Mediated citizens: Mass media depictions of citizens and the influence of those depictions on individual perceptions of what it means to be a democratic citizen.

The survey portion of this study found that overall media use had a weak impact on perceptions of what it means to be a democratic citizen. However, while media use did not strongly influence individual perceptions of what it means to be a democratic citizen, the media did exhibit a potential to impact individual perceptions of citizenship as when associations between media use and citizen attitudes were found, they were generally supported by media content patterns. The overall weak impact of media use on perceptions of citizens is likely due to citizens not appearing frequently enough in media content, as well as the inherent complexity of the citizen concept.In addition to describing the ways in which media use impact perceptions of democratic citizenship, this research also outlines the extent to which citizen depictions are the same for the media forms included in this project, the ways that citizen depictions differ between the individual media modalities, and the ways in which citizens depictions differ between traditional and new media forms.This study examined how the mass media depict democratic citizenship, how individuals think about what it means to be a democratic citizen, and how the two are related. To address these issues a content analysis of television news, cable talk news, late night comedy news, and newspaper content was conducted to determine how the media depict citizens. In addition to the content analysis, individual perceptions of democratic citizenship were assessed through a national telephone survey. To compare the ways in which media depictions and individual perceptions of citizens were related, this study proposed a citizen framework of three key citizen dimensions: knowledge, activities, and decision-making standards. Media content and individual perceptions of citizens were compared along these three dimensions.The content analysis portion of this project found differences in the ways that traditional media modalities (television news and newspapers) and new media (cable talk news and late night comedy news) depicted citizens. Traditional media included more depictions of citizens than did new media. Traditional media content also associated citizens with social capital activities more often than did new media content. New media depicted citizens with greater amounts of agency than did traditional media, but traditional media depicted citizens in a more positive tone and as possessing more knowledge than did new media. The content analysis also documented ways in which citizen depictions were similar for all media modalities. The Iraq war was a popular citizen issue for all media modalities, and all media depicted citizens most frequently as individuals compared to any other group association

Experimental and numerical investigation of Helmholtz resonators and perforated liners as attenuation devices in industrial gas turbine combustors

This paper reports upon developments in the simulation of the passive control of combustion dynamics in industrial gas turbines using acoustic attenuation devices such as Helmholtz resonators and perforated liners. Combustion instability in gas turbine combustors may, if uncontrolled, lead to large-amplitude pressure fluctuations, with consequent serious mechanical problems in the gas turbine combustor system. Perforated combustor walls and Helmholtz resonators are two commonly used passive instability control devices. However, experimental design of the noise attenuation device is time-consuming and calls for expensive trial and error practice. Despite significant advances over recent decades, the ability of Computational Fluid Dynamics to predict the attenuation of pressure fluctuations by these instability control devices is still not well validated. In this paper, the attenuation of pressure fluctuations by a group of multi-perforated panel absorbers and Helmholtz resonators are investigated both by experiment and computational simulation. It is demonstrated that CFD can predict the noise attenuation from Helmholtz resonators with good accuracy. A porous material model is modified to represent a multi-perforated panel and this perforated wall representation approach is demonstrated to be able to accurately predict the pressure fluctuation attenuation effect of perforated panels. This work demonstrates the applicability of CFD in gas turbine combustion instability control device design

Urban Youth’s Perspectives on Flash Mobs

This is the author's final draft. Copyright 2013 Taylor & Francis.Flash mobs are new, emerging, and evolving social phenomena that have recently been associated with youth violence in U.S. cities. The current study explores how youth understand flash mobs through focus groups conducted in Kansas City, Missouri (a site of violent youth flash mobs). Results indicate that youth have varying familiarity with flash mobs and define them in different ways; that youth perceive youth boredom to be the most frequent cause of problems with flash mobs; that youth connect ongoing social disorder with the violence associated with flash mobs; and that while social media are facilitators of flash mobs, flash mobs have their roots in youth activities that have been going on for generations (e.g., hanging out in groups, cruising)

Teens’ social media use and collective action

This is the author's accepted manuscript, made available with the permission of the publisher.This research examined how social self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, and need to belong can be used to predict teens’ use of social media. The particular focus was on how these social psychological variables together with social media use account for variation in teens’ participation in a flash mob – an exemplar of 21st-century collective action. Empirical data come from a survey of teens in a major Midwestern city in the USA. Teens’ need to belong was positively associated with the amount of time they reported spending on social networking sites, even when controlling for gender, race, and household socio-economic status. Both teens’ social self-efficacy and time spent on YouTube were positively associated with their intention to participate in a flash mob in the future. These and other findings are discussed in the context of the role of social media in youth culture and collective action

Influence of User Comments on Perceptions of Media Bias and Third-Person Effect in Online News

J. Brian Houston, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Allopurinol in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Chronic Lung Disease.

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress (OS) has been implicated in the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and ventricular hypertrophy. Xanthine oxidase is a well-recognised source of reactive oxygen species, which lead to OS. The aim of this proof of concept study was to assess whether allopurinol (xanthine oxidase inhibitor) would reduce right ventricular mass (RVM) in patients with PH-associated chronic lung disease (PH-CLD). METHODS: We conducted a randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial in patients with PH-CLD (93% COPD, 7% IPF) who were randomly assigned to receive allopurinol or placebo for 12 months. The primary outcome was the mean change in RVM, as assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI). Secondary outcomes included quality of life (QOL), spirometry and six-minute walk test (6MWT). RESULTS: Seventy-one patients were recruited: mean age 71 years, mean pulmonary arterial pressure 30 mm Hg, FEV1 60% and resting SpO2 96%. After 12 months, there was no significant difference in the change in RVM from baseline (allopurinol 1.85g vs placebo 0.97g with mean difference 0.88g, CI -4.77 to 3.01, p =0.7). There were also no significant changes in other cardiac parameters measured on MRI, in QOL, spirometry and 6MWT. Subgroup analysis showed that allopurinol significantly reduced RVM compared to placebo with -6.16g vs 0.75g and mean difference 6.92g (CI 1.14 to 12.69, p = 0.02) in COPD patients with more severe airflow limitation. CONCLUSION: Allopurinol had no overall impact on patients with PH-CLD but had potential benefit in COPD patients with more severe airflow limitation

