Emerging Bioinformatic Networks: Contesting the Public Meaning of Private and the Private Meaning of Public

This paper explores the complexity of public/private identities in the emerging global economies of gene sequence mapping and analysis. In so doing we seek to offer a less over-determined acccount of what it means to describe institutional actors as either 'public' or 'private'. Instead, these 'codes' can be seen to offer actors a means of mutual positioning that, more usually conceals broader interdependencies within the world's bioinformatics networks.     

Globalization of Japanese culture: Economic power vs. cultural power, 1989-2002

This article examines the reasons why Japanese cultural products have not penetrated other countries. It also explicates the recent trends in Japan's expansion of its cultural products and Japan's direct investment in the global cultural market to ascertain whether this new development is a sign that Japan is attempting to gain an important role in global communication. It concludes that Japan was not able to successfully build its communication power to a degree comparable to its status as the second largest economic power and its second largest media consumption market.     

Rhetorical patterns in the Australian debate over war with Iraq

Considerable public debate surrounded the Bush Administration's policy to invade Iraq if it did not dismantle its purported stockpile of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' and the wisdom of Australian participation in such an attack. This paper invokes Albert Hirschman's well-known 'rhetoric of reaction' taxonomy to examine the patterns of persuasive discourse embodied in the Australian debate over the desirability of Australian involvement in a war with Iraq. We seek to establish whether the Hirschmanian typology does indeed adequately describe rhetorical patterns in the Australian debate and we attempt to identify shortcomings in the analytical system proposed by Hirschman.     

Cultural Diversity and Australian Commercial Television Drama: Policy,Industry and Recent Research Contexts

Media studies research in the 1990s illustrated an incongruity between cultural diversity in the Australian community and the representation of that diversity on commercial television screens. Australian drama in particular received much criticism for its seemingly 'Anglo' portrayal of Australian society. Most of this former research was based on program content analysis and critical approaches to studying the media. From the mid-1990s, anecdotal evidence suggested an improvement in the casting of actors from culturally diverse backgrounds. This paper contextualises policy and industry developments in the 1990s related to cultural diversity and presents new research undertaken within the commercial television drama industry. In order to determine the status of cultural diversity and commercial television drama at the end of the 1990s, a casting survey of all Australian commercial drama programs broadcast in 1999 was carried out. This was complemented by interviews with industry personnel and a two-week content analysis of programming. The research establishes the degree of casting for actors from culturally diverse backgrounds and offers explanations for both improvements made over the previous years and the continuing obstacles faced by some groups in gaining a place in our popular drama programs.     

中华医学会系列杂志媒体融合发展实践

[目的]介绍中华医学会系列杂志媒体融合发展的实践,以期为国内科技期刊同行提供借鉴。[方法]以中华医学会系列杂志发展策略和多种媒体发展具体案例为例,介绍中华医学会系列杂志媒体融合发展现状。[结果]顺应媒体融合发展趋势,中华医学会系列杂志基于集群优势逐步实现了期刊出版全程的信息化管理、期刊资源整合、数字化平台和新媒体的融合发展。[结论]掌握并积极应用先进的数字出版技术,有助于实现期刊群内容资源的有效整合,提升展示效果。     

Priority Setting and Resource Allocation in Australian Biomedical Research: Muddling with Some Skill

Examined here are models of resource allocation adopted by Australia's premier biomedical research funding council, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), since pressure to make research more 'relevant' has been exerted. For a council that disburses its funds chiefly to high-impact fundamental research, allocating resources to priority-driven research that contributes directly to population health and evidence-based health care is a challenging transition. It is contended that while the NHMRC has attempted to accommodate a 'rationalist' user-driven approach to resource allocation, it has moved only marginally away from a highly decentralised (investigator-driven) model to a mixed-mode system that resembles 'muddling with some skill'.     

