Suchergebnisse

In this RISJ factsheet we analyse 720,799 news-related tweets from a larger dataset of 4.4 million tweets collected during the 2017 German Federal Election to examine the role of digital-born and legacy news media in online political discussions in Germany. The authors Sílvia Majó-Vázquez, Jason R. C. Nurse, Felix M.Simon, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen show in this study how news audience attention took shape on Twitter during the weeks ahead of the polling day and up to the day after of the celebration of this major political event in Europe. Their findings suggest that legacy news media – especially the main public service media organizations and the most important weeklies – figured very prominently in political discussions on Twitter. According to the authors this results speaks to the audience preference for quality journalism and video. Their results also show that that a number of new digital-born brands, including several aligned with national conservative political positions, saw far wider engagement on social media than their size would suggest. In contrast, many established media, especially regional and local newspapers, saw little engagement on Twitter. Among the main findings the authors highlight that the major public service media organisations, ARD and ZDF, alongside weekly news publications, especially Die Zeit and Der Spiegel, which featured very prominently during the German campaign. All four had wide reach and higher levels of audience engagement than other news providers. Secondly, they also found that coinciding with increased popular support for far-right parties in Germany, some news outlets with a clear national-conservative political position, including several digital-born brands and one newspaper, played an important role on Twitter. Notably, they generated much more engagement than their posting activity and generally limited audience reach would suggest. Finally, their data suggests that despite their offline reach, considerable editorial resources, and historical importance, regional ...

International audience ; The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) is a damaging invader which is designated as a species of Union Concern within the European Union. A negative impact of the crabs on macrophyte vegetation in lowland rivers is suspected but not yet proven or quantified. We have performed a mesocosm study that combines a density gradient of Chinese mitten crabs (0, 0.3, 1.0 and 2.5 ind. m−2) with chemical stress (2350 µg EDTA L−1 + 258 µg glyphosate L−1) or light limitation stress (− 70% irradiance compared to control) on water plants (Myriophyllum spicatum). The results clearly demonstrate that the crabs are capable of removing plant shoots effectively which can lead to a complete elimination of the vegetation. Generally, the higher the crab density, the sooner the plants started to disappear and the sooner the vegetation was completely removed. Additional light and chemical stress accelerated this process: plant disappearance at a crab density of 0.3 ind. m−2 compared to 1.0 ind. m−2 in the control treatments. Video recording, plant strength and crab pinch strength measurements and stable isotope signatures of δ13C and δ15N in the Chinese mitten crabs and their possible food sources showed that directly eating the plants is causing only minor damage to the plants. Most damage comes from the movement of the crabs and crab–crab interactions during which they use their chelae to grasp the shoots. We conclude that a decline of vegetation as a consequence of Chinese mitten crab behaviour can be a realistic scenario in freshwater ecosystems and warrants close attention and monitoring. Being primary producers and ecological engineers, macrophytes are key species in these ecosystems, whose services are lost when they disappear and are difficult to restore.

Occupational, accidental, or suicidal exposure to acrylamide (ACR) may result in a neurotoxic syndrome. Development of animal models of acrylamide neurotoxicity is necessary for increasing our mechanistic understanding of this syndrome and developing more effective therapies. A new model for acute ACR neurotoxicity has been recently developed in adult zebrafish. Whereas the results of the initial characterization were really promising, a further characterization is needed for testing the construct validity of the model. In this study, the presence of gait abnormalities has been investigated by using ZebraGait, software specifically designed to analyze the kinematics of fish swimming in a water tunnel. The results of the kinematic analyses demonstrated that the model exhibits mild-to-moderate gait abnormalities. Moreover, the model exhibited negative scototaxis, a result confirming a phenotype of anxiety comorbid with depression phenotype. Interestingly, depletion of the reduced glutathione levels was found in the brain without a concomitant increase in oxidative stress. Finally, hypolocomotion and positive geotaxis exhibited by this model were fully recovered 5 days after transferring the fish to clean fish-water. All this data support the validity of the ACR acute neurotoxicity model developed in adult zebrafish. ; We thank Dr. Caio Maximino, from the Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará (Marabá, Brazil), for his comments and suggestions on the DLT. The IRI Lab technical staff members are gratefully thanked for their valuable assistance in the design of the experimental setup for video-recording the fish swimming. This work was supported by the NATO SfP project MD. SFPP 984777 (D.R.) and the Spanish Government (CTM2017-83242-R; D.R. and J.M.P.). M.F. acknowledges financial support from the Beatriu de Pinós programme (Grant No. 2016 BP 00233) provided by the Secretariat of Universities and Research department of the Ministry for Business and Knowledge, Catalonia Government. ; Peer reviewed

