762 research outputs found
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
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 be a given set and let
be injective continuous mappings. Does there exist a set such
that is satisfied with a
non-overlapping union? We prove that such a set exists for certain choices
of and . The solutions 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
for
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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 , 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 , we find an excess of quenched galaxies in
dense environments out to at least . 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 M) are on average 1.7 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 50\% of the growth in the
quiescent population at high stellar mass (M M) in
the redshift range , and potentially all of the growth at lower
stellar masses.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
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
Interleukin-7 deficiency in rheumatoid arthritis: consequences for therapy-induced lymphopenia
We previously demonstrated prolonged, profound CD4+ T-lymphopenia in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients following lymphocyte-depleting therapy. Poor reconstitution could result either from reduced de novo T-cell production through the thymus or from poor peripheral expansion of residual T-cells. Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is known to stimulate the thymus to produce new T-cells and to allow circulating mature T-cells to expand, thereby playing a critical role in T-cell homeostasis. In the present study we demonstrated reduced levels of circulating IL-7 in a cross-section of RA patients. IL-7 production by bone marrow stromal cell cultures was also compromised in RA. To investigate whether such an IL-7 deficiency could account for the prolonged lymphopenia observed in RA following therapeutic lymphodepletion, we compared RA patients and patients with solid cancers treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous progenitor cell rescue. Chemotherapy rendered all patients similarly lymphopenic, but this was sustained in RA patients at 12 months, as compared with the reconstitution that occurred in cancer patients by 3–4 months. Both cohorts produced naïve T-cells containing T-cell receptor excision circles. The main distinguishing feature between the groups was a failure to expand peripheral T-cells in RA, particularly memory cells during the first 3 months after treatment. Most importantly, there was no increase in serum IL-7 levels in RA, as compared with a fourfold rise in non-RA control individuals at the time of lymphopenia. Our data therefore suggest that RA patients are relatively IL-7 deficient and that this deficiency is likely to be an important contributing factor to poor early T-cell reconstitution in RA following therapeutic lymphodepletion. Furthermore, in RA patients with stable, well controlled disease, IL-7 levels were positively correlated with the T-cell receptor excision circle content of CD4+ T-cells, demonstrating a direct effect of IL-7 on thymic activity in this cohort
Going to the exclusive show : exhibition strategies and moviegoing memories of Disneys animated feature films in Ghent (1937-1982)
This is a case study of the exploitation and experience of Disney's animated feature films from the 1930s to the 1980s in Ghent (Belgium). It is a historical study of programming practices and financial strategies which constructed childhood memories on watching Disney. The study is a contribution to a historical understanding of the implications of global distribution of film as cultural products and the counter pull of localism. Using a multi-method approach, the argument is made that the scarce screenings were strategically programmed to uplift the moviegoing experience into something out of the ordinary in everyday life. Programming and revenue data characterize the screenings as exclusive and generating high intakes. Consequently, the remembered screenings did not exhale an easy accessible social status nor an image of pervasiveness of popular childhood film, contradictory to conventional accounts of Disney's ubiquity in popular culture
Developing autonomous learning in first year university students using perspectives from positive psychology
Autonomous learning is a commonly occurring learning outcome from university study, and it is argued that students require confidence in their own abilities to achieve this. Using approaches from positive psychology, this study aimed to develop confidence in first‐year university students to facilitate autonomous learning. Psychological character strengths were assessed in 214 students on day one at university. Two weeks later their top three strengths were given to them in study skills modules as part of a psycho‐educational intervention designed to increase their self‐efficacy and self‐esteem. The impact of the intervention was assessed against a control group of 40 students who had not received the intervention. The results suggested that students were more confident after the intervention, and that levels of autonomous learning increased significantly compared to the controls. Character strengths were found to be associated with self‐efficacy, self‐esteem and autonomous learning in ways that were theoretically meaningful
The identification of poultry processing in archaeological ceramic vessels using in-situ isotope references for organic residue analysis.
Poultry products are rarely considered when reconstructing pottery use through organic residue analysis, impinging upon our understanding of the changing role of these animals in the past. Here we evaluate an isotopic approach for distinguishing chicken fats from other animal products. We compare the carbon isotopes of fatty acids extracted from modern tissues and archaeological bones and demonstrate that archaeological bones from contexts associated with pottery provide suitable reference ranges for distinguishing omnivorous animal products (e.g. pigs vs. chickens) in pots. When applied to pottery from the Anglo-Saxon site of Flixborough, England, we succeeded in identifying residues derived from chicken fats that otherwise could not be distinguished from other monogastric and ruminant animals using modern reference values only. This provides the first direct evidence for the processing of poultry or their products in pottery. The results highlight the utility of ‘in-situ’ archaeological bone lipids to identify omnivorous animal-derived lipids in archaeological ceramic vessels
Non-linear numerical simulations of magneto-acoustic wave propagation in small-scale flux tubes
We present results of non-linear, 2D, numerical simulations of
magneto-acoustic wave propagation in the photosphere and chromosphere of
small-scale flux tubes with internal structure. Waves with realistic periods of
three to five minutes are studied, after applying horizontal and vertical
oscillatory perturbations to the equilibrium model. Spurious reflections of
shock waves from the upper boundary are minimized thanks to a special boundary
condition. This has allowed us to increase the duration of the simulations and
to make it long enough to perform a statistical analysis of oscillations. The
simulations show that deep horizontal motions of the flux tube generate a slow
(magnetic) mode and a surface mode. These modes are efficiently transformed
into a slow (acoustic) mode in the vA < cS atmosphere. The slow (acoustic) mode
propagates vertically along the field lines, forms shocks and remains always
within the flux tube. It might deposit effectively the energy of the driver
into the chromosphere. When the driver oscillates with a high frequency, above
the cut-off, non-linear wave propagation occurs with the same dominant driver
period at all heights. At low frequencies, below the cut-off, the dominant
period of oscillations changes with height from that of the driver in the
photosphere to its first harmonic (half period) in the chromosphere. Depending
on the period and on the type of the driver, different shock patterns are
observed.Comment: 22 pages 6 color figures, submitted to Solar Physics, proceeding of
SOHO 19/ GONG 2007 meeting, Melbourne, Australi
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