BreadTube Rising: How Modern Creators Use Cultural Formats to Spread Countercultural Ideology

In their article, “BreadTube Rising: How Modern Creators Use Cultural Formats to Spread Countercultural Ideology,” J.J. Sylvia IV and Kyle Moody analyze the rise of BreadTube. Scholars have argued that YouTube’s algorithms lead to greater radicalization (Ribeiro et al.) and bad actors have weaponized algorithms to draw users into conspiracies (boyd, What Hath We Wrought?). This article adds to this by linking these practices to the commodification of social media that spread misinformation as adaptations of socially and rhetorically mediated technologies. It analyzes how the economics of YouTube and other platforms demand that user-generated content fit within paradigms of culture and economics. This ideological connection between conspiratorial thinking and economic incentives produced leftist and Marxist counter-narratives. The authors argue that the rise of BreadTube (Kuznetsov and Ismangil; Maddox and Creech) addresses this radicalization by re-deploying the mass-education model using the tenets of capitalism via normalized practices of YouTube algorithms to create pro-socialist and anti-right-wing content

Proof of principal for staircase auger chip removal theory

A proof of principal design of the staircase auger theory is provided for lunar drilling. The drill is designed to drill holes 30 meters deep and 0.1 meters in diameter. The action of the auger is 0.01 meter strokes at a varying number of strokes per second. A detailed analysis of the interaction of the auger and particle was done to optimize the parameters of the auger. This optimum design will allow for proper heat removal and reasonable drilling time. The drill bit is designed to scoop the particles into the auger while efficiently cutting through the moon's surface

Predicted Changes in Climatic Niche and Climate Refugia of Conservation Priority Salamander Species in the Northeastern United States

Global climate change represents one of the most extensive and pervasive threats to wildlife populations. Amphibians, specifically salamanders, are particularly susceptible to the effects of changing climates due to their restrictive physiological requirements and low vagility; however, little is known about which landscapes and species are vulnerable to climate change. Our study objectives included, (1) evaluating species-specific predictions (based on 2050 climate projections) and vulnerabilities to climate change and (2) using collective species responses to identify areas of climate refugia for conservation priority salamanders in the northeastern United States. All evaluated salamander species were projected to lose a portion of their climatic niche. Averaged projected losses ranged from 3%–100% for individual species, with the Cow Knob Salamander (Plethodon punctatus), Cheat Mountain Salamander (Plethodon nettingi), Shenandoah Mountain Salamander (Plethodon virginia), Mabee’s Salamander (Ambystoma mabeei), and Streamside Salamander (Ambystoma barbouri) predicted to lose at least 97% of their landscape-scale climatic niche. The Western Allegheny Plateau was predicted to lose the greatest salamander climate refugia richness (i.e., number of species with a climatically-suitable niche in a landscape patch), whereas the Central Appalachians provided refugia for the greatest number of species during current and projected climate scenarios. Our results can be used to identify species and landscapes that are likely to be further affected by climate change and potentially resilient habitats that will provide consistent climatic conditions in the face of environmental change

Harnessing the Power of Smart and Connected Health to Tackle COVID-19:IoT, AI, Robotics, and Blockchain for a Better World

As COVID-19 hounds the world, the common cause of finding a swift solution to manage the pandemic has brought together researchers, institutions, governments, and society at large. The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) — including Machine Learning (ML) and Big Data analytics — as well as Robotics and Blockchain, are the four decisive areas of technological innovation that have been ingenuity harnessed to fight this pandemic and future ones. While these highly interrelated smart and connected health technologies cannot resolve the pandemic overnight and may not be the only answer to the crisis, they can provide greater insight into the disease and support frontline efforts to prevent and control the pandemic. This paper provides a blend of discussions on the contribution of these digital technologies, propose several complementary and multidisciplinary techniques to combat COVID-19, offer opportunities for more holistic studies, and accelerate knowledge acquisition and scientific discoveries in pandemic research. First, four areas where IoT can contribute are discussed, namely, i) tracking and tracing, ii) Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) by Wearable IoT (WIoT), iii) Personal Digital Twins (PDT), and iv) real-life use case: ICT/IoT solution in Korea. Second, the role and novel applications of AI are explained, namely: i) diagnosis and prognosis, ii) risk prediction, iii) vaccine and drug development, iv) research dataset, v) early warnings and alerts, vi) social control and fake news detection, and vii) communication and chatbot. Third, the main uses of robotics and drone technology are analyzed, including i) crowd surveillance, ii) public announcements, iii) screening and diagnosis, and iv) essential supply delivery. Finally, we discuss how Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), of which blockchain is a common example, can be combined with other technologies for tackling COVID-19