13:00 Introduction 13:15-14:45 SESSION I & II: AIR TECHNICS AND EMBODIMENT / ANTHROPOCENTRISM LISTENING AND VOICE Oriana Walker, Ventilators and the Voice from the Iron Lung to Positive Pressure Naomi Waltham-Smith, Extant Listening: or Ec(h)otechnics Martin Daughtry, Precarious Songs of the Anthropocene 15:15-15:40 PERFORMANCE Andreas Borregaard, Asthma — for accordion and video (Simon Steen-Andersen, 2017) 16:00-17:15 SESSION III: ECOPOLITICS OF SOUND AND SILENCE Jessica Feldman, "We are Nature Defending Herself": Decentering the Human through Collective Listening and Coordinated Silence in Climate Protest Zeynep Bulut, On Non-Dialogic Voicing 17:15-17:45 FINAL DISCUSSIONThe workshop will bring artists and scholars together for a sustained conversation on the theme of voice and environment. It will explore physical, cultural, sonic, and social interactions between voice and environment as well as issues relating to atmosphere, climate change, precarious vocality, and varied physical and cultural dynamics of breath and breathlessness. How do our voices interact with the physical, cultural, political, historical, and cosmological milieus in which they are emplaced? Can attention to environmental concerns lead to a productive expansion of the category of voice, stretching it beyond the conventional parameters of the human body and aurality/sound? How might this expanded, posthuman conception of voice help us understand our place in a multispecies world? Can environments listen? Can environments speak or sing? Can humans give voice to nonhuman perspectives? These questions, which engage with recent art and scholarship on the Anthropocene, biopolitics, posthumanism, sound studies, and ecocriticism, will frame the exploration of the entangled dynamics of voice and environment. The workshop will include a panel of short position papers and an intermedial performance, followed by a free-ranging discussion. Daniel A. Barber is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is ...

Video games are demanding work indeed. So demanding that our screen heroes and heroines are constantly making sounds of strife, struggle, or victory while conducting surrogate labor for us running, fighting, saving worlds. These sounds also represent the very real demanding labor of voice actors, whose burnout and vocal strain have recently come to the fore in terms of the games industries' labor standards (Cazden, 2017). But do heroes and she-roes sound the same? What are the demands—virtual, physical, and emotional—of maintaining sexist sonic tropes in popular media; demands that are required of the industry, the game program, and the player alike? Based on participatory observations of gameplay (i.e., the research team engaging with the material by playing the games we study), close reading of gendered sonic presence, and a historical content analysis of three iconic arcade fighting games, this article reports on a notable trend: As games self-purportedly and in the eyes of the wider community improve the visual representation of female playable leads important aspects of the vocal representation of women has not only lagged behind but become more exaggeratedly gendered with higher-fidelity bigger-budget game productions. In essence, femininity continues to be a disempowering design pattern in ways far more nuanced than sexualization alone. This media ecology implicates not only the history of best practices for the games industry itself, but also the culture of professional voice acting, and the role of games as trendsetters for industry conventions of media representation. Listening to battle cries is discussed here as a politics of embodiment and a form of emotionally demanding game labor that simultaneously affects the flow and immersion of playing, and carries over toxic attitudes about femininity outside the game context.

