Understanding TED as Alternative Media

This study aims to examine the political, economic, social and cultural characteristics of TED as alternative media. TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a non-profit global conference media organizer that curates formatted brief speech called TED Talk and presents it in its offline conferences as well as publishes in online platform. TED has a global network that has spread rapidly through TEDx, a replication of TED-like conference by local communities worldwide. This social phenomenon makes TED as the contemporary illustration of the latest development of alternative media. Earlier literature studies on alternative media from Atton (2002) and Downing et al. (2001) focus on alternative media’s role as civil society that radically opposes the dominant power of the state, market and mainstream media. This civic role is important in providing alternative voices in democracy. Castells (2008) argues that the advancement of communication technology in globalization process has extended alternative media’s civic engagement to global level and empowered the community to higher access and participation in alternative media. Bailey et al. (2008) surmise these developments into four approaches that see alternative media: first, in serving the community; second, as an alternative to mainstream media; third, as part of civil society; and fourth, as a rhizome-like hybrid media. This study utilizes these literature references along with the four frameworks above to present holistic view in understanding TED as alternative media. By studying TED, I seek to expand these theoretical discussions by looking at how alternative media build sustainable civil society movement through dynamically incorporating dominant values in achieving its alternative media goals. This hybrid approach also affects alternative media’s ways in serving the community, promoting democracy and prompting social changes. The methodology of this study is ethnography. Since TED has two social settings of offline conference and online media platform, the ethnographic approach of this study is conducted in both setting. I gathered field data through participation and observation on TEDx Jakarta event and interview with the founders as well as online observation on TED.com, TED Talk videos, TED’s forums and third party documents on TED. I analyzed the data with the help of coding tools and discussed the findings within the framework of literature references. The key findings of this study show that TED’s political, economic, social and cultural characteristics are contingent, rhizome-like and transhegemonic. These characteristics project TED as alternative media that adopts dominant practices such as commercialism and controlled editorial system and maintaining elitism to reach paradoxically its civic goals of democratizing knowledge sharing and making social changes. TED also builds flexible partnership with the market and mainstream media and is not entirely counter-hegemonic. Although TED maintains a centralized authority in policy making, its relationship with its communities is based on rhizome-like network which strives towards semi-hierarchical access and participation, multiple replications by community and heterogeneity of its community across geographical and cultural borders. However this hybrid strategy of alternative media brings up threats of over-commercialization, elitism within the community, and ideological bias

Short Communication: Growth of seaweed Eucheuma cottonii in multi trophic sea farming systems at Gerupuk Bay, Central Lombok, Indonesia

Sukiman, Faturrahman, Rohyani IS, Ahyadi H. 2014. Growth of seaweed Eucheuma cottonii in multi trophic sea farming systems at Gerupuk Bay, Central Lombok, Indonesia. Nusantara Bioscience 6: 82-85. Eucheuma cottonii is a seaweed commodity that has a high economic value because it contains compounds used as raw materials for industries. Various methods of seaweed farming have been developed, one of which is a system of cultivation Multi Trophic Sea Farming. This study aimed to analyze the growth of E. cottonii by observing the production of biomass in four trophic combinations in the system Multi Trophic Sea Farming. The study was conducted in the area of the marine aquaculture Gerupuk bay, Central Lombok, Indonesia. Experiments were performed on four plots cages with trophic combination treatment as follows: K1 (E. cottonii-lobster-abalone), K2 (E. cottonii-abalone-red carp), K3 (E. cottonii-abalone-grouper), and K4 (E. cottonii-abalone-pomfret fish). Seedling of E. cottonii weighing 50 g was tied to a rope and placed at a depth of 5 cm, 50 cm, 100 cm and 150 cm. Measurement of biomass production was done every ten days until the thirtieth day. The highest biomass production of E. cottonii was obtained in K3 trophic combination (E. cottonii-abalone-grouper fish) with a depth of seedlings of 5 cm. The combination of K3 trophic is recommended for cultivation of seaweed in the MTSF system

Effects of Alparazolam and Triazolam on Isolation-Induced Aggression in Rats

Author Institution: Department of Biology, Western Michigan UniversityThe efficacy of two new benzodiazepine tranquilizers, alprazolam and triazolam, in the reduction of aggression produced in rats by isolation was tested. Rats were isolated for at least three weeks. They were then placed in a cage with another rat, and aggressive and submissive behaviors that occurred were noted. Several of the behaviors were changed by either alprazolam or triazolam. Aggressive behaviors of thrust, attack, offensive upright, and offensive sideways were decreased; bite was increased. The submissive behavior of defensive sideways was decreased, whereas crouch and freeze were increased. Reduction in aggression seems consistent with results for other benzodiazepine tranquilizers such as diazepam and chlordiazepoxide

Popsicle Simile: An Innovative Tool in Promoting Creative Writing among Rural Primary School ESL Learners