Correction to: Cluster identification, selection, and description in Cluster randomized crossover trials: the PREP-IT trials

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article

The Influence of Manga on the Graphic Novel

This material has been published in The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel edited by Jan Baetens, Hugo Frey, Stephen E. Tabachnick. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University PressProviding a range of cogent examples, this chapter describes the influences of the Manga genre of comics strip on the Graphic Novel genre, over the last 35 years, considering the functions of domestication, foreignisation and transmedia on readers, markets and forms

The Limited Reach of Media in Genocide

An article by Kioko Ireri, lecturer at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, USIU-A

A digital divide in the COVID-19 pandemic: information exchange among older Medicare beneficiaries and stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented challenges for older adults. Medicare enrollment was already an overwhelming process for a high fraction of older adults pre-pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to gain understanding from community organizations and stakeholders about their pre-pandemic and during-pandemic experiences while adapting to continue offering insurance advice to seniors, what resources are available to seniors, and what needs to be done to help seniors make higher quality insurance choices in the Medicare program. In addition, we wanted to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the ways that these stakeholders interacted with Medicare beneficiaries. Methods We employed a qualitative strategy to gain a deep understanding of the challenges that these organizations may have faced while offering advice/counseling to older adults. We accomplished this by interviewing a group of 30 stakeholders from different states. Results Every stakeholder mentioned that some older adults have difficulty making Medicare decisions, and 16 stakeholders mentioned that their system is complex and/or overwhelming for older adults. Twenty-three stakeholders mentioned that Medicare beneficiaries are often confused about Medicare, and this is more noticeable among new enrollees. With the onset of the pandemic, 22 of these organizations mentioned that they had to move to a virtual model in order to assist beneficiaries, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. However, older adults seeking advice/meetings have a strong preference for in-person meetings even during the pandemic. Given that the majority of the beneficiaries that these stakeholders serve may not have access to technology, it was difficult for some of them to smoothly transition to a virtual environment. With Medicare counseling moving to virtual or telephone methods, stakeholders discussed that many beneficiaries had difficulty utilizing these options in a variety of ways. Conclusions Findings from our interviews with stakeholders provided information regarding experiences providing Medicare counseling pre- and during-COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the barriers faced by older adults included a complex and overwhelming system, a strong preference for in-person meetings among beneficiaries, challenges with technology, and an increased risk of information overload and misinformation. While bias may exist within the study and sample, given that technology-savvy beneficiaries may not seek help from organizations our study participants work in, they show how the current Medicare system may impact vulnerable older adults who may need support with access to high-speed internet and digital literacy

Data from: Are species differences in maternal effects arising from maternal care adaptive?

Parental care benefits offspring through maternal effects influencing their development, growth and survival. However, although parental care in general is likely the result of adaptive evolution, it does not follow that specific differences in the maternal effects that arise from care are also adaptive. Here, we used an interspecific cross-fostering design in the burying beetle species Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. vespilloides, both of which have elaborate parental care involving direct feeding of regurgitated food to offspring, to test whether maternal effects are optimized within a species and therefore adaptive. Using a full-factorial design, we first demonstrated that N. orbicollis care for offspring longer regardless of recipient species. We then examined offspring development and mass in offspring reared by hetero- or conspecific parents. As expected, there were species-specific direct effects independent of the maternal effects, as N. orbicollis larvae were larger and took longer to develop than N. vespilloides regardless of caregiver. We also found significant differences in maternal effects: N. vespilloides maternal care caused more rapid development of offspring of either species. Contrary to expectations if maternal effects were species-specific, there were no significant interactions between caretaker and recipient species for either development time or mass, suggesting that these maternal effects are general rather than optimized within species. We suggest that rather than coadaptation between parents and offspring performance, the species differences in maternal effects may be correlated with direct effects, and that their evolution is driven by selection on those direct effects