The work is devoted to estimation noise pollution generated by vehicles on the main and secondary highways in the city of Irkutsk. For this purpose, video surveillance of traffic composition and intensity was carried out at night and daylight hours. By sound level meter "Testo-816" the measures of noise levels were conducted. Using the "Ecolog-noise" software complex, the noise propagation distance from the sources was modeled and the sound pressure level maps were created. The obtained results were compared with the current standards for permissible noise loads. An illustrative graph of the average daily noise level distribution shows that in Irkutsk there are two maxima (morning and evening) on all motorways. At the same time, night and day acoustic standards, set as maximum for both Russia and some European Union countries, are significantly violated. A possible set of recommendations is proposed to improve the existing urban transport system in order to reduce excessive noise and ensure the acoustic well-being of the population of residential areas adjacent to highways. ; Работа посвящена оценке шумовой нагрузки, создаваемой автотранспортными средствами на автодорогах г. Иркутска. С этой целью в ночные и дневные часы проведены натурные видеонаблюдения за составом и интенсивностью движения автотранспортных средств, прибором шумомер "Testo 816" измерены уровни шума. С помощью программного комплекса "Эколог-шум" смоделирована дальность распространения шума от источников и построены карты уровней звукового давления. Проведено сравнение полученных результатов с действующими нормативами допустимых шумовых нагрузок. На всех автомагистралях хорошо выделяются два максимума шума: утренний и вечерний. При этом во все часы суток значительно превышены ночные и дневные акустические нормативы, установленные в качестве максимальных как в России, так и в некоторых странах ЕС. Предложены рекомендации по совершенствованию существующей городской транспортной системы с целью снижения сверхнормативного шума и обеспечения акустического благополучия населения жилых зон, прилегающих к автомагистралям.

The world's human population has risen exponentially over the last 100 years and is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. Ensuring food security and resource sustainability is of global concern. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization endorses insect farming as an alternative to cattle, pork, sheep, and poultry industries because of their higher food conversion rate. Insect farming requires less arable land, less water, and produces less greenhouse gases than traditional livestock. The practice of eating insects, known as entomophagy, is not a new idea as two billion people around the world include insects in their diets. Unfortunately, insects are not typically considered food in the United States, which means health and safety regulations for insect farming, distribution, and consumption are limited, if not nonexistent. There is a need for the redefinition of insects as a legitimate food in the United States through education, media, and policy. To address this need, we have compiled a toolkit for individuals to promote entomophagy in their own communities. The toolkit includes a resolution, food safety regulation templates, two recipe videos, one promotional video on entomophagy in Montana, two educational videos on environmental and nutritional benefits of eating insects, recipes, and a compilation of infographics. Our target audience is environmentally concerned citizens, as they are the most likely group in the country to be early adopters of entomophagy. Interested citizens can use our toolkit to learn about entomophagy, experiment with recipes, host their own insect tasting event, lobby their local governments to adopt a resolution about integrating entomophagy into their climate actions plans, or work with their local health and safety agencies to adopt regulations legitimizing insects as food. We are in final negotiations with the North American Coalition on Insect Agriculture to host our toolkit online in the public domain.

The world's human population has risen exponentially over the last 100 years and is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. Ensuring food security and resource sustainability is of global concern. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization endorses insect farming as an alternative to cattle, pork, sheep, and poultry industries because of their higher food conversion rate. Insect farming requires less arable land, less water, and produces less greenhouse gases than traditional livestock. The practice of eating insects, known as entomophagy, is not a new idea as two billion people around the world include insects in their diets. Unfortunately, insects are not typically considered food in the United States, which means health and safety regulations for insect farming, distribution, and consumption are limited, if not nonexistent. There is a need for the redefinition of insects as a legitimate food in the United States through education, media, and policy. To address this need, we have compiled a toolkit for individuals to promote entomophagy in their own communities. The toolkit includes a resolution, food safety regulation templates, two recipe videos, one promotional video on entomophagy in Montana, two educational videos on environmental and nutritional benefits of eating insects, recipes, and a compilation of infographics. Our target audience is environmentally concerned citizens, as they are the most likely group in the country to be early adopters of entomophagy. Interested citizens can use our toolkit to learn about entomophagy, experiment with recipes, host their own insect tasting event, lobby their local governments to adopt a resolution about integrating entomophagy into their climate actions plans, or work with their local health and safety agencies to adopt regulations legitimizing insects as food. We are in final negotiations with the North American Coalition on Insect Agriculture to host our toolkit online in the public domain.

The research presents a comparative case study of the prevalence of Jungle Justice (also known as vigilante justice) in developing and developed countries, using Nigeria and the United States of America as a comparative case study. In many countries in West Africa, and highly prevalent in Nigeria, jungle justice is categorized as a major social vice that militates against national growth and development. The act of a group of people (usually a mob) taking laws into their own hands by beating an alleged criminal to the point of death (or even to death) without following due process; this arbitrary method of counter-aggression sums up the core of jungle justice. This dehumanizing and degrading act requires urgent intervention because it not only negates the maintenance of societal law and order, but abuses the notion of right to free and fair trial, and largely infringes upon the fundamental human rights of the accused perpetrators. Interestingly, in the United States, a new form of jungle justice has emerged, which will be our basis for comparison. This form of vigilante justice (anti-pedophile activism) comprises of the false representation of young victims by the activist group (known as "catfishing" in modern terms) with the main goal of drawing the accused perpetrator out to a place the group can carry out jungle justice. It comes in the form of video recording the accused, parading the individual on social media, taunting, mocking and in some cases, beating them up. These acts, albeit heroic in nature, have implications for the 14th amendment to the US Constitution which promises equal protection under the law. Using theories and concepts of public justice, this study relates the impacts and implications of jungle justice to the principles of democracy, due process and the rule of law. ; https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/business_strome/1005/thumbnail.jpg

Sbragaglia, Valerio . et al.-- 11 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, supplementary information https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37954-0 ; The seasonal timing of recurring biological processes is essential for organisms living in temperate regions. While ample knowledge of these processes exists for terrestrial environments, seasonal timing in the marine environment is relatively understudied. Here, we characterized the annual rhythm of habitat use in six fish species belonging to the Sparidae family, highlighting the main environmental variables that correlate to such rhythms. The study was conducted at a coastal artificial reef through a cabled observatory system, which allowed gathering underwater time-lapse images every 30 minutes consecutively over 3 years. Rhythms of fish counts had a significant annual periodicity in four out of the six studied species. Species-specific temporal patterns were found, demonstrating a clear annual temporal niche partitioning within the studied family. Temperature was the most important environmental variable correlated with fish counts in the proximity of the artificial reef, while daily photoperiod and salinity were not important. In a scenario of human-induced rapid environmental change, tracking phenological shifts may provide key indications about the effects of climate change at both species and ecosystem level. Our study reinforces the efficacy of underwater cabled video-observatories as a reliable tool for long-term monitoring of phenological events ; VS was supported by a Leibniz-DAAD postdoctoral research fellowship (n. 91632699). [.] This work was partially funded within the framework of the RESBIO project (REdes de Sensores submarinos autónomos y cableados aplicados a la monitorización remota de indicadores BIOlógicos; Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA, INDUSTRIA Y COMPETITIVIDAD, RETOS 2017) under TEC2017-87861-R contract. The Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2013-2017) under the grant agreement n◦ 312463, FixO3, through the TNA project FISHAUT (grant agreement n◦ FC-01) for accessing the OBSEA data ; Peer Reviewed

