Participatory Practices and Journalism: The Impact of User-Generated Content in Making News

Given the new possibilities for internet users creation of media content, this dissertation investigates the repercussions of these non-professional media production activities in journalism. More specifically, this dissertation is an ethnographic analysis of the effects of different participatory practices in newswork. Drawing from theories on the sociology of news production and Brun’s conceptualization of produsage, it examines how journalists of three Spanish news organizations deal, in their daily routines, with user-generated content (UGC) created within and outside of the domain of these news outlets. Using the industrial construction of audiences as a theoretical framework, this research also deals with the implications of journalists’ integration of UGC in the process of making news for their views about their audiences’ roles. In addition, this dissertation explores how the participatory practices held by audience members have impacted journalists’ understandings of their function as gatekeepers. In analysing these matters, I have employed a triangulation of methods: newsroom observations, in-depth interviews with 33 journalists, and textual analysis of news media homepages. This dissertation concludes that UGC are relevant materials whose use raises significant issues for journalists. Moreover, this study argues that different approaches and ways of dealing with UGC mark news organizations’ understandings of the practice of journalism as well as their definitions of professional ideologies. In regard to the audiences, this research has found that audiences currently play a relevant role once a news story has already been published, since they hold the power of acting as proof-readers, fact-checkers, and quality controllers, questioning journalists’ decisions at different levels. Lastly, this dissertation indicates that despite these changes, most journalists still believe that they are the final gatekeepers of information. However, even if journalists feel they are still in charge of deciding what news is, they may fear audiences more than they used to. These results add new layers of complexity to previous studies, proposing that since the life cycle of news seems to occur through a two-step process (before and after a news story has been published), future researchers should consider extending their analysis beyond the newsroom

El principio de jurisdicción universal

La necesidad de activar mecanismos para la protección del ser humano ante la comisión de crímenes internacionales y la persecución y castigo de quienes los cometían surge sobre todo después de la II Guerra Mundial, pero se incrementa de manera notable a partir de la década de los noventa. Mucho se ha avanzado desde aquella tímida obligación de aut dedere aut judicare (buscar, detener y enjuiciar o, en su caso, extraditar) prevista para las infracciones graves de las Convenciones de Ginebra de 1949, siendo en la actualidad más de cien los Estados que a nivel interno han adoptado la legislación necesaria para ejercer la jurisdicción universal respecto de varios tipos penales, fundamentalmente, crímenes de guerra, crímenes contra la humanidad y genocidio, así como aquellos otros en los que así lo prevean determinados tratados internacionales (por ejemplo, la Convención para la supresión y castigo del crimen de apartheid de 1973, la Convención contra la tortura y otros tratos y penas crueles, inhumanos y degradantes de 1984, la Convención para la prevención y sanción del delito de genocidio de 1948 y diversas convenciones sobre terrorismo y otras materias).Pese a su expansión y aceptación gradual, el principio no ha estado exento de polémica. Ni siquiera la Corte Internacional de Justicia ha sido capaz de arrojar luz al respecto y abogar por una defensa absoluta del mismo (como demostró en el asunto relativo a la orden de arresto de 11 de abril de 2000 o confirmó, aunque de manera indirecta, por ejemplo, en el asunto sobre las inmunidades jurisdiccionales de 2012). Los Estados, por su parte, han demostrado también cierta inquietud acerca de la figura de la jurisdicción universal, sobre todo por sus difusos contornos y las intromisiones que, según algunos, supone respecto del principio de no injerencia. De esta manera, ha ido calando la idea de que era necesario poner límites al ejercicio de la jurisdicción universal y vincularla a la existencia de ciertos nexos con el Estado cuyos tribunales quisieran ejercerla. Esa es la postura que, de hecho, ha terminado abrazando el Estado español o el Estado belga, otrora muy generosos con la figura.Clarificar la jurisdicción universal en el ámbito internacional es esencial para arrojar luz sobre un mecanismo, el de la jurisdicción universal, cuyo fin último no es sino proteger al ser humano y garantizar el resarcimiento de las víctimas de crímenes internacionales

