemingly identical growth media can lead to dramatic alterations in protein expression patterns, highlighting the importance of utilizing media free of small RNA during bacteriological studies. Finally, these results raise the intriguing possibility that similar pools of small RNAs in the environment can influence bacterial adaptation.

[Sociology of health, social ecology and media democracy].

PubMed

Julesz, Máté

2012-05-27

The correlation of the sociology of health, social ecology and media democracy is demonstrated in the study. In societies of today, the role of the media is unquestionable in disseminating information relating to health and the environment. According to Paragraph (1) of Article XXI of the Hungarian Constitution of 2011, everyone has the right to a healthy environment. An environmentalist media democracy may forward environmental justice, environmental education, and environmentalist economy, etc. All these are required in order to establish a society where the healthy environment is an objective value.

A Social Semiotic Mapping of Voice in Youth Media: The Pitch in Youth Video Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pyles, Damiana Gibbons

2017-01-01

An ethics of youth media production is the interplay of identities, media literacy, and modality that shape the environment within which young people produce media, yet how "voice" is fostered and/or constrained in these environments could still be explored more fully. This paper stems from a larger qualitative study of how youth created…

Generating news media interest in tobacco control; challenges in an advanced policy environment.

PubMed

MacKenzie, Ross; Chapman, Simon

2012-08-01

To determine the efficacy of using media releases for tobacco control advocacy in Australia's advanced policy environment. Between February and August 2010, news releases that summarised either newly published but unpublicized research findings, or local developments in tobacco control, were sent to NSW media outlets. Reports arising from the releases were tracked using commercial services Media Monitors and Factiva, as well as Google and Google News. Other tobacco control related news items during the same period were also tracked and recorded. Twenty-one news releases generated 93 news items across all news media, with a quarter of these related to a story of porcine haemoglobin in cigarette filters. By comparison, 'live' policy issues (especially plain packaging and a significant tobacco tax increase) covered in this period attracted 1,033 news stories in the Australian media. Press releases describing recently published, but underpublicized research were issued in weeks where no major competing tobacco control news occurred. Results of this project indicate that in environments with advanced tobacco policy, media opportunities related to tobacco control advocacy are limited, as many objectives have been achieved. The media can still play a key advocacy role in such environments, and advocates need to be particularly vigilant for opportunities that do arise. The paper also highlights the increasingly important role of internet-based media, including opportunities presented by social media for tobacco control.

Internet Addiction Risk in the Academic Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, William F.; McAleer, Brenda; Szakas, Joseph S.

2015-01-01

The Internet's effect on society is growing exponentially. One only has to look at the growth of e-commerce, social media, wireless data access, and mobile devices to see how communication is changing. The need and desire for the Internet, especially in such disciplines as Computer Science or Computer Information Systems, pose a unique risk for…

Changes in the proteome of Mastitis-causing escherichia coli strains that affect pathogenesis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Escherichia coli is a leading cause of bacterial mastitis in dairy cattle. Milk is the environment in which bacteria must grow to establish an infection of the mammary gland. However, milk is not a rich growth media for bacteria. In fact, milk naturally contains many mechanisms to inhibit bacterial ...

Leading Pedagogical Change with Innovative Web Tools and Social Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLoughlin, Catherine

2011-01-01

Today, in a globalised, digital world, leadership challenges in the adoption and integration of emerging social software tools to support learning abound. Today's students, who have grown up in technology saturated environments, have never known a world without the internet, mobile phones, video on demand and personal computers. Leaders and…

Student Perceptions of SocialSim for Simulation-Based Interprofessional Education in Healthcare

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Mary Kathryn

2016-01-01

This descriptive qualitative study investigates perceptions of students regarding the use of SocialSim, a tool designed to deliver simulation in a virtual environment using social media as a platform to facilitate inteprofessional education. There have been exponential changes in U.S. healthcare system in recent years, prompting the need for…

Images in Language: Metaphors and Metamorphoses. Visual Learning. Volume 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benedek, Andras, Ed.; Nyiri, Kristof, Ed.

2011-01-01

Learning and teaching are faced with radically new challenges in today's rapidly changing world and its deeply transformed communicational environment. We are living in an era of images. Contemporary visual technology--film, video, interactive digital media--is promoting but also demanding a new approach to education: the age of visual learning…

The Geography of Political Communication: Effects of Regional Variations in Campaign Advertising on Citizen Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Jaeho

2011-01-01

This study explores whether and how campaign-induced changes in local information environments influence citizens' everyday communication activities. The empirical analysis in this study centers on a comparison of two New Jersey media markets that showed idiosyncratic differences in the amount of political advertising during the 2000 presidential…

Assessing the Role of Mobile Technologies and Distance Learning in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ordóñez de Pablos, Patricia, Ed.; Tennyson, Robert D., Ed.; Lytras, Miltiadis D., Ed.

2015-01-01

In recent years, the use of information technologies, mobile devices, and social media, along with the evolving needs of students, professionals, and academics, has grown rapidly. New ways of bringing learning content to students, new learning environments, and new teaching practices are necessary to keep up with these changes. "Assessing the…

Long Time Evolution of Sequestered CO2 in Porous Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, Y.; Rothman, D.

2013-12-01

CO2 sequestration is important for mitigating climate change and reducing atmospheric CO2 concentration. However, a complete physical picture able to predict both the pattern formation and the structure developing within the porous medium is lacking. We propose a theoretical model that couples transport, reaction, and the intricate geometry of the rock, in order to study the long time evolution of carbon in the brine-rock environment. As CO2 is injected into a brine-rock environment, it becomes initially trapped, and isolated bubbles are formed. Within the high CO2 phase, minerals dissolve and migrate from high concentration to low concentration regions, along with other carbonate species. The change in the concentrations at the interface moves the system out of equilibrium, drives up the saturation level, and leads to mineral precipitation. We argue that mineral precipitation in a small boundary layer may lead to lower diffusivity, slower kinetics, and eventually to a mechanical trapping of the CO2 bubbles. We investigate the reactive transport model and study the conditions that cause the mechanical separation of these two reactive fluids in porous media.

The role of health promotion: between global thinking and local action.

PubMed

King, Lesley

2006-12-01

The persistence of health inequities provides an ongoing challenge for health promotion. The dictum 'think globally, act locally' fails to recognise the significance of infrastructure and policy in linking global issues and local practices as a means of addressing health inequities. Commentary and opinion. Through analytic tools and methods, health promotion has much to contribute to facilitating health-improving changes in social, economic and physical environments. Local actions provide excellent illustrations of organisational change and intersectoral action, and present the possibility that such actions could be widely implemented. While this has occurred on some issues, this is not usually the case. Political support, policy and infrastructure are required to link global ideas and local actions and overcome the impasse. Media advocacy is one example of an approach with potential to make these links and mobilise political support. Reframing media and political discussion, away from the dichotomy of individual responsibility and government intervention and towards acknowledging the social context of human behaviour, could contribute to policy and social environments with greater capacity to address inequities.

Games for Social Change: Review of the Potential for Multi Player Online Gaming to Facilitate the Emergence and Growth of Progressive Movements for Social Change within Youth and Community Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keating, Paul

2016-01-01

Building on the use of the internet and social media as sites for activism, this paper highlights the emergence of political activism and collective protest in the online gaming environment. Referencing social movement theory and the rapidly evolving capacity of multiplayer online games to facilitate the development of strong group identities and…

The impact of reduced gastric acid secretion on dissolution of salts of weak bases in the fasted upper gastrointestinal lumen: Data in biorelevant media and in human aspirates.

PubMed

Litou, Chara; Vertzoni, Maria; Xu, Wei; Kesisoglou, Filippos; Reppas, Christos

2017-06-01

To propose media for simulating the intragastric environment under reduced gastric acid secretion in the fasted state at three levels of simulation of the gastric environment and evaluate their usefulness in evaluating the intragastric dissolution of salts of weak bases. To evaluate the importance of bicarbonate buffer in biorelevant in vitro dissolution testing when using Level II biorelevant media simulating the environment in the fasted upper small intestine, regardless of gastric acid secretions. Media for simulating the hypochlorhydric and achlorhydric conditions in stomach were proposed using phosphates, maleates and bicarbonates buffers. The impact of bicarbonates in Level II biorelevant media simulating the environment in upper small intestine was evaluated so that pH and bulk buffer capacity were maintained. Dissolution data were collected using two model compounds, pioglitazone hydrochloride and semifumarate cocrystal of Compound B, and the mini-paddle dissolution apparatus in biorelevant media and in human aspirates. Simulated gastric fluids proposed in this study were in line with pH, buffer capacity, pepsin content, total bile salt/lecithin content and osmolality of the fasted stomach under partial and under complete inhibition of gastric acid secretion. Fluids simulating the conditions under partial inhibition of acid secretion were useful in simulating concentrations of both model compounds in gastric aspirates. Bicarbonates in Level III biorelevant gastric media and in Level II biorelevant media simulating the composition in the upper intestinal lumen did not improve simulation of concentrations in human aspirates. Level III biorelevant media for simulating the intragastric environment under hypochlorhydric conditions were proposed and their usefulness in the evaluation of concentrations of two model salts of weak bases in gastric aspirates was shown. Level II biorelevant media for simulating the environment in upper intestinal lumen led to underestimation of concentrations in aspirates, even when bicarbonate buffer was used. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genomic and metagenomic analysis of microbes in a soil environment affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake tsunami.

PubMed

Hiraoka, Satoshi; Machiyama, Asako; Ijichi, Minoru; Inoue, Kentaro; Oshima, Kenshiro; Hattori, Masahira; Yoshizawa, Susumu; Kogure, Kazuhiro; Iwasaki, Wataru

2016-01-14

The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 triggered large tsunami waves, which flooded broad areas of land along the Pacific coast of eastern Japan and changed the soil environment drastically. However, the microbial characteristics of tsunami-affected soil at the genomic level remain largely unknown. In this study, we isolated microbes from a soil sample using general low-nutrient and seawater-based media to investigate microbial characteristics in tsunami-affected soil. As expected, a greater proportion of strains isolated from the tsunami-affected soil than the unaffected soil grew in the seawater-based medium. Cultivable strains in both the general low-nutrient and seawater-based media were distributed in the genus Arthrobacter. Most importantly, whole-genome sequencing of four of the isolated Arthrobacter strains revealed independent losses of siderophore-synthesis genes from their genomes. Siderophores are low-molecular-weight, iron-chelating compounds that are secreted for iron uptake; thus, the loss of siderophore-synthesis genes indicates that these strains have adapted to environments with high-iron concentrations. Indeed, chemical analysis confirmed the investigated soil samples to be rich in iron, and culture experiments confirmed weak cultivability of some of these strains in iron-limited media. Furthermore, metagenomic analyses demonstrated over-representation of denitrification-related genes in the tsunami-affected soil sample, as well as the presence of pathogenic and marine-living genera and genes related to salt-tolerance. Collectively, the present results would provide an example of microbial characteristics of soil disturbed by the tsunami, which may give an insight into microbial adaptation to drastic environmental changes. Further analyses on microbial ecology after a tsunami are envisioned to develop a deeper understanding of the recovery processes of terrestrial microbial ecosystems.

From Augmentation Media to Meme Media.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanaka, Yuzuru

Computers as meta media are now evolving from augmentation media vehicles to meme media vehicles. While an augmentation media system provides a seamlessly integrated environment of various tools and documents, meme media system provides further functions to edit and distribute tools and documents. Documents and tools on meme media can easily…

Changing the Game: What Happens when Video Games Enter the Classroom?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Squire, Kurt

2005-01-01

Over the past few years, games have gone from social pariahs to the darlings of the media, technology, and now educational industries. E-learning educators in particular stand to learn a lot about building next-generation learning environments from games. While online courses are usually little more than "online course notes," games offer entire…

A Small-Wins Perspective: Educators Have a Role to Play in Narrowing the Generation Divide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nichols, Sharon L.; Good, Thomas L.

2005-01-01

Adults widely misunderstand youth. Although this is not a new phenomenon--adults have been baffled by teenagers for centuries--a rapidly changing media environment coupled with the increasing demands placed on the youth have fueled the growing generation divide in unprecedented ways. Indeed the modern, fast-paced, multi-tasked, highly mobile,…

Media Use in Higher Education from a Cross-National Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grosch, Michael

2013-01-01

The web 2.0 has already penetrated the learning environment of students ubiquitously. This dissemination of online services into tertiary education has led to constant changes in students' learning and study behaviour. Students use services such as Google and Wikipedia most often not only during free time but also for learning. At the same…

Correlation between Computer and Mathematical Literacy Levels of 6th Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ic, Unal; Tutak, Tayfun

2018-01-01

Literacy has been defined in the literature frequently. Each new interpretation leads to the idea that the definition can change based on the relevant environment, instruments used and/or the intended objective and there might be different types of literacy including computer literacy, media literacy and visual literacy (Reinking, McKenna, Labbo…

Bedroom media, sedentary time and screen-time in children: a longitudinal analysis

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Having electronic media in the bedroom is cross-sectionally associated with greater screen-time in children, but few longitudinal studies exist. The aim of this study was to describe longitudinal patterns of ownership and examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of bedroom media with children’s sedentary behaviour. Methods Data are from the Sport, Physical activity and Eating behaviour: Environmental Determinants in Young people (SPEEDY) study, collected at 3 time-points: baseline (2007, T0; age 10.3 ± 0.3 years), 1-year (T1y) and 4-year (T4y) follow-up. For each assessment, 1512 (44.9% male), 715 (41.0% male), and 319 (48.3% male) participants provided valid accelerometer data. Outcome variables were accelerometer-assessed sedentary time and self-reported screen-time. The presence of a television or computer in the bedroom was self-reported by participants and a combined bedroom media score calculated as the sum of such items. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between bedroom media and each outcome were examined using multi-level linear regression. Results Bedroom TV ownership fell from 70.9% at T0 to 42.5% at T4y. Having a TV in the bedroom (beta; 95% CI*100, T0: -1.17; -1.88, -0.46. T1y: -1.68; -2.67, -0.70) and combined bedroom media (T0: -0.76; -1.26, -0.27. T1y: -0.79; -1.51, -0.07) were negatively associated with objectively measured weekly sedentary time at T0 and T1y. Having a computer in the bedroom (beta; 95% CI, T0: 0.15; 0.02, 0.29. T4y: 0.35; 0.10, 0.60) and combined bedroom media (T0: 0.09: 0.01, 0.18. T4y: 0.20; 0.05, 0.34) were positively associated with screen-time at T0 and T4y. Relative to participants without a computer throughout the study, children that had a computer in their bedroom at T0 but not at T4y (beta; 95% CI for change in screen-time: -8.02; -12.75, -3.29) reported smaller increases in screen-time. Conclusions The bedroom media environment changes with age and exhibits a complex relationship with children’s sedentary behaviour. Modifying children’s bedroom media environment may impact upon screen-time but appears unlikely to influence overall sedentary time. PMID:24341426

A Waterfall Design Strategy for Using Social Media for Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahern, Terence C.

2016-01-01

Using social media can create a rich learning environment that crosses all content areas. The key to creating this environment is for instructors and designers to match appropriate social media software with the intended learning outcome. This article describes an instructional design strategy that helps educators create learning activities that…

Developing Digital and Media Literacies in Children and Adolescents.

PubMed

Turner, Kristen Hawley; Jolls, Tessa; Hagerman, Michelle Schira; O'Byrne, William; Hicks, Troy; Eisenstock, Bobbie; Pytash, Kristine E

2017-11-01

In today's global culture and economy, in which individuals have access to information at their fingertips at all times, digital and media literacy are essential to participate in society. But what specific competencies must young citizens acquire? How do these competencies influence pedagogy? How are student knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors changed? What are the best ways to assess students' digital and media literacy? These questions underscore what parents, educators, health professionals, and community leaders need to know to ensure that youth become digitally and media literate. Experimental and pilot programs in the digital and media literacy fields are yielding insights, but gaps in understanding and lack of support for research and development continue to impede growth in these areas. Learning environments no longer depend on seat time in factory-like school settings. Learning happens anywhere, anytime, and productivity in the workplace depends on digital and media literacy. To create the human capital necessary for success and sustainability in a technology-driven world, we must invest in the literacy practices of our youth. In this article, we make recommendations for research and policy priorities. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Social media for lifelong learning.

PubMed

Kind, Terry; Evans, Yolanda

2015-04-01

Learning is ongoing, and can be considered a social activity. In this paper we aim to provide a review of the use of social media for lifelong learning. We start by defining lifelong learning, drawing upon principles of continuous professional development and adult learning theory. We searched Embase and MEDLINE from 2004-2014 for search terms relevant to social media and learning. We describe examples of lifelong learners using social media in medical education and healthcare that have been reported in the peer-reviewed literature. Medical or other health professions students may have qualities consistent with being a lifelong learner, yet once individuals move beyond structured learning environments they will need to recognize their own gaps in knowledge and skills over time and be motivated to fill them, thereby incorporating lifelong learning principles into their day-to-day practice. Engagement with social media can parallel engagement in the learning process over time, to the extent that online social networking fosters feedback and collaboration. The use of social media and online networking platforms are a key way to continuously learn in today's information sharing society. Additional research is needed, particularly rigorous studies that extend beyond learner satisfaction to knowledge, behaviour change, and outcomes.

[Impacts of computer- and media usage on the personality development of children and young people].

PubMed

Süss, D

2007-02-01

The psychosocial development of children and the youth today is embedded in a media society. Socialization is understood as an interaction between the individual and its environment. Media are used to accomplish developmental tasks and media literacy has become a developmental task in itself. The presence of media in all social subsystems of every day life alters the general socialization processes, like the integration into peergroups or the detaching from the parents. Media can play the role of resources or the role of risk factors for the development. Empirical research shows that children's access to media is more and more enhanced and an increasing amount of time is spent with screen media. Media socialization of the young people takes on the mode of self education, but children are dependent on adults to prevent negative media effects such as Internet addiction. If media usage is part of an environment which is adequat for children's wellbeeing, the psychosocial development will not be affected negatively by the media.

Note-Taking and Memory in Different Media Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lin; Bigenho, Chris

2011-01-01

Through this study the authors investigated undergraduate students' memory recall in three media environments with three note-taking options, following an A x B design with nine experiments. The three environments included no-distraction, auditory-distraction, and auditory-visual-distraction; while the three note-taking options included…

The Influence of Social Media on Collaborative Learning in a Cohort Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wandera, Silas; James-Waldon, Natasha; Bromley, Debbi; Henry, Zandra

2016-01-01

This paper provides an overview of the impact that social media has on the development of collaborative learning within a cohort environment in a doctoral program. The researchers surveyed doctoral students in an education program to determine how social media use has influenced the doctoral students. The study looked at the following areas: a)…

Complicating Silence: A Case Study Investigation of Optimal Student Writing Ecologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lampi, Jodi P.; Wilson, Nancy Effinger; Armstrong, Sonya L.

2018-01-01

In this article, the authors report on a study designed to explore college students' experiences in two writing environments, or ecologies: a media-free, silent zone and a media-saturated zone. Participants shared varying reactions to both environments. Some individuals found media distracting while writing, and others found it to be an energy…

Teenagers and the Fragmenting Media Environment in Asia: An Australian Pilot Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sternberg, Jason; George, Christina; Green, Joshua

2000-01-01

Presents preliminary results from a survey of 15- to 17-year-old Australians, exploring television's place within a rapidly expanding multimedia environment. Finds strong evidence for arguing that Australian youth's media use is currently in a state of flux. Lays foundations for more comprehensive studies of youth media use in Australia that might…

A Cultural Evolution Approach to Digital Media.

PubMed

Acerbi, Alberto

2016-01-01

Digital media have today an enormous diffusion, and their influence on the behavior of a vast part of the human population can hardly be underestimated. In this review I propose that cultural evolution theory, including both a sophisticated view of human behavior and a methodological attitude to modeling and quantitative analysis, provides a useful framework to study the effects and the developments of media in the digital age. I will first give a general presentation of the cultural evolution framework, and I will then introduce this more specific research program with two illustrative topics. The first topic concerns how cultural transmission biases, that is, simple heuristics such as "copy prestigious individuals" or "copy the majority," operate in the novel context of digital media. The existence of transmission biases is generally justified with their adaptivity in small-scale societies. How do they operate in an environment where, for example, prestigious individuals possess not-relevant skills, or popularity is explicitly quantified and advertised? The second aspect relates to fidelity of cultural transmission. Digitally-mediated interactions support cheap and immediate high-fidelity transmission, in opposition, for example, to oral traditions. How does this change the content that is more likely to spread? Overall, I suggest the usefulness of a "long view" to our contemporary digital environment, contextualized in cognitive science and cultural evolution theory, and I discuss how this perspective could help us to understand what is genuinely new and what is not.

Perceived social and media influences on tobacco use among Samoan youth.

PubMed

McCool, Judith; Freeman, Becky; Tanielu, Helen

2014-10-23

Tobacco use among young Pacific populations continues to undermine efforts to reduce the escalating rates of non-communicable disease in the region. Reducing tobacco use to less than 5 percent by 2025 is now a World Health Organisation (WHO) mandated target for the Pacific region. Yet, little is known about the drivers to uptake of tobacco use among young people in the Pacific. Family and peers are expected to be important in this process, but similarly, tobacco marketing may also play an important role. The tobacco industry has been highly adaptive to the changing media environment across the Pacific Islands. The aim of this study was to develop an understanding of the social cultural and media drivers to tobacco uptake and use among young Samoans to contribute to the design of effective tobacco control intervention. We examined high school students (aged 16 and 17 years) perceptions of tobacco use in their community, access and use of media channels and the extent to which they are cognizant of both pro and anti-tobacco imagery across a range of media. Data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis of the interview data identified common and divergent beliefs, attitudes and behaviours surrounding tobacco use and the influence of the media. Family is critically important for representing normative tobacco use in Samoa. The use of media, in particular digital media, was found to be conditioned by parental views on the use of media in the home. Media access remains highly regulated within more traditional households. Loyalty to traditional cultural practices (Fa'a Samoa) underpinned views on the limited influence of media on social norms around tobacco use. Parents were thought to have the greatest influence on youth smoking. Tobacco use was viewed as a personal, or family issue, and not a problem that was amendable to change at a societal level. In order to develop effective and culturally relevant tobacco control policies, the public health community must consider social norms around tobacco use as well as patterns of media use among young Samoans.

Classification of light sources and their interaction with active and passive environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Dardiry, Ramy G. S.; Faez, Sanli; Lagendijk, Ad

2011-03-01

Emission from a molecular light source depends on its optical and chemical environment. This dependence is different for various sources. We present a general classification in terms of constant-amplitude and constant-power sources. Using this classification, we have described the response to both changes in the local density of states and stimulated emission. The unforeseen consequences of this classification are illustrated for photonic studies by random laser experiments and are in good agreement with our correspondingly developed theory. Our results require a revision of studies on sources in complex media.

Building an Effective Social Media Strategy for Science Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohon, Wendy; Robinson, Sarah; Arrowsmith, Ramon; Semken, Steven

2013-07-01

Social media has emerged as a popular mode of communication, with more than 73% of the teenage and adult population in the United States using it on a regular basis [Lenhart et al., 2010]. Young people in particular (ages 12-29) are deeply involved in the rapidly evolving social media environment and have an expectation of communication through these media. This engagement creates a valuable opportunity for scientific organizations and programs to use the wide reach, functionality, and informal environment of social media to create brand recognition, establish trust with users, and disseminate scientific information.

RECREATION PROBLEMS OF RURAL YOUTH IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

PRENDERGAST, JOSEPH

RURAL YOUTH WHO ARE MOVING TO URBAN AREAS ARE NOT PREPARED TO PARTICIPATE IN URBAN TYPES OF RECREATION PROGRAMS. THE RECREATION SKILLS OF THOSE WHO HAVE LEFT THE FARM BUT ARE STILL IN RURAL SETTINGS DO NOT MATCH THE URBAN OPPORTUNITIES REACHING OUT TO THEM. THOSE STILL ON THE FARMS ARE GETTING RECREATION IDEAS THROUGH MASS MEDIA WITHOUT FINDING…

Planning Model for School Facilities. A Planning Model for a Secondary School Utilizing a Multi-dimensional Approach for Optimum Flexibility.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chelmsford Park High School, Chelmsford, MA.

That the construction of a multi-million dollar school plant should be the result of the community's best possible thought, since concrete and steel are not suitable media for necessary future changes in the educational environment, is the basic philosophy of this report. Architects, administrators, teachers, school committeemen, and consultants…

Coping with the Challenges of Open Online Education in Chinese Societies in the Mobile Era: NTHU OCW as a Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Shelley Shwu-Ching; Hung, Hui-Chun

2014-01-01

In an era witnessing the rapid development of information technology, mobile devices have brought revolutionary changes to learning. A single conventional media platform is not enough for the various mobile devices. Technology-enriched educational environments supported by different devices are important research issues nowadays. To capture the…

Environmental quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The potential use of space systems to help determine the current state of air, water, and land environments was examined; the effects of man's activities on these parameters were also examined. Data are limited to pollutants introduced into the major environmental media, environmental changes manifested by such pollutants, and the effectiveness of abatement and control methods. Data also cover land quality as related to land use and public health.

Dangers for Principals and Students When Conducting Investigations of Sexting in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hachiya, Robert F.

2017-01-01

Cell phones and the use of social media have changed the environment in schools, and principals recognize all too well that new technology is almost always accompanied by new ways to misuse or abuse that technology. The addition of a camera to cell phones has unfortunately been accompanied with the serious problem of "sexting" by youth…

Quantification of egg proteome changes during fertilization in sterlet Acipenser ruthenus.

PubMed

Niksirat, Hamid; Andersson, Liselotte; Golpour, Amin; Chupani, Latifeh; James, Peter

2017-08-19

Eggs of sterlet are discharged outside into ambient aquatic environment where egg activation and fertilization occur. Effects of different activation media including freshwater and clay suspension on protein abundances of egg were quantified in sterlet Acipenser ruthenus. In-gel digestion and high resolution mass spectrometry were used for label-free protein quantification in the eggs of five females. No significant (p > 0.05) difference was found between protein abundances in eggs activated with different media. However, results showed significant (p < 0.05, fold change ≥2) reduction in the abundances of nine proteins including six glycoproteins, enolase and heat shock protein in activated groups compared to freshly ovulated eggs as control. The fact that abundance of proteasome subunit alpha significantly reduced only in eggs which were activated by clay suspension suggests that activation medium can somehow intervene with protein regulation during fertilization. In conclusion, external fertilization in sturgeon egg is accompanied by huge release of proteins into the external environment that may participate in the construction of a transient microenvironment around egg for attraction and protection of spermatozoa to ensure ensuing fertilization. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD006232. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The remote, the mouse, and the no. 2 pencil: the household media environment and academic achievement among third grade students.

PubMed

Borzekowski, Dina L G; Robinson, Thomas N

2005-07-01

Media can influence aspects of a child's physical, social, and cognitive development; however, the associations between a child's household media environment, media use, and academic achievement have yet to be determined. To examine relationships among a child's household media environment, media use, and academic achievement. During a single academic year, data were collected through classroom surveys and telephone interviews from an ethnically diverse sample of third grade students and their parents from 6 northern California public elementary schools. The majority of our analyses derive from spring 2000 data, including academic achievement assessed through the mathematics, reading, and language arts sections of the Stanford Achievement Test. We fit linear regression models to determine the associations between variations in household media and performance on the standardized tests, adjusting for demographic and media use variables. The household media environment is significantly associated with students' performance on the standardized tests. It was found that having a bedroom television set was significantly and negatively associated with students' test scores, while home computer access and use were positively associated with the scores. Regression models significantly predicted up to 24% of the variation in the scores. Absence of a bedroom television combined with access to a home computer was consistently associated with the highest standardized test scores. This study adds to the growing literature reporting that having a bedroom television set may be detrimental to young elementary school children. It also suggests that having and using a home computer may be associated with better academic achievement.

Radiologists' Usage of Social Media: Results of the RANSOM Survey.

PubMed

Ranschaert, Erik R; Van Ooijen, Peter M A; McGinty, Geraldine B; Parizel, Paul M

2016-08-01

The growing use of social media is transforming the way health care professionals (HCPs) are communicating. In this changing environment, it could be useful to outline the usage of social media by radiologists in all its facets and on an international level. The main objective of the RANSOM survey was to investigate how radiologists are using social media and what is their attitude towards them. The second goal was to discern differences in tendencies among American and European radiologists. An international survey was launched on SurveyMonkey ( https://www.surveymonkey.com ) asking questions about the platforms they prefer, about the advantages, disadvantages, and risks, and about the main incentives and barriers to use social media. A total of 477 radiologists participated in the survey, of which 277 from Europe and 127 from North America. The results show that 85 % of all survey participants are using social media, mostly for a mixture of private and professional reasons. Facebook is the most popular platform for general purposes, whereas LinkedIn and Twitter are more popular for professional usage. The most important reason for not using social media is an unwillingness to mix private and professional matters. Eighty-two percent of all participants are aware of the educational opportunities offered by social media. The survey results underline the need to increase radiologists' skills in using social media efficiently and safely. There is also a need to create clear guidelines regarding the online and social media presence of radiologists to maximize the potential benefits of engaging with social media.

Amino acids in the cultivation of mammalian cells.

PubMed

Salazar, Andrew; Keusgen, Michael; von Hagen, Jörg

2016-05-01

Amino acids are crucial for the cultivation of mammalian cells. This importance of amino acids was realized soon after the development of the first cell lines, and a solution of a mixture of amino acids has been supplied to cultured cells ever since. The importance of amino acids is further pronounced in chemically defined mammalian cell culture media, making the consideration of their biological and chemical properties necessary. Amino acids concentrations have been traditionally adjusted to their cellular consumption rates. However, since changes in the metabolic equilibrium of amino acids can be caused by changes in extracellular concentrations, metabolomics in conjunction with flux balance analysis is being used in the development of culture media. The study of amino acid transporters is also gaining importance since they control the intracellular concentrations of these molecules and are influenced by conditions in cell culture media. A better understanding of the solubility, stability, dissolution kinetics, and interactions of these molecules is needed for an exploitation of these properties in the development of dry powdered chemically defined media for mammalian cells. Due to the complexity of these mixtures however, this has proven to be challenging. Studying amino acids in mammalian cell culture media will help provide a better understanding of how mammalian cells in culture interact with their environment. It would also provide insight into the chemical behavior of these molecules in solutions of complex mixtures, which is important in the understanding of the contribution of individual amino acids to protein structure.

Transport and Reactivity of Engineered Nanoparticles in Partially Saturated Porous Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dror, I.; Yecheskel, Y.; Berkowitz, B.

2015-12-01

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are being produced in increasing amounts and have numerous applications in a variety of products and industrial processes. The same properties that make these substances so appealing may also cause them to act as persistent and toxic pollutants. The post-use release of ENPs to the environment is inevitable and soil appears to be one of the largest sinks of these potential contaminants. To date, despite the significant attention that ENP behavior in the environment has received, only a few studies have considered the fate and transport of ENPs in partially saturated systems. Here, we report measurements on the transport and fate of three commonly used ENPs - silver (Ag), gold (Au) and zinc oxide (ZnO) - in partially saturated porous media. The results show that ENP interactions with the solid matrix and solution components affect the fate of the ENPs and their transport. The negatively charged ENPs (AgNPs and AuNPs) are shown to be mobile in sand (which is also negatively charged) under various conditions, including water saturation levels and inlet concentration, with transport behavior resembling conservative tracer movement. Various aging scenarios were considered and the interaction of AgNPs with sulfides, chlorides, and calcium ions, all of which are known to interact and change AgNP properties, are shown to affect AgNP fate; however, in some cases, the changed particles remained suspended in solution and mobile. The positively charged ZnO showed very low mobility, but when humic acid was present in the inlet solution, interactions leading to enhanced mobility were observed. The presence of humic acid also changes ENP size and surface charge, transforming them to negatively charged larger aggregates that can be transported through the sand. Finally, remobilization of particles that were retained in the porous media was also demonstrated for ZnO ENPs, indicating possible release of entrapped ENPs upon changes in solution chemistry.

What Drives Students' Loyalty-Formation in Social Media Learning within a Personal Learning Environment Approach? The Moderating Role of Need for Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arquero, José L.; del Barrio-García, Salvador; Romero-Frías, Esteban

2017-01-01

Our study analyzes an educational experience based on the integrated use of social media within a higher education course under a personal learning environment approach and investigates the factors that determine students' loyalty to social media learning. We examined the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) in students' formation of…

From ABCs to DVDs: Profiles of Infants' Home Media Environments in the First Two Years of Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mol, Suzanne E.; Neuman, Susan B.; Strouse, Gabrielle A.

2014-01-01

The very definition of print exposure has evolved in recent years as has the production of new media for infants and toddlers. Recognising that parents now have a confluence of media to select from, our study was designed to provide a richer understanding of home-literacy environments among 100 infants. Three profiles of families' home media…

Growing the physics community in the Philippines in a changing landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, May T.; Esguerra, Jose Perico H.

2015-12-01

Since the participation of the Philippines in the 3rd IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics in 2008, the biggest change in the environment has happened online: Social media use is now pervasive. After the change in country leadership in 2010, policy directions were taken that directly affected the science research agenda, which in turn changed the research funding landscape. The uptake of government scholarship support for physics degrees continues to be popular with bachelor's and master's students regardless of gender. The country has also adopted the K-12 education system, and its impact on university employment remains to be seen.

Media Violence and Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groebel, Jo

1998-01-01

Presents the results of the UNESCO global study on media violence and children which was conducted between 1996 and 1997. Highlights include the role of the media, media heroes as role models, media violence and aggression, differences by gender, rural versus urban environments, the pervasiveness of television, and recommendations. (Author/LRW)

Polio communication.

PubMed

Galaway, Michael

2005-12-01

Substantial investments are being made in the area of communication and social mobilisation to interrupt transmission of wild poliovirus. A number of organisations with active support from the Government of India and various state governments are implementing activities to raise awareness and encourage all families to immunise their children. A mass media campaign is the most recognised health promotion effort on media. Mass media efforts are being backed by intensive social mobilisation and interpersonal communication efforts in polio-endemic states. Advocacy and editorial media environment are key elements of the overall communication approach, creating a conducive environment for the polio programme.

The Dynamic Family Home: a qualitative exploration of physical environmental influences on children's sedentary behaviour and physical activity within the home space.

PubMed

Maitland, Clover; Stratton, Gareth; Foster, Sarah; Braham, Rebecca; Rosenberg, Michael

2014-12-24

Recent changes in home physical environments, such as decreasing outdoor space and increasing electronic media, may negatively affect health by facilitating sedentariness and reducing physical activity. As children spend much of their time at home they are particularly vulnerable. This study qualitatively explored family perceptions of physical environmental influences on sedentary behaviour and physical activity within the home space. Home based interviews were conducted with 28 families with children aged 9-13 years (total n = 74 individuals), living in Perth, Australia. Families were stratified by socioeconomic status and selected to provide variation in housing. Qualitative methods included a family interview, observation and home tour where families guided the researcher through their home, enabling discussion while in the physical home space. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Emergent themes related to children's sedentariness and physical activity included overall size, space and design of the home; allocation of home space; equipment within the home space; perceived safety of the home space; and the changing nature of the home space. Families reported that children's activity options were limited when houses and yards were small. In larger homes, multiple indoor living rooms usually housed additional sedentary entertainment options, although parents reported that open plan home layouts could facilitate monitoring of children's electronic media use. Most families reported changing the allocation and contents of their home space in response to changing priorities and circumstances. The physical home environment can enhance or limit opportunities for children's sedentary behaviour and physical activity. However, the home space is a dynamic ecological setting that is amenable to change and is largely shaped by the family living within it, thus differentiating it from other settings. While size and space were considered important, how families prioritise the use of their home space and overcome the challenges posed by the physical environment may be of equal or greater importance in establishing supportive home environments. Further research is required to tease out how physical, social and individual factors interact within the family home space to influence children's sedentary behaviour and physical activity at home.

Past lessons and new uses of the mass media in reducing tobacco consumption.

PubMed

Erickson, A C; McKenna, J W; Romano, R M

1990-01-01

A review of mass media response to the smoking issue over the past 25 years reveals that sustained involvement of the broadcast and print media has served significantly to heighten public awareness and reduce smoking rates in the total U.S. population. Public service advertising has been an integral part of the smoking control movement from its outset, but today's intensely competitive media environment has forced health promoters to look beyond public service announcements in the development of total communication programs. Media advocacy--using the media to sharpen public awareness and mold public policy to serve the public interest, a technique derived from political campaigns--is emerging as a powerful tool in the smoking control movement. Its emphasis is on changing the entire social context of tobacco use in America, rather than the smoking behavior of people. Because media advocates' success pivots on their access to the media, they must be able both to create news and to react quickly to breaking news and unexpected events. The opportunistic, risk-taking nature of media advocacy requires that most efforts be waged at the State and local levels. An increasing number of State health departments and other organizations are using paid advertising to improve the frequency and reach of nonsmoking messages. Research verifies that paid media campaigns increase the target audience's exposure to smoking control messages, but planning and making efficient media purchases require sophistication and, of course, the necessary funds. Irrefutable medical evidence linking smoking to disease and addiction, combined with the powerful social force of the nonsmokers' rights movement, offer hope that a smoke-free society is an achievable goal. Success,however, will only be realized if tobacco control activists make use of the full range of mass media technologies to sustain and nourish this momentum.

Tracing molecular dephasing in biological tissue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokim, M.; Carruba, C.; Ganikhanov, F.

2017-10-01

We demonstrate the quantitative spectroscopic characterization and imaging of biological tissue using coherent time-domain microscopy with a femtosecond resolution. We identify tissue constituents and perform dephasing time (T2) measurements of characteristic Raman active vibrations. This was shown in subcutaneous mouse fat embedded within collagen rich areas of the dermis and the muscle connective tissue. The demonstrated equivalent spectral resolution (<0.3 cm-1) is an order of magnitude better compared to commonly used frequency-domain methods for characterization of biological media. This provides with the important dimensions and parameters in biological media characterization and can become an effective tool in detecting minute changes in the bio-molecular composition and environment that is critical for molecular level diagnosis.

Media Choice for Intra-School Communication: The Role of Environment, User, and Medium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caspi, Avner; Blau, Ina

2011-01-01

The influence of media richness, media attentional load, social influence and users' prior experience with media on selection of media to transmit different messages to peers within an educational organization was tested. Media were discriminated by all potential variables. Support was found for the role of prior experience and social influence in…

A Better Safety Net: It's Time to Get Smart about Online Safety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collier, Anne

2009-01-01

Online safety is obsolete. A concept little changed since the 1990s, it's one size fits all, emphasizing fear instead of facts, with young people stereotyped as potential victims in a hostile media environment. It's past time for Online Safety 3.0. Why 3.0? Previous versions--1.0 and 2.0--focused on inappropriate content, adult-to-child crime, and…

40 CFR 1065.690 - Buoyancy correction for PM sample media.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... media. 1065.690 Section 1065.690 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Buoyancy correction for PM sample media. (a) General. Correct PM sample media for their buoyancy in air if you weigh them on a balance. The buoyancy correction depends on the sample media density, the density...

40 CFR 1065.690 - Buoyancy correction for PM sample media.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... media. 1065.690 Section 1065.690 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Buoyancy correction for PM sample media. (a) General. Correct PM sample media for their buoyancy in air if you weigh them on a balance. The buoyancy correction depends on the sample media density, the density...

40 CFR 1065.690 - Buoyancy correction for PM sample media.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... media. 1065.690 Section 1065.690 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Buoyancy correction for PM sample media. (a) General. Correct PM sample media for their buoyancy in air if you weigh them on a balance. The buoyancy correction depends on the sample media density, the density...

40 CFR 1065.690 - Buoyancy correction for PM sample media.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... media. 1065.690 Section 1065.690 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Buoyancy correction for PM sample media. (a) General. Correct PM sample media for their buoyancy in air if you weigh them on a balance. The buoyancy correction depends on the sample media density, the density...

Climate Change Media Forum - for Enhanced Communication between Journalists and Climate Scientists in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goto-Maeda, Y.; Emori, S.; Takahashi, K.; Aoyagi-Usui, M.; Fukushi, K.; Tanaka, Y.; Fukuda, H.; Matsumoto, Y.; Asakura, A.; Hiramatsu, A.; Sumi, A.

2011-12-01

For researchers, being reported by mass media is an effective way to share their studies with others, although some have concerns that scientific results are often exaggerated by highlighting sensational parts and ignoring essential results by the media. Obviously, journalists have their own criteria of effective science reporting for their newspapers or magazines which do not necessarily conform to how researchers report their results. Climate Change Media Forum was started in 2009 by researchers specializing in climate science and communication to fill such gaps and enhance communication between climate scientists and journalists as part of a climate change research project funded by the Ministry of Environment of Japan. Since its start, forum events have been held once a year to exchange ideas on reporting of climate change science through mass media. At the first event in March, 2009, we started with learning about what actually the journalists and researchers think about media reports on climate change sciences. Using onsite questionnaire surveys, the participants (39 journalists and 31 researchers) discussed their problems on reporting climate change and what they would like to tell to the public. Some of the survey results suggested that researchers are willing to emphasize more about the conditions and assumptions of studies, while journalists would like to know more about current and short-term impacts. From the second year, two journalists joined the committee to make the events more meaningful for journalists. For the event in March, 2010, three months after COP15 in Copenhagen, the 2 degrees temperature target, which was the only written number on the Copenhagen Accord, was selected as a timely topic. Although researchers understand that a specific target is necessary for setting a concrete pathway, many of them also feel uncomfortable about selecting one single value from the temperature range with uncertainty. After two lectures on the history of the target and possible impacts by the temperature rise, the participants discussed reporting of target selected from data with uncertainty. The third forum event was held in February, 2011, on climate change projections by numerical models. After the lecture on the ongoing projects of climate change prediction for AR5 in Japan, one of the presenters at the press conference on climate change projections for AR4 in 2007 shared his own thoughts on the media reports based on the press conference. In the following session, the researchers and journalists actively discussed how the climate change projection should be reported based on their own "mission" which is conducting reliable research for scientists and writing informative articles for journalists. Through the previous three events, we have obtained sincere comments and suggestions from the participants to improve the communication between journalists and researchers. In the presentation, more comments from the discussions and the survey results of the forum events will be shared.

Time to take human embryo culture seriously.

PubMed

Sunde, Arne; Brison, Daniel; Dumoulin, John; Harper, Joyce; Lundin, Kersti; Magli, M Cristina; Van den Abbeel, Etienne; Veiga, Anna

2016-10-01

Is it important that end-users know the composition of human embryo culture media? We argue that there is as strong case for full transparency concerning the composition of embryo culture media intended for human use. Published data suggest that the composition of embryo culture media may influence the phenotype of the offspring. A review of the literature was carried out. Data concerning the potential effects on embryo development of culture media were assessed and recommendations for users made. The safety of ART procedures, especially with respect to the health of the offspring, is of major importance. There are reports from the literature indicating a possible effect of culture conditions, including culture media, on embryo and fetal development. Since the introduction of commercially available culture media, there has been a rapid development of different formulations, often not fully documented, disclosed or justified. There is now evidence that the environment the early embryo is exposed to can cause reprogramming of embryonic growth leading to alterations in fetal growth trajectory, birthweight, childhood growth and long-term disease including Type II diabetes and cardiovascular problems. The mechanism for this is likely to be epigenetic changes during the preimplantation period of development. In the present paper the ESHRE working group on culture media summarizes the present knowledge of potential effects on embryo development related to culture media, and makes recommendations. There is still a need for large prospective randomized trials to further elucidate the link between the composition of embryo culture media used and the phenotype of the offspring. We do not presently know if the phenotypic changes induced by in vitro embryo culture represent a problem for long-term health of the offspring. Published data indicate that there is a strong case for demanding full transparency concerning the compositions of and the scientific rationale behind the composition of embryo culture media. This work was funded by The European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. No competing interests to declare. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Public Speaking Pedagogy in the Media Age.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haynes, W. Lance

1990-01-01

Asserts that media systems and pedagogy affect each other, that electronic media increasingly dominate the society, and that pedagogy must respond. Outlines a heuristic model for talking and thinking pedagogically about the process of speech in the electronic media environment. (MG)

[Digital learning and teaching in medical education : Already there or still at the beginning?

