Quantitative approaches for evaluating the influence of films using the IMDb database

[EN] Why do films certain remain influential throughout film history? The purpose of this paper is to attempt to answer this question. To do so, we adopt some quantitative approaches that facilitate an objective interpretation of the data. The data source we have chosen for this study is the Internet Online Movie Database (IMDb), and in particular, one of its sections called "Connections", which lists references made to a film in subsequent movies and references made in the film itself to previous ones. The extraction and analysis of these networks of citations allows us to draw some conclusions about the most influential movies in film history, identifying their distinguishing features, and considering how their popularity has evolved over time.This work is part of the Project "Active Audiences and Journalism. Interactivity, Web Integration and Findability of Journalistic Information". CSO2012-39518-C04-02. National Plan for R+D+i, Spanish Ministry of Economy and CompetitivenessCanet Centellas, FJ.; Valero Navarro, MA.; Codina Bonilla, L. (2016). Quantitative approaches for evaluating the influence of films using the IMDb database. Communication & Society. 29(2):151-172. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.29.2.151-172S15117229

Direct Inter-Process Communication (dIPC): Repurposing the CODOMs architecture to accelerate IPC

In current architectures, page tables are the fundamental mechanism that allows contemporary OSs to isolate user processes, binding each thread to a specific page table. A thread cannot therefore directly call another process's function or access its data; instead, the OS kernel provides data communication primitives and mediates process synchronization through inter-process communication (IPC) channels, which impede system performance. Alternatively, the recently proposed CODOMs architecture provides memory protection across software modules. Threads can cross module protection boundaries inside the same process using simple procedure calls, while preserving memory isolation. We present dIPC (for "direct IPC"), an OS extension that repurposes and extends the CODOMs architecture to allow threads to cross process boundaries. It maps processes into a shared address space, and eliminates the OS kernel from the critical path of inter-process communication. dIPC is 64.12× faster than local remote procedure calls (RPCs), and 8.87× faster than IPC in the L4 microkernel. We show that applying dIPC to a multi-tier OLTP web server improves performance by up to 5.12× (2.13× on average), and reaches over 94% of the ideal system efficiency.We thank Diego Marr´on for helping with MariaDB, the anonymous reviewers for their feedback and, especially, Andrew Baumann for helping us improve the paper. This research was partially funded by HiPEAC through a collaboration grant for Lluís Vilanova (agreement number 687698 for the EU’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme), the Israel Science Fundation (ISF grant 769/12) and the Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

TV news and social audience in Europe (EU5) : on-screen and twitter strategies

Social networks have altered how viewers watch television and consume information. This new context has obliged broadcasters to adapt their practices to reach viewers in all platforms. In this article, we focus on how the evening news programmes from the general-interest DTT channels in the five main European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) appeal to their social audience. This concept, although ambiguous, refers to the activity of viewers on social networks in relation to the contents broadcast by the television industry in its multiple forms. We analyse both the screen strategies and their activity on their official Twitter accounts. Although the evening news is the anchor of the prime time and one of the main assets to instil the channels with prestige and influence, the conclusions point to a certain neglect of the social audience from the industry in these key programmes. But mostly, our research reveals how the specificities of the format and the nature of the content distinguish the evening news from other live TV show

Adenosine A2A Receptors and A2A Receptor Heteromers as Key Players in Striatal Function

A very significant density of adenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs) is present in the striatum, where they are preferentially localized postsynaptically in striatopallidal medium spiny neurons (MSNs). In this localization A2ARs establish reciprocal antagonistic interactions with dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs). In one type of interaction, A2AR and D2R are forming heteromers and, by means of an allosteric interaction, A2AR counteracts D2R-mediated inhibitory modulation of the effects of NMDA receptor stimulation in the striatopallidal neuron. This interaction is probably mostly responsible for the locomotor depressant and activating effects of A2AR agonist and antagonists, respectively. The second type of interaction involves A2AR and D2R that do not form heteromers and takes place at the level of adenylyl cyclase (AC). Due to a strong tonic effect of endogenous dopamine on striatal D2R, this interaction keeps A2AR from signaling through AC. However, under conditions of dopamine depletion or with blockade of D2R, A2AR-mediated AC activation is unleashed with an increased gene expression and activity of the striatopallidal neuron and with a consequent motor depression. This interaction is probably the main mechanism responsible for the locomotor depression induced by D2R antagonists. Finally, striatal A2ARs are also localized presynaptically, in cortico-striatal glutamatergic terminals that contact the striato-nigral MSN. These presynaptic A2ARs heteromerize with A1 receptors (A1Rs) and their activation facilitates glutamate release. These three different types of A2ARs can be pharmacologically dissected by their ability to bind ligands with different affinity and can therefore provide selective targets for drug development in different basal ganglia disorders

Detection of Heteromers Formed by Cannabinoid CB 1

Functional interactions in signaling occur between dopamine D2 (D2R) and cannabinoid CB1 (CB1R) receptors, between CB1R and adenosine A2A (A2AR) receptors, and between D2R and A2AR. Furthermore, direct molecular interactions have been reported for the pairs CB1R-D2R, A2AR-D2R, and CB1R-A2AR. Here a combination of bimolecular fluorescence complementation and bioluminescence energy transfer techniques was used to identify the occurrence of D2R-CB1R-A2AR hetero-oligomers in living cells