Journalism Students and Information Consumption in the Era of Fake News

Technological platforms, such as social media, are disrupting traditional journalism, as a result the access to high-quality information by citizens is facing important challenges, among which, disinformation and the spread of fake news are the most relevant one. This study approaches how journalism students perceive and assess this phenomenon. The descriptive and exploratory research is based on a hybrid methodology: Two matrix surveys of students and a focus group of professors (n = 6), experts in Multimedia Journalism. The first survey (n = 252), focused on students’ perception of fake news, the second (n = 300) aims at finding out the type of content they had received during the recent confinement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Results show that most of the students prefer online media as a primary source of information instead of social media. Students consider that politics is the main topic of fake news, which, according to the respondents, are mainly distributed by adult users through social networks. The vast majority believe that fake news are created for political interests and a quarter of the sample considers that there is a strong ideological component behind disinformation strategies. Nonetheless, the study also reveals that students do not trust in their ability to distinguish between truthful and false information. For this reason, this research concludes, among other aspects, that the promotion of initiatives and research to promote media literacy and news literacy are decisive in the training of university students

Information on the COVID-19 pandemic in daily newspapers' front pages : case study of Spain and Italy

Spain and Italy are amongst the European countries where the COVID-19 pandemic has produced its major impact and where lockdown measures have been the harshest. This research aims at understanding how the corona crisis has been represented in Spanish and Italian media, focusing on reference newspapers. The study analyzes 72 front pages of El País and El Mundo in Spain and Italy's Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, collecting 710 news items and 3456 data evidences employing a mixed method (both qualitative and quantitative) based on content analysis and hemerographic analysis. Results show a predominance of informative journalistic genres (especially brief and news), while the visual framing emerging from the photographic choice, tend to foster humanization through an emotional representation of the pandemic. Politicians are the most represented actors, showing a high degree of politicization of the crisis

Differential Expression of IRS-1 and IRS-2 in Uterine Leiomyosarcomas with Distinct Oncogenic Phenotypes: Lack of Correlation with Downstream Signaling Events

Purpose: Insulin receptor substrates (IRSs) are essential for insulin-induced mitogenic effects on several cell types but they also are involved in cell transformation.We investigated whether the differential constitutive expression and potential distinct downstream signaling events of IRS-1 and IRS-2 might be related to discrete tumourigenic phenotypes of three human uterine leiomyosarcoma cell lines, one of which was specifically isolated for the present study

Ultrastructural evaluation of human metaphase II oocytes after vitrification: closed versus open devices

Objective: To compare the ultrastructural appearance of oocytes after vitrification and warming with two different devices. Design: Oocytes were examined by ultrastructural analysis after vitrification and warming with use of closed (CryoTip; Irvine Scientific, Santa Ana, CA) or open (Cryotop; Kitazato BioPharma Co., Ltd., Shizuoka, Japan) devices. Setting: Pordenone Hospital IVF Unit and Medical Morphological Research Department, University of Udine. Patient(s): Surplus oocytes from 10 patients (aged 31-39 years) undergoing assisted reproductive technologies at the Pathophysiology Unit of Human Reproduction and Sperm Bank between 2006 and 2008. Intervention(s): Oocytes with normal invertoscopic appearance underwent vitrification and warming with closed (CryoTip) or open (Cryotop) devices and were processed for transmission electron microscopy. Main Outcome Measure(s): Cryodamage extent and cell alterations in oocytes after open or closed vitrification and warming procedures and their rehydration rate. Result(s): A higher rate of complete oocyte rehydration and less-severe ultrastructural alterations were observed after vitrification and warming with the open Cryotop device. Conclusion(s): These preliminary data suggest that oocyte ultrastructure is better preserved with an open rather than closed vitrification and warming protocol

Les cartulaires ecclésiastiques de l’Italie médiévale

Les cartulaires, dont le contenu est depuis longtemps utilisé comme source de l’histoire du Moyen Âge, sont à présent considérés aussi comme des œuvres originales. Ils ont été bien étudiés en France et dans quelques autres pays, mais il n’existe pas de répertoire des cartulaires italiens. L’Italie a produit d’une part des cartulaires (parfois accompagnés d’une chronique) compilés, surtout au XIIe siècle, par les églises elles-mêmes, d’autre part, plus tard, des recueils documentaires faits par des notaires sur le modèle des libri iurium communaux. Nous préparons un catalogue général des cartulaires ecclésiastiques italiens, chacun faisant l’objet d’une fiche typologique ; nous avons déjà identifié un troisième type de cartulaire (le plus ancien), recensant non les possessions, mais les concessions.The cartularies have been used for a long time only as a historical source, but now they are considered as original works and their production and distribution are studied as a particular documentary phenomenon and as a manifestation of a peculiar practice of writing. They have been studied in France and in other countries, but there is still no repertory of Italian ecclesiastical cartularies. During the Middle Ages Italian religious institutions produced (especially in 11th and 12th centuries) cartularies compiled by their scribes (sometimes accompanied by chronicles) and, then (from the 13th century), documentary collections drawn up by notaries on the model of municipal libri iurium. This research aims 1) at drawing up a catalog of Italian ecclesiastical cartularies, where each cartulary will be described in detail on the basis of a card model, and 2) at studying the phenomenon of production of ecclesiastical cartularies in its various typological and regional occurrences

