Capability in the digital: institutional media management and its dis/contents

This paper explores how social media spaces are occupied, utilized and negotiated by the British Military in relation to the Ministry of Defence’s concerns and conceptualizations of risk. It draws on data from the DUN Project to investigate the content and form of social media about defence through the lens of ‘capability’, a term that captures and describes the meaning behind multiple representations of the military institution. But ‘capability’ is also a term that we hijack and extend here, not only in relation to the dominant presence of ‘capability’ as a representational trope and the extent to which it is revealing of a particular management of social media spaces, but also in relation to what our research reveals for the wider digital media landscape and ‘capable’ digital methods. What emerges from our analysis is the existence of powerful, successful and critically long-standing media and reputation management strategies occurring within the techno-economic online structures where the exercising of ‘control’ over the individual – as opposed to the technology – is highly effective. These findings raise critical questions regarding the extent to which ‘control’ and management of social media – both within and beyond the defence sector – may be determined as much by cultural, social, institutional and political influence and infrastructure as the technological economies. At a key moment in social media analysis, then, when attention is turning to the affordances, criticisms and possibilities of data, our research is a pertinent reminder that we should not forget the active management of content that is being similarly, if not equally, effective

Properties of sunspots in cycle 23: I. Dependence of brightness on sunspot size and cycle phase

In this paper we investigate the dependence of umbral core brightness, as well as the mean umbral and penumbral brightness on the phase of the solar cycle and on the size of the sunspot. Albregtsen & Maltby (1978) reported an increase in umbral core brightness from the early to the late phase of solar cycle from the analysis of 13 sunspots which cover solar cycles 20 and 21. Here we revisit this topic by analysing continuum images of more than 160 sunspots observed by the MDI instrument on board the SOHO spacecraft for the period between 1998 March to 2004 March, i.e. a sizable part of solar cycle 23. The advantage of this data set is its homogeneity, with no seeing fluctuations. A careful stray light correction, which is validated using the Mercury transit of 7th May, 2003, is carried out before the umbral and penumbral intensities are determined. The influence of the Zeeman splitting of the nearby NiI spectral line on the measured 'continuum' intensity is also taken into account. We did not observe any significant variation in umbral core, mean umbral and mean penumbral intensities with solar cycle, which is in contrast to earlier findings for the umbral core intensity. We do find a strong and clear dependence of the umbral brightness on sunspot size, however. The penumbral brightness also displays a weak dependence. The brightness-radius relationship has numerous implications, some of which, such as those for the energy transport in umbrae, are pointed out.Comment: 16 pages, 21 postscript figures, accepted for publication in A&

Similar dissection of sets

In 1994, Martin Gardner stated a set of questions concerning the dissection of a square or an equilateral triangle in three similar parts. Meanwhile, Gardner's questions have been generalized and some of them are already solved. In the present paper, we solve more of his questions and treat them in a much more general context. Let $D\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ be a given set and let $f_1,...,f_k$ be injective continuous mappings. Does there exist a set $X$ such that $D = X \cup f_1(X) \cup ... \cup f_k(X)$ is satisfied with a non-overlapping union? We prove that such a set $X$ exists for certain choices of $D$ and $\{f_1,...,f_k\}$. The solutions $X$ often turn out to be attractors of iterated function systems with condensation in the sense of Barnsley. Coming back to Gardner's setting, we use our theory to prove that an equilateral triangle can be dissected in three similar copies whose areas have ratio $1:1:a$ for $a \ge (3+\sqrt{5})/2$

Splanchnic metabolism of nutrients and hormones in steers fed alfalfa under conditions of increased absorption of ammonia and L-arginine supply across the portal-drained viscera

Effects of increased ammonia and/or arginine absorption on net splanchnic (portal-drained viscera [PDV] plus liver) metabolism of nonnitrogenous nutrients and hormones in cattle were examined. Six Hereford × Angus steers (501 ± 1 kg BW) prepared with vascular catheters for measurements of net flux across the splanchnic bed were fed a 75% alfalfa:25% (as-fed basis) corn and soybean meal diet (0.523 MJ of ME/[kg BW0.75.d]) every 2 h without (27.0 g of N/kg of DM) and with 20 g of urea/kg of DM (35.7 g of N/kg of DM) in a split-plot design. Net flux measurements were made immediately before and after a 72-h mesenteric vein infusion of L-arginine (15 mmol/h). There were no treatment effects onPDVor hepaticO2 consumption. Dietary urea had no effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose or L-lactate, but arginine infusion decreased net hepatic removal of L-lactate when urea was fed (P < 0.01). Net PDV appearance of n-butyrate was increased by arginine infusion (P < 0.07), and both dietary urea (P < 0.09) and arginine infusion (P < 0.05) increased net hepatic removal of n-butyrate. Dietary urea also increased total splanchnic acetate output (P < 0.06), tended to increase arterial glucagon concentration (P < 0.11), and decreased arterial ST concentration (P < 0.03). Arginine infusion increased arterial concentration (P < 0.07) and net PDV release (P < 0.10) and tended to increase hepatic removal (P < 0.11) of insulin, as well as arterial concentration (P < 0.01) and total splanchnic output (P < 0.01) of glucagon. Despite changes in splanchnic N metabolism, increased ammonia and arginine absorption had little measurable effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose and other nonnitrogenous components of splanchnic energy metabolism

