Depicting Icarus: empathy and journalism (guest blog by Victoria Yates)

“My son was nearly nineteen years old,” Mohammed said. “He wanted to be a doctor. There’s a photograph of him”-he waved his hand vaguely-“somewhere, wearing a stethoscope.” He made no move to get it, as though already discouraged by the effort. His wife begun to cry again. “Mysterious are the ways of God,” he said. There had been no warning that his son would join the militants. “He willed it. He did it. That is all. He was a good, silent, obedient boy. He was my son, but, more than that, he was my friend. He was here, dawn to dusk, every day, day and night.” (The New Yorker, Letter from Kashmir: Between the Mountains, March 11 2002) This sort of story is sadly not a novel one in journalistic discourse. It is the sort of vivid and humanising picture that the best journalists strive to create. Yet, in all its familiarity, if we are honest with ourselves it can be hard to truly recognise that this prose was written about someone. Nor do most genuinely connect with the idea that it was written by a reporter who sat looking into the eyes of grieving parents in a way none of the consumers ever do

BBC, Al Jazeera and globalisation of news (guest blog)

This is an edited version of an essay by Polis Summer School student Victoria Yates. The idea of globalization is not new, despite many of the modern connotations attached to the term. The creation of the printing press created much the same revolution in communication, connecting people for the first time in a wide manner beyond traditional dialogical contact

Getting ahead and getting along in entrepreneurial networks: network effects of the “dark” and “light” sides of personality in new venture performance

This dissertation explores how dark and light personality traits influence venture performance via mediating effects of social structure. Because entrepreneurship is an inherently social process, theoretical perspectives of social network theory and social comparison theory are used to examine how entrepreneurs’ dark and light personality traits interact with personality traits of socially proximal others to influence venture performance via network structure. These perspectives are drawn together using socioanalytic theory. This dissertation argues that agreeableness and narcissism interact with the personality traits of network others at the group-level to influence structural hole positioning within entrepreneurial networks; in turn, structural holes are hypothesized to exert a positive effect on venture revenue. This study offers contributions to the fields of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial personality, social networks, and social comparison processes. Hypotheses are tested using a dataset of 234 entrepreneurs nested within 24 groups; analyses are conducted via linear mixed effects models and Monte-Carlo approximation of mediation confidence intervals (Model 1) and OLS regression and non-parametric bootstrapping approximation of mediation confidence intervals (Model 2)

#Time’sUp on Patriarchal Narratives of Rape on Screen: The Potentialities of a Female Gaze

In this research I utilise critical feminist media theory to examine the various discourses of rape presented in televised fictions of sexual violence. In undertaking a Foucauldian discourse analysis I explore patriarchal discursive manoeuvring, the enduring presence of the male gaze, and the emerging potential for feminist discourses of sexual violence alongside a female gaze, as a political endeavour and opportunity for social change. This feminist project is borne out of my recognition of the ubiquity of rape as central to the storyline of many British prime-time television dramas over approximately the last five years in an era post-Savile scandal, and now post-Weinstein also. As the majority of programmes that I analyse involve representations of the criminal justice system, I discern how critically they portray the trial and punishment of rape in law, which aspects of rape culture such televisual narratives highlight or reinforce, and likewise which rape myths they dispel or perpetuate. In my overall examination of the genre of sexual violence focussed programmes from 2013 to 2018, I argue that just as a continuum of men’s violence against women has been conceptualised, a continuum of televisual discourses of rape can be conceived. From the data, I identify the use of traditional patriarchal discourses to punish archetypal 'postfeminist' women in ITV’s Liar and BBC’s Apple Tree Yard, as well as programmes which co-opt feminism alongside the presence of visual misogyny as in BBC’s The Fall. Conversely, I also determine the emergence of dramas which centre feminist standpoints, as executed in drama series such as Channel 4’s National Treasure and ITV’s Broadchurch. I conclude by examining the potential impact of televisual representations of sexual violence by means of a female gaze, such as that arguably demonstrated in Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake

Activity Intensity, Volume, and Norms:Utility and Interpretation of Accelerometer Metrics

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins via the DOI in this recordPurpose: The physical activity profile can be described from accelerometer data using two population- independent metrics: average acceleration (ACC, volume) and intensity gradient (IG, intensity). This paper aims to: 1) demonstrate how these metrics can be used to investigate the relative contributions of volume and intensity of physical activity for a range of health markers across datasets; and 2) illustrate the future potential of the metrics for generation of age and sexspecific percentile norms. Methods: Secondary data analyses were carried out on five diverse datasets using wrist-worn accelerometers (ActiGraph/GENEActiv/Axivity): children (N=145), adolescent girls (N=1669), office workers (N=114), pre- (N=1218) and post- (N=1316) menopausal women, and adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) (N=475). Open-source software (GGIR) was used to generate ACC and IG. Health markers were: a) zBMI (children); b) %fat (adolescent girls and adults); c) bone health (pre- and post-menopausal women); and d) physical function (adults with T2D). Results: Multiple regression analyses showed the IG, but not ACC, was independently associated with zBMI/%fat in children and adolescents. In adults, associations were stronger and the effects of ACC and IG were additive. For bone health and physical function, interactions showed associations were strongest if IG was high, largely irrespective of ACC. Exemplar illustrative percentile ‘norms’ showed the expected age-related decline in physical activity, with greater drops in IG across age than ACC. Conclusion: The ACC and IG accelerometer metrics facilitate investigation of whether volume and intensity of physical activity have independent, additive or interactive effects on health markers. Future, adoption of data-driven metrics would facilitate the generation of age- and sexspecific norms that would be beneficial to researchers.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Collaboration for leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) East Midland

The transcriptional response of Caenorhabditis elegans to ivermectin exposure identifies novel genes involved in the response to reduced food intake

We have examined the transcriptional response of Caenorhabditis elegans following exposure to the anthelmintic drug ivermectin (IVM) using whole genome microarrays and real-time QPCR. Our original aim was to identify candidate molecules involved in IVM metabolism and/or excretion. For this reason the IVM tolerant strain, DA1316, was used to minimise transcriptomic changes related to the phenotype of drug exposure. However, unlike equivalent work with benzimidazole drugs, very few of the induced genes were members of xenobiotic metabolising enzyme families. Instead, the transcriptional response was dominated by genes associated with fat mobilization and fatty acid metabolism including catalase, esterase, and fatty acid CoA synthetase genes. This is consistent with the reduction in pharyngeal pumping, and consequential reduction in food intake, upon exposure of DA1316 worms to IVM. Genes with the highest fold change in response to IVM exposure, cyp-37B1, mtl-1 and scl-2, were comparably up-regulated in response to short–term food withdrawal (4 hr) independent of IVM exposure, and GFP reporter constructs confirm their expression in tissues associated with fat storage (intestine and hypodermis). These experiments have serendipitously identified novel genes involved in an early response of C. elegans to reduced food intake and may provide insight into similar processes in higher organisms