Saudi Arabia and Iran: Sectarianism, a Quest for Regional Hegemony, and International Alignments

Saudi Arabia and Iran are two of the most influential countries in the Middle East. They have often clashed with each other for a number of reasons. Although Riyadh and Tehran frequently espouse their sectarian differences as an explanation and justification for their regional confrontations, sectarianism is only one variable of the complex relationship between the two countries. Therefore the main question for this research concerns the non-sectarian sources of contention between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the ways in which Saudi and Iranian leaderships frame this confrontation around sectarianism. As the first step, using constructivist framework, this paper analyzes the social and historical construction of Saudi Arabia and Iran to understand the main reasons for their confrontation in terms of sectarian differences and beyond. Based on a close examination of Saudi and Iranian history and contemporary policies, the paper then uses the examples of proxy wars in Bahrain and Yemen after the Arab Spring to focus on the contemporary geopolitical strategies of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia and Iran have opposing political discourses; the Saudis tend to use realpolitik while the Iranians often base decisions on ideological considerations. Findings from this research suggest that events like the Arab Spring Revolutions have deeply intimidated Saudi Arabia. As a result, the country has implemented aggressive policies they perceive to be defensive in order to prevent Iranian aggression and subversion. Saudis now routinely disparage Shia movements and parties who are seen as representing Iran. On the other hand Iran, in its efforts to unite all Muslims against imperialist forces, continues to condemn the Saudis as lackeys of American imperialism. Thus the confrontation between the two nations has three dimensions: sectarianism, a quest for regional hegemony, and international alignments

The tensions between news content providers and distribution platforms?

With the rise of social media as a major news sources for many readers, news publishers are now extensively using social media platforms in the hope of reaching more readers and creating much needed revenue. However, readers’ online engagement is dropping and the digital revenue are mainly received by big technological companies like Facebook. Therefore, the dissertation attempts to answer the following questions: First, to what degree does the social network of Facebook influence news engagement? Second, what factors engage readers, in terms of news perceived attributes and social networks? Third, to what extent does engagement enhance brand awareness and further readers’ brand loyalty, the credibility of newspapers, perceived news satisfaction and perceived quality of news? Combining the idea of business model and uses and gratifications theory, the dissertation proposed a theoretical framework to examine how news perceived attributes and social networks affect news engagement through social media and hence influence brand awareness, loyalty, the credibility of newspapers, perceived news satisfaction and perceived quality of news based on this framework. An online panel survey was conducted. The sample of this study included adults who reside in the United States and are older than 18. The sample size of this study is 588. The results showed that news engagement, where news that attracts and holds readers’ attention, on Facebook, increases the brand loyalty of newspapers and Facebook. Brand wise both Facebook and newspapers benefit when news is distributed through Facebook. The study challenges popular beliefs about the influence of Facebook on the business of journalism and shows that Facebook and newspapers are mutually beneficial in helping build the brand loyalty of both. It also shows that tie strength and not homophily encourages the sharing of news on Facebook. While these results may seem optimistic, the study further suggests that leveraging Facebook as a news distribution platform to engage audiences should be treated more cautiously.Informatio

Does the use of specialist palliative care services modify the effect of socioeconomic status on place of death? A systematic review

© SAGE Publications. Background: Cancer patients in lower socioeconomic groups are significantly less likely to die at home and experience more barriers to access to palliative care. It is unclear whether receiving palliative care may mediate the effect of socioeconomic status on place of death. Aim: This review examines whether and how use of specialist palliative care may modify the effect of socioeconomic status on place of death. Design: A systematic review was conducted. Eligible papers were selected and the quality appraised by two independent reviewers. Data were synthesised using a narrative approach. Data sources: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge were searched (1997-2013). Bibliographies were scanned and experts contacted. Papers were included if they reported the effect of both socioeconomic status and use of specialist palliative care on place of death for adult cancer patients. Results: Nine studies were included. All study subjects had received specialist palliative care. With regard to place of death, socioeconomic status was found to have (1) no effect in seven studies and (2) an effect in one study. Furthermore, one study found that the effect of socioeconomic status on place of death was only significant when patients received standard specialist palliative care. When patients received more intense care adapted to their needs, the effect of socioeconomic status on place of death was no longer seen. Conclusion: There is some evidence to suggest that use of specialist palliative care may modify the effect of socioeconomic status on place of death

