Brands, markets and charitable ethics: MTVs EXIT campaign

This case study of MTV’s EXIT campaign to raise awareness about the trafficking of women highlights the difficulties faced by charitable organisations when using audience research to evaluate the effectiveness of their media campaigns. If they were to follow the advice to connect with audiences whose ethical and political commitments have been shaped within a media saturated, capitalist culture, they risk reinforcing the positioning of women’s bodies as consumable products in a pleasure-oriented service economy and further normalisation of the practices the campaigners are seeking to prevent. To be effective in the longer term charities require an ethical approach to media campaigns that recognises their political dimension and the shift in values required. The short term emotional impact on audiences needs to be weighed against these larger ethical and political considerations to avoid the resulting films becoming too individualistic and parochial, a mirror image of their audience’s ‘unreconstructed’ selves

Celebrity capital in the political field: Russell Brand's migration from stand-up comedy to Newsnight

Our case study of charismatic celebrity comedian Russell Brand’s turn to political activism uses Bourdieu’s field theory to understand the process of celebrity migration across social fields. We investigate how Brand’s capital as a celebrity performer, storyteller and self-publicist translated from comedy to politics. To judge how this worked in practice, we analysed the comedic strategies used in his stand up show Messiah Complex and a Conversational Analysis of his notorious interview with Jeremy Paxman on the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight . We argue that Brand was able to secure political legitimacy by creatively constituting himself as an authentic anti-austerity spokesperson for the disenfranchised left in UK. In order to do so he repurposed his celebrity capital to political ends and successfully deployed the cultural and social capital he had developed as a celebrity comedian to secure widespread engagement with his media performances

Ultra-low Voltage Digital Circuits and Extreme Temperature Electronics Design

Certain applications require digital electronics to operate under extreme conditions e.g., large swings in ambient temperature, very low supply voltage, high radiation. Such applications include sensor networks, wearable electronics, unmanned aerial vehicles, spacecraft, and energyharvesting systems. This dissertation splits into two projects that study digital electronics supplied by ultra-low voltages and build an electronic system for extreme temperatures. The first project introduces techniques that improve circuit reliability at deep subthreshold voltages as well as determine the minimum required supply voltage. These techniques address digital electronic design at several levels: the physical process, gate design, and system architecture. This dissertation analyzes a silicon-on-insulator process, Schmitt-trigger gate design, and asynchronous logic at supply voltages lower than 100 millivolts. The second project describes construction of a sensor digital controller for the lunar environment. Parts of the digital controller are an asynchronous 8031 microprocessor that is compatible with synchronous logic, memory with error detection and correction, and a robust network interface. The digitial sensor ASIC is fabricated on a silicon-germanium process and built with cells optimized for extreme temperatures

SSRI maintenance therapy reduces rate of recurrence for elderly patients with first episode of major depression

A critical appraisal and clinical application of Reynolds CF 3rd, Dew MA, Pollock BG, et al. Maintenance treatment of major depression in old age. N Engl J Med. 2006 Mar 16;354(11):1130-8. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa052619. Based on the appraisal, long term SSRI maintenance therapy is recommended for elderly patients suffering from first episode of major depression

Researching YouTube

‘Researching YouTube’ introduces the special issue of Convergence which arose out of an international academic conference on YouTube that was held in London at Middlesex University in September 2016. The conference aimed to generate a robust overview of YouTube’s changing character and significance after its first ten years of development by creating a productive dialogue between speakers from different disciplines and cultures, and between YouTube-specific research and wider debates in media and social research on identity, aesthetics, politics, celebrity, production practices, business models, and research methods in digital culture. This introduction is structured around four themes that help to contextualise the papers that were selected from the many submitted for inclusion in the special issue and offers a substantial overview of the field of research: Participatory Culture and User-Generated Content; YouTube as a Hybrid Commercial Space; Vlogging and YouTube Celebrity; The ‘Mystery’ of the Algorithm and Digital Methods of Research

Stem cell therapy for end stage COPD: a cautionary tale of direct-to-consumer advertising

A critical appraisal and clinical application of Weiss DJ, Casaburi R, Flannery R, LeRoux-Williams M, Tashkin DP. A placebo-controlled, randomized trial of mesenchymal stem cells in COPD. Chest. 2013;143(6):1590-1598. doi: 10.1378/chest.12-209

A universally valid Heisenberg uncertainty relation

A universally valid Heisenberg uncertainty relation is proposed by combining the universally valid error-disturbance uncertainty relation of Ozawa with the relation of Robertson. This form of the uncertainty relation, which is defined with the same mathematical rigor as the relations of Kennard and Robertson, incorporates both of the intrinsic quantum fluctuations and measurement effects.Comment: 7 page

Industrial Unrest in Canada: A Diagnosis of Recent Experience

To diagnose the recent wave of industrial unrest in Canada, it is first of all necessary to indentify its characteristics. The two major dimensions of this phenomenon concern the source of union militancy and its illegal manifestations

Processing and Transmission of Information

Contains research objectives.Lincoln Laboratory, Purchase Order DDL B-00306U. S. ArmyU. S. NavyU. S. Air Force under Air Force Contract AFI 9(604)-520