PubMed

Kuhn, Sebastian; Frankenhauser, Susanne; Tolks, Daniel

2018-02-01

The current choice of digital teaching and learning formats in medicine is very heterogeneous. In addition to the widely used classical static formats, social communication tools, audio/video-based media, interactive formats, and electronic testing systems enrich the learning environment.For medical students, the private use of digital media is not necessarily linked to their meaningful use in the study. Many gain their experience of digital learning in the sense of "assessment drives learning", especially by taking online exams in a passive, consuming role. About half of all medical students can be referred to as "e-examinees" whose handling of digital learning is primarily focused on online exam preparation. Essentially, they do not actively influence their digital environment. Only a quarter can be identified as a "digital all-rounder", who compiles their individual learning portfolio from the broad range of digital media.At present, the use of digital media is not yet an integral and comprehensive component of the teaching framework of medical studies in Germany, but is rather used in the sense of a punctual teaching enrichment. Current trends in digital teaching and learning offerings are mobile, interactive, and personalized platforms as well as increasing the relevance of learning platforms. Furthermore, didactical concepts targeting the changed learning habits of the students are more successful regarding the acceptance and learning outcomes. In addition, digitalization is currently gaining importance as a component in the medical school curricula.

A Cultural Evolution Approach to Digital Media

PubMed Central

Acerbi, Alberto

2016-01-01

Digital media have today an enormous diffusion, and their influence on the behavior of a vast part of the human population can hardly be underestimated. In this review I propose that cultural evolution theory, including both a sophisticated view of human behavior and a methodological attitude to modeling and quantitative analysis, provides a useful framework to study the effects and the developments of media in the digital age. I will first give a general presentation of the cultural evolution framework, and I will then introduce this more specific research program with two illustrative topics. The first topic concerns how cultural transmission biases, that is, simple heuristics such as “copy prestigious individuals” or “copy the majority,” operate in the novel context of digital media. The existence of transmission biases is generally justified with their adaptivity in small-scale societies. How do they operate in an environment where, for example, prestigious individuals possess not-relevant skills, or popularity is explicitly quantified and advertised? The second aspect relates to fidelity of cultural transmission. Digitally-mediated interactions support cheap and immediate high-fidelity transmission, in opposition, for example, to oral traditions. How does this change the content that is more likely to spread? Overall, I suggest the usefulness of a “long view” to our contemporary digital environment, contextualized in cognitive science and cultural evolution theory, and I discuss how this perspective could help us to understand what is genuinely new and what is not. PMID:28018200

The impact of a health campaign on health social capital.

PubMed

Thorson, Esther; Beaudoin, Christopher E

2004-01-01

Referring to literature in sociology, mass communication, and public health, we conceptualize and operationally define "health social capital" and "individual health social capital" and then posit and test a model for its development in response to a public health media campaign. The campaign evaluated here was designed to stimulate behaviors that would provide a more supportive social environment for children and youth, an environment which we consider to be richer in aggregate health social capital. The association model of advertising was employed to explain the development of individual health social capital measures of awareness, attitude, and behavior. With cross-sectional data (1998, n = 614; 1999, n = 1087; 2000, n = 1388), we examine the results for changes in awareness, attitude, and behavior over time and the significant links between these dependent variables and media campaign exposure. The results show significant increases in awareness and attitude, but not in behavior. Structural equation modeling revealed different patterns of influence for newspaper and TV campaign exposure.

Applying soil science for restoration of post mining degraded landscapes in semi-arid Australia: challenges and opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam; Martini, Dylan; Erickson, Todd; Merritt, David; Dixon, Kingsley

2015-04-01

Introduction Current challenges in ecological restoration of post mining environments include the deficit of original topsoil which is frequently lost or damaged, and the lack of soil forming materials. A comprehensive knowledge of soil properties and processes and an adequate management of soil resources are critical to improve the restoration success of these degraded areas. In particular, understanding soil physical, chemical and biological parameters is decisive in environments where water is a limiting factor for seedling establishment and plant survival. To improve the restoration success of biodiverse semi-arid areas disturbed by mining activities (Pilbara region, Western Australia), we conducted experiments to (i) analyse changes in soil physico-chemical properties and soil microbial activity of topsoil stockpiles to optimise its handling and minimise deterioration of nutrients and soil biota, (ii) test climate effects on seedling emergence of native plant species and (iii) assess the potential of mine waste materials as a suitable growth medium for seedling emergence of native plant species under various water regimes. Methods The experimental studies were conducted in controlled environment facilities where air temperature, relative humidity and soil moisture were monitored routinely. Watering regimes were selected to represent rainfall patterns of the area. As a growth media we used material obtained from topsoil stockpiles and waste materials from an active mine site, which were mixed at different ratios. Samples were collected from different parts of the topsoil stockpiles and analysed to determine physical, chemical and biological properties. Results No large discrepancies in physical and chemical values were detected at different positions of the stockpiles. However, microbial activity was highly variable, particularly inside the stockpiles. Seedling emergence on topsoil growth media was highly dependent on climate factors with emergence rates varying significantly (P< 0.001) across species. Highest emergence rates were obtained for Acacia adoxa and Grevillea pyramidalis in the 30°C scenario and adequate soil moisture levels (mean % ± SE 71±5.3 and 80±3.8 respectively). With available water, emergence was above 30% for all species and growth media types (topsoil, waste and mixes of topsoil and waste at 50:50 and 25:75 ratios). However, under drought conditions, emergence severely decreased for all species. In particular, Gossypium robinsonii and Grevillea pyramidalis did not show any response with less than 50% of topsoil in the composition of growth media. Our results suggest that changes in precipitation regimes can have a critical effect on seedling emergence of native plant species from the Pilbara. Understanding soil physico-chemical properties of soil materials and changes in soil moisture related to rainfall patterns and growth media blends are crucial to predict the success of seedling emergence and ultimately achieve biodiverse restoration in semiarid areas. This research is part of a broader multi-study approach, the Restoration Seedbank Initiative project, a partnership between The University of Western Australia, BHP Billiton Iron Ore, and Kings Park and Botanic Garden. Keywords Pilbara region, biodiverse ecosystems, soil microbial activity, topsoil stockpile, dry environments, land rehabilitation.

ACANTHAMOEBA SP.S-11 PHAGOCYTOTIC ACTIVITY ON MYCOBACTERIUM LEPRAE IN DIFFERENT NUTRIENT CONDITIONS.

PubMed

Paling, Sepling; Wahyuni, Ratna; Ni'matuzahroh; Winarni, Dwi; Iswahyudi; Astari, Linda; Adriaty, Dinar; Agusni, Indropo; Izumi, Shinzo

2018-01-01

Mycobacterium leprae ( M. leprae ) is a pathogenic bacterium that causes leprosy. The presence of M. leprae in the environment is supported by microorganisms that act as the new host for M. leprae . Acanthamoeba 's potential to be a host of M. leprae in the environment. Acanthamoeba sp. is Free Living Amoeba (FLA) that classified as holozoic, saprophytic, and saprozoic. The existence of nutrients in the environment influence Acanthamoeba ability to phagocytosis or pinocytosis. This study is aimed to determine Acanthamoeba sp.S-11 phagocytic activity to Mycobacterium leprae ( M. leprae ) which cultured in non-nutrient media and riched-nutrient media. This research conducted by culturing Acanthamoeba sp.S-11 and M. leprae on different nutrient media conditions. M. leprae intracellular DNA were isolated and amplified by M. leprae specific primers through Real Time PCR (Q-PCR). The results showed that Acanthamoeba co-cultured on non-nutrient media were more active to phagocyte M. leprae than on rich-nutrient media. The use of non-nutrient media is recommended to optimize Acanthamoeba sp. phagocytic activity to M. leprae .

Past lessons and new uses of the mass media in reducing tobacco consumption.

PubMed Central

Erickson, A C; McKenna, J W; Romano, R M

1990-01-01

A review of mass media response to the smoking issue over the past 25 years reveals that sustained involvement of the broadcast and print media has served significantly to heighten public awareness and reduce smoking rates in the total U.S. population. Public service advertising has been an integral part of the smoking control movement from its outset, but today's intensely competitive media environment has forced health promoters to look beyond public service announcements in the development of total communication programs. Media advocacy--using the media to sharpen public awareness and mold public policy to serve the public interest, a technique derived from political campaigns--is emerging as a powerful tool in the smoking control movement. Its emphasis is on changing the entire social context of tobacco use in America, rather than the smoking behavior of people. Because media advocates' success pivots on their access to the media, they must be able both to create news and to react quickly to breaking news and unexpected events. The opportunistic, risk-taking nature of media advocacy requires that most efforts be waged at the State and local levels. An increasing number of State health departments and other organizations are using paid advertising to improve the frequency and reach of nonsmoking messages. Research verifies that paid media campaigns increase the target audience's exposure to smoking control messages, but planning and making efficient media purchases require sophistication and, of course, the necessary funds. Irrefutable medical evidence linking smoking to disease and addiction, combined with the powerful social force of the nonsmokers' rights movement, offer hope that a smoke-free society is an achievable goal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) PMID:2113681

Defense.gov - Special Report - Social Media

Science.gov Websites

social media space, the Marine Corps now leads the way in the era of emerging media. Story» Featured Articles Social Media Shapes Military The Defense Department and all of its components use Facebook and other social media tools to help promote their initiatives as the entire informational environment

Reading while Watching Video: The Effect of Video Content on Reading Comprehension and Media Multitasking Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lin; Lee, Jennifer; Robertson, Tip

2011-01-01

Media multitasking, or engaging in multiple media and tasks simultaneously, is becoming an increasingly popular phenomenon with the development and engagement in social media. This study examines to what extent video content affects students' reading comprehension in media multitasking environments. One hundred and thirty university students were…

Television, disordered eating, and young women in Fiji: negotiating body image and identity during rapid social change.

PubMed

Becker, Anne E

2004-12-01

Although the relationship between media exposure and risk behavior among youth is established at a population level, the specific psychological and social mechanisms mediating the adverse effects of media on youth remain poorly understood. This study reports on an investigation of the impact of the introduction of television to a rural community in Western Fiji on adolescent ethnic Fijian girls in a setting of rapid social and economic change. Narrative data were collected from 30 purposively selected ethnic Fijian secondary school girls via semi-structured, open-ended interviews. Interviews were conducted in 1998, 3 years after television was first broadcast to this region of Fiji. Narrative data were analyzed for content relating to response to television and mechanisms that mediate self and body image in Fijian adolescents. Data in this sample suggest that media imagery is used in both creative and destructive ways by adolescent Fijian girls to navigate opportunities and conflicts posed by the rapidly changing social environment. Study respondents indicated their explicit modeling of the perceived positive attributes of characters presented in television dramas, but also the beginnings of weight and body shape preoccupation, purging behavior to control weight, and body disparagement. Response to television appeared to be shaped by a desire for competitive social positioning during a period of rapid social transition. Understanding vulnerability to images and values imported with media will be critical to preventing disordered eating and, potentially, other youth risk behaviors in this population, as well as other populations at risk.

Beyond Food Promotion: A Systematic Review on the Influence of the Food Industry on Obesity-Related Dietary Behaviour among Children.

PubMed

Sonntag, Diana; Schneider, Sarah; Mdege, Noreen; Ali, Shehzad; Schmidt, Burkhard

2015-10-16

An increased consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor food and beverages as a result of a changing obesogenic environment contributes substantially to the increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. This paper reviews the nature and extent of food industry influences which expose children to commercial influences and thus might affect unhealthy dietary behaviour and finally contributes to obesity. A systematic search of nine electronic databases (including PubMed, PsycINFO, EconLit) and reference lists of original studies and reviews using key search terms identified 1900 articles. Of these only thirty-six articles met the inclusion and quality criteria. A narrative synthesis of the reviewed studies revealed six key obesogenic environments by which the food industry possibly influences obesity-related dietary behaviours in young children. These were schools, retailers, mass media "television", mass media "internet", home and promotional campaigns. Identifying these obesogenic environments is critical for monitoring and controlling the food industry, the development of effective environmental-level interventions to prevent childhood overweight and obesity and to identify knowledge gaps to be addressed in future research to support informed decisions of policy makers.

Beyond Food Promotion: A Systematic Review on the Influence of the Food Industry on Obesity-Related Dietary Behaviour among Children

PubMed Central

Sonntag, Diana; Schneider, Sarah; Mdege, Noreen; Ali, Shehzad; Schmidt, Burkhard

2015-01-01

An increased consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor food and beverages as a result of a changing obesogenic environment contributes substantially to the increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. This paper reviews the nature and extent of food industry influences which expose children to commercial influences and thus might affect unhealthy dietary behaviour and finally contributes to obesity. A systematic search of nine electronic databases (including PubMed, PsycINFO, EconLit) and reference lists of original studies and reviews using key search terms identified 1900 articles. Of these only thirty-six articles met the inclusion and quality criteria. A narrative synthesis of the reviewed studies revealed six key obesogenic environments by which the food industry possibly influences obesity-related dietary behaviours in young children. These were schools, retailers, mass media “television”, mass media “internet”, home and promotional campaigns. Identifying these obesogenic environments is critical for monitoring and controlling the food industry, the development of effective environmental-level interventions to prevent childhood overweight and obesity and to identify knowledge gaps to be addressed in future research to support informed decisions of policy makers. PMID:26501319

Improving the quality of science reporting: a case study of Metcalf's Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, Cara

Environmental journalists and science writers express a strong desire for professional development opportunities. These groups often identify inadequate training in science and science writing as their biggest obstacles to accurate reporting. To fill these training gaps, science immersion workshops for journalists, focused on a particular specialization such as marine reporting, offer both practical and pedagogical advantages. However, few efforts have been made to evaluate the efficacy of these workshops in a quantitative way. This case study of the Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists, offered by the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, aimed to determine whether journalists' reporting is more accurate as a result of program participation. Survey data, collected from 11 years of workshop alumni, indicate neutral to positive responses on all measures of change. Using an exploratory approach, this study analyzed survey results by five categories---year of attendance, education level and type, media format, and years of journalism experience---to investigate the role of demographic variables in participants' learning experience. Some results of these comparative analyses correlate with programmatic changes made during the 11 years surveyed. The presence or absence of specific workshop activities coincides with higher and lower levels of reported change for specific learning objectives targeted by those activities. Other results have possible implications for program design or participant eligibility to maximize program impact. Journalists with more formal education report more change on multiple learning objectives, such as data use, understanding of scientific uncertainty, desire to report on environmental topics, and communication with scientists. At the same time, journalists with less formal education and less professional experience are more likely to have recommended the program to others. Some confounding results suggest a need for different group divisions based on media format in future analysis. The data analysis of survey participants disaggregated by media type generated few statistically significant differences of note. This case study relates to larger trends, questions and changes in today's media landscape. Because information flows from the media to the public and into policy, the quality and quantity of marine reporting impacts the quality and quantity of marine policy. In a media environment that has become increasingly interactive, where information flow is less hierarchical, now more than ever environmental journalists must be equipped to filter, interpret and evaluate information in order to communicate effectively.

Molecular mechanism of carbon nanotube to activate Subtilisin Carlsberg in polar and non-polar organic media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Liyun; Li, Yuzhi; Yuan, Yuan; Jiang, Yuanyuan; Guo, Yanzhi; Li, Menglong; Pu, Xuemei

2016-11-01

In the work, we mainly used molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and protein structure network (PSN) to study subtilisin Carlsberg (SC) immobilized onto carbon nanotube (CNT) in water, acetonitrile and heptane solvents, in order to explore activation mechanism of enzymes in non-aqueous media. The result indicates that the affinity of SC with CNT follows the decreasing order of water > acetonitrile > heptane. The overall structure of SC and the catalytic triad display strong robustness to the change of environments, responsible for the activity retaining. However, the distances between two β-strands of substrate-binding pocket are significantly expanded by the immobilization in the increasing order of water < acetonitrile < heptane, contributing to the highest substrate-binding energy in heptane media. PSN analysis further reveals that the immobilization enhances structural communication paths to the substrate-binding pocket, leading to its larger change than the free-enzymes. Interestingly, the increase in the number of the pathways upon immobilization is not dependent on the absorbed extent but the desorbed one, indicating significant role of shifting process of experimental operations in influencing the functional region. In addition, some conserved and important hot-residues in the paths are identified, providing molecular information for functional modification.

The value of fame: preadolescent perceptions of popular media and their relationship to future aspirations.

PubMed

Uhls, Yalda T; Greenfield, Patricia M

2012-03-01

In line with Greenfield's (2009) theory of social change and human development, current popular preadolescent TV shows suggest that fame, an individualistic goal, is an important and achievable aspiration (Uhls & Greenfield, 2011). Such messages may be particularly salient for preadolescents, ages 10-12. This study used focus groups and mixed analytic methods (qualitative and quantitative) to examine how popular media, passive and interactive, are interpreted by preadolescents and how their interpretations relate to their media practices and future goals. Quantitative analysis revealed that fame was the number one value, selected as the most important value for participants' future goals significantly more frequently than expected by chance. Qualitative analysis of focus group discourse suggested that (a) youth absorb messages in their media environment regarding fame as a future goal and (b) their interpretations of these messages highlight the importance and value of public recognition. Enacting the value of fame, the majority of preadolescent participants use online video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube) to seek an audience beyond their immediate community. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship between Media Richness and Managerial Information Processing

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-07-01

engineers use technology to design optimal information systems that will provide clear, correct data to help managers solve current problems (Keen...is in a changing environment (Hedberg and Jonsson, 1978; Mowshowitz, 1976; Hedberg, 1981; Hedberg, Nystrom, and Starbuck , 1976). Technology based...organizations learn and unlearn." In P. C. Nystrom, and W. H. Starbuck (eds.), Handbook of Organizational Design, Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific

A new road map for healthcare business success.

PubMed

Williams, Jeni

2011-05-01

Action steps hospitals should take to prepare their organizations for a changing business development environment include: Developing a comprehensive forecast of the ways in which reform and market forces will affect patient volumes and service line demand. Aligning with physicians and other care entities in a tightly integrated way. Heightening transparency related to quality and cost. Investing in marketing and social media to strengthen the organization's market position.

A Collaborative Media Production Project on Human Rights: Bridging Everyday and Media Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haydari, Nazan; Kara, Mustafa

2015-01-01

Given the importance of media institutions and universities as spaces of knowledge productions, development of "critical media pedagogy" becomes crucial for the establishment of a responsible and ethical media environment. Drawing from the collaborative project of The First Step into Human Rights: I do not do it!--A Short Film Project on…

Delivering risk information in a dynamic information environment: Framing and authoritative voice in Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and primetime broadcast news media communications during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

PubMed

Kott, Anne; Limaye, Rupali J

2016-11-01

During a disease outbreak, media serve as primary transmitters of information from public health agencies to the public, and have been shown to influence both behavior and perception of risk. Differences in news frequency, framing and information source can impact the public's interpretation of risk messages and subsequent attitudes and behaviors about a particular threat. The media's framing of an outbreak is important, as it may affect both perception of risk and the ability to process important health information. To understand how risk communication by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the 2014 Ebola outbreak was framed and delivered and to what extent primetime broadcast news media mirrored CDC's framing and authoritative voice, 209 CDC communications and primetime broadcast transcripts issued between July 24 and December 29, 2014 were analyzed and coded by thematic frame and authoritative voice. Dominant frame and voice were determined for each month and for overall period of analysis. Medical frame was dominant in CDC (60%), Anderson Cooper 360 (49%), The Rachel Maddow Show (47%) and All In with Chris Hayes (47%). The human interest frame was dominant in The Kelly File (45%), while The O'Reilly Factor coverage was equally split between sociopolitical and medical frames (28%, respectively). Primetime news media also changed dominant frames over time. Dominant authoritative voice in CDC communications was that of CDC officials, while primetime news dominantly featured local and federal (non-CDC) government officials and academic/medical experts. Differences in framing and delivery could have led the public to interpret risk in a different way than intended by CDC. Overall, public health agencies should consider adapting risk communication strategies to account for a dynamic news environment and the media's agenda. Options include adapting communications to short-form styles and embracing the concept of storytelling. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Media Literacy, Social Networking, and the Web 2.0 Environment for the K-12 Educator. Minding the Media: Critical Issues for Learning and Teaching. Volume 4

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Abreu, Belinha S.

2011-01-01

This book, a resource for educators, uses the theme of media literacy as a lens through which to view and discuss social networking and Web 2.0 environments. There is ongoing and positive research on the participatory culture created by youth who are heavily involved in the new digital technologies, yet schools tend to avoid these mediums for fear…

Response of microbial community composition and function to soil climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Waldrop, M.P.; Firestone, M.K.

2006-01-01

Soil microbial communities mediate critical ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycles. How microbial communities will respond to changes in vegetation and climate, however, are not well understood. We reciprocally transplanted soil cores from under oak canopies and adjacent open grasslands in a California oak-grassland ecosystem to determine how microbial communities respond to changes in the soil environment and the potential consequences for the cycling of carbon. Every 3 months for up to 2 years, we monitored microbial community composition using phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA), microbial biomass, respiration rates, microbial enzyme activities, and the activity of microbial groups by quantifying 13C uptake from a universal substrate (pyruvate) into PLFA biomarkers. Soil in the open grassland experienced higher maximum temperatures and lower soil water content than soil under the oak canopies. Soil microbial communities in soil under oak canopies were more sensitive to environmental change than those in adjacent soil from the open grassland. Oak canopy soil communities changed rapidly when cores were transplanted into the open grassland soil environment, but grassland soil communities did not change when transplanted into the oak canopy environment. Similarly, microbial biomass, enzyme activities, and microbial respiration decreased when microbial communities were transplanted from the oak canopy soils to the grassland environment, but not when the grassland communities were transplanted to the oak canopy environment. These data support the hypothesis that microbial community composition and function is altered when microbes are exposed to new extremes in environmental conditions; that is, environmental conditions outside of their "life history" envelopes. ?? 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

Re-Examination of Mixed Media Communication: The Impact of Voice, Data Link, and Mixed Air Traffic Control Environments on the Flight Deck

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunbar, Melisa; McGann, Alison; Mackintosh, Margaret-Anne; Lozito, Sandra; Ashford, Rose (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A simulation in the B747-400 was conducted at NASA Ames Research Center that compared how crews handled voice and data link air traffic control (ATC) messages in a single medium versus a mixed voice and data link ATC environment The interval between ATC messages was also varied to examine the influence of time pressure in voice, data link, and mixed ATC environments. For messages sent via voice, transaction times were lengthened in the mixed media environment for closely spaced messages. The type of environment did not affect data link times. However, messages times were lengthened in both single and mixed-modality environments under time pressure. Closely spaced messages also increased the number of requests for clarification for voice messages in the mixed environment and review menu use for data link messages. Results indicated that when time pressure is introduced, the mix of voice and data link does not necessarily capitalize on the advantages of both media. These findings emphasize the need to develop procedures for managing communication in mixed voice and data link environments.

Psychological science's contributions to a sustainable environment: extending our reach to a grand challenge of society.

PubMed

Kazdin, Alan E

2009-01-01

Climate change and degradation of the environment are global problems associated with many other challenges (e.g., population increases, reduction of glaciers, and loss of critical habitats). Psychological science can play a critical role in addressing these problems by fostering a sustainable environment. Multiple strategies for fostering a sustainable environment could draw from the diversity of topics and areas of specialization within psychology. Psychological research on fostering environmentally sustainable behaviors is rather well developed, as illustrated by interventions focusing on education of the public, message framing, feedback, decision making, the media, incentives and disincentives, and social marketing. Other sciences and professions as well as religion and ethics are actively involved in fostering a sustainable environment. Psychology ought to be more involved directly, systematically, and visibly to draw on our current knowledge and to have palpable impact. We would serve the world very well and in the process our discipline and profession.

Absolute Position of Targets Measured Through a Chamber Window Using Lidar Metrology Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kubalak, David; Hadjimichael, Theodore; Ohl, Raymond; Slotwinski, Anthony; Telfer, Randal; Hayden, Joseph

2012-01-01

Lidar is a useful tool for taking metrology measurements without the need for physical contact with the parts under test. Lidar instruments are aimed at a target using azimuth and elevation stages, then focus a beam of coherent, frequency modulated laser energy onto the target, such as the surface of a mechanical structure. Energy from the reflected beam is mixed with an optical reference signal that travels in a fiber path internal to the instrument, and the range to the target is calculated based on the difference in the frequency of the returned and reference signals. In cases when the parts are in extreme environments, additional steps need to be taken to separate the operator and lidar from that environment. A model has been developed that accurately reduces the lidar data to an absolute position and accounts for the three media in the testbed air, fused silica, and vacuum but the approach can be adapted for any environment or material. The accuracy of laser metrology measurements depends upon knowing the parameters of the media through which the measurement beam travels. Under normal conditions, this means knowledge of the temperature, pressure, and humidity of the air in the measurement volume. In the past, chamber windows have been used to separate the measuring device from the extreme environment within the chamber and still permit optical measurement, but, so far, only relative changes have been diagnosed. The ability to make accurate measurements through a window presents a challenge as there are a number of factors to consider. In the case of the lidar, the window will increase the time-of-flight of the laser beam causing a ranging error, and refract the direction of the beam causing angular positioning errors. In addition, differences in pressure, temperature, and humidity on each side of the window will cause slight atmospheric index changes and induce deformation and a refractive index gradient within the window. Also, since the window is a dispersive media, the effect of both phase and group indices have to be considered. Taking all these factors into account, a method was developed to measure targets through multiple regions of different materials and produce results that are absolute measurements of target position in three-dimensional space, rather than simply relative position. The environment in which the lidar measurements are taken must be broken down into separate regions of interest and each region solved for separately. In this case, there were three regions of interest: air, fused silica, and vacuum. The angular position of the target inside the chamber is solved using only phase index and phase velocity, while the ranging effects due to travel from air to glass to vacuum/air are solved with group index and group velocity. When all parameters are solved simultaneously, an absolute knowledge of the position of each target within an environmental chamber can be derived. Novel features of this innovation include measuring absolute position of targets through multiple dispersive and non-dispersive media, deconstruction of lidar raw data from a commercial off-the-shelf unit into reworkable parameters, and use of group velocities to reduce range data. Measurement of structures within a vacuum chamber or other harsh environment, such as a furnace, may now be measured as easily as if they were in an ambient laboratory. This analysis permits transformation of the raw data into absolute spatial units (e.g., mm). This technique has also been extended to laser tracker, theodolite, and cathetometer measurements through refractive media.

Planning Learning Environments for Library Media Programs: An Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klasing, Jane P.; Callison, Daniel

1992-01-01

Klasing discusses the inability of school library facilities to meet current challenges for the delivery of programs and information. Callison then provides an overview of this issue on planning learning environments for school media centers, which contains four articles covering space requirements, ergonomic design, legislation on equal access,…

Study on the Use of Social Media and Its Reflections on Turkish Regarding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulut, Mesut

2013-01-01

The way of communication has developed on social media, an environment where informal education occurs, and the social media language or social media Turkish which has emerged as a result of this communication is an important subject which needs to be discussed in terms of Turkish teaching. The reflections of the use of social media on Turkish in…

Porous media matric potential and water content measurements during parabolic flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norikane, Joey H.; Jones, Scott B.; Steinberg, Susan L.; Levine, Howard G.; Or, Dani

2005-01-01

Control of water and air in the root zone of plants remains a challenge in the microgravity environment of space. Due to limited flight opportunities, research aimed at resolving microgravity porous media fluid dynamics must often be conducted on Earth. The NASA KC-135 reduced gravity flight program offers an opportunity for Earth-based researchers to study physical processes in a variable gravity environment. The objectives of this study were to obtain measurements of water content and matric potential during the parabolic profile flown by the KC-135 aircraft. The flight profile provided 20-25 s of microgravity at the top of the parabola, while pulling 1.8 g at the bottom. The soil moisture sensors (Temperature and Moisture Acquisition System: Orbital Technologies, Madison, WI) used a heat-pulse method to indirectly estimate water content from heat dissipation. Tensiometers were constructed using a stainless steel porous cup with a pressure transducer and were used to measure the matric potential of the medium. The two types of sensors were placed at different depths in a substrate compartment filled with 1-2 mm Turface (calcined clay). The ability of the heat-pulse sensors to monitor overall changes in water content in the substrate compartment decreased with water content. Differences in measured water content data recorded at 0, 1, and 1.8 g were not significant. Tensiometer readings tracked pressure differences due to the hydrostatic force changes with variable gravity. The readings may have been affected by changes in cabin air pressure that occurred during each parabola. Tensiometer porous membrane conductivity (function of pore size) and fluid volume both influence response time. Porous media sample height and water content influence time-to-equilibrium, where shorter samples and higher water content achieve faster equilibrium. Further testing is needed to develop these sensors for space flight applications.

Intracellular response to process optimization and impact on productivity and product aggregates for a high-titer CHO cell process.

PubMed

Handlogten, Michael W; Lee-O'Brien, Allison; Roy, Gargi; Levitskaya, Sophia V; Venkat, Raghavan; Singh, Shailendra; Ahuja, Sanjeev

2018-01-01

A key goal in process development for antibodies is to increase productivity while maintaining or improving product quality. During process development of an antibody, titers were increased from 4 to 10 g/L while simultaneously decreasing aggregates. Process development involved optimization of media and feed formulations, feed strategy, and process parameters including pH and temperature. To better understand how CHO cells respond to process changes, the changes were implemented in a stepwise manner. The first change was an optimization of the feed formulation, the second was an optimization of the medium, and the third was an optimization of process parameters. Multiple process outputs were evaluated including cell growth, osmolality, lactate production, ammonium concentration, antibody production, and aggregate levels. Additionally, detailed assessment of oxygen uptake, nutrient and amino acid consumption, extracellular and intracellular redox environment, oxidative stress, activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) expression, and heavy and light chain mRNA expression provided an in-depth understanding of the cellular response to process changes. The results demonstrate that mRNA expression and UPR activation were unaffected by process changes, and that increased PDI expression and optimized nutrient supplementation are required for higher productivity processes. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate the role of extra- and intracellular redox environment on productivity and antibody aggregation. Processes using the optimized medium, with increased concentrations of redox modifying agents, had the highest overall specific productivity, reduced aggregate levels, and helped cells better withstand the high levels of oxidative stress associated with increased productivity. Specific productivities of different processes positively correlated to average intracellular values of total glutathione. Additionally, processes with the optimized media maintained an oxidizing intracellular environment, important for correct disulfide bond pairing, which likely contributed to reduced aggregate formation. These findings shed important understanding into how cells respond to process changes and can be useful to guide future development efforts to enhance productivity and improve product quality. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparison between the Amount of Environmental Change and the Amount of Transcriptome Change

PubMed Central

Ogata, Norichika; Kozaki, Toshinori; Yokoyama, Takeshi; Hata, Tamako; Iwabuchi, Kikuo

2015-01-01

Cells must coordinate adjustments in genome expression to accommodate changes in their environment. We hypothesized that the amount of transcriptome change is proportional to the amount of environmental change. To capture the effects of environmental changes on the transcriptome, we compared transcriptome diversities (defined as the Shannon entropy of frequency distribution) of silkworm fat-body tissues cultured with several concentrations of phenobarbital. Although there was no proportional relationship, we did identify a drug concentration “tipping point” between 0.25 and 1.0 mM. Cells cultured in media containing lower drug concentrations than the tipping point showed uniformly high transcriptome diversities, while those cultured at higher drug concentrations than the tipping point showed uniformly low transcriptome diversities. The plasticity of transcriptome diversity was corroborated by cultivations of fat bodies in MGM-450 insect medium without phenobarbital and in 0.25 mM phenobarbital-supplemented MGM-450 insect medium after previous cultivation (cultivation for 80 hours in MGM-450 insect medium without phenobarbital, followed by cultivation for 10 hours in 1.0 mM phenobarbital-supplemented MGM-450 insect medium). Interestingly, the transcriptome diversities of cells cultured in media containing 0.25 mM phenobarbital after previous cultivation (cultivation for 80 hours in MGM-450 insect medium without phenobarbital, followed by cultivation for 10 hours in 1.0 mM phenobarbital-supplemented MGM-450 insect medium) were different from cells cultured in media containing 0.25 mM phenobarbital after previous cultivation (cultivation for 80 hours in MGM-450 insect medium without phenobarbital). This hysteretic phenomenon of transcriptome diversities indicates multi-stability of the genome expression system. Cellular memories were recorded in genome expression networks as in DNA/histone modifications. PMID:26657512

Guiding Users to Sea Level Change Data Through Content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quach, N.; Abercrombie, S. P.; Boening, C.; Brennan, H. P.; Gill, K. M.; Greguska, F. R., III; Huang, T.; Jackson, R.; Larour, E. Y.; Shaftel, H.; Tenenbaum, L. F.; Zlotnicki, V.; Boeck, A.; Moore, B.; Moore, J.

2017-12-01

The NASA Sea Level Change Portal (https://sealevel.nasa.gov) is an immersive and innovative web portal for sea level change research that addresses the needs of diverse audiences, from scientists across disparate disciplines to the general public to policy makers and businesses. Since sea level change research involves vast amounts of data from multiple fields, it becomes increasingly important to come up with novel and effective ways to guide users to the data they need. News articles published on the portal contains links to relevant data. The Missions section highlights missions and projects as well as provide a logical grouping of the data. Tools available on the portal, such as the Data Analysis Tool, a data visualization and high-performance environment for sea level analysis, and the Virtual Earth System Laboratory, a 3D simulation application, describes and links to the source data. With over 30K Facebook followers and over 23K Twitter follower, the portal outreach team also leverages social media to guide users to relevant data. This presentation focuses on how the portal uses news articles, mission and project pages, tools, and social media to connect users to the data.

Coherent-fields, their responsive colloids, and life's origins.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitra-Delmotte, G.; Mitra, A. N.

2015-10-01

In living systems, evolvable sequence-encoded constraints control the incoming energy-matter flows, and are also sustained by their embedded flows/ processes. What's more, in such dynamic-organized liquid-state media, the flows can also produce novel materials/mechanisms. Thus, embedded processes of such media enable its spatiotemporal resilience via turnovers, as well as functional 'takeovers'. Further, the responsiveness of such constrained media to their environment enables adaptations, as they can mediate feedback between the changing environment & their embedded flows/processes. Now, the complexity of the constituent functional materials, make it very likely that they themselves emerged/got selected thanks to the creative properties of such dynamically constrained media. We have asked if such Maxwelldemon- like scenario could not be mimicked using other plausible ingredients to achieve similar ways of dissipative sustenance and coherent functioning. In particular, the potential of organizing coherent fields and their responsive anisotropic colloids to enhance the probability of life's emergence—akin to an adaptive transition—to a new way of evolving, seems promising. Note that pattern-sustenance in liquid state requires presence of the specific source that enabled it (c.f. spontaneously formed patterns). For example, external coherent heterogeneous fields (e.g. magnetic rocks) can act as sources both of 1) aperiodic information, and 2) useful energy, for inducing and sustaining (specific) structures of superparamagnetic mineral colloids (via their Brownianrotation) away-from-equilibrium, to access 3-way coupling between energy-information-matter in liquid-medium. Such dynamic functioning structures seem ideal for stable containment of bottom-up chemical systems; and similar scenario in the nanoscience engineering area can help in design/tests.

Test of the diffusing-diffusivity mechanism using near-wall colloidal dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matse, Mpumelelo; Chubynsky, Mykyta V.; Bechhoefer, John

2017-10-01

The mechanism of diffusing diffusivity predicts that, in environments where the diffusivity changes gradually, the displacement distribution becomes non-Gaussian, even though the mean-square displacement grows linearly with time. Here, we report single-particle tracking measurements of the diffusion of colloidal spheres near a planar substrate. Because the local effective diffusivity is known, we have been able to carry out a direct test of this mechanism for diffusion in inhomogeneous media.

Potential Interrelationships Between Library and Other Mass Media Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Edwin B.

The function of libraries is to make it easy for the people in their community to obtain information from other people or environments that may be distant is space, time or imagination. To perform this function libraries require communication media. Storage media are essential, but duplication and transmission media can improve the service of…

Social Empowerment in Mexican Violent Contexts through Media Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grijalva-Verdugo, Abel-Antonio; Moreno-Candil, David

2017-01-01

The acquisition of digital skills, media diet management, and general knowledge of ICT, is essential for the development and empowerment of audiences in the current media ecology, particularly considering the political and social challenges of the Latin American environment. In that sense, the study of media competence is urgent for sizing up the…

Composing Focus: Shaping Temporal, Social, Media, Social Media, and Attentional Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fife, Jane

2017-01-01

Writers must learn to control factors that influence the ability to focus, especially in what some call a culture of distraction. In our efforts to promote metacognition and flexible writing processes, writing teachers need to engage students in study and discussion of factors in our temporal, social, media, social media, and attentional…

"I don't need people to tell me I'm pretty on social media:" A qualitative study of social media and body image in early adolescent girls.

PubMed

Burnette, C Blair; Kwitowski, Melissa A; Mazzeo, Suzanne E

2017-12-01

Social media appear to contribute to body dissatisfaction in adolescents, although few empirical studies exist. This study used six focus groups (total N=38) to explore relations between social media use and body image in early adolescent girls (ages 12-14). Thematic analysis identified patterns in the data. In this sample, social media use was high. Girls endorsed some appearance concerns and social comparison, particularly with peers. However, they displayed high media literacy, appreciation of differences, and confidence, strategies that appeared helpful in mitigating the potential negative association between social media exposure and body image. Girls reported these characteristics were nurtured by positive parental influence and a supportive school environment. Results support an ecological approach to the prevention of body dissatisfaction. Although peer influence strengthens throughout adolescence, current findings suggest that parents and the school environment are associated with girls' attitudes and behaviors regarding social media and body image. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Invading Public Spaces: Exploring the Effects of Media Type and Social Prompts on Learning Outcomes in an Interactive Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Downs, Edward; Erickson, Sarah; Borrett, Jacqueline

2017-01-01

A 2 × 2, fully-crossed, quasi-experimental design was employed to determine if type of media (rich media vs. lean media) and social prompting (presence of prompts vs. absence of prompts) would differentially impact learning outcomes for patrons interacting with an aquatic invasive species exhibit. Results indicated that the lean-media condition…

U.S. Army Public Affairs Officers and Social Media Training Requirements

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-10

ABSTRACT Social media platforms have become an effective and efficient method used by U.S. Army organizations to deliver and communicate messages to...standards. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Public Affairs Officer, Social Media Training, Communications , Social Media Platforms, Training 16. SECURITY...methods to directly communicate with various audiences. The dramatic impact of social media in the information environment has created a shift, and caused

Elimination of cadmium from Cd-contaminated Tilapia zilli in media containing EDTA and freshwater: Changes in protein levels

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kargin, F.

1996-10-01

Cadmium is not an essential metal for aquatic organisms. It enters the aquatic environment through anthropogenic sources such as industry and agriculture. Kay et al. indicated that in the USA and Belgium 40-50% of Salmo gairdneri contained 1-20 {mu}g Cd/L. Various agents are known to reduce metal accumulation in tissues of aquantic animals. This study investigates cadmium elimination from the tissues of cadmium contaminated Tilapia zilli and changes in protein levels in the tissues after exposures to cadmium, EDTA and freshwater. 18 refs., 2 tabs.

Epigenetics, Media Coverage, and Parent Responsibilities in the Post-Genomic Era

PubMed Central

Lappé, Martine

2016-01-01

Environmental epigenetics is the study of how exposures and experiences can turn genes “on” or “off” without changing DNA sequence. By examining the influence that environmental conditions including diet, stress, trauma, toxins, and care can have on gene expression, this science suggests molecular connections between the environment, genetics, and how acquired characteristics may be inherited across generations. The rapid expansion of research in this area has attracted growing media attention. This coverage has implications for how parents and prospective parents understand health and their perceived responsibilities for children’s wellbeing. This review provides insight into epigenetic research, its coverage in the media, and the social and ethical implications of this science for patients and clinicians. As epigenetic findings continue to elucidate the complex relationships between nature and nurture, it becomes critical to examine how representations of this science may influence patient experiences of risk and responsibility. This review describes some of the social and ethical implications of epigenetic research today. PMID:27867757

Epigenetics, Media Coverage, and Parent Responsibilities in the Post-Genomic Era.

PubMed

Lappé, Martine

2016-09-01

Environmental epigenetics is the study of how exposures and experiences can turn genes "on" or "off" without changing DNA sequence. By examining the influence that environmental conditions including diet, stress, trauma, toxins, and care can have on gene expression, this science suggests molecular connections between the environment, genetics, and how acquired characteristics may be inherited across generations. The rapid expansion of research in this area has attracted growing media attention. This coverage has implications for how parents and prospective parents understand health and their perceived responsibilities for children's wellbeing. This review provides insight into epigenetic research, its coverage in the media, and the social and ethical implications of this science for patients and clinicians. As epigenetic findings continue to elucidate the complex relationships between nature and nurture, it becomes critical to examine how representations of this science may influence patient experiences of risk and responsibility. This review describes some of the social and ethical implications of epigenetic research today.

Instructional Designers' Media Selection Practices for Distributed Problem-Based Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fells, Stephanie

2012-01-01

The design of online or distributed problem-based learning (dPBL) is a nascent, complex design problem. Instructional designers are challenged to effectively unite the constructivist principles of problem-based learning (PBL) with appropriate media in order to create quality dPBL environments. While computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools and…

Educational Online Technologies in Blended Tertiary Environments: A Review of Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuapawa, Kimberley N.

2013-01-01

This is a review of the literature surrounding five popular media-rich educational online technologies (EOTs) currently being used by educationalists to support blended learning within tertiary environments. This review considers the following EOTs: 1) connective media, 2) interactive gaming, 3) virtual worlds, 4) web conferencing and 5) learning…

Flirting, Dating, and Breaking up within New Media Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meenagh, Joni

2015-01-01

Although romantic and sexual relationships are an important aspect of young people's lives, research on how young people negotiate their love/sex relationships is lacking. New media environments provide a new context within which young people negotiate their love/sex relationships; however, what is negotiated is often not all that different from…

Mass Media Campaigns in a Hostile Environment: Advertising as Anti-Health Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallack, Lawrence M.

1983-01-01

Charges that mass media campaigns have not been effective in dealing with such public health problems as drinking, smoking, and drugs. Reasons for this lack of effectiveness are discussed in terms of a hostile environment of antihealth advertising. Three conditions for success (monopolization, canalization, and supplementation) are discussed. (JAC)

Participatory Learning Environments and Collective Meaning Making Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reilly, Erin B.

2011-01-01

The new media literacies (NMLs) are a set of social skills and cultural competencies that students and teachers need to acquire in order to fully participate in the new media environment. NMLs shift the focus of traditional literacy from individual expression to community involvement. They offer ways of both thinking and doing that recruit the…

The Impact of Social Media on Informal Learning in Museums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russo, Angelina; Watkins, Jerry; Groundwater-Smith, Susan

2009-01-01

This paper posits that social networking can take a central role in learning in informal environments such as museums, libraries and galleries. It argues that social media offers young people agency previously unavailable in informal learning environments in order to explore complex responses to and participation with cultural content. The paper…

Media Reporting of Practice-Changing Clinical Trials in Oncology: A North American Perspective.

PubMed

Andrew, Peter; Vickers, Michael M; O'Connor, Stephen; Valdes, Mario; Tang, Patricia A

2016-03-01

Media reporting of clinical trials impacts patient-oncologist interactions. We sought to characterize the accuracy of media and Internet reporting of practice-changing clinical trials in oncology. The first media articles referencing 17 practice-changing clinical trials were collected from 4 media outlets: newspapers, cable news, cancer websites, and industry websites. Measured outcomes were media reporting score, social media score, and academic citation score. The media reporting score was a measure of completeness of information detailed in media articles as scored by a 15-point scoring instrument. The social media score represented the ubiquity of social media presence referencing 17 practice-changing clinical trials in cancer as determined by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in its annual report, entitled Clinical Cancer Advances 2012; social media score was calculated from Twitter, Facebook, and Google searches. The academic citation score comprised total citations from Google Scholar plus the Scopus database, which represented the academic impact per clinical cancer advance. From 170 media articles, 107 (63%) had sufficient data for analysis. Cohen's κ coefficient demonstrated reliability of the media reporting score instrument with a coefficient of determination of 94%. Per the media reporting score, information was most complete from industry, followed by cancer websites, newspapers, and cable news. The most commonly omitted items, in descending order, were study limitations, exclusion criteria, conflict of interest, and other. The social media score was weakly correlated with academic citation score. Media outlets appear to have set a low bar for coverage of many practice-changing advances in oncology, with reports of scientific breakthroughs often omitting basic study facts and cautions, which may mislead the public. The media should be encouraged to use a standardized reporting template and provide accessible references to original source information whenever feasible. ©AlphaMed Press.