The role of mass and environment in the build up of the quenched galaxy population since cosmic noon

We conduct the first study of how the relative quenching probability of galaxies depends on environment over the redshift range $0.5 < z < 3$, using data from the UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey. By constructing the stellar mass functions for quiescent and post-starburst (PSB) galaxies in high, medium and low density environments to $z = 3$, we find an excess of quenched galaxies in dense environments out to at least $z \sim 2$. Using the growth rate in the number of quenched galaxies, combined with the star-forming galaxy mass function, we calculate the probability that a given star-forming galaxy is quenched per unit time. We find a significantly higher quenching rate in dense environments (at a given stellar mass) at all redshifts. Massive galaxies (M$_* > 10^{10.7}$ M$_{\odot}$) are on average 1.7 $\pm$ 0.2 times more likely to quench per Gyr in the densest third of environments compared to the sparsest third. Finally, we compare the quiescent galaxy growth rate to the rate at which galaxies pass through a PSB phase. Assuming a visibility timescale of 500 Myr, we find that the PSB route can explain $\sim$ 50\% of the growth in the quiescent population at high stellar mass (M$_* > 10^{10.7}$ M$_{\odot}$) in the redshift range $0.5 < z < 3$, and potentially all of the growth at lower stellar masses.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Broadcasting graphic war violence: the moral face of Channel 4

Drawing on empirical data from Channel 4 (C4) regarding the broadcasting of violent war imagery, and positioned within Goffman’s notion of the interaction ritual (1959, 1967), this article investigates how C4 negotiate potentially competing commercial, regulatory and moral requirements through processes of discretionary decision-making. Throughout, the article considers the extent to which these negotiations are presented through a series of ‘imaginings’ – of C4 and its audience – which serve to simultaneously guide and legitimate the decisions made. This manifestation of imaginings moves us beyond more blanket explanations of ‘branding’ and instead allows us to see the final programmes as the end product of a series of complex negotiations and interactions between C4 and those multiple external parties significant to the workings of their organization. The insights gleaned from this case study are important beyond the workings of C4 because they help elucidate how all institutions and organizations may view, organize and justify their practices (to both themselves and others) within the perceived constraints in which they operate

Gut microbiomes of sympatric Amazonian wood-eating catfishes (Loricariidae) reflect host identity and little role in wood digestion

© 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Neotropical wood-eating catfishes (family Loricariidae) can occur in diverse assemblages with multiple genera and species feeding on the same woody detritus. As such, they present an intriguing system in which to examine the influence of host species identity on the vertebrate gut microbiome as well as to determine the potential role of gut bacteria in wood digestion. We characterized the gut microbiome of two co-occurring catfish genera and four species: Panaqolus albomaculatus, Panaqolus gnomus, Panaqolus nocturnus, and Panaque bathyphilus, as well as that of submerged wood on which they feed. The gut bacterial community did not significantly vary across three gut regions (proximal, mid, distal) for any catfish species, although interspecific variation in the gut microbiome was significant, with magnitude of interspecific difference generally reflecting host phylogenetic proximity. Further, the gut microbiome of each species was significantly different to that present on the submerged wood. Inferring the genomic potential of the gut microbiome revealed that the majority of wood digesting pathways were at best equivalent to and more often depleted or nonexistent within the catfish gut compared to the submerged wood, suggesting a minimal role for the gut microbiome in wood digestion. Rather, these fishes are more likely reliant on fiber degradation performed by microbes in the environment, with their gut microbiome determined more by host identity and phylogenetic history

High Temperatures and Cardiovascular-Related Morbidity: A Scoping Review.

The primary objective of this review was to synthesize studies assessing the relationships between high temperatures and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related hospital encounters (i.e., emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalizations) in urban Canada and other comparable populations, and to identify areas for future research. Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus were searched between 6 April and 11 April 2020, and on 21 March 2021, to identify articles examining the relationship between high temperatures and CVD-related hospital encounters. Studies involving patients with pre-existing CVD were also included. English language studies from North America and Europe were included. Twenty-two articles were included in the review. Studies reported an inconsistent association between high temperatures and ischemic heart disease (IHD), heart failure, dysrhythmia, and some cerebrovascular-related hospital encounters. There was consistent evidence that high temperatures may be associated with increased ED visits and hospitalizations related to total CVD, hyper/hypotension, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and ischemic stroke. Age, sex, and gender appear to modify high temperature-CVD morbidity relationships. Two studies examined the influence of pre-existing CVD on the relationship between high temperatures and morbidity. Pre-existing heart failure, AMI, and total CVD did not appear to affect the relationship, while evidence was inconsistent for pre-existing hypertension. There is inconsistent evidence that high temperatures are associated with CVD-related hospital encounters. Continued research on this topic is needed, particularly in the Canadian context and with a focus on individuals with pre-existing CVD