Communicating science through entertainment television: How the sitcom The Big Bang Theory influences audience perceptions of science and scientists

This study aimed to explore whether entertainment television can increase the public’s engagement with science. The motivation for the study was the 2010 Inspiring Australia report, a national strategic plan to engage the Australian public with science. One of the ‘key principles’ stated in Inspiring Australia was the need to strengthen the media’s role in communicating science, including entertainment television. However, there has been little empirical research into how adults engage with the science content in entertainment television shows to validate (or to refute) the effectiveness of this key principle. In order to investigate whether and how entertainment television has influenced audiences’ perceptions of science and scientists, I chose the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory as a case study since it is scientifically accurate and its main characters are scientists. Data were collected using 18 focus groups with 74 regular viewers of the show. Overall the program made science seem less dry and more interesting to the participants, and made scientists seem less socially isolated, humanising them. It positioned science and scientists as part of society rather than separate from it. With respect to whether the show influenced people’s information seeking behaviours related to science, and science knowledge, personal experiences had a larger impact than watching The Big Bang Theory. However, the show did stimulate some people to find out more about the science information the show presented, and responses demonstrated that people can learn about aspects of the nature of science from watching entertainment television. Participants felt the scientist characters in The Big Bang Theory both conformed to and contradicted their preconceived images of scientists and their understanding of scientist stereotypes. They were surprised the characters had personal lives and romantic relationships, and as a result, felt scientists were more approachable. Participants indicated their frustration that the female scientist characters were introduced and written as love interests, but appreciated that they were shown as successful scientists too. People had mixed feelings about them being mainly in the biological sciences (rather than being physicists and engineers, like the main male characters), but indicated that on television, good value entertainment was more important than portraying gender balance in science. Although the participants indicated that the science content in The Big Bang Theory was an important contributor to their enjoyment of and interest in the program, they also asserted that relatability, characters, humour, and geek culture references were equally or sometimes more important. However, people cared strongly about scientific accuracy even if the science was being treated as secondary or used as a backdrop of the show. In summary, some audiences of The Big Bang Theory engaged actively with its science content and changed their views of scientists. Therefore, it is possible to use entertainment television to reach people who are not actively seeking science-related content, because if it doesn’t just focus on science it makes the show - and therefore the science - more accessible for the public

Academic censorship and the construction of an alternative Chinese narrative: A preliminary analysis of China Quarterly

The expanding censorship in China and its potential threats to democracy and freedom has been of growing concerns along with the rise of China in global politics, economics, and sciences. Parallel to this is the attempt of Chinese authorities to promote the “Chinese model” and construct an alternative Chinese narrative different from the Western mainstream. In this research-in-progress project, we focus on one of the recent controversies centered around academic censorship of the high-profile China Quarterly published by Cambridge University Press as a case in point to examine how self-censorship of Chinese authors might be a strategy to constructing an alternative Chinese narrative in China. Specifically, we look at the correspondence between research topics—both those deemed politically sensitive and those not—and author’s nationality and affiliation, and trace the changes over time. The analysis is based on the full records of 1713 research articles published in China Quarterly between 1960 and 2017 indexed in Web of Science, including title, abstract, author keywords, year of publication, cited references, as well as author information (e.g., full name and affiliated institution). We expect to find the emergence and declines of certain topics over time, along with the corresponding changes in authorship. Given the emphasis on intellectual freedom in education for information and library science, this research project should serve to advance our understanding of the relationship between academic freedom, academic censorship, and the narrative construction of a rising authoritarian regime

Gut microbiota and intestinal barrier function in subjects with cognitive impairments: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundGut-brain axis might play an important role in cognitive impairments by various diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD).ObjectiveTo investigate the differences in gut microbial composition, intestinal barrier function, and systemic inflammation in patients with AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and normal control (NC) cases.MethodsA total of 118 subjects (45 AD, 38 MCI, and 35 NC) were recruited. Cognitive function was assessed using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA). Functional ability was assessed using Activity of Daily Living Scale (ADL). The composition of gut microbiome was examined by 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) was used to predict functional transfer of gut microbiota. Gut barrier dysfunction was evaluated by measuring the levels of diamine oxidase (DAO), D-lactic acid (DA), and endotoxin (ET). The serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level was used to indicate systemic inflammation.ResultsCompared with normal controls, patients with cognitive impairments (AD and MCI) had lower abundance of Dorea and higher levels of DAO, DA, and ET. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) results showed that the pathways related to glycan biosynthesis and metabolism increased in MCI patients, while the ones related to membrane transport decreased. The abundance of Bacteroides and Faecalibacterium was negatively correlated with the content of ET, and positively correlated with the scores of MMSE and MoCA. The hs-CRP levels were similar among the three groups. A significant negative correlation was observed between the severity of gut barrier dysfunction and cognitive function.ConclusionCognitive impairments might be associated with gut microbial dysbiosis and intestinal barrier dysfunction