A comparative study on effects of heterotrophic microbial activity on the stability of bivalve and coral carbonate during early diagenesis.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, Skadi M.; Krause, Stefan; Immenhauser, Adrian; Ritter, Ann-Christin; Gorb, Stanislav N.; Kleinteich, Thomas; Treude, Tina

2016-04-01

Following deposition and shallow burial, marine biogenic carbonates are exposed to an environment that is geochemically affected by a manifold of bacterial metabolic redox processes. To allow for comparison of potential microbe-mediated alteration effects on carbonates, we used aragonitic bivalve shell samples and porous aragonitic coral fragments for incubation experiments in oxic- and anoxic seawater media. The media contained marine sediment slurries or bacterial cultures to mimic the natural processes in vitro. The results for anoxic experimental media containing bivalve shell samples or coral fragments displayed considerable changes in carbonate-system parameters (pH, AT, CA, DIC) and divalent-cation ratios (Mg/Ca, Mg/Sr, Sr/Ca) over time. Furthermore, incubated bivalve shell samples were altered in morphology, elemental composition and isotopic signature. Coral-fragment bearing oxic incubations were run at two temperature regimes and divalent-cation ratios of the high-temperature bacterial medium displayed withdrawal of Ca2+ and Sr2+ from the medium, thus indicating microbe-induced secondary aragonite precipitation. Analyses of coral fragments include electron-microprobe mapping and X-ray microtomography to resolve elemental sample composition and pore-space alteration features, respectively. Up to this point our results indicate that heterotrophic bacterial activity has the potential to affect surficial or open pore space in carbonate archives by increasing rates of alteration relative to sterile environments.

Magnetic nanoparticles in different biological environments analyzed by magnetic particle spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Löwa, Norbert; Seidel, Maria; Radon, Patricia; Wiekhorst, Frank

2017-04-01

Quantification of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNP) in biological systems like cells, tissue, or organs is of vital importance for development of novel biomedical applications, e.g. magnetofection, drug targeting or hyperthermia. Among others, the recently developed magnetic measurement technique magnetic particle spectroscopy (MPS) provides signals that are specific for MNP. MPS is based on the non-linear magnetic response of MNP exposed to a strong sinusoidal excitation field of up to 25 mT amplitude and 25 kHz frequency. So far, it has been proven a powerful tool for quantification of MNP in biological systems. In this study we investigated in detail the influence of typical biological media on the magnetic behavior of different MNP systems by MPS. The results reveal that amplitude and shape (ratio of harmonics) of the MPS spectra allow for perceptively monitoring changes in MNP magnetism caused by different physiological media. Additionally, the observed linear correlation between MPS amplitude and shape alterations can be used to reduce the quantification uncertainty for MNP suspended in a biological environment.

Bone culture research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Partridge, Nicola C.

1993-01-01

The experiments described are aimed at exploring PTH regulation of production of collagenase and protein inhibitors of collagenase (tissue inhibitors of metalloproteases, TIMP-1 and -2) by osteoblast-like osteosarcoma cells under conditions of weightlessness. The results of this work will contribute to information as to whether a microgravity environment alters the functions and responsiveness of the osteoblast. The objectives of the Bone Culture Research (BCR) experiment are: to observe the effects of microgravity on the morphology, rate of proliferation, and behavior of the osteoblastic cells, UMR 106-01; to determine whether microgravy affects the hormonal sensitivity of osteroblastic cells; and to measure the secretion of collagenase and its inhibitors into the medium under conditions of microgravity. The methods employed will consist of the following: the osteoblast-like cells, UMR-106-01, will be cultured in four NASDA cell culture chambers; two chambers will be subjected to microgravity on SL-J; two chambers will remain on the ground at KSC as ground controls but subjected to an identical set of culture conditions as on the shuttle; media will be changed four times; twice the cells will receive the hormone parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) and media collected; cells will be photographed under conditions of microgravity; and media and photographs will be analyzed upon return to determine whether functions of the cells changed.

Kids & Media @ the New Millennium: A Kaiser Family Foundation Report [with] Appendices. A Comprehensive National Analysis of Children's Media Use.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Donald F.

This report presents details of a study which gathered information about all kinds of media behaviors from a nationally representative sample of American youth--the study asked: In this modern media environment, how much time do American children devote to each of the different media? According to the report. The data for the study came from two…

Fatal Amusements: Contemplating the Tempest of Contemporary Media and American Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strate, Lance

2016-01-01

Our use of the electronic media to conduct serious discourse raises the question of whether "we are amusing ourselves to death," as Neil Postman argued. The approach known as "media ecology," the study of media as environments, which emphasizes the need to understand context and find balance, provides a basis for the analysis…

Social Media Pedagogy: Applying an Interdisciplinary Approach to Teach Multimodal Critical Digital Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talib, Saman

2018-01-01

Social media permeates the daily lives of millennials, as they use it constantly for a variety of reasons. A significant contributing factor is the availability of social media through smartphones and mobile apps. This kind of immersive and complex media environment calls for a literacy pedagogy that prepares students to understand, engage with,…

40 CFR 1065.590 - PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false PM sampling media (e.g., filters... Specified Duty Cycles § 1065.590 PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing. Before an emission test, take the following steps to prepare PM sampling media (e.g., filters) and equipment...

40 CFR 1065.590 - PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false PM sampling media (e.g., filters... Specified Duty Cycles § 1065.590 PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing. Before an emission test, take the following steps to prepare PM sampling media (e.g., filters) and equipment...

40 CFR 1065.590 - PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false PM sampling media (e.g., filters... Specified Duty Cycles § 1065.590 PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing. Before an emission test, take the following steps to prepare PM sampling media (e.g., filters) and equipment...

40 CFR 1065.590 - PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false PM sampling media (e.g., filters... Specified Duty Cycles § 1065.590 PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing. Before an emission test, take the following steps to prepare PM sampling media (e.g., filters) and equipment...

40 CFR 1065.590 - PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false PM sampling media (e.g., filters... Specified Duty Cycles § 1065.590 PM sampling media (e.g., filters) preconditioning and tare weighing. Before an emission test, take the following steps to prepare PM sampling media (e.g., filters) and equipment...

A Social Media Practicum: An Action-Learning Approach to Social Media Marketing and Analytics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atwong, Catherine T.

2015-01-01

To prepare students for the rapidly evolving field of digital marketing, which requires more and more technical skills every year, a social media practicum creates a learning environment in which students can apply marketing principles and become ready for collaborative work in social media marketing and analytics. Using student newspapers as…

A blended learning concept for an engineering course in the field of color representation and display technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vauderwange, Oliver; Wozniak, Peter; Javahiraly, Nicolas; Curticapean, Dan

2016-09-01

The Paper presents the design and development of a blended learning concept for an engineering course in the field of color representation and display technologies. A suitable learning environment is crucial for the success of the teaching scenario. A mixture of theoretical lectures and hands-on activities with practical applications and experiments, combined with the advantages of modern digital media is the main topic of the paper. Blended learning describes the didactical change of attendance periods and online periods. The e-learning environment for the online period is designed toward an easy access and interaction. Present digital media extends the established teaching scenarios and enables the presentation of videos, animations and augmented reality (AR). Visualizations are effective tools to impart learning contents with lasting effect. The preparation and evaluation of the theoretical lectures and the hands-on activities are stimulated and affects positively the attendance periods. The tasks and experiments require the students to work independently and to develop individual solution strategies. This engages and motivates the students, deepens the knowledge. The authors will present their experience with the implemented blended learning scenario in this field of optics and photonics. All aspects of the learning environment will be introduced.

Media Reporting of Practice-Changing Clinical Trials in Oncology: A North American Perspective

PubMed Central

Vickers, Michael M.; O’Connor, Stephen; Valdes, Mario; Tang, Patricia A.

2016-01-01

Introduction. Media reporting of clinical trials impacts patient-oncologist interactions. We sought to characterize the accuracy of media and Internet reporting of practice-changing clinical trials in oncology. Materials and Methods. The first media articles referencing 17 practice-changing clinical trials were collected from 4 media outlets: newspapers, cable news, cancer websites, and industry websites. Measured outcomes were media reporting score, social media score, and academic citation score. The media reporting score was a measure of completeness of information detailed in media articles as scored by a 15-point scoring instrument. The social media score represented the ubiquity of social media presence referencing 17 practice-changing clinical trials in cancer as determined by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in its annual report, entitled Clinical Cancer Advances 2012; social media score was calculated from Twitter, Facebook, and Google searches. The academic citation score comprised total citations from Google Scholar plus the Scopus database, which represented the academic impact per clinical cancer advance. Results. From 170 media articles, 107 (63%) had sufficient data for analysis. Cohen’s κ coefficient demonstrated reliability of the media reporting score instrument with a coefficient of determination of 94%. Per the media reporting score, information was most complete from industry, followed by cancer websites, newspapers, and cable news. The most commonly omitted items, in descending order, were study limitations, exclusion criteria, conflict of interest, and other. The social media score was weakly correlated with academic citation score. Conclusion. Media outlets appear to have set a low bar for coverage of many practice-changing advances in oncology, with reports of scientific breakthroughs often omitting basic study facts and cautions, which may mislead the public. The media should be encouraged to use a standardized reporting template and provide accessible references to original source information whenever feasible. Implications for Practice: North American newspapers, cable news, cancer websites, and industry websites were searched for their reporting on 17 practice-changing clinical trials in oncology as highlighted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in its 2012 annual report, Clinical Cancer Advances. Accuracy of reporting across media platforms was evaluated, and the social media buzz and academic interest generated by each clinical trial was gauged. The findings represent, to the authors’ knowledge, the first systematic effort to appraise the reporting of practice-changing clinical trials in oncology across various media platforms. Use of a standardized reporting template by the media is proposed to reduce flaws in their reporting of clinical trials to the public. PMID:26921290

Changing the Rules of the Game: How Do We Measure Success in Social Media?

PubMed

Hogan, Aisling M; Winter, Desmond C

2017-09-01

Ours will be the generation proud to say we shifted the sands of educational deserts by open access and proliferation, seeding of data sharing, and watering grassroots research in resource-compromised environments. Universal "social" media is defining features of modern professional life that provide powerful modes of knowledge acquisition/sharing to that end. Altmetric and other measurements stratify academic communications according to this alternate, online media presence (not academic penetrance). Are they meaningless, self-absorbed integers, or reliable yardsticks of scientific and educational prowess? Far beyond this trite, patronizing question from the minds of outdated, terrified technophobes, the real impact of "social" media is not narcissistic solipsism. Instant dissemination of contemporary surgical controversies on a truly global level drives improved (or at least reflective) health care for all. While a numerical assignment of value according to views, "likes," impressions, or "retweets" may seem meaningless to cynical, established academics, the impetus for universal improvement is self-evident. Electronic data and opinion sharing may not balance the inequity between low- and high-income countries, but it keeps it in perspective. The best way to shift desert sands is to blow on them constantly.

[Knowledge transfer in the light of changing values].

PubMed

Hahnenkamp, Klaus; Brinkrolf, Peter; Wenning, Markus; Hasebrook, Joachim

2013-11-01

Besides its formal and legal relevance, postgraduate medical education plays an important role in recruiting and retaining employees. Success of graduate education is affected by a changing environment: the former employer market is turning into an employee market. Demographic changes are taking place and a new generation of employees 'Generation Y' is entering the job market. In addition, working conditions are changing: part-time work is increasing and the learning behavior of young professionals demands more flexibility and the use of digital media. These changes and conditions will shape graduate medical education. On the one hand, medical interventions are becoming increasingly complex, on the other hand patients are getting older and sicker. Therefore, simulation-based learning will play an important role in medical training. © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York.

Using appreciative inquiry to transform health care.

PubMed

Trajkovski, Suza; Schmied, Virginia; Vickers, Margaret; Jackson, Debra

2013-08-01

Amid tremendous changes in contemporary health care stimulated by shifts in social, economic and political environments, health care managers are challenged to provide new structures and processes to continually improve health service delivery. The general public and the media are becoming less tolerant of poor levels of health care, and health care professionals need to be involved and supported to bring about positive change in health care. Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a philosophy and method for promoting transformational change, shifting from a traditional problem-based orientation to a more strength-based approach to change, that focuses on affirmation, appreciation and positive dialog. This paper discusses how an innovative participatory approach such as AI may be used to promote workforce engagement and organizational learning, and facilitate positive organizational change in a health care context.

Future Oil Spills and Possibilities for Intervention: A Model for the Coupled Human-Environmental Resource Extraction System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shughrue, C. M.; Werner, B.; Nugnug, P. T.

2010-12-01

The catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill highlights the risks for widespread environmental damage resulting from petroleum resource extraction. Possibilities for amelioration of these risks depend critically on understanding the dynamics and nonlinear interactions between various components of the coupled human-environmental resource extraction system. We use a complexity analysis to identify the levels of description and time scales at which these interactions are strongest, and then use the analysis as the basis for an agent-based numerical model with which decadal trends can be analyzed. Oil industry economic and technological activity and associated oil spills are components of a complex system that is coupled to natural environment, legislation, regulation, media, and resistance systems over annual to decadal time scales. In the model, oil spills are produced stochastically with a range of magnitudes depending on a reliability-engineering-based assessment of failure for the technology employed, human factors including compliance with operating procedures, and risks associated with the drilling environment. Oil industry agents determine drilling location and technological investment using a cost-benefit analysis relating projected revenue from added production to technology cost and government regulation. Media outlet agents reporting on the oil industry and environmental damage from oil spills assess the impacts of aggressively covering a story on circulation increases, advertiser concerns and potential loss of information sources. Environmental advocacy group agents increase public awareness of environmental damage (through media and public contact), solicit memberships and donations, and apply direct pressure on legislators for policy change. Heterogeneous general public agents adjust their desire for change in the level of regulation, contact their representatives or participate in resistance via protest by considering media sources, personal experiences with oil spills and individual predispositions toward the industry. Legislator agents pass legislation and influence regulator agents based on interaction with oil industry, media and general public agents. Regulator agents generate and enforce regulations by responding to pressure from legislator and oil industry agents. Oil spill impacts on the natural environment are related to number and magnitude of spills, drilling locations, and spill response methodology, determined collaboratively by government and oil company agents. Agents at the corporate and government levels use heterogeneous prediction models combined with a constant absolute risk aversion utility for wealth. This model simulates a nonlinear adaptive system with mechanisms to self-regulate oil industry activity, environmental damage and public response. A comparison of model output with historical oil industry development and environmental damage; the sensitivity of oil spill damage to economic, political and social factors; the potential for the emergence of new and possibly unstable behaviors; and opportunities for intervening in system dynamics to alter expected outcomes will be discussed. Supported by NSF: Geomorphology and Land Use Dynamics Program

A pore-scale study of fracture dynamics in rock using X-ray micro-CT under ambient freeze-thaw cycling.

PubMed

De Kock, Tim; Boone, Marijn A; De Schryver, Thomas; Van Stappen, Jeroen; Derluyn, Hannelore; Masschaele, Bert; De Schutter, Geert; Cnudde, Veerle

2015-03-03

Freeze-thaw cycling stresses many environments which include porous media such as soil, rock and concrete. Climate change can expose new regions and subject others to a changing freeze-thaw frequency. Therefore, understanding and predicting the effect of freeze-thaw cycles is important in environmental science, the built environment and cultural heritage preservation. In this paper, we explore the possibilities of state-of-the-art micro-CT in studying the pore scale dynamics related to freezing and thawing. The experiments show the development of a fracture network in a porous limestone when cooling to -9.7 °C, at which an exothermal temperature peak is a proxy for ice crystallization. The dynamics of the fracture network are visualized with a time frame of 80 s. Theoretical assumptions predict that crystallization in these experiments occurs in pores of 6-20.1 nm under transient conditions. Here, the crystallization-induced stress exceeds rock strength when the local crystal fraction in the pores is 4.3%. The location of fractures is strongly related to preferential water uptake paths and rock texture, which are visually identified. Laboratory, continuous X-ray micro-CT scanning opens new perspectives for the pore-scale study of ice crystallization in porous media as well as for environmental processes related to freeze-thaw fracturing.

U.S. News Media Coverage of Pharmaceutical Pollution in the Aquatic Environment: A Content Analysis of the Problems and Solutions Presented by Actors.

PubMed

Blair, Benjamin; Zimny-Schmitt, Daniel; Rudd, Murray A

2017-08-01

Pharmaceutical pollution in the aquatic environment is an issue of concern that has attracted attention by the news media. Understanding the factors that contribute to media framing of pharmaceutical pollution may lead to a better understanding of the management and governance of this issue, including why these pollutants are generally unregulated at this time. This study conducted a content analysis of 405 newspaper articles (81 had substantive information on the topic) from 2007 to 2014, using the search terms "water" and "pharmaceuticals" in the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. We sought to analyze the factors that contributed to the news media presentation of pharmaceutical pollution in the United States, including the presentation of the risks/safety and solutions by various actors. We found that the primary issues in the news media were uncertainty regarding public health and harm to the environment. The primary solutions recommended within the news media were implementing additional water treatment technologies, taking unused pharmaceuticals to predetermined sites for disposal (take-back programs), and trash disposal of unused pharmaceuticals. Water utilities and scientists presented improved water treatment technology, government actors presented take-back programs, and pharmaceutical representatives, while sparsely involved in the news media, presented trash disposal as their primary solutions. To advance the understanding of the management of pharmaceutical pollution, this article offers further insight into the debate and potential solutions within the news media presentation of this complex scientific topic.

U.S. News Media Coverage of Pharmaceutical Pollution in the Aquatic Environment: A Content Analysis of the Problems and Solutions Presented by Actors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blair, Benjamin; Zimny-Schmitt, Daniel; Rudd, Murray A.

2017-08-01

Pharmaceutical pollution in the aquatic environment is an issue of concern that has attracted attention by the news media. Understanding the factors that contribute to media framing of pharmaceutical pollution may lead to a better understanding of the management and governance of this issue, including why these pollutants are generally unregulated at this time. This study conducted a content analysis of 405 newspaper articles (81 had substantive information on the topic) from 2007 to 2014, using the search terms "water" and "pharmaceuticals" in the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. We sought to analyze the factors that contributed to the news media presentation of pharmaceutical pollution in the United States, including the presentation of the risks/safety and solutions by various actors. We found that the primary issues in the news media were uncertainty regarding public health and harm to the environment. The primary solutions recommended within the news media were implementing additional water treatment technologies, taking unused pharmaceuticals to predetermined sites for disposal (take-back programs), and trash disposal of unused pharmaceuticals. Water utilities and scientists presented improved water treatment technology, government actors presented take-back programs, and pharmaceutical representatives, while sparsely involved in the news media, presented trash disposal as their primary solutions. To advance the understanding of the management of pharmaceutical pollution, this article offers further insight into the debate and potential solutions within the news media presentation of this complex scientific topic.

Electronic Media: A Motivational Strategy for Student Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finamore, Dora C. D.; Hochanadel, Aaron J.; Hochanadel, Cathleen E.; Millam, Loretta A.; Reinhardt, Michelle M.

2012-01-01

Motivation, engagement, goal attainment and effective interaction are essential components for college students to be successful in the online educational environment. The popularity and influx of electronic media applications has allowed educators the opportunity to incorporate social media (Facebook, Twitter), and volitional messages (Simple…

Colloid transport in dual-permeability media

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

It has been widely reported that colloids can travel faster and over longer distances in natural structured porous media than in uniform structureless media used in laboratory studies. The presence of preferential pathways for colloids in the subsurface environment is of concern because of the incre...

Readings in Mass Communication; Concepts and Issues in the Mass Media.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emery, Michael C.; Smythe, Ted Curtis

The aim of this book of readings is to provide college students with a wide variety of articles on the rapid changes and problems of today's mass media. The problems of access, control, protection of sources, and relevance are considered crucial to the changing role of the media. Changes in the structure of both traditional media and new…

The Obesogenic Quality of the Home Environment: Associations with Diet, Physical Activity, TV Viewing, and BMI in Preschool Children.

PubMed

Schrempft, Stephanie; van Jaarsveld, Cornelia H M; Fisher, Abigail; Wardle, Jane

2015-01-01

The home environment is thought to play a key role in early weight trajectories, although direct evidence is limited. There is general agreement that multiple factors exert small individual effects on weight-related outcomes, so use of composite measures could demonstrate stronger effects. This study therefore examined whether composite measures reflecting the 'obesogenic' home environment are associated with diet, physical activity, TV viewing, and BMI in preschool children. Families from the Gemini cohort (n = 1096) completed a telephone interview (Home Environment Interview; HEI) when their children were 4 years old. Diet, physical activity, and TV viewing were reported at interview. Child height and weight measurements were taken by the parents (using standard scales and height charts) and reported at interview. Responses to the HEI were standardized and summed to create four composite scores representing the food (sum of 21 variables), activity (sum of 6 variables), media (sum of 5 variables), and overall (food composite/21 + activity composite/6 + media composite/5) home environments. These were categorized into 'obesogenic risk' tertiles. Children in 'higher-risk' food environments consumed less fruit (OR; 95% CI = 0.39; 0.27-0.57) and vegetables (0.47; 0.34-0.64), and more energy-dense snacks (3.48; 2.16-5.62) and sweetened drinks (3.49; 2.10-5.81) than children in 'lower-risk' food environments. Children in 'higher-risk' activity environments were less physically active (0.43; 0.32-0.59) than children in 'lower-risk' activity environments. Children in 'higher-risk' media environments watched more TV (3.51; 2.48-4.96) than children in 'lower-risk' media environments. Neither the individual nor the overall composite measures were associated with BMI. Composite measures of the obesogenic home environment were associated as expected with diet, physical activity, and TV viewing. Associations with BMI were not apparent at this age.

Media and the Learner: the Influence of Media-Message Conponents on Students' Recall and Attitudes Toward the Learning Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hempstead, John Orson

The level of abstraction of the message and the educational effects of five media presentations (Print, verbal sound, print/pictures, print/verbal sound, and pictures/verbal sound) were experimentally investigated. The media components were presented singly or in combination to 6th grade students in a uniformly controlled consistent environment.…

Critical Media Analysis in Teacher Education: Exploring Language-Learners' Identity through Mediated Images of a Non-Native Speaker of English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chamberlin-Quinlisk, Carla

2012-01-01

Media literacy education has become increasingly present in curricular initiatives around the world as media saturate our cultural environments. For second-language teachers and teacher educators whose practice centers on language, communication, and culture, the need to address media as a pedagogical site of critique is imperative. In this…

From the American Academy of Pediatrics: Policy statement--Media violence.

PubMed

2009-11-01

Exposure to violence in media, including television, movies, music, and video games, represents a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents. Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed. Pediatricians should assess their patients' level of media exposure and intervene on media-related health risks. Pediatricians and other child health care providers can advocate for a safer media environment for children by encouraging media literacy, more thoughtful and proactive use of media by children and their parents, more responsible portrayal of violence by media producers, and more useful and effective media ratings. Office counseling has been shown to be effective.

American Academy of Pediatrics. Media violence. Committee on Public Education.

PubMed

2001-11-01

The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes exposure to violence in media, including television, movies, music, and video games, as a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents. Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed. Pediatricians should assess their patients' level of media exposure and intervene on media-related health risks. Pediatricians and other child health care providers can advocate for a safer media environment for children by encouraging media literacy, more thoughtful and proactive use of media by children and their parents, more responsible portrayal of violence by media producers, and more useful and effective media ratings.

Accessing Both Halves of the Brain to Make Climate Decisions: How Community-Sourced Media, Earth Remote Sensing Data, and Creative Placemaking Art Can Cultivate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drapkin, J. K.; Wagner, L.

2017-12-01

Decision-making, science tells us, accesses multiple parts of the brain: both logic and data as well as memory and emotion. It is this mix of signals that propels individuals and communities to act. Founded in 2012, ISeeChange is the nation's first community crowdsourced climate and weather journal that empowers users to document environmental changes with others and discuss the impacts over time. Our neighborhood investigation methodology includes residents documenting their personal experiences alongside collected data, Earth remote sensing data, and local artists interpreting community questions and experiences into place-based public art in the neighborhood to inspire a culture of resilience and climate literacy. ISeeChange connects the public with national media, scientists, and data tools that support community dialogue and enable collaborative science and journalism investigations about our changing environment. Our groundbreaking environmental reporting platform—available online and through a mobile app—personalizes and tracks climate change from the perspective of every day experiences, bringing Eearth science home and into the placesspaces people know best and trust most- their own communities Our session will focus on our newest neighborhood pilot program in New Orleans, furthering the climate resilience, green infrastructure, and creative placemaking efforts of the Trust for Public Land, the City of New Orleans, and other resilience community partners.

Significant advantages of sulfur-doped graphene in neutral media as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction comparing with Pt/C

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Xinxin; Zhang, Jiaona; Huang, Tinglin

2018-02-01

Sulfur-doped graphene (SDG) has been found to be an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction. However, previous studies on the catalytic activity of SDG have been mainly confined to O2-saturated alkaline media which is a typical alkaline fuel cell environment. Air-cathode microbial fuel cells (ACMFCs), as a novel energy conversion and wastewater treatment technology, use the oxygen from air as cathodic reactant in neutral media with low concentration of O2. Thus, it is meaningful to explore the catalytic performance of SDG in such ACMFC environment. The result showed that in ACMFC environment, the peak current density of SDG in CV test was surprisingly 4.5 times higher than that of Pt/C, indicating a much stronger catalytic activity of SDG. Moreover, SDG exhibited a stronger tolerance against the crossover of glucose (a typical anodic fuel in ACMFC) and better stability than Pt/C in neutral media.

Media, Tourism, Environment, and Cultural Issues in Australia: A Case Study of a Study Abroad Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freedman, Eric

2010-01-01

A multidisciplinary study abroad program developed by a U.S. journalism school and cosponsored by a college of agriculture and natural resources interweaves the themes of mass media, tourism, environment, and cultural issues in Australia. This article traces the development and evolution of the faculty-led program and discusses its curriculum,…

The Home Literacy Environment: Exploring How Media and Parent-Child Interactions Are Associated with Children's Language Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liebeskind, Kara G.; Piotrowski, Jessica T.; Lapierre, Matthew A.; Linebarger, Deborah L.

2014-01-01

Children who start school with strong language skills initiate a trajectory of academic success, while children with weaker skills are likely to struggle. Research has demonstrated that media and parent-child interactions, both characteristics of the home literacy environment, influence children's language skills. Using a national sample of…

Personal Learning Environments, Social Media, and Self-Regulated Learning: A Natural Formula for Connecting Formal and Informal Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dabbagh, Nada; Kitsantas, Anastasia

2012-01-01

A Personal Learning Environment or PLE is a potentially promising pedagogical approach for both integrating formal and informal learning using social media and supporting student self-regulated learning in higher education contexts. The purpose of this paper is to (a) review research that support this claim, (b) conceptualize the connection…

College Students' Perceived Learning Environment and Their Social Media Engagement in Activities Unrelated to Class Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alt, Dorit

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the connection between students' perceived constructivist learning environment and their involvement in activities unrelated to class work via social media engagement (SME), while considering the moderating role of their openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) in explaining both variables. Another aim was to…

Predictors of media multitasking in Chinese adolescents.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaohui; Zhu, Liqi

2016-12-01

We examined predictors of media multitasking in Chinese adolescents from 3 contexts: characteristics of the media user, types of media use and family media contexts. Three hundred and twenty adolescents, 11-18 years of age, completed questionnaires to measure media use, impulsivity, sensation seeking, time management disposition and family media environment. The results showed that media multitasking was positively correlated with age and total media use time. Participants with high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking reported more multitasking behaviour. Multitasking was negatively correlated with time management. Children from media-oriented families often engage in more multitasking. What's more, social networking sites use and music use can mediate the effect of individual and family factors on media multitasking. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Social media in the promotion of health.

PubMed

Matikainen, Janne; Huovila, Janne

Social media has brought about a major change in communication. Besides ordinary people, the change applies to organizations and public authorities. In the social media, the public becomes an active player and content provider. With social media, communication will become increasingly media-centered. The change in communication scenery has challenged traditional expertise. On the other hand, social media also opens up many possibilities for the establishment of expertise and health communication. Within the social media, communities can become significant sites for the production of knowledge and expertise. They may generate useful activity as regards the combination of health information activities and everyday life, but sometimes they can also become a cradle of false information. In its various forms, social media provides a versatile forum for health communication, where people can be met interactively.

News Media Industry

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

convergence of media types, rapidly evolving technology, changing consumer behavior , and traditionalists ensconced in the ways of the past all...changing consumer behavior have all contributed to uncertain times for these media icons. Newspaper readership and subscriptions levels continue to...consistently center on changing technologies, corporate pressures, changing consumer behavior and revenue generation (advertising). Because it’s

Identifying Twitter influencer profiles for health promotion in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Albalawi, Yousef; Sixsmith, Jane

2017-06-01

New media platforms, such as Twitter, provide the ideal opportunity to positively influence the health of large audiences. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest number of Twitter users of any country, some of whom are very influential in setting agendas and contributing to the dissemination of ideas. Those opinion leaders, both individuals and organizations, influential in the new media environment have the potential to raise awareness of health issues, advocate for health and potentially instigate change at a social level. To realize the potential of the new media platforms for public health, the function of opinion leaders is key. This study aims to identify and profile the most influential Twitter accounts in Saudi Arabia. Multiple measures, including: number of followers and four influence scores, were used to evaluate Twitter accounts. The data were then filtered and analysed using ratio and percentage calculations to identify the most influential users. In total, 99 Saudi Twitter accounts were classified, resulting in the identification of 25 religious men/women, 16 traditional media, 14 sports related, 10 new media, 6 political, 6 company and 4 health accounts. The methods used to identify the key influential Saudi accounts can be applied to inform profile development of Twitter users in other countries. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Host structural carbohydrate induces vector transmission of a bacterial plant pathogen.

PubMed

Killiny, Nabil; Almeida, Rodrigo P P

2009-12-29

Many insect-borne pathogens have complex life histories because they must colonize both hosts and vectors for successful dissemination. In addition, the transition from host to vector environments may require changes in gene expression before the pathogen's departure from the host. Xylella fastidiosa is a xylem-limited plant-pathogenic bacterium transmitted by leafhopper vectors that causes diseases in a number of economically important plants. We hypothesized that factors of host origin, such as plant structural polysaccharides, are important in regulating X. fastidiosa gene expression and mediating vector transmission of this pathogen. The addition of pectin and glucan to a simple defined medium resulted in dramatic changes in X. fastidiosa's phenotype and gene-expression profile. Cells grown in the presence of pectin became more adhesive than in other media tested. In addition, the presence of pectin and glucan in media resulted in significant changes in the expression of several genes previously identified as important for X. fastidiosa's pathogenicity in plants. Furthermore, vector transmission of X. fastidiosa was induced in the presence of both polysaccharides. Our data show that host structural polysaccharides mediate gene regulation in X. fastidiosa, which results in phenotypic changes required for vector transmission. A better understanding of how vector-borne pathogens transition from host to vector, and vice versa, may lead to previously undiscovered disease-control strategies.

Aprendiendo en Casa: Media as a Resource for Learning among Hispanic-Latino Families. A Report of the Families and Media Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, June; Barron, Brigid

2015-01-01

The Hispanic-Latino population is one of the largest--and most diverse--demographics in the U.S. Aprendiendo en casa reveals findings from a national survey of Hispanic parents about their home media environments and practices, and their perceptions of their children's use of educational media across a range of different platforms. The report…

Critical Literacy and the Ethical Responsibilities of Student Media Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Jessica K.

2013-01-01

Today's complex literate environments require contemporary authors to focus on the ethical responsibilities of media creation. This study highlights 12th graders in California who produced a documentary on Latino immigration and chronicles the complex interactions between student-generated media, critical literacy, and ethics. Findings highlight…

Twitter Usage of Universities in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yolcu, Ozgu

2013-01-01

Universities are among the users of the most popular social media networks. Usage of social media by especially students and many other people and institutions, which constitutes the target audience for universities, encourages the universities to effectively use this environment. Twitter is among these social media networks which facilitate the…

Screen Media and Young Children: Who Benefits?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cardany, Audrey Berger

2010-01-01

Since the airing of "Sesame Street" in 1985, television produced for children has expanded to more television shows and educational media that includes videos, DVDs, and computer products. Viewing screen media is pervasive in the environments of young children, and companies are designing products for our youngest viewers--infants and toddlers.…

Incorporating Social Media in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMeans, April

2015-01-01

Incorporating social media into the classroom will provide a positive, upbeat learning environment that students are engaged in on a regular basis. In doing this, educators will be ensuring discussion, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity amongst their students. Social media is a knowledgeable topic for our students, and it is an…

THE TREATMENT OF AERO-OTITIS MEDIA BY REDECOMPRESSION,

DTIC Science & Technology

The precipitating event preceding the appearance of aero- otitis media is the development of a relative vacuum within the middle ear. The aim of...obtaining normal pressure relationships between the middle ear and the environment. In 27 of a group of 33 men with severe aero- otitis media , this

Investigating Language and the Media: The Case of Newswriting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perrin, Daniel

2013-01-01

Drawing on a case study of newswriting, this article presents media linguistics as a subdiscipline of applied linguistics (AL), dealing with a distinctive field of language use. Language in the media is characterized by specific environments, functions, and structures. Medialinguistic research, however, tends to overcome disciplinary boundaries.…

Dehydroxylation and diagenetic variations in diatom oxygen isotope values

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dodd, Justin P.; Wiedenheft, Wilson; Schwartz, Joshua M.

2017-02-01

Numerous studies have documented changes in the dissolution and reactivity of biogenic silica as it is transferred from the water column to sediment archives; here we present the first experimental data that demonstrate a physical mechanism by which the oxygen isotope (δ18Osil) values of biogenic silica (diatoms) are altered during early diagenesis. The δ18Osil value of diatom silica cultured at 19.3 °C was +31.9‰ ± 0.2‰ (n = 6); the same silica experimentally aged in an artificial seawater media at near silica saturation at 85 °C had an average δ18Osil value of +27.1‰ ± 0.6‰ (n = 20). The most significant change in the δ18Osil value was coincident with an initial reduction in the total silanol abundance, indicating that the timing of dehydroxylation reactions in natural sedimentary environments is associated with diagenetic changes in the recorded δ18Osil values. The rate of change in the experimental aging environment at 85 °C was rapid, with significant changes in both silanol abundance and δ18Osil values. Additionally, the silica-water fractionation relationship recorded by the experimentally-aged samples approaches the equilibrium quartz-water fractionation factor. The linear rate law was used to estimate the timing of these changes in low temperature environments; the initial and most significant change in silica reactivity and δ18Osil values is likely to occur on the order of 10's of years at 4 °C. Published silica-water fractionation factors for sedimentary diatoms most likely represent a combination of growth and diagenetic environments, and the δ18O value of diagenetic water needs to be addressed when using δ18Osil values to reconstruct paleoceanographic and paleoenvironmental conditions.

To Be or Not to Be: The Roles of the Unilateral and Embedded Reporter during Wartime

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-11

the military disseminate information, employ the use of modern communication means, and engage the public and the media. The Pattern of Censorship A...correspondent attached to the 21st Lancers, evaded censorship by sending his stories as letters instead of using the telegraph. When the Boer War...advances and societal changes, censorship in today‟s world is not as easy as it used to be which has created a more open environment that will probably

Characterizing the Role of Nanoparticle Design on Tumor Transport and Stability in the Extracellular Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albanese, Alexandre

Nanotechnology has emerged as an exciting strategy for the delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents into established tumors. Advancements in nanomaterial synthesis have generated an extensive number of nanoparticle designs made from different materials. Unfortunately, it remains impossible to predict a design's effectiveness for in vivo tumor accumulation. Little is known about how a nanoparticle's morphology and surface chemistry affect its interactions with cells and proteins inside the tumor tissue. This thesis focuses on the development of in vitro experimental tools to evaluate how nanoparticle design affects transport in a three-dimensional tumor tissue and stability in the tumor microenvironment. Nanoparticle transport was evaluated using a novel 'tumor-on-a-chip' system where multicellular tumor spheroids were immobilized in a microfluidic channel. This setup created a three-dimensional tumor environment displaying physiological cell density, extracellular matrix organization, and interstitial flow rates. The tumor-on-a-chip demonstrated that accumulation of nanoparticles was limited to diameters below 110 nm and was improved by receptor targeting. Nanoparticle stability in the tumor microenvironment was evaluated using media isolated from different tumor cell lines. Nanoparticle diameter and surface chemistry were important determinants of stability in cancer cell-conditioned media. Small nanoparticles with unstable surface chemistries adsorbed cellular proteins on their surface and were prone to aggregation. Nanoparticle aggregation altered cellular interactions leading to changes in cell uptake. Using a novel technique to generate different aggregate sizes possessing a uniform surface composition, it was determined that aggregation can change receptor affinity, cell internalization mechanisms and sub-cellular sequestration patterns. Data from this thesis characterize the behavior of nanoparticles within modeled tumor environments and provide some preliminary design guidelines for maximizing nanoparticle tumor accumulation. This work highlights the importance of characterizing nano-bio interactions for engineering successful nanomaterial-based delivery systems.

Parent and child screen-viewing time and home media environment.

PubMed

Jago, Russell; Stamatakis, Emmanuel; Gama, Augusta; Carvalhal, Isabel Mourão; Nogueira, Helena; Rosado, Vítor; Padez, Cristina

2012-08-01

Screen-viewing time has been associated with adverse health outcomes. Data on the predictors of youth screen-viewing time is predominately from older children in North America. Parental and home media environment factors that are associated with screen-viewing time could be targeted in interventions. Examine if parental screen-viewing time and electronic media (access to game equipment, TVs, PCs, and laptops) environment factors were associated with Portuguese children's screen-viewing time and if associations differed by child age (<7 vs ≥7 years); gender; or type of screen viewing. Data are reported for 2965 families with children aged 3-10 years. Data were collected in 2009-2010 and analyzed in 2011. Outcomes were child spending ≥2 hours watching TV and ≥1 hour per day playing with combined other media. Exposures were mothers and fathers watching ≥2 hours of TV and electronic media variables. Parental TV-viewing time was strongly associated with child weekday and weekend TV-viewing time across all four gender and age subgroups. Maternal TV-viewing time was a stronger predictor of child TV-viewing time than paternal TV-viewing time. There was very limited evidence that parental TV-viewing time was associated with combined other media time among boys or girls. Access to electronic game equipment increased the likelihood that children spent >1 hour using combined other media on weekdays and weekend days. Parental TV-viewing time was associated with Portuguese children's TV-viewing time. The numbers of TVs in the household and electronic games equipment access were also associated with TV- and combined other media-viewing/usage time. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Porous protective solid phase micro-extractor sheath

DOEpatents

Andresen, Brian D.; Randich, Erik

2005-03-29

A porous protective sheath for active extraction media used in solid phase microextraction (SPME). The sheath permits exposure of the media to the environment without the necessity of extending a fragile coated fiber from a protective tube or needle. Subsequently, the sheath can pierce and seal with GC-MS septums, allowing direct injection of samples into inlet ports of analytical equipment. Use of the porous protective sheath, within which the active extraction media is contained, mitigates the problems of: 1) fiber breakage while the fiber is extended during sampling, 2) active media coating loss caused by physical contact of the bare fiber with the sampling environment; and 3) coating slough-off during fiber extension and retraction operations caused by rubbing action between the fiber and protective needle or tube.

Strength and stability of microbial plugs in porous media

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sarkar, A.K.; Sharma, M.M.; Georgiou, G.

1995-12-31

Mobility reduction induced by the growth and metabolism of bacteria in high-permeability layers of heterogeneous reservoirs is an economically attractive technique to improve sweep efficiency. This paper describes an experimental study conducted in sandpacks using an injected bacterium to investigate the strength and stability of microbial plugs in porous media. Successful convective transport of bacteria is important for achieving sufficient initial bacteria distribution. The chemotactic and diffusive fluxes are probably not significant even under static conditions. Mobility reduction depends upon the initial cell concentrations and increase in cell mass. For single or multiple static or dynamic growth techniques, permeability reductionmore » was approximately 70% of the original permeability. The stability of these microbial plugs to increases in pressure gradient and changes in cell physiology in a nutrient-depleted environment needs to be improved.« less

Reduction of granular drag inspired by self-burrowing rotary seeds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Wonjong; Choi, Sung Mok; Kim, Wonjung; Kim, Ho-Young

2017-04-01

We present quantitative measurements and mat hematical analysis of the granular drag reduction by rotation, as motivated by the digging of Erodium and Pelargonium seeds. The seeds create a motion to dig into soil before germination using their moisture-responsive awns, which are originally helical shaped but reversibly deform to a linear configuration in a humid environment. We show that the rotation greatly lowers the resistance of soil against penetration because grain rearrangements near the intruder change the force chain network. We find a general correlation for the drag reduction by relative slip, leading to a mathematical model for the granular drag of a rotating intruder. In addition to shedding light on the mechanics of a rotating body in granular media, this work can guide us to design robots working in granular media with enhanced maneuverability.

Failure Analysis of Pitted Copper Pipes Used in Underground Water and Preventive Measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nam, Gi-ho; Lee, Jong-kwon; Kim, Kyung-ja

2018-05-01

This study performed an experiment on the causes of pitting corrosion in a copper tubing used for a sprinkler system. Corrosion products of a copper tubing that sustained pitting corrosion were collected and cultured in Culture medium [Luria-Bertani, Brain heart infusion, Tryptic soy broth (TSB), R2A]. Four types of bacteria were found through identification: Micrococcus luteus sp (species)., Staphylococcus sp., Sphingomonas sp., and Bacillus sp. The copper toxicity test was performed for each microorganism. Among the four microorganisms, Micrococcus luteus sp. showed good growth in the environment containing copper ions. On the immersion test, changes in pH and Optical density were measured; On the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry test, the copper concentration of each culture medium was measured. The surface of each copper sample was observed using a scanning electron microscope. The corrosion potential of a copper sample, after 48 h exposure of the TSB medium containing Micrococcus luteus sp., was measured using a potentiodynamic polarization experiment. The next experiment was conducted to prevent microbial corrosion by suppressing the growth of microorganisms. Six 30 ml TSB culture media with controlled pH value of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 through HCl and NaOH were manufactured. Then the microorganisms were cultured in 37 °C 133 rpm, of which the growth status was checked every 24 h for 3 days. It was found that microorganisms did not grow on culture media with the pH value of 6 and lower. The same experiment conducted on culture media controlled with acetic acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, also showed no growth of microorganisms on media with pH value of 6 and lower. Six 5 ml TSB culture media each containing 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, 0.0625, 0.0312%, and 0.0156% NaOCl and NaOBr as germicides were manufactured. 0.01 μl of microorganisms were inoculated on the media and cultured in 37 °C for 48 h. It was found that microorganisms did not grow in media with NaOCl and NaOBr concentration of 0.0625% and higher. Therefore, it can be suggested that in environments with pH value of 6 or lower, or NaOCl and NaOBr concentration of higher than 0.0625% suppresses microbial growth, thereby preventing microbial corrosion.

Failure Analysis of Pitted Copper Pipes Used in Underground Water and Preventive Measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nam, Gi-ho; Lee, Jong-kwon; Kim, Kyung-ja

2018-03-01

This study performed an experiment on the causes of pitting corrosion in a copper tubing used for a sprinkler system. Corrosion products of a copper tubing that sustained pitting corrosion were collected and cultured in Culture medium [Luria-Bertani, Brain heart infusion, Tryptic soy broth (TSB), R2A]. Four types of bacteria were found through identification: Micrococcus luteus sp (species)., Staphylococcus sp., Sphingomonas sp., and Bacillus sp. The copper toxicity test was performed for each microorganism. Among the four microorganisms, Micrococcus luteus sp. showed good growth in the environment containing copper ions. On the immersion test, changes in pH and Optical density were measured; On the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry test, the copper concentration of each culture medium was measured. The surface of each copper sample was observed using a scanning electron microscope. The corrosion potential of a copper sample, after 48 h exposure of the TSB medium containing Micrococcus luteus sp., was measured using a potentiodynamic polarization experiment. The next experiment was conducted to prevent microbial corrosion by suppressing the growth of microorganisms. Six 30 ml TSB culture media with controlled pH value of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 through HCl and NaOH were manufactured. Then the microorganisms were cultured in 37 °C 133 rpm, of which the growth status was checked every 24 h for 3 days. It was found that microorganisms did not grow on culture media with the pH value of 6 and lower. The same experiment conducted on culture media controlled with acetic acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, also showed no growth of microorganisms on media with pH value of 6 and lower. Six 5 ml TSB culture media each containing 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, 0.0625, 0.0312%, and 0.0156% NaOCl and NaOBr as germicides were manufactured. 0.01 μl of microorganisms were inoculated on the media and cultured in 37 °C for 48 h. It was found that microorganisms did not grow in media with NaOCl and NaOBr concentration of 0.0625% and higher. Therefore, it can be suggested that in environments with pH value of 6 or lower, or NaOCl and NaOBr concentration of higher than 0.0625% suppresses microbial growth, thereby preventing microbial corrosion.

The public debate on psychotropic medication and changes in attitudes 1990-2011.