INTRODUCTION: WHO's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) has 17 primary registries that collect the information on the minimum set of items of trial information that appear in the register and these registries are also endorsed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to describe the profile of all the primary registries including Clinical Trial Registry‑India (CTRI), through features such as magnitude, domain of registration, flagging, audit trail, language, mandatory requirements, and result disclosure. METHODOLOGY: The profiling of all registries was based on countries and zones, year of establishment, registrant, flagging, conflict of interest, language, documents, result disclosure, type of study, mode of registration, mandate of registration, quality check method, individual patient data statement and translation of content facility. The mode of search used was online which included advanced search, basic search and also from the audio/video manual on their website. RESULTS: There are 17 primary registries of ICTRP, the first one International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) of England being initiated in year 2000 and the most recent being Lebanese registry, in September 2019. The trials registered with these registries range from 301 in Cuba to 53972 in European union's EU Clinical Trials Register. The primary registries in WHO registry network are diverse in functionalities and practices. The characteristics of online registers vary in content and features and to achieve coordinated level of data quality, across all the different registries and to keep a balance in standards of the data collected and validation of that data, the registries are adhering to the minimum data set items laid down by ICTRP. CONCLUSION: The very process of registering the clinical studies helps in promoting the research methods and also raising the standards of research, especially among young researchers. It also helps in ...

Parental deployment to war poses risks to children's healthy adjustment. The After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) program was developed for post-deployed military families to promote children's well-being through improving effective parenting. ADAPT combines behavior management with emotion socialization skills for parents, using brief mindfulness practices to strengthen emotion regulation. We used a three-wave longitudinal, experimental design to examine whether ADAPT improved parental trait mindfulness (PTM), and whether the effect was moderated by baseline PTM. We also investigated whether improved PTM was associated with behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects of parenting such as self-reported parental locus of control (PLOC), self-reported parental emotion socialization (PES), self-reported and observed behavioral parenting skills. We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the ADAPT, with a focus on mothers (n = 313) who were either deployed (17.9%) or non-deployed and partnered with a husband who had been recently deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan and returned (82.1%). Families identified a 4–13-year-old target child (Mean age = 8.34, SD = 2.48; 54.3% girls) and were randomized into ADAPT (a group-based 14-week program) or a control condition (services as usual). At baseline, 1-year, and 2-year follow-up, PTM, PLOC, PES, and parenting skills were self-reported, whereas home-based family interactions involving parents and the child were video-taped and assessed for observed behavioral parenting skills such as discipline and problem-solving using a theory-based coding system. Results showed that mothers with lower baseline PTM reported higher PTM at 1-year while mothers with higher baseline PTM reported lower PTM at 1-year. PTM at 1-year was associated with improved self-reported parenting skills and supportive PES at 2-year, as well as indirectly associated with improved PLOC and reduced nonsupportive PES at 2-year through PTM at 2-year. No associations between PTM ...

Chemical nerve agents (CNA) are increasingly becoming a threat to both civilians and military personnel. CNA-induced acute effects on the nervous system have been known for some time and the long-term consequences are beginning to emerge. In this study, we used diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP), a seizurogenic CNA to investigate the long-term impact of its acute exposure on the brain and its mitigation by an inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor, 1400W as a neuroprotectant in the rat model. Several experimental studies have demonstrated that DFP-induced seizures and/or status epilepticus (SE) causes permanent brain injury, even after the countermeasure medication (atropine, oxime, and diazepam). In the present study, DFP-induced SE caused a significant increase in iNOS and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) at 24h, 48h, 7d, and persisted for a long-term (12 weeks post-exposure), which led to the hypothesis that iNOS is a potential therapeutic target in DFP-induced brain injury. To test the hypothesis, we administered 1400W (20 mg/kg, i.m.) or the vehicle twice daily for the first three days of post-exposure. 1400W significantly reduced DFP-induced iNOS and 3-NT upregulation in the hippocampus and piriform cortex, and the serum nitrite levels at 24h post-exposure. 1400W also prevented DFP-induced mortality in <24h. The brain immunohistochemistry (IHC) at 7d post-exposure revealed a significant reduction in gliosis and neurodegeneration (NeuN+ FJB positive cells) in the 1400W-treated group. 1400W, in contrast to the vehicle, caused a significant reduction in the epileptiform spiking and spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS) during 12 weeks of continuous video-EEG study. IHC of brain sections from the same animals revealed a significant reduction in reactive gliosis (both microgliosis and astrogliosis) and neurodegeneration across various brain regions in the 1400W-treated group when compared to the vehicle-treated group. A multiplex assay from hippocampal lysates at 6 weeks post-exposure showed a significant ...