Assessment of proximal pulmonary arterial stiffness using magnetic resonance imaging:effects of technique, age and exercise

INTRODUCTION: To compare the reproducibility of pulmonary pulse wave velocity (PWV) techniques, and the effects of age and exercise on these. METHODS: 10 young healthy volunteers (YHV) and 20 older healthy volunteers (OHV) with no cardiac or lung condition were recruited. High temporal resolution phase contrast sequences were performed through the main pulmonary arteries (MPAs), right pulmonary arteries (RPAs) and left pulmonary arteries (LPAs), while high spatial resolution sequences were obtained through the MPA. YHV underwent 2 MRIs 6 months apart with the sequences repeated during exercise. OHV underwent an MRI scan with on-table repetition. PWV was calculated using the transit time (TT) and flow area techniques (QA). 3 methods for calculating QA PWV were compared. RESULTS: PWV did not differ between the two age groups (YHV 2.4±0.3/ms, OHV 2.9±0.2/ms, p=0.1). Using a high temporal resolution sequence through the RPA using the QA accounting for wave reflections yielded consistently better within-scan, interscan, intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility. Exercise did not result in a change in either TT PWV (mean (95% CI) of the differences: −0.42 (−1.2 to 0.4), p=0.24) or QA PWV (mean (95% CI) of the differences: 0.10 (−0.5 to 0.9), p=0.49) despite a significant rise in heart rate (65±2 to 87±3, p<0.0001), blood pressure (113/68 to 130/84, p<0.0001) and cardiac output (5.4±0.4 to 6.7±0.6 L/min, p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: QA PWV performed through the RPA using a high temporal resolution sequence accounting for wave reflections yields the most reproducible measurements of pulmonary PWV

Alcohol, Self-regulation, and Partner Physical Aggression: Actor-Partner Effects over a Three Year Time Frame

The question of how individual differences related to self-regulation interact with alcohol use patterns to predict intimate partner aggression (IPA) is examined. We hypothesized that excessive drinking will be related to partner aggression among those who have low self-regulation. In addition, we explored the extent to which differences in self-regulation in one partner may moderate the relationship between alcohol use and partner aggression. A sample of married or cohabitating community couples (N = 280) ages 18–45 was recruited according to their classification into four drinking groups: heavy drinking in both partners (n = 79), husband only (n = 80), wife only (n = 41), by neither (n = 80), and interviewed annually for 3 years. IPA, drinking, and scores on measures of negative affect, self-control, and Executive Cognitive Functioning (ECF) were assessed for both members of the couple. The Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to analyze longitudinal models predicting the occurrence of IPA from baseline alcohol use, negative affect, self-control and ECF. Actor self-control interacted with partner self-control such that IPA was most probable when both were low in self-control. Contrary to prediction, actors high in alcohol use and also high on self-control were more likely to engage in IPA. Partner alcohol use was predictive of actor IPA when the partner was also high in negative affect. Low partner ECF was associated with more actor IPA. These findings suggest that self-regulatory factors within both members of a couple can interact with alcohol use patterns to increase the risk for relationship aggression

Hepatic, Intestinal, Renal, and Plasma Hydrolysis of Prodrugs in Human, Cynomolgus Monkey, Dog, and Rat: Implications for In Vitro–In Vivo Extrapolation of Clearance of Prodrugs

Hydrolysis plays an important role in metabolic activation of prodrugs. In the current study, species and in vitro system differences in hepatic and extrahepatic hydrolysis were investigated for 11 prodrugs. Ten prodrugs in the data set are predominantly hydrolyzed by carboxylesterases (CES), whereas olmesartan medoxomil is also metabolized by carboxymethylenebutenolidase (CMBL) and paraoxonase. Metabolic stabilities were assessed in cryopreserved hepatocytes, liver S9 (LS9), intestinal S9 (IS9), kidney S9 (KS9), and plasma from human, monkey, dog, and rat. Of all the preclinical species investigated, monkey intrinsic hydrolysis clearance obtained in hepatocytes (CL int,hepatocytes) were the most comparable to human hepatocyte data. Perindopril and candesartan cilexetil showed the lowest and highest CL int,hepatocytes, respectively, regardless of the species investigated. Scaled intrinsic hydrolysis clearance obtained in LS9 were generally higher than CLint,hepatocytes in all species investigated, with the exception of dog. In the case of human and dog intestinal S9, hydrolysis intrinsic clearance could not be obtained for CES1 substrates, but hydrolysis for CES2 and CMBL substrates was detected in IS9 and KS9 from all species. Pronounced species differences were observed in plasma; hydrolysis of CES substrates was only evident in rat. Predictability of human hepatic intrinsic clearance (CLint,h) was assessed for eight CES1 substrates using hepatocytes and LS9; extrahepatic hydrolysis was not considered due to high stability of these prodrugs in intestinal and kidney S9. On average, predicted oral CLint,h from hepatocyte data represented 20% of the observed value; the underprediction was pronounced for highclearance prodrugs, consistent with the predictability of cytochrome P450/conjugation clearance from this system. Prediction bias was less apparent with LS9, in particular for high-clearance prodrugs, highlighting the application of this in vitro system for investigation of prodrugs. Copyright © 2014 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics