Child Sexual Abuse, Moral Panic, and the Mass Media: A Case Study in the Social Construction of Deviance

This is a case study of newswork in a moral panic. Specifically, Stanley Cohen\u27s concept of moral panic is used to examine the practices of a group of reporters who covered a widely publicized case of alleged child sexual abuse in a day-care center. Moral panics occur when a perceived threat to the social order emerges with such force, and with such little overt warning, that routine discourse about right and wrong gives way to a flood of indignation about an extraordinary breach of normal moral boundaries. Suspending normal rules governing social control, officials rush to crack down on the newly discovered menace. This study examined the role played by newsworkers in the social construction of a moral panic. For over three years, the case of alleged abuse was covered by three newspapers and several television and radio stations. Friends and family fiercely proclaimed the innocence of the defendants. Supporters of the alleged victims insisted that the children were telling the truth. In the middle of this maelstrom were the reporters, whose news accounts were closely scrutinized by all the parties to the case. The case study revealed that the reporters–working in an intensely competitive environment–effectively allowed the prosecution to define the case against the defendants and, more generally, to define child sexual abuse as a fundamental threat to social order. Specifically, the case study revealed the special role played by anonymous sources during moral panics. Anonymity provided official sources with an opportunity to favor sympathetic reporters, ignore others, and strategically release information likely to support the prosecution. Further, the case study revealed the central role of language in the social construction of a moral panic. Highly charged words and symbols became the linguistic representations of the evil that was threatening the community. And the choices made by the newsworkers as to how they would describe the alleged acts, often the result of substantial internal conflict within the newsgathering organizations, were a fundamental means by which the deviant threat was constructed. Finally, the case study revealed that, while the reporters were expected to maintain at least an appearance of emotional distance, they faced the same challenge as everyone else in a community seized by moral panic: Confronting a relatively new threat, they needed to understand the threat and cope with their own feelings of anger and revulsion. While they struggled to maintain at least a veneer of objectivity, these powerful emotions–felt most intensely when they heard the children testify–often led them to construct news accounts suggesting that the children were telling the truth

Evaluation of the applicability of the dual-domain mass transfer model in porous media containing connected high-conductivity channels

This is the published version. Copyright American Geophysical Union[1] This paper evaluates the dual-domain mass transfer (DDMT) model to represent transport processes when small-scale high-conductivity (K) preferential flow paths (PFPs) are present in a homogenous porous media matrix. The effects of PFPs upon solute transport were examined through detailed numerical experiments involving different realizations of PFP networks, PFP/matrix conductivity contrasts varying from 10:1 to 200:1, different magnitudes of effective conductivities, and a range of molecular diffusion coefficients. Results suggest that the DDMT model can reproduce both the near-source peak and the downstream low-concentration spreading observed in the embedded dendritic network when there are large conductivity contrasts between high-K PFPs and the low-K matrix. The accuracy of the DDMT model is also affected by the geometry of PFP networks and by the relative significance of the diffusion process in the networkmatrix system

Estimation of groundwater consumption by phreatophytes using diurnal water table fluctuations: A saturated-unsaturated flow assessment

This is the published version. Copyright American Geophysical Union[1] Groundwater consumption by phreatophytes is a difficult-to-measure but important component of the water budget in many arid and semiarid environments. Over the past 70 years the consumptive use of groundwater by phreatophytes has been estimated using a method that analyzes diurnal trends in hydrographs from wells that are screened across the water table (White, 1932). The reliability of estimates obtained with this approach has never been rigorously evaluated using saturated-unsaturated flow simulation. We present such an evaluation for common flow geometries and a range of hydraulic properties. Results indicate that the major source of error in the White method is the uncertainty in the estimate of specific yield. Evapotranspirative consumption of groundwater will often be significantly overpredicted with the White method if the effects of drainage time and the depth to the water table on specific yield are ignored. We utilize the concept of readily available specific yield as the basis for estimation of the specific yield value appropriate for use with the White method. Guidelines are defined for estimating readily available specific yield based on sediment texture. Use of these guidelines with the White method should enable the evapotranspirative consumption of groundwater to be more accurately quantified