PubMed

Angermeyer, Matthias C; Van der Auwera, Sandra; Matschinger, Herbert; Carta, Mauro G; Baumeister, Sebastian E; Schomerus, Georg

2016-03-01

Over the last 25 years, the appraisal of psychotropic drugs within the scientific community and their representation in the media has changed considerably. The initial optimism in the wake of the introduction of second-generation drugs has increasingly made room for a more critical evaluation of alleged advantages of these drugs. The question arises as to what extent this is reflected in similar changes in the public's attitudes towards psychiatric medication. Three representative population surveys on attitudes towards psychotropic medication were carried out in Germany in 1990 (N = 3075), 2001 (N = 2610) and 2011 (N = 1223), using the same sampling procedure, interview mode and instrument for assessing attitudes. In order to disentangle time-related effects, an age-period-cohort analysis was performed. Over the time period of 21 years, the German public's evaluation of psychotropic medication has become markedly more favourable. This change was mostly due to a period effect, i.e. concurrent influences of the social environment people are exposed to. Changes were much more pronounced in the 1990s, while over the following decade only a small, although statistically significant, increase in the favourable appraisal of medication was found. Age and birth cohort had only a minor effect on public attitudes. Our findings suggest that changes in the evaluation of the effects of psychotropic drugs within the psychiatric community and their representation in the media also affect public opinion. Given the ongoing debate about side effects and efficacy of psychiatric medication, future changes of public opinion can be expected.

Information: fuel for change.

PubMed

Tinker, J

1992-01-01

Fundamental changes in the attitude and mentality of humanity are necessary to change the reckless course of human progress and achieve sustainable development. The UN Conference on Environment and Development has been unable to develop the requisite educational information for this purpose. The Northern environment ministers know that the pursuit of endless consumption is escalating energy use and unsustainable demands on the planet's resources. The ministers from the South know their forests and fisheries are declining, that much of their soil is becoming less fertile every year, and that their copper, timber, fish and bananas are being sold at a fraction of their real value. Environmentalists have been advocating more public awareness prior to and since the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. Saving the rainforest requires understanding the causes of deforestation: avaricious logging companies and poor peasants searching for land. The rich in the North need a new frugalism to replace the mindless consumerism, while the poor in the South need new alternatives to escape from the poverty that forces them to destroy their environment. These changes in attitude could come from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the civil society. Governments cannot decree socially and politically sustainable development. Political pluralism indispensable within society means NGOs and community groups and responsive governments. Pluralisms of information means a wider range of newspapers and magazines and a wider spectrum of views in the media. Since 1989 there has been vigorous acceleration toward pluralism in the world powered by NGOs. The many voices of NGOs have generated the dramatic political changes of recent years. Alternative news agencies and research institutes must propagate information to elucidate sustainable development.

Linguistic Input, Electronic Media, and Communication Outcomes of Toddlers with Hearing Loss

PubMed Central

Ambrose, Sophie E.; VanDam, Mark; Moeller, Mary Pat

2013-01-01

Objectives The objectives of this study were to examine the quantity of adult words, adult-child conversational turns, and electronic media in the auditory environments of toddlers who are hard of hearing (HH) and to examine whether these variables contributed to variability in children’s communication outcomes. Design Participants were 28 children with mild to severe hearing loss. Full-day recordings of children’s auditory environments were collected within 6 months of their 2nd birthdays by utilizing LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) technology. The system analyzes full-day acoustic recordings, yielding estimates of the quantity of adult words, conversational turns, and electronic media exposure in the recordings. Children’s communication outcomes were assessed via the receptive and expressive scales of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at 2 years of age and the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language at 3 years of age. Results On average, the HH toddlers were exposed to approximately 1400 adult words per hour and participated in approximately 60 conversational turns per hour. An average of 8% of each recording was classified as electronic media. However, there was considerable within-group variability on all three measures. Frequency of conversational turns, but not adult words, was positively associated with children’s communication outcomes at 2 and 3 years of age. Amount of electronic media exposure was negatively associated with 2-year-old receptive language abilities; however, regression results indicate that the relationship was fully mediated by the quantity of conversational turns. Conclusions HH toddlers who were engaged in more conversational turns demonstrated stronger linguistic outcomes than HH toddlers who were engaged in fewer conversational turns. The frequency of these interactions was found to be decreased in households with high rates of electronic media exposure. Optimal language-learning environments for HH toddlers include frequent linguistic interactions between parents and children. To support this goal, parents should be encouraged to reduce their children’s exposure to electronic media. PMID:24441740

Linguistic input, electronic media, and communication outcomes of toddlers with hearing loss.

PubMed

Ambrose, Sophie E; VanDam, Mark; Moeller, Mary Pat

2014-01-01

The objectives of this study were to examine the quantity of adult words, adult-child conversational turns, and electronic media in the auditory environments of toddlers who are hard of hearing (HH) and to examine whether these factors contributed to variability in children's communication outcomes. Participants were 28 children with mild to severe hearing loss. Full-day recordings of children's auditory environments were collected within 6 months of their second birthdays by using Language ENvironment Analysis technology. The system analyzes full-day acoustic recordings, yielding estimates of the quantity of adult words, conversational turns, and electronic media exposure in the recordings. Children's communication outcomes were assessed via the receptive and expressive scales of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at 2 years of age and the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language at 3 years of age. On average, the HH toddlers were exposed to approximately 1400 adult words per hour and participated in approximately 60 conversational turns per hour. An average of 8% of each recording was classified as electronic media. However, there was considerable within-group variability on all three measures. Frequency of conversational turns, but not adult words, was positively associated with children's communication outcomes at 2 and 3 years of age. Amount of electronic media exposure was negatively associated with 2-year-old receptive language abilities; however, regression results indicate that the relationship was fully mediated by the quantity of conversational turns. HH toddlers who were engaged in more conversational turns demonstrated stronger linguistic outcomes than HH toddlers who were engaged in fewer conversational turns. The frequency of these interactions was found to be decreased in households with high rates of electronic media exposure. Optimal language-learning environments for HH toddlers include frequent linguistic interactions between parents and children. To support this goal, parents should be encouraged to reduce their children's exposure to electronic media.

Method And Apparatus For Arbitrarily Large Capacity Removable Media

DOEpatents

Milligan, Charles A.; Hughes, James P.; Debiez; Jacques

2003-04-08

A method and apparatus to handle multiple sets of removable media within a storage system. A first set of removable media are mounted on a set of drives. Data is accepted until the first set of removable media is filled. A second set of removable media is mounted on the drives, while the first set of removable media is removed. When the change in removable media is complete, writing of data proceeds on the second set of removable media. Data may be buffered while the change in removable media occurs. Alternatively, two sets of removable media may be mounted at the same time. When the first set of removable media is filled to a selected amount, the second set of removable media may then be used to write the data. A third set of removable media is set up or mounted for use, while the first set of removable media is removed.

Updates Technologies of Media Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comer, Joshua

2015-01-01

Whether as status notifications in news feeds or interactive prompts in online video services, updates punctuate the background routines of media by bringing a variety of changes to the attention of users. In this dissertation I argue that updates rationalize media change by making previously obscure actions of users and movements of technologies…

Education in the Emerging Media Democracy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowe, Gary R.

1994-01-01

Discusses changes in media in a changing democratic society. Topics addressed include new visions of learning that incorporate computers and telecommunications; the use of multimedia and interactivity in education; the concept of a global village, with examples from CNN (Cable News Network); and changing from print literacy to media literacy. (LRW)

Global warming's five Germanys: A typology of Germans' views on climate change and patterns of media use and information.

PubMed

Metag, Julia; Füchslin, Tobias; Schäfer, Mike S

2017-05-01

People's attitudes toward climate change differ, and these differences may correspond to distinct patterns of media use and information seeking. However, studies extending analyses of attitude types and their specific media diets to countries beyond the United States are lacking. We use a secondary analysis of survey data from Germany to identify attitudes toward climate change among the German public and specify those segments of the population based on their media use and information seeking. Similar to the Global Warming's Six Americas study, we find distinct attitudes (Global Warming's Five Germanys) that differ in climate change-related perceptions as well as in media use and communicative behavior. These findings can help tailor communication campaigns regarding climate change to specific audiences.

Limitless Learning: Assessing Social Media Use for Global Workplace Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breunig, Karl Joachim

2016-01-01

Purpose: This empirical paper aims to assess how social media can foster workplace learning within a globally dispersed project environment. In general, there are few studies on the use of social media in organizations, and many of these emphasize on issues related to knowledge transfer. Although learning traditionally has been as acquisition of…

Otitis Media: Coping with the Effects in the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Dorinne S.

This curriculum adaptation provides a methodology that enables the classroom teacher to recognize the needs of the otitis media-affected child in the classroom. It discusses areas of concern related to otitis media; suggests activities that can enhance these children's language skills; and shows ways to enhance the learning environment by…

Digital Media Education and Advocacy: Addressing Attitudes toward Disability on College Campuses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartley, Michael T.; Mapes, Aimee C.; Taylor, Aryn; Bourgeois, Paul J.

2016-01-01

As digital information becomes the preferred mode of communication, media applications have become an emerging context to address attitudes toward disability. This practice brief details digital media as one method to critically frame ableism on college campuses, promoting a more inclusive campus environment. Coordinated by the disability service…

Youth, Technology, and DIY: Developing Participatory Competencies in Creative Media Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kafai, Yasmin B.; Peppler, Kylie A.

2011-01-01

In this article, the authors draw on findings from several recent studies, particularly the work on the new media-rich programming environment, Scratch, to demonstrate that contemporary youth communities move fluidly across blurry boundaries to engage in both new media literacies and computer literacies in their do-it-yourself (DIY) activities.…

New Media Literacy: From Classroom to Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carstarphen, Meta G.

Each new media revolution forces adjustments for both the producers of messages and the receivers of those messages. Integral to the communication process is an understanding of what it means to be literate in an eclectic communication environment and of how the new media may enhance or impede literacy. An important premise for this discussion is…

Youth Foresight: We Will All Be Media in 2035

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhilavskaya, Irina; Ivanova, Tatiana; Dubover, Denis; Onuchina, Kristina

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the Media Environment in 2035 Foresight Session held on September 27, 2015 at Artek International Child Center during International Youth Media Forum. The event was attended by 158 school children--the winners of regional Youth Journalism contests. The researchers were entrusted with the task of…

Management Matters. Display and Promotion Ideas for Library Media Centers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pappas, Marjorie L.

2005-01-01

School library media centers should be warm and inviting places where the environment entices children to read and explore. Creative bulletin board and case displays along with other exhibits help to make the library media center an exciting place. Bulletin board displays that promote authors, books, and exciting ideas motivate children to find…

Promoting Resilience: Ways Library Media Specialists Strengthen Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Jami L.

2005-01-01

As students file into the library media center for orientation during the hectic first weeks of school, Mrs. Greene, a veteran media specialist with fifteen years experience, wonders how she can make a difference in an environment governed by No Child Left Behind and state-mandated tests. Some students are disadvantaged because they are struggling…

Undesirable Effects of Media on Children: Why Limitation is Necessary?

PubMed

Karaagac, Aysu Turkmen

2015-06-01

Pervasive media environment is a social problem shared by most of the countries around the world. Several studies have been performed to highlight the undesired effects of media on children. Some of these studies have focused on the time spent by children watching television, playing with computers or using mobile media devices while some others have tried to explain the associations between the obesity, postural abnormalities or psychological problems of children, and their media use. This article discusses the recent approaches to curb influence of media on children, and the importance of family media literacy education programs with particular relevance to developing countries.

Using social media to communicate during crises: an analytic methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greene, Marjorie

2011-06-01

The Emerging Media Integration Team at the Department of the Navy Office of Information (CHINFO) has recently put together a Navy Command Social Media Handbook designed to provide information needed to safely and effectively use social media. While not intended to be a comprehensive guide on command use of social media or to take the place of official policy, the Handbook provides a useful guide for navigating a dynamic communications environment. Social media are changing the way information is diffused and decisions are made, especially for Humanitarian Assistance missions when there is increased emphasis on Navy commands to share critical information with other Navy command sites, government, and official NGO (nongovernmental organization) sites like the American Red Cross. In order to effectively use social media to support such missions, the Handbook suggests creating a centralized location to funnel information. This suggests that as the community of interest (COI) grows during a crisis, it will be important to ensure that information is shared with appropriate organizations for different aspects of the mission such as evacuation procedures, hospital sites, location of seaports and airports, and other topics relevant to the mission. For example, in the first 14 days of the U.S. Southern Command's Haiti HA/DR (Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief) mission, the COI grew to over 1,900 users. In addition, operational conditions vary considerably among incidents, and coordination between different groups is often set up in an ad hoc manner. What is needed is a methodology that will help to find appropriate people with whom to share information for particular aspects of a mission during a wide range of events related to the mission. CNA has developed such a methodology and we would like to test it in a small scale lab experiment.

Disadvantaged Parents' Engagement with a National Secondhand Smoke in the Home Mass Media Campaign: A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Rowa-Dewar, Neneh; Amos, Amanda

2016-09-09

Mass media campaigns can be effective in tobacco control but may widen health inequalities if they fail to engage disadvantaged smokers. This qualitative study explored how parents with young children living in disadvantaged circumstances engaged with a national campaign which aimed to raise awareness of the importance of smokefree homes. Individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with 17 parents before and after the Scottish 2014 "Right Outside" mass media campaign. A conceptual framework exploring meaningful exposure (recall and understanding), motivational responses (protecting children from secondhand smoke (SHS)) and opportunities to act (barriers) was used to thematically analyse the findings. Campaign recall and engagement, and motivation to protect children were high. Parents identified with the dramatized scenario and visual impact of SHS harm to children in the TV advertisement. Some reported changed smoking practices. However, supervising young children in limited accommodation when caring alone constrained opportunities to smoke outside. Instead, parents described actions other than smoking outside that they had taken or were planning to take to create smokefree homes. Mass media campaigns using emotive, real-life circumstances can be effective in engaging parents about SHS. However, the behavioural impact may be limited because of difficult home environments and circumstances.

Trichoderma-Inoculated Miscanthus Straw Can Replace Peat in Strawberry Cultivation, with Beneficial Effects on Disease Control.

PubMed

Debode, Jane; De Tender, Caroline; Cremelie, Pieter; Lee, Ana S; Kyndt, Tina; Muylle, Hilde; De Swaef, Tom; Vandecasteele, Bart

2018-01-01

Peat based growing media are not ecologically sustainable and often fail to support biological control. Miscanthus straw was (1) tested to partially replace peat; and (2) pre-colonized with a Trichoderma strain to increase the biological control capacity of the growing media. In two strawberry pot trials (denoted as experiment I & II), extruded and non-extruded miscanthus straw, with or without pre-colonization with T. harzianum T22, was used to partially (20% v/v) replace peat. We tested the performance of each mixture by monitoring strawberry plant development, nutrient content in the leaves and growing media, sensitivity of the fruit to the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea , rhizosphere community and strawberry defense responses. N immobilization by miscanthus straw reduced strawberry growth and yield in experiment II but not in I. The pre-colonization of the straw with Trichoderma increased the post-harvest disease suppressiveness against B. cinerea and changed the rhizosphere fungal microbiome in both experiments. In addition, defense-related genes were induced in experiment II. The use of miscanthus straw in growing media will reduce the demand for peat and close resource loops. Successful pre-colonization of this straw with biological control fungi will optimize crop cultivation, requiring fewer pesticide applications, which will benefit the environment and human health.

The Impact of Electronic Media on Research and Education. Role of Libraries in Information Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evstigneeva, Galina; Wegner, Bernd

The paper gives a short survey how electronic media have changed the working conditions at research institutions, universities and higher schools, which new possibilities in research and education emerge from this, and which problems will have to be solved with respect to this in the future. We shall concentrate our attention on the role of the libraries as information brokers in such an environment. In this context archiving of electronic documents, software and access systems will be addressed as one of the challenging future tasks of libraries. Each of these themes may serve as a subject for a seminar on its own. Hence the paper only can highlight some of these features referring to more detailed work elsewhere. At the beginning the main classes of electronic offers providing infrastructure for research and education are introduced. The role of editors, publishers, software producers and web managers is shortly discussed. Information gateways and information brokers are important for the distribution of these offers. The impact of electronic media on research and education is described by representative examples of different types. Some final conclusions deal with the problems to be solved in the future when electronic media will occupy the central place in the daily work of professionals, researchers and teachers.

Earth Matters: Promoting Science Exploration through Blogs and Social Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, K.; Voiland, A. P.; Carlowicz, M. J.; Simmon, R. B.; Allen, J.; Scott, M.; Przyborski, P. D.

2012-12-01

NASA's Earth Observatory (EO) is a 13-year old online publication focusing on the communication of NASA Earth science research, including climate change, weather, geology, oceanography, and solar flares. We serve two primary audiences: the "attentive public"--people interested in and willing to seek out information about science, technology, and the environment--and popular media. We use the EO website (earthobservatory.nasa.gov) to host a variety of content including image-driven stories (natural events and research-based), articles featuring NASA research and, more recently, blogs that give us the ability to increase interaction with our users. For much of our site's history, our communication has been largely one way, and we have relied primarily on traditional online marketing techniques such as RSS and email listservs. As the information ecosystem evolves into one in which many users expect to play a more active role in distributing and even developing content through social media, we've experimented with various social media outlets (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.) that offer new opportunities for people to interact with NASA data, scientists, and the EO editorial team. As part of our explorations, we are learning about how, and to what extent, these outlets can be used for interaction and outright promotion and how to achieve those goals with existing personnel and resources.

Fear appeals in advanced tobacco control environments: the impact of a national mass media campaign in Norway.

PubMed

Halkjelsvik, Torleif; Lund, Karl Erik; Kraft, Pål; Rise, Jostein

2013-10-01

Norway has one of the most comprehensive infrastructures for tobacco control in the world and has launched several media campaigns recent years. Can yet another anti-smoking campaign, using fear appeal messages, have an immediate impact on smoking behavior, motivation to quit and health beliefs? A sample of smokers (N = 2543) completed a survey before and after a 7-week national media campaign. Individual exposure to campaign (unaided recall) was used as predictor of change. We observed no statistically significant effect on smoking status but tendencies were in the expected direction for daily smokers (P = 0.09). There were no effects on number of cigarettes per day, likelihood to quit or reduce smoking. Small but statistically significant effects were found on motivation to quit (P < 0.01, ηp(2) = 0.004) and perceived seriousness of health hazards (P < 0.05, ηp(2) = 0.002). In addition, there was an increase in interpersonal discussions about health and smoking for those exposed to the campaign (P < 0.01, ηp(2) = 0.008). We conclude that there are very small effects of a relatively short and intense mass media campaign on a population of smokers already exposed to one of the most comprehensive tobacco control programs in the world.

The Role of Social Media in the Civic Co-Management of Urban Infrastructure Resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turpin, E.; Holderness, T.; Wickramasuriya, R.

2014-12-01

As cities evolve to become increasingly complex systems of people and interconnected infrastructure the impacts of extreme events and long term climatological change are significantly heightened (Walsh et al. 2011). Understanding the resilience of urban systems and the impacts of infrastructure failure is therefore key to understanding the adaptability of cities to climate change (Rosenzweig 2011). Such information is particularly critical in developing nations which are predicted to bear the brunt of climate change (Douglas et al., 2008), but often lack the resources and data required to make informed decisions regarding infrastructure and societal resilience (e.g. Paar & Rekittke 2011). We propose that mobile social media in a people-as-sensors paradigm provides a means of monitoring the response of a city to cascading infrastructure failures induced by extreme weather events. Such an approach is welcomed in developing nations where crowd-sourced data are increasingly being used as an alternative to missing or incomplete formal data sources to help solve infrastructure challenges (Holderness 2014). In this paper we present PetaJakarta.org as a case study that harnesses the power of social media to gather, sort and display information about flooding for residents of Jakarta, Indonesia in real time, recuperating the failures of infrastructure and monitoring systems through a web of social media connections. Our GeoSocial Intelligence Framework enables the capture and comprehension of significant time-critical information to support decision-making, and as a means of transparent communication, while maintaining user privacy, to enable civic co-management processes to aid city-scale climate adaptation and resilience. PetaJakarta empowers community residents to collect and disseminate situational information about flooding, via the social media network Twitter, to provide city-scale decision support for Jakarta's Emergency Management Team, and a neighbourhood-scale public information service for individuals and communities to alert them of nearby flood events. Douglas I., et al. 2008 ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION Holderness T. 2014 IEEE TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY MAGAZINE Paar P. & Rekittke J. 2011 FUTURE INTERNET Rosenzweig C. 2011 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Walsh C. L., et al. 2011 URBAN DESIGN & PLANNING

When New Media Meet the Strong Web of Connected Learning Environments: A New Vision of Progressive Education in the Digital Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nam, Chaebong

2013-01-01

This paper shows how the legacy of Jane Addams' socialized education can live on in today's progressive education, especially in the digital age. Discussion is drawn from a case study of an anti-underage drinking campaign conducted by urban youth of color in an afterschool program. The media ecology environment in the campaign--the integrated…

CVD Prevention Through Policy: a Review of Mass Media, Food/Menu Labeling, Taxation/Subsidies, Built Environment, School Procurement, Worksite Wellness, and Marketing Standards to Improve Diet.

PubMed

Afshin, Ashkan; Penalvo, Jose; Del Gobbo, Liana; Kashaf, Michael; Micha, Renata; Morrish, Kurtis; Pearson-Stuttard, Jonathan; Rehm, Colin; Shangguan, Siyi; Smith, Jessica D; Mozaffarian, Dariush

2015-11-01

Poor diet is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease in the USA and globally. Evidence-based policies are crucial to improve diet and population health. We reviewed the effectiveness for a range of policy levers to alter diet and diet-related risk factors. We identified evidence to support benefits of focused mass media campaigns (especially for fruits, vegetables, salt), food pricing strategies (both subsidies and taxation, with stronger effects at lower income levels), school procurement policies (for increasing healthful or reducing unhealthful choices), and worksite wellness programs (especially when comprehensive and multicomponent). Evidence was inconclusive for food and menu labeling (for consumer or industry behavior) and changes in local built environment (e.g., availability or accessibility of supermarkets, fast food outlets). We found little empiric evidence evaluating marketing restrictions, although broad principles and large resources spent on marketing suggest utility. Widespread implementation and evaluation of evidence-based policy strategies, with further research on other strategies with mixed/limited evidence, are essential "population medicine" to reduce health and economic burdens and inequities of diet-related illness worldwide.

The Obesogenic Quality of the Home Environment: Associations with Diet, Physical Activity, TV Viewing, and BMI in Preschool Children

PubMed Central

Schrempft, Stephanie; van Jaarsveld, Cornelia H. M.; Fisher, Abigail; Wardle, Jane

2015-01-01

Objectives The home environment is thought to play a key role in early weight trajectories, although direct evidence is limited. There is general agreement that multiple factors exert small individual effects on weight-related outcomes, so use of composite measures could demonstrate stronger effects. This study therefore examined whether composite measures reflecting the ‘obesogenic’ home environment are associated with diet, physical activity, TV viewing, and BMI in preschool children. Methods Families from the Gemini cohort (n = 1096) completed a telephone interview (Home Environment Interview; HEI) when their children were 4 years old. Diet, physical activity, and TV viewing were reported at interview. Child height and weight measurements were taken by the parents (using standard scales and height charts) and reported at interview. Responses to the HEI were standardized and summed to create four composite scores representing the food (sum of 21 variables), activity (sum of 6 variables), media (sum of 5 variables), and overall (food composite/21 + activity composite/6 + media composite/5) home environments. These were categorized into ‘obesogenic risk’ tertiles. Results Children in ‘higher-risk’ food environments consumed less fruit (OR; 95% CI = 0.39; 0.27–0.57) and vegetables (0.47; 0.34–0.64), and more energy-dense snacks (3.48; 2.16–5.62) and sweetened drinks (3.49; 2.10–5.81) than children in ‘lower-risk’ food environments. Children in ‘higher-risk’ activity environments were less physically active (0.43; 0.32–0.59) than children in ‘lower-risk’ activity environments. Children in ‘higher-risk’ media environments watched more TV (3.51; 2.48–4.96) than children in ‘lower-risk’ media environments. Neither the individual nor the overall composite measures were associated with BMI. Conclusions Composite measures of the obesogenic home environment were associated as expected with diet, physical activity, and TV viewing. Associations with BMI were not apparent at this age. PMID:26248313

Media Rich, Resource Poor: Practical Work in an Impractical Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Vliet, Emma; Deacon, Andrew

2004-01-01

Film and media courses appear well placed to exploit technology convergence in exposing students both to practical skills and to theoretical concepts. For the University of Cape Town's (UCT) large film and media studies courses, it is impractical simply to use the technology of professionals as this would typically be too expensive to purchase and…

Multimodal Interaction with Speech, Gestures and Haptic Feedback in a Media Center Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turunen, Markku; Hakulinen, Jaakko; Hella, Juho; Rajaniemi, Juha-Pekka; Melto, Aleksi; Mäkinen, Erno; Rantala, Jussi; Heimonen, Tomi; Laivo, Tuuli; Soronen, Hannu; Hansen, Mervi; Valkama, Pellervo; Miettinen, Toni; Raisamo, Roope

We demonstrate interaction with a multimodal media center application. Mobile phone-based interface includes speech and gesture input and haptic feedback. The setup resembles our long-term public pilot study, where a living room environment containing the application was constructed inside a local media museum allowing visitors to freely test the system.

Social Media and the New Academic Environment: Pedagogical Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patrut, Bogdan; Patrut, Monica; Cmeciu, Camelia

2013-01-01

As web applications play a vital role in our society, social media has emerged as an important tool in the creation and exchange of user-generated content and social interaction. The benefits of these services have entered in the educational areas to become new means by which scholars communicate, collaborate and teach. Social Media and the New…

The Media Environment of the '90s: A Period of Danger for Newspaper Journalism?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McManus, John

The news media of the 1990s will probably not use videotext systems or three-dimensional holograms to replace the newspaper. Instead, simpler combinations of news media that mimic the characteristics of print may replace advertising in newspapers, causing them to downgrade journalism or increase subscription cost, thereby decreasing circulation…

The transformative power of social media: Considerations for practice and emerging leaders.

PubMed

Booth, Richard G; Strudwick, Gillian; Fraser, Robert

2017-05-01

Social media has transformed how people communicate both in non-healthcare and healthcare-specific settings. Due to social media's growing importance in society, it is likely that this form of communication will reshape various elements of how healthcare is conceptualized, managed, and delivered. To explore this emerging issue, this article describes the current use of social media in healthcare and examines the future digital transformation of healthcare. Finally, recommendations toward leveraging social media, and how emerging leaders can act as digital stewards to inform future healthcare environments, are also provided.

A place for play? The influence of the home physical environment on children's physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

PubMed

Maitland, Clover; Stratton, Gareth; Foster, Sarah; Braham, Rebecca; Rosenberg, Michael

2013-08-17

The home environment is an important influence on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children, who have limited independent mobility and spend much of their time at home. This article reviews the current evidence regarding the influence of the home physical environment on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children aged 8-14 years. A literature search of peer reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2011 resulted in 38 observational studies (21 with activity outcomes, 23 with sedentary outcomes) and 11 experimental studies included in the review. The most commonly investigated behavioural outcomes were television watching and moderate to vigorous physical activity. Media equipment in the home and to a lesser extent the bedroom were positively associated with children's sedentary behaviour. Physical activity equipment and the house and yard were not associated with physical activity, although environmental measures were exclusively self-reported. On the other hand, physical activity equipment was inversely associated with sedentary behaviours in half of studies. Observational studies that investigated the influence of the physical and social environment within the home space, found that the social environment, particularly the role of parents, was important. Experimental studies that changed the home physical environment by introducing a television limiting device successfully decreased television viewing, whereas the influence of introducing an active video game on activity outcomes was inconsistent. Results highlight that the home environment is an important influence on children's sedentary behaviour and physical activity, about which much is still unknown. While changing or controlling the home physical environment shows promise for reducing screen based sedentary behaviour, further interventions are needed to understand the broader impact of these changes. Future studies should prioritise investigating the influence of the home physical environment, and its interaction with the social environment, on objectively measured sedentary time and home context specific behaviours, ideally including technologies that allow objective measures of the home space.

A place for play? The influence of the home physical environment on children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The home environment is an important influence on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children, who have limited independent mobility and spend much of their time at home. This article reviews the current evidence regarding the influence of the home physical environment on the sedentary behaviour and physical activity of children aged 8–14 years. A literature search of peer reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2011 resulted in 38 observational studies (21 with activity outcomes, 23 with sedentary outcomes) and 11 experimental studies included in the review. The most commonly investigated behavioural outcomes were television watching and moderate to vigorous physical activity. Media equipment in the home and to a lesser extent the bedroom were positively associated with children’s sedentary behaviour. Physical activity equipment and the house and yard were not associated with physical activity, although environmental measures were exclusively self-reported. On the other hand, physical activity equipment was inversely associated with sedentary behaviours in half of studies. Observational studies that investigated the influence of the physical and social environment within the home space, found that the social environment, particularly the role of parents, was important. Experimental studies that changed the home physical environment by introducing a television limiting device successfully decreased television viewing, whereas the influence of introducing an active video game on activity outcomes was inconsistent. Results highlight that the home environment is an important influence on children’s sedentary behaviour and physical activity, about which much is still unknown. While changing or controlling the home physical environment shows promise for reducing screen based sedentary behaviour, further interventions are needed to understand the broader impact of these changes. Future studies should prioritise investigating the influence of the home physical environment, and its interaction with the social environment, on objectively measured sedentary time and home context specific behaviours, ideally including technologies that allow objective measures of the home space. PMID:23958282

Test methods for optical disk media characteristics (for 356 mm ruggedized magneto-optic media)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Podio, Fernando L.

1991-01-01

Standard test methods for computer storage media characteristics are essential and allow for conformance to media interchange standards. The test methods were developed for 356 mm two-sided laminated glass substrate with a magneto-optic active layer media technology. These test methods may be used for testing other media types, but in each case their applicability must be evaluated. Test methods are included for a series of different media characteristics, including operational, nonoperational, and storage environments; mechanical and physical characteristics; and substrate, recording layer, and preformat characteristics. Tests for environmental qualification and media lifetimes are also included. The best methods include testing conditions, testing procedures, a description of the testing setup, and the required calibration procedures.

A new approach to monitoring the social environment for natural resource management and policy: The case of US national forest benefits and values

Treesearch

David N. Bengston; David P. Fan; D. N. Celarier

1999-01-01

This paper describes a new approach for monitoring the social environment for natural resource management and policy, based on content analysis of online news media stories. Content analysis of the media has repeatedly been shown to produce results that are closely correlated with attitude surveys and opinion polls. Computer methods were used to analyse almost 30,000...

Understanding Social Media and Mass Mobilization in the Operational Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-21

Word of mouth became the main tool for planning the next steps, confirmed Saif. Demonstrators at Tahrir agreed before they left to convene the next day...environment. Whereas large groups had to rely on information distributed in the group through word of mouth in the past, modern mass mobilization uses social...Unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT The advent of social media combined with unfettered access to inexpensive mobile electronic devices has

Media Effects: Theory and Research.

PubMed

Valkenburg, Patti M; Peter, Jochen; Walther, Joseph B

2016-01-01

This review analyzes trends and commonalities among prominent theories of media effects. On the basis of exemplary meta-analyses of media effects and bibliometric studies of well-cited theories, we identify and discuss five features of media effects theories as well as their empirical support. Each of these features specifies the conditions under which media may produce effects on certain types of individuals. Our review ends with a discussion of media effects in newer media environments. This includes theories of computer-mediated communication, the development of which appears to share a similar pattern of reformulation from unidirectional, receiver-oriented views, to theories that recognize the transactional nature of communication. We conclude by outlining challenges and promising avenues for future research.

Environmental influences on methods used to collect dietary data from children.

PubMed

Frank, G C

1994-01-01

When collecting dietary data on children, confidence about responses is required. Children exist in multienvironments in their everyday lives, eg, the personal, school, home, peer, medical care, media, food industry, and fast-food facility environments. These macroenvironments influence the format and type of data-collection methods used to interview today's youth. Researchers should identify the influence of each environment on the child's eating pattern and nutrient intake, explore the pros and cons of various data-collection methods amid these environments, and determine unresolved methodological issues to stimulate future research. Standardized protocols for interviewing children, exclusion criteria for surrogate responses, and currency of nutrient data for new food products available to children are needed. Redefining our methods by understanding the macroenvironments of youth can create a dietary methodology for the 21st century--an evolutionary method that builds on past research and incorporates current technology and societal changes.

Viscosity dictates metabolic activity of Vibrio ruber

PubMed Central

Borić, Maja; Danevčič, Tjaša; Stopar, David

2012-01-01

Little is known about metabolic activity of bacteria, when viscosity of their environment changes. In this work, bacterial metabolic activity in media with viscosity ranging from 0.8 to 29.4 mPas was studied. Viscosities up to 2.4 mPas did not affect metabolic activity of Vibrio ruber. On the other hand, at 29.4 mPas respiration rate and total dehydrogenase activity increased 8 and 4-fold, respectively. The activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) increased up to 13-fold at higher viscosities. However, intensified metabolic activity did not result in faster growth rate. Increased viscosity delayed the onset as well as the duration of biosynthesis of prodigiosin. As an adaptation to viscous environment V. ruber increased metabolic flux through the pentose phosphate pathway and reduced synthesis of a secondary metabolite. In addition, V. ruber was able to modify the viscosity of its environment. PMID:22826705

Protecting children from harmful food marketing: options for local government to make a difference.

PubMed

Harris, Jennifer L; Graff, Samantha K

2011-09-01

The obesity epidemic cannot be reversed without substantial improvements in the food marketing environment that surrounds children. Food marketing targeted to children almost exclusively promotes calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods and takes advantage of children's vulnerability to persuasive messages. Increasing scientific evidence reveals potentially profound effects of food marketing on children's lifelong eating behaviors and health. Much of this marketing occurs in nationwide media (eg, television, the Internet), but companies also directly target children in their own communities through the use of billboards and through local environments such as stores, restaurants, and schools. Given the harmful effect of this marketing environment on children's health and the industry's reluctance to make necessary changes to its food marketing practices, government at all levels has an obligation to act. This article focuses on policy options for municipalities that are seeking ways to limit harmful food marketing at the community level.

Induced sensitivity of Bacillus subtilis colony morphology to mechanical media compression

PubMed Central

Polka, Jessica K.

2014-01-01

Bacteria from several taxa, including Kurthia zopfii, Myxococcus xanthus, and Bacillus mycoides, have been reported to align growth of their colonies to small features on the surface of solid media, including anisotropies created by compression. While the function of this phenomenon is unclear, it may help organisms navigate on solid phases, such as soil. The origin of this behavior is also unknown: it may be biological (that is, dependent on components that sense the environment and regulate growth accordingly) or merely physical. Here we show that B. subtilis, an organism that typically does not respond to media compression, can be induced to do so with two simple and synergistic perturbations: a mutation that maintains cells in the swarming (chained) state, and the addition of EDTA to the growth media, which further increases chain length. EDTA apparently increases chain length by inducing defects in cell separation, as the treatment has only marginal effects on the length of individual cells. These results lead us to three conclusions. First, the wealth of genetic tools available to B. subtilis will provide a new, tractable chassis for engineering compression sensitive organisms. Second, the sensitivity of colony morphology to media compression in Bacillus can be modulated by altering a simple physical property of rod-shaped cells. And third, colony morphology under compression holds promise as a rapid, simple, and low-cost way to screen for changes in the length of rod-shaped cells or chains thereof. PMID:25289183

Biogenic volatile organic compounds in the Earth system.

PubMed

Laothawornkitkul, Jullada; Taylor, Jane E; Paul, Nigel D; Hewitt, C Nicholas

2009-01-01

Biogenic volatile organic compounds produced by plants are involved in plant growth, development, reproduction and defence. They also function as communication media within plant communities, between plants and between plants and insects. Because of the high chemical reactivity of many of these compounds, coupled with their large mass emission rates from vegetation into the atmosphere, they have significant effects on the chemical composition and physical characteristics of the atmosphere. Hence, biogenic volatile organic compounds mediate the relationship between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Alteration of this relationship by anthropogenically driven changes to the environment, including global climate change, may perturb these interactions and may lead to adverse and hard-to-predict consequences for the Earth system.

Current Trends in Social Media and the Department of Defense’s Social Media Policy

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-23

environment in which these interactions occur. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube , and Instagram are social media websites that allow users to create and/or...post photographs, while YouTube specializes in user-generated videos. The accessibility of social media on mobile technology, such as smartphones...websites. • Evernote Video A video-sharing website that allows users to upload, share, view and comment on videos. • Vimeo • YouTube • Twitter Music

Media Systems and Their Effects on Women's Sport Participation in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Chiung-Tzu Lucetta

2009-01-01

This study has attempted to explore media influences on social and cultural change, in particular the impact of the media on individuals and groups' practice of exercise. It suggests that the media has been in some way successful in gaining male support and has eliminated some gender hostilities, resulting in a little change to the status quo of…

Technology and informal education: what is taught, what is learned.

PubMed

Greenfield, Patricia M

2009-01-02

The informal learning environments of television, video games, and the Internet are producing learners with a new profile of cognitive skills. This profile features widespread and sophisticated development of visual-spatial skills, such as iconic representation and spatial visualization. A pressing social problem is the prevalence of violent video games, leading to desensitization, aggressive behavior, and gender inequity in opportunities to develop visual-spatial skills. Formal education must adapt to these changes, taking advantage of new strengths in visual-spatial intelligence and compensating for new weaknesses in higher-order cognitive processes: abstract vocabulary, mindfulness, reflection, inductive problem solving, critical thinking, and imagination. These develop through the use of an older technology, reading, which, along with audio media such as radio, also stimulates imagination. Informal education therefore requires a balanced media diet using each technology's specific strengths in order to develop a complete profile of cognitive skills.

[Technology is changing: is the continuing professional development also changing?].

PubMed

De Fiore, Luca

2012-01-01

This paper considers the impact of the new information environment on the scientific communication. Reading behavior changes: today, we browse, scan, watch, receive an impression of something. The new reading habits are not simply determined by the new tools; they are rather influenced by the need to produce and share data and information, using personalized and mobile devices. Also the content formats change: researchers, clinicians, and nurses produce texts, figures, tables, photos, videos, tweets, blog posts and they share them to readers that have to collect, appraise, recombine and - most importantly - contextualize the information. This "continuous partial production" is consistent with a "continuous partial utilization" of data; this is a risk, but it is also an opportunity. On the one side, we risk a self-referential, individualized learning process; on the other side, we can enjoy the extraordinary chance to build a "shared learning environment", able to give a comprehensive solution to the challenges experienced by the health systems. Medical journals survive as valuable media to organize data and information; the new social web tools should support the traditional publishing patterns, to enhance the sharing of information, to help the appraisal of data, and to move forward new communities of learners.

Can the tools of activity theory help us in advancing understanding and organisational change in undergraduate medical education?

PubMed

Reid, Anne-Marie; Ledger, Alison; Kilminster, Sue; Fuller, Richard

2015-08-01

Continued changes to healthcare delivery in the UK, and an increasing focus on patient safety and quality improvement, require a radical rethink on how we enable graduates to begin work in challenging, complex environments. Professional regulatory bodies now require undergraduate medical schools to implement an 'assistantship' period in the final year of study, where senior medical students 'shadow' the work of junior doctors, with an expectation that they will be better 'prepared' for work. However, there is little guidance about what an 'assistantship' entails and the current emphasis on preparedness of students arguably underplays the importance of contextualised learning within the workplace environment. This paper will describe a modified Development Work Research (DWR) (Engeström in Developmental work research: activity theory in practice. Lehmanns Media, Berlin, 2005) approach to organisational change, enabling academic, clinical and administrative partners to develop assistantship placements in different hospitals. Our findings indicate that a modified DWR approach can reveal factors indicating organisational readiness to support change within a locally contextualised framework. The process has significant practical applications across a range of healthcare disciplines, as all professions seek to engage with the challenge of enabling successful transitions of graduates to the workplace.

A primer for health care managers: data sanitization, equipment disposal, and electronic waste.

PubMed

Andersen, Cathy M

2011-01-01

In this article, security regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act concerning data sanitization and the disposal of media containing stored electronic protected health information are discussed, and methods for effective sanitization and media disposal are presented. When disposing of electronic media, electronic waste-or e-waste-is produced. Electronic waste can harm human health and the environment. Responsible equipment disposal methods can minimize the impact of e-waste. Examples of how health care organizations can meet the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations while also behaving responsibly toward the environment are provided. Examples include the environmental stewardship activities of reduce, reuse, reeducate, recover, and recycle.

Accessible virtual reality therapy using portable media devices.

PubMed

Bruck, Susan; Watters, Paul A

2010-01-01

Simulated immersive environments displayed on large screens are a valuable therapeutic asset in the treatment of a range of psychological disorders. Permanent environments are expensive to build and maintain, require specialized clinician training and technical support and often have limited accessibility for clients. Ideally, virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) could be accessible to the broader community if we could use inexpensive hardware with specifically designed software. This study tested whether watching a handheld non-immersive media device causes nausea and other cybersickness responses. Using a repeated measure design we found that nausea, general discomfort, eyestrain, blurred vision and an increase in salivation significantly increased in response to handheld non-immersive media device exposure.

Emerging computer technologies and the news media of the future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vrabel, Debra A.

1993-01-01

The media environment of the future may be dramatically different from what exists today. As new computing and communications technologies evolve and synthesize to form a global, integrated communications system of networks, public domain hardware and software, and consumer products, it will be possible for citizens to fulfill most information needs at any time and from any place, to obtain desired information easily and quickly, to obtain information in a variety of forms, and to experience and interact with information in a variety of ways. This system will transform almost every institution, every profession, and every aspect of human life--including the creation, packaging, and distribution of news and information by media organizations. This paper presents one vision of a 21st century global information system and how it might be used by citizens. It surveys some of the technologies now on the market that are paving the way for new media environment.

Coordinated Implicitly? An Empirical Study on the Role of Social Media in Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Xi; Chen, Hui; Ordóñez de Pablos, Patricia; Lytras, Miltiadis D.; Sun, Yongqiang

2016-01-01

As social media is widely adopted in collaborative learning, which places teams in a virtual environment, it is critical for teams to identify and leverage the knowledge of their members. Yet little is known about how social media influences teams to coordinate their knowledge and collaborate effectively. In this research, we explore the roles of…

Deathscapes, Topocide, Domicide: The Plains in Contemporary Print Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dando, Christina E.

2009-01-01

The American print media are a powerful mechanism for communicating information about places and environment to the American public. When it comes to a landscape such as the Great Plains, experienced by many Americans as either sleep-through land in a car or flyover land in a plane, the print media may be their only real source of information…

Music Analysis Down the (You) Tube? Exploring the Potential of Cross-Media Listening for the Music Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, Michael

2007-01-01

School students' immersion in a rich entertainment media environment has implications for classroom listening. Increasing interaction among media, design, games, communications and arts fields has led to a growing trend in the creative alignment of music and moving image. Video sharing sites such as YouTube are assisting in the proliferation and…

Crowd-driven Ecosystem for Evolutionary Design

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-28

also embeds social media connections to maximize crowd engagement. Within such an environment, experts and non- traditional contributors (crowd) can...process.” The CEED platform also embeds social media connections to maximize crowd engagement. When completed, the software developed under the...track a project of interest online through other social media (namely RSS, Facebook, and Twitter) as well as on the vehicleforge website itself

Ground-water flow in low permeability environments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Neuzil, Christopher E.

1986-01-01

Certain geologic media are known to have small permeability; subsurface environments composed of these media and lacking well developed secondary permeability have groundwater flow sytems with many distinctive characteristics. Moreover, groundwater flow in these environments appears to influence the evolution of certain hydrologic, geologic, and geochemical systems, may affect the accumulation of pertroleum and ores, and probably has a role in the structural evolution of parts of the crust. Such environments are also important in the context of waste disposal. This review attempts to synthesize the diverse contributions of various disciplines to the problem of flow in low-permeability environments. Problems hindering analysis are enumerated together with suggested approaches to overcoming them. A common thread running through the discussion is the significance of size- and time-scale limitations of the ability to directly observe flow behavior and make measurements of parameters. These limitations have resulted in rather distinct small- and large-scale approaches to the problem. The first part of the review considers experimental investigations of low-permeability flow, including in situ testing; these are generally conducted on temporal and spatial scales which are relatively small compared with those of interest. Results from this work have provided increasingly detailed information about many aspects of the flow but leave certain questions unanswered. Recent advances in laboratory and in situ testing techniques have permitted measurements of permeability and storage properties in progressively “tighter” media and investigation of transient flow under these conditions. However, very large hydraulic gradients are still required for the tests; an observational gap exists for typical in situ gradients. The applicability of Darcy's law in this range is therefore untested, although claims of observed non-Darcian behavior appear flawed. Two important nonhydraulic flow phenomena, osmosis and ultrafiltration, are experimentally well established in prepared clays but have been incompletely investigated, particularly in undisturbed geologic media. Small-scale experimental results form much of the basis for analyses of flow in low-permeability environments which occurs on scales of time and size too large to permit direct observation. Such large-scale flow behavior is the focus of the second part of the review. Extrapolation of small-scale experimental experience becomes an important and sometimes controversial problem in this context. In large flow systems under steady state conditions the regional permeability can sometimes be determined, but systems with transient flow are more difficult to analyze. The complexity of the problem is enhanced by the sensitivity of large-scale flow to the effects of slow geologic processes. One-dimensional studies have begun to elucidate how simple burial or exhumation can generate transient flow conditions by changing the state of stress and temperature and by burial metamorphism. Investigation of the more complex problem of the interaction of geologic processes and flow in two and three dimensions is just beginning. Because these transient flow analyses have largely been based on flow in experimental scale systems or in relatively permeable systems, deformation in response to effective stress changes is generally treated as linearly elastic; however, this treatment creates difficulties for the long periods of interest because viscoelastic deformation is probably significant. Also, large-scale flow simulations in argillaceous environments generally have neglected osmosis and ultrafiltration, in part because extrapolation of laboratory experience with coupled flow to large scales under in situ conditions is controversial. Nevertheless, the effects are potentially quite important because the coupled flow might cause ultra long lived transient conditions. The difficulties associated with analysis are matched by those of characterizing hydrologic conditions in tight environments; measurements of hydraulic head and sampling of pore fluids have been done only rarely because of the practical difficulties involved. These problems are also discussed in the second part of this paper.

Aging and behavior of functional TiO2 nanoparticles in aqueous environment.

PubMed

Lu, Huiting; Dong, Haifeng; Fan, Wenhong; Zuo, Jinxing; Li, Xiaomin

2017-03-05

Nanoparticles are usually functionalized with various surface capping moieties in practical applications. Understand the behavior and fate of them is critical to evaluate or even predict their risk to environment. However, little attention has been denoted on this issue until now. Using three commercial TiO 2 nanoparticles with different capping moieties, their aging procedures and corresponding change as well as their byproducts were systematically studied. Comprehensive microscopic and spectrometric measurements demonstrated a capping agent-dependent with the aging procedure. All the aging agents exhibited sharp change in morphologies compared to the fresh counterparts. The degraded degree and surface properties including surface charge and hydrophobicity of the functional TiO 2 nanoparticles were varied depended on the capping moieties. Furthermore, the behaviors of these byproducts in various background media had also been investigated. Contrastively, environment factors such as pH, electrolyte valence, and humic acid regardless of capping moieties govern the behavior of these byproducts, despite of the capping moieties slightly affect the point of zero charge. This study highlights the influence of the capping moieties and environmental factors to the transformation progress of functional nanomaterials in environment exposure, which contributes to design and assess the environmental risk of other analogous functional nanoparticles in practical application. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Communicating cancer-prevention information.

PubMed

Brody, J E

1992-01-01

The message to the public regarding cancer prevention should emphasize moderation and evolutionary change in living habits rather than revolutions and focus on total life-style not just individual factors. It is essential to keep people focused on the modifiable factors that can really make a difference. Currently, people worry about minutiae, ie, possible substances in the environment that might cause some cancers, rather than the main, more clearly defined factors, eg, smoking, diet, and sedentary living. The media must play a major role in cancer prevention, assisted by rational, clear-speaking professionals.

Multi-fuel driven Janus micromotors.

PubMed

Gao, Wei; D'Agostino, Mattia; Garcia-Gradilla, Victor; Orozco, Jahir; Wang, Joseph

2013-02-11

Here the first example of a chemically powered micromotor that harvests its energy from the reactions of three different fuels is presented. The new Al/Pd Janus microspheres-prepared by depositing a Pd layer on one side of Al microparticles-are propelled efficiently by the thrust of hydrogen bubbles generated from different reactions of Al in strong acidic and alkaline environments, and by an oxygen bubble thrust produced at their partial Pd coating in hydrogen peroxide media. High speeds and long lifetimes of 200 μm s(-1) and 8 min are achieved in strong alkaline media and acidic media, respectively. The ability to autonomously adapt to the presence of a new fuel (surrounding environment), without compromising the propulsion behavior is illustrated. These data also represent the first example of a chemically powered micromotor that propels autonomously and efficiently in alkaline environments (pH > 11) without additional fuels. The ability to use multiple fuel sources to power the same micromotor offers a broader scope of operation and considerable promise for diverse applications of micromotors in different chemical environments. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Indiva: a middleware for managing distributed media environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ooi, Wei-Tsang; Pletcher, Peter; Rowe, Lawrence A.

2003-12-01

This paper presents a unified set of abstractions and operations for hardware devices, software processes, and media data in a distributed audio and video environment. These abstractions, which are provided through a middleware layer called Indiva, use a file system metaphor to access resources and high-level commands to simplify the development of Internet webcast and distributed collaboration control applications. The design and implementation of Indiva are described and examples are presented to illustrate the usefulness of the abstractions.

Developing 21st Century Skills through Gameplay: To What Extent Are Young People Who Play the Online Computer Game Minecraft Acquiring and Developing Media Literacy and the Four Cs Skills?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Mia Lynn

2015-01-01

Two questions drove this case study. 1) To what extent does playing the online computer game Minecraft at home in a multiplayer environment impact a player's media literacy skills of analysis, evaluation, and access? 2) To what extent does playing the online computer game Minecraft at home in a multiplayer environment impact a player's 21st…

The future is 'ambient'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lugmayr, Artur

2006-02-01

The research field of ambient media starts to spread rapidly and first applications for consumer homes are on the way. Ambient media is the logical continuation of research around media. Media has been evolving from old media (e.g. print media), to integrated presentation in one form (multimedia - or new media), to generating a synthetic world (virtual reality), to the natural environment is the user-interface (ambient media), and will be evolving towards real/synthetic undistinguishable media (bio-media or bio-multimedia). After the IT bubble was bursting, multimedia was lacking a vision of potential future scenarios and applications. Within this research paper the potentials, applications, and market available solutions of mobile ambient multimedia are studied. The different features of ambient mobile multimedia are manifold and include wearable computers, adaptive software, context awareness, ubiquitous computers, middleware, and wireless networks. The paper especially focuses on algorithms and methods that can be utilized to realize modern mobile ambient systems.

Noninvasive optical coherence tomography monitoring of structure and hydration changes of human corneas in different preservation media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yicong; Clarke, Dominic; Mathew, Aby; Nicoud, Ian; Li, Xingde

2011-02-01

The influence of different tissue preservation (a test solution under development and a standard storage solution) on human cornea morphology, refractive index and hydration was assessed noninvasively by ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) over time. For 28 days' or 15 days' storage in the preservation media, corneas in the two media exhibited different structural changes with different onset times including epithelial desquamation, edema-induced cornea thickening and change in tissue refractive index. It was found that the variation of the group refractive index over time was only about 2%, while 25% variation of hydration was observed in the storage and subsequent return to normothermic conditions in both preservation media. The results suggest the two media involved different but correlated preservation mechanisms. This study demonstrates that the noncontact, noninvasive, and high-resolution OCT is a powerful tool for noninvasive characterization of tissue morphological changes and hydration process and for assessment of the effects of preservation media on stored tissue integrity. Engineers.

A reusable microfluidic plate with alternate-choice architecture for assessing growth preference in tissue culture.

PubMed

Wittig, John H; Ryan, Allen F; Asbeck, Peter M

2005-05-15

We present the design of a chamber to evaluate in vitro how species and concentrations of soluble molecules control features of cell growth-potentially including cell proliferation, cell motility, process extension, and process termination. We have created a reusable cell culture plate that integrates a microfluidic media delivery network with standard cell culture environment. The microfluidic network delivers a stream of cell culture media with a step-like concentration gradient down a 50-100 microm wide microchannel called the presentation region. Migrating cells or growing cell processes freely choose between the two distinct chemical environments in the presentation region, but they are forced to exclusively choose either one environment or the other when they grow past a physical barrier acting as a decision point. Our fabrication technique requires little specialized equipment, and can be carried out in approximately 4 days per plate. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our plates as neurites from spiral ganglion explants preferentially grow in media containing neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) as opposed to media without NT-3. Our design could be used without modification to study dissociated cell responses to soluble growth cues, and for behavioral screening of small motile organisms.

Relationships between sucretolerance and salinotolerance in bacteria from hypersaline environments and their implications for the exploration of Mars and the icy worlds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fredsgaard, Casper; Moore, Donald B.; Al Soudi, Amer F.; Crisler, James D.; Chen, Fei; Clark, Benton C.; Schneegurt, Mark A.

2017-04-01

The most extremely osmotolerant microbial isolates are fungi from high-sugar environments that tolerate the lowest water activity (0.61) for growth yet reported. Studies of osmotolerant bacteria have focused on halotolerance rather than sucretolerance (ability to grow in high sugar concentrations). A collection of salinotolerant (>=10% NaCl or >=50% MgSO4) bacterial isolates from the Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma and Hot Lake in Washington were screened for sucretolerance in medium supplemented with >=50% fructose, glucose or sucrose. Tolerances significantly differed between solutes, even though water activities for saline media (0.92 and 0.85 for 10 and 20% NaCl Salt Plains media, respectively) were comparable or lower than water activities for high-sugar media (0.93 and 0.90 for 50 and 70% sucrose artificial nectar media, respectively). These specific solute effects were differentially expressed among individual isolates. Extrapolating the results of earlier food science studies with yeasts at high sugar concentrations to bacteria in salty environments with low water activity should be done with caution. Furthermore, the discussion of habitable Special Regions on Mars and the icy worlds should reflect an understanding of specific solute effects.

Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication

PubMed Central

Johann, David; Königslöw, Katharina Kleinen-von; Kritzinger, Sylvia; Thomas, Kathrin

2018-01-01

An increasing number of citizens change and adapt their party preferences during the electoral campaign. We analyze which short-term factors explain intra-campaign changes in voting preferences, focusing on the visibility and tone of news media reporting and party canvassing. Our analyses rely on an integrative data approach, linking data from media content analysis to public opinion data. This enables us to investigate the relative impact of news media reporting as well as party communication. Inherently, we overcome previously identified methodological problems in the study of communication effects on voting behavior. Our findings reveal that campaigns matter: Especially interpersonal party canvassing increases voters’ likelihood to change their voting preferences in favor of the respective party, whereas media effects are limited to quality news outlets and depend on individual voters’ party ambivalence. PMID:29695892

Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication.

PubMed

Johann, David; Königslöw, Katharina Kleinen-von; Kritzinger, Sylvia; Thomas, Kathrin

2018-01-01

An increasing number of citizens change and adapt their party preferences during the electoral campaign. We analyze which short-term factors explain intra-campaign changes in voting preferences, focusing on the visibility and tone of news media reporting and party canvassing. Our analyses rely on an integrative data approach, linking data from media content analysis to public opinion data. This enables us to investigate the relative impact of news media reporting as well as party communication. Inherently, we overcome previously identified methodological problems in the study of communication effects on voting behavior. Our findings reveal that campaigns matter: Especially interpersonal party canvassing increases voters' likelihood to change their voting preferences in favor of the respective party, whereas media effects are limited to quality news outlets and depend on individual voters' party ambivalence.

40 CFR 2.107 - Fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMATION Procedures for Disclosure of Records.... Environmental Protection Agency. (b) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Commercial use request means... to further scientific research. (6) Representative of the news media or news media requester means...

40 CFR 2.107 - Fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMATION Procedures for Disclosure of Records.... Environmental Protection Agency. (b) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Commercial use request means... to further scientific research. (6) Representative of the news media or news media requester means...

40 CFR 2.107 - Fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMATION Procedures for Disclosure of Records.... Environmental Protection Agency. (b) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Commercial use request means... to further scientific research. (6) Representative of the news media or news media requester means...

40 CFR 2.107 - Fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMATION Procedures for Disclosure of Records.... Environmental Protection Agency. (b) Definitions. For purposes of this section: (1) Commercial use request means... to further scientific research. (6) Representative of the news media or news media requester means...

An Analysis of MSFC Public Affairs Television and Target Audiences with Suggestions for Future Growth and Directions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smeyak, Gerald P.

1996-01-01

Because of profound changes in government and the space program, this may be an ideal time to evaluate MSFC's Public Affairs television efforts. The changes are continued downsizing of government programs; reduction in research and development; changes in the space program from periodic manned launches to a full-time presence in space with Space Station; and greater emphasis on science and communicating science information. At the same time that NASA is undergoing change, the media and society are also undergoing substantial upheaval. Twenty-five years ago, the three main over-the-air television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) had a 93 share of the television audience. We now have four popular over-the-air networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) who maintain a 52 percent share of the television audience. Technological development, competition, and changing consumer tastes have created specialized media and audiences. This media fragmentation is part of a normal maturation cycle of use or adoption. While phases in the cycle vary in length due to many factors, the cycle has been consistent and reflects patterns of adoption. The cycle is: (1) Elite Media usage, (2) Popular or Mass Media usage, and (3) Specialized Media usage. Another factor that affects the media development and adoption cycle is the creation of new and competing mass and personal mediums. While television remains the dominant and most popular mass medium, it is declining and we see (via cable television) specialized networks catering to small audience segments. Because of changing technology and consumer behavior, we may not see a dominant mass media like television again.

Online medical professionalism: patient and public relationships: policy statement from the American College of Physicians and the Federation of State Medical Boards.

PubMed

Farnan, Jeanne M; Snyder Sulmasy, Lois; Worster, Brooke K; Chaudhry, Humayun J; Rhyne, Janelle A; Arora, Vineet M

2013-04-16

User-created content and communications on Web-based applications, such as networking sites, media sharing sites, or blog platforms, have dramatically increased in popularity over the past several years, but there has been little policy or guidance on the best practices to inform standards for the professional conduct of physicians in the digital environment. Areas of specific concern include the use of such media for nonclinical purposes, implications for confidentiality, the use of social media in patient education, and how all of this affects the public's trust in physicians as patient-physician interactions extend into the digital environment. Opportunities afforded by online applications represent a new frontier in medicine as physicians and patients become more connected. This position paper from the American College of Physicians and the Federation of State Medical Boards examines and provides recommendations about the influence of social media on the patient-physician relationship, the role of these media in public perception of physician behaviors, and strategies for physician-physician communication that preserve confidentiality while best using these technologies.

Overcoming a Diabolical Challenge: Comparing Journalists' and Researchers' Views on the Performance of the Media as a Channel of Climate Change Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, Martin; Henderson-Sellers, Ann; Walkerden, Greg

2015-01-01

The mass media has a fundamental role to sustain an informed citizenry as a prerequisite for democratic politics. It is, therefore, vital that an evidence-based approach is used when reporting on climate change. Yet, multiple and arguably irreconcilable tensions exist between science and mass media. For example, as media workers are trained to…

Progression of changes in the sensorial elements of the cochlear and peripheral vestibular systems: The otitis media continuum.

PubMed

Monsanto, Rafael da Costa; Schachern, Patricia; Paparella, Michael M; Cureoglu, Sebahattin; Penido, Norma de Oliveira

2017-08-01

Our study aimed to evaluate pathologic changes in the cochlear (inner and outer hair cells and stria vascularis) and vestibular (vestibular hair cells, dark, and transitional cells) sensorial elements in temporal bones from donors who had otitis media. We studied 40 temporal bones from such donors, which were categorized in serous otitis media (SOM), serous-purulent otitis media (SPOM), mucoid/mucoid-purulent otitis media (MOM/MPOM), and chronic otitis media (COM); control group comprised 10 nondiseased temporal bones. We found significant loss of inner and outer cochlear hair cells in the basal turn of the SPOM, MOM/MPOM and COM groups; significant loss of vestibular hair cells was observed in the MOM/MPOM and COM groups. All otitis media groups had smaller mean area of the stria vascularis in the basal turn of the cochlea when compared to controls. In conclusion, our study demonstrated more severe pathologic changes in the later stages of the continuum of otitis media (MOM/MPOM and COM). Those changes seem to progress from the basal turn of the cochlea (stria vascularis, then inner and outer hair cells) to the middle turn of the cochlea and to the saccule and utricle in the MOM/MPOM and COM stages. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A changing climate of skepticism: The factors shaping climate change coverage in the US press.

PubMed

Schmid-Petri, Hannah; Adam, Silke; Schmucki, Ivo; Häussler, Thomas

2017-05-01

Skepticism toward climate change has a long tradition in the United States. We focus on mass media as the conveyors of the image of climate change and ask: Is climate change skepticism still a characteristic of US print media coverage? If so, to what degree and in what form? And which factors might pave the way for skeptics entering mass media debates? We conducted a quantitative content analysis of US print media during one year (1 June 2012 to 31 May 2013). Our results show that the debate has changed: fundamental forms of climate change skepticism (such as denial of anthropogenic causes) have been abandoned in the coverage, being replaced by more subtle forms (such as the goal to avoid binding regulations). We find no evidence for the norm of journalistic balance, nor do our data support the idea that it is the conservative press that boosts skepticism.

Social Media and Science: where do we go from here?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohon, W.; Robinson, S.; Arrowsmith, R.; Semken, S. C.

2013-12-01

What is black and white and 'read' all over? Facebook, that's what. As of December 2012 Facebook had over 618 million daily users, and over a billion monthly users from around the world (http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts). Twitter has more than 130 million active users and generates as many as 340 million Tweets a day (http://blog.twitter.com/2012/03/twitter-turns-six.html). Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are not the future of communication, they are the reality, and scientists (and science organizations) need to become part of the conversation. More than half of the teenage and adult population of the US belongs to a social network or are using another form of social media on a regular basis. This creates an opportunity for organizations to use the well-established functionality and pervasiveness of social media platforms to communicate important scientific information and discoveries. In addition, the informal environment of social media allows scientists to interact with non-scientists in a friendly and non-threatening way that can be used to create engagement scenarios that continue the cycle of discussions, experiments, analysis and conclusions that typify science. Social media also provides scientists with the means and opportunity to improve the way science is viewed by the public while improving general science literacy and integrating scientific discoveries into the fabric of the lives of non-scientists. Many questions remain regarding the best way to utilize the opportunities that social media present. For instance, how can we reach a broader, more diverse audience? What are realistic expectations about the effects of social media? How do we improve the quality of content? How can we use social media to communicate scientific information in innovative ways? And perhaps most importantly, how do we know if we are communicating successfully? The EarthScope National Office will share our experiences creating a social media program from the ground up, and address some of these important, fundamental questions. We'll also share our opinions and thoughts about the future of online scientific communication, the ever-changing role of social media in communicating scientific discoveries and ways that the community can work together to enhance the role of social media in science.

A review of national television PSA campaigns for preventing alcohol-impaired driving, 1987-1992.

PubMed

DeJong, W; Atkin, C K

1995-01-01

We present a content analysis of 137 public service announcements (PSAs) focused on alcohol-impaired driving that aired nationally on U.S. television between 1987 and 1992. Our findings include the following: 1) Most PSAs were intended to reach an undifferentiated general audience, not necessarily those who are at greatest risk for driving after drinking. 2) Most PSAs were designed to create awareness of the problem of alcohol-impaired driving or to promote individual behavior change. 3) More PSAs were developed on the use of designated drivers than on any other subject. 4) About two-thirds of the PSAs included one or more celebrities who speak directly to the audience. Past media campaigns have tended to ignore the fact that people's behavior is profoundly shaped by their environment, which in turn is shaped by public policy. We recommend that future mass media campaigns against alcohol-impaired driving focus on building support for changes in institutional structures, public policy or law that will motivate, support, and sustain the efforts of individuals to alter their behavior. Television PSAs can play an important but somewhat limited role in support of this effort. Greater emphasis will need to be given instead to media advocacy strategies, including paid radio advertising. We further recommend that the principal organizations concerned about alcohol-impaired driving share their plans and develop a common communications strategy that will advance the public policy agenda proposed by the Surgeon General's Workshop on Drunk Driving.

Transport and remobilization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in porous media during dynamic saturation change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, P.

2012-04-01

Nanotechnology is one of the most important technologies in this century and it is evoking a new industrial revolution. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are important engineered nanoparticles with unique and beneficial properties. As a result, CNT has been used in a wide range of commercial products including electronics, optical devices and drug delivery leading to their disposal in the natural environment. Literature studies have investigated the mobility of CNTs in saturated porous media under differing physical and chemical conditions. However CNT transport in temporarily changing porous media water content has not been investigated thus far (a common scenario with rainfall/infiltration events in the vadose zone). This study investigated the mobilization of multi-walled CNTs (MCNTs) in repeated wetting and drying cycles with varying flow rates and ionic strength of the inflow solution. Imbibition-drainage-imbibition cycle experiments suggest that MCNTs mobilization increased with increase in flow rates. MCNTs mobilization occurred only with first imbibition events at low ionic strengths however less mobilization happened for higher ionic strength inflow solution in the first imbibition cycle and additional MCNTs were found in the outflow solution in second imbibition cycle, using low ionic strength solution. This observation was likely due to the attachment force between MCNTs and sand surface. Most of the MCNT mobilization occurred during liquid-gas interface movement with less chance of MCNTs to jump the energy barrier at higher ionic strength solution. As a result, less detachment of MCNTs occurred from the sand surface during drainage.

Understanding the Use and Impact of Social Media Features on the Educational Experiences of Higher-Education Students in Blended and Distance-Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scialdone, Michael John

2014-01-01

Students are increasingly expecting social media to be a component of their educational experiences both outside and inside of the classroom. The phenomenon of interest in this dissertation is understanding how the educational experiences of students are affected when social media are incorporated into online and blended course activities.…

Effects of internal and external environment on health and well-being: from cell to society.

PubMed

Tomljenović, Andrea

2014-03-01

Stem cell fate in cell culture depends on the composition of the culturing media. Every single cell in an organism is influenced by its microenvironment and surrounding cells. Biology, psychology, emotions, spirit, energy, lifestyle, culture, economic and political influences, social interactions in family, work, living area and the possibilities to expresses oneself and live full life with a sense of well-being have influence on people appearances. Disease is as much social as biological. It is a reaction of an organism to unbalancing changes in the internal environment caused by the changes in the external environment and/or by the structural and functional failures or unfortunate legacies. Health gradient in the society depends on the every day circumstances in which people live and work. The health of the population is an insight into the society. The problem facing medicine in the complex society of today cannot be resolved without the aid of social sciences, as cultural, social, ecological and mental processes affect physiological responses and health outcomes. Anthropology could be a bridge between biomedicine and social sciences and influence strategies in public health to prevent rather than cure and in education for fulfillment in life and improvement of society.

Ancient photosynthetic eukaryote biofilms in an Atacama Desert coastal cave

USGS Publications Warehouse

Azua-Bustos, A.; Gonzalez-Silva, C.; Mancilla, R.A.; Salas, L.; Palma, R.E.; Wynne, J.J.; McKay, C.P.; Vicuna, R.

2009-01-01

Caves offer a stable and protected environment from harsh and changing outside prevailing conditions. Hence, they represent an interesting habitat for studying life in extreme environments. Here, we report the presence of a member of the ancient eukaryote red algae Cyanidium group in a coastal cave of the hyperarid Atacama Desert. This microorganism was found to form a seemingly monospecific biofilm growing under extremely low photon flux levels. Our work suggests that this species, Cyanidium sp. Atacama, is a new member of a recently proposed novel monophyletic lineage of mesophilic "cave" Cyanidium sp., distinct from the remaining three other lineages which are all thermo-acidophilic. The cave described in this work may represent an evolutionary island for life in the midst of the Atacama Desert. ?? Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.

"Ant" and "grasshopper" life-history strategies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

PubMed

Spor, Aymé; Wang, Shaoxiao; Dillmann, Christine; de Vienne, Dominique; Sicard, Delphine

2008-02-13

From the evolutionary and ecological points of view, it is essential to distinguish between the genetic and environmental components of the variability of life-history traits and of their trade-offs. Among the factors affecting this variability, the resource uptake rate deserves particular attention, because it depends on both the environment and the genetic background of the individuals. In order to unravel the bases of the life-history strategies in yeast, we grew a collection of twelve strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae from different industrial and geographical origins in three culture media differing for their glucose content. Using a population dynamics model to fit the change of population size over time, we estimated the intrinsic growth rate (r), the carrying capacity (K), the mean cell size and the glucose consumption rate per cell. The life-history traits, as well as the glucose consumption rate, displayed large genetic and plastic variability and genetic-by-environment interactions. Within each medium, growth rate and carrying capacity were not correlated, but a marked trade-off between these traits was observed over the media, with high K and low r in the glucose rich medium and low K and high r in the other media. The cell size was tightly negatively correlated to carrying capacity in all conditions. The resource consumption rate appeared to be a clear-cut determinant of both the carrying capacity and the cell size in all media, since it accounted for 37% to 84% of the variation of those traits. In a given medium, the strains that consume glucose at high rate have large cell size and low carrying capacity, while the strains that consume glucose at low rate have small cell size but high carrying capacity. These two contrasted behaviors may be metaphorically defined as "ant" and "grasshopper" strategies of resource utilization. Interestingly, a strain may be "ant" in one medium and "grasshopper" in another. These life-history strategies are discussed with regards to yeast physiology, and in an evolutionary perspective.

Health Communications: Nursing Education for Increased Visibility and Effectiveness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaffee, Mary

2000-01-01

To improve the visibility of nurses in mass media, health communications content should be integrated into nursing education. Nurses equipped with advanced communication skills, media expertise and teaching strategies can empower the profession to influence the health care environment. (SK)

Newspaper content analysis in evaluation of a community-based participatory project to increase physical activity.

PubMed

Granner, Michelle L; Sharpe, Patricia A; Burroughs, Ericka L; Fields, Regina; Hallenbeck, Joyce

2010-08-01

This study conducted a newspaper content analysis as part of an evaluation of a community-based participatory research project focused on increasing physical activity through policy and environmental changes, which included activities related to media advocacy and media-based community education. Daily papers (May 2003 to December 2005) from both the intervention and comparison counties were reviewed for topics related to physical activity and an active living environment (e.g. safety, policy, urban design, transportation and recreational resources). A total of 2681 articles from 1764 newspapers were analyzed. The intervention county had a greater proportion of articles on the selected topics. Specifically, the intervention county had a greater proportion of articles in topics related to safety, policy and community initiatives, as well as in sidewalks and recreational facilities; both priority areas for the intervention. Prominence of the articles was assessed using a composite index score. Generally, prominence of the topics analyzed was low. Articles in the sidewalks and recreational facilities topic category in the intervention county had higher prominence scores on average than the comparison county. The study demonstrates that media content analysis can be a valuable component in evaluating community-based interventions.

Robophysical study of jumping dynamics on granular media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilar, Jeffrey; Goldman, Daniel I.

2016-03-01

Characterizing forces on deformable objects intruding into sand and soil requires understanding the solid- and fluid-like responses of such substrates and their effect on the state of the object. The most detailed studies of intrusion in dry granular media have revealed that interactions of fixed-shape objects during free impact (for example, cannonballs) and forced slow penetration can be described by hydrostatic- and hydrodynamic-like forces. Here we investigate a new class of granular interactions: rapid intrusions by objects that change shape (self-deform) through passive and active means. Systematic studies of a simple spring-mass robot jumping on dry granular media reveal that jumping performance is explained by an interplay of nonlinear frictional and hydrodynamic drag as well as induced added mass (unaccounted by traditional intrusion models) characterized by a rapidly solidified region of grains accelerated by the foot. A model incorporating these dynamics reveals that added mass degrades the performance of certain self-deformations owing to a shift in optimal timing during push-off. Our systematic robophysical experiment reveals both new soft-matter physics and principles for robotic self-deformation and control, which together provide principles of movement in deformable terrestrial environments.

Chemotaxis of C. elegans in 3D media: a model for navigation of undulatory microswimmers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Amar; Bilbao, Alejandro; Rahman, Mizanur; Vanapalli, Siva; Blawzdziewicz, Jerzy

2017-11-01

While the natural environment of C. elegans consists of complex 3D media (e.g., decomposing organic matter and water), most studies of chemotactic behavior of this nematode are limited to 2D. We present a 3D chemotaxis model that combines a realistic geometrical representation of body movements associated with 3D maneuvers, an analysis of mechanical interactions of the nematode body with the surrounding medium to determine nematode trajectories, and a simple memory-function description of chemosensory apparatus that controls the frequency, magnitude, and timing of turning maneuvers. We show that two main chemotaxis strategies of C. elegans moving in 2D, i.e., the biased random walk and gradual turn, are effective also in 3D, provided that 2D turns are supplemented by the roll maneuvers that enable 3D reorientation. Optimal choices of chemosensing and gait-control parameters are discussed; we show that the nematode can maintain efficient chemotaxis in burrowing and swimming by adjusting the undulation frequency alone, without changing the chemotactic component of the body control. Understanding how C. elegans efficiently navigates in 3D media may help in developing self-navigating artificial microswimmers. Supported by NSF Grant No. CBET 1603627.

Scientific media education in the classroom and beyond: a research agenda for the next decade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reid, Grace; Norris, Stephen P.

2016-03-01

Scientific media education is the ability to draw on a knowledge of the media and science, in order to choose, understand, evaluate, and respond to representations of science across diverse media genres. We begin this manuscript by reviewing research that shows scientific media education is one of the most important content areas that could be taught in and out of the science classroom. We then set out to identify a research agenda that will help make scientific media education a key content area in both formal and informal science learning environments. In particular, we identified research avenues that will allow us to better understand: (1) limitations in current practices of scientific media education; (2) what scientific media education should look like in the future; and (3) ways we might overcome barriers to implementing a new and improved scientific media education.

Do universal media literacy programs have an effect on weight and shape concern by influencing media internalization?

PubMed

Wade, Tracey D; Wilksch, Simon M; Paxton, Susan J; Byrne, Susan M; Austin, S Bryn

2017-07-01

The current study examined whether media internalization, found to mediate the relationship between selected prevention programs and outcomes, mediated the impact of two universal prevention programs that targeted risk factors for eating disorders and obesity, namely weight concern, and shape concern. Students randomized to a media literacy (Media Smart) program (N = 269, 65% females, mean age 12.97 years) and a healthy lifestyle (Life Smart) program (N = 347, 69% females, mean age 13.07 years) were included in the analyses. There were four waves of data (baseline, end of intervention, 6- and 12-month follow-up). Latent growth curve modeling was used to explore whether group assignment influenced levels of media internalization, and whether that in turn influenced change over time of our two outcome variables. Being randomly allocated to Media Smart as opposed to Life Smart resulted in less growth of both outcome variables through the influence on decreasing levels of media internalization. Findings provided support for the suggestion that media literacy programs exert an impact on outcomes related to eating disorder risk through changes to media internalization. Future research should examine whether these mechanisms of change differ between girls and boys. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Communication Strategy of NASA's Earth Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simmon, R.; Ward, K.; Riebeek, H.; Allen, J.; Przyborski, P.; Scott, M.; Carlowicz, M. J.

2010-12-01

Climate change is a complex, multi-disciplinary subject. Accurately conveying this complexity to general audiences, while still communicating the basic facts, is challenging. Our approach is to combine climate change information with a wide range of Earth system science topics, illustrated by satellite imagery and data visualizations. NASA's Earth Observatory web site (earthobservatory.nasa.gov) uses the broad range of NASA's remote sensing technologies, data, and research to communicate climate change science. We serve two primary audiences: the "attentive public" --people interested in and willing to seek out information about science, technology, and the environment--and media. We cover the breadth of Earth science, with information about climate change integrated with stories about weather, geology, oceanography, and solar flares. Current event-driven imagery is used as a hook to draw readers. We then supply links to supplemental information, either about current research or the scientific basics. We use analogies, carefully explain jargon or acronyms, and build narratives which both attract readers and make information easier to remember. These narratives are accompanied by primers on topics like energy balance or the water cycle. Text is carefully integrated with illustrations and state-of-the-art data visualizations. Other site features include a growing list of climate questions and answers, addressing common misconceptions about global warming and climate change. Maps of global environmental parameters like temperature, rainfall, and vegetation show seasonal change and long-term trends. Blogs from researchers in the field provide a look at the day-to-day process of science. For the media, public domain imagery is supplied at full resolution and links are provided to primary sources.

Cysteine peptidases in the tomato trypanosomatid Phytomonas serpens: influence of growth conditions, similarities with cruzipain and secretion to the extracellular environment.

PubMed

Elias, Camila G R; Pereira, Fernanda M; Dias, Felipe A; Silva, Thiago L A; Lopes, Angela H C S; d'Avila-Levy, Claudia M; Branquinha, Marta H; Santos, André L S

2008-12-01

We have characterized the cysteine peptidase production by Phytomonas serpens, a tomato trypanosomatid. The parasites were cultivated in four distinct media, since growth conditions could modulate the synthesis of bioactive molecules. The proteolytic profile has not changed qualitatively regardless the media, showing two peptidases of 38 and 40kDa; however, few quantitative changes were observed including a drastic reduction (around 70%) on the 40 and 38kDa peptidase activities when parasites were grown in yeast extract and liver infusion trypticase medium, respectively, in comparison with parasites cultured in Warren medium. The time-span of growth did not significantly alter the protein and peptidase expression. The proteolytic activities were blocked by classical cysteine peptidase inhibitors (E-64, leupeptin, and cystatin), being more active at pH 5.0 and showing complete dependence to reducing agents (dithiothreitol and l-cysteine) for full activity. The cysteine peptidases were able to hydrolyze several proteinaceous substrates, including salivary gland proteins from Oncopeltus fasciatus, suggesting broad substrate utilization. By means of agglutination, fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry and Western blotting analyses we showed that both cysteine peptidases produced by P. serpens share common epitopes with cruzipain, the major cysteine peptidase of Trypanosoma cruzi. Moreover, our data suggest that the 40kDa cysteine peptidase was located at the P. serpens cell surface, attached to membrane domains via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor. The 40kDa peptidase was also detected in the cell-free culture supernatant, in an active form, which suggests secretion of this peptidase to the extracellular environment.

Who speaks for the climate now? Exploring portrayals of climate change through new/social media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boykoff, M. T.

2011-12-01

Mass media stitch together formal science and policy with everyday activities in the public sphere. Many dynamic, contested and complex factors, along with non-nation state actors (or 'debate shapers'), contribute to how media outlets portray various facets of climate change. Against this backdrop, new and social media have become increasingly influential. The Pew Center Project for Excellence in Journalism has found that topics involving global warming have earned a much greater share of the news hole in new and social media (Internet weblogs, Twitter) than in traditional outlets (television, newspapers, radio), relative to other stories in those same media. This may be due in part to the flexibility and potentially infinite nature of the 'news hole' in new and social media, but may also mark the trends of diminishing traditional news room capabilities. Overall, new and social media have increasingly been harnessed in a variety of ways for communications about climate change around the world. However, with these shifts and developments come numerous questions. Among them: does increased visibility of climate change in new/social media translate to improved communication, or just more noise? Do these spaces provide opportunities for new forms of deliberative community regarding questions of climate mitigation and adaptation? Or has the content of this increased coverage shifted to polemics and arguments over measured traditional media analysis? In this more open space of content production, do new/social media provide more space for contrarian views to circulate? And through its interactivity, does increased consumption of news through new/social media further fragment a public discourse on climate mitigation and adaptation, through information silos where members of the public can stick to sources that help support their already held views? As new and social media representations of climate change demonstrate, the boundaries between who constitute 'authorized' speakers (and who do not) in mass media as well as who are legitimate 'claims-makers' are changing, being interrogated, and challenged. For instance, journalist Alissa Quart has warned of dangers of mistaken (or convenient) reliance on 'fauxperts' over 'experts'. New content-producing voices can readily be amplified through new and social media, and can become merely a Google search away from 21st century media consumer-citizens. Yet others point to the fact that the rise of new and social media has been accompanied by democratizing influences, as these channels of communication often offer a platform for more people to become content producers, and therefore have the potential to more readily shape the public agenda. This paper and presentation pursues these trends, motivated by the interest to better understand how new and social media representational practices may contribute to (mis) perceptions and (mis) understandings that, in turn, shape the spectrum of possibility for responses to contemporary climate challenges.

Reconstruction of the boundary between climate science and politics: the IPCC in the Japanese mass media, 1988-2007.

PubMed

Asayama, Shinichiro; Ishii, Atsushi

2014-02-01

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) plays a significant role in bridging the boundary between climate science and politics. Media coverage is crucial for understanding how climate science is communicated and embedded in society. This study analyzes the discursive construction of the IPCC in three Japanese newspapers from 1988 to 2007 in terms of the science-politics boundary. The results show media discourses engaged in boundary-work which rhetorically separated science and politics, and constructed the iconic image of the IPCC as a pure scientific authority. In the linkages between the global and national arenas of climate change, the media "domesticate" the issue, translating the global nature of climate change into a discourse that suits the national context. We argue that the Japanese media's boundary-work is part of the media domestication that reconstructed the boundary between climate science and politics reflecting the Japanese context.

Mass Media and Rural Out-Migration in the Context of Social Change: Evidence from Nepal

PubMed Central

Piotrowski, Martin

2011-01-01

This work examines the influence of mass media on rural out-migration using historical and contemporary data from a setting experiencing massive social and economic development in the last half-century. Data come from the Chitwan Valley Family Study, an ongoing study of an agrarian region in rural Nepal. Media are hypothesized to affect migration by inducing attitudinal and behavioral changes similar to those of other determinants of migration. As their influence differs from other determinants in important ways, media represent a unique form of influence that should be taken into account. I find that movie and television exposure are significant determinants of out-migration in historical contexts, although television exposure was important in more contemporary contexts. Differences in these effects probably indicate the timing of the spread of each type of media and changing preferences among media consumers. PMID:23894210

Impacts of climate change and environmental factors on reproduction and development in wildlife

PubMed Central

Milligan, Stuart R.; Holt, William V.; Lloyd, Rhiannon

2009-01-01

The robustness of the growth of the human population in the face of environmental impacts is in contrast to the sensitivity of wildlife. There is a danger that the success of reproduction of humans provides a false sense of security for the public, media and politicians with respect to wildlife survival, the maintenance of viable ecosystems and the capacity for recovery of damaged ecosystems and endangered species. In reality, the success of humans to populate the planet has been dependent on the combination of the ability to reproduce successfully and to minimize loss of offspring through controlling and manipulating their own micro-environment. In contrast, reproduction in wildlife is threatened by environmental changes operating at many different physiological levels. PMID:19833643

Online Social Media in Crisis Events

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palen, Leysia

2008-01-01

As social media--which includes blogs, social networking environments, person-to-person and broadcast messaging, and other Web 2.0 applications--becomes more pervasive, their use has significant implications for emergency management practice and policy. Information and communication technology (ICT) enables people--disaster survivors, curious…

Libraries/Media Centers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American School & University, 2003

2003-01-01

Presents K-12 and college libraries/media centers considered outstanding in a competition, which judged the most outstanding learning environments at educational institutions nationwide. Jurors spent two days reviewing projects, highlighting concepts and ideas that made them exceptional. For each citation, the article offers information on the…

Entertainment-education in a media-saturated environment: examining the impact of single and multiple exposures to breast cancer storylines on two popular medical dramas.

PubMed

Hether, Heather J; Huang, Grace C; Beck, Vicki; Murphy, Sheila T; Valente, Thomas W

2008-12-01

In the United States, entertainment-education (E-E) initiatives in primetime television that provide public health information are at risk for diminished impact due to the media-saturated environment in which they must compete. One strategy to overcome this limitation is to use multiple primetime TV shows to reinforce similar health messages in multiple storylines. The current study explores such an approach by evaluating the impact of two separate breast cancer genetics storylines featured on two different TV programs as the result of outreach to writers and producers. These storylines aired within approximately 3 weeks of each other on the popular medical dramas, ER (NBC) and Grey's Anatomy (ABC), and included information about the BRCA1 breast cancer gene mutation and the risks it poses to women who test positive for it. The evaluation used data collected from a panel sample of 599 female survey respondents at three points in time. Results show that while the individual storylines had a modest impact on viewers' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to breast cancer, combined exposure seemed to be most effective at changing outcomes. Implications of our findings for future E-E interventions and evaluations are discussed.

Genetic Circuit Performance under Conditions Relevant for Industrial Bioreactors

PubMed Central

Moser, Felix; Broers, Nicolette J.; Hartmans, Sybe; Tamsir, Alvin; Kerkman, Richard; Roubos, Johannes A.; Bovenberg, Roel; Voigt, Christopher A.

2014-01-01

Synthetic genetic programs promise to enable novel applications in industrial processes. For such applications, the genetic circuits that compose programs will require fidelity in varying and complex environments. In this work, we report the performance of two synthetic circuits in Escherichia coli under industrially relevant conditions, including the selection of media, strain, and growth rate. We test and compare two transcriptional circuits: an AND and a NOR gate. In E. coli DH10B, the AND gate is inactive in minimal media; activity can be rescued by supplementing the media and transferring the gate into the industrial strain E. coli DS68637 where normal function is observed in minimal media. In contrast, the NOR gate is robust to media composition and functions similarly in both strains. The AND gate is evaluated at three stages of early scale-up: 100 ml shake-flask experiments, a 1 ml MTP microreactor, and a 10 L bioreactor. A reference plasmid that constitutively produces a GFP reporter is used to make comparisons of circuit performance across conditions. The AND gate function is quantitatively different at each scale. The output deteriorates late in fermentation after the shift from exponential to constant feed rates, which induces rapid resource depletion and changes in growth rate. In addition, one of the output states of the AND gate failed in the bioreactor, effectively making it only responsive to a single input. Finally, cells carrying the AND gate show considerably less accumulation of biomass. Overall, these results highlight challenges and suggest modified strategies for developing and characterizing genetic circuits that function reliably during fermentation. PMID:23656232

Osmotic characteristics and fertility of murine spermatozoa collected in different solutions.

PubMed

Si, Wei; Men, Hongsheng; Benson, James D; Critser, John K

2009-02-01

Osmotic stress is an important factor that can result in cell damage during cryopreservation. Before ejaculation or collection for cryopreservation, murine spermatozoa are stored in epididymal fluid, a physiologically hyperosmotic environment (approximately 415 mmol/kg). The objectives of this study were to determine the osmotic tolerance limits of sperm motion parameters of ICR and C57BL/6 mouse spermatozoa collected in isosmotic (290 mmol/kg) and hyperosmotic (415 mmol/kg) media, and the effect of the osmolality of sperm collection media on sperm fertility after cryopreservation. Our results indicate that murine spermatozoa collected in media with different osmolalities (290 and 415 mmol/kg Dulbecco's phosphate buffered saline (DPBS)) appeared to have different osmotic tolerances for the maintenance of sperm motility and other motion parameters in both mouse strains. The hypo- and hyperosmotic treatments decreased motility and affected other motion parameters of spermatozoa collected in 290 mmol/kg DPBS. The extent of the change of motion parameters after treatments corresponded with the levels of osmotic stress. However, for spermatozoa collected in 415 mmol/kg DPBS, exposure to 290 mmol/kg DPBS tended to increase sperm motility and the quality of their motion parameters. The osmolality of sperm collection medium can affect murine sperm fertility. Spermatozoa collected in 415 mmol/kg medium showed higher fertility compared with spermatozoa collected in 290 mmol/kg as assessed by IVF. Results characterizing murine sperm osmotic tolerance collected in media with different osmolalities from different strains and the effect of collection media osmolality on sperm fertility after cryopreservation will be useful in designing cryopreservation protocols.

State-Level Point-of-Sale Tobacco News Coverage and Policy Progression Over a 2-Year Period.

PubMed

Myers, Allison E; Southwell, Brian G; Ribisl, Kurt M; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Bowling, J Michael; Lytle, Leslie A

2018-01-01

Mass media content may play an important role in policy change. However, the empirical relationship between media advocacy efforts and tobacco control policy success has rarely been studied. We examined the extent to which newspaper content characteristics (volume, slant, frame, source, use of evidence, and degree of localization) that have been identified as important in past descriptive studies were associated with policy progression over a 2-year period in the context of point-of-sale (POS) tobacco control. We used regression analyses to test the relationships between newspaper content and policy progression from 2012 to 2014. The dependent variable was the level of implementation of state-level POS tobacco control policies at Time 2. Independent variables were newspaper article characteristics (volume, slant, frame, source, use of evidence, and degree of localization) and were collected via content analysis of the articles. State-level policy environment contextual variables were examined as confounders. Positive, significant bivariate relationships exist between characteristics of news content (e.g., high overall volume, public health source present, local quote and local angle present, and pro-tobacco control slant present) and Time 2 POS score. However, in a multivariate model controlling for other factors, significant relationships did not hold. Newspaper coverage can be a marker of POS policy progression. Whether media can influence policy implementation remains an important question. Future work should continue to tease out and confirm the unique characteristics of media content that are most associated with subsequent policy progression, in order to inform media advocacy efforts.

Doxycycline supplementation allows for the culture of human ESCs/iPSCs with media changes at 3-day intervals.

PubMed

Chang, Mi-Yoon; Oh, Boram; Rhee, Yong-Hee; Lee, Sang-Hun

2015-11-01

Culturing human embryonic stem and induced pluripotent stem cells (hESCs/iPSCs) is one of the most costly and labor-intensive tissue cultures, as media containing expensive factors/cytokines should be changed every day to maintain and propagate undifferentiated hESCs/iPSCs in vitro. We recently reported that doxycycline, an anti-bacterial agent, had dramatic effects on hESC/iPSC survival and promoted self-renewal. In this study, we extended the effects of doxycycline to a more practical issue to save cost and labor in hESC/iPSC cultures. Regardless of cultured cell conditions, hESCs/iPSCs in doxycycline-supplemented media were viable and proliferating for at least 3 days without media change, while none or few viable cells were detected in the absence of doxycycline in the same conditions. Thus, hESCs/iPSCs supplemented with doxycycline can be cultured for a long period of time with media changes at 3-day intervals without altering their self-renewal and pluripotent properties, indicating that doxycycline supplementation can reduce the frequency of media changes and the amount of media required by 1/3. These findings strongly encourage the use of doxycycline to save cost and labor in culturing hESCs/iPSCs. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ethics Rounds: In the Eye of a Social Media Storm.

PubMed

McKlindon, Donna; Jacobson, Jake A; Nathanson, Pamela; Walter, Jennifer K; Lantos, John D; Feudtner, Chris

2016-09-01

Social media, no stranger to health care environments, is increasingly used by patients, families, clinicians, and institutions to interact and engage in new ways. The ethical challenges related to the use of social media in the clinical setting are familiar, yet come with a novel twist, including the possibility of having a conflict "go viral". Health care clinicians and institutions must understand and embrace these technologies, while at the same time promoting policies and practices that ensure the ethically appropriate use of social media and address strategies for preventing and responding to a social media crisis. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Engagement with Novel Virtual Environments: The Role of Perceived Novelty and Flow in the Development of the Deficient Self-Regulation of Internet Use and Media Habits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tokunaga, Robert Shota

2013-01-01

This article extends theory on the deficient self-regulation (DSR) of Internet use and media habits by integrating predictors relevant to technology use. It introduces novelty perceptions of a technology and flow as conditions that increase the likelihood of experiencing DSR and media habits. An experiment, with between- and within-subjects…

Media Violence: The Search for Solutions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thoman, Elizabeth

1995-01-01

Discusses the influence of mass media depictions of violence on children and provides suggestions for media literacy education. Calls for reducing children's exposure to media violence; changing the impact of violent images; stressing alternatives to violence for resolving conflicts; challenging the social supports for media violence; and…

Sprint's Social Media Ninja Program: A Model for Teaching Consumer Relations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilliland, Rebecca A.

2017-01-01

This study reviews the application of a new training model, Sprint's Social Media Ninja program, an innovative approach to using new media to initiate change. Sprint recognized change management must occur from employee ambassadors to relevant audiences including consumers and other employees. By teaching volunteer employees the strategic message…

Understanding and Changing Older Adults' Perceptions and Learning of Social Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xie, Bo; Watkins, Ivan; Golbeck, Jen; Huang, Man

2012-01-01

An exploratory study was conducted to answer the following questions: What are older adults' perceptions of social media? What educational strategies can facilitate their learning of social media? A thematic map was developed to illustrate changing perceptions from the initial unanimous, strong negative to the more positive but cautious, and to…

Reflections on Higher Education and the Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Barry

2011-01-01

In this article, the author argues that the relationship between higher education and the media changes continually and yet is, or should be, grounded in certain unchanging principles. He outlines some of the changes that have taken place over the past ten years in the relationship between higher education and the media; highlights the decline in…

Communication Media, Memory, and Social-Political Change in Eric Havelock.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gronbeck, Bruce E.

2000-01-01

Seeks to rehearse E. Havelock's arguments about relationships among communication modes or media, memory, and social-political change to specify his primary contributions to the so-called orality-literacy theorems, or to what is now beginning to be called theories of media ecology. Describes Havelock's evolutionary journey from the late 1950s to…

Media composition: growth factors.

PubMed

Hegde, Aparna; Behr, Barry

2012-01-01

Despite the fact that the fundamental principle underlying the most common method of culture media constitution is that of mimicking the natural environment of the preimplantation embryo, one major difference that remains between current embryo culture media and in vivo conditions is the absence of growth factors in vitro. Numerous growth factors are known to be present in the in vivo environment of human and nonhuman preimplantation embryos, often with peak concentrations corresponding to when fertilization and preimplantation embryo growth would occur. Although these growth factors are found in very small concentrations, they have a profound effect on tissue growth and differentiation through attachment to factor-specific receptors on cell surfaces. Receptors for many different growth factors have also been detected in human preimplantation embryos. Preimplantation embryos themselves express many growth factors. The growth factors and receptors are metabolically costly to produce, and thus their presence in the environment of the preimplantation embryo and in the embryo respectively strongly implies that embryos are designed to encounter and respond to the corresponding factors. Studies of embryo coculture also indirectly suggest that growth factors can improve in vitro development. Several animal and human studies attest to a probable beneficial effect of addition of growth factors to culture media. However, there is still ambiguity regarding the exact role of growth factors in embryonic development, the optimal dose of growth factors to be added to culture media, the combinatorial effect and endocrine of growth factors in embryonic development.

Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour

PubMed Central

Wakefield, Melanie A.; Loken, Barbara; Hornik, Robert C.

2014-01-01

Mass media campaigns are widely used to expose high proportions of large populations to messages through routine uses of existing media, such as television, radio, and newspapers. Exposure to such messages is, therefore, generally passive. Such campaigns are frequently competing with factors, such as pervasive product marketing, powerful social norms, and behaviours driven by addiction or habit. In this Review we discuss the outcomes of mass media campaigns in the context of various health-risk behaviours (eg, use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, heart disease risk factors, sex-related behaviours, road safety, cancer screening and prevention, child survival, and organ or blood donation). We conclude that mass media campaigns can produce positive changes or prevent negative changes in health-related behaviours across large populations. We assess what contributes to these outcomes, such as concurrent availability of required services and products, availability of community-based programmes, and policies that support behaviour change. Finally, we propose areas for improvement, such as investment in longer better-funded campaigns to achieve adequate population exposure to media messages. PMID:20933263

Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour.

PubMed

Wakefield, Melanie A; Loken, Barbara; Hornik, Robert C

2010-10-09

Mass media campaigns are widely used to expose high proportions of large populations to messages through routine uses of existing media, such as television, radio, and newspapers. Exposure to such messages is, therefore, generally passive. Such campaigns are frequently competing with factors, such as pervasive product marketing, powerful social norms, and behaviours driven by addiction or habit. In this Review we discuss the outcomes of mass media campaigns in the context of various health-risk behaviours (eg, use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, heart disease risk factors, sex-related behaviours, road safety, cancer screening and prevention, child survival, and organ or blood donation). We conclude that mass media campaigns can produce positive changes or prevent negative changes in health-related behaviours across large populations. We assess what contributes to these outcomes, such as concurrent availability of required services and products, availability of community-based programmes, and policies that support behaviour change. Finally, we propose areas for improvement, such as investment in longer better-funded campaigns to achieve adequate population exposure to media messages. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mediatisation or PR-ization of Public--Media Communication--Analysis of Mediated Communication of Zoran Milanović.

PubMed

Tanta, Ivan; Lesinger, Gordana

2015-12-01

Politicians and their public relations advisors depend on the mass communication media to transmit messages dailyand communicate effectively. The development of the mass media, from traditional to new, has changed the working conditions of these professions where one inevitably affects the other. Consequently, the way of formatting information in the newshas changed, along with the way of monitoring the political developments and informs the public on political activities. Amajor role in this process, over and above the political actors, has advisers for public relations, who choose moments andevents to publicise (PR-ization). With the increasing influence of public relations to media reports, politics also changes thepicture of the media and the impact on media coverage. Similarly, the impact on the manner in which the media reportprocess, what topics will be discussed topics and what tone the given information will have. We are living in a world characterized by mediation (Mazzoleni and Schulz, 1999) of the politics and the society as a whole, because politics and publicrelations necessarily need the media to communicate with their audiences. In this regard, we can talk about PR-izationmedia as the fundamental role of public relations practitioners affect attitudes, which skillfully make careful design ofmessages and events that are not included herein are the three professions each other should one without the other does notmake sense. This paper will focus on the influence of the media on politics and on influence of the public relations as profession in the content media perception. In view of the drawn by daily public appearances of Prime Minister, Zoran Milanovi6,and as says Lali63 few politics-related phenomena have over the past twenty years engaged so many reviews by experts andscholars as the Prime Minister's rhetoric. The particular form of the political communication will be reviewed in this paper.Through the interviews and the content analysis of key moments and statements from the media, we shall try to determinehow the communication by Zoran Milanovi6 has changed with the new public relations advisor, and that the change hasaffected the public attitudes that Milanovi6 communication seen through the media-mediated reality.

Linking Science and Society With an Environmental Information Bridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welling, L.; Seielstad, G.; Jones, D.; Peterson, J.

2001-12-01

Building learning communities to engage the public in identifying and solving local and regional environmental problems is the vision of the newly created Northern Great Plains Center for People and the Environment at the University of North Dakota. The Center serves as an Environmental Information Bridge between science and society for citizens of the region, providing information, data, and value-added remote sensing products to precision agriculture, sustainable forestry, Native American land managers, and K-lifetime educators. Guided by the needs of end users, the new Center is a prototype for a national infrastructure that meets ESE's objective to "expand and accelerate the realization of economic and societal benefits from Earth science, information, and technology". The scientific community has been good at converting raw data into useful information. However, a serious communications gap exists between the communities of scientists and non-scientists. The new Center bridges this gap, creating a many-to-many exchange of information among those who learn first about the environment and those who will put those lessons to work for their economic welfare, the betterment of the quality of their lives, and the benefit of their descendants. A major outreach component of the Center, written and produced at UND, is Our Changing Planet, a public television series aimed at increasing viewers' awareness of environmental and climate change issues. Now carried by approximately 30 public television stations the series is distributed nationwide by the National Education Television Association. The Center has also recently established a partnership with StormCenter.com, LLC, a multimedia company and fellow partner in NASA's Federation of Earth Science Information Partners that uses leading-edge technology to deliver information about the environment to regional television stations. Service to the media provides a vital link between science and the public, as local weather broadcasts are often the public's primary source of environmental news and information. Through our partnership with StormCenter.com, the Northern Great Plains Center for People and the Environment will deliver up-to-date satellite imagery and accurate environmental information to regional media outlets.

Social marketing-based communications to integrate and support the HEALTHY study intervention

PubMed Central

DeBar, LL; Schneider, M; Ford, EG; Hernandez, AE; Showell, B; Drews, KL; Moe, EL; Gillis, B; Jessup, AN; Stadler, DD; White, M

2009-01-01

The HEALTHY study was a randomized, controlled, multicenter, middle school-based, multifaceted intervention designed to reduce risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes. The study randomized 42 middle schools to intervention or control, and followed students from the sixth to the eighth grades. Participants were a racially, ethnically and geographically diverse cohort from across the United States. Here, we describe the conceptual underpinnings and design of the social marketing-based communications component of the HEALTHY study intervention that combined changes in the school nutrition and physical education (PE) environment with behavior change initiatives. The communications intervention component coordinated multiple elements to deliver campaigns that served to integrate and support all aspects of the HEALTHY intervention. The campaigns unfolded across five semesters of middle school, each targeting a specific theme related to the HEALTHY objectives. Communications campaigns comprised (1) core elements such as branding, posters, banners and visual and verbal messaging, (2) student events supporting the nutrition, PE and behavior intervention components through the application of social marketing and communications strategies, including the incorporation of student-generated media and (3) distribution of premiums and theme enhancers to extend the visibility of the study beyond the intervention environment. Formative research conducted with students, parents and school administrators was used to refine the communications strategy. Student peer communicators selected from the student body were involved to influence the normative student environment. Marketing and creative design experts developed a brand, logo, activities and materials. In the latter half of the study, student-generated messages and media were used to reflect local interests and culture and enhance peer influence. The HEALTHY intervention delivery and impact were strengthened by the communications strategies. The HEALTHY experience provides practical considerations for systematically incorporating a social marketing-based communications approach within future school-based health behavior interventions. PMID:19623190

Social marketing-based communications to integrate and support the HEALTHY study intervention.

PubMed

DeBar, L L; Schneider, M; Ford, E G; Hernandez, A E; Showell, B; Drews, K L; Moe, E L; Gillis, B; Jessup, A N; Stadler, D D; White, M

2009-08-01

The HEALTHY study was a randomized, controlled, multicenter, middle school-based, multifaceted intervention designed to reduce risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes. The study randomized 42 middle schools to intervention or control, and followed students from the sixth to the eighth grades. Participants were a racially, ethnically and geographically diverse cohort from across the United States. Here, we describe the conceptual underpinnings and design of the social marketing-based communications component of the HEALTHY study intervention that combined changes in the school nutrition and physical education (PE) environment with behavior change initiatives. The communications intervention component coordinated multiple elements to deliver campaigns that served to integrate and support all aspects of the HEALTHY intervention. The campaigns unfolded across five semesters of middle school, each targeting a specific theme related to the HEALTHY objectives. Communications campaigns comprised (1) core elements such as branding, posters, banners and visual and verbal messaging, (2) student events supporting the nutrition, PE and behavior intervention components through the application of social marketing and communications strategies, including the incorporation of student-generated media and (3) distribution of premiums and theme enhancers to extend the visibility of the study beyond the intervention environment. Formative research conducted with students, parents and school administrators was used to refine the communications strategy. Student peer communicators selected from the student body were involved to influence the normative student environment. Marketing and creative design experts developed a brand, logo, activities and materials. In the latter half of the study, student-generated messages and media were used to reflect local interests and culture and enhance peer influence. The HEALTHY intervention delivery and impact were strengthened by the communications strategies. The HEALTHY experience provides practical considerations for systematically incorporating a social marketing-based communications approach within future school-based health behavior interventions.

Studying time of flight imaging through scattering media across multiple size scales (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velten, Andreas

2017-05-01

Light scattering is a primary obstacle to optical imaging in a variety of different environments and across many size and time scales. Scattering complicates imaging on large scales when imaging through the atmosphere when imaging from airborne or space borne platforms, through marine fog, or through fog and dust in vehicle navigation, for example in self driving cars. On smaller scales, scattering is the major obstacle when imaging through human tissue in biomedical applications. Despite the large variety of participating materials and size scales, light transport in all these environments is usually described with very similar scattering models that are defined by the same small set of parameters, including scattering and absorption length and phase function. We attempt a study of scattering and methods of imaging through scattering across different scales and media, particularly with respect to the use of time of flight information. We can show that using time of flight, in addition to spatial information, provides distinct advantages in scattering environments. By performing a comparative study of scattering across scales and media, we are able to suggest scale models for scattering environments to aid lab research. We also can transfer knowledge and methodology between different fields.

New perspectives on pollution control: Cross-media problems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Although there is only one natural environment, many environmental institutions and policies attempt to control pollutants in air, water, and land separately, often by merely transferring the pollutants from one medium to another. Water pollutants may be volatilized into the air or collected and disposed of on land as sludge, thereby allowing the possibility for contamination of another medium. Present policies often fail to reduce levels of some pollutants in the overall environment. To examine this cross-media problem and what can be done about it, The conservation Foundation sponsored a conference in November 1984 on the new dimensions of pollutionmore » problems. The papers presented at that conference along with comments and additional discussion are compiled in this report. The perspectives included represent those of government officials, corporate executives, environmentalists, researchers, and others. The extent of the cross-media problem, priorities for future research, and the implications that cross-media problems have for environmental policy are considered.« less

Understanding New Media Literacy: An Explorative Theoretical Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Tzu-Bin; Li, Jen-Yi; Deng, Feng; Lee, Ling

2013-01-01

With the advent of new media technologies, the role of media in a society has been changed that leads researchers to re-construct the meaning of literacy from classic literacy to new media literacy. There have been continuing efforts to understand new media and promote the importance of becoming new media literate among researchers, educators,…

Influence of mental imagery on spatial presence and enjoyment assessed in different types of media.

PubMed

Weibel, David; Wissmath, Bartholomäus; Mast, Fred W

2011-10-01

Previous research studies on spatial presence point out that the users' imagery abilities are of importance. However, this influence has not yet been tested for different media. This is surprising because theoretical considerations suggest that mental imagery comes into play when a mediated environment lacks vividness. The aim of this study was to clarify the influence mental imagery abilities can have on the sensation of presence and enjoyment in different mediated environments. We presented the participants (n = 60) a narrative text, a movie sequence, and a computer game. Across all media, no effect of mental imagery abilities on presence and enjoyment was found, but imagery abilities marginally interacted with the mediated environment. Individuals with high imagery abilities experienced more presence and enjoyment in the text condition. The results were different for the film condition: here, individuals with poor imagery abilities reported marginally higher enjoyment ratings, whereas the presence ratings did not differ between the two groups. Imagery abilities had no influence on presence and enjoyment within the computer game condition. The results suggest that good imagery abilities contribute to the sensations of presence and enjoyment when reading a narrative text. The results for this study have an applied impact for media use because their effectiveness can depend on the individual mental imagery abilities.

Hypermedia in Vocational Learning: A Hypermedia Learning Environment for Training Management Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konradt, Udo

2004-01-01

A learning environment is defined as an arrangement of issues, methods, techniques, and media in a given domain. Besides temporal and spatial features a learning environment considers the social situation in which learning takes place. In (hypermedia) learning environments the concept of exploration and the active role of the learner is…

Physical Activity and Food Environments: Solutions to the Obesity Epidemic

PubMed Central

Sallis, James F; Glanz, Karen

2009-01-01

Context: Environmental, policy, and societal changes are important contributors to the rapid rise in obesity over the past few decades, and there has been substantial progress toward identifying environmental and policy factors related to eating and physical activity that can point toward solutions. This article is a status report on research on physical activity and food environments, and it suggests how these findings can be used to improve diet and physical activity and to control or reduce obesity. Methods: This article summarizes and synthesizes recent reviews and provides examples of representative studies. It also describes ongoing innovative interventions and policy change efforts that were identified through conference presentations, media coverage, and websites. Findings: Numerous cross-sectional studies have consistently demonstrated that some attributes of built and food environments are associated with physical activity, healthful eating, and obesity. Residents of walkable neighborhoods who have good access to recreation facilities are more likely to be physically active and less likely to be overweight or obese. Residents of communities with ready access to healthy foods also tend to have more healthful diets. Disparities in environments and policies that disadvantage low-income communities and racial minorities have been documented as well. Evidence from multilevel studies, prospective research, and quasi-experimental evaluations of environmental changes are just beginning to emerge. Conclusions: Environment, policy, and multilevel strategies for improving diet, physical activity, and obesity control are recommended based on a rapidly growing body of research and the collective wisdom of leading expert organizations. A public health imperative to identify and implement solutions to the obesity epidemic warrants the use of the most promising strategies while continuing to build the evidence base. PMID:19298418

Transformation of heavy metal fractionation under changing environments: a case study of a drainage system in an e-waste dismantling community.

PubMed

Damrongsiri, Seelawut

2018-04-01

The change in environmental conditions during the transportation of contaminated soil and sediment was expected to affect the transformation of heavy metal fractionation. This study disclosed the serious contamination of copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in the sewer sediment of an e-waste dismantling community in Thailand which may be caused by flushed contaminated soil and e-waste fragments. Two environmental conditions were simulated to observe the transformation of heavy metal fractionation. The anoxic sewer condition was induced using high substrate and sulfate in a closed container. The aeration of anoxic contaminated sediment was applied to simulate the transformation to an oxidative environment. The BCR sequential extraction was applied for heavy metal fractionation in this study. The study results exhibited that when heavy metal contaminated soil was transferred into this induced anoxic condition, fractionation was redistributed based on the chemical change of system that tends to be associated into F3 (oxidizable fraction) > F2 (reducible fraction) > F1 (acid soluble/exchangeable fraction). Cu exhibited the outstanding capability association to F3. The iron sulfide was not observed as usual due to its lower capability than Cu, Pb, and Zn. When contaminated sediment was transported to a more oxidative environment, the heavy metals fractionation would be redistributed again among those new environment media. It is noteworthy that F3 of Cu was stable even in oxic conditions. F2 of Fe was not developed by this oxic condition, possibly because its dehydration process was limited. The redistribution under an oxic environment became F1 > F2 > F3 indicating their more available form. This transformation was imperative and should be taken into account in heavy metal contaminated site management and control.

Tweeting badges: user motivations for displaying achievement in publicly networked environments.

PubMed

Kwon, K Hazel; Halavais, Alexander; Havener, Shannon

2015-02-01

Badge systems, a common mechanism for gamification on social media platforms, provide a way for users to present their knowledge or experience to others. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of why social media users publicize their achievements in the form of online badges. Five motivational factors for badge display in public networked environments are distinguished-self-efficacy, social incentives, networked support, passing time, and inattentive sharing-and it is suggested that different badge types are associated with different motivations. System developers are advised to consider these components in their designs, applying the elements most appropriate to the communities they serve. Comparing user motivations associated with badges shared across boundaries provides a better understanding of how online badges relate to the larger social media ecosystem.

Impediments to media communication of social change in family planning and reproductive health: experiences from East Africa.

PubMed

Kagurusi, Patrick T

2013-09-01

The media has been employed to increase uptake of Family Planning through behaviour change communication (BCC). Understanding the barriers encountered in effectively undertaking this function would increase the strategy's effectiveness. Sixty journalists from East Africa participated in trainings to enhance their BCC skills for Family Planning in which a qualitative study was nested to identify barriers to effective Family Planning BCC in the region's media. The barriers were observed to be insufficient BCC skills, journalists' conflict of interest, interests of media houses, inaccessible sources of family planning information, editorial ideologies and absence of commercially beneficial demand. Coupled with the historical ideologies of the media in the region, the observed barriers have precipitated ineffective family planning BCC in the regions media. Effective BCC for family planning in the regions media requires capacity building among practitioners and alignment of the concept to the media's and consumers' aspirations.

Media Culture and Media Education in Modern School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tolic, Mirela

2011-01-01

Culture is no longer conceivable without the media and/or new phenomena called. "Cyber" culture. The article discusses issues in what respect the different media, like TV, film and Internet are with different cultures, how it changes everyday life under influence of various forms of sophisticated communications media and what…

Changes in Perceptions Advertising Agency Personnel Had of Media Sales Representatives: 1950-1986.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ducoffe, Robert Hal

A study examined the changes in advertising agency personnel perceptions of media sales representatives in light of the developments in advertising and the mass media that occurred from 1950 to 1986. Data were collected from four previously conducted and published surveys, as well as a 1986 survey. The findings revealed that advertising agency…

Buying a Beauty Standard or Dreaming of a New Life? Expectations Associated with Media Ideals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engeln-Maddox, Renee

2006-01-01

This study explored college women's ideas regarding how their lives would change if their appearance were consistent with a media-supported female beauty ideal. Participants rated self-generated life changes they associated with looking like a media ideal in terms of likelihood and positivity. Women's tendency to link positive and likely life…

Effecting Media Change: The Role of Cooperative Consultation on Alcohol Topics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breed, Warren; De Foe, James R.

1982-01-01

Reports on a concerted effort by consultant-scholars to influence the portrayal of drinking on television by working cooperatively with media writers, directors, and producers, while avoiding the pitfalls of traditional pressure group practices. Content analyses of prime-time programs were used as the basis of the appeal to change media messages.…

In Vitro Analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Virulence Using Conditions That Mimic the Environment at Specific Infection Sites.

PubMed

Colmer-Hamood, J A; Dzvova, N; Kruczek, C; Hamood, A N

2016-01-01

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that causes chronic lung infection in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and acute systemic infections in severely burned patients and immunocompromised patients including cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and HIV infected individuals. In response to the environmental conditions at specific infection sites, P. aeruginosa expresses certain sets of cell-associated and extracellular virulence factors that produce tissue damage. Analyzing the mechanisms that govern the production of these virulence factors in vitro requires media that closely mimic the environmental conditions within the infection sites. In this chapter, we review studies based on media that closely resemble three in vivo conditions, the thick mucus accumulated within the lung alveoli of CF patients, the serum-rich wound bed and the bloodstream. Media resembling the CF alveolar mucus include standard laboratory media supplemented with sputum obtained from CF patients as well as prepared synthetic mucus media formulated to contain the individual components of CF sputum. Media supplemented with serum or individual serum components have served as surrogates for the soluble host components of wound infections, while whole blood has been used to investigate the adaptation of pathogens to the bloodstream. Studies using these media have provided valuable information regarding P. aeruginosa gene expression in different host environments as varying sets of genes were differentially regulated during growth in each medium. The unique effects observed indicate the essential role of these in vitro media that closely mimic the in vivo conditions in providing accurate information regarding the pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa infections. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of social media as an instructional component on content knowledge, attitudes, and public engagement related to global climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greenberg, Sallie E.

Social media (SM) are considered important avenues to reach citizens and engage them in social change. Given the widespread use of SM and their potential to enhance communication, they could also have significant influence when used as an educational tool. Educators are exploring whether classroom SM use has instructional benefits, such as enhancing interactivity and engagement. It is critical to understand the potential of SM for creating meaningful learning environments and public engagement pathways. Much work remains to understand the use of SM in this context and how to use them effectively. This study draws on active learning theory to examine the impact of SM as an instructional component with community college students learning to make connections among science, social responsibility, and global understanding in an environmental biology course (the Course). Using global climate change as a theme, the Course included a Facebook instructional component. A pretest--posttest, nonrandomized comparison group design was used to measure the impact of Facebook as an integrated component of the Course. The treatment and comparison groups were determined to be comparable based on demographics, access and ownership of digital devices, and SM use despite non-random assignment. No statistically significant differences were found between groups on these factors. The intervention consisted of semester-long required use of Facebook for the treatment group. The impact of the SM intervention was measured in three areas: (a) content knowledge, (b) attitudes toward climate change, and (c) public engagement actions and intentions to act. At the conclusion of the Course, no discernable difference was measured in content knowledge gains between the two groups. However, students who used Facebook experienced statistically significant differences in attitude, becoming increasingly concerned about global climate change. The comparison group demonstrated statistically significant differences in attitudes shifting toward more disengaged. Students who used Facebook showed considerably greater tendency toward action and expressed more intention to act than those who did not. Treatment group participants self-reported in interviews that the learning environment was enhanced in four areas: (a) convenience and logistics, (b) community and communication, (c) engaging learning environment, and (d) alternative participation pathways. Comments classified under the theme convenience and logistics provided insight into how the instructor and participants used Facebook in the intervention, such as to post maps and discuss assignment details. Comments categorized under the theme community and communication were those that made explicit who used Facebook and the impact of the intervention on communication and classroom community in areas such as creating dialog, carrying the discussion beyond the classroom, and having access to the instructor. Responses categorized under the theme engaging learning environment provided specific details about how Facebook use affected participants' engagement in the learning environment, such as their contribution to the course content and increased interaction with the course content. Comments within the alternative participation pathways theme showed ways in which Facebook use facilitated the other three themes, including removing barriers for shy students, providing additional time for issues that arose during class discussions, and through passive participation by reading the posts of classmates. This empirical study demonstrated that the use of Facebook in an educational setting had an impact on student attitudes and engagement actions. Additionally, Facebook use enhanced the learning environment in meaningful ways showing that SM, when used intentionally, benefits active learning environments and provides an opportunity to enhance a sense of public engagement among college students.

Prescribing practices amid the OxyContin crisis: examining the effect of print media coverage on opioid prescribing among physicians.

PubMed

Borwein, Alexandra; Kephart, George; Whelan, Emma; Asbridge, Mark

2013-12-01

The pain medication OxyContin (hereafter referred to as oxycodone extended release) has been the subject of sustained, and largely negative, media attention in recent years. We sought to determine whether media coverage of oxycodone extended release in North American newspapers has led to changes in prescribing of the drug in Nova Scotia, Canada. An interrupted time-series design examined the effect of media attention on physicians' monthly prescribing of opioids. The outcome measures were, for each physician, the monthly proportions of all opioids prescribed and the proportion of strong opioids prescribed that were for oxycodone extended release. The exposure of interest was media attention defined as the number of articles published each month in 27 North American newspapers. Variations in media effects by provider characteristics (specialty, prescribing volume, and region) were assessed. Within-provider changes in the prescribing of oxycodone extended release in Nova Scotia were observed, and they followed changes in media coverage. Oxycodone extended release prescribing rose steadily prior to receiving media attention. Following peak media attention in the United States, the prescribing of oxycodone extended release slowed. Likewise, following peak coverage in Canadian newspapers, the prescribing of oxycodone extended release declined. These patterns were observed across prescriber specialties and by prescriber volume, though the magnitude of change in prescribing varied. This study demonstrates that print media reporting of oxycodone extended release in North American newspapers, and its continued portrayal as a social problem, coincided with reductions in the prescribing of oxycodone extended release by physicians in Nova Scotia. Copyright © 2013 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The impacts of fracking on the environment: A total environmental study paradigm.

PubMed

Meng, Qingmin

2017-02-15

Fracking has become a hot topic in the media and public discourse not only because of its economic benefit but also its environmental impacts. Recently, scientists have investigated the environmental impacts of fracking, and most studies focus on its air and ground water pollution. A systematic research structure and an overall evaluation of fracking's impacts on the environment are needed, because fracking does not only influence ground water but most environmental elements including but not limited to air, water, soil, rock, vegetation, wildlife, human, and many other ecosystem components. From the standpoint of the total environment, this communication assesses the overall impacts of fracking on the environment and then designs a total environmental study paradigm that effectively examines the complicated relationship among the total environment. Fracking dramatically changes the anthroposphere, which in turn significantly impacts the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere through the significant input or output of water, air, liquid or solid waste disposals, and the complex chemical components in fracking fluids. The proposed total environment study paradigm of fracking can be applied to other significant human activities that have dramatic impacts on the environment, such as mountain top coal mining or oil sands for environmental studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The ethics of social media in dental practice: ethical tools and professional responses.

PubMed

Peltier, Bruce; Curley, Arthur

2013-07-01

This article considers several important trends in dental practice that result from innovations in digital and social media. It provides ethical tools for analysis, Illuminates areas of ethical concern in the current practice environment and offers recommendations for future practice. A summary in the form of a checklist is posted at the end of this essay for dentists considering the use of social media in their practice.

Balancing Operations Security and Openness: Understanding the Military/Media Relationship in the Modern Media Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-07

reporting on the capture and subsequent rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch during the opening days of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Lynch was...states, “ Globalised media, satellite communications, international travel and commerce, and the Internet facilitate the coordination of diffuse ideas...Military Review, (March-April 2008): 107-113. 26 and ideas allows the spread of ideologies inimical to globalisation , and provides the means for

Public affairs events at Fall Meeting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uhlenbrock, Kristan

2012-02-01

AGU's Public Affairs team presented two workshop luncheons and hosted 17 oral and poster sessions at the 2011 Fall Meeting. Topics ranged from defining the importance of the geosciences, to climate change science for communities and institutions. The workshop luncheon "How to Be a Congressional Science Fellow or Mass Media Fellow" was a well-attended event with more than 115 participants. The luncheon provided the opportunity for audience members to ask fellow scientists about their experiences working either in Congress or as a reporter for a news organization. For scientists looking to expand their expertise outside the academic environment, these AGU fellowships are fantastic opportunities.

A functional approach to emotion in autonomous systems.

PubMed

Sanz, Ricardo; Hernández, Carlos; Gómez, Jaime; Hernando, Adolfo

2010-01-01

The construction of fully effective systems seems to pass through the proper exploitation of goal-centric self-evaluative capabilities that let the system teleologically self-manage. Emotions seem to provide this kind of functionality to biological systems and hence the interest in emotion for function sustainment in artificial systems performing in changing and uncertain environments; far beyond the media hullabaloo of displaying human-like emotion-laden faces in robots. This chapter provides a brief analysis of the scientific theories of emotion and presents an engineering approach for developing technology for robust autonomy by implementing functionality inspired in that of biological emotions.

Low back pain media campaign: no effect on sickness behaviour.

PubMed

Werner, Erik L; Ihlebaek, Camilla; Laerum, Even; Wormgoor, Marjon E A; Indahl, Aage

2008-05-01

To evaluate the effect of a media campaign on popular beliefs about LBP, and eventual changes in sick leave, imaging examinations, and surgery. Quasi-experimental telephone survey of 1500 randomly chosen people before, during, and after a media campaign in two Norwegian counties, with residents of an adjacent county as the control group. Data on sickness absence, surgery rates for disc herniation and imaging examinations on LBP in the area were collected at the same intervals. The campaign led to a small but statistically significant shift in beliefs about LBP in the general public. In particular, beliefs about the use of X-rays, and the importance of remaining active and at work, seemed to have changed in response to the campaign messages. However, this change in attitude and understanding of the condition did not lead to any corresponding change in sickness behaviour. Although the media campaign seemed to somewhat improve beliefs about LBP in the general public, the magnitude of this was too small to produce any significant change in behaviour. A media campaign on LBP should not be limited to small areas and low-budget. A much larger investment is needed for a media campaign to have sufficient impact on public's beliefs on LBP to lead to altered sickness behaviour.

A mechanistic investigation of ethylene oxide hydrolysis to ethanediol.

PubMed

Lundin, Angelica; Panas, Itai; Ahlberg, Elisabet

2007-09-20

The B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) description is employed to study the heterolytic ring opening mechanisms under microsolvation conditions for ethylene oxide in acidic, neutral, and alkaline environments. In acid and alkaline media, a concerted trans S(N)2 reaction is strongly favored as compared to the corresponding cis reaction. The importance of the nucleophile, water in acidic media and hydroxide ion in alkaline media, for lowering the activation enthalpy is emphasized and activation energies of approximately 80 and approximately 60 kJ mol(-1) are obtained under acid and alkaline conditions, respectively. Under neutral conditions, the trans S(N)2 mechanism becomes inaccessible because it invokes the formation of a transient H+ and OH- pair across the 1,2-ethanediol molecule. Rather, epoxide ring opening is achieved by hydrolysis of a single water molecule. The latter mechanism displays significantly greater activation enthalpy (205 kJ mol(-1)) than those in acid and alkaline environments. This is in agreement with experiment. Product distributions of simple olefins in neutral aqueous media, as well as the detrimental impact of acid/base conditions for the selectivity of epoxidation catalysts in aqueous media, are discussed.

Dealing with dissonance: responding to an incongruent test result in a new media environment.

PubMed

Vraga, Emily K

2011-11-01

In a new media environment replete with opportunities to test and express political identity, this study examines how people respond when confronted with a political test result that contradicts their partisan affiliation. An incongruent test result should produce motivated processing, but only when individuals do not dismiss the incongruent result will they experience dissonance and alter their social identification. Using a series of experiments, the results of this study supported these hypotheses. Implications of these findings for political psychology and message response are discussed.

SURVEY OF METHODOLOGIES FOR DEVELOPING MEDIA SCREENING VALUES FOR ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Barron, Mace G. and Steve Wharton. Submitted. Survey of Methodologies for Developing Media Screening Values for Ecological Risk Assessment. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 44 p. (ERL,GB 1200).

Concurrent with the increase in the number of ecological risk assessments over the past...

Money Management in a Media Resources Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kent, Alvin

1983-01-01

Director of Iowa State University's Media Resources Center argues that fiscal progress is the most reliable measure of functional progress or growth. How money is controlled to allow for allocation of funds and manipulation of service priorities is described as well as how service functions are managed. (MBR)

Understanding structure-stability relationships of Candida antartica lipase B in ionic liquids.

PubMed

De Diego, Teresa; Lozano, Pedro; Gmouh, Said; Vaultier, Michel; Iborra, José L

2005-01-01

Two different water-immiscible ionic liquids (ILs), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidizolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide and butyltrimethylammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, were used for butyl butyrate synthesis from vinyl butyrate catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) at 2% (v/v) water content and 50 degrees C. Both the synthetic activity and stability of the enzyme in these ILs were enhanced as compared to those in hexane. Circular dichroism and intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopic techniques have been used over a period of 4 days to determine structural changes in the enzyme associated with differences in its stability for each assayed medium. CALB showed a loss in residual activity higher than 75% after 4 days of incubation in both water and hexane media at 50 degrees C, being related to great changes in both alpha-helix and beta-strand secondary structures. The stabilization of CALB, which was observed in the two ILs studied, was associated with both the maintenance of the 50% of initial alpha-helix content and the enhancement of beta-strands. Furthermore, intrinsic fluorescence studies clearly showed how a classical enzyme unfolding was occurring with time in both water and hexane media. However, the structural changes associated with the incubation of the enzyme in both ILs might be attributed to a compact and active enzyme conformation, resulting in an enhancement of the stability in these nonaqueous environments.

Proteomic signatures differentiating Bacillus anthracis Sterne sporulation on soil relative to laboratory media.

PubMed

Wunschel, D S; Hutchison, J R; Deatherage Kaiser, B L; Merkley, E D; Hess, B M; Lin, A; Warner, M G

2017-12-18

The process of sporulation is vital for the stability and infectious cycle of Bacillus anthracis. The spore is the infectious form of the organism and therefore relevant to biodefense. While the morphological and molecular events occurring during sporulation have been well studied, the influence of growth medium and temperature on the proteins expressed in sporulated cultures is not well understood. Understanding the features of B. anthracis sporulation specific to natural vs. laboratory production will address an important question in microbial forensics. In an effort to bridge this knowledge gap, a system for sporulation on two types of agar-immobilized soils was used for comparison to cultures sporulated on two common types of solid laboratory media, and one liquid sporulation medium. The total number of proteins identified as well as their identity differed between samples generated in each medium and growth temperature, demonstrating that sporulation environment significantly impacts the protein content of the spore. In addition, a subset of proteins common in all of the soil-cultivated samples was distinct from the expression profiles in laboratory medium (and vice versa). These differences included proteins involved in thiamine and phosphate metabolism in the sporulated cultures produced on soils with a notable increase in expression of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters annotated to be for phosphate and antimicrobial peptides. A distinct set of ABC transporters for amino acids, sugars and oligopeptides were found in cultures produced on laboratory media as well as increases in carbon and amino acid metabolism-related proteins. These protein expression changes indicate that the sporulation environment impacts the protein profiles in specific ways that are reflected in the metabolic and membrane transporter proteins present in sporulated cultures.

Assimilation of ambient seismic noise in hydrological models allows estimation of hydraulic conductivity in unsaturated media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fores, B.; Champollion, C.; Mainsant, G.; Fort, A.; Albaric, J.

2016-12-01

Karstic hydrosystems represent one of the main water resources in the Mediterranean area but are challenging for geophysical methods. The GEK (Geodesy in Karstic Environment) observatory has been setup in 2011 to study the unsaturated zone of a karstic system in the south of France. The unsaturated zone (the epikarst) is thick and up to 100m on the site. Since 2011, gravity, rainfall and evapotranspiration are monitored. Together, they allow precise estimation of the global water storage changes but lack depth resolution. Surface waves velocity variations, obtained from ambient seismic noise monitoring are used here to overcome this lack. Indeed, velocities depend on saturation and the depths where changes occur can be defined as surface waves are dispersive. From October 2014 to November 2015, two seismometers have been recording noise. Velocity changes at a narrow frequency band (6-8 Hz) have shown a clear annual cycle. Minimum velocity is several months late on precipitations, which is coherent with a slow infiltration and a maximum sensitivity at -40m for these frequencies and this site. Models have been made with the Hydrus-1D software which allows modeling 1D-flow in variably saturated media. With a stochastic sampling, we have researched the underground parameters that reproduce the most the different observations (gravity, evapotranspiration and rainfall, and velocity changes). We show that velocity changes clearly constrain the hydraulic conductivity of the medium. Ambient seismic noise is therefore a promising method to study unsaturated zone which are too deep or too heterogeneous for classic methods.

Partnering with REACH to Create a “Diabetes-Friendly” Restaurant - A Restaurant Owner's Experience

PubMed Central

Chen, Roxana; Carrillo, Mayra; Kapp, Janet; Cheadle, Allen; Angulo, Antoinette; Chrisman, Noel; Rubio, Ramiro

2013-01-01

We describe a Latino restaurateur's perspectives and partnership with Seattle-King County REACH to improve the healthfulness of his restaurant as a step toward tackling diabetes in his community. We interviewed the owner and reviewed other documentation to capture his perspectives and identify key elements in this restaurant intervention. The impact of diabetes in the owner's family and Latino community motivated him to make changes at his restaurant. If changes were successful, he hoped this would motivate other Latino restaurateurs to make similar changes. At his request, REACH gathered consumer feedback, provided diabetes education and nutritional guidance, and worked with him to develop simple, economically-feasible, healthier items. Positive consumer response and media coverage motivated the owner to explore additional changes at his restaurant and encourage other restaurateurs to make healthful changes. This intervention illustrates the potential for local businesses to collaborate with community partners, like REACH, to promote healthy food environments. PMID:22080779

Effects of Surfactant on the Transport of Toxoplasma gondii in Saturated Sandy Porous Media: Experimental Tests and Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darnault, C. J. G.; Mutty, T.; L'Ollivier, C.; Dubey, J. P.; Aurélien, D.; Pullano, C. P.

2017-12-01

Understanding the transport of pathogens in the subsurface environment is essential for the risk assessment of groundwater contamination and the potential threat to human health. Currently, there is a lack of research in particular concerning the fate and transport of Toxoplasma gondii in porous media. The purpose of this research will be to characterize and model the transport and retention of Toxoplasma gondii in saturated silica-sand porous media in the presence of surfactant. Surfactants are chemicals commonly used as detergents and soaps, however they are able to impact flow properties in porous media and the interactions between surfaces, such as oocysts walls with sand grains. Therefore, we chose to characterize the changes that two surfactants have on the transport and fate of T. gondii. A total of 14 Column experiments were conducted including replicates as follows: 6 columns with an anionic-surfactant solution, 6 with a nonionic-surfactant solution, and 2 columns without surfactant to act as controls. All of the columns contained fine sand as the dominant grain size and each was run with a specified saturated flow rate in order to analyze the change with surfactant and disregard change as a result of a variation in the pore velocity. We chose to determine the retention and flow using the classic clean-bed colloid filtration model, and implemented sources for both adsorption and desorption of the particles which is known to happen on other biocolloids including oocysts. We implemented both Linear alkylbenzene sulphonic acid and Alkylphenol ethoxylate as our surfactants since they are the anionic and nonionic surfactants most commonly found in wastewater. Three different Critical Micelle Concentrations (CMC's) were run through the columns prior to the T. gondii oocysts injection followed by sequential injection of surfactant only and then deionized water only. The study compares the breakthrough of T. gondii with surfactant, without surfactant, as well as a the breakthrough of a bromide tracer. Each approach was modeled in addition to the experimentaltesting and we compared our results to previous microbe transport studies.

Does Sexy Media Promote Teen Sex? A Meta-Analytic and Methodological Review.

PubMed

Ferguson, Christopher J; Nielsen, Rune K L; Markey, Patrick M

2017-06-01

Parents and policy makers are often concerned that sexy media (media depicting or discussing sexual encounters) may promote sexual behavior in young viewers. There has been some debate among scholars regarding whether such media promote sexual behaviors. It remains unclear to what extent sexy media is a risk factor for increased sexual behavior among youth. The current study employed a meta-analysis of 22 correlational and longitudinal studies of sexy media effects on teen sexual behavior (n = 22,172). Moderator analyses examined methodological and science culture issues such as citation bias. Results indicated the presence only of very weak effects. General media use did not correlate with sexual behaviors (r = 0.005), and sexy media use correlated only weakly with sexual behaviors (r = 0.082) once other factors had been controlled. Higher effects were seen for studies with citation bias, and lower effects when family environment is controlled. The impact of media on teen sexuality was minimal with effect sizes near to zero.

The apomediated world: regulating research when social media has changed research.

