As Seen on TV: Celebrity Expert as Lifestyle Advisor

David Chaney (2001) argues that access to lifestyle templates are available primarily through multiple media channels, where lifestyle is an example of a new 'social form' based on specific patterns of consumer choice. This article examines a very particular kind of celebrity. It is concerned with how television, print and advertising contribute to the construction of media stars whose function is to transfer knowledge of particular lifestyles to the lived experience of ordinary people. It looks at systems that direct the flow of information and why the proliferation of this new breed of expert arises out of a particular set of historic conditions namely the rise of, and recent challenges to, neo-liberalism

Life Swap: Celebrity Expert as Lifestyle Advisor

The British National TV awards of 2005 were significant for their legitimation of the celebrity expert as firmly embedded within television culture. Voted for by the viewing public, the emergence of this category not only demonstrates the proliferation and popularity of such figures across the daytime and evening schedule but also allows for the problematisation of their role within contemporary culture. This chapter seeks to explore both how and why this role emerged and the mixed outcomes of the promotion of such expertise. Experts regularly mediate between many aspects of the public world of the market and the private construction of self and home, but is the eventual outcome always that which the terms of the genre intend? Turning to David Chaney’s argument (1996), access to lifestyles, an integral feature of late modernity, are made available through vast communication networks which produce images that make styles and experiences familiar on an unprecedented scale. It is within this media environment that the ‘celebrity expert’ emerges: “eminent professionals in their field whose talents have been harnessed by television in popular entertainment and lifestyle programmes” (Turberville, 2005)

Improved high temperature resistant matrix resins

The objective was to develop organic matrix resins suitable for service at temperatures up to 644 K (700 F) and at air pressures up to 0.4 MPa (60 psia) for time durations of a minimum of 100 hours. Matrix resins capable of withstanding these extreme oxidative environmental conditions would lead to increased use of polymer matrix composites in aircraft engines and provide significant weight and cost savings. Six linear condensation, aromatic/heterocyclic polymers containing fluorinated and/or diphenyl linkages were synthesized. The thermo-oxidative stability of the resins was determined at 644 K and compressed air pressures up to 0.4 MPa. Two formulations, both containing perfluoroisopropylidene linkages in the polymer backbone structure, exhibited potential for 644 K service to meet the program objectives. Two other formulations could not be fabricated into compression molded zero defect specimens

Fabrication and test of a space power boiler feed electromagnetic pump. Part 1: Design and manufacture of pump

A three-phase helical induction electromagnetic (EM) pump has been designed and built. This pump was designed for use as the boiler-feed pump of a potassium Rankine-cycle space electric power system. The pump is constructed of high temperature materials including a T-111 duct, Hiperco 27 magnetic material, nickel clad silver conductor wire, and a completely inorganic insulation system. The pump is designed to deliver 3.25 lb/sec potassium at 1000 F with a developed head of 240 psi while being cooled by 800 F NaK. At these conditions, the overall pump efficiency is expected to be 18%

Multistability in nonlinear left-handed transmission lines

Employing a nonlinear left-handed transmission line as a model system, we demonstrate experimentally the multi-stability phenomena predicted theoretically for microstructured left-handed metamaterials with a nonlinear response. We show that the bistability is associated with the period doubling which at higher power may result in chaotic dynamics of the transmission line

Onciderini Thomson, 1860 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) types of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), with a brief history of the Coleoptera collection

The primary types of Onciderini Thomson, 1860 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Harvard University, are catalogued and illustrated. Data on the original combination, current name, gender, and type locality are verified and presented. There are 19 primary types of Onciderini including seven in Oncideres Lacordaire, 1830; two in Hesychotypa Thomson, 1868; and two in Hypsioma Audinet- Serville, 1835. Of the 19 primary types, 18 were described by L. S. Dillon and E. S. Dillon. A brief history of the Coleoptera collection at the MCZ is also presented

Digesting the Message about Contaminants and Country Foods in the Canadian North: A Review and Recommendations for Future Research and Action

Communicating the risks of environmental contaminants in the food chain to northern Aboriginal peoples poses significant challenges for communities at risk and environment and health professionals alike. Reported results of poor risk communication practice on this issue include increased fear and confusion in northern communities, changes in the dietary behaviour and traditional lifestyles of their residents, and associated impacts on their society, economy, and health. A review of past communication research and activities on this issue in the Canadian North reveals a general ad hoc “learning by doing” approach to primarily one-way communication events. The lack of focused communication research on an issue that has garnered great focus and effort elsewhere in the country and continent has forced health professionals and communicators to rely on assumptions about the reception and level of comprehension of important health messages previously disseminated. The importance of this information is increasing as research begins to detect subtle health effects from exposure to these substances among newborns in some northern regions. Thus planning and evaluation are needed for risk communication, and possibly changes to the scale at which communication work is done in northern communities.Le fait d’informer les peuples autochtones du Nord des risques associés à la présence de contaminants de l’environnement dans la chaîne alimentaire pose un défi de taille pour les collectivités exposées à ces risques, tout comme pour les professionnels de l’environnement et de la santé. Les résultats déjà rapportés d’une piètre pratique de divulgation des risques sur cette question mentionnent une augmentation de la peur et de la confusion dans les collectivités nordiques, des changements dans le comportement alimentaire et le style de vie traditionnel des résidents, et les impacts qui en résultent sur leur société, leur économie et leur santé. Un examen de la recherche en communications et des activités de divulgation antérieures sur cette question dans le Nord révèle que la communication est principalement unilatérale et se fait de façon improvisée sur le tas. Le manque d’une recherche en communications bien ciblée, sur une question ayant pris beaucoup d’ampleur et donné lieu à une importante mobilisation ailleurs à l’échelle du pays et du continent, ce manque donc a obligé les professionnels de la santé et les spécialistes en communications dans le domaine à se fier à des hypothèses quant à la réception et au niveau de compréhension d’importants messages relatifs à la santé diffusés antérieurement. Cette information acquiert de plus en plus d’importance à mesure que la recherche commence à détecter des effets ténus sur la santé dus à une exposition à ces contaminants chez les nouveau-nés dans certaines régions du Nord. Il faut donc procéder à une planification et à une évaluation de la divulgation des risques, voire à des changements dans l’échelle à laquelle s’effectue la communication dans les collectivités du Nord

A Brachistochrone Approach to Reconstruct the Inflaton Potential

We propose a new way to implement an inflationary prior to a cosmological dataset that incorporates the inflationary observables at arbitrary order. This approach employs an exponential form for the Hubble parameter $H(\phi)$ without taking the slow-roll approximation. At lowest non-trivial order, this $H(\phi)$ has the unique property that it is the solution to the brachistochrone problem for inflation.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, version matches published versio