Women over 40, foreigners of color, and other missing persons in globalizing mediascapes: understanding marketing images as mirrors of intersectionality

Media diversity studies regularly invoke the notion of marketing images as mirrors of racism and sexism. This article develops a higher-order concept of marketing images as “mirrors of intersectionality.” Drawing on a seven-dimensional study of coverperson diversity in a globalizing mediascape, the emergent concept highlights that marketing images reflect not just racism and sexism, but all categorical forms of marginalization, including ableism, ageism, colorism, fatism, and heterosexism, as well as intersectional forms of marginalization, such as sexist ageism and racist multiculturalism. Fueled by the legacies of history, aspirational marketing logics, and an industry-wide distribution of discriminatory work, marketing images help to perpetuate multiple, cumulative, and enduring advantages for privileged groups and disadvantages for marginalized groups. In this sense, marketing images, as mirrors of intersectionality, are complicit agents in the structuration of inequitable societies

Differential gene expression in abdomens of the malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, after sugar feeding, blood feeding and Plasmodium berghei infection

BACKGROUND: Large scale sequencing of cDNA libraries can provide profiles of genes expressed in an organism under defined biological and environmental circumstances. We have analyzed sequences of 4541 Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) from 3 different cDNA libraries created from abdomens from Plasmodium infection-susceptible adult female Anopheles gambiae. These libraries were made from sugar fed (S), rat blood fed (RB), and P. berghei-infected (IRB) mosquitoes at 30 hours after the blood meal, when most parasites would be transforming ookinetes or very early oocysts. RESULTS: The S, RB and IRB libraries contained 1727, 1145 and 1669 high quality ESTs, respectively, averaging 455 nucleotides (nt) in length. They assembled into 1975 consensus sequences – 567 contigs and 1408 singletons. Functional annotation was performed to annotate probable molecular functions of the gene products and the biological processes in which they function. Genes represented at high frequency in one or more of the libraries were subjected to digital Northern analysis and results on expression of 5 verified by qRT-PCR. CONCLUSION: 13% of the 1965 ESTs showing identity to the A. gambiae genome sequence represent novel genes. These, together with untranslated regions (UTR) present on many of the ESTs, will inform further genome annotation. We have identified 23 genes encoding products likely to be involved in regulating the cellular oxidative environment and 25 insect immunity genes. We also identified 25 genes as being up or down regulated following blood feeding and/or feeding with P. berghei infected blood relative to their expression levels in sugar fed females

Adsorbate-enhanced transport of metals on metal surfaces: Oxygen and sulfur on coinage metals

Coarsening (i.e., ripening) of single-atom-high, metal homoepitaxial islands provides a useful window on the mechanism and kinetics of mass transport at metal surfaces. This article focuses on this type of coarsening on the surfaces of coinage metals (Cu, Ag, Au), both clean and with an adsorbed chalcogen (O, S) present. For the clean surfaces, three aspects are summarized: (1) the balance between the two major mechanisms—Ostwald ripening (the most commonly anticipated mechanism) and Smoluchowski ripening—and how that balance depends on island size; (2) the nature of the mass transport agents, which are metal adatoms in almost all known cases; and (3) the dependence of the ripening kinetics on surface crystallography. Ripening rates are in the order (110)\u3e(111)\u3e(100), a feature that can be rationalized in terms of the energetics of key processes. This discussion of behavior on the clean surfaces establishes a background for understanding why coarsening can be accelerated by adsorbates. Evidence that O and S accelerate mass transport on Ag, Cu, and Au surfaces is then reviewed. The most detailed information is available for two specific systems, S/Ag (111) and S/Cu(111). Here, metal-chalcogen clusters are clearly responsible for accelerated coarsening. This conclusion rests partly on deductive reasoning, partly on calculations of key energetic quantities for the clusters (compared with quantities for the clean surfaces), and partly on direct experimental observations. In these two systems, it appears that the adsorbate, S, must first decorate—and, in fact, saturate—the edges of metal islands and steps, and then build up at least slightly in coverage on the terraces before acceleration begins. Acceleration can occur at coverages as low as a few thousandths to a few hundredths of a monolayer. Despite the significant recent advances in our understanding of these systems, many open questions remain. Among them is the identification of the agents of mass transport on crystallographically different surfaces e.g., 111, 110, and 100

Implicating municipalities in addressing household food insecurity in Canada: A pan-Canadian analysis of news print media coverage

Objectives: Household food insecurity (HFI) affects approximately 13% of Canadian households and is especially prevalent among low-income households. Actions to address HFI have been occurring primarily at the local level, despite calls for greater income supports from senior governments to reduce poverty. News media may be reinforcing this trend, by emphasizing food-based solutions to HFI and the municipal level as the site where action needs to take place. The objective of this study was to examine the level and framing of print news media coverage of HFI action in Canada. Methods: Using a quantitative newspaper content analysis approach, we analyzed 547 articles gathered from 2 national and 16 local/regional Englishlanguage newspapers published between January 2007 and December 2012. Results: News coverage increased over time, and over half was produced from Ontario (33%) and British Columbia (22%) combined. Of the 374 articles that profiled a specific action, community gardens/urban agriculture was most commonly profiled (17%), followed by food banks/meal programs (13%); 70% of articles implicated governments to take action on HFI, and of these, 43% implicated municipal governments. Article tone was notably more negative when senior governments were profiled and more neutral and positive when municipal governments were profiled. Conclusion: News media reporting of this issue in Canada may be placing pressure on municipalities to engage in food-based actions to address HFI. A more systematic approach to HFI action in Canada will require more balanced media reporting that acknowledges the limitations of food-based solutions to the income-based problem of HFI

KELT-1b: A Strongly Irradiated, Highly Inflated, Short Period, 27 Jupiter-mass Companion Transiting a mid-F Star

We present the discovery of KELT-1b, the first transiting low-mass companion from the wide-field Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope-North (KELT-North) survey. The V=10.7 primary is a mildly evolved, solar-metallicity, mid-F star. The companion is a low-mass brown dwarf or super-massive planet with mass of 27.23+/-0.50 MJ and radius of 1.110+0.037-0.024 RJ, on a very short period (P=1.21750007) circular orbit. KELT-1b receives a large amount of stellar insolation, with an equilibrium temperature assuming zero albedo and perfect redistribution of 2422 K. Upper limits on the secondary eclipse depth indicate that either the companion must have a non-zero albedo, or it must experience some energy redistribution. Comparison with standard evolutionary models for brown dwarfs suggests that the radius of KELT-1b is significantly inflated. Adaptive optics imaging reveals a candidate stellar companion to KELT-1, which is consistent with an M dwarf if bound. The projected spin-orbit alignment angle is consistent with zero stellar obliquity, and the vsini of the primary is consistent with tidal synchronization. Given the extreme parameters of the KELT-1 system, we expect it to provide an important testbed for theories of the emplacement and evolution of short-period companions, and theories of tidal dissipation and irradiated brown dwarf atmospheres.Comment: 30 pages, 19 figures. Submitted to Ap

KELT-2Ab: A Hot Jupiter Transiting the Bright (V=8.77) Primary Star of a Binary System

We report the discovery of KELT-2Ab, a hot Jupiter transiting the bright (V=8.77) primary star of the HD 42176 binary system. The host is a slightly evolved late F-star likely in the very short-lived "blue-hook" stage of evolution, with \teff=6148\pm48{\rm K}, $\log{g}=4.030_{-0.026}^{+0.015}$ and \feh=0.034\pm0.78. The inferred stellar mass is $M_*=1.314_{-0.060}^{+0.063}$\msun\ and the star has a relatively large radius of $R_*=1.836_{-0.046}^{+0.066}$\rsun. The planet is a typical hot Jupiter with period $4.11379\pm0.00001$ days and a mass of $M_P=1.524\pm0.088$\mj\ and radius of $R_P=1.290_{-0.050}^{+0.064}$\rj. This is mildly inflated as compared to models of irradiated giant planets at the $\sim$4 Gyr age of the system. KELT-2A is the third brightest star with a transiting planet identified by ground-based transit surveys, and the ninth brightest star overall with a transiting planet. KELT-2Ab's mass and radius are unique among the subset of planets with $V<9$ host stars, and therefore increases the diversity of bright benchmark systems. We also measure the relative motion of KELT-2A and -2B over a baseline of 38 years, robustly demonstrating for the first time that the stars are bound. This allows us to infer that KELT-2B is an early K-dwarf. We hypothesize that through the eccentric Kozai mechanism KELT-2B may have emplaced KELT-2Ab in its current orbit. This scenario is potentially testable with Rossiter-McLaughlin measurements, which should have an amplitude of $\sim$44 m s$^{-1}$.Comment: 9 pages, 2 tables, 4 figures. A short video describing this paper is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVS8lnkXXlE. Revised to reflect the ApJL version. Note that figure 4 is not in the ApJL versio

Patient and family involvement in adult critical and intensive care settings : a scoping review

BACKGROUND: Despite international bodies calling for increased patient and family involvement, these concepts remain poorly defined within literature on critical and intensive care settings. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review investigates the extent and range of literature on patient and family involvement in critical and intensive care settings. Methodological and empirical gaps are identified, and a future agenda for research into optimizing patient and family involvement is outlined. METHODS: Searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Social Work Abstracts and PsycINFO were conducted. English‐language articles published between 2003 and 2014 were retrieved. Articles were included if the studies were undertaken in an intensive care or critical care setting, addressed the topic of patient and family involvement, included a sample of adult critical care patients, their families and/or critical care providers. Two reviewers extracted and charted data and analysed findings using qualitative content analysis. FINDINGS: A total of 892 articles were screened, 124 were eligible for analysis, including 61 quantitative, 61 qualitative and 2 mixed‐methods studies. There was a significant gap in research on patient involvement in the intensive care unit. The analysis identified five different components of family and patient involvement: (i) presence, (ii) having needs met/being supported, (iii) communication, (iv) decision making and (v) contributing to care. CONCLUSION: Three research gaps were identified that require addressing: (i) the scope, extent and nature of patient involvement in intensive care settings; (ii) the broader socio‐cultural processes that shape patient and family involvement; and (iii) the bidirectional implications between patient/family involvement and interprofessional teamwork

Silver nanowires on carbon nanotube aerogel sheets for flexible, transparent electrodes

Flexible, free-standing transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs) with simultaneously tunable transmittances up to 98% and sheet resistances down to 11 Ω/sq were prepared by a facile spray-coating method of silver nanowires (AgNWs) onto dry-spun multiwall carbon nanotube (MWNT) aerogels. Counterintuitively, the transmittance of the hybrid electrodes can be increased as the mass density of AgNWs within the MWNT aerogels increases, however, the final achievable transmittance depends on the initial transparency of the MWNT aerogels. Simultaneously, a strong decrease in sheet resistance is obtained when AgNWs form a percolated network along the MWNT aerogel. Additionally, anisotropic reduction in sheet resistance and polarized transmittance of AgNW/MWNT aerogels is achieved with this method. The final AgNW/MWNT hybrid TCEs transmittance and sheet resistance can be fine-tuned by spray-coating mechanisms or by choosing initial MWNT aerogel density. Thus, a wide range of AgNW/MWNT hybrid TCEs with optimized optoelectronic properties can be achieved depending of the requirements needed. Finally, the free-standing AgNW/MWNT hybrid TCEs can be laminated onto a wide range of substrates without the need of a bonding aid

Household air pollution in low- and middle-income countries: health risks and research priorities

Household air pollution (HAP), which results from incomplete combustion of the solid fuels traditionally used for cooking and heating, affects the homes of nearly 3 billion people. It is the leading environmental cause of death and disability worldwide, with highest risks for women and children due to their domestic roles. The high levels of pollutants found in HAP cause a range of diseases, in addition to burns and scalds and injuries or violence experienced during fuel collection. Additionally, household solid fuel use can pose substantive environmental risks, including degradation from fuel gathering as well as climate change from release of both CO2 and short-lived climate forcers, such as black carbon, during combustion. Despite the broad support to find solutions, only a few solid fuel interventions have shown that they might improve health over the long term, especially when implemented at the scale required (Box 1)