The Nature and Functions of Meta-tags: Covert Infringement of Trademarks and Other Issues

Meta-tags are one of the 'associational tools' considered essential to the operation of the World Wide Web. Their significance has been highlighted by recent controversies in the United States which focus on one of their important functions, i.e. as indices of websites which search engines read and rely upon in looking for the appropriate content relative to queries submitted to them. This article deals with the effect of meta-tags on the intellectual property rights of website owners. The author presents a critical survey of the American meta-tag cases and offers an Australian perspective.     

Organogenesis on apical buds in common fig (Ficus carica) var. Black Jack

BackgroundPlant tissue culture involves the use of explants obtained from plants to induce organogenesis with the help of plant growth regulators (PGRs). Micropropagation techniques provide a faster and economical solution to the limitations associated with traditional methods of plant cultivation. The present study focuses on the multiple shoot induction and proliferation of Ficus carica var. Black Jack. Factors that influence the growth of in vitro multiple shoots on the apical buds, which include growth media and PGRs, were investigated in this study. Different concentrations of cytokinins like 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), Thidiazuron (TDZ), and Kinetin (Kin) were used on woody plant medium (WPM) for the optimization of media for multiple shoot induction and proliferation.ResultsApical buds of Ficus carica var. Black Jack growing in WPM supplemented with BAP produced the healthiest plantlets, with the highest number of multiple shoots. The most efficient medium composition which produced the highest number of multiple shoots (37.8) per growing explant was WPM supplemented with 20 µM BAP. Proliferated multiple shoots were efficiently rooted using WPM + 20 µM BAP + 8 µM indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). This optimized medium composition significantly enhanced the production of multiple, disease-free plantlets using single apical bud explants of Ficus carica var. Black Jack.ConclusionsIn the present study the observations indicate that WPM supplemented with 20 µM BAP is the best-suited medium for organogenesis and multiple shoot culture of Ficus carica var. Black Jack, and this technique can be potentially applied for commercialization of the plant.How to cite: Parab AR, Chew BL, Yeow LC, et al. Organogenesis on apical buds in common fig (Ficus carica) var. Black Jack. Electron J Biotechnol 2021;54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2020.01.010     

Improving micropropagation of some grape cultivars via boron,calcium and phosphate

BackgroundAn efficient regeneration protocol is a priority for the successful application of plant biotechnology. Grape nodal explants were used to develop a micropropagation protocol for Thompson Seedless and Taify cvs. Explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with Kinetin or benzylaminopurine (BA) and indolebutyric acid (IBA).ResultsFor both cultivars, axillary buds were grown, only, on a medium enriched with kinetin, moreover, shoot tip necrosis and callus formation were observed on Thompson Seedless cv. cultures grown on a medium with BA. Supplementing the growth medium with 100 mM (boron) B and 2.5 mM (calcium) Ca successfully help overcome these phenomena. The highest regenerated shoot numbers (14 and 6.2 explant⁻¹) for Taify and Thompson Seedless cvs., respectively, were on media supplemented with 13.2 µM BA + 4.9 µM IBA and BA 13.2 µM + 5.8 µM IBA, respectively. Moreover, these media supported the developing shoots to have the heaviest dry weights (1.46 and 0.72 mg explant⁻¹) for Taify and Thompson Seedless cvs., respectively. Thompson Seedless cv. regenerated shoot numbers and their dry weights were significantly increased by increasing the MS medium PO₄⁻ concentration. However, these two parameters were significantly decreased for Taify cv. Developing shoots were elongated and rooted on MS medium enriched with 4.9 µM, IBA 100 mM B and 2.5 mM Ca. Plantlets were acclimatized and successfully transferred to the greenhouse conditions.ConclusionsA novel promising protocol for Thomson Seedless and Taify cvs. micropropagation using single nodes has been developed.How to cite: Al-Aizari AA, Al-Obeed RS, Mohamed MA-H. Improving micropropagation of some grape cultivars via boron, calcium and phosphate. Electron J Biotechnol 2020;49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2020.10.001     

Cultural Dimensions of Website Design and Content

The proposition that the technology of the Internet and Web offers a basis for culturally-neutral, computer-mediated communication was tested through a content analysis of 100 Mainland Chinese and American websites. It was found that the tools of the Internet and Web were neither fully neutral nor fully specific to the websites' 'home' cultures. Cultural hybridisation and diffusion of innovation are suggested as alternative explanations.     

