The impact of advertisements: how female magazine readers in China perceive fashion magazine advertisements and white skin

Master of ScienceDepartment of Journalism and Mass CommunicationsXiaochen A. ZhangMost of the models in Chinese fashion magazine advertisements are Caucasian women today. White skin, as one of their Caucasian characteristics, is particularly emphasized. Millions of Chinese women are bombarded with the advertising’s message of “having white skin is beautiful” every day. My research suggests that this kind of adverting depicts white skin as a beauty ideal; the prevalence of Caucasian models in whitening products’ magazine advertisements constructs body-esteem, self-esteem, and purchase decision-making of Chinese women. The Social Judgment Theory is employed in this research as a theoretical framework. It is a way to explain when persuasive messages are most likely to succeed and how people make judgments about them. Understanding this phenomenon will ultimately provide insight into addressing the effects of the promotion of fashion magazine advertisements on Chinese women. It is further anticipated that future researchers will expand and improve the knowledge of the Chinese advertising market

Radiocarbon-based source apportionment of elemental carbon aerosols at two South Asian receptor observatories over a full annual cycle

Black carbon (BC) aerosols impact climate and air quality. Since BC from fossil versus biomass combustion have different optical properties and different abilities to penetrate the lungs, it is important to better understand their relative contributions in strongly affected regions such as South Asia. This study reports the first year-round 14C-based source apportionment of elemental carbon (EC), the mass-based correspondent to BC, using as regional receptor sites the international Maldives Climate Observatory in Hanimaadhoo (MCOH) and the mountaintop observatory of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Sinhagad, India (SINH). For the highly-polluted winter season (December–March), the fractional contribution to EC from biomass burning (fbio) was 53 ± 5% (n = 6) at MCOH and 56 ± 3% at SINH (n = 5). The fbio for the non-winter remainder was 53 ± 11% (n = 6) at MCOH and 48 ± 8% (n = 7) at SINH. This observation-based constraint on near-equal contributions from biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion at both sites compare with predictions from eight technology-based emission inventory (EI) models for India of (fbio)EI spanning 55–88%, suggesting that most current EI for Indian BC systematically under predict the relative contribution of fossil fuel combustion. A continued iterative testing of bottom-up EI with top-down observational source constraints has the potential to lead to reduced uncertainties regarding EC sources and emissions to the benefit of both models of climate and air quality as well as guide efficient policies to mitigate emissions

Year-round radiocarbon-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols at two background sites in South Asia

Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABC), regional-scale haze events, are a significant concern for both human cardiopulmonary health and regional climate impacts. In order to effectively mitigate this pollution-based phenomenon, it is imperative to understand the magnitude, scope and source of ABC in regions such as South Asia. Two sites in S. Asia were chosen for a 15-month field campaign focused on isotope-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols in 2008-2009. Both the Maldives Climate Observatory in Hanimaadhoo (MCOH) and a mountaintop site in Sinhagad, India (SINH) act as regionally mixed receptor sites. Annual radiocarbon-based source apportionment for soot elemental carbon (SEC) at MCOH and SINH revealed 73 6 and 59 5 contribution from biomass combustion, respectively (remainder from fossil fuel). The contributions from biogenic/biomass combustion to total organic carbon were similar between MCOH and SINH (69 5 and 64 5, respectively). The biomass combustion contribution for SEC in the current study, especially the results from MCOH, shows good agreement with published black carbon emissions inventories for India. Geographic source assessment, including clustered back trajectory analysis and carbon contribution by source region, indicated that the highest SEC/TOC loads originated from the W. Indian coastal margin, including the coastal city of Mumbai, India. The winter dry season 14C-based source apportionment of the BC-tracing SEC fraction for 2006, 2008, 2009 were not statistically different (p = 0.7) and point to a near-constant two-thirds contribution from biomass combustion practices, including wood and other biofuels as well as burning of agricultural crop residues

Influence of local sources on rainwater chemistry over Pune region, India

Rainwater samples were collected at five locations in the Pune region, an urban area in the south-west part of India, during 2006-2009. These locations; viz., Swargate (Traffic), Bhosari (Industrial), Pashan, Sangvi (Urban) and Sinhagad (Rural and High Altitude), represent different environments in this region. The study based on chemical analyses of these samples reveals that, on average, rainwater was alkaline at all the locations with pH values of 6.7, 6.16, 5.94, 6.04 and 5.92, respectively. Higher pH value of rainwater at the traffic location than those at the other locations is due mainly to the abundance of Ca 2- caused by vehicle-driven road-side dust. The maximum SO 4 2- and NO 3 - concentrations were found at Bhosari and Swargate respectively caused by local industrial and vehicular emissions. The average Fractional acidity over Pune area is 0.024, indicating about 98 acidity is neutralized by alkaline constituents. Factor analysis of the results indicated the influence of various sources, such as anthropogenic, soil dust, sea salt and biomass burning

