Celebrity capital in the political field: Russell Brand's migration from stand-up comedy to Newsnight

Our case study of charismatic celebrity comedian Russell Brand’s turn to political activism uses Bourdieu’s field theory to understand the process of celebrity migration across social fields. We investigate how Brand’s capital as a celebrity performer, storyteller and self-publicist translated from comedy to politics. To judge how this worked in practice, we analysed the comedic strategies used in his stand up show Messiah Complex and a Conversational Analysis of his notorious interview with Jeremy Paxman on the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight . We argue that Brand was able to secure political legitimacy by creatively constituting himself as an authentic anti-austerity spokesperson for the disenfranchised left in UK. In order to do so he repurposed his celebrity capital to political ends and successfully deployed the cultural and social capital he had developed as a celebrity comedian to secure widespread engagement with his media performances

Researching YouTube

‘Researching YouTube’ introduces the special issue of Convergence which arose out of an international academic conference on YouTube that was held in London at Middlesex University in September 2016. The conference aimed to generate a robust overview of YouTube’s changing character and significance after its first ten years of development by creating a productive dialogue between speakers from different disciplines and cultures, and between YouTube-specific research and wider debates in media and social research on identity, aesthetics, politics, celebrity, production practices, business models, and research methods in digital culture. This introduction is structured around four themes that help to contextualise the papers that were selected from the many submitted for inclusion in the special issue and offers a substantial overview of the field of research: Participatory Culture and User-Generated Content; YouTube as a Hybrid Commercial Space; Vlogging and YouTube Celebrity; The ‘Mystery’ of the Algorithm and Digital Methods of Research

Quantification of Maceration Changes using Post Mortem MRI in Fetuses

BACKGROUND: Post mortem imaging is playing an increasingly important role in perinatal autopsy, and correct interpretation of imaging changes is paramount. This is particularly important following intra-uterine fetal death, where there may be fetal maceration. The aim of this study was to investigate whether any changes seen on a whole body fetal post mortem magnetic resonance imaging (PMMR) correspond to maceration at conventional autopsy. METHODS: We performed pre-autopsy PMMR in 75 fetuses using a 1.5 Tesla Siemens Avanto MR scanner (Erlangen, Germany). PMMR images were reported blinded to the clinical history and autopsy data using a numerical severity scale (0 = no maceration changes to 2 = severe maceration changes) for 6 different visceral organs (total 12). The degree of maceration at autopsy was categorized according to severity on a numerical scale (1 = no maceration to 4 = severe maceration). We also generated quantitative maps to measure the liver and lung T2. RESULTS: The mean PMMR maceration score correlated well with the autopsy maceration score (R(2) = 0.93). A PMMR score of ≥4.5 had a sensitivity of 91%, specificity of 64%, for detecting moderate or severe maceration at autopsy. Liver and lung T2 were increased in fetuses with maceration scores of 3-4 in comparison to those with 1-2 (liver p = 0.03, lung p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: There was a good correlation between PMMR maceration score and the extent of maceration seen at conventional autopsy. This score may be useful in interpretation of fetal PMMR

Control of Ultra-cold Inelastic Collisions by Feshbash Resonances and Quasi-One-Dimensional Confinement

Cold inelastic collisions of atoms or molecules are analyzed using very general arguments. In free space, the deactivation rate can be enhanced or suppressed together with the scattering length of the corresponding elastic collision via a Feshbach resonance, and by interference of deactivation of the closed and open channels. In reduced dimensional geometries, the deactivation rate decreases with decreasing collision energy and does not increase with resonant elastic scattering length. This has broad implications; e.g., stabilization of molecules in a strongly confining two-dimensional optical lattice, since collisional decay of the highly vibrationally excited states due to inelastic collisions is suppressed. The relation of our results with those based on the Lieb-Liniger model are addressed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Diagnostic accuracy of perinatal post-mortem ultrasound (PMUS): a systematic review

OBJECTIVE Ultrasound is ubiquitous in live paediatric imaging; however, its usage in post-mortem setting is less established. This systematic review aims to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of paediatric post-mortem ultrasound (PMUS). DESIGN MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were queried for studies published between 1998 and 2018 assessing PMUS diagnostic accuracy rates in children<18 years old, using autopsy as reference standard. Risk of bias was assessed using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2. A bivariate random-effects model was used to obtain combined mean estimates of sensitivity and specificity for different body systems. RESULTS Four studies were included, all relating to ultrasound for perinatal deaths. The mean diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for neurological abnormalities were 84.3% (95% CI: 70.8% to 92.2%) and 96.7% (95% CI: 86.5% to 99.3%); for cardiothoracic abnormalities 52.1% (95% CI: 27.6% to 75.5%,) and 96.6% (95% CI: 86.8% to 99.2%); and for abdominal abnormalities 78.4% (95% CI: 61.0% to 89.4%) and 97.3% (95% CI: 88.9% to 99.4%). Combining all body systems, the mean sensitivity and specificity were 73.3% (95% CI: 59.9% to 83.5%) and 96.6% (95% CI: 92.6% to 98.4%). CONCLUSIONS PMUS demonstrates a reasonable diagnostic accuracy, particularly for abdominal and neurological abnormalities, although cardiac anomalies were less readily identified. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER CRD42018106968

Novice Explanations Of Hurricane Formation Offer Insights Into Scientific Literacy And The Development Of Expert-Like Conceptions

The ability to explain scientific phenomena is a key feature of scientific literacy, and engaging students’ prior knowledge, especially their alternate conceptions, is an effective strategy for enhancing scientific literacy and developing expertise.  The gap in knowledge about the alternate conceptions that novices have about many of Earth’s complex phenomena (National Research Council, 2012), however, makes this type of engagement in geoscience courses challenging.  This study helps to fill this gap by identifying and describing how novices to geoscience explain a complex scientific phenomenon, hurricane formation.  Using a pragmatism methodology, 326 students in introductory-level geoscience courses at two public universities in the United States of America, in Georgia (n=168) and Nebraska (n=158), were surveyed.  The questionnaire was designed to target and collect novices’ explanations of a single complex Earth phenomenon – hurricane formation.  Constant comparative analyses of textual content and diagrams revealed a variety of alternate conceptions.  The data suggess that novices seldom invoke scientific first principles, which students matriculating through the education system are expected to learn before college, in their explanations.  Two theoretical models synthesize the alternate conceptions and illustrate pathways of conceptual change along which students might move from more novice-like to more expert-like ways of scientific thinking.  Our findings provide a basis for the development of instructional activities that aid students in developing more expert-like conceptions of hurricane formation and other complex Earth phenomena

Decoherence in a double-slit quantum eraser

We study and experimentally implement a double-slit quantum eraser in the presence of a controlled decoherence mechanism. A two-photon state, produced in a spontaneous parametric down conversion process, is prepared in a maximally entangled polarization state. A birefringent double-slit is illuminated by one of the down-converted photons, and it acts as a single-photon two-qubits controlled not gate that couples the polarization with the transversal momentum of these photons. The other photon, that acts as a which-path marker, is sent through a Mach-Zehnder-like interferometer. When the interferometer is partially unbalanced, it behaves as a controlled source of decoherence for polarization states of down-converted photons. We show the transition from wave-like to particle-like behavior of the signal photons crossing the double-slit as a function of the decoherence parameter, which depends on the length path difference at the interferometer.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review

Extending Bauer's corollary to fractional derivatives

We comment on the method of Dreisigmeyer and Young [D. W. Dreisigmeyer and P. M. Young, J. Phys. A \textbf{36}, 8297, (2003)] to model nonconservative systems with fractional derivatives. It was previously hoped that using fractional derivatives in an action would allow us to derive a single retarded equation of motion using a variational principle. It is proven that, under certain reasonable assumptions, the method of Dreisigmeyer and Young fails.Comment: Accepted Journal of Physics A at www.iop.org/EJ/journal/JPhys