Placing Facebook

Facebook is challenging professional journalism. These challenges were evident in three incidents from 2016: the allegation that Facebook privileged progressive-leaning news on its trending feature; Facebook’s removal of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Napalm Girl” photo from the pages of prominent users; and the proliferation of “fake news” during the US presidential election. Using theoretical concepts from the field of boundary work, this paper examines how The Guardian, The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review and Poynter editorialized Facebook’s role in these three incidents to discursively construct the boundary between the value of professional journalism to democracy and Facebook’s ascendant role in facilitating essential democratic functions. Findings reveal that these publications attempted to define Facebook as a news organization (i.e., include it within the boundaries of journalism) so that they could then criticize the company for not following duties traditionally incumbent upon news organizations (i.e., place it outside the boundaries of journalism). This paper advances scholarship that focuses on both inward and outward conceptions of boundary work, further explores the complex challenge of defining who a journalist is in the face of rapidly changing technological norms, and advances scholarship in the field of media ethics that positions ethical analysis at the institutional level.     

The impact of microfluidics in high-throughput drug-screening applications

Drug discovery is an expensive and lengthy process. Among the different phases, drug discovery and preclinical trials play an important role as only 5–10 of all drugs that begin preclinical tests proceed to clinical trials. Indeed, current high-throughput screening technologies are very expensive, as they are unable to dispense small liquid volumes in an accurate and quick way. Moreover, despite being simple and fast, drug screening assays are usually performed under static conditions, thus failing to recapitulate tissue-specific architecture and biomechanical cues present in vivo even in the case of 3D models. On the contrary, microfluidics might offer a more rapid and cost-effective alternative. Although considered incompatible with high-throughput systems for years, technological advancements have demonstrated how this gap is rapidly reducing. In this Review, we want to further outline the role of microfluidics in high-throughput drug screening applications by looking at the multiple strategies for cell seeding, compartmentalization, continuous flow, stimuli administration (e.g., drug gradients or shear stresses), and single-cell analyses.     

Health education for Somali Bantu refugees via home visits

Background: Somali Bantu refugees, with unique health information needs, created challenges for health and social service providers. Objectives: A service innovation was developed (i) to raise awareness, especially among local health and social service providers, about the Bantu refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and their information needs and (ii) to deliver needed health information, emphasizing child health, to the Bantu mothers in their homes. Methods: The project consisted of: (i) a community conference targeting local health and social service providers, describing the refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and information needs. (ii) Focus groups conducted with members of the Bantu population elicited additional information needs. (iii) Curriculum was developed based on identified needs, and (iv) the curriculum was delivered to the refugees in their homes. A clinical informationist and MP3 technology enhanced the project. Findings: Conference attendees’ evaluation responses indicated improved understanding of Bantu culture. Focus groups’ identification of health information needs provided a framework for the health education curriculum. A project website made educational materials available to other healthcare providers. Conclusions: The project raised awareness of the Bantus’ presence, culture, and information needs. Identification of other unmet needs demonstrated that additional support for refugees is required.     

亲水性废旧轮胎橡胶粉的制备及在固井水泥中的应用

针对废旧轮胎橡胶粉作为油气井固井水泥增韧剂使用时,因胶粉表面强疏水性导致分散性不良而影响实际使用效果的技术问题,研究生产了一种表面亲水性良好的改性废旧轮胎橡胶粉,并初步探索了其作为固井水泥增韧剂的使用效果。实验结果表明：所制备的改性橡胶粉在水性体系中分散性良好,分散稳定时间大于48h;作为固井水泥增韧剂使用时,可明显改善水泥石的抗冲击性能（改性胶粉添加量3%时,水泥石的抗冲击性能可提高14.3%）,显示出良好的增韧效果。     

The energetics and benefit of an arm swing in submaximal and maximal vertical jump performance

The aims of this study were to investigate the energy build-up and dissipation mechanisms associated with using an arm swing in submaximal and maximal vertical jumping and to establish the energy benefit of this arm swing. Twenty adult males were asked to perform a series of submaximal and maximal vertical jumps while using an arm swing. Force, motion and electromyographic data were recorded during each performance and used to compute a range of kinematic and kinetic variables, including ankle, knee, hip, shoulder and elbow joint powers and work done. It was found that the energy benefit of using an arm swing appears to be closely related to the maximum kinetic energy of the arms during their downswing, and increases as jump height increases. As jump height increases, energy in the arms is built up by a greater range of motion at the shoulder and greater effort of the shoulder and elbow muscles but, as jump height approaches maximum, these sources are supplemented by energy supplied by the trunk due to its earlier extension in the movement. The kinetic energy developed by the arms is used to increase their potential energy at take-off but also to store and return energy from the lower limbs and to "pull" on the rest of the body. These latter two mechanisms become more important as jump height increases with the pull being the more important of the two. We conclude that an arm swing contributes to jump performance in submaximal as well as maximal jumping but the energy generation and dissipation sources change as performance approaches maximum.     

Knee extensor and flexor torque development with concentric and eccentric isokinetic training

This study assessed muscular torque and rate of torque development following concentric (CON) or eccentric (ECC) isokinetic training. Thirty-eight women were randomly assigned to either CON or ECC training groups. Training consisted of knee extension and flexion of the nondominant leg three times per week for 20 weeks (SD = 1). Eccentric training increased ECC knee extension and flexion peak torque more than CON training. The ECC group improved acceleration time and time to peak torque with ECC movements versus the CON group. Slow-velocity ECC isokinetic training yielded greater ECC and similar CON torque development gains versus CON training over the course of 20 weeks in young women.     

Perception of kinematic characteristics of tennis strokes for anticipating stroke type and direction

The purpose of this study was to determine the sources of visual information used by highly skilled tennis players in anticipating their opponent's shots. In Experiment 1, motion analysis of the strokes showed that the relative motion between the racquet and forearm was different between the ground strokes and lobs, but there were no reliable kinematic differences when shot direction was varied. In Experiment 2, 12 skilled tennis players observed the opponent hitting strokes in a normal video or in a point-light display with different segments occluded. Players' anticipation accuracy was not degraded by the use of the point-light display. Occluding the racquet and forearm significantly reduced the participant's ability to determine the type of stroke produced.     

The graph-theoretic field model— II. application of multi-terminal representations to field problems

This paper is a sequel to a paper entitled “The Graph-Theoretic Field Model—I: Modelling and Formulations” (1). Herein, the Theory of Multi-Terminal Representations is applied to the Graph-Theoretic Field Model to provide mathematical models of finite elements. The element models are obtained solely from the algebraic building blocks of the Graph-Theoretic Field Model, without recourse to any functional mathematics. The theory of Multi-Terminal Representations is developed for both linear and non-linear problems. Examples of the application of the theory to one- and two-dimensional field problems are presented from heat conduction and electrostatics.