Brexit fatigue

En 2016, el Reino Unido celebró un referéndum –la segunda vez desde su incorporación a la UE– para decidir si abandonaba la Unión Europea como Estado miembro. El resultado del referéndum fue pro-Brexit y el Reino Unido notificó al Consejo Europeo su intención de abandonar la Unión Europea de conformidad con el artículo 50 del Tratado de la Unión Europea, el cual regula por primera vez la salida de un Estado miembro.Se trata de un proceso sin precedentes pues, si bien ya había habido propuestas de inclusión de una cláusula de salida en el Derecho de la Unión, estas no habían logrado materializarse hasta la llegada de la reforma del Tratado de Lisboa (2009), donde se incluye por primera vez una cláusula de tal naturaleza. El largo y difícil proceso de salida aún continúa y son varias las opciones que se perfilan, todas caracterizadas por un proceso lleno de incertidumbre e inseguridad.In 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum –the second time since its accession to the EU– to decide whether to leave the European Union as Member State. The results of the referendum were pro-Brexit and the United Kingdom notified the European Council of its intention to leave the European Union in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which regulated the withdrawal of a Member State for the first time.This is an unprecedented process because, although there had been proposals for the incorporation of a withdrawal clause in Union law, such proposals had not materialized until the reform of the Treaty of Lisbon (2009), where a withdrawal clause of this nature is included. The long and difficult process of withdrawal is still on the way and several options are emerging, all characterized by a process riddled with uncertainty and insecurity

“Las sufragistas”

Proponemos el estudio la película “Sufragistas” (2015) por relatar en su trama la consecución del derecho al sufragio femenino, tema que podemos analizar bajo la óptica del Derecho internacional de los Derechos Humanos. Nos proponemos realizar un breve análisis de las normas internacionales que se aplican al sufragio femenino y ver cómo es abordada la cuestión en la película

“Las sufragistas” : Análisis de la película desde la óptica del Derecho internacional

Proponemos el estudio la película “Sufragistas” (2015) por relatar en su trama la consecución del derecho al sufragio femenino, tema que podemos analizar bajo la óptica del Derecho internacional de los Derechos Humanos. Nos proponemos realizar un breve análisis de las normas internacionales que se aplican al sufragio femenino y ver cómo es abordada la cuestión en la película.Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociale

“Las sufragistas” : Análisis de la película desde la óptica del Derecho internacional

Proponemos el estudio la película “Sufragistas” (2015) por relatar en su trama la consecución del derecho al sufragio femenino, tema que podemos analizar bajo la óptica del Derecho internacional de los Derechos Humanos. Nos proponemos realizar un breve análisis de las normas internacionales que se aplican al sufragio femenino y ver cómo es abordada la cuestión en la película.Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociale

Regulation of tumor angiogenesis by the crosstalk between innate immunity and endothelial cells

Endothelial cells and immune cells are major regulators of cancer progression and prognosis. Endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis are required for providing nutrients and oxygen to the nascent tumor and infiltration of immune cells to the tumor is dependent on endothelial cell activation. Myeloid cells and innate lymphocytes have an important role in shaping the tumor microenvironment by crosstalking with cancer cells and structural cells, including endothelial cells. Innate immune cells can modulate the activation and functions of tumor endothelial cells, and, in turn, endothelial cell expression of adhesion molecules can affect immune cell extravasation. However, the mechanisms underlying this bidirectional crosstalk are not fully understood. In this review, we will provide an overview of the current knowledge on the pathways regulating the crosstalk between innate immune cells and endothelial cells during tumor progression and discuss their potential contribution to the development of novel anti-tumor therapeutic approaches

Uniqueness in a two phase free boundary problem

We investigate a two-phase free-boundary problem in heat propagation that in classical terms is formulated as follows: to find a continuous function u(x, t) defined in a domain D ⊂ RN × (0, T) which satisfies the equation ∆u + Σ ai uxi − ut = 0 whenever u(x, t) = 0, i.e., in the subdomains D+ = {(x, t) ∈ D : u(x, t) > 0} and D− = {(x, t) ∈ D : u(x, t) 0 is a fixed constant, and the gradients are spatial sidederivatives in the usual two-phase sense. In addition, initial data are specified, as well as either Dirichlet or Neumann data on the parabolic boundary of D. The problem admits classical solutions only for good data and for small times. To overcome this problem several generalized concepts of solution have been proposed, among them the concepts of limit solution and viscosity solution. Continuing the work done for the one-phase problem we investigate conditions under which the three concepts agree and produce a unique solution for the two-phase problem.Fil: Lederman, Claudia Beatriz. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Investigaciones Matemáticas "Luis A. Santaló". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Matemáticas "Luis A. Santaló"; ArgentinaFil: Vazquez, Juan Luis. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Wolanski, Noemi Irene. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Investigaciones Matemáticas "Luis A. Santaló". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Matemáticas "Luis A. Santaló"; Argentin