1. The European flat oyster Ostrea edulis is an economically and ecologically important species subjected to extensive protection and restoration efforts, due to sharp population declines in Europe. In Sweden, O. edulis occurs at the northern fringe of its range. Knowledge of the distribution and abundance of the species is limited, and the size of the population has never been estimated. Oyster fishery sustainability has never been assessed. 2. Using a random sampling approach and towed video, we collected data on oyster occurrence at 435 sites to estimate abundance and distribution of O. edulis in the Swedish Skagerrak region. Furthermore, the size of the population was assessed and the current management and legislation strategy of the species was analyzed. 3. Living O. edulis was found in 27% of all sampled sites above 6 m, and the size of the population was estimated to 36.6 ± 16.3 million individuals (total population ± SE). The distribution was patchy, and approximately 60% of the population was found in oyster bed densities (≥5 oysters/m(2)), which corresponds to around 1% of the sampled sites. 4. The nondestructive sampling method and representative design provided useful estimates of population size and error, which indicate that the marginal population of O. edulis in Sweden constitutes a significant part of the remaining European population. We argue that the relatively good status of the Swedish population can be explained by (a) private ownership of fishing rights, (b) a small‐scale fishery that exploits <0.5% of the estimated population annually, conducted using nondestructive methods, and (c) parasite‐free waters, potentially due to effective prevention of spread of infection. OPEN RESEARCH BADGES: [Image: see text] This article has earned an Open Data Badge for making publicly available the digitally‐shareable data necessary to reproduce the reported results. The data is available at https://osf.io/jgpxw/?view_only=d070b45802a4426da028efffde3d0f76.

These two events asked to what extent can art affect change when addressing issues of migration, displacement, and access - a public discussion exploring the capacity of artists and arts institutions to intervene in the current geopolitical climate. They were preceded by a screening of French-Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili's 'The Tempest Society' and the launch of the artist's book by the same name, in a partnership between the RCA, The Showroom and Book Works. The Tempest Society revisits 'Al Assifa', a politicised theatre group born out of the struggles of the Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes (MTA), Palestine, anti-colonialism, and workers' and immigrant labour rights. The programme of screenings, presentations and debate that followed took place just twenty-four days before the UK was due to leave the UK on 31 March 2019. Curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of The Showroom, with Michaela Crimmin, Reader in art and conflict at the RCA, they were held in partnership with Tate Britain. Gurminder Bhambra, professor of postcolonial and decolonial studies at the University of Sussex, gave the opening keynote addressing the inter-related subjects of national sovereignty, immigration laws, empire, racism, and dispossession. The artists and curators who followed included Kathrin Böhm, who talked about the artist-run pro-Remain campaign 'Keep it complex – make it clear!'; Austrian artist Oliver Ressler who described projects which challenge racism and power structures; and Peruvian, Barcelona-based artist Daniela Ortiz, who took issue with the violence of migration and integration politics. There is a 35-minute video of extracts from the events, together with videos of a number of the presentations. The Royal College of Art is a partner in a four-year research programme, which includes these events, under the title '4Cs: from Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture'. This is a European Cooperation project co-funded by Creative Europe. https://4cs-conflict-conviviality.eu