The political economy of attention: Global news agencies and the destruction of democracy

The digital information age brings an unlimited capacity for news and entertainment, as newspapers, television, satellite and cable networks are supplemented (or supplanted) by some 200 million websites. Ironically, in the midst of this burgeoning information circus, global news agencies, remain primary producers of news and information, even for entertainment. The largest news agency is Associated Press (AP), which has some 250 news bureaus in 120 countries, with a net income of almost $200 million. Yet, despite its size and reach, AP may be the least investigated news media organization. Indeed, AP is seldom mentioned or else appears as a normative given in media studies of news framing, agenda setting, and political economies of the media industry. This critique of framing functions of AP offers some initial observations on global news agencies and their impact on democratic communication and citizenship. This work finds that as part of a transnational media regime constrained only by the limits of human attention, AP robustly competes for viewers by shortening messages, emphasizing news spectacle, and privileging elite sources over social movement advocates, while avoiding historical context and consequence. AP news wire releases rely on headlines, sound bites, and heavily dramatized events. The result has been more news clutter, more news stimulation, and more transnationally hegemonic news frames. As the primary news producer and distributor on four continents, AP thus contributes to reducing democratic public discourse

Master of Science

thesisOxidant status may influence conception after in vitro fertilization, maternal health during pregnancy, and fetal outcomes including birthweight. However, few reports exist of oxidant status in women of childbearing potential. Oxidant status may be influenced by the intake of antioxidant vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. The purpose of this study was to examine the intake of antioxidant vitamins and minerals, measure biomarkers of oxidative stress, and evaluate the association between them. We conducted a cross-sectional study of dietary and supplement intake and measurements for biomarkers of oxidative status (malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), and 8- isoprostane) in women of childbearing potential. Intake was measured using a food frequency questionnaire and an overall index of dietary quality was generated (the Healthy Eating Index-2005). Additionally, a new, integrated index of oxidant stress from dietary variables, the diet oxy-score, was calculated with intake for specific antioxidant vitamins and minerals. The total oxidant status from the biomarkers was created by integrating the measured values of MDA, GSH, GSH/GSSG ratio, and 8-isoprostane into one index. Oxidative status measured with biomarkers was correlated in a biologically plausible direction with the dietary index of oxidative status, the Healthy Eating Index- 2005, zinc, manganese, vitamin E, !-carotene, iron, and selenium. The observed correlations suggest that appropriate diet and supplementary zinc, manganese, vitamin E, B carotene, iron, and selenium intake may be an effective strategy for augmenting oxidantstatus in women of childbearing potential

How Do Swine Producers and Veterinarians Expect the VFD to Affect Their Business?

ANTIBIOTIC USE in livestock production is a controversial subject in the public eye. Concerns over perceived over-use of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance has prompted public policy debates. In response, the United States Food and Drug Administration has created new antibiotic-use guidelines in livestock. The new guidelines are: ( a ) Guidance 209: Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food Producing Animals; ( b ) Guidance 213: Implementation Principles for Guidance 209; and, ( c ) Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD): Final Rule. The VFD fina l rule went into effect on October 1, 2015, and label changes requested in Guidance Documents 209 and 213 took effect on January 1, 2017 (US Department of Health and Human Services 2012, 2013; Federal Registrar 2015). These guidelines direct the use of medically important antibiotics (deemed to be important for human medicine) in livestock for therapeutic purposes (prevention, control, and treatment) only, thereby eliminating medically important antibiotics for growth promotion purposes. Medically important antibiotics can continue to be used for therapeutic purposes, but only under the guidance of a veterinarian with a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship (VCPR). These rules also eliminate over-the-counter purchases of medically important antibiotics for administration in feed and water

Agrarne promjene u Đakovštini 1918.-1941.

Autorica govori o procesu agrarnih promjena na prostoru Đakovštine 1918. -1941. godine, uz osvrt na stanje koje je prethodilo. Ona razmatra političke prilike na selu i izlaže bitne odrednice gospodarske strukture. Analizira strukturu zemljišnog posjeda prije i nakon agrarnih promjena prema veličini, prostornom rasporedu, vrsti vlasništva, nacionalnosti vlasnika itd. Težište je rada na praćenju procesa agrarne reforme, koju su pratile unutrašnje kolonizacije (državna, privatna i banovinska), uz isticanje onoga što je činilo posebnost u odnosu na ostali državni prostor. Izložena je zakonodavna materija te organizacije i veze za provedbu agrarne reforme i kolonizacije

Family Involvement in Management and Product Innovation: The Mediating Role of R&D Strategies

Following calls to capture family firms’ innovative behavior and to specifically clarify how family firms manage product innovations to achieve sustainable economic development, this study empirically investigates the mediating role of Research & Development (R&D) strategies (i.e., intramural R&D investments, extramural R&D investments, and the combination of both intramural and extramural R&D investments) in the relationship between family involvement in the management and likelihood of obtaining product innovations. Carrying out a panel data analysis that is based on 7264 observations of Spanish manufacturing firms throughout the 2000–2015 period, our results suggest a negative effect of the level of family management on the likelihood of introducing product innovations. Moreover, we found that intramural R&D investments and the investment strategy consisting of both intramural and extramural R&D mediated the family involvement in management-likelihood of obtaining product innovations relationship. Our findings contribute important insights to the comprehension of which determinants instigate product innovation in family managed firms

Autonomous multispecies reaction-diffusion systems with more-than-two-site interactions

Autonomous multispecies systems with more-than-two-neighbor interactions are studied. Conditions necessary and sufficient for closedness of the evolution equations of the $n$-point functions are obtained. The average number of the particles at each site for one species and three-site interactions, and its generalization to the more-than-three-site interactions is explicitly obtained. Generalizations of the Glauber model in different directions, using generalized rates, generalized number of states at each site, and generalized number of interacting sites, are also investigated.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX2

A new governance approach for multi-firm projects: lessons from Olkiluoto 3 and Flamanville 3 nuclear power plant projects

We analyze governance in two contemporary nuclear power plant projects: Olkiluoto 3 (Finland) and Flamanville 3 (France). We suggest that in the governance of large multi-firm projects, any of the prevalent governance approaches that rely on market, hierarchy, or hybrid forms, is not adequate as such. This paper opens up avenues towards a novel theory of governance in large projects by adopting a project network view with multiple networked firms within a single project, and by simultaneously going beyond organizational forms that cut across the traditional firm–market dichotomy. Our analysis suggests four changes in the prevailing perspective towards the governance of large projects. First, there should be a shift from viewing multi-firm projects as hierarchical contract organizations to viewing them as supply networks characterized by a complex and networked organizational structure. Second, there should be a shift in the emphasis of the predominant modes of governance, market and hierarchy towards novel governance approaches that emphasize network-level mechanisms such as self-regulation within the project. Third, there should be a shift from viewing projects as temporary endeavors to viewing projects as short-term events or episodes embedded in the long-term sphere of shared history and expected future activities among the involved actors. Fourth, there should be a shift from the prevailing narrow view of a hierarchical project management system towards an open system view of managing in complex and challenging institutional environments

Proposed Measurement of an Effective Flux Quantum in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

We consider a channel of an incompressible fractional-quantum-Hall-effect (FQHE) liquid containing an island of another FQHE liquid. It is predicted that the resistance of this channel will be periodic in the flux through the island, with the period equal to an odd integer multiple of the fundamental flux quantum, $\phi_{0}=hc/e$. The multiplicity depends on the quasiparticle charges of the two FQHE liquids.Comment: Late