La información de la pandemia de la Covid-19 en las portadas de los diarios. Estudio comparativo de Italia, Reino Unido, España, Francia, Portugal, Estados Unidos, Rusia y Alemania

This research presents a comparative study of the front pages of eight countries regarding the news coverage of the pandemic in two printed newspapers in Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Portugal, the United States, Russia and Germany. The study analyzes the number of news items on the pandemic, the type of text, the typology of information sources, the characters, the use of color, the inclusion and focus of photographs and their location on the page, among other parameters. It studies 288 front pages of 16 newspapers worldwide (2 per country), collecting 1 478 pieces of information from 710 news items and 94 592 pieces of data evidence. The work employs a mixed method of direct observation and hemerographic analysis. Its conclusions include that the presence of affected people and health personnel in the front page information is negligible; it identifies a predominance of informative journalistic genres (brief and news, especially) and detects the leading role of political figures and the high degree of politicization of the crisis. Lastly, it is observed that the visual framing in the analyzed newspapers tends to promote humanization through emotional representation.La investigación presenta un estudio comparativo de las portadas de ocho países sobre la cobertura informativa de la pandemia en dos diarios impresos de Italia, Reino Unido, España, Francia, Portugal, Estados Unidos, Rusia y Alemania. Se analiza el número de noticias sobre la pandemia, el tipo de texto, la tipología de fuentes informativas, los personajes, el uso del color, la inclusión y enfoque de las fotografías o la ubicación en la página, entre otros parámetros. A partir de revisión de 288 portadas de 16 diarios del mundo (2 por país), recogiendo 1 478 piezas informativas de 710 noticias y 94 592 evidencias de datos, este trabajo emplea un enfoque descriptivo de análisis hemerográfico. El estudio concluye, entre otros aspectos, que la presencia de afectados y de personal sanitario en las informaciones de portada es nimia; identifica un predominio de los géneros periodísticos informativos (breves y noticiosos, especialmente) y detecta el rol protagónico de las figuras políticas y el alto grado de politización de la crisis. Finalmente, se observa que los encuadres visuales en los diarios analizados tienden a fomentar la humanización a través de la representación emocional

Information on the COVID-19 pandemic in daily newspapers' front pages : case study of Spain and Italy

Spain and Italy are amongst the European countries where the COVID-19 pandemic has produced its major impact and where lockdown measures have been the harshest. This research aims at understanding how the corona crisis has been represented in Spanish and Italian media, focusing on reference newspapers. The study analyzes 72 front pages of El País and El Mundo in Spain and Italy's Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, collecting 710 news items and 3456 data evidences employing a mixed method (both qualitative and quantitative) based on content analysis and hemerographic analysis. Results show a predominance of informative journalistic genres (especially brief and news), while the visual framing emerging from the photographic choice, tend to foster humanization through an emotional representation of the pandemic. Politicians are the most represented actors, showing a high degree of politicization of the crisis

Characterization of SiPM arrays in different series and parallel configurations

A number of innovative experiments dedicated to neutrino and rare-event physics use liquefied noble-gases both as a target and as a detector. These media have the remarkable property to efficiently produce scintillation photons after the passage of ionizing particles. Scintillation light, which is used for triggering and timing purposes, is traditionally detected by large area Photo-Multiplier Tubes (PMTs) working at cryogenic temperature. Silicon Photo-Multiplier (SiPM) arrays are gradually substituting PMTs in many applications, especially where low voltages are required and magnetic field is present. One of the problems of this devices is the small active area. For this reason we built several prototype arrays made by different SiPM models with a common readout: the basic unit is a device with an active area of (1.2×1.2)cm2 . A fast signal leading edge is crucial to realize devices to be used for triggering and timing. To this purpose we studied different series/parallel electrical configurations to obtain the best timing performance, by operating our custom arrays both at room and cryogenic temperatures