PubMed

O'Connor, Dan

2013-01-01

Social Media, like Facebook and Twitter, are having a profound effect on the way that human subjects research is being conducted. In light of the changes proposed in ANPRM, in this article I argue that traditional research ethics and regulations may not easily translate to the use of social media in human subjects research. Using the conceptual model of apomediation, which describes the peer-to-peer way in which health information is shared via social media, I suggest that we may need to think again about the suitability of current regulations to deal with social media research. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Scholars and Social Media: Tweeting in the Conference Backchannel for Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Jiahang; Greenhow, Christine

2015-01-01

Social media are fundamentally changing core practices in various industries. Although surveys indicate that social media are impacting social scientists, we know little about how education scholars, specifically, use social media for their work or professional learning. This article explores how educational scholars incorporated the social media,…

Media Violence and the American Public: Scientific Facts versus Media Misinformation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bushman, Brad J.; Anderson, Craig A.

2001-01-01

Discusses how news coverage on the connections between media violence and aggression have left the public confused, examining whether media violence mirrors real world violence and how news reports about media violence and aggression have changed over time. Highlights the entertainment industry and scientific community, discussing why they often…

Journalism 2.0: Exploring the Impact of Mobile and Social Media on Journalism Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cochrane, Thomas; Sissons, Helen; Mulrennan, Danni; Pamatatau, Richard

2013-01-01

This paper explores the impact of social media upon journalism education from two perspectives: both from the pedagogical changes Web 2.0 and mobile devices enable, and within the context of the changes in journalism that social media use are driving. A participatory action research approach was adopted, beginning with the establishment of a…

Determinants of First-Time Cancer Examinations in a Rural Community: A Mechanism for Behavior Change

PubMed Central

Guo, Yi; Emanuel, Amber S.; Shepperd, James A.; Dodd, Virginia J.; Marks, John G.; Muller, Keith E.; Riley, Joseph L.

2015-01-01

Objectives. After conducting a media campaign focusing on the importance of oral and pharyngeal cancer (OPC) examinations, we assessed mechanisms of behavior change among individuals receiving an OPC examination for the first time. Methods. We used data from 2 waves of telephone surveys of individuals residing in 36 rural census tracts in northern Florida (n = 806). The second survey occurred after our media intervention. We developed media messages and modes of message delivery with community members via focus groups and intercept interviews. We performed a mediation analysis to examine behavior change mechanisms. Results. Greater exposure to media messages corresponded with heightened concern about OPC. Heightened concern, in turn, predicted receipt of a first-time OPC examination, but only among men. Conclusions. We extended earlier studies by measuring an outcome behavior (receipt of an OPC examination) and demonstrating that the putative mechanism of action (concern about the disease) explained the link between a media intervention and engaging in the target behavior. Improving the quality of media campaigns by engaging community stakeholders in selecting messages and delivery methods is an effective strategy in building public health interventions aimed at changing behaviors. PMID:25973820

An investigation of the sensitivity of low-field nuclear magnetic resonance to microbial growth and activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, C.; Keating, K.

2014-12-01

Microbes and microbial processes play a significant role in shaping subsurface environments and are involved in applications ranging from microbially enhanced oil recovery to soil and groundwater contaminant remediation. Stimulated microbial growth in such applications could cause wide variety of changes of physical/chemical properties in the subsurface; however, due to the complexity of subsurface systems,it is difficult to monitor the growth of microbes and microbial activity in porous media. The focus of this research is to determine if low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a method used in well logging to characterize fluids in hydrocarbon reservoirs or water in aquifers, can be used to directly detect the presence and the growth of microbes in geologic media. In this laboratory study, low-field NMR (2 MHz) relaxation measurements were collected on microbial suspensions with measured densities (i.e. biomasses), microbial pellets (live and dead), and inoculated silica. We focus on the direct contribution of microbes to the NMR signals in the absence of biomineralization. Shewanella oneidensis (MR-1), a facultative metal reducer known to play an important role in subsurface environments, were used as a model organism and were inoculated under aerobic condition. Data were collected using a CPMG pulse sequence, which was to determine the T2-distribution, and using a gradient spin-echo (PGSE) plus CPMG pulse sequence, which was used to encode diffusion properties and determine the effective diffusion-spin-spin relaxation correlation (D-T2) plot. Our data show no obvious change in the T2-distribution as S. oneidensis density varied in suspension, but show a clear distinction in the T2-distribution and D-T2 plots between live and dead cell pellets. A decrease in the T2-distribution is observed in the inoculated sand column. These results will provide a basis for understanding the effect of microbes within geologic media on low-field NMR measurements. This research is necessary to determine if NMR measurements can ultimately to be used to monitor microbial growth and activity in oil reservoirs or contaminated aquifers.

Weerts to lead Physical Sciences and Engineering directorate | Argonne

Science.gov Websites

Electrochemical Energy Science CTRCenter for Transportation Research CRIChain Reaction Innovations CIComputation Search Energy Environment National Security User Facilities Science Work with Us About Safety News Press Releases Feature Stories Science Highlights In the News Argonne Now Magazine Media Contacts Social Media

Media Ecology Comes into Its Own

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salas, Alexandra

2007-01-01

The study of communication systems catalysts and influence has taken on a newer form--media ecology. Participants have emerged from many disciplines in order to create this new field of inquiry that explores and posits human communication, culture, communication environments, and their evolution and interconnectedness from pre-literacy to the…

Connected and Ubiquitous: A Discussion of Two Theories That Impact Future Learning Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bair, Richard A.; Stafford, Timothy

2016-01-01

Mobile media break down traditional barriers that have defined learning in schools because they enable constant, personalized access to media. This information-rich environment could dramatically expand learning opportunities. This article identifies and discusses two instructional design theories for mobile learning including the major…

TOXIC POLLUTANTS IN URBAN WET-WEATHER FLOWS: AN OVERVIEW OF THE MULTI-MEDIA TRANSPORT, IMPACTS, AND CONTROL MEASURES (PRESENTATION)

EPA Science Inventory

This paper presents an oveview of the transport of toxic pollutants through multiple media in the urban environment. Discussions include the sources of particulate-associated toxic substances and the relationship of these toxics to atmospheric deposition, overland accumulation an...

Digital Natives? New and Old Media and Children's Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bittman, Michael; Rutherford, Leonie; Brown, Jude; Unsworth, Lens

2011-01-01

The current generation of young children has been described as "digital natives", having been born into a ubiquitous digital media environment. They are envisaged as educationally independent of the guided interaction provided by "digital immigrants": parents and teachers. This article uses data from the Longitudinal Study of…

AN IN VITRO GASTROINTESTINAL METHOD TO ESTIMATE BIOAVAILABLE ARSENIC IN CONTAMINATED SOILS AND SOLID MEDIA. (R825410)

EPA Science Inventory

A method was developed to simulate the human gastrointestinal environment and
to estimate bioavailability of arsenic in contaminated soil and solid media. In
this in vitro gastrointestinal (IVG) method, arsenic is sequentially extracted
from contaminated soil with ...

Mining Social Media Data for Understanding Students' Learning Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Xin; Vorvoreanu, Mihaela; Madhavan, Krishna

2014-01-01

Students' informal conversations on social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) shed light into their educational experiences--opinions, feelings, and concerns about the learning process. Data from such uninstrumented environments can provide valuable knowledge to inform student learning. Analyzing such data, however, can be challenging. The complexity…

Segmenting Broadcast News Audiences in the New Media Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wicks, Robert H.

1989-01-01

Examines the "benefit segmentation model," a marketing strategy for local news media which is capable of sorting consumers into discrete segments interested in similar salient product attributes or benefits. Concludes that benefit segmentation may provide a means by which news programmers may respond to their audience. (RS)

Ethical Issues in Social Media Research for Public Health.

PubMed

Hunter, Ruth F; Gough, Aisling; O'Kane, Niamh; McKeown, Gary; Fitzpatrick, Aine; Walker, Tom; McKinley, Michelle; Lee, Mandy; Kee, Frank

2018-03-01

Social media (SM) offer huge potential for public health research, serving as a vehicle for surveillance, delivery of health interventions, recruitment to trials, collection of data, and dissemination. However, the networked nature of the data means they are riddled with ethical challenges, and no clear consensus has emerged as to the ethical handling of such data. This article outlines the key ethical concerns for public health researchers using SM and discusses how these concerns might best be addressed. Key issues discussed include privacy; anonymity and confidentiality; authenticity; the rapidly changing SM environment; informed consent; recruitment, voluntary participation, and sampling; minimizing harm; and data security and management. Despite the obvious need, producing a set of prescriptive guidelines for researchers using SM is difficult because the field is evolving quickly. What is clear, however, is that the ethical issues connected to SM-related public health research are also growing. Most importantly, public health researchers must work within the ethical principles set out by the Declaration of Helsinki that protect individual users first and foremost.

Continuous monitoring of bacterial biofilm growth using uncoated Thickness-Shear Mode resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castro, P.; Resa, P.; Durán, C.; Maestre, J. R.; Mateo, M.; Elvira, L.

2012-12-01

Quartz Crystal Microbalances (QCM) were used to nondestructively monitor in real time the microbial growth of the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) in a liquid broth. QCM, sometimes referred to as Thickness-Shear Mode (TSM) resonators, are highly sensitive sensors not only able to measure very small mass, but also non-gravimetric contributions of viscoelastic media. These devices can be used as biosensors for bacterial detection and are employed in many applications including their use in the food industry, water and environment monitoring, pharmaceutical sciences and clinical diagnosis. In this work, three strains of S. epidermidis (which differ in the ability to produce biofilm) have been continuously monitored using an array of piezoelectric TSM resonators, at 37 °C in a selective culturing media. Microbial growth was followed by measuring the changes in the crystal resonant frequency and bandwidth at several harmonics. It was shown that microbial growth can be monitored in real time using multichannel and multiparametric QCM sensors.

Staying Relevant in a Crowded Media Environment: Telling Stories about Ever Changing Forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perry, C. H.; Oswalt, C.; Stanton, S.

2016-12-01

The USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program faces a serious challenge: how do we communicate information about the status and trends of the nation's forest resource to a public whose appetite for reading is declining rapidly? Our data, reports, and analyses are highly regarded; states demand our data be loaded into FIADB ever more quickly, and the time from the last plot to a published report is shrinking. At the same time, the average person spends only 25 minutes per day with print media. The Forest Service seeks to address the challenge by releasing reports as PDFs and e-books, but there are exciting opportunities to increase reader engagement with our content. Here, we discuss our evolving strategy for integrating traditional data delivery tools with cutting edge technology like ArcGIS Online and free JavaScript libraries to create visually compelling, interactive and information-rich experiences for an increasingly diverse set of target audiences. You can try these tools yourself by checking out our Engagement Portfolio.

Celebrity suicide and its effect on further media reporting and portrayal of suicide: An exploratory study

PubMed Central

Harshe, Devavrat; Karia, Sagar; Harshe, Sneha; Shah, Nilesh; Harshe, Gurudas; De Sousa, Avinash

2016-01-01

Background: Suicide is a grave mental health problem in India, and suicide rates in India have risen over the past decades. Suicide reporting by the media is a common cause for spurts of suicides that may occur from time to time. The aim of the present study was to assess the change in trends in media reporting of suicide after a celebrity suicide. Methodology: Suicide by the renowned actor Robin Williams was selected as the reference case. The top three Indian daily newspapers published in English having the highest circulation as per the Registrar of Newspapers, Government of India report were selected to be scanned in the study. These were the Times of India – Mumbai edition, Mumbai Mirror, and the Daily News Analysis – Mumbai edition. The authors screened all news stories in the three newspapers within a 6-month period (3 months prior and 3 months post the date of the reference suicide case), and these news reports were evaluated as per the suicide reporting guidelines for media laid down by the Indian Psychiatric Society. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test and descriptive statistics where appropriate. Results: A total of 708 newspaper articles were identified on the basis of the guidelines mentioned above. Nearly 88% (n = 623) of the articles directly covered suicide while 4.09% (n = 29) focused on suicidal threats and 7.91% (n = 56) focused on parasuicide behavior. There was a significantly greater increase in the total number of articles printed after the celebrity suicide (n = 409) for all article types except teasers as compared to that before the celebrity suicide (n = 299). There was a significantly greater increase in front page news on suicide after the celebrity suicide (P = 0.0016), description of the method of suicide (P = 0.0221), and the mention of the suicide notes (P = 0.0002). Most articles after the celebrity suicide placed the blame on someone or the environment for the act (P = 0.0001). Conclusions: A change in media trend toward reporting suicide was noted post a celebrity suicide, and it is important that media follow guidelines stringently when reporting a serious problem like suicide. PMID:28197003

Effectiveness of Department of Defense Policies on Copyrighted Media: Bazaar Occurrences in Iraq and Afghanistan

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-10

INTRODUCTION Overview We spend hundreds of millions producing, marketing , and distributing movies, but we can’t compete with free. That’s an economic...the geographic separation to legal markets . However, soldiers who chose to procure the media illegally also have a few options in these environments...forms of media to include movies, music, and the internet due to Western influence. Due to these severe restrictions, an underground market for

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Report 30: Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and the communication of technical information in aerospace. Ph.D Thesis - Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Daniel J.; Pinelli, Thomas E.

1994-01-01

This research used survey research to examine the use of communication media in general and electronic media specifically in the U.S. aerospace industry. The survey population included 1,006 randomly selected U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists who belong to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Survey data were compared with qualitative information obtained from 32 AIAA members in telephone and face-to-face conversations. The Information Processing (IP) model developed by Tushman and Nadler and Daft and Lengel constituted the study's theoretical basis. This research analyzed responses regarding communication methods of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists who create use and disseminate aerospace knowledge and explored selected contextual environmental variables related to media use and effective performance. The results indicate that uncertainty is significantly reduced in environments when levels of analyzability are high. When uncertainty is high there is significantly more use of electronic media. However no relation was found between overall effectiveness and media use in environments stratified by levels by analyzability or equivocality. The results indicate modest support for the influences of uncertainty and analyzability on electronic media use. Although most respondents reported that electronic networks are important for their work the data suggest that there are sharply disparate levels of use.

Transport and reactivity of nanoparticles in the soil-water environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ben Moshe, Tal

The nanotechnology market is developing rapidly with new applications for nanoparticles emerging constantly. As a result of the increased exposure to nanoparticles through consumer use and release to the environment it is becoming necessary to investigate their environmental effects. Little is known about the behavior of such particles in the environment, in general, and in water resources, in particular. The aim of this study was to investigate the behavior of metal oxide nanoparticles in saturated porous media. The study focused on several aspects of this behavior: (1) Transport, mobility and capture of untreated nanoparticles in porous media: The mobility was found to be highly variable among the different particles and highly dependent on the experimental conditions. The mobility was quite low in most cases but could be enhanced by presence of humic acid. (2) Use of copper oxide nanoparticles for the remediation of water polluted by persistent organic compounds: The nanoparticles were shown to be highly efficient catalysts for the complete degradation of the pollutants without formation of hazardous byproducts and without the need for radiation for activation. The nanoparticles were immobilized on sand to enable easy recovery at the end of the experiment; they were shown to retain their catalytic behavior. This was demonstrated by monitoring organic dye degradation in a flow-through system. (3) Interactions between nanoparticles and soil, and changes in soil properties. The nanoparticles affect the micro properties of the soil, as demonstrated by FTIR and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as the microbial activity. They had little effect on the macro properties of the soil.

Fake News

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frederiksen, Linda

2017-01-01

In a politically and digitally polarized environment, identifying and evaluating fake news is more difficult than ever before. Librarians who have been teaching information and media literacy skills for decades understand the role we can and must play in this environment.

Impact of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on academic radiology departments' clinical, research, and education missions.

PubMed

Mansoori, Bahar; Vidal, Lorenna L; Applegate, Kimberly; Rawson, James V; Novak, Ronald D; Ros, Pablo R

2013-10-01

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) generated significant media attention since its inception. When the law was approved in 2010, the U.S. health care system began facing multiple changes to adapt and to incorporate measures to meet the new requirements. These mandatory changes will be challenging for academic radiology departments (ARDs) since they will need to promote a shift from a volume-focused to a value-focused practice. This will affect all components of the mission of ARDs, including clinical practice, education, and research. A unique key element to success in this transition is to focus on both quality and safety, thus improving the value of radiology in the post-ACA era. Given the changes ARDs will face during the implementation of ACA, suggestions are provided on how to adapt ARDs to this new environment. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Work process and task-based design of intelligent assistance systems in German textile industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Löhrer, M.; Ziesen, N.; Altepost, A.; Saggiomo, M.; Gloy, Y. S.

2017-10-01

The mid-sized embossed German textile industry must face social challenges e.g. demographic change or technical changing processes. Interaction with intelligent systems (on machines) and increasing automation changes processes, working structures and employees’ tasks on all levels. Work contents are getting more complex, resulting in the necessity for diversified and enhanced competencies. Mobile devices like tablets or smartphones are increasingly finding their way into the workplace. Employees who grew up with new forms of media have certain advantages regarding the usage of modern technologies compared to older employees. Therefore, it is necessary to design new systems which help to adapt the competencies of both younger and older employees to new automated production processes in the digital work environment. The key to successful integration of technical assistance systems is user-orientated design and development that includes concepts for competency development under consideration of, e.g., ethical and legal aspects.

The effect of primary care interventions on children's media viewing habits and exposure to violence.

PubMed

Aragon Neely, Jill; Hudnut-Beumler, Julia; White Webb, Margaret; Chavis, Antwon; Dietrich, Mary S; Bickman, Len; Scholer, Seth J

2013-01-01

To determine if brief primary care interventions can affect children's media viewing habits and exposure to violence. English- and Spanish-speaking parents of 2- to 12-year-old children presenting to a pediatric primary care clinic participated in a randomized controlled trial. There were 2 intervention groups; one group viewed 5 minutes from the Play Nicely program and another received a handout, "Pulling the Plug on TV Violence." There were 2 control groups; the primary control group received standard primary care, and the alternative control group viewed a program about obesity prevention. The outcome measure was parental report of changes in media viewing habits and changes in exposure to violence. A total of 312 of 443 parents who were randomized completed a 2-week follow-up survey. Compared with the primary control group, parents in the video intervention group were more likely to report a change in their children's media viewing habits (odds ratio [OR] 3.29; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.66-6.51) and a change in their children's exposure to violence (OR 4.26; 95% CI 1.95-9.27). Compared with the primary control group, parents in the handout group were more likely to report a change in their children's media viewing habits (OR 4.35; 95% CI 2.20-8.60) and a change in their children's exposure to violence (OR 3.35; 95% CI 1.52-7.35). Brief primary care interventions can affect children's media viewing habits and children's exposure to violence. These results have implications for how to improve primary care services related to decreasing children's media exposure and violence prevention. Copyright © 2013 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The social determinants of substance abuse in African American baby boomers: effects of family, media images, and environment.

PubMed

Pope, Robert C; Wallhagen, Margaret; Davis, Harvey

2010-07-01

Grounded theory methodology was used to explore the social processes involved in the use of illicit drugs in older African Americans as an underpinning to the development of approaches to nursing care and treatment. Interviews were conducted with six older African American substance users who were currently in drug treatment programs. Responses to the questions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using constant comparative methods. Three core themes emerged: (a) family, (b) media images, and (c) environment. The core issues of substance abuse, such as the environment and larger societal forces, cannot be addressed by one discipline and mandate that clinicians move to an interdisciplinary approach to achieve a plan of care for this growing population.

Personal Learning Environments: A Solution for Self-Directed Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haworth, Ryan

2016-01-01

In this paper I discuss "personal learning environments" and their diverse benefits, uses, and implications for life-long learning. Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) are Web 2.0 and social media technologies that enable individual learners the ability to manage their own learning. Self-directed learning is explored as a foundation…

Social media in nursing education: responsible integration for meaningful use.

PubMed

Peck, Jessica L

2014-03-01

The astonishing popularity of social media and its emergence into the academic arena has shown tremendous potential for innovations in teaching. The appeal of using social media in the learning environment is enhanced by accessibility and affordability. However, it has also broadened the scope of consideration for protecting student privacy. This article explores the legal impact of privacy concerns when social media is used as a teaching tool. Institutions of higher learning must formulate guidelines that will govern appropriate social media use so that novel teaching modalities can be safely explored. Students must be educated by faculty regarding the standards of conduct and privacy considerations related to social media. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing has issued the White Paper: A Nurse's Guide to the Use of Social Media, a must-read for nursing faculty in the current academic arena. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE): A Platform for the Simulation of Light Propagation in Turbid Media

PubMed Central

Ren, Shenghan; Chen, Xueli; Wang, Hailong; Qu, Xiaochao; Wang, Ge; Liang, Jimin; Tian, Jie

2013-01-01

The study of light propagation in turbid media has attracted extensive attention in the field of biomedical optical molecular imaging. In this paper, we present a software platform for the simulation of light propagation in turbid media named the “Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE)”. Based on the gold standard of the Monte Carlo method, MOSE simulates light propagation both in tissues with complicated structures and through free-space. In particular, MOSE synthesizes realistic data for bioluminescence tomography (BLT), fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT), and diffuse optical tomography (DOT). The user-friendly interface and powerful visualization tools facilitate data analysis and system evaluation. As a major measure for resource sharing and reproducible research, MOSE aims to provide freeware for research and educational institutions, which can be downloaded at http://www.mosetm.net. PMID:23577215

Using social media to facilitate knowledge transfer in complex engineering environments: a primer for educators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Glen; Salomone, Sonia

2013-03-01

While highly cohesive groups are potentially advantageous they are also often correlated with the emergence of knowledge and information silos based around those same functional or occupational clusters. Consequently, an essential challenge for engineering organisations wishing to overcome informational silos is to implement mechanisms that facilitate, encourage and sustain interactions between otherwise disconnected groups. This paper acts as a primer for those seeking to gain an understanding of the design, functionality and utility of a suite of software tools generically termed social media technologies in the context of optimising the management of tacit engineering knowledge. Underpinned by knowledge management theory and using detailed case examples, this paper explores how social media technologies achieve such goals, allowing for the transfer of knowledge by tapping into the tacit and explicit knowledge of disparate groups in complex engineering environments.

Biodegradation of COD in Household Wastewater with Aerobic Biofilm Technology by Adding Sediment Drainage Sewerage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumiyati, Sri; Purwanto; Sutrisno, Endro; Sudarno; Arthawidya, Jalu; Izzudin, Humam

2018-02-01

Household wastewater contains contaminants that harm the environment. One of the pollutants found COD. If being discharged into the environment directly, COD concentrations exceeding the existing quality standard will disrupt the ecosystem in the receiving water body. One of the technologies that can degrade COD is biofilm technology with honeycomb tube media. This research aims to analyze the decrease of COD concentration present in wastewater household with biofilm technology of honeycomb media. The reactor used in was made of glass with a thickness of 4 mm, a volume of 18 litres and operated continuously. The media used is made of a PVC pipe, cut to 3 cm in size and then glued to one another, forming a honey comb. The results showed that there has been a decrease in COD concentration of household wastewater.

Public interest in climate change over the past decade and the effects of the ‘climategate’ media event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderegg, William R. L.; Goldsmith, Gregory R.

2014-05-01

Despite overwhelming scientific consensus concerning anthropogenic climate change, many in the non-expert public perceive climate change as debated and contentious. There is concern that two recent high-profile media events—the hacking of the University of East Anglia emails and the Himalayan glacier melt rate presented in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—may have altered public opinion of climate change. While survey data is valuable for tracking public perception and opinion over time, including in response to climate-related media events, emerging methods that facilitate rapid assessment of spatial and temporal patterns in public interest and opinion could be exceptionally valuable for understanding and responding to these events’ effects. We use a novel, freely-available dataset of worldwide web search term volumes to assess temporal patterns of interest in climate change over the past ten years, with a particular focus on looking at indicators of climate change skepticism around the high-profile media events. We find that both around the world and in the US, the public searches for the issue as ‘global warming,’ rather than ‘climate change,’ and that search volumes have been declining since a 2007 peak. We observe high, but transient spikes of search terms indicating skepticism around the two media events, but find no evidence of effects lasting more than a few months. Our results indicate that while such media events are visible in the short-term, they have little effect on salience of skeptical climate search terms on longer time-scales.

Viewpoint Dependent Imaging: An Interactive Stereoscopic Display

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, Scott

1983-04-01

Design and implementation of a viewpoint Dependent imaging system is described. The resultant display is an interactive, lifesize, stereoscopic image. that becomes a window into a three dimensional visual environment. As the user physically changes his viewpoint of the represented data in relation to the display surface, the image is continuously updated. The changing viewpoints are retrieved from a comprehensive, stereoscopic image array stored on computer controlled, optical videodisc and fluidly presented. in coordination with the viewer's, movements as detected by a body-tracking device. This imaging system is an attempt to more closely represent an observers interactive perceptual experience of the visual world by presenting sensory information cues not offered by traditional media technologies: binocular parallax, motion parallax, and motion perspective. Unlike holographic imaging, this display requires, relatively low bandwidth.

The social media: its impact on a vascular surgery practice.

PubMed

Turnipseed, William D

2013-04-01

Social media has revolutionized interpersonal communication and has become a commonly used public informational resource. This study evaluates the impact of intranet informatics on a specialty practice of vascular surgery. Referral patterns for patients with chronic compartment syndrome (CCS) and popliteal entrapment syndrome (PAES) between 2008 and 2011 were analyzed. Demographics included referral source (physicians, nonphysicians), media resource, and case volume change. Prior to 2008, referrals came from local or regional sports medicine practices (100%). Since 2008 this pattern has changed; local/regional (80%), national (15%), and international (5%). Physician referrals dropped from 97% to 70%, and nonphysician referrals increased from 3% to 30%. Both CCS procedures and PAES procedures increased as remote geographic and public referrals increased. Referral change was associated with social media searches using applications such as PubMed and Google. Social media is an evolving source of medical information and patient referrals which physicians should cautiously embrace.

Long-term relations among prosocial-media use, empathy, and prosocial behavior.

PubMed

Prot, Sara; Gentile, Douglas A; Anderson, Craig A; Suzuki, Kanae; Swing, Edward; Lim, Kam Ming; Horiuchi, Yukiko; Jelic, Margareta; Krahé, Barbara; Liuqing, Wei; Liau, Albert K; Khoo, Angeline; Petrescu, Poesis Diana; Sakamoto, Akira; Tajima, Sachi; Toma, Roxana Andreea; Warburton, Wayne; Zhang, Xuemin; Lam, Ben Chun Pan

2014-02-01

Despite recent growth of research on the effects of prosocial media, processes underlying these effects are not well understood. Two studies explored theoretically relevant mediators and moderators of the effects of prosocial media on helping. Study 1 examined associations among prosocial- and violent-media use, empathy, and helping in samples from seven countries. Prosocial-media use was positively associated with helping. This effect was mediated by empathy and was similar across cultures. Study 2 explored longitudinal relations among prosocial-video-game use, violent-video-game use, empathy, and helping in a large sample of Singaporean children and adolescents measured three times across 2 years. Path analyses showed significant longitudinal effects of prosocial- and violent-video-game use on prosocial behavior through empathy. Latent-growth-curve modeling for the 2-year period revealed that change in video-game use significantly affected change in helping, and that this relationship was mediated by change in empathy.

Doing the Media: A Portfolio of Activities and Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laybourne, Kit, Ed.

Because of the prevalence of media in all people's lives and the cultural and perceptual changes brought about by the media, education must create ways to enable children to master the media's codes and control its impact so that they will be active, intelligent, appreciative, and selective consumers of the total media culture. This portfolio…

Why History Matters for Media Literacy Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

RobbGrieco, Michael

2014-01-01

The ways people have publicly discussed and written about media literacy in the past have great bearing on how citizens, educators and learners are able to think about and practice their own media literacy. Our concepts of media literacy have evolved over time in response to changing contexts of media studies and educational discourses as well as…

Contrasting academic and lay press print coverage of the 2013-2016 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak

PubMed Central

Kieh, Mark D.; Cho, Elim M.

2017-01-01

Under a traditional paradigm, only those with the expected background knowledge consume academic literature. The lay press, as well as government and non-government agencies, play a complementary role of extracting findings of high interest or importance and translating them for general viewing. The need for accurate reporting and public advising is paramount when attempting to tackle epidemic outbreaks through behavior change. Yet, public trust in media outlets is at a historic low. The Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) model for media reporting on public health emergencies was established in 2005 and has subsequently been used to analyze media reporting on outbreaks of influenza and measles as well as smoking habits and medication compliance. However, no media analysis had yet been performed on the 2013–2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak. This study compared the EVD information relayed by lay press sources with general review articles in the academic literature through a mixed-methods analysis. These findings suggest that comprehensive review articles could not serve as a source to clarify and contextualize the uncertainties around the EVD outbreak, perhaps due to adherence to technical accuracy at the expense of clarity within the context of outbreak conditions. This finding does not imply inferiority of the academic literature, nor does it draw direct causation between confusion in review articles and public misunderstanding. Given the erosion of the barriers siloing academia, combined with the demands of today’s fast-paced media environment, contemporary researchers should realize that no study is outside the public forum and to therefore consider shifting the paradigm to take personal responsibility in the process of accurately translating their scientific words into public policy actions to best serve as a source of clarity. PMID:28640889

Amorphous SiC/c-ZnO-Based Quasi-Lamb Mode Sensor for Liquid Environments.

PubMed

Caliendo, Cinzia; Hamidullah, Muhammad; Laidoudi, Farouk

2017-05-25

The propagation of the quasi-Lamb modes along a-SiC/ZnO thin composite plates was modeled and analysed with the aim to design a sensor able to detect the changes in parameters of a liquid environment, such as added mass and viscosity changes. The modes propagation was modeled by numerically solving the system of coupled electro-mechanical field equations in three media. The mode shape, the power flow, the phase velocity, and the electroacoustic coupling efficiency (K²) of the modes were calculated, specifically addressing the design of enhanced-coupling, microwave frequency sensors for applications in probing the solid/liquid interface. Three modes were identified that have predominant longitudinal polarization, high phase velocity, and quite good K²: the fundamental quasi symmetric mode (qS₀) and two higher order quasi-longitudinal modes (qL₁ and qL₂) with a dominantly longitudinal displacement component in one plate side. The velocity and attenuation of these modes were calculated for different liquid viscosities and added mass, and the gravimetric and viscosity sensitivities of both the phase velocity and attenuation were theoretically calculated. The present study highlights the feasibility of the a-SiC/ZnO acoustic waveguides for the development of high-frequency, integrated-circuit compatible electroacoustic devices suitable for working in a liquid environment.

Parents and Adolescents Growing up in the Digital Age: Latent Growth Curve Analysis of Proactive Media Monitoring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padilla-Walker, Laura M.; Coyne, Sarah M.; Fraser, Ashley M.; Dyer, W. Justin; Yorgason, Jeremy B.

2012-01-01

The current study examined how parents' use of restrictive and active monitoring and deference changed over three years, and examined both adolescent and parent characteristics as predictors of initial levels of media monitoring, as well as change in media monitoring. Participants included 276 mother-child dyads (M age of child = 12.08, SD = 0.63,…

Changing Media Representations of Youth in the News--A Content Analysis of Danish Newspapers 1953-2003

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levinsen, Klaus; Wien, Charlotte

2011-01-01

Media plays an important role in shaping public perceptions of youth. Previous studies have shown consistently negative images of youth in news media through a heavy focus on crime, accidents, and moral decay. Most research in this area has only collected data over short timeframes, which makes it difficult to register possible changes in modes of…

Social Media Use and Access to Digital Technology in US Young Adults in 2016.

PubMed

Villanti, Andrea C; Johnson, Amanda L; Ilakkuvan, Vinu; Jacobs, Megan A; Graham, Amanda L; Rath, Jessica M

2017-06-07

In 2015, 90% of US young adults with Internet access used social media. Digital and social media are highly prevalent modalities through which young adults explore identity formation, and by extension, learn and transmit norms about health and risk behaviors during this developmental life stage. The purpose of this study was to provide updated estimates of social media use from 2014 to 2016 and correlates of social media use and access to digital technology in data collected from a national sample of US young adults in 2016. Young adult participants aged 18-24 years in Wave 7 (October 2014, N=1259) and Wave 9 (February 2016, N=989) of the Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort Study were asked about use frequency for 11 social media sites and access to digital devices, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics. Regular use was defined as using a given social media site at least weekly. Weighted analyses estimated the prevalence of use of each social media site, overlap between regular use of specific sites, and correlates of using a greater number of social media sites regularly. Bivariate analyses identified sociodemographic correlates of access to specific digital devices. In 2014, 89.42% (weighted n, 1126/1298) of young adults reported regular use of at least one social media site. This increased to 97.5% (weighted n, 965/989) of young adults in 2016. Among regular users of social media sites in 2016, the top five sites were Tumblr (85.5%), Vine (84.7%), Snapchat (81.7%), Instagram (80.7%), and LinkedIn (78.9%). Respondents reported regularly using an average of 7.6 social media sites, with 85% using 6 or more sites regularly. Overall, 87% of young adults reported access or use of a smartphone with Internet access, 74% a desktop or laptop computer with Internet access, 41% a tablet with Internet access, 29% a smart TV or video game console with Internet access, 11% a cell phone without Internet access, and 3% none of these. Access to all digital devices with Internet was lower in those reporting a lower subjective financial situation; there were also significant differences in access to specific digital devices with Internet by race, ethnicity, and education. The high mean number of social media sites used regularly and the substantial overlap in use of multiple social media sites reflect the rapidly changing social media environment. Mobile devices are a primary channel for social media, and our study highlights disparities in access to digital technologies with Internet access among US young adults by race/ethnicity, education, and subjective financial status. Findings from this study may guide the development and implementation of future health interventions for young adults delivered via the Internet or social media sites. ©Andrea C Villanti, Amanda L Johnson, Vinu Ilakkuvan, Megan A Jacobs, Amanda L Graham, Jessica M Rath. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 07.06.2017.

Social Media Use and Access to Digital Technology in US Young Adults in 2016

PubMed Central

Johnson, Amanda L; Ilakkuvan, Vinu; Jacobs, Megan A; Graham, Amanda L; Rath, Jessica M

2017-01-01

Background In 2015, 90% of US young adults with Internet access used social media. Digital and social media are highly prevalent modalities through which young adults explore identity formation, and by extension, learn and transmit norms about health and risk behaviors during this developmental life stage. Objective The purpose of this study was to provide updated estimates of social media use from 2014 to 2016 and correlates of social media use and access to digital technology in data collected from a national sample of US young adults in 2016. Methods Young adult participants aged 18-24 years in Wave 7 (October 2014, N=1259) and Wave 9 (February 2016, N=989) of the Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort Study were asked about use frequency for 11 social media sites and access to digital devices, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics. Regular use was defined as using a given social media site at least weekly. Weighted analyses estimated the prevalence of use of each social media site, overlap between regular use of specific sites, and correlates of using a greater number of social media sites regularly. Bivariate analyses identified sociodemographic correlates of access to specific digital devices. Results In 2014, 89.42% (weighted n, 1126/1298) of young adults reported regular use of at least one social media site. This increased to 97.5% (weighted n, 965/989) of young adults in 2016. Among regular users of social media sites in 2016, the top five sites were Tumblr (85.5%), Vine (84.7%), Snapchat (81.7%), Instagram (80.7%), and LinkedIn (78.9%). Respondents reported regularly using an average of 7.6 social media sites, with 85% using 6 or more sites regularly. Overall, 87% of young adults reported access or use of a smartphone with Internet access, 74% a desktop or laptop computer with Internet access, 41% a tablet with Internet access, 29% a smart TV or video game console with Internet access, 11% a cell phone without Internet access, and 3% none of these. Access to all digital devices with Internet was lower in those reporting a lower subjective financial situation; there were also significant differences in access to specific digital devices with Internet by race, ethnicity, and education. Conclusions The high mean number of social media sites used regularly and the substantial overlap in use of multiple social media sites reflect the rapidly changing social media environment. Mobile devices are a primary channel for social media, and our study highlights disparities in access to digital technologies with Internet access among US young adults by race/ethnicity, education, and subjective financial status. Findings from this study may guide the development and implementation of future health interventions for young adults delivered via the Internet or social media sites. PMID:28592394

A Primer on Social Media for Plastic Surgeons: What Do I Need to Know About Social Media and How Can It Help My Practice?

PubMed

Gould, Daniel J; Grant Stevens, W; Nazarian, Sheila

2017-05-01

Social media has changed the way plastic surgeons interact with their colleagues, patients, and friends. Social media is a rapidly changing phenomenon that it is critical to plastic surgeons and their practice. Plastic surgery can be marketed directly to consumers and therefore social media can provide a valuable platform to interact with potential patients and to define a surgeon's expertise and practice online. Social media impacts search engine optimization algorithms, increasing web traffic to a surgeon's site, and it can affect patients' perceptions of the practice and surgeon. Social media is a powerful tool, but it should be harnessed wisely to avoid potential pitfalls. This article provides an overview of social media, an outline of resources for surgeons to use, and some tips and tricks for new users. © 2017 The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Inc. Reprints and permission: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Media impact switching surface during an infectious disease outbreak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Yanni; Tang, Sanyi; Wu, Jianhong

2015-01-01

There are many challenges to quantifying and evaluating the media impact on the control of emerging infectious diseases. We modeled such media impacts using a piecewise smooth function depending on both the case number and its rate of change. The proposed model was then converted into a switching system, with the switching surface determined by a functional relationship between susceptible populations and different subgroups of infectives. By parameterizing the proposed model with the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza outbreak data in the Shaanxi province of China, we observed that media impact switched off almost as the epidemic peaked. Our analysis implies that media coverage significantly delayed the epidemic's peak and decreased the severity of the outbreak. Moreover, media impacts are not always effective in lowering the disease transmission during the entire outbreak, but switch on and off in a highly nonlinear fashion with the greatest effect during the early stage of the outbreak. The finding draws the attention to the important role of informing the public about `the rate of change of case numbers' rather than `the absolute number of cases' to alter behavioral changes, through a self-adaptive media impact switching on and off, for better control of disease transmission.

Plant Materials are Sustainable Substrates Supporting New Technologies of Plant-Only-Based Culture Media for in vitro Culturing of the Plant Microbiota

PubMed Central

Mourad, Elhussein F; Sarhan, Mohamed S; Daanaa, Hassan-Sibroe A; Abdou, Mennatullah; Morsi, Ahmed T; Abdelfadeel, Mohamed R; Elsawey, Hend; Nemr, Rahma; El-Tahan, Mahmoud; Hamza, Mervat A; Abbas, Mohamed; Youssef, Hanan H; Abdelhadi, Abdelhadi A; Amer, Wafaa M; Fayez, Mohamed; Ruppel, Silke; Hegazi, Nabil A

2018-01-01

In order to improve the culturability and biomass production of rhizobacteria, we previously introduced plant-only-based culture media. We herein attempted to widen the scope of plant materials suitable for the preparation of plant-only-based culture media. We chemically analyzed the refuse of turfgrass, cactus, and clover. They were sufficiently rich to support good in vitro growth by rhizobacteria isolates representing Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. They were also adequate and efficient to produce a cell biomass in liquid batch cultures. These culture media were as sufficient as artificial culture media for the cultivation and recovery of the in situ rhizobacteria of barley (Hordeum murinum L.). Based on culture-dependent (CFU plate counting) and culture-independent analyses (qPCR), mowed turfgrass, in particular, supported the highest culturable population of barley endophytes, representing >16% of the total bacterial number quantified with qPCR. This accurately reflected the endophytic community composition, in terms of diversity indices (S′, H′, and D′) based on PCR-DGGE, and clustered the plant culture media together with the qPCR root populations away from the artificial culture media. Despite the promiscuous nature of the plant materials tested to culture the plant microbiome, our results indicated that plant materials of a homologous nature to the tested host plant, at least at the family level, and/or of the same environment were more likely to be selected. Plant-only-based culture media require further refinements in order to provide selectivity for the in vitro growth of members of the plant microbiome, particularly difficult-to-culture bacteria. This will provide insights into their hidden roles in the environment and support future culturomic studies. PMID:29479006

Plant Materials are Sustainable Substrates Supporting New Technologies of Plant-Only-Based Culture Media for in vitro Culturing of the Plant Microbiota.

PubMed

Mourad, Elhussein F; Sarhan, Mohamed S; Daanaa, Hassan-Sibroe A; Abdou, Mennatullah; Morsi, Ahmed T; Abdelfadeel, Mohamed R; Elsawey, Hend; Nemr, Rahma; El-Tahan, Mahmoud; Hamza, Mervat A; Abbas, Mohamed; Youssef, Hanan H; Abdelhadi, Abdelhadi A; Amer, Wafaa M; Fayez, Mohamed; Ruppel, Silke; Hegazi, Nabil A

2018-03-29

In order to improve the culturability and biomass production of rhizobacteria, we previously introduced plant-only-based culture media. We herein attempted to widen the scope of plant materials suitable for the preparation of plant-only-based culture media. We chemically analyzed the refuse of turfgrass, cactus, and clover. They were sufficiently rich to support good in vitro growth by rhizobacteria isolates representing Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. They were also adequate and efficient to produce a cell biomass in liquid batch cultures. These culture media were as sufficient as artificial culture media for the cultivation and recovery of the in situ rhizobacteria of barley (Hordeum murinum L.). Based on culture-dependent (CFU plate counting) and culture-independent analyses (qPCR), mowed turfgrass, in particular, supported the highest culturable population of barley endophytes, representing >16% of the total bacterial number quantified with qPCR. This accurately reflected the endophytic community composition, in terms of diversity indices (S', H', and D') based on PCR-DGGE, and clustered the plant culture media together with the qPCR root populations away from the artificial culture media. Despite the promiscuous nature of the plant materials tested to culture the plant microbiome, our results indicated that plant materials of a homologous nature to the tested host plant, at least at the family level, and/or of the same environment were more likely to be selected. Plant-only-based culture media require further refinements in order to provide selectivity for the in vitro growth of members of the plant microbiome, particularly difficult-to-culture bacteria. This will provide insights into their hidden roles in the environment and support future culturomic studies.

iSeeChange: Crowdsourced Climate Change Reporting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drapkin, J. K.

2012-12-01

Directly engaging local communities about their climate change experiences has never been more important. As weather and climate become more unpredictable, these experiences provide a baseline for community decisions, developing adaptation strategies, and planning for the future. Typically, climate change is documented in a top-down fashion: a scientist has a question, makes observations, and publishes a study; in the best case scenario, a journalist reports on the results; if there's time, a local anecdote is sought to put the results in a familiar context. iSeeChange, a public media project funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reports local environmental change in reverse and turns community questions and conversations with scientists into reported stories that promote opportunities to learn about climate change's affects on the environment and daily life. iSeeChange engages residents of the North Fork Valley region of western Colorado in a multiplatform conversation with scientists about how they perceive their environment is changing through the course of a year - season to season. By bringing together public radio, a mobile reporting and cellular engagement strategy, and a custom crowdsourcing multimedia platform, iSeeChange provides a central access point to collect observations (texts, photographs, voice recordings, and video), organize conversations and interviews with scientists, and report stories online and on air. In this way, iSeeChange is building a dynamic crowdsourced reservoir of information that can increase awareness of environmental problems and potentially disseminate useful information about climate change and successful adaptation strategies. Ultimately, by understanding the community's information needs in a localized question-driven context, the iSeeChange platform presents opportunities for the science community to better understand the value of information and develop better ways to tailor information for communities to use in the future.t;

Is It Facebook Official? Coming Out and Passing Strategies of Young Adult Gay Men on Social Media.

PubMed

Owens, Zachary D

2017-01-01

The rapid proliferation of social media, mobile applications, and Internet technologies has shifted a wide variety of social interaction from physical spaces to an online environment. Drawing from 42 semistructured, in-depth interviews with gay college-aged men between the ages of 18 and 27, this article explores these changing patterns of social interaction among gay men. I discuss three strategies of identity management college-aged gay men use to disclose or conceal their sexual identity to others. The first group of men, "Out and Proud," uses Facebook as a way to celebrate and reaffirm their sexual identity, in addition to actively coming out to others on the social media Web site. The second group, "Out and Discreet," uses Facebook to indirectly come out to some of their friends while hiding this information from others. The men in the last group I identify, "Facebook Closeted," actively manage their online profiles to ensure their sexual identity is not exposed. Facebook is both transformative and risky for college-aged gay men, as it represents a new platform for them to come out as gay to friends and family, as well as other areas of their lives where they must actively manage the presentation of their sexual identity.

Change in Elasticity Caused by Flow-Mediated Dilation Measured Only for Intima-Media Region of Brachial Artery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugimoto, Masataka; Hasegawa, Hideyuki; Kanai, Hiroshi

2005-08-01

Endothelial dysfunction is considered to be an initial step of arteriosclerosis [R. Ross: N. Engl. J. Med. 340 (2004) 115]. For the assessment of the endothelium function, brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) caused by increased blood flow has been evaluated with ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. In the case of conventional methods, the change in artery diameter caused by FMD is measured [M. Hashimoto et al.: Circulation 92 (1995) 3431]. Although the arterial wall has a layered structure (intima, media, and adventitia), such a structure is not taken into account in conventional methods because the change in diameter depends on the characteristic of the entire wall. However, smooth muscle present only in the media contributes to FMD, whereas the collagen-rich hard adventitia does not contribute. In this study, we measure the change in elasticity of only the intima-media region including smooth muscle using the phased tracking method [H. Kanai et al.: IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 43 (1996) 791]. From the change in elasticity, FMD measured only for the intima-media region by our proposed method was found to be more sensitive than that measured for the entire wall by the conventional method.

