Global Capitalism and the Critique of Real Time

Digital technologies globally interlink finance, production, consumption, mass communication, and cyberculture. The processes of interlinkage generate the sense that time is accelerating towards instantaneity. Promoters and critical observers of such developments have created a proliferating discourse of ‘real time’. This key phrase and its associated terminology covers a diversity of referent spaces (e.g. cyberculture, financial flows, supply-chain management, on-line selling, live media events). In the context of global capitalism, discursive constructions of ‘real time’ are interrelated with new temporal constructions of systemic power. The nature of this interrelationship is obscured by the ideological features of ‘real time’ terminology. Here, this argument will be developed with references to popular business literature and (supposedly) critical academic writings. I conclude with a set of preliminary requirements for an effective critique of ‘real time’

Social Determinants of Health Associated with HBV Testing and Access to Care among Foreign-born Persons Residing in the United States: 2009 - 2012

Objectives: To describe how select Social Determinants of Health (SDH) are associated with the burden of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among foreign-born persons residing in the United States. Methods: Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 Risk Factor Survey data to investigate the independent relationship between SDH and HBV testing and access to care. Results: HBV infected persons with insurance were more likely to see a physician than those without. Respondents worried about money to pay rent or mortgage were more likely to report HBV infection than individuals who reported they never worry. Compared to English speakers, Spanish-speakers were less likely to report HBV infection, Vietnamese-speakers were more likely to see a physician for HBV infection, and Khmer-speakers were less likely to be tested. Conclusions: Health insurance coverage, worries about paying rent, and language of interview all differentially affect HBV testing and linkages to care among foreign–born persons. Multi-sectorial stakeholder collaborative efforts should integrate resources to provide culturally sensitive health promotion campaigns which may improve HBV related outcomes

Editorial : In Australian Journal of Communication, v.38 n.3

Edition of journal guest-edited by Martin Hirst (Deakin), Wayne Hope and Alan Cocker (AUT UNiversity). Papers collected from conference organised by Centre for Journalism, Media & Democracy (JMAD). Ten of the eleven articles here were originally presented to the Political Economy of Communication conference held at the Auckland University of Technology in September 2011. This international event was organised by Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD), a research centre co-founded by Martin Hirst and Wayne Hope in May 2010. The founding objectives were to foster individual research projects for members; develop opportunities for collaborative, funded research projects; and arrange interdisciplinary media conferences. In September 2010, JMAD launched an inaugural one-day conference: Media, Democracy and the Public Sphere. The success of this undertakingencouraged the centre to plan for a second, two-day conference in 2011. The invited keynote speakers, Professors Graham Murdock, Dwayne Winseck, and Janet Wasko were, and are, distinguished scholars in the political economy of communication.They have also given identity and purpose to their field within the annual InternationalAssociation of Communication Research (IAMCR) conference, which includes a longstanding political economy of communication section. Contributors to this section are featured in the book reviewed for this issue, Wasko, J., Murdock, G., & Sousa, H. (2011). The handbook of political economy of communications

Moral judgment and public school superintendents in Texas

The purpose of this study was to examine moral judgment of public school superintendents in Texas when faced with moral dilemmas. The Defining Issues Test-2 was used to measure levels of moral judgment. A demographic survey was also used in order to examine the relationship between moral judgment levels and certain demographic variables. A stratified random sample of all public school superintendents based on district size were surveyed. Surveys were mailed to 200 small districts, 100 medium districts, and 50 large districts. A total of 104 superintendents participated in this study. T-test for independent samples, one-way analysis of variance, and linear regression were used for purposes of data analysis. An alpha level of .05 was used as the level of significance. Data were entered and manipulated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. Results of the study indicated no statistically significant relationship existed between the superintendent’s moral judgment level and certain demographic variables using t-test and analysis of variance measures. However, results from the linear regression showed that four of the independent variable subgroups contributed to moral judgment levels. The four independent variable subgroups were respondents who had served 16-20 years as a superintendent, who had served 16-20 years in his or her current district, who had a salary in the $50,000-$74,999 range, and whose ethnicity was Hispanic

Revised sequence and annotation of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1 Genome

The DNA sequences of chromosomes I and II of Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain 2.4.1 have been revised, and the annotation of the entire genomic sequence, including both chromosomes and the five plasmids, has been updated. Errors in the originally published sequence have been corrected, and ∼11% of the coding regions in the original sequence have been affected by the revised annotation

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The complete sequence of human chromosome 5

Chromosome 5 is one of the largest human chromosomes yet has one of the lowest gene densities. This is partially explained by numerous gene-poor regions that display a remarkable degree of noncoding and syntenic conservation with non-mammalian vertebrates, suggesting they are functionally constrained. In total, we compiled 177.7 million base pairs of highly accurate finished sequence containing 923 manually curated protein-encoding genes including the protocadherin and interleukin gene families and the first complete versions of each of the large chromosome 5 specific internal duplications. These duplications are very recent evolutionary events and play a likely mechanistic role, since deletions of these regions are the cause of debilitating disorders including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)