Mobile media and children

This article explores a range of research issues relating to children and mobile media, including the potential growth of children’s screen time, the regulation of children’s use of these media, the challenge of managing increasing media options, effects on children’s perception of time, problems posed for parental surveillance and the domestication of mobile media within peer groups. All of these are viewed in the context of broader societal change, evolving norms of childhood and parenthood, cross-cultural variation and the existence of diversity amongst children and youth

Phenalene-phosphazene complexes: effect of exocyclic charge densities on the cyclotriphosphazene ring system

The synthesis and properties of a new series of 1,9-diamino-substituted phenalene complexes of the cyclotriphosphazene ring system is described. One of the compounds is shown to be amphoteric, and this behavior allows an examination of the response of the phosphazene linkage to variations in exocyclic charge density at the spiro center in a plane perpendicular to the cyclotriphosphazene ring system. ^(31)P NMR spectroscopy indicates that substituent lone pairs with this orientation are not effective in long-range delocalization within the phosphazene linkage (in accord with our theoretical model of spiro delocalization). An X-ray crystal structure of one compound (7) identifies the presence of clathrated molecules of chloroform together with doubly hydrogen-bonded pairs of the phenalene-phosphazene complexes in the lattice. Crystal data for 7 (C_(13)H_8Cl_4N_5P_3•CHCl_3): monoclinic space group P2_1/c, a = 12.401 (4) Å, b = 28.404 (6) Å, c = 12.962 (3) Å, β = 91.76 (2)°, V = 4564 (2) Å^3, Z = 8, R = 0.050 for 4525 reflections

Evaluation of Some Statistical Methods for the Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes

Microarray platforms have been around for many years and while there is a rise of new technologies in laboratories, microarrays are still prevalent. When it comes to the analysis of microarray data to identify differentially expressed (DE) genes, many methods have been proposed and modified for improvement. However, the most popular methods such as Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM), samroc, fold change, and rank product are far from perfect. When it comes down to choosing which method is most powerful, it comes down to the characteristics of the sample and distribution of the gene expressions. The most practiced method is usually SAM or samroc but when the data tends to be skewed, the power of these methods decrease. With the concept that the median becomes a better measure of central tendency than the mean when the data is skewed, the tests statistics of the SAM and fold change methods are modified in this thesis. This study shows that the median modified fold change method improves the power for many cases when identifying DE genes if the data follows a lognormal distribution

The cost of moderate and severe COPD exacerbations to the Canadian healthcare system

SummaryBackgroundThe cost of exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not been well studied. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify the (average) cost of moderate and severe exacerbations (ME and SE, respectively) from a Canadian perspective.MethodsResources used during ME and SE were identified in a year long prospective, observational study (Resource Utilization Study In COPD (RUSIC)). The units of analysis were ME and SE. Unit costs (2006$CAN), based on provincial, hospital and published sources, were applied to resources. The overall cost per ME and SE were calculated. The population burden of exacerbations was also calculated.ResultsAmong study participants (N=609, aged 68.6±9.4 years, 58.3$126 (N=574) and $515 (N=105), respectively. The average overall cost of a ME was$641. For SEs, the average hospital stay was 10.0 days. The overall mean costs of outpatient, ED and hospitalization services for SE were $114 (N=44),$774 (N=140) and $8669 (N=151), respectively. The average overall cost of a SE was$9557.ConclusionThe economic burden associated with MEs and especially SEs, in Canada, is considerable and likely has a substantial impact on healthcare costs. The overall burden of exacerbations has been estimated in the range of $646 million to$736 million per annum

The Role and Responsibility of Defense Counsel

How does a defense attorney\u27s role change when defending a high-profile client? Beyond traditional legal defense, must a modern defense attorney seek to protect a client\u27s public image? When speaking with the media, what rules, if any, should constrain a defense attorney\u27s behavior? Does media coverage affect the fairness of a trial? These are some of the questions dealt with in Panel #4: The Role Of Defense Counsel, moderated by Robert Mosteller, and featuring Laurie Levenson, Michael Tigar and Harold Haddon. Laurie Levenson begins the discussion by outlining some of the rules governing attorney behavior in the media, with special emphasis on the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Next, Michael Tigar discusses how the press has traditionally served as a watchdog against government misconduct in high-profile cases, and how media coverage of cases from his own career has helped his clients. Lastly, Harold Haddon provides a word of caution about the dangers attorneys face in using the media in high-profile cases and discusses how media coverage can hurt defendants by leading to premature public judgment. Questions/themes/discussion topics ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 3.6: Trial Publicity Attorney conduct not prohibited by ABA MRPC 3.6 Media gag orders Allowing video cameras in the courtroom Proposed rules to govern legal commentators unconnected to a proceeding Historic instances of media coverage acting as a judicial watchdog Examples of media coverage aiding defendants in high-profile cases The effect of defense attorney\u27 statements on the public perception of defendants The difficulty of changing public perception of a defendant\u27s guilt or innocenc

A novel role for the rat retrosplenial cortex in cognitive control

By virtue of its frontal and hippocampal connections, the retrosplenial cortex is uniquely placed to support cognition. Here, we tested whether the retrosplenial cortex is required for frontal tasks analogous to the Stroop Test, i.e., for the ability to select between conflicting responses and inhibit responding to task-irrelevant cues. Rats first acquired two instrumental conditional discriminations, one auditory and one visual, set in two distinct contexts. As a result, rats were rewarded for pressing either the right or left lever when a particular auditory or visual signal was present. In extinction, rats received compound stimuli that either comprised the auditory and visual elements that signaled the same lever response (congruent) or signaled different lever responses (incongruent) during training. On conflict (incongruent) trials, lever selection by sham-operated animals followed the stimulus element that had previously been trained in that same test context, whereas animals with retrosplenial cortex lesions failed to disambiguate the conflicting response cues. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that this abnormality on conflict trials was not due to a failure in distinguishing the contexts. Rather, these data reveal the selective involvement of the rat retrosplenial cortex in response conflict, and so extend the frontal system underlying cognitive control

Electric-Field-Induced Mott Insulating States in Organic Field-Effect Transistors

We consider the possibility that the electrons injected into organic field-effect transistors are strongly correlated. A single layer of acenes can be modelled by a Hubbard Hamiltonian similar to that used for the kappa-(BEDT-TTF)(2)X family of organic superconductors. The injected electrons do not necessarily undergo a transition to a Mott insulator state as they would in bulk crystals when the system is half-filled. We calculate the fillings needed for obtaining insulating states in the framework of the slave-boson theory and in the limit of large Hubbard repulsion, U. We also suggest that these Mott states are unstable above some critical interlayer coupling or long-range Coulomb interaction.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure