Teensites.com: A Field Guide to the New Digital Landscape

A 2001 report from the Center for Media Education, provided here as background to work produced by Kathryn Montgomery after coming to American University and CSM (see http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/ecitizens/index2.htm -- Youth as E-Citizens'), surveys the burgeoning digital media culture directed at -- and in some cases created by -- teens.This report surveys the burgeoning new media culture directed at -- and in some cases created by -- teens. TeenSites.com -- A Field Guide to the New Digital Landscape examines the uniquely interactive nature of the new media, and explores the ways in which teens are at once shaping and being shaped by the electronic culture that surrounds them

Digital Food Marketing to Children and Adolescents: Problematic Practices and Policy Interventions

Examines trends in digital marketing to youth that uses "immersive" techniques, social media, behavioral profiling, location targeting and mobile marketing, and neuroscience methods. Recommends principles for regulating inappropriate advertising to youth

Youth as E-Citizens: Engaging the Digital Generation

"Youth as E-Citizens: Engaging the Digital Generation" provides a groundbreaking overview of Web-based efforts to increase youth civic engagement. Beginning with a close-up examination of website content, the report also examines the organizations and institutions creating that content, and the larger environment in which civic sites function. The full report offers:Case studies of high-profile sites' strategies for launch, visibility and funding; the online response to 9/11; and online youth activism.Discussion of the potential that websites offer to build lasting habits of civic involvement. Current developments in technology, regulation and law that raise urgent questions about the viability of the civic Web.In addition, the project has created an online showcase of top youth civic websites. To see how they use the Internet to facilitate civic involvement and learning, take the Online Tour (http://centerforsocialmedia.org/ecitizens/index.htm)!"Youth as E-Citizens" was initiated by the Center for Media Education. With the closing of the Center in the fall of 2003, the project joined the Center for Social Media. Initial funding for this multi-year research project was provided by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). The Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Packard Foundation, and the Surdna Foundation also provided critical support

Interactive food and beverage marketing: targeting children and youth in the digital age

The proliferation of media in children\u27s lives has created a new \u27marketing ecosystem\u27 that encompasses cell phones, mobile music devices, instant messaging, videogames, and virtual, three-dimensional worlds. These new marketing practices are fundamentally transforming how food and beverage companies do business with young people in the twenty-first century. Today, U.S. children are confronting myriad diseases associated with excessive weight gain and poor nutrition. Type 2 diabetes, a serious medical condition previously found only in adults, has become common in children and adolescents. Government agencies and public health professionals have become increasingly concerned over the role of advertising in promoting \u27high-calorie, low-nutrient\u27 products to young people. Most of the policy debate has focused on TV commercials targeted at young children. However, marketing now extends far beyond the confines of television and even the Internet, into an expanding and ubiquitous digital media culture.&nbsp

Girls on the Move: Adolescent Girls & Migration in the Developing World

Adolescent girls in developing countries are migrating to urban areas in ever greater numbers. While migration can be risky, for the majority of girls, migration can increase opportunities and economic stability and provide them with the autonomy to make decisions about their lives. Preventing the worst outcomes and helping girls succeed are essential to unlocking the benefits of migration. When migrant girls can take advantage of the benefits, they can be a powerful force for change in the developing world—improving lives and reducing poverty in their communities and countries. This Girls Count report examines the social and economic determinants of internal migration for adolescent girls in developing countries, and identifies the links between migration, risk, and opportunity. A wide range of evidence on migrant girls is explored, including findings on programs for girls and an agenda for increasing the visibility of migrant girls, reducing their vulnerability, and realizing their full potential

Pensions and Wage Premia

In this paper we use that the theory of compensating differentials to identify sources of heterogeneity in firms' costs of providing fringe benefits and hence heterogeneity in the magnitude of the compensating differential. We estimate the relationship between pensions and wages controlling for variations in the size of the compensating differential related to firm size or the presence of a union. Both firm size and unionism are commonly associated with the payment of wage premia and/or the presence of market power where the costs of fringe benefits to the firm may be less. Our results are consistent with these a priori expectations and suggest that the magnitude of the compensating differential is significantly higher in nonunion and in small firms.

