Computational methods applied to mass communication research: the case of press release content in news media

In this dissertation, I apply a variety of computational methods to explore new approaches to investigate the problem of news media's use of press release content. Being used by the public relations industry in an effort to influence the media agenda, press releases often promote the organization's viewpoint on issues. Journalism scholars have expressed numerous concerns over news media using such content as a source, often without attribution. A review of previous research has revealed a number of shortcomings, with the main problem being the lack of a reliable methodology to establish a connection between a press release and an article, which is essential for such research. This deficiency is explained by the need for in-depth textual analysis on the one hand, and the requirement of large representative samples on the other - which is near impossible to achieve using traditional methodological approaches used in journalism research. I propose using computational methods to address this problem. I use computation to extract large amounts of text from web sites, transform loosely structured text into well-formatted data, and reduce a data set consisting of 6,171 press releases and 48,664 related news articles to a sample of 1,643 press release/news article pairs, showing reasonable evidence that each of the press releases has been used as a source by a corresponding news article. Such evidence is established through verbatim text matches of sufficient length. I use the constructed data sample to investigate the extent to which press release content is used by news media verbatim, how such content is used and whether proper attribution is made identifying the true source of the news. Although my findings suggest that the problem of press release content might be not as severe as presented in previous research, due to the limitations of verbatim text matching, it might be also possible that such practice remains undetected, with all content borrowed from press releases appearing in news media in paraphrased form. Finally, my investigation leads to a discovery of a "smoking gun" - a striking example of PR influence in the form of a corporation "manufacturing" statements, getting elected officials to repeat them, and the media reporting them as a regular news story

Transnational audiences and the reception of television news: a study of Mexicans in Los Angeles

This doctoral contribution borrows from the discursive practices of transnationalism and diaspora in order to articulate the concept of "transnational audiences" in the United States. The project identifies transnational audiences as formed by individuals and families whose lives straddle two national territories. It draws on the traditions of cultural studies and reception analysis as a strategy to explore the relation between media use and novel experiences of migration in a context of contemporary globalization. This conceptual background is the result of empirical research conducted in Los Angeles which investigated the television news reception of 67 informants of Mexican origin during three months in 2006. Relying on a range of qualitative research methods based in the domestic settings of the participants, the project found high levels of interests across a variety of news occurring in Los Angeles, the US, Mexico and further afield. During interviews, television news-viewing sessions and in daily written accounts, respondents constantly conveyed the idea of being directly impacted by a wide variety of events and developments in the news, regardless of geographic proximity. Heightened sensitivity to realities unfolding in nearby and distant places, it will be argued, would be a result of transnational communities’ connections with different social, cultural, economic and political contexts. These links emerged in a variety of ways throughout the research activities. Notably, the interactions in which members of families engaged when discussing the news, revealed the re-articulation – and possible subversion – of patriarchal structures regulating relationships between males and females. At the same time, the research provides hints of a possible intertwining between the mediated and unmediated experiences of contributors to the study, who constantly informed their understanding of the news on the basis of interpersonal and mediated communication, knowledge of places and locations, and circumstances attached to opportunities and constraints related to aspects such as migration and citizen status. While in need of further systematization, this thesis’ findings are relevant for they highlight the need to operationalize the transnational audience in ways which differentiate it from those media publics who are based in their countries of origin. At the same time, this intervention highlights the need to question or move forward from established forms of thinking about the media use of non-native peoples in the developed world. The project as a whole opens a window to explore an alternative academic vocabulary to the notions of "ethnic" and "minority" audiences, privileged in US scholarly endeavour

Performance measurement in construction research & development: The use of case study research approach

The process of finding solutions to the research problem does not follow a clear sequential approach, but often takes unexpected turns due to the uncertainties of the research process and its outcomes. However, appropriate research design would be able to identify any problems and pitfalls that the researcher may come across during the process. In this regard, consideration of the research philosophy pertaining to the study helps a researcher in choosing the appropriate approach for a study. Not only the philosophical stance, but also the research problem under investigation and its underling circumstances influence the selection of a research approach. Accordingly, this paper discusses the factors that drive the selection of a case study as the research approach with particular reference to the use of single case study to undertake an in depth inquiry regarding the impact of performance measurement towards construction research and development. Further, this paper discusses the incorporation of multi-phase, multi perspective and multi-method approaches within the single case study to build valid theory

1990-1995 Brock Campus News

A compilation of the administration newspaper, Brock Campus News, for the years 1990 through 1995. It had previously been titled The Blue Badger

Ultrasensitive detection of toxocara canis excretory-secretory antigens by a nanobody electrochemical magnetosensor assay.

peer reviewedHuman Toxocariasis (HT) is a zoonotic disease caused by the migration of the larval stage of the roundworm Toxocara canis in the human host. Despite of being the most cosmopolitan helminthiasis worldwide, its diagnosis is elusive. Currently, the detection of specific immunoglobulins IgG against the Toxocara Excretory-Secretory Antigens (TES), combined with clinical and epidemiological criteria is the only strategy to diagnose HT. Cross-reactivity with other parasites and the inability to distinguish between past and active infections are the main limitations of this approach. Here, we present a sensitive and specific novel strategy to detect and quantify TES, aiming to identify active cases of HT. High specificity is achieved by making use of nanobodies (Nbs), recombinant single variable domain antibodies obtained from camelids, that due to their small molecular size (15kDa) can recognize hidden epitopes not accessible to conventional antibodies. High sensitivity is attained by the design of an electrochemical magnetosensor with an amperometric readout with all components of the assay mixed in one single step. Through this strategy, 10-fold higher sensitivity than a conventional sandwich ELISA was achieved. The assay reached a limit of detection of 2 and15 pg/ml in PBST20 0.05% or serum, spiked with TES, respectively. These limits of detection are sufficient to detect clinically relevant toxocaral infections. Furthermore, our nanobodies showed no cross-reactivity with antigens from Ascaris lumbricoides or Ascaris suum. This is to our knowledge, the most sensitive method to detect and quantify TES so far, and has great potential to significantly improve diagnosis of HT. Moreover, the characteristics of our electrochemical assay are promising for the development of point of care diagnostic systems using nanobodies as a versatile and innovative alternative to antibodies. The next step will be the validation of the assay in clinical and epidemiological contexts