3,579 research outputs found
Hard and soft news: A review of concepts, operationalizations and key findings
Over 30 years, a large body of research on what is often called ‘hard’ and ‘soft news’ has accumulated in communication studies. However, there is no consensus about what hard and soft news exactly is, or how it should be defined or measured. Moreover, the concept has not been clearly differentiated from or systematically related to concepts addressing very similar phenomena – tabloidization and ‘infotainment’. Consequently, the results of various studies are hard to compare and different scientific discourses on related issues remain unconnected. Against this backdrop, this article offers a conceptual analysis of the concept based on studies in English and other languages. We identify key dimensions of the concept and make suggestions for a standardized definition and multi-dimensional measurement of harder and softer news. In doing so, we propose to distinguish thematic, focus and style features as basic dimensions that – in their combination – make up harder and softer types of news
Neutrino Oscillations in the Framework of Three-Generation Mixings with Mass Hierarchy
We have analyzed the results of reactor and accelerator neutrino oscillation
experiments in the framework of a general model with mixing of three neutrino
fields and a neutrino mass hierarchy that can accommodate the results of the
solar neutrino experiments. It is shown that
oscillations with and amplitude
larger than are not compatible with the existing limits on
neutrino oscillations if the non-diagonal elements of the mixing matrix and are small. Thus, if the
excess of electron events recently observed in the LSND experiment is due to oscillations, the mixing in the lepton sector
is basically different from the CKM mixing of quarks. If this type of mixing is
realized in nature, the observation of
oscillations would not influence
oscillations that are being searched for in the CHORUS and NOMAD experiments.Comment: Revtex file, 13 pages + 2 figures (included). The postscript file of
text and figures is available at
http://www.to.infn.it/teorici/giunti/papers.html or
ftp://ftp.to.infn.it/pub/giunti/1995/dftt-25-95/dftt-25-95.ps.
Observational study of the association of first insulin type in uncontrolled type 2 diabetes with macrovascular and microvascular disease
<p>Aims: To compare the risk of vascular disease, HbA1c and weight change, between first prescribed insulins in people with type 2 diabetes.</p>
<p>Methods: People included in THIN United Kingdom primary care record database who began insulin (2000–2007) after poor control on oral glucose-lowering agents (OGLD) were grouped by the number of OGLDs in their treatment regimen immediately before starting insulin (n = 3,485). Within OGLD group, Cox regression compared macrovascular (all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome and stroke) and microvascular disease (peripheral neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy) between insulin type (basal, pre-mix or Neutral Protamine Hagedorn, NPH) while ANCOVAs compared haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and weight change.</p>
<p>Results: Mean follow-up was 3.6 years. Rates of incident macrovascular events were similar when basal insulin was compared to pre-mix or NPH, adjusted hazard ratio versus basal: pre-mix 1.08 (95% CI 0.73, 1.59); NPH 1.00 (0.63, 1.58) after two OGLDs, and pre-mix 0.97 (0.46, 2.02); NPH 0.77 (0.32, 1.86) after three OGLDs. An increased risk of microvascular disease in NPH versus basal after 3 OGLDs, adjusted hazard ratio1.87 (1.04, 3.36), was not seen after two agents or in comparisons of basal and pre-mix. At one year, after two OGLDs, weight increase was less with basal compared with pre-mix. After three OGLDs, mean HbA1c had reduced less in basal versus pre-mix or NPH at 6–8 and at 9–11 months, and versus pre-mix at 12–14 months.</p>
<p>Conclusion: We found no difference in the risk of macrovascular events between first insulins in the medium term when started during poor glycaemia control. The increased risk of microvascular events with NPH warrants further study. In certain groups, first use of basal insulin was associated with less gain in weight and decrease in HbA1c compared to other insulins.</p>
Sharpening the predictions of big-bang nucleosynthesis
Motivated by the recent measurement of the primeval abundance of deuterium,
we re-examine the nuclear inputs to big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). Using
Monte-Carlo realization of the nuclear cross-section data to directly estimate
the theoretical uncertainties for the yields of D, 3-He and 7-Li, we show that
previous estimates were a factor of 2 too large. We sharpen the BBN
determination of the baryon density based upon deuterium, rho_B = (3.6 +/- 0.4)
* 10^{-31} g/cm^3 (Omega_B h^2 = 0.019 +/- 0.0024), which leads to a predicted
4-He abundance, Y_P = 0.246 +/- 0.0014 and a stringent limit to the equivalent
number of light neutrino species: N_nu < 3.20 (all at 95% cl). The predicted
7-Li abundance, 7-Li/H = (3.5 + 1.1 - 0.9) * 10^{-10}, is higher than that
observed in pop II stars, (1.7 +/- 0.3) * 10^{-10} (both, 95% cl). We identify
key reactions and the energies where further work is needed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (epsfig), REVTeX; submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Effects of galaxy-halo alignment and adiabatic contraction on gravitational lens statistics
We study the strong gravitational lens statistics of triaxial cold dark
matter (CDM) halos occupied by central early-type galaxies. We calculate the
image separation distribution for double, cusp and quad configurations. The
ratios of image multiplicities at large separations are consistent with the
triaxial NFW model, and at small separations are consistent with the singular
isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) model. At all separations, the total lensing
probability is enhanced by adiabatic contraction. If no adiabatic contraction
is assumed, naked cusp configurations become dominant at approximately 2.5'',
which is inconsistent with the data. We also show that at small-to-moderate
separations, the image multiplicities depend sensitively on the alignment of
the shapes of the luminous and dark matter projected density profiles. In
constrast to other properties that affect these ratios, the degree of alignment
does not have a significant effect on the total lensing probability. These
correlations may therefore be constrained by comparing the theoretical image
separation distribution to a sufficiently large lens sample from future wide
and deep sky surveys such as Pan-Starrs, LSST and JDEM. Understanding the