The Persistent Impact of Language on Global Operations

In studies of firms' internationalisation, language has tended to be bundled into 'cultural and psychic distance boxes'. In this article, an attempt is made to unbundle the impact of language through (a) an examination of the way in which language influences the pattern of foreign market expansion; and (b) an analysis of how a firm may try to cope with language diversity by adopting a common corporate language. We conclude that attempts to impose a common corporate language may hinder or alter information flows, knowledge transfer, and communication.     

Learning consumption: Media,literacy, and the legacy of One Laptop per Child

ABSTRACT

This article examines one of the largest interventions in computer-based learning currently underway, the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project, with 2.5 million laptops in use worldwide. Drawing on 2010 and 2013 fieldwork investigating a project in Paraguay with 10,000 of OLPC's “XO” laptops, I explore the ways in which participants interpreted leisure laptop use as “learning.” I show that the most captivating uses of the laptops were not “productive” or programming-centric, as OLPC's developers hoped, but “consumptive” and media-centric, focused on music, videos, and video games. I discuss the learning benefits and drawbacks of this use, as understood by participants and in light of education research, and in light of the broader context of transnational corporations interested in marketing to these children. In the process, I weigh OLPC's utopian dreams against the interests of the child beneficiaries, concerns of media imperialism, and a potential shift in the meaning of computers.     

Letter from Rob Kling-Editor-in-Chief

Abstract

Individuals who have ready access to three new communication media— email, vmail, and fax—may elect to use only one medium, or two or more in combination. Users make choices based on evaluations of the utility of each medium for their communication tasks (a function of the types of work they perform). Individuals may assess technological characteristics to evaluate the technological utility of each medium. However, since communication media require multiple users, individuals also may be expected to assess characteristics of the user community to evaluate the social utility of each medium. Social utility may be influenced by people's perceptions of the existence of a critical mass of media users, and by the social influence of their peers and superiors. This study finds that perceptions of the technological and social utility of email, vmail, and fax are relatively independent of the types of work people perform. Social utility explains media usage somewhat better than technological utility, except in the case of email. Thus, the concept of social utility should be given more attention in future investigations of media choice.     

The 'Self-service' Student: Building Enterprise-wide Systems into Universities 1

This article investigates the take-up by universities of enterprise-wide computer systems and the development of a new module for the management and administration of students. Having its origins in Electronic Commerce, the system assumes the existence of a certain kind of user, one with particular roles and responsibilities--Aa self-service user. The notion of 'self-service' is deployed as an integral part of the system rollout where students are to view, input and modify administrative and financial information on themselves and their courses. Drawing from the sociology of science and technology, and material from a 3-year ethnographic study, we describe the system's implementation in a British university. While accepting of the need for an ERP system the campus community reject self-service. However, as we will show, because Campus Management is a 'global product' unwanted functionality can be difficult to resist outright and this can have important implications for the autonomy of the university and the reshaping of fundamental principles and relationships.     

Trends and Prospects in Venture and Angel Investments in New Media Companies

How do 'new media' or Internet-related companies raise external equity capital? In this paper, I analyze two markets that entrepreneurs of private Internet-related businesses use in the US to raise equity: the venture capital market and the market for 'angel' capital. Both markets appear to be important sources of capital for private Internet-related firms. In this paper, I try to shed some light on how these markets operate with respect to investments in Internet-related companies. In particular, using data from PricewaterhouseCoopers' MoneyTree Survey, I analyze trends in venture capital investments in Internet-related companies and make comparisons with venture investments in non-Internet-related firms. In addition, I use information and data on the angel market to investigate how important the market for angel capital is likely to be as a source of capital for Internet-related businesses. In doing so I draw on ongoing and new research by myself and others into the operation of these markets. Finally, I make some cautious predictions about how the future prospects for raising money from these two sources are likely to evolve for Internet-related firms.     

