Foregrounding Morality: Encouraging Parental Media Literacy Intervention Using the TARES Test for Ethical Persuasion

In the United States, children are exposed to literally hundreds of thousands of television commercials a year and virtually every aspect of kids’ lives are replete with commercial messages. The negative effects of this exposure are well documented. Yet, there remains very little regulation or limit on advertising to children beyond that which exists for adults. Additionally, only about 1/3 of U.S. parents wish for stronger controls. This presents a challenge for media literacy scholars and practitioners. Research has shown that, when presented with information about the negative effects of commercial messages, parents are more likely to adopt some form of media literacy intervention. In this study, we test to see if framing the concept of advertising to children as being unethical (using the TARES test) will increase parents’ willingness to engage in medial literacy intervention techniques. Results show that when advertising to children is framed as being unethical, parents indicated more of a willingness to engage in concept-oriented communication as a media literacy intervention than when the negative effects of advertising is presented without framing it from an ethical perspective

How Effectively Are We Managing Innovation?

The writer\u27s observe that top management\u27s stated commitment to innovation has yet to be successfully infused into many organizations

Role of isospin in the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition

We study the thermodynamics of asymmetric nuclear matter using a mean field approximation with a Skyrme effective interaction, in order to establish its phase diagram and more particularly the influence of isospin on the order of the transition. A new statistical method is introduced to study the thermodynamics of a multifluid system, keeping only one density fixed the others being replaced by their intensive conjugated variables. In this ensemble phase coexistence reduces to a simple one dimensional Maxwell construction. For a fixed temperature under a critical value, a coexistence line is obtained in the plane of neutron and proton chemical potentials. Along this line the grand potential presents a discontinuous slope showing that the transition is first order except at the two ending points where it becomes second order. This result is not in contradiction with the already reported occurrence of a continuous transformation when a constant proton fraction is imposed. Indeed, the proton fraction being an order parameter in asymmetric matter, the constraint can only be fulfilled by gradual phase mixing along the first-order phase transition line leading to a continuous pressure.Comment: To appear in Nuclear Physics

Microscopic model approaches to fragmentation of nuclei and phase transitions in nuclear matter

The properties of excited nuclear matter and the quest for a phase transition which is expected to exist in this system are the subject of intensive investigations. High energy nuclear collisions between finite nuclei which lead to matter fragmentation are used to investigate these properties. The present report covers effective work done on the subject over the two last decades. The analysis of experimental data is confronted with two major problems, the setting up of thermodynamic equilibrium in a time-dependent fragmentation process and the finite size of nuclei. The present status concerning the first point is presented. Simple classical models of disordered systems are derived starting with the generic bond percolation approach. These lattice and cellular equilibrium models, like percolation approaches, describe successfully experimental fragment multiplicity distributions. They also show the properties of systems which undergo a thermodynamic phase transition. Physical observables which are devised to show the existence and to fix the order of critical behaviour are presented. Applications to the models are shown. Thermodynamic properties of finite systems undergoing critical behaviour are advantageously described in the framework of the microcanonical ensemble. Applications to the designed models and to experimental data are presented and analysed. Perspectives of further developments of the field are suggested.Comment: 150 pages including 28 figures. To be published in Phys. Rep. Corrected discussion in section 3.2.3 and new Fig.5. New caption of Fig.2

Disseminating Research News in HCI: Perceived Hazards, How-To's, and Opportunities for Innovation

Mass media afford researchers critical opportunities to disseminate research findings and trends to the general public. Yet researchers also perceive that their work can be miscommunicated in mass media, thus generating unintended understandings of HCI research by the general public. We conduct a Grounded Theory analysis of interviews with 12 HCI researchers and find that miscommunication can occur at four origins along the socio-technical infrastructure known as the Media Production Pipeline (MPP) for science news. Results yield researchers' perceived hazards of disseminating their work through mass media, as well as strategies for fostering effective communication of research. We conclude with implications for augmenting or innovating new MPP technologies.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted paper to CHI 2020 conferenc

Small tRNA-derived RNAs are increased and more abundant than microRNAs in chronic hepatitis B and C

Persistent infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) account for the majority of cases of hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. Small, non-coding RNAs play important roles in virus-host interactions. We used high throughput sequencing to conduct an unbiased profiling of small (14-40 nts) RNAs in liver from Japanese subjects with advanced hepatitis B or C and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Small RNAs derived from tRNAs, specifically 30–35 nucleotide-long 5′ tRNA-halves (5′ tRHs), were abundant in non-malignant liver and significantly increased in humans and chimpanzees with chronic viral hepatitis. 5′ tRH abundance exceeded microRNA abundance in most infected non-cancerous tissues. In contrast, in matched cancer tissue, 5′ tRH abundance was reduced, and relative abundance of individual 5′ tRHs was altered. In hepatitis B-associated HCC, 5′ tRH abundance correlated with expression of the tRNA-cleaving ribonuclease, angiogenin. These results demonstrate that tRHs are the most abundant small RNAs in chronically infected liver and that their abundance is altered in liver cancer

NPY Neuron-Specific Y2 Receptors Regulate Adipose Tissue and Trabecular Bone but Not Cortical Bone Homeostasis in Mice

BACKGROUND: Y2 receptor signalling is known to be important in neuropeptide Y (NPY)-mediated effects on energy homeostasis and bone physiology. Y2 receptors are located post-synaptically as well as acting as auto receptors on NPY-expressing neurons, and the different roles of these two populations of Y2 receptors in the regulation of energy homeostasis and body composition are unclear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We thus generated two conditional knockout mouse models, Y2(lox/lox) and NPYCre/+;Y2(lox/lox), in which Y2 receptors can be selectively ablated either in the hypothalamus or specifically in hypothalamic NPY-producing neurons of adult mice. Specific deletion of hypothalamic Y2 receptors increases food intake and body weight compared to controls. Importantly, specific ablation of hypothalamic Y2 receptors on NPY-containing neurons results in a significantly greater adiposity in female but not male mice, accompanied by increased hepatic triglyceride levels, decreased expression of liver carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT1) and increased expression of muscle phosphorylated acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). While food intake, body weight, femur length, bone mineral content, density and cortical bone volume and thickness are not significantly altered, trabecular bone volume and number were significantly increased by hypothalamic Y2 deletion on NPY-expressing neurons. Interestingly, in situ hybridisation reveals increased NPY and decreased proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expression in the arcuate nucleus of mice with hypothalamus-specific deletion of Y2 receptors in NPY neurons, consistent with a negative feedback mechanism between NPY expression and Y2 receptors on NPY-ergic neurons. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Taken together these data demonstrate the anti-obesogenic role of Y2 receptors in the brain, notably on NPY-ergic neurons, possibly via inhibition of NPY neurons and concomitant stimulation of POMC-expressing neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, reducing lipogenic pathways in liver and/or skeletal muscle in females. These data also reveal as an anti-osteogenic effect of Y2 receptors on hypothalamic NPY-expressing neurons on trabecular but not on cortical bone

2017 HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: executive summary.

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2017 HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: executive summary.

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withdrawn 2017 hrs ehra ecas aphrs solaece expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation

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