NuSTAR observations of the young, energetic radio pulsar PSR B1509-58

We report on Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) hard X-ray observations of the young rotation-powered radio pulsar PSR B1509$-$58 in the supernova remnant MSH 15$-$52. We confirm the previously reported curvature in the hard X-ray spectrum, showing that a log parabolic model provides a statistically superior fit to the spectrum compared with the standard power law. The log parabolic model describes the NuSTAR data, as well as previously published gamma-ray data obtained with COMPTEL and AGILE, all together spanning 3 keV through 500 MeV. Our spectral modelling allows us to constrain the peak of the broadband high energy spectrum to be at 2.6$\pm$0.8 MeV, an improvement of nearly an order of magnitude in precision over previous measurements. In addition, we calculate NuSTAR spectra in 26 pulse phase bins and confirm previously reported variations of photon indices with phase. Finally, we measure the pulsed fraction of PSR B1509$-$58 in the hard X-ray energy band for the first time. Using the energy resolved pulsed fraction results, we estimate that the pulsar's off-pulse emission has a photon index value between 1.26 and 1.96. Our results support a model in which the pulsar's lack of GeV emission is due to viewing geometry, with the X-rays originating from synchrotron emission from secondary pairs in the magnetosphere.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables, ApJ accepte

Bicriteria Approximation Algorithms for the Submodular Cover Problem

In this paper, we consider the optimization problem Submodular Cover (SCP), which is to find a minimum cardinality subset of a finite universe $U$ such that the value of a submodular function $f$ is above an input threshold $\tau$. In particular, we consider several variants of SCP including the general case, the case where $f$ is additionally assumed to be monotone, and finally the case where $f$ is a regularized monotone submodular function. Our most significant contributions are that: (i) We propose a scalable algorithm for monotone SCP that achieves nearly the same approximation guarantees as the standard greedy algorithm in significantly faster time; (ii) We are the first to develop an algorithm for general SCP that achieves a solution arbitrarily close to being feasible; and finally (iii) we are the first to develop algorithms for regularized SCP. Our algorithms are then demonstrated to be effective in an extensive experimental section on data summarization and graph cut, two applications of SCP.Comment: Accepted at NeurIPS 202

Perceptions of Clickbait: A Q-Methodology Approach

Clickbait is “content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page” (“clickbait,” n.d.). The term is also generally used to refer specifically to the attention-grabbing headlines. Critics of clickbait argue that clickbait is shallow, misleading, and ubiquitous – “a new word that has become synonymous with online journalism” (Frampton, 2015). It is the subject of a small, but growing number of studies in disciplines ranging from linguistics, communications, and information sciences. Palau-Sampio (2016) analyzed linguistic strategies associated with tabloid journalism in the Spanish digital newspaper Elpais.com, concluding that there is a trend towards lower quality news reporting. In their research on Danish news sites, Blom & Hansen (2015) identified forward-referencing, specifically the use of empty pronouns to create an information gap, as a feature of clickbait headlines. Chen, Conroy & Rubin (2015) proposed that automatic identification of clickbait could draw upon three types of features: a) lexico-semantic and pragmatic linguistic patterns (e.g. unresolved pronouns, affective and suspenseful language, action words, overuse of numerals, and reverse narratives), b) incongruent image placement with a possible emotional load, and c) user reading and commenting behavior. An effort in automated identification of clickbait by Potthast, et al. (2016) achieved 79% accuracy on Twitter tweets. But debate still rages over what the word actually means (Gardiner, 2015)