287 research outputs found
How Russian Rap on YouTube Advances Alternative Political Deliberation: Hegemony, Counter- Hegemony, and Emerging Resistant Publics
The late 2010s have seen the unprecedented rise of Russian rap culture on YouTube. This study delves into the unexplored area of the relationship between rap music, politics, and the Internet audience in Russia. It focuses on the analysis of the production of the most popular rap videos—their narratives, power relations, and socio-political themes, as well as the prevailing patterns in the discussion on socio-political issues by the YouTube audience. The study brings three contributions that identify the power relations in the Russian society that manifest in the field of rap music. First, the Russian-speaking users demonstrate a high level of criticality toward the pro-Kremlin rap music on YouTube and challenge the lies of propaganda rap. Second, pro-government rappers follow the Soviet authoritarian ethos and praise belonging to the collective of elites, while liberal ones adhere to the individual responsibility. Third, we demonstrate the prevalence of patriarchal gender values, including macho politics and unquestioned sexism, which are representative of gender politics in the country. This article proves the importance of socio-political commentary on YouTube and points to the rap videos as the popular hubs for the socio-political debates. Users flow to rap videos and utilize the comment section to have their say on the political context and power relations rather than the music, to engage with others, and to contribute to the emerging collective debate. The comment sections on these rap videos have a unique value for the Russian users who exploit them as the negotiation space in the void of other platforms for social dialogue in Russia
Association of surfactant protein A polymorphisms with otitis media in infants at risk for asthma
BACKGROUND: Otitis media is one of the most common infections of early childhood. Surfactant protein A functions as part of the innate immune response, which plays an important role in preventing infections early in life. This prospective study utilized a candidate gene approach to evaluate the association between polymorphisms in loci encoding SP-A and risk of otitis media during the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for developing asthma. METHODS: Between September 1996 and December 1998, women were invited to participate if they had at least one other child with physician-diagnosed asthma. Each mother was given a standardized questionnaire within 4 months of her infant's birth. Infant respiratory symptoms were collected during quarterly telephone interviews at 6, 9 and 12 months of age. Genotyping was done on 355 infants for whom whole blood and complete otitis media data were available. RESULTS: Polymorphisms at codons 19, 62, and 133 in SP-A1, and 223 in SP-A2 were associated with race/ethnicity. In logistic regression models incorporating estimates of uncertainty in haplotype assignment, the 6A(4)/1A(5)haplotype was protective for otitis media among white infants in our study population (OR 0.23; 95% CI 0.07,0.73). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that polymorphisms within SP-A loci may be associated with otitis media in white infants. Larger confirmatory studies in all ethnic groups are warranted
Implications For The Origin Of GRB 051103 From LIGO Observations
We present the results of a LIGO search for gravitational waves (GWs)
associated with GRB 051103, a short-duration hard-spectrum gamma-ray burst
(GRB) whose electromagnetically determined sky position is coincident with the
spiral galaxy M81, which is 3.6 Mpc from Earth. Possible progenitors for
short-hard GRBs include compact object mergers and soft gamma repeater (SGR)
giant flares. A merger progenitor would produce a characteristic GW signal that
should be detectable at the distance of M81, while GW emission from an SGR is
not expected to be detectable at that distance. We found no evidence of a GW
signal associated with GRB 051103. Assuming weakly beamed gamma-ray emission
with a jet semi-angle of 30 deg we exclude a binary neutron star merger in M81
as the progenitor with a confidence of 98%. Neutron star-black hole mergers are
excluded with > 99% confidence. If the event occurred in M81 our findings
support the the hypothesis that GRB 051103 was due to an SGR giant flare,
making it the most distant extragalactic magnetar observed to date.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. For a repository of data used in the publication,
go to: https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=15166 . Also see
the announcement for this paper on ligo.org at:
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-GRB051103/index.ph
Search for Gravitational Wave Bursts from Six Magnetars
Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are thought to be magnetars: neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields. These rare objects are characterized by repeated and sometimes spectacular gamma-ray bursts. The burst mechanism might involve crustal fractures and excitation of non-radial modes which would emit gravitational waves (GWs). We present the results of a search for GW bursts from six galactic magnetars that is sensitive to neutron star f-modes, thought to be the most efficient GW emitting oscillatory modes in compact stars. One of them, SGR 0501+4516, is likely similar to 1 kpc from Earth, an order of magnitude closer than magnetars targeted in previous GW searches. A second, AXP 1E 1547.0-5408, gave a burst with an estimated isotropic energy >10(44) erg which is comparable to the giant flares. We find no evidence of GWs associated with a sample of 1279 electromagnetic triggers from six magnetars occurring between 2006 November and 2009 June, in GW data from the LIGO, Virgo, and GEO600 detectors. Our lowest model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits for band-and time-limited white noise bursts in the detector sensitive band, and for f-mode ringdowns (at 1090 Hz), are 3.0 x 10(44)d(1)(2) erg and 1.4 x 10(47)d(1)(2) erg, respectively, where d(1) = d(0501)/1 kpc and d(0501) is the distance to SGR 0501+4516. These limits on GW emission from f-modes are an order of magnitude lower than any previous, and approach the range of electromagnetic energies seen in SGR giant flares for the first time.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyItalian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica NucleareFrench Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAustralian Research CouncilCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Educacion y CienciaConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsFoundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFoundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space Administration NNH07ZDA001-GLASTCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationRussian Space AgencyRFBR 09-02-00166aIPN JPL Y503559 (Odyssey), NASA NNG06GH00G, NASA NNX07AM42G, NASA NNX08AC89G (INTEGRAL), NASA NNG06GI896, NASA NNX07AJ65G, NASA NNX08AN23G (Swift), NASA NNX07AR71G (MESSENGER), NASA NNX06AI36G, NASA NNX08AB84G, NASA NNX08AZ85G (Suzaku), NASA NNX09AU03G (Fermi)Astronom
Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era
We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom
Swift follow-up observations of candidate gravitational-wave transient events
We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate
gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their
2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network
of GW detectors and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift
observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected
electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background.
Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected
GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is
consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind
injection challenge". With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid
follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint
electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an
electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the
advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime
multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the
astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results
from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of
sensitivity for the present and future instruments.Comment: Submitted for publication 2012 May 25, accepted 2012 October 25,
published 2012 November 21, in ApJS, 203, 28 (
http://stacks.iop.org/0067-0049/203/28 ); 14 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables;
LIGO-P1100038; Science summary at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6LVSwift/index.php ; Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p110003
Inactivation of ca10a and ca10b Genes Leads to Abnormal Embryonic Development and Alters Movement Pattern in Zebrafish
Carbonic anhydrase related proteins (CARPs) X and XI are highly conserved across species and are predominantly expressed in neural tissues. The biological role of these proteins is still an enigma. Ray-finned fish have lost the CA11 gene, but instead possess two co-orthologs of CA10. We analyzed the expression pattern of zebrafish ca10a and ca10b genes during embryonic development and in different adult tissues, and studied 61 CARP X/XI-like sequences to evaluate their phylogenetic relationship. Sequence analysis of zebrafish ca10a and ca10b reveals strongly predicted signal peptides, N-glycosylation sites, and a potential disulfide, all of which are conserved, suggesting that all of CARP X and XI are secretory proteins and potentially dimeric. RT-qPCR showed that zebrafish ca10a and ca10b genes are expressed in the brain and several other tissues throughout the development of zebrafish. Antisense morpholino mediated knockdown of ca10a and ca10b showed developmental delay with a high rate of mortality in larvae. Zebrafish morphants showed curved body, pericardial edema, and abnormalities in the head and eye, and there was increased apoptotic cell death in the brain region. Swim pattern showed abnormal movement in morphant zebrafish larvae compared to the wild type larvae. The developmental phenotypes of the ca10a and ca10b morphants were confirmed by inactivating these genes with the CRISPR/Cas9 system. In conclusion, we introduce a novel zebrafish model to investigate the mechanisms of CARP Xa and CARP Xb functions. Our data indicate that CARP Xa and CARP Xb have important roles in zebrafish development and suppression of ca10a and ca10b expression in zebrafish larvae leads to a movement disorder.</p
Search for Gravitational Waves from Low Mass Compact Binary Coalescence in LIGO's Sixth Science Run and Virgo's Science Runs 2 and 3
We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact
binaries using LIGO and Virgo observations between July 7, 2009 and October 20,
2010. We searched for signals from binaries with total mass between 2 and 25
solar masses; this includes binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and
binaries consisting of a black hole and neutron star. The detectors were
sensitive to systems up to 40 Mpc distant for binary neutron stars, and further
for higher mass systems. No gravitational-wave signals were detected. We report
upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of total
mass, including the results from previous LIGO and Virgo observations. The
cumulative 90%-confidence rate upper limits of the binary coalescence of binary
neutron star, neutron star- black hole and binary black hole systems are 1.3 x
10^{-4}, 3.1 x 10^{-5} and 6.4 x 10^{-6} Mpc^{-3}yr^{-1}, respectively. These
upper limits are up to a factor 1.4 lower than previously derived limits. We
also report on results from a blind injection challenge.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. For a repository of data used in the
publication, go to:
. Also see the
announcement for this paper on ligo.org at:
<http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6CBCLowMass/index.php
A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007
We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts
associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal
new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy,
particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the
underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the
period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first
science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed
for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with
the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place
limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave
emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of
merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000
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