Towards a dialogic theory of new media literacy

Since the work of Gunther Kress, Cynthia Selfe, Anne Wysocki, the New London Group and others, many composition instructors are integrating the study and practice of new communication technologies into their pedagogy. This burgeoning amalgam of fields, which I call new media literacy studies, is heavily invested in extending first-year composition and literacy instruction to address the growing ubiquity of information communication technologies. This thesis begins with an exploration of the scope of these new media literacy theories, and argues for a new media literacy theory grounded in the dialogic theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and the Sophists. By bringing a broad spectrum of new media literacy theories into a dialogue with Bakhtinian theory and Sophistic theory, this thesis develops and explores a new literacy theory specifically addressing multimodal representational practice. Finally, this thesis describes a pedagogy built on this theoretical framework. The dialogic pluralism of this pedagogy could foster an environment wherein students are prepared to deploy a wide variety of communication strategies-in multiple modes-so as to meet the demands of an assortment of rhetorical situations

From Stakeholders to Experts: A Careful Approach to Democratizing Pharmaceuticals Policy

This paper investigates a recent FDA hearing on the popular breast cancer drug, Avastin. Using rhetorical stasis analysis, the authors demonstrate how the FDA hearing procedures exclude patient representatives from the decision-making process. The results of this study are suggestive for the development of more inclusive hybrid forums for technical decision-making

Theoretical investigation of transgastric and intraductal approaches for ultrasound-based thermal therapy of the pancreas.

BackgroundThe goal of this study was to theoretically investigate the feasibility of intraductal and transgastric approaches to ultrasound-based thermal therapy of pancreatic tumors, and to evaluate possible treatment strategies.MethodsThis study considered ultrasound applicators with 1.2 mm outer diameter tubular transducers, which are inserted into the tissue to be treated by an endoscopic approach, either via insertion through the gastric wall (transgastric) or within the pancreatic duct lumen (intraductal). 8 patient-specific, 3D, transient, biothermal and acoustic finite element models were generated to model hyperthermia (n = 2) and ablation (n = 6), using sectored (210°-270°, n = 4) and 360° (n = 4) transducers for treatment of 3.3-17.0 cm3 tumors in the head (n = 5), body (n = 2), and tail (n = 1) of the pancreas. A parametric study was performed to determine appropriate treatment parameters as a function of tissue attenuation, blood perfusion rates, and distance to sensitive anatomy.ResultsParametric studies indicated that pancreatic tumors up to 2.5 or 2.7 cm diameter can be ablated within 10 min with the transgastric and intraductal approaches, respectively. Patient-specific simulations demonstrated that 67.1-83.3% of the volumes of four sample 3.3-11.4 cm3 tumors could be ablated within 3-10 min using transgastric or intraductal approaches. 55.3-60.0% of the volume of a large 17.0 cm3 tumor could be ablated using multiple applicator positions within 20-30 min with either transgastric or intraductal approaches. 89.9-94.7% of the volume of two 4.4-11.4 cm3 tumors could be treated with intraductal hyperthermia. Sectored applicators are effective in directing acoustic output away from and preserving sensitive structures. When acoustic energy is directed towards sensitive structures, applicators should be placed at least 13.9-14.8 mm from major vessels like the aorta, 9.4-12.0 mm from other vessels, depending on the vessel size and flow rate, and 14 mm from the duodenum.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the feasibility of generating shaped or conformal ablative or hyperthermic temperature distributions within pancreatic tumors using transgastric or intraductal ultrasound

Interventional Systems Ethnography and Intersecting Injustices: A New Approach for Fostering Reciprocal Community Engagement

Effectively addressing wicked problems requires collaborative, embedded action. But, in many cases, scholarly commitments, social justice, privilege, and precarity collide in ways that make it difficult for community-engaged scholars to ethically navigate competing duties. This article presents our efforts to support reciprocal community engagement in addressing cancer- obesity comorbidity and risk coincidence in underserved communities. Partnering with community healthcare professionals, we conducted an adapted Systems Ethnography/Qualitative Modeling (SEQM) study. SEQM offers an alternative ethical framework for community-engaged research, one that supports reciprocity through enabling participant-centered community self-definition, goal setting, and solution identification

Propagation of Discrete Solitons in Inhomogeneous Networks

In many physical applications solitons propagate on supports whose topological properties may induce new and interesting effects. In this paper, we investigate the propagation of solitons on chains with a topological inhomogeneity generated by the insertion of a finite discrete network on the chain. For networks connected by a link to a single site of the chain, we derive a general criterion yielding the momenta for perfect reflection and transmission of traveling solitons and we discuss solitonic motion on chains with topological inhomogeneities

Soft power, hard news:How journalists at state-funded transnational media legitimize their work