This qualitative study seeks to explore how “Popsicle Simile” works as an innovative tool of learning simile and writing creatively. Through lesson observations and interviews, this study aims to develop a fuller understanding of the motivations that drive teachers to adopt this innovative tool and the considerations they have when using it in the teaching and learning of core content. This study thus emphasizes the need to promote 21st century skills and academic content knowledge. Participants for this study were 5 primary school teachers in one of the rural primary schools in Padawan, Sarawak. The findings indicate that by engaging with the innovative “Popsicle Simile”, learners are able to generate content through relevant lexical search and write coherent paragraphs in creative writing. It is also beneficial to ESL teachers and educators, as it can be as an alternative tool which can assist them in teaching creative writing. It is suggested that future research should include the perceptions o

THE COMMUNITY LEVERAGED UNIFIED ENSEMBLE (CLUE) IN THE 2016 NOAA/HAZARDOUS WEATHER TESTBED SPRING FORECASTING EXPERIMENT

One primary goal of annual Spring Forecasting Experiments (SFEs), which are coorganized by NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory and Storm Prediction Center and conducted in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hazardous Weather Testbed, is documenting performance characteristics of experimental, convection-allowing modeling systems (CAMs). Since 2007, the number of CAMs (including CAM ensembles) examined in the SFEs has increased dramatically, peaking at six different CAM ensembles in 2015. Meanwhile, major advances have been made in creating, importing, processing, verifying, and developing tools for analyzing and visualizing these large and complex datasets. However, progress toward identifying optimal CAM ensemble configurations has been inhibited because the different CAM systems have been independently designed, making it difficult to attribute differences in performance characteristics. Thus, for the 2016 SFE, a much more coordinated effort among many collaborators was made by agreeing on a set of model specifications (e.g., model version, grid spacing, domain size, and physics) so that the simulations contributed by each collaborator could be combined to form one large, carefully designed ensemble known as the Community Leveraged Unified Ensemble (CLUE). The 2016 CLUE was composed of 65 members contributed by five research institutions and represents an unprecedented effort to enable an evidence-driven decision process to help guide NOAA’s operational modeling efforts. Eight unique experiments were designed within the CLUE framework to examine issues directly relevant to the design of NOAA’s future operational CAM-based ensembles. This article will highlight the CLUE design and present results from one of the experiments examining the impact of single versus multicore CAM ensemble configurations

THE COMMUNITY LEVERAGED UNIFIED ENSEMBLE (CLUE) IN THE 2016 NOAA/HAZARDOUS WEATHER TESTBED SPRING FORECASTING EXPERIMENT

One primary goal of annual Spring Forecasting Experiments (SFEs), which are coorganized by NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory and Storm Prediction Center and conducted in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hazardous Weather Testbed, is documenting performance characteristics of experimental, convection-allowing modeling systems (CAMs). Since 2007, the number of CAMs (including CAM ensembles) examined in the SFEs has increased dramatically, peaking at six different CAM ensembles in 2015. Meanwhile, major advances have been made in creating, importing, processing, verifying, and developing tools for analyzing and visualizing these large and complex datasets. However, progress toward identifying optimal CAM ensemble configurations has been inhibited because the different CAM systems have been independently designed, making it difficult to attribute differences in performance characteristics. Thus, for the 2016 SFE, a much more coordinated effort among many collaborators was made by agreeing on a set of model specifications (e.g., model version, grid spacing, domain size, and physics) so that the simulations contributed by each collaborator could be combined to form one large, carefully designed ensemble known as the Community Leveraged Unified Ensemble (CLUE). The 2016 CLUE was composed of 65 members contributed by five research institutions and represents an unprecedented effort to enable an evidence-driven decision process to help guide NOAA’s operational modeling efforts. Eight unique experiments were designed within the CLUE framework to examine issues directly relevant to the design of NOAA’s future operational CAM-based ensembles. This article will highlight the CLUE design and present results from one of the experiments examining the impact of single versus multicore CAM ensemble configurations

Paternal Body Mass Index (BMI) Is Associated with Offspring Intrauterine Growth in a Gender Dependent Manner

Background: Environmental alternations leading to fetal programming of cardiovascular diseases in later life have been attributed to maternal factors. However, animal studies showed that paternal obesity may program cardio-metabolic diseases in the offspring. In the current study we tested the hypothesis that paternal BMI may be associated with fetal growth. Methods and Results: We analyzed the relationship between paternal body mass index (BMI) and birth weight, ultrasound parameters describing the newborn’s body shape as well as parameters describing the newborns endocrine system such as cortisol, aldosterone, renin activity and fetal glycated serum protein in a birth cohort of 899 father/mother/child triplets. Since fetal programming is an offspring sex specific process, male and female offspring were analyzed separately. Multivariable regression analyses considering maternal BMI, paternal and maternal age, hypertension during pregnancy, maternal total glycated serum protein, parity and either gestational age (for birth weight) or time of ultrasound investigation (for ultrasound parameters) as confounding showed that paternal BMI is associated with growth of the male but not female offspring. Paternal BMI correlated with birth parameters of male offspring only: birth weight; biparietal diameter, head circumference; abdominal diameter, abdominal circumference; and pectoral diameter. Cortisol was likewise significantly correlated with paternal BMI in male newborns only

Experiment Datasets + Models

Experiment data set

ESA3 Model

ESA3 mode