Rogue drivers, typical cyclists, and tragic pedestrians: a Critical Discourse Analysis of media reporting of fatal road traffic collisions

In Britain, a third of road traffic fatalities are pedestrians or cyclists. Media reporting may play a key role in shaping how people interpret these events. We conduct in-depth Critical Discourse Analysis of a sample of 17 London Evening Standard articles, covering car-bicycle, car-pedestrian, and bicycle-pedestrian fatality collisions. Using Van Leeuwen’s Social Actor model we find that drivers involved in collisions are backgrounded, except those who failed to stop, who are portrayed as exceptional. Pedestrian casualties are framed episodically, i.e. as individual incidents not linked to wider contexts. Cyclist fatalities are presented thematically, although this common theme was cycling itself, not infrastructure, policy, or driver behaviour. When involved in pedestrian fatality collisions, cyclists are directly described as participants, rather than referred to indirectly through their vehicle as drivers are. Thus, narratives tend to erase driver agency in collisions while highlighting agency for cyclists, and pedestrian deaths appear as isolated incidents rather than part of a wider structural pattern. We identify three key tropes: rogue drivers, typical cyclists, and tragic pedestrians. The analysis shows how these, and the reporting patterns identified here, help to reproduce assumptions about risk posed to others by different modes, and consequent responsibility for crashes

Study reveals effect of aluminum on saturation moment of Fe-Ni alloys

Study of saturation magnetization, important in the investigation of the electronic structure of alloys, reveals the effect of aluminum on the saturation moments of iron-nickel alloys. The saturation magnetizations were extrapolated to the absolute zero of temperature for calculating average atomic moments

In the opposite lane: How Women of Colour experience, negotiate and apply an oppositional gaze to dominant cycling discourses

In a cultural context dominated by the car, cyclists are often marginalised. For Women of Colour, this marginalisation may be heightened and help to reinforce often already low cycling rates. This paper is the first to pair hooks’ concept of the ‘oppositional gaze’ with Hall’s theories of representation and reception to explore how dominant discourses around cycling, gender and race shape the experience of UK Women of Colour who cycle. Using go-along interviews with cycling influencers and advocates who are also Women of Colour, it provides space for counternarratives that can challenge dominant discourses about cycling. Borrowing the concept of ‘oppositional gaze,’ we examine the agency of those whose cycling experience is simultaneously shaped by both hypervisibility and invisibility on the road as in the broader cultural and policy contexts. We find that masculine sporty representations in cycling in the UK have material effects on the experience of cycling for women. Women of Colour must constantly negotiate these and other representations that do not fit them easily, sometimes claiming and sometimes challenging aspects of dominant discourses. Despite a small sample size and diverse locations, the insights offered by our research can help policymakers in similar cultural contexts start to build on existing diverse cycling experiences to create more inclusive cycling futures

Catalysts for ultrahigh current density oxygen cathodes for space fuel cell applications

The objective of this research was to identify promising electrocatalyst/support systems for the oxygen cathode in alkaline fuel cells operating at relatively high temperatures, O2 pressures and current densities. A number of materials were prepared, including Pb-Ru and Pb-Ir pyrochlores, RuO2 and Pt-doped RuO2, and lithiated NiO. Several of these were prepared using techniques that had not been previously used to prepare them. Particularly interesting is the use of the alkaline solution technique to prepare the Pt-doped Pb-Ru pyrochlore in high area form. Well-crystallized Pb(2)Ru(2)O(7-y) was used to fabricate high performance O2 cathodes with relatively good stability in room temperature KOH. This material was also found to be stable over a useful potential range at approximately 140 C in concentrated KOH. Other pyrochlores were found to be either unstable (amorphous samples) or the fabrication of the gas-fed electrodes could not be fully optimized during this project period. Future work may be directed at this problem. High area platinum supported on conductive metal oxide supports produced mixed results: small improvements in O2 reduction performance for Pb(2)Ru(2)O(7-y) but a large improvement for Li-doped NiO at room temperature. Nearly reversible behavior was observed for the O2/OH couple for Li-doped NiO at approximately 200 C

A functional analysis of the CREB signaling pathway using HaloCHIP-chip and high throughput reporter assays

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Regulation of gene expression is essential for normal development and cellular growth. Transcriptional events are tightly controlled both spatially and temporally by specific DNA-protein interactions. In this study we finely map the genome-wide targets of the CREB protein across all known and predicted human promoters, and characterize the functional consequences of a subset of these binding events using high-throughput reporter assays. To measure CREB binding, we used HaloCHIP, an antibody-free alternative to the ChIP method that utilizes the HaloTag fusion protein, and also high-throughput promoter-luciferase reporter assays, which provide rapid and quantitative screening of promoters for transcriptional activation or repression in living cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In analysis of CREB genome-wide binding events using a comprehensive DNA microarray of human promoters, we observe for the first time that CREB has a strong preference for binding at bidirectional promoters and unlike unidirectional promoters, these binding events often occur downstream of transcription start sites. Comparison between HaloCHIP-chip and ChIP-chip data reveal this to be true for both methodologies, indicating it is not a bias of the technology chosen. Transcriptional data obtained from promoter-luciferase reporter arrays also show an unprecedented, high level of activation of CREB-bound promoters in the presence of the co-activator protein TORC1.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest for the first time that TORC1 provides directional information when CREB is bound at bidirectional promoters and possible pausing of the CREB protein after initial transcriptional activation. Also, this combined approach demonstrates the ability to more broadly characterize CREB protein-DNA interactions wherein not only DNA binding sites are discovered, but also the potential of the promoter sequence to respond to CREB is evaluated.</p

Making Sense of a New Transport System: An Ethnographic Study of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

An increase in public transport use has the potential to contribute to improving population health, and there is growing interest in innovative public transport systems. Yet how new public transport infrastructure is experienced and integrated (or not) into daily practice is little understood. We investigated how the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, UK, was used and experienced in the weeks following its opening, using the method of participant observation (travelling on the busway and observing and talking to passengers) and drawing on Normalization Process Theory to interpret our data. Using excerpts of field notes to support our interpretations, we describe how the ease with which the new transport system could be integrated into existing daily routines was important in determining whether individuals would continue to use it. It emerged that there were two groups of passengers with different experiences and attitudes. Passengers who had previously travelled frequently on regular bus services did not perceive the new system to be an improvement; consequently, they were frustrated that it was differentiated from and not coherent with the regular system. In contrast, passengers who had previously travelled almost exclusively by car appraised the busway positively and perceived it to be a novel and superior form of travel. Our rich qualitative account highlights the varied and creative ways in which people learn to use new public transport and integrate it into their everyday lives. This has consequences for the introduction and promotion of future transport innovations. It is important to emphasise the novelty of new public transport, but also the ways in which its use can become ordinary and routine. Addressing these issues could help to promote uptake of other public transport interventions, which may contribute to increasing physical activity and improving population health. © 2013 Jones et al