Uncertainty analysis of chest X-ray lung height measurements and size matching for lung transplantation

Lung transplantation; Chest X-ray; PrecisionTrasplante de pulmón; Radiografía de tórax; PrecisiónTrasplantament de pulmó; Radiografia de tòrax; PrecisióBackground: Errors in measuring chest X-ray (CXR) lung heights could contribute to the occurrence of size-mismatched lung transplant procedures. Methods: We first used Bland-Altman analysis for repeated measures to evaluate contributors to measurement error of chest X-ray lung height. We then applied error propagation theory to assess the impact of measurement error on size matching for lung transplantation. Results: A total 387 chest X-rays from twenty-five donors and twenty-five recipients were measured by two raters. Individual standard deviation for lung height differences were independent of age, sex, donor vs. recipient, diagnostic group and race/ethnicity and all were pooled for analysis. Bias between raters was 0.27 cm (±0.03) and 0.22 cm (±0.06) for the right and left lung respectively. Within subject variability was the biggest contributor to error in measurement, 2.76 cm (±0.06) and 2.78 cm (±0.2) for the right and left lung height. A height difference of 4.4 cm or more (95% CI: ±4.2, ±4.6 cm) between the donor and the recipient right lung height has to be accepted to ensure matching for at least 95% of patients with the same true lung height. This difference decreases to ±1.1 cm (95% CI: ±0.9, ±1.3 cm) when the average from all available chest X-rays is used. The probability of matching a donor and a recipient decreases with increasing true lung height difference. Conclusions: Individual chest X-ray lung heights are imprecise for the purpose of size matching in lung transplantation. Averaging chest X-rays lung heights reduced uncertainty.This research was supported by the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Grant UL1TR002345 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the NIH

Expression Profiles and DNA-Binding Affinity of Five ERF Genes in Bunches of Vitis vinifera cv. Cardinal Treated with High Levels of CO2 at Low Temperature

Ethylene response factors (ERFs) play an important role in plants by regulating defense response through interaction with various stress pathways. After harvest, table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are subject to a range of problems associated with postharvest storage at 0°C, such as fungal attack, water loss and rachis browning. The application of a 3-day high CO2 treatment maintained fruit quality and activated the induction of transcription factors belonging to different families such as ERF. In this paper, we have isolated five VviERFs from table grapes cv. Cardinal, whose deduced amino acid sequence contained the conserved apetalous (AP2)/ERF domain. The phylogeny and putative conserved motifs in VviERFs were analyzed and compared with those previously reported in Vitis. VviERFs-c gene expression was studied by quantitative real-time RT-PCR in the different tissues of bunches stored at low temperature and treated with high levels of CO2. The results showed that in most of the tissues analyzed, VviERFs-c gene expression was induced by the storage under normal atmosphere although the application of high levels of CO2 caused a greater increase in the VviERFs-c transcript accumulation. The promoter regions of two PRs (pathogenesis related proteins), Vcchit1b and Vcgns1, were obtained and the in silico analysis revealed the presence of a cis-acting ethylene response element (GCC box). In addition, expression of these two PR genes was analyzed in the pulp and rachis of CO2-treated and non-treated table grapes stored at 0°C and results showed significant correlations with VviERF2-c and VviERF6L7-c gene expression in rachis, and between VviERF11-c and Vcchit1b in pulp. Finally by using electro mobility shift assays, we denoted differences in binding of VviERFs to the GCC sequences present in the promoters of both PRs, with VviERF6L7-c being the only member which did not bind to any tested probe. Overall, our results suggest that the beneficial effect of high CO2 treatment maintaining table grape quality seems to be mediated by the regulation of ERFs and in particular VviERF2-c might play an important role by modulating the expression of PR genes.This work was supported by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG no. 321694 and by CICYT projects AGL2011-26742 and AGL2014-53081-R. IR and MV-H were supported by a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva contract from the MICINN and a predoctoral contract from the MEC, respectively.USD 2,116.5 APC fee funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access PilotPeer reviewe