correlations in the shapes of galaxies and their dark matter halo is important
for future weak lensing surveys.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Active-active and active-sterile neutrino oscillation solutions to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly
We perform a fit to the full data set corresponding to 33.3 kt-yr of data of
the Super-Kamiokande experiment as well as to all other experiments in order to
compare the two most likely solutions to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly in
terms of oscillations in the and
channels. Using state-of-the-art atmospheric neutrino fluxes we have determined
the allowed regions of oscillation parameters for both channels. We find that
the values for the active-sterile oscillations (both for positive
and negative ) are higher than for the case,
and that the increased Super-Kamiokande sample slightly favours oscillations over oscillations into a sterile species ,
, and disfavours . We also give the
zenith angle distributions predicted for the best fit points in each of the
possible oscillation channels. Finally we compare our determinations of the
atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters with the expected sensitivities of
future long-baseline experiments K2K, MINOS, ICARUS, OPERA and NOE.Comment: Updated to 535 days of Super-Kamiokande and corresponding
modifications in the discussion and figures. Some References adde
Quasicondensate and superfluid fraction in the 2D charged-boson gas at finite temperature
The Bogoliubov - de Gennes equations are solved for the Coulomb Bose gas
describing a fluid of charged bosons at finite temperature. The approach is
applicable in the weak coupling regime and the extent of its quantitative
usefulness is tested in the three-dimensional fluid, for which diffusion Monte
Carlo data are available on the condensate fraction at zero temperature. The
one-body density matrix is then evaluated by the same approach for the
two-dimensional fluid with e^2/r interactions, to demonstrate the presence of a
quasi-condensate from its power-law decay with increasing distance and to
evaluate the superfluid fraction as a function of temperature at weak coupling.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure
On dynamic network entropy in cancer
The cellular phenotype is described by a complex network of molecular
interactions. Elucidating network properties that distinguish disease from the
healthy cellular state is therefore of critical importance for gaining
systems-level insights into disease mechanisms and ultimately for developing
improved therapies. By integrating gene expression data with a protein
interaction network to induce a stochastic dynamics on the network, we here
demonstrate that cancer cells are characterised by an increase in the dynamic
network entropy, compared to cells of normal physiology. Using a fundamental
relation between the macroscopic resilience of a dynamical system and the
uncertainty (entropy) in the underlying microscopic processes, we argue that
cancer cells will be more robust to random gene perturbations. In addition, we
formally demonstrate that gene expression differences between normal and cancer
tissue are anticorrelated with local dynamic entropy changes, thus providing a
systemic link between gene expression changes at the nodes and their local
network dynamics. In particular, we also find that genes which drive
cell-proliferation in cancer cells and which often encode oncogenes are
associated with reductions in the dynamic network entropy. In summary, our
results support the view that the observed increased robustness of cancer cells
to perturbation and therapy may be due to an increase in the dynamic network
entropy that allows cells to adapt to the new cellular stresses. Conversely,
genes that exhibit local flux entropy decreases in cancer may render cancer
cells more susceptible to targeted intervention and may therefore represent
promising drug targets.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables. Submitte
Building professional discourse in emerging markets: Language, context and the challenge of sensemaking
Using ethnographic evidence from the former Soviet republics, this article examines a relatively new and mainly unobserved in the International Business (IB) literature phenomenon of communication disengagement that manifests itself in many emerging markets. We link it to the deficiencies of the local professional business discourse rooted in language limitations reflecting lack of experience with the market economy. This hampers cognitive coherence between foreign and local business entities, adding to the liability of foreignness as certain instances of professional experience fail to find adequate linguistic expression, and complicates cross-cultural adjustments causing multi-national companies (MNCs) financial losses. We contribute to the IB literature by examining cross-border semantic sensemaking through a retrospectively constructed observational study. We argue that a relative inadequacy of the national professional idiom is likely to remain a feature of business environment in post-communist economies for some time and therefore should be factored into business strategies of MNCs. Consequently, we recommend including discursive hazards in the risk evaluation of international projects
Neutrinoless double-beta decay with three or four neutrino mixing
Considering the scheme with mixing of three neutrinos and a mass hierarchy
that can accommodate the results of solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments,
it is shown that the results of solar neutrino experiments imply a lower bound
for the effective Majorana mass in neutrinoless double-beta decay, under the
natural assumptions that massive neutrinos are Majorana particles and there are
no unlikely fine-tuned cancellations among the contributions of the different
neutrino masses. Considering the four-neutrino schemes that can accommodate
also the results of the LSND experiment, it is shown that only one of them is
compatible with the results of neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments and
with the measurement of the abundances of primordial elements produced in
Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis. It is shown that in this scheme, under the
assumptions that massive neutrinos are Majorana particles and there are no
cancellations among the contributions of the different neutrino masses, the
results of the LSND experiment imply a lower bound for the effective Majorana
mass in neutrinoless double-beta decay.Comment: 18 pages including 2 figures, RevTe
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