How do journalists working for different state-funded international news organizations legitimize their relationship to the governments which support them? In what circumstances might such journalists resist the diplomatic strategies of their funding states? We address these questions through a comparative study of journalists working for international news organizations funded by the Chinese, US, UK and Qatari governments. Using 52 interviews with journalists covering humanitarian issues, we explain how they minimized tensions between their diplomatic role and dominant norms of journalistic autonomy by drawing on three – broadly shared – legitimizing narratives, involving different kinds of boundary-work. In, the first ‘exclusionary’ narrative, journalists differentiated their ‘truthful’ news reporting from the ‘false’ state ‘propaganda’ of a common Other, the Russian-funded network, RT. In the second ‘fuzzifying’ narrative, journalists deployed the ambiguous notion of ‘soft power’ as an ambivalent ‘boundary concept’, to defuse conflicts between journalistic and diplomatic agendas. In the final ‘inversion’ narrative, journalists argued that, paradoxically, their dependence on funding states gave them greater ‘operational autonomy’. Even when journalists did resist their funding states, this was hidden or partial, and prompted less by journalists’ concerns about the political effects of their work, than by serious threats to their personal cultural capital

Echolocation detections and digital video surveys provide reliable estimates of the relative density of harbour porpoises

Acknowledgements We would like to thank Erik Rexstad and Rob Williams for useful reviews of this manuscript. The collection of visual and acoustic data was funded by the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change, the Scottish Government, Collaborative Offshore Wind Research into the Environment (COWRIE) and Oil & Gas UK. Digital aerial surveys were funded by Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd and additional funding for analysis of the combined datasets was provided by Marine Scotland. Collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and Marine Scotland was supported by MarCRF. We thank colleagues at the University of Aberdeen, Moray First Marine, NERI, Hi-Def Aerial Surveying Ltd and Ravenair for essential support in the field, particularly Tim Barton, Bill Ruck, Rasmus Nielson and Dave Rutter. Thanks also to Andy Webb, David Borchers, Len Thomas, Kelly McLeod, David L. Miller, Dinara Sadykova and Thomas Cornulier for advice on survey design and statistical approache. Data Accessibility Data are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cf04gPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Adaptive-hybrid Redundancy with Error Injection

Adaptive-Hybrid Redundancy (AHR) shows promise as a method to allow flexibility when selecting between processing speed and energy efficiency while maintaining a level of error mitigation in space radiation environments. Whereas previous work demonstrated AHR’s feasibility in an error free environment, this work analyzes AHR performance in the presence of errors. Errors are deliberately injected into AHR at specific times in the processing chain to demonstrate best and worst case performance impacts. This analysis demonstrates that AHR provides flexibility in processing speed and energy efficiency in the presence of error

Efficient bio-production of citramalate using an engineered Escherichia coli strain

Citramalic acid is a central intermediate in a combined biocatalytic and chemocatalytic route to produce bio-based methylmethacrylate, the monomer used to manufacture Perspex and other high performance materials. We developed an engineered E. coli strain and a fed-batch bioprocess to produce citramalate at concentrations in excess of 80 g l-1 in only 65 h. This exceptional efficiency was achieved by designing the production strain and the fermentation system to operate synergistically. Thus, a single gene encoding a mesophilic variant of citramalate synthase from Methanococcus jannaschii, CimA3.7, was expressed in E. coli to convert acetyl-CoA and pyruvate to citramalate, and the ldhA and pflB genes were deleted. By using a bioprocess with a continuous, growth-limiting feed of glucose, these simple interventions diverted substrate flux directly from central metabolism towards formation of citramalate, without problematic accumulation of acetate. Furthermore, the nutritional requirements of the production strain could be satisfied through the use of a mineral salts medium supplemented only with glucose (172 g l-1 in total) and 1.4 g l-1 yeast extract. Using this system, citramalate accumulated to 82±1.5 g l-1, with a productivity of 1.85 g l-1 h-1 and a conversion efficiency of 0.48 gcitramalate g-1 glucose. The new bioprocess forms a practical first step for integrated bio- and chemocatalytic production of methylmethacrylate

Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture mitigates the effects of ocean acidification: Seaweeds raise system pH and improve growth of juvenile abalone

Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) has the potential to enhance growth, reduce nutrient loads, and mitigate environmental conditions compared to traditional single-species culture techniques. The goal of this project was to develop a land-based system for the integrated culture of seaweeds and shellfish, to test the efficacy of integrated versus non-integrated designs, and to assess the potential for IMTA to mitigate the effects of climate change from ocean acidification on shellfish growth and physiology. We utilized the red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) and the red seaweed dulse (Devaleraea mollis) as our study species and designed integrated tanks at three different recirculation rates (0%, 30%, and 65% recirculation per hour) to test how an integrated design would affect growth rates of the abalone and seaweeds, modify nutrient levels, and change water chemistry. We specifically hypothesized that IMTA designs would raise seawater pH to benefit calcifying species. Our results indicated that juvenile abalone grew significantly faster in weight (22% increase) and shell area (11% increase) in 6 months in tanks with the highest recirculation rates (65%). The 65% recirculation treatment also exhibited a significant increase in mean seawater pH (0.2 pH units higher) due to the biological activity of the seaweed in the connected tanks. We found a significant positive relationship between the mean pH of seawater in the tanks and juvenile abalone growth rates across all treatments. There were no significant differences in the growth of dulse among treatments, but dulse growth did vary seasonally. Seawater phosphate and nitrate concentrations were depleted in the highest recirculation rate treatment, but ammonium concentrations were elevated, likely due to the abalone effluent. Overall, our results indicate that there are benefits to IMTA culture of seaweeds and abalone in terms of improving growth in land-based systems, which will reduce the time to market and buffer commercial abalone operations against the effects of ocean acidification during vulnerable early life stages