Radical news? Immigrants’ television use, acculturation challenges, and support for terrorism

Previous research shows that acculturation challenges predict immigrants’ support for terrorism. Here, we acknowledge the central role of mass media use in the acculturation process. We investigate whether immigrants who infrequently use ethnic and host country media, a possible indicator or driver of marginalisation, report higher sympathy with terrorism than frequent media users. We further examine if those who prefer ethnic over host country media, which might reflect or facilitate disengagement from the host society, support terrorism more strongly. To address these research questions, we conducted secondary analyses of a public opinion poll of Muslim immigrants resident in the United Kingdom (N = 880). Focusing on immigrants’ use of ethnic and host country television channels, latent class analysis identified four groups: Frequent and Infrequent Media Users as well as Ethnic and Host Country Media Users. Overall sympathy with terrorism was low. Contesting our hypothesis, Frequent Media Users supported terrorist action more than Infrequent Media Users. Ethnic Media Users also expressed higher sympathy with terrorism than Host Country Media Users. Findings emphasise the dynamic interplay between media use and acculturation challenges; they further suggest strategies to reduce immigrants’ support for terrorism

Computational Design of Auxotrophy-Dependent Microbial Biosensors for Combinatorial Metabolic Engineering Experiments

Combinatorial approaches in metabolic engineering work by generating genetic diversity in a microbial population followed by screening for strains with improved phenotypes. One of the most common goals in this field is the generation of a high rate chemical producing strain. A major hurdle with this approach is that many chemicals do not have easy to recognize attributes, making their screening expensive and time consuming. To address this problem, it was previously suggested to use microbial biosensors to facilitate the detection and quantification of chemicals of interest. Here, we present novel computational methods to: (i) rationally design microbial biosensors for chemicals of interest based on substrate auxotrophy that would enable their high-throughput screening; (ii) predict engineering strategies for coupling the synthesis of a chemical of interest with the production of a proxy metabolite for which high-throughput screening is possible via a designed bio-sensor. The biosensor design method is validated based on known genetic modifications in an array of E. coli strains auxotrophic to various amino-acids. Predicted chemical production rates achievable via the biosensor-based approach are shown to potentially improve upon those predicted by current rational strain design approaches. (A Matlab implementation of the biosensor design method is available via http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~tomersh/tools)

Use of fake identification to purchase alcohol amongst 15-16 year olds: a cross-sectional survey examining alcohol access, consumption and harm

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite legislation and enforcement activities to prevent underage access to alcohol, underage individuals continue to be able to access alcohol and to do so at levels which put them at significant risk of alcohol-related harm.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An opportunistic survey of 15-16 year olds (n = 9,833) across North West England was used to examine alcohol consumption, methods of access and related harms experienced (such as regretted sex). Associations between these were analysed using chi square and logistic regression techniques.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Over a quarter (28.3%) of 15-16 year old participants who drank reported having bought their own alcohol. One seventh (14.9%) of these owned at least one form of fake identification for which by far the most common purchase method was online. Logistic regression analyses showed that those who owned fake identification were significantly more likely to be male (AOR = 2.0; 95% CI = 1.7-2.5; P < 0.001) and to receive a higher personal weekly income (comparing those who received > £30 with those who received ≤ £10: AOR = 3.7; 95% CI = 2.9-4.9; P < 0.001). After taking into account differences in demographic characteristics and personal weekly income, ownership of fake identification was significantly associated with binge drinking (AOR = 3.5, 95% CI = 2.8-4.3; P < 0.001), frequent drinking (AOR = 3.0, 95% CI = 2.5-3.7; P < 0.001) and public drinking (AOR = 3.3, 95% CI = 2.5-4.1; P < 0.001) compared with those who did not own fake identification. Further, those who reported owning fake identification were significantly more likely to report experiencing a variety of alcohol-related harms such as regretted sex after drinking (chi square, all P < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Young people (aged 15-16 years) who have access to fake identification are at a particularly high risk of reporting hazardous alcohol consumption patterns and related harm. Owning fake identification should be considered a risk factor for involvement in risky drinking behaviours. Information on these hazards should be made available to schools and professionals in health, social and judicial services, along with advice on how to best to work with those involved.</p

‘Writing Now’

This chapter considers the themes and forms that characterise women’s writing in the new millennium. Post-9/11, self-representation has become a particularly urgent task for Muslim writers such as Monica Ali and Leila Aboulela. A concern with refugees, asylum seekers, and modern forms of slavery becomes increasingly prominent, not only in fiction – for example, Fadia Faqir’s My Name is Salma (2007) and Monica Ali’s In the Kitchen (2009) – but also in the theatre: Kay Adshead’s The Bogus Woman (2000), Sonja Linden’s Crocodile Seeking Refuge (2005), Christine Bacon’s Rendition Monologues (2008), Rukhsana Ahmad and Oladipo Agboluaje’s Footprints in the Sand (2008), Natasha Walter's Motherland (2008), and Gbemisola Ikumelo’s Next Door (2010). The impact of global capitalism, consumerism, and branding are explored in novels such as Scarlett Thomas’ Popco (2004), Ali Smith’s Girl Meets Boy (2007), and Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007). Ageing is another major theme. Long a pre-occupation of Doris Lessing, it features also in Liz Jensen’s War Crimes for the Home (2002) and Alison Fell’s Tricks of the Light (2003). Anxieties about climate change and environmental apocalypse are addressed through dystopia in Maggie Gee’s The Ice People (1998) and The Flood (2004), Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007), Sarah Hall’s The Carhullen Army (2007), and Liz Jensen’s The Rapture (2009). Following Suniti Namjoshi’s pioneeringly collaborative Building Babel (1996), the use of multimedia in Maya Chowdhry’s digital poetry, Kate Pullinger’s ‘networked’ wikinovel Flight Paths (2005-), and the ‘visual novel’ (an interactive fiction game), gives literature an entirely new shape