Mutations in the E2 glycoprotein and the 3\u27 untranslated region enhance chikungunya virus virulence in mice

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted alphavirus that causes debilitating musculoskeletal pain and inflammation and can persist for months to years after acute infection. Although studies of humans and experimentally infected animals suggest that CHIKV infection persists in musculoskeletal tissues, the mechanisms for this remain poorly understood. To evaluate this further, we isolated CHIKV from the serum of persistently infected Rag1 -/- mice at day 28. When inoculated into naive wild-type (WT) mice, this persistently circulating CHIKV strain displayed a capacity for earlier dissemination and greater pathogenicity than the parental virus. Sequence analysis revealed a nonsynonymous mutation in the E2 glycoprotein (E2 K200R) and a deletion within the 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR). The introduction of these changes into the parental virus conferred enhanced virulence in mice, although primary tropism for musculoskeletal tissues was maintained. The E2 K200R mutation was largely responsible for enhanced viral dissemination and pathogenicity, although these effects were augmented by the 3'- UTR deletion. Finally, studies with Irf3/Irf7 -/- and Ifnar1 -/- mice suggest that the E2 K200R mutation enhances viral dissemination from the site of inoculation independently of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3)-, IRF7-, and IFNAR1-mediated responses. As our findings reveal viral determinants of CHIKV dissemination and pathogenicity, their further study should help to elucidate host-virus interactions that determine acute and chronic CHIKV infection

Pensions and Wages: An Hedonic Price Theory Approach

This paper examines whether a tradeoff exists between the level of pension benefits and wages for comparably skilled workers. The 1983 survey of Consumer Finances is used to match detailed information on pension plans to detailed personal characteristics of a random sample of the population. The pension wage tradeoff is estimated using both a life-tine or contractual model of the labor market and the spot market model used in previous studies. The results indicate a large negative tradeoff in the contractual model but only a negligible tradeoff in the spot market model. Results from estimating the underlying structural supply and demand equation for pensions are also presented.

Development of a subcutaneous ear implant to deliver an anaplasmosis vaccine to dairy steers

Bovine anaplasmosis is the most prevalent tick-transmitted disease of cattle worldwide and a major obstacle to profitable beef production. Use of chlortetracycline-medicated feed to control active anaplasmosis infections during the vector season has raised concerns about the potential emergence of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria that may pose a risk to human health. Furthermore, the absence of effectiveness data for a commercially available, conditionally licensed anaplasmosis vaccine is a major impediment to implementing anaplasmosis control programs. The primary objective of this study was to develop a single-dose vaccine delivery platform to produce long-lasting protective immunity against anaplasmosis infections. Twelve Holstein steers, aged 11-12 weeks, were administered a novel 3-stage, single-dose vaccine against Anaplasma marginale (Am) major surface protein 1a. The vaccine consisted of a soluble vaccine administered subcutaneously (s.c.) for immune priming, a vaccine depot of a biodegradable polyanhydride rod with intermediate slow release of the vaccine for boosting immune response, and an immune-isolated vaccine platform for extended antigen release (VPEAR implant) deposited s.c. in the ear. Six calves were randomly assigned to two vaccine constructs (n=3) that featured rods and implants containing a combination of two different adjuvants, diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-Dextran and Quil-A (Group A). The remaining 6 calves were randomly assigned to two vaccine constructs (n=3) that featured rods and implants containing the same adjuvant (either DEAE-Dextran or Quil A) (Group B). Twenty one months post-implantation, calves were challenged intravenously with Am stabilate and were monitored weekly for signs of fever, decreased packed cell volume (PCV) and bacteremia. Data were analyzed using a mixed effects model and chi-squared tests (SAS v9.04.01, SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Calves in Group A had higher PCV than calves in Group B (P = 0.006) at day 35 post-infection. Calves in Group A were less likely to require antibiotic intervention compared with calves in Group B (P = 0.014). Results indicate that calves exhibited diminished clinical signs of anaplasmosis when antigen was delivered with a combination of adjuvants as opposed to a single adjuvant. This demonstrates the feasibility of providing long lasting protection against clinical bovine anaplasmosis infections using a subcutaneous ear implant vaccine construct