Relative importance of dispersion and rate-limited mass transfer in highly heterogeneous porous media: Analysis of a new tracer test at the Macrodispersion Experiment (MADE) site

This is the published version. Copyright American Geophysical Union[1] A single-well injection-withdrawal (SWIW) bromide tracer test was conducted to further investigate transport processes at the Macrodispersion Experiment (MADE) site on Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. The bromide breakthrough curve is highly asymmetric and exhibits an early time high-concentration peak followed by an extended period of low-concentration tailing. Comparisons of results simulated by advection-dispersion (AD) and dual-domain mass transfer (DDMT) models with the field data show that the DDMT model more accurately represents the magnitudes of both the early high-concentration peak and the later low-concentration tail. For both the AD and DDMT models, the match with field data is enhanced by incorporating hydraulic conductivity information from new direct-push profiling methods. The Akaike information criterion for the DDMT models is much smaller than that for the AD models in both the homogeneous and heterogeneous cases investigated in this work. The improved match of the DDMT model with the SWIW test data supports the hypothesis of mass transfer processes occurring at this highly heterogeneous site

Spatial connectivity in a highly heterogeneous aquifer: From cores to preferential flow paths

This is the published version. Copyright American Geophysical Union[1] This study investigates connectivity in a small portion of the extremely heterogeneous aquifer at the Macrodispersion Experiment (MADE) site in Columbus, Mississippi. A total of 19 fully penetrating soil cores were collected from a rectangular grid of 4 m by 4 m. Detailed grain size analysis was performed on 5 cm segments of each core, yielding 1740 hydraulic conductivity (K) estimates. Three different geostatistical simulation methods were used to generate 3-D conditional realizations of the K field for the sampled block. Particle tracking calculations showed that the fastest particles, as represented by the first 5% to arrive, converge along preferential flow paths and exit the model domain within preferred areas. These 5% fastest flow paths accounted for about 40% of the flow. The distribution of preferential flow paths and particle exit locations is clearly influenced by the occurrence of clusters formed by interconnected cells with K equal to or greater than the 0.9 decile of the data distribution (10% of the volume). The fraction of particle paths within the high-K clusters ranges from 43% to 69%. In variogram-based K fields, some of the fastest paths are through media with lower K values, suggesting that transport connectivity may not require fully connected zones of relatively homogenous K. The high degree of flow and transport connectivity was confirmed by the values of two groups of connectivity indicators. In particular, the ratio between effective and geometric mean K (on average, about 2) and the ratio between the average arrival time and the arrival time of the fastest particles (on average, about 9) are consistent with flow and advective transport behavior characterized by channeling along preferential flow paths

Limits of applicability of the advection-dispersion model in aquifers containing connected high-conductivity channels

This is the published version. Copyright American Geophysical Union[1] The macrodispersion model from stochastic transport theory is demonstrated to be of limited utility when applied to heterogeneous aquifer systems containing narrow connected pathways. This is so even when contrasts in hydraulic conductivity (K) are small and variance in ln K is less than 0.10. We evaluated how well an advection-dispersion model (ADM) could be used to represent solute plumes transported through mildly heterogeneous three-dimensional (3-D) systems characterized by a well-connected dendritic network of 10 cm wide high-K channels. Each high-K channel network was generated using an invasion percolation algorithm and consisted of ∼10% by volume high-K regions. Contrasts in K between the channels and matrix were varied systematically from 2:1 to 30:1, corresponding to ln K values ranging from 0.04 to 1.05. Simulations involved numerical models with 3-D decimeter discretization, and each model contained 2–4 million active cells. Transport through each channel network considered only the processes of advection and molecular diffusion. In every case, the temporal change in the second spatial moment of concentrations was linear, with R2 values ranging from 0.97 to 0.99. The third spatial moment, or alternatively, the skewness coefficient values, indicated significant tailing downstream of the plume center. For each case, a corresponding ADM was used to simulate transport through the system. The corresponding ADM employed the effective mean hydraulic conductivity that reproduced the total discharge through the channel network system under an identical ambient gradient. Dispersivity values used in the ADM were obtained from the temporal change in the second spatial moments of concentrations for the plumes in the channel network systems and ranged from 0.014 m to 0.85 m. The results indicate that as the conductivity contrast between the channels and matrix increased, the simulated plumes in the channel network system became more and more asymmetric, with little solute dispersed upstream of the plume center and extensive downstream spreading of low concentrations. Distinctly different spreading was found upstream versus downstream of the plume center. The ADM failed to capture this asymmetry. Comparison of each plume in the channel network system with the corresponding plume produced using the corresponding ADM showed a maximum correlation of only 0.64 and a minimum fractional error of 0.29 for cases in which the log K variance was ∼0.20 (ln K variance was ∼1.0). At early times the correlations were as low as 0.40. The greatest correlation occurred at late times and for cases in which a wide source was considered