Media and the Rise of Celebrity Culture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henderson, Amy

1992-01-01

Addresses the media's role in changing the nature of heroes in the United States. Describes the changes in cultural values that resulted in statesmen and soldiers being replaced by athletes and film and television celebrities. Attributes change to the development of the consumer society, centralization of the entertainment industry, and advances…

Activism or "Slacktivism?": Digital Media and Organizing for Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glenn, Cerise L.

2015-01-01

The influence of social media and technological developments has changed how groups and organizations advocating for social change generate awareness and participation in their causes. In this single class activity students will (a) analyze notions of activism and "slacktivism" from scholarly and popular sources to apply these concepts…

Flow of emulsion droplets in 3D porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Chao; Shi, Lin; Parsa, Shima; Weitz, David

2017-11-01

We study the pore-level behavior of large emulsion droplets in 3D micromodel of porous media using confocal microscopy. We match the index of refraction of the emulsion droplets and the ambient fluid to the porous media. The emulsion droplets are uniform in size and generated using microfluidics. We measure the changes in the fluid velocity as the emulsion droplets flow in the medium using particle image velocimetry. We find that due to the trapping and flow of emulsion the velocities change locally. These changes are particularly beneficial in enhanced oil recovery.

The Advertising Marketplace and the Media Planning Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lloyd, Carla V.; Slater, Jan; Robbs, Brett

2000-01-01

Surveys media professionals as to how major marketplace changes are affecting the way media planning courses should be taught. Offers recommendations to teach students to: think conceptually, critically, and creatively; use numbers to determine and support their media decisions; contend with audience fragmentation and advertising clutter;…

An Alternative Organizational Structure to Address the Technology Requirements in Health Science Library Information in the '80's

PubMed Central

Winant, Richard M.

1983-01-01

Virginia Commonwealth University's University Library Services offers through its organizational structure an opportunity for librarians to work directly with media experts. University Library Services envisions the future librarian as an information manager, information specialist, and teacher. In joining together Technical Services, Public Services, Collection Management, Special Collections, Learning Resource Centers, Media Production Center, AV Services, TV Services, Engineering and Telecommunications, the librarian is in an environment which gives the opportunity for growth and support by media expertise.

LADEE NASA Social

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-05

Jason Townsend, NASA's Deputy Social Media Manager, kicks off the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) NASA Social at Wallops Flight Facility, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013 on Wallops Island, VA. Fifty of NASA's social media followers are attending a two-day event in support of the LADEE launch. Data from LADEE will provide unprecedented information about the environment around the moon and give scientists a better understanding of other planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond. LADEE is scheduled to launch at 11:27 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Channeling of Branched Flow in Weakly Scattering Anisotropic Media.

PubMed

Degueldre, Henri; Metzger, Jakob J; Schultheis, Erik; Fleischmann, Ragnar

2017-01-13

When waves propagate through weakly scattering but correlated, disordered environments they are randomly focused into pronounced branchlike structures, a phenomenon referred to as branched flow, which has been studied in a wide range of isotropic random media. In many natural environments, however, the fluctuations of the random medium typically show pronounced anisotropies. A prominent example is the focusing of tsunami waves by the anisotropic structure of the ocean floor topography. We study the influence of anisotropy on such natural focusing events and find a strong and nonintuitive dependence on the propagation angle which we explain by semiclassical theory.

The Use of Current Media in Literature and Composition at the Community College Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laughlin, Jody

Current media--films, videos, television programs, advertising in both print and television, and newspaper and magazine articles--can be successfully employed in college literature and composition classes, enhancing the learning environment by involving those students who might otherwise show disinterest. For example, a unit on pornography,…

77 FR 39741 - Solicitation for a Cooperative Agreement-Curricula Review and Revision: NIC Trainer Development...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-05

... virtual instructor-led trainings on, for example, distance learning or the effective use of social media in a learning environment. This medium is also ideal for orientation, expectations, and other basics; (C) Reading assignments on current research; (D) Discussion forums, blogs, and/or social media...

Activity Theory and Technology Mediated Interaction: Cognitive Scaffolding Using Question-Based Consultation on "Facebook"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rambe, Patient

2012-01-01

Studies that employed activity theory as a theoretical lens for exploring computer-mediated interaction have not adopted social media as their object of study. However, social media provides lecturers with personalised learning environments for diagnostic and prognostic assessments of student mastery of content and deep learning. The integration…

40 CFR 1065.595 - PM sample post-conditioning and total weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... sample media (e.g., filters) to the weighing and PM-stabilization environments. (a) Make sure the...). If those specifications are not met, leave the test sample media (e.g., filters) covered until proper.... If you use filters, you may remove them from their cassettes before or after stabilization. We...

40 CFR 1065.595 - PM sample post-conditioning and total weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... sample media (e.g., filters) to the weighing and PM-stabilization environments. (a) Make sure the...). If those specifications are not met, leave the test sample media (e.g., filters) covered until proper.... If you use filters, you may remove them from their cassettes before or after stabilization. We...

40 CFR 1065.595 - PM sample post-conditioning and total weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... sample media (e.g., filters) to the weighing and PM-stabilization environments. (a) Make sure the...). If those specifications are not met, leave the test sample media (e.g., filters) covered until proper.... If you use filters, you may remove them from their cassettes before or after stabilization. We...

40 CFR 1065.595 - PM sample post-conditioning and total weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... sample media (e.g., filters) to the weighing and PM-stabilization environments. (a) Make sure the...). If those specifications are not met, leave the test sample media (e.g., filters) covered until proper.... If you use filters, you may remove them from their cassettes before or after stabilization. We...

40 CFR 1065.595 - PM sample post-conditioning and total weighing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... sample media (e.g., filters) to the weighing and PM-stabilization environments. (a) Make sure the...). If those specifications are not met, leave the test sample media (e.g., filters) covered until proper.... If you use filters, you may remove them from their cassettes before or after stabilization. We...

Canaries in the Coal Mine: Perceptions of Threat and Media System Dependency Relations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loges, William E.

1994-01-01

Investigates whether the intensity and scope of media system dependency (MSD) relations are positively related to perceptions of threats in the environment. Finds that higher perceptions of threat are associated with more intense MSD relations; threat perceptions are strong predictors of the intensity of MSD relations when demographic variables…

Teaching Critical Thinking through Media Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sperry, Chris

2012-01-01

Today more than ever, students want their school experience to be relevant. They live and learn in a media-saturated environment where information abounds, but wisdom is often lacking. Teachers must tie their science curricula to students' real-life experiences: When their students see the utility of scientific thought and reason in helping them…

Collection and Collaboration: Science in Michigan Middle School Media Centers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mardis, Marcia; Hoffman, Ellen

2007-01-01

In many ways, science classrooms and school library media centers are parallel universes struggling with their own reform issues and with documenting their own positive impacts. As the trend toward data-driven decisions grows in the school setting, it is increasingly important for every component of the learning environment to have demonstrable…

Criticism and Assessment Applied to New Media Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ursyn, Anna

2015-01-01

This text examines educational criticism and assessment with an emphasis on the new media arts. The article shares with readers the versatile, abridged to four points criteria, based on a research on assessment made by students, faculty, and non-art-related professionals, thus providing a preliminary tool for the use in the classroom environment.…

The Mass Media and Modern Society. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rivers, William L.; And Others

The focus throughout this second edition is on the 1970's and the impact of mass communication on contemporary society. Analyzing the ways in which communication affects and is, in turn, affected by society, the book examines the social, economic, and intellectual environments in which the media operate. Two intellectual factors which have had the…

Effect of iodinated X-ray contrast media in the formation of disinfection byproduts during chlorination and chloramination of water

EPA Science Inventory

Iodinated X-ray contrast media (ICMs), used in medical imaging, are poorly metabolized by humans and enter wastewater. As they are incompletely removed during wastewater treatment, ICMs are released to the aquatic environment and have been detected in drinking water sources. ICMs...

Science and Math in the Library Media Center Using GLOBE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aquino, Teresa L.; Levine, Elissa R.

2003-01-01

Describes the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program which helps school library media specialists and science and math teachers bring earth science, math, information literacy, information technology, and student inquiry into the classroom. Discusses use of the Internet to create a global network to study the…

Learning and Role of the Family in New Media Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimic, Jasmina Vrkic; Petani, Rozana; Tolic, Mirela

2012-01-01

Media are inseparable from upbringing and education. Different information sources should be a supplement to the basic educational relation between the teacher and students. But, immediate and dialogue based relation between the students and teacher, and between parents and their children, cannot be replaced or suppressed by any type of media…

Social Media Use in Algerian Universities: University of Constantine 2 Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boumarafi, Behdja

2015-01-01

Social media technologies initially used for socializing, and entertainment have in recent years expanded their reaches into learning activities providing an open space for students' engagement. The positive effect of such technologies on pedagogy is to make learning applicable to the cyber environment to achieve independent and collaborative…

Unintended Results of Using Instructional Media: A Study of Second- and Third-Graders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flanagan, Robin

Much of the research on classroom use of educational media has been hampered by difficulties in isolating a single element of the medium--television programming, for instance--that influences behavior in a reliable way. Still, each medium facilitates a particular type of learning environment, and the collective characteristics of those…

Learning Science in Virtual Reality Multimedia Environments: Role of Methods and Media.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moreno, Roxana; Mayer, Richard E.

2002-01-01

College students learned about botany through an agent-based multimedia game. Students received either spoken or identical on-screen text explanations. Results reveal that students scored higher on retention, transfer, and program ratings in narration conditions than in text conditions. The media--desktop displays or headmounted displays--did not…

Media Embedded Interactions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, J. David

A review of literature and two surveys, one of college students and one of a random sample of adults, were used to examine four aspects of media embedded interactions (social behavior in front of a TV or radio): their functions, their environment, their effects, and the reactions of the interactants to them. Television is seen as performing a…

Mass media and environmental issues: a theoretical analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parlour, J.W.

1980-01-01

A critique of the weak empirical and theoretical foundations of commentaries on the mass media in the environmental literature argues that they stem from the incidental rather than fundamental concern for the social dimensions of environmental problems. The contributions of information theory, cybernetics, sociology, and political science to micro and macro theories of mass communications are reviewed. Information from empirical analyses of the mass media's portrayal of social issues, including the environment, is related to Hall's dominant ideology thesis of the mass media and the elitist-conflict model of society. It is argued that the media's portrayal of environmental issues ismore » structured by dominant power-holding groups in society with the result that the media effectively function to maintain and reinforce the status quo to the advantage of these dominant groups. 78 references.« less

Cancer Risk-Promoting Information: The Communication Environment of Young Adults.

PubMed

McCloud, Rachel F; Kohler, Racquel E; Viswanath, K

2017-09-01

Young adulthood represents a time of myriad transitions, which leave young adults (YAs) more susceptible to the influences of cancer risk-promoting information. The tobacco, alcohol, indoor tanning, and food and beverage industries engage in aggressive marketing strategies through both traditional and social media to target this age group to consume their products, which have known links to cancer. Despite this barrage of messaging, detailed data are lacking on the communication behaviors of subgroups of this diverse age group, particularly those from low SES. This paper explores the available data on media usage among YAs and describes the cancer risk-promoting information environment, with a focus on communication inequalities and their implications for cancer research and control. Nationally representative data on media consumption patterns indicate that the majority of YAs access a diverse range of traditional and social media platforms, but these data do not fully describe differences at the intersection of age and important factors such as SES, gender, race/ethnicity, or urban/rural residence. Meanwhile, risk-promoting information is heavily marketed to YAs across media, with an increasing focus on using social media sites to normalize products and evade marketing restrictions. Gaps in the available data on YAs' media consumption behaviors, coupled with aggressive risk-promoting marketing strategies toward YAs, may impede cancer control efforts. Relationships between exposure to various cancer risk-promoting information, concurrent risk behaviors, SES disparities, and communication inequalities should be investigated to develop innovative and effective control programs and policies to promote cancer control in this important group. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Data Mining in Social Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbier, Geoffrey; Liu, Huan

The rise of online social media is providing a wealth of social network data. Data mining techniques provide researchers and practitioners the tools needed to analyze large, complex, and frequently changing social media data. This chapter introduces the basics of data mining, reviews social media, discusses how to mine social media data, and highlights some illustrative examples with an emphasis on social networking sites and blogs.

The Online Dissemination of Nature–Health Concepts: Lessons from Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Relating to “Nature-Deficit Disorder”

PubMed Central

Palomino, Marco; Taylor, Tim; Göker, Ayse; Isaacs, John; Warber, Sara

2016-01-01

Evidence continues to grow supporting the idea that restorative environments, green exercise, and nature-based activities positively impact human health. Nature-deficit disorder, a journalistic term proposed to describe the ill effects of people’s alienation from nature, is not yet formally recognized as a medical diagnosis. However, over the past decade, the phrase has been enthusiastically taken up by some segments of the lay public. Social media, such as Twitter, with its opportunities to gather “big data” related to public opinions, offers a medium for exploring the discourse and dissemination around nature-deficit disorder and other nature–health concepts. In this paper, we report our experience of collecting more than 175,000 tweets, applying sentiment analysis to measure positive, neutral or negative feelings, and preliminarily mapping the impact on dissemination. Sentiment analysis is currently used to investigate the repercussions of events in social networks, scrutinize opinions about products and services, and understand various aspects of the communication in Web-based communities. Based on a comparison of nature-deficit-disorder “hashtags” and more generic nature hashtags, we make recommendations for the better dissemination of public health messages through changes to the framing of messages. We show the potential of Twitter to aid in better understanding the impact of the natural environment on human health and wellbeing. PMID:26797628

The Online Dissemination of Nature-Health Concepts: Lessons from Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Relating to "Nature-Deficit Disorder".

PubMed

Palomino, Marco; Taylor, Tim; Göker, Ayse; Isaacs, John; Warber, Sara

2016-01-19

Evidence continues to grow supporting the idea that restorative environments, green exercise, and nature-based activities positively impact human health. Nature-deficit disorder, a journalistic term proposed to describe the ill effects of people's alienation from nature, is not yet formally recognized as a medical diagnosis. However, over the past decade, the phrase has been enthusiastically taken up by some segments of the lay public. Social media, such as Twitter, with its opportunities to gather "big data" related to public opinions, offers a medium for exploring the discourse and dissemination around nature-deficit disorder and other nature-health concepts. In this paper, we report our experience of collecting more than 175,000 tweets, applying sentiment analysis to measure positive, neutral or negative feelings, and preliminarily mapping the impact on dissemination. Sentiment analysis is currently used to investigate the repercussions of events in social networks, scrutinize opinions about products and services, and understand various aspects of the communication in Web-based communities. Based on a comparison of nature-deficit-disorder "hashtags" and more generic nature hashtags, we make recommendations for the better dissemination of public health messages through changes to the framing of messages. We show the potential of Twitter to aid in better understanding the impact of the natural environment on human health and wellbeing.

Block ionomer complexes as prospective nanocontainers for drug delivery.

PubMed

Oh, Kyung T; Bronich, Tatiana K; Bromberg, Lev; Hatton, T Alan; Kabanov, Alexander V

2006-09-28

Nanosized environmentally responsive materials are of special interest for various applications, including drug delivery. Block ionomer complexes (BIC) composed of graft-comb copolymers of Pluronic and poly(acrylic acid) (Pluronic-PAA) and a model cationic surfactant, hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB), were synthesized by mixing the polymer and surfactant in aqueous media. According to TEM, the resulting BIC represented spherical particles of nanoscale size (50 to 100 nm). The stability of the BIC in the aqueous dispersion depended on the lengths of the hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) and hydrophobic poly(propylene oxide) chains in Pluronic molecules as well as on the surface charge of the resulting complexes. The latter was controlled by changing the ratio of the Pluronic-PAA and HTAB in the BIC and by changing the pH due to reversible ionization of the PAA chains. The acidification of the media below pH 6.0 resulted in the appearance of a strong positive charge on the BIC, which in the intracellular environment can trigger interaction of such BIC with the cell membranes. An efficient solubilization of a model hydrophobic molecule, Sudan III, and a drug, Etoposide, in such BIC was demonstrated with the loading capacities of about 6 to 15% by weight of the dispersed complex. Overall, these BIC wield a promise as environmentally responsive nanocarriers for pharmaceuticals.

Uranium (VI) transport in saturated heterogeneous media: Influence of kaolinite and humic acid.

PubMed

Chen, Chong; Zhao, Kang; Shang, Jianying; Liu, Chongxuan; Wang, Jin; Yan, Zhifeng; Liu, Kesi; Wu, Wenliang

2018-05-07

Natural aquifers typically exhibit a variety of structural heterogeneities. However, the effect of mineral colloids and natural organic matter on the transport behavior of uranium (U) in saturated heterogeneous media are not totally understood. In this study, heterogeneous column experiments were conducted, and the constructed columns contained a fast-flow domain (FFD) and a slow-flow domain (SFD). The effect of kaolinite, humic acid (HA), and kaolinite/HA mixture on U(VI) retention and release in saturated heterogeneous media was examined. Media heterogeneity significantly influenced U fate and transport behavior in saturated subsurface environment. The presence of kaolinite, HA, and kaolinite/HA enhanced the mobility of U in heterogeneous media, and the mobility of U was the highest in the presence of kaolinite/HA and the lowest in the presence of kaolinite. In the presence of kaolinite, there was no difference in the amount of U released from the FFD and SFD. However, in the presence of HA and kaolinite/HA, a higher amount of U was released from the FFD. The findings in this study showed that medium structure and mineral colloids, as well as natural organic matter in the aqueous phase had significant effects on U transport and fate in subsurface environment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gender, mass media and social change: a case study of TV commercials.

PubMed

Gupta, A K; Jain, N

1998-01-01

Informing, entertaining, and persuading, mass media, especially television, is a powerful factor in the functioning of and change in any society. Mass media can be studied in its various roles as an agent of social change, a reflector of dominant values, and as a reinforcer of dominant values. Results from a 1997 spot survey of 150 television commercials presented on Doordarshan over a 4-week period support the role of the mass media in India as a reflector and reinforcer of dominant cultural values. By indirectly projecting the social norms on how women are expected to behave, television commercials have reproduced patriarchal values in India which are reinforced through the glamorization and naturalization of women's domestic roles, by glorifying the role of mother, by portraying women in public life in soft roles and subordinate jobs, and popularizing the image of women as sex objects and objects of beauty. Changes should be made in the way television in India portrays women to reflect their changing roles and positions in society.

Vroom: designing an augmented environment for remote collaboration in digital cinema production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Margolis, Todd; Cornish, Tracy

2013-03-01

As media technologies become increasingly affordable, compact and inherently networked, new generations of telecollaborative platforms continue to arise which integrate these new affordances. Virtual reality has been primarily concerned with creating simulations of environments that can transport participants to real or imagined spaces that replace the "real world". Meanwhile Augmented Reality systems have evolved to interleave objects from Virtual Reality environments into the physical landscape. Perhaps now there is a new class of systems that reverse this precept to enhance dynamic media landscapes and immersive physical display environments to enable intuitive data exploration through collaboration. Vroom (Virtual Room) is a next-generation reconfigurable tiled display environment in development at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at the University of California, San Diego. Vroom enables freely scalable digital collaboratories, connecting distributed, high-resolution visualization resources for collaborative work in the sciences, engineering and the arts. Vroom transforms a physical space into an immersive media environment with large format interactive display surfaces, video teleconferencing and spatialized audio built on a highspeed optical network backbone. Vroom enables group collaboration for local and remote participants to share knowledge and experiences. Possible applications include: remote learning, command and control, storyboarding, post-production editorial review, high resolution video playback, 3D visualization, screencasting and image, video and multimedia file sharing. To support these various scenarios, Vroom features support for multiple user interfaces (optical tracking, touch UI, gesture interface, etc.), support for directional and spatialized audio, giga-pixel image interactivity, 4K video streaming, 3D visualization and telematic production. This paper explains the design process that has been utilized to make Vroom an accessible and intuitive immersive environment for remote collaboration specifically for digital cinema production.

The Interaction of Production and Consumption in the News Media Social Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, Gary; Kerrigan, Finola; Mehmood, Rashid; Rahman, Mustafizur

Newspapers are operating in increasingly competitive and fragmented markets for audiences and advertising revenues, government media policy and changing audience requirements for news and the ways in which it is presented and delivered. A growing army of bloggers and amateur citizen journalists now delivers - but rarely edits - content for all media platforms, while new media technologies, combined with the changing structure of global news industries, are radically changing the ways in which newspapers and media business functions and struggles for profitability. Our research sought to answer the question of how the internet is impacting on producer/consumer value activities in the news media supply chain. To answer this question initial descriptive statistical analysis was performed on 51 newspapers. This was followed by a focus group undertaken with London-based news media organizations and bloggers. The findings showed that in spite of initial fear and rejection, the internet is now firmly embedded in news media supply chain operations. Firms are now using the internet as an operant resource and working proactively with consumers to develop various forms of relationship value. We highlight the role of consumers in the creation of news (editorial) content and consumer-driven moves toward a merged media platform of distribution (including television, online, mobile and printed forms). Regional news media organizations will probably continue to survive if they are able to supply a highly specialized and 'hyper local' community service. This will be in the form of 'hybrid' content: analysis, interpretation and investigative reporting in a print product that appears less than daily combined with constant updating and reader interaction on the web.

Media-Augmented Exercise Machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krueger, T.

2002-01-01

Cardio-vascular exercise has been used to mitigate the muscle and cardiac atrophy associated with adaptation to micro-gravity environments. Several hours per day may be required. In confined spaces and long duration missions this kind of exercise is inevitably repetitive and rapidly becomes uninteresting. At the same time, there are pressures to accomplish as much as possible given the cost- per-hour for humans occupying orbiting or interplanetary. Media augmentation provides a the means to overlap activities in time by supplementing the exercise with social, recreational, training or collaborative activities and thereby reducing time pressures. In addition, the machine functions as an interface to a wide range of digital environments allowing for spatial variety in an otherwise confined environment. We hypothesize that the adoption of media augmented exercise machines will have a positive effect on psycho-social well-being on long duration missions. By organizing and supplementing exercise machines, data acquisition hardware, computers and displays into an interacting system this proposal increases functionality with limited additional mass. This paper reviews preliminary work on a project to augment exercise equipment in a manner that addresses these issues and at the same time opens possibilities for additional benefits. A testbed augmented exercise machine uses a specialty built cycle trainer as both input to a virtual environment and as an output device from it using spatialized sound, and visual displays, vibration transducers and variable resistance. The resulting interactivity increases a sense of engagement in the exercise, provides a rich experience of the digital environments. Activities in the virtual environment and accompanying physiological and psychological indicators may be correlated to track and evaluate the health of the crew.

Historical and contemporary cultural ecosystem service values in the rapidly urbanizing city state of Singapore.

PubMed

Thiagarajah, Jharyathri; Wong, Shermaine K M; Richards, Daniel R; Friess, Daniel A

2015-11-01

Cultural ecosystem services are a function of people and place, so may change as a location transitions from rural to urban. Singapore has undergone rapid urbanization after its independence in 1965, with a concomitant decline in natural habitat extent and accessibility. Using coastal mangrove forests as a case study habitat, changing cultural values were explored with a novel array of techniques, including qualitative archival analysis (photographs, oral histories), current sources (publically uploaded social media photographs), and surveys of (a) the general public and (b) visitors to publically accessible mangroves. Cultural value changed through time, with a significant transition from intrinsic, intrapersonal values (spiritual, cultural heritage) to instrumental, interpersonal values (recreation, education). Additionally, cultural value varied between different mangroves depending on their public accessibility, and the evolving degree of human interaction with the ecosystem as urban development occured. Cultural values change as development transitions, though mangroves still play an important cultural role in a heavily urbanized environment.

From Gutenberg to Gates: Media Matters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Considine, David M.

2009-01-01

Media consolidation and convergence have increasingly changed the way individuals as both consumers and citizens access, process, and communicate information at the local, national, and global levels. Media industries and institutions influence public perception and occupy our time at work and at home more and more. Media literacy has become…

From Personal to Social: Learning Environments that Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camacho, Mar; Guilana, Sonia

2011-01-01

VLE (Virtual Learning Environments) are rapidly falling short to meet the demands of a networked society. Web 2.0 and social networks are proving to offer a more personalized, open environment for students to learn formally as they are already doing informally. With the irruption of social media into society, and therefore, education, many voices…

Armenian media coverage of science topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mkhitaryan, Marie

2016-12-01

The article discusses features and issues of Armenian media coverage on scientific topics and provides recommendations on how to promote scientific topics in media. The media is more interested in social or public reaction rather than in scientific information itself. Medical science has a large share of the global media coverage. It is followed by articles about environment, space, technology, physics and other areas. Armenian media mainly tends to focus on a scientific topic if at first sight it contains something revolutionary. Media primarily reviews whether that scientific study can affect the Armenian economy and only then decides to refer to it. Unfortunately, nowadays the perception of science is a little distorted in media. We can often see headlines of news where is mentioned that the scientist has made "an invention". Nowadays it is hard to see the border between a scientist and an inventor. In fact, the technological term "invention" attracts the media by making illusionary sensation and ensuring large audience. The report also addresses the "Gitamard" ("A science-man") special project started in 2016 in Mediamax that tells about scientists and their motivations.

A modified culture method significantly improves the development of mouse somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos.

PubMed

Dai, Xiangpeng; Hao, Jie; Zhou, Qi

2009-08-01

Many strategies have been established to improve the efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), but relatively few focused on improving culture conditions. The effect of different culture media on preimplantation development of mouse nuclear transfer embryos was investigated. A modified sequential media method, named D media (M16/KSOM and CZB-EG/KSOM), was successfully established that significantly improves SCNT embryo development. Our result demonstrated that while lacking any adverse effect on in vivo fertilized embryos, the D media dramatically improves the blastocyst development of SCNT embryos compared with other commonly used media, including KSOM, M16, CZB, and alphaMEM. Specifically, the rate of blastocyst formation was 62.3% for D1 (M16/KSOM) versus 10-30% for the other media. An analysis of media components indicated that removing EDTA and glutamine from the media can be beneficial for early SCNT embryo development. Our results suggest that in vitro culture environment plays an important role in somatic cell reprogramming, and D media represent the most efficient culture method reported to date to support mouse SCNT early embryo development in vitro.

Expressive Communication and Human Development in the New Broadband Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carey, John

2004-01-01

An understanding of the structure and functions of expressive communication in face-to-face communication and audiovisual media can inform the development of new educational services for human development across cultures in the emerging broadband environment.

OPREVENT2: Design of a multi-institutional intervention for obesity control and prevention for American Indian adults.

PubMed

Gittelsohn, Joel; Jock, Brittany; Redmond, Leslie; Fleischhacker, Sheila; Eckmann, Thomas; Bleich, Sara N; Loh, Hong; Ogburn, Elizabeth; Gadhoke, Preety; Swartz, Jacqueline; Pardilla, Marla; Caballero, Benjamin

2017-01-23

Obesity and other nutrition-related chronic disease rates are high in American Indian (AI) populations, and an urgent need exists to identify evidence-based strategies for prevention and treatment. Multi-level, multi-component (MLMC) interventions are needed, but there are significant knowledge gaps on how to deliver these types of interventions in low-income rural AI communities. OPREVENT2 is a MLMC intervention targeting AI adults living in six rural reservations in New Mexico and Wisconsin. Aiming to prevent and reduce obesity in adults by working at multiple levels of the food and physical activity (PA) environments, OPREVENT2 focuses on evidence-based strategies known to increase access to, demand for, and consumption of healthier foods and beverages, and increase worksite and home-based opportunities for PA. OPREVENT2 works to create systems-level change by partnering with tribal stakeholders, multiple levels of the food and PA environment (food stores, worksites, schools), and the social environment (children as change agents, families, social media). Extensive evaluation will be conducted at each level of the intervention to assess effectiveness via process and impact measures. Novel aspects of OPREVENT2 include: active engagement with stakeholders at many levels (policy, institutional, and at multiple levels of the food and PA system); use of community-based strategies to engage policymakers and other key stakeholders (community workshops, action committees); emphasis on both the built environment (intervening with retail food sources) and the social environment. This paper describes the design of the intervention and the evaluation plan of the OPREVENT2. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT02803853 (June 10, 2016).

Bacillus megaterium strains derived from water and soil exhibit differential responses to the herbicide mesotrione.

PubMed

Dobrzanski, Tatiane; Gravina, Fernanda; Steckling, Bruna; Olchanheski, Luiz R; Sprenger, Ricardo F; Espírito Santo, Bruno C; Galvão, Carolina W; Reche, Péricles M; Prestes, Rosilene A; Pileggi, Sônia A V; Campos, Francinete R; Azevedo, Ricardo A; Sadowsky, Michael J; Beltrame, Flávio L; Pileggi, Marcos

2018-01-01

The intense use of herbicides for weed control in agriculture causes selection pressure on soil microbiota and water ecosystems, possibly resulting in changes to microbial processes, such as biogeochemical cycles. These xenobiotics may increase the production of reactive oxygen species and consequently affect the survival of microorganisms, which need to develop strategies to adapt to these conditions and maintain their ecological functionality. This study analyzed the adaptive responses of bacterial isolates belonging to the same species, originating from two different environments (water and soil), and subjected to selection pressure by herbicides. The effects of herbicide Callisto and its active ingredient, mesotrione, induced different adaptation strategies on the cellular, enzymatic, and structural systems of two Bacillus megaterium isolates obtained from these environments. The lipid saturation patterns observed may have affected membrane permeability in response to this herbicide. Moreover, this may have led to different levels of responses involving superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, and enzyme polymorphisms. Due to these response systems, the strain isolated from water exhibited higher growth rates than did the soil strain, in evaluations made in oligotrophic culture media, which would be more like that found in semi-pristine aquatic environments. The influence of the intracellular oxidizing environments, which changed the mode of degradation of mesotrione in our experimental model and produced different metabolites, can also be observed in soil and water at sites related to agriculture. Since the different metabolites may present different levels of toxicity, we suggest that this fact should be considered in studies on the fate of agrochemicals in different environments.

Bacillus megaterium strains derived from water and soil exhibit differential responses to the herbicide mesotrione

PubMed Central

Gravina, Fernanda; Olchanheski, Luiz R.; Sprenger, Ricardo F.; Espírito Santo, Bruno C.; Galvão, Carolina W.; Reche, Péricles M.; Prestes, Rosilene A.; Pileggi, Sônia A. V.; Campos, Francinete R.; Azevedo, Ricardo A.; Sadowsky, Michael J.; Beltrame, Flávio L.

2018-01-01

The intense use of herbicides for weed control in agriculture causes selection pressure on soil microbiota and water ecosystems, possibly resulting in changes to microbial processes, such as biogeochemical cycles. These xenobiotics may increase the production of reactive oxygen species and consequently affect the survival of microorganisms, which need to develop strategies to adapt to these conditions and maintain their ecological functionality. This study analyzed the adaptive responses of bacterial isolates belonging to the same species, originating from two different environments (water and soil), and subjected to selection pressure by herbicides. The effects of herbicide Callisto and its active ingredient, mesotrione, induced different adaptation strategies on the cellular, enzymatic, and structural systems of two Bacillus megaterium isolates obtained from these environments. The lipid saturation patterns observed may have affected membrane permeability in response to this herbicide. Moreover, this may have led to different levels of responses involving superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, and enzyme polymorphisms. Due to these response systems, the strain isolated from water exhibited higher growth rates than did the soil strain, in evaluations made in oligotrophic culture media, which would be more like that found in semi-pristine aquatic environments. The influence of the intracellular oxidizing environments, which changed the mode of degradation of mesotrione in our experimental model and produced different metabolites, can also be observed in soil and water at sites related to agriculture. Since the different metabolites may present different levels of toxicity, we suggest that this fact should be considered in studies on the fate of agrochemicals in different environments. PMID:29694403

Unattended wireless proximity sensor networks for counterterrorism, force protection, littoral environments, PHM, and tamper monitoring ground applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forcier, Bob

2003-09-01

This paper describes a digital-ultrasonic ground network, which forms an unique "unattended mote sensor system" for monitoring the environment, personnel, facilities, vehicles, power generation systems or aircraft in Counter-Terrorism, Force Protection, Prognostic Health Monitoring (PHM) and other ground applications. Unattended wireless smart sensor/tags continuously monitor the environment and provide alerts upon changes or disruptions to the environment. These wireless smart sensor/tags are networked utilizing ultrasonic wireless motes, hybrid RF/Ultrasonic Network Nodes and Base Stations. The network is monitored continuously with a 24/7 remote and secure monitoring system. This system utilizes physical objects such as a vehicle"s structure or a building to provide the media for two way secure communication of key metrics and sensor data and eliminates the "blind spots" that are common in RF solutions because of structural elements of buildings, etc. The digital-ultrasonic sensors have networking capability and a 32-bit identifier, which provide a platform for a robust data acquisition (DAQ) for a large amount of sensors. In addition, the network applies a unique "signature" of the environment by comparing sensor-to-sensor data to pick up on minute changes, which would signal an invasion of unknown elements or signal a potential tampering in equipment or facilities. The system accommodates satellite and other secure network uplinks in either RF or UWB protocols. The wireless sensors can be dispersed by ground or air maneuvers. In addition, the sensors can be incorporated into the structure or surfaces of vehicles, buildings, or clothing of field personnel.

[Monitoring of environmental pollution in Armenia and certain issues on reproductive health and cytogenetic status of organism].

PubMed

Tadevosian, N S; Muradian, S A; Tadevosian, A E; Khachatrian, B G; Dzhandzhapanian, A N; Parsadanian, G G; Pogosian, S B; Gevorkian, N B; Guloian, A A

2012-01-01

Investigations aimed at the study on the state of environment from the point of pollution by organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites (HCH, DDT, DDE and DDD), as well as on possible unfavorable impact due to carriage of mentioned persistent organic pollutants (POPs) towards reproductive health and cytogenetic status of organism were done. In parallel, monitoring of possible mutagenic components of the environment was also conducted. As to obtained data, residues of organochlorine pesticides are continually determined with high frequency both in environmental media, agricultural foodstuffs and biomedia of rural population of observed region (Aragatsotn marz, Armenia). No changes in mutagenic background were registered. The represented results of the study make fragment of complex social-hygienic, monitoring investigations on environmental quality that would further serve as a platform for working out the recommendations on reduction of environmental pollution and improvement of health protection issues in Armenia.

The influence of air pollution on the phyllosphere microflora composition of Tillandsia leaves (Bromeliaceae).

PubMed

Brighigna, L; Gori, A; Gonnelli, S; Favilli, F

2000-01-01

The effect of air pollution on total phyllospheric microflora from two species of the epiphytic neotropical genus Tillandsia (Bromeliaceae) was studied by comparing unpolluted plants living in a forest (Escazú, San José) with polluted ones from an urban site of Costa Rica (San José city). Dilutions of homogenized leaf samples were plated on media suitable for each microbial group. For each microorganism group, total counts were performed and purified strains of randomly chosen colonies were identified. There was a global reduction in the number of living microorganisms due to pollution effects, especially yeasts and bacteria, while nitrogen-fixing microorganisms and fungi were less affected. Our results showed that the phyllosphere microflora of Tillandsia plants living in a tropical urban environment changes in terms of number and species composition of yeasts and bacteria with respect to plants living in unpolluted environment.

Quantifying the link between art and property prices in urban neighbourhoods

PubMed Central

Seresinhe, Chanuki Illushka

2016-01-01

Is there an association between art and changes in the economic conditions of urban neighbourhoods? While the popular media and policymakers commonly believe this to be the case, quantitative evidence remains lacking. Here, we use metadata of geotagged photographs uploaded to the popular image-sharing platform Flickr to quantify the presence of art in London neighbourhoods. We estimate the presence of art in neighbourhoods by determining the proportion of Flickr photographs which have the word ‘art’ attached. We compare this with the relative gain in residential property prices for each Inner London neighbourhood. We find that neighbourhoods which have a higher proportion of ‘art’ photographs also have greater relative gains in property prices. Our findings demonstrate how online data can be used to quantify aspects of the visual environment at scale and reveal new connections between the visual environment and crucial socio-economic measurements. PMID:27152228

Quantifying the link between art and property prices in urban neighbourhoods.

PubMed

Seresinhe, Chanuki Illushka; Preis, Tobias; Moat, Helen Susannah

2016-04-01

Is there an association between art and changes in the economic conditions of urban neighbourhoods? While the popular media and policymakers commonly believe this to be the case, quantitative evidence remains lacking. Here, we use metadata of geotagged photographs uploaded to the popular image-sharing platform Flickr to quantify the presence of art in London neighbourhoods. We estimate the presence of art in neighbourhoods by determining the proportion of Flickr photographs which have the word 'art' attached. We compare this with the relative gain in residential property prices for each Inner London neighbourhood. We find that neighbourhoods which have a higher proportion of 'art' photographs also have greater relative gains in property prices. Our findings demonstrate how online data can be used to quantify aspects of the visual environment at scale and reveal new connections between the visual environment and crucial socio-economic measurements.

Whole-organism concentration ratios in wildlife inhabiting Australian uranium mining environments.

PubMed

Hirth, Gillian A; Johansen, Mathew P; Carpenter, Julia G; Bollhöfer, Andreas; Beresford, Nicholas A

2017-11-01

Wildlife concentration ratios for 226 Ra, 210 Pb, 210 Po and isotopes of Th and U from soil, water, and sediments were evaluated for a range of Australian uranium mining environments. Whole-organism concentration ratios (CR wo-media ) were developed for 271 radionuclide-organism pairs within the terrestrial and freshwater wildlife groups. Australian wildlife often has distinct physiological attributes, such as the lower metabolic rates of macropod marsupials as compared with placental mammals. In addition, the Australian CRs wo-media originate from tropical and semi-arid climates, rather than from the temperate-dominated climates of Europe and North America from which most (>90%) of internationally available CR wo-media values originate. When compared, the Australian and non-Australian CRs are significantly different for some wildlife categories (e.g. grasses, mammals) but not others (e.g. shrubs). Where differences exist, the Australian values were higher, suggesting that site-, or region-specific CRs wo-media should be used in detailed Australian assessments. However, in screening studies, use of the international mean values in the Wildlife Transfer Database (WTD) appears to be appropriate, as long as the values used encompass the Australian 95th percentile values. Gaps in the Australian datasets include a lack of marine parameters, and no CR data are available for freshwater phytoplankton, zooplankton, insects, insect larvae or amphibians; for terrestrial environments, there are no data for amphibians, annelids, ferns, fungi or lichens & bryophytes. The new Australian specific parameters will aide in evaluating remediation plans and ongoing operations at mining and waste sites within Australia. They have also substantially bolstered the body of U- and Th-series CR wo-media data for use internationally. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Experimental Microfluidic System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Culbertson, Christopher; Gonda, Steve; Ramsey, John Michael

2005-01-01

The ultimate goal of this project is to integrate microfluidic devices with NASA's space bioreactor systems. In such a system, the microfluidic device would provide realtime feedback control of the bioreactor by monitoring pH, glucose, and lactate levels in the cell media; and would provide an analytical capability to the bioreactor in exterrestrial environments for monitoring bioengineered cell products and health changes in cells due to environmental stressors. Such integrated systems could be used as biosentinels both in space and on planet surfaces. The objective is to demonstrate the ability of microfabricated devices to repeatedly and reproducibly perform bead cytometry experiments in micro, lunar, martian, and hypergravity (1.8g).

Heterogeneous continuous-time random walks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grebenkov, Denis S.; Tupikina, Liubov

2018-01-01

We introduce a heterogeneous continuous-time random walk (HCTRW) model as a versatile analytical formalism for studying and modeling diffusion processes in heterogeneous structures, such as porous or disordered media, multiscale or crowded environments, weighted graphs or networks. We derive the exact form of the propagator and investigate the effects of spatiotemporal heterogeneities onto the diffusive dynamics via the spectral properties of the generalized transition matrix. In particular, we show how the distribution of first-passage times changes due to local and global heterogeneities of the medium. The HCTRW formalism offers a unified mathematical language to address various diffusion-reaction problems, with numerous applications in material sciences, physics, chemistry, biology, and social sciences.

[The public perception of information about the potential risks of genetically modified crops in the food chain].

PubMed

Furnival, Ariadne Chloë; Pinheiro, Sônia Maria

2008-01-01

At a time when genetically modified (GM) crops are entering the Brazilian food chain, we present the findings of a study that makes use of a qualitative technique involving focal groups to look into the public's interpretation of the information available about this biotechnological innovation. This methodology produced results that revealed the interconnections drawn by the research subjects between this form of biotechnology, changes to the environment, and food production in general. The mistrust expressed about GM crops was particularly attributed by the participants to the non-availability of comprehensible information in the mass media or on product labels.

Early Childhood Screen Time and Parental Attitudes Toward Child Television Viewing in a Low-Income Latino Population Attending the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

PubMed

Asplund, Karin M; Kair, Laura R; Arain, Yassar H; Cervantes, Marlene; Oreskovic, Nicolas M; Zuckerman, Katharine E

2015-10-01

Early childhood media exposure is associated with obesity and multiple adverse health conditions. The aims of this study were to assess parental attitudes toward childhood television (TV) viewing in a low-income population and examine the extent to which child BMI, child/parent demographics, and household media environment are associated with adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for screen time. This was a cross-sectional survey study of 314 parents of children ages 0-5 years surveyed in English or Spanish by self-administered questionnaire at a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinic in Oregon. In this majority Latino sample (73%), half (53%) of the children met AAP guidelines on screen time limits, 56% met AAP guidelines for no TV in the child's bedroom, and 29% met both. Children were more likely to meet AAP guidelines when there were <2 TVs in the home, there was no TV during dinner, or their parents spent less time viewing electronic media. Parents who spent less time viewing electronic media were more likely to report believing that TV provides little value or usefulness. In this low-income, predominantly Latino population attending WIC, parent media-viewing and household media environment are strongly associated with child screen time. Programs aimed at reducing child screen time may benefit from interventions that address parental viewing habits.

"It would be weird to have that on Facebook": young people's use of social media and the risk of sharing sexual health information.

PubMed

Byron, Paul; Albury, Kath; Evers, Clifton

2013-05-01

In today's media environment, information is not simply passed from producers to consumers, but is mediated by participants of new media cultures, including information on sexual health. In focus groups held in Sydney and regional Australia in 2011, we asked young people aged 16-22 about the potential for sexual health promotion via Facebook and other social media. Our findings point to the complex ways in which young people use social media, and the unlikelihood of traditional take-home sexual health messages having traction in social media spaces. Five key aspects which emerged were: the participatory culture of social network sites; the stigma of sexual health, especially sexually transmitted infections (STIs); young people's careful presentations of self; privacy concerns; and the importance of humour in sexual health messaging. Fears of bullying and gossip (or 'drama') were also likely to prevent the dissemination of sexual health messages in this environment. However, humorous online videos were noted by participants as a significant way to avoid stigma and enable the sharing of sexual health information. The young people in our study were interested in sexual health information, but did not want to access it at the cost of their own sense of comfort and belonging in their social networks. Any sexual health promotion within these sites must be understood as a site-specific intervention. Copyright © 2013 Reproductive Health Matters. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physical activity interventions using mass media, print media, and information technology.

PubMed

Marcus, B H; Owen, N; Forsyth, L H; Cavill, N A; Fridinger, F

1998-11-01

Media-based physical activity interventions include a variety of print, graphic, audiovisual, and broadcast media programs intended to influence behavior change. New information technology allows print to be delivered in personalized, interactive formats that may enhance efficacy. Media-based interventions have been shaped by conceptual models from health education, Social Cognitive Theory, the Transtheoretical Model, and Social Marketing frameworks. We reviewed 28 studies of media-based interventions of which seven were mass media campaigns at the state or national level and the remaining 21 were delivered through health care, the workplace, or in the community. Recall of mass-media messages generally was high, but mass-media campaigns had very little impact on physical activity behavior. Interventions using print and/or telephone were effective in changing behavior in the short term. Studies in which there were more contacts and interventions tailored to the target audience were most effective. A key issue for research on media-based physical activity interventions is reaching socially disadvantaged groups for whom access, particularly to new forms of communication technology, may be limited. There is a clear need for controlled trials comparing different forms and intensities of media-based physical activity interventions. Controlled studies of personalized print, interactive computer-mediated programs, and web-based formats for program delivery also are needed. The integration of media-based methods into public and private sector service delivery has much potential for innovation.