Seasonal factors influencing in chemical composition of total suspended particles at pune, India

A study on the chemical characterization of boundary layer aerosols is made based on the collection of TSP and size separated aerosol mass samples at Pune during March 2007-February 2008. This study will be helpful in simulating atmospheric processes responsible for aerosol development over Pune region and understanding its environmental implications related to radiation budget and climate. It is found that major fraction of Ca2+ is locally generated by suspension of soil dust during all the seasons. During pre-monsoon season, coarse Mg2+ is originated from the soil and the sea salt, whereas fine Mg2+ is generated from the local biomass burning. Sizeable amount of SO4 2- is emitted from local industrial and brick kiln's activities. Neutralization of NO3 - , generated both from biogenic and anthropogenic sources, is made by NH3 gas generated mainly from anthropogenic sources.The data are further examined in terms of the factors specific to the individual seasons influencing physical and chemical characteristics of the boundary layer aerosols. The specific factors are: (a) Intense local convection during pre-monsoon season; (b) southwesterly wind flow and rainfall activity during monsoon season; and (c) Day time convection and occurrence of low level inversion during post-monsoon and winter seasons

Ciliated urns in <i>Archaster typicus</i> Müller and Troschel, 1840 (Echinodermata, Asteroidea, Archasteridae): present and future research

The presence of ciliated urns is known since long from the apodid, or synaptid, Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers). Similar, but more primitive organs have been reported from the sea-star Archaster typicus Miiller and Troschel 1840 in an earlier paper. The Archasteridae is the second echinoderm taxon in which such organs have been discovered. The presence of comparable urn organs of coelothelial origin in two different taxa which are definitely not related is shedding new light on the phylogenetic development of these organs as well as on their function, which is far from being understood. As an interim report on the status of our work we compare the urns in both echinoderm taxa, derive hypotheses and discuss them as a background for future investigations

Source characterization for aerosol constituents and changing roles of calcium and ammonium aerosols in the neutralization of aerosol acidity at a semi-urban site in SW India

Atmospheric aerosols were collected at a semi-urban site in Pune city, located in the southwestern part of India, during the year 2007-08 covering different seasons. Anthropogenically derived particles (Non seasalt and non crustal fractions of SO4, Cl, K, Ca and Mg together with NO3, NH4, Cu, Zn and black carbon) contributed about 73 of the total measured TSP. Natural sources like sea (16) and soil (11) contributed about 27 to the total measured composition of TSP on annual basis. Surprisingly, Ca which is generally observed from crustal source, showed equal contribution from crustal and anthropogenic sources and was the major neutralizer of aerosol acidity in summer and monsoon seasons. NH4 was the most abundant component on annual average basis among the measured chemical components and also it was the leading neutralizer of aerosol acidity during post-monsoon and winter seasons. Aerosols showed alkaline nature (mean annual pH 6.51 and Neutralization Potential/Acidic Potential ratio 1.45) due to the neutralizing effect of Ca and NH4

Chemical composition of the inorganic fraction of cloud-water at a high altitude site in West India

Data from a ground-based cloud-water collection system intercepting water from clouds at a mountain field station, Sinhagad near Pune in India are presented. This study was part of an Indo-Swedish Collaboration Project on Atmospheric Brown Cloud-Asia (ABC-A). Cloud-water and rainwater (wet-only) samples were collected during June 2007-Dec. 2010. Concentrations of major anions and cations were determined. Ion concentrations were generally higher (NO3-, about 8 times; SO42- and K+, 5 times; NH4+ times and Cl-, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+ 3 times) in cloud-water samples than in rainwater samples collected during the same days. The average pH of cloud-water samples was 6.0 with about 20% of the values below 5.6 and only 4% less than 5.0. Despite high concentrations of SO42- and NO3- the cloud water samples were on average not more acidic than rainwater samples. This is different from most of the other studies of cloud-water composition which have noted a substantially higher acidity (i.e. lower pH) in cloud-water than in rainwater. The slightly alkaline (pH &gt; 5.6) nature of the cloud-water samples is mainly due to the presence of soil derived calcium carbonate in quantities more than enough to neutralize the acids or their precursors. A separation of the cloud-water data into trajectory groups showed that samples in air-masses having spent the last few days over the Indian sub-continent were in general more acidic (due to anthropogenic emissions) than those collected during days with air-masses of marine origin. A high correlation mutually between Ca2+, Na+, NO3- and SO42- makes it difficult to estimate the contribution to SO42- from different sources. Anthropogenic SO2- emissions and soil dust may both give important contributions