Bond strength of orthodontic direct-bonding cement-bracket systems as studied in vitro

Tensile bond strength and failure location were evaluated in vitro for three types of direct bonding cements (unfilled, low filled, and highly filled) with three types of brackets (polycarbonate, stainless steel, and ceramic) using natural teeth and plastic as substrates. An unfilled acrylic cement gave the highest values of bond strength for both the plastic and ceramic brackets, whereas a highly-filled diacrylate cement gave the highest bond strength for the metal brackets. Bond failures occurred at the bracket-cement interface with the stainless steel brackets with each cement, whereas failure locations occurred at the bracket-cement interface, within the cement, and within the bracket for the plastic and ceramic brackets. There were no significant differences in bond strength nor failure location between tooth and plastic substrates.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24092/1/0000348.pd

Neuroimaging standards for research into small vessel disease and its contribution to ageing and neurodegeneration: A united approach

Item does not contain fulltextCerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a common accompaniment of ageing. Features seen on neuroimaging include recent small subcortical infarcts, lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, perivascular spaces, microbleeds, and brain atrophy. SVD can present as a stroke or cognitive decline, or can have few or no symptoms. SVD frequently coexists with neurodegenerative disease, and can exacerbate cognitive deficits, physical disabilities, and other symptoms of neurodegeneration. Terminology and definitions for imaging the features of SVD vary widely, which is also true for protocols for image acquisition and image analysis. This lack of consistency hampers progress in identifying the contribution of SVD to the pathophysiology and clinical features of common neurodegenerative diseases. We are an international working group from the Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration. We completed a structured process to develop definitions and imaging standards for markers and consequences of SVD. We aimed to achieve the following: first, to provide a common advisory about terms and definitions for features visible on MRI; second, to suggest minimum standards for image acquisition and analysis; third, to agree on standards for scientific reporting of changes related to SVD on neuroimaging; and fourth, to review emerging imaging methods for detection and quantification of preclinical manifestations of SVD. Our findings and recommendations apply to research studies, and can be used in the clinical setting to standardise image interpretation, acquisition, and reporting. This Position Paper summarises the main outcomes of this international effort to provide the STandards for ReportIng Vascular changes on nEuroimaging (STRIVE)

Morphology and Composition of the Surface of Mars: Mars Odyssey THEMIS Results

The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on Mars Odyssey has produced infrared to visible wavelength images of the martian surface that show lithologically distinct layers with variable thickness, implying temporal changes in the processes or environments during or after their formation. Kilometer-scale exposures of bedrock are observed; elsewhere airfall dust completely mantles the surface over thousands of square kilometers. Mars has compositional variations at 100-meter scales, for example, an exposure of olivine-rich basalt in the walls of Ganges Chasma. Thermally distinct ejecta facies occur around some craters with variations associated with crater age. Polar observations have identified temporal patches of water frost in the north polar cap. No thermal signatures associated with endogenic heat sources have been identified