Secondary cutaneous Epstein-Barr virus-associated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in a patient with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma: a case report and review of literature

Only a few cases of extranodal Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated B-cell lymphomas arising from patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) have been described. We report a case of AITL of which secondary cutaneous EBV-associated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) developed after the initial diagnosis of AITL. A 65-year-old Chinese male patient was diagnosed as AITL based on typical histological and immunohistochemical characteristics in biopsy of the enlarged right inguinal lymph nodes. The patient initially received 6 cycles of chemotherapy with CHOP regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, adriamycin, prednisone), but his symptoms did not disappear. Nineteen months after initial diagnosis of AITL, the patient was hospitalized again because of multiple plaques and nodules on the skin. The skin biopsy was performed, but this time the tumor was composed of large, polymorphous population of lymphocytes with CD20 and CD79a positive on immunohistochemical staining. The tumor cells were strong positive for EBER by in situ hybridization. The findings of skin biopsy were compatible with EBV-associated DLBCL. CHOP-R chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone and rituximab) was then administered, resulting in partial response of the disease with pancytopenia and suppression of cellular immunity. To our knowledge, this is the first case of cutaneous EBV-associated DLBCL originated from AITL in Chinese pepole. We suggest the patients with AITL should perform lymph node and skin biopsies regularly in the course of the disease to detect the progression of secondary lymphomas

Characterizing Kirkwood-Dirac nonclassicality and uncertainty diagram based on discrete Fourier transform

In this paper, we investigate the Kirkwood-Dirac nonclassicality and uncertainty diagram based on discrete Fourier transform (DFT) in a $d$ dimensional system. The uncertainty diagram of complete incompatibility bases $\mathcal {A},\mathcal {B}$ are characterized by De Bi\`{e}vre [arXiv: 2207.07451]. We show that for the uncertainty diagram of the DFT matrix which is a transition matrix from basis $\mathcal {A}$ to basis $\mathcal {B}$, there is no ``hole" in the region of the $(n_{\mathcal {A}}, n_{\mathcal {B}})$-plane above and on the line $n_{\mathcal {A}}+n_{\mathcal {B}}\geq d+1$, whether the bases $\mathcal {A},\mathcal {B}$ are not complete incompatible bases or not. Then we present that the KD nonclassicality of a state based on the DFT matrix can be completely characterized by using the support uncertainty relation $n_{\mathcal {A}}(\psi)n_{\mathcal {B}}(\psi)\geq d$, where $n_{\mathcal {A}}(\psi)$ and $n_{\mathcal {B}}(\psi)$ count the number of nonvanishing coefficients in the basis $\mathcal {A}$ and $\mathcal {B}$ representations, respectively. That is, a state $|\psi\rangle$ is KD nonclassical if and only if $n_{\mathcal {A}}(\psi)n_{\mathcal {B}}(\psi)> d$, whenever $d$ is prime or not. That gives a positive answer to the conjecture in [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{127}, 190404 (2021)]

SC-TVP Green Practice Initiative in China’s Logistics Market Based on Case Analysis

In the era of circular economy, the concept of sustainable development has attracted more and more attention. With the development of cross-border e-commerce, the demand for logistics services has continued to surge, and the pressure on them to provide sustainable services has risen sharply. In 2020, China officially put forward the “double carbon” strategic goal, and green logistics has become the new direction of industry development, in line with the concept of sustainable development. However, the actual impact of green logistics practice on China’s sustainable logistics services is unknown. This paper aims to study the current situation and results of green logistics practice through data analysis and case analysis, including green design, green transportation, green management and other indicators. Based on the case analysis in this paper, the SC-TVP model is constructed to provide an effective green logistics practice framework, with a view to improving the management level of green logistics, promoting the development of enterprises, and providing some reference for the logistics development in the post-epidemic era

勤労者における就労要因と受診控えの関連 : 勤務形態、従業員規模、職種を中心に

学位の種別: 課程博士審査委員会委員 : （主査）東京大学教授 赤林 朗, 東京大学准教授 石川 ひろの, 東京大学准教授 李 延秀, 東京大学准教授 大庭 幸治, 東京大学講師 泉谷 昌志University of Tokyo(東京大学