Australian Universities in Crisis

That this book, having been recommended for publication by the editors of Melbourne University Press, was subsequently rejected through the intervention of the University authorities, is a symptom of the very malaise which the contributors address. Since the Dawkins 'reforms' to Australian higher education the university system has come under increasing surveillance by government functionaries, and university 'managements' have been subverted through their desire to win favour from government and to display their 'competitive edge' against other 'institutions'. The 'reforms' have mandated the wholesale introduction of business techniques, and a pervading business ethos, which is quite inappropriate to the traditional function of universities. The very word 'traditional' is rejected as contrary to the commitment to change required of expanding businesses. That universities have a role in conserving and transmitting a public culture is all but repudiated by university managements in their desire to appear at the 'cutting edge' of government privatization agenda. The authors of this book affirm a public role for universities, and reassert the conviction that they must protect a threatened independence in the search for truth, and in the responsibility to 'speak truth to power'. Since 'managements' are now unlikely to uphold these duties, it becomes the responsibility of the members of the community of scholars to maintain independence of thought and to expound the truth.     

Understanding the dynamics of politicians' visibility in traditional and social media

This study examines the extent to which politicians' visibility in traditional news coverage explains individual politicians' visibility on social media, and vice versa. We also explore whether these relationships depend on commonly identified characteristics of individual politicians. We collected data for all elected candidates from the 2012 Dutch national elections covering each 15 days prior to the election day (N = 2250). This includes 2736 newspaper articles and 77,597 mentions on Facebook and Twitter. Our results show that the traditional news agenda and social media agenda impact each other, but that the reciprocal influence is not independent of politician characteristics.     

The Hegemony of Microsoft®: An Australian Story

Each Australian state and the Australian Capital Territory has signed a 'whole of education department' contract with the Microsoft® Corporation for the provision of operating systems and other software. This contracted use of Microsoft® products is one story where the purchase of specific commodities is directly connected to the provision of public schooling. It is argued that through these contracts Microsoft® exercises a hegemonic relationship with the schooling systems in Australia. The legal relationships that exist between Microsoft® Corporation and the respective Australian states and territories schooling systems seem to mutually maintain and reinforce the monopolistic, or at best, oligopolistic position of Microsoft® Corporation and its hegemony over Australian public schooling. Further, it is argued that Microsoft's® hegemonic position in part is maintained by both establishing a 'commonsense' about its products and by receiving legitimation and authority through the State for its products used in Australian schools.     

On Media Concentration and the Diversity Question

Abstract

Corporate mergers and the consolidation of ownership in the American communications arena have long been sources of concern. U.S. regulatory and antitrust policy traditionally attempted to secure a “diversity of voices” structurally, largely through rules regarding ownership. Although the meaning of diversity was always problematic and undertheorized, the Federal Communications Commission long set ceilings on the numbers of broadcast outlets any single person or corporation could own and enacted cross-ownership rules such as a prohibition against a corporation owning a newspaper and broadcast outlets in the same market. These rules, and the FCC's authority to make them, were upheld, occasionally even compelled, by the federal appellate courts. In the last 20 years, however, legal trends, in conjunction with political developments, have undermined the diversity rationales behind ownership rules and associated structural regulations of mass media. Paradoxically, even as media corporations are becoming larger and presumably more powerful, ownership regulations are being rescinded or struck down. This article explains this history. It concludes with a suggestion that the First Amendment metaphor of a marketplace of ideas is misplaced, and of how our thinking about media ownership and diversity might be better served by the metaphor of a mixed media system.