e-Cognocracy and the design of public policies

Designing public policies using information technology as a communication support system is one of the most important current issues in the public policy making field. This work presents a methodology for the design and selection of public policies based on the cognitive democratic model known as e-Cognocracy. In addition to facilitating debate between representatives and the represented (deliberative democracy), this model allows for co-decision making between citizens and politicians. Furthermore, and of even greater importance, e-Cognocracy generates a process of continuing education that is concordant to the lifelong process of living systems (cognitive process). The methodology contemplates multiple rounds (usually two) when incorporating the preferences of the actors implicated in decision making and takes advantage of the creative capacity of human beings when solving complex problems. At the same time, the methodology permits the evaluation of both the individual and social learning that is derived from the scientific resolution of the problem and the democratisation of the knowledge that is extracted. This methodology was applied to a real-life experience in the Spanish municipality of Cadrete.     

The Undressed Newsroom

Rapidly changing working conditions in recent years, along with the need to reduce the costs of news production, require journalists to adapt. Our suggestion here is that many of the research methods for analysing journalists' work environments to date are no longer sufficient for capturing this ongoing change. In searching for new approaches to analysis of the journalistic environment, we decided to apply visual ethnography, a method not yet used in the Czech Republic and not much used in the world beyond. For our pilot study of Czech newsrooms, we worked with both photographs taken of the journalists involved in our project and photographs taken by our research team (photographs showed both journalists' working conditions and working processes). We then interviewed the journalists about the photographs and more widely about their working practices and conditions. This paper presents the results of the research but also considers the advantages and challenges of the visual ethnographic approach and its implementation in media environments.     

Political Participation and Ideological News Online: “Differential Gains” and “Differential Losses” in a Presidential Election Cycle

Observations of the contemporary news media environment often revolve around the topics of ideological polarization and blurred boundaries between mass and interpersonal communication. This study explores these topics through a focus on the association between ideologically oriented online news use, commenting on online news, and political participation. We hypothesize that both ideological online news use generally and proattitudinal online news use are positively related to political participation and that online news commenting creates “differential gains” by augmenting these relationships. Yet we also hypothesize that counterattitudinal online news use is negatively related to political participation and that online news commenting creates “differential losses” by exacerbating this relationship. Analyses of two independently collected and nationally representative surveys found that frequent ideological online news use, proattitudinal online news use, and commenting are all positively related to political participation. We found no evidence for differential gains as a result of online commenting but only for differential losses—counterattitudinal online news use interacts with commenting to create a negative relationship with political participation.     

Enhanced production of thermostable laccases from a native strain of Pycnoporus sanguineus using central composite design

研究目的：优化获得血红密孔菌（P.sanguineus）的最佳培养基组成,提高耐热漆酶的产量。创新要点：获得了目前文献报道的最高水平的漆酶活力。研究方法：通过单因素试验研究了不同培养基（番茄汁、麦麸、麦芽提取物和葡萄糖细菌蛋白胨培养基）和不同组合诱导剂（大豆油、阿魏酸、没食子酸、二甲基苯胺、酸性蓝62和活性蓝19分别与硫酸铜组合诱导剂）对P.sanguineus产耐热漆酶的影响。在此基础上采用中心组合试验设计,进一步研究了番茄汁培养基结合硫酸铜和大豆油组合诱导剂对P.sanguineus产耐热漆酶的影响。利用SAS10.0和响应面分析方法对试验结果进行了统计分析和建立回归模型。重要结论：通过中心组合设计优化得出P.sanguineus产耐热漆酶的最优培养基条件：以36.8%番茄汁为培养基,以3 mmol/L硫酸铜和1%大豆油作为组合诱导剂。该条件下在10 L搅拌槽生物反应器中漆酶活力达到了143 000 IU/L（2,2＇-联氮双（3-乙基苯并噻唑啉-6-磺酸）为底物,pH值为3.0）。     

Secure chaotic communication based on extreme multistability

Extreme multistability is the coexistence of a large number of attractors which can be reached by varying initial conditions. In this paper we show how this fascinating phenomenon can be used for secure communication. The main advantage of the communication system based on extreme multistability over a conventional chaos-based communication system is its exceptionally high security. The proposed system consists of two identical six-order oscillators; one in the transmitter and another one in the receiver, each exhibiting the coexistence of a large number of chaotic attractors. The oscillators are synchronized using a private channel through one of the system variables, while the information is transmitted via a public channel through another variable. The information is encrypted by varying the initial condition of one of the state variables in the transmitter using a chaotic map, adhering message packages in a staggered form to the coexisting attractors within the same time series of another state variable, which leads to switching among the coexisting chaotic attractors. To ensure communication security, the duration of the packages is shorter than synchronization time, so that synchronization attacks are ineffective.     

On non-fragility of controllers for time delay systems: A numerical approach

In this paper an explicit numerical procedure is proposed to determine the non-fragility of parameters of controllers used to stabilize a class of time delay systems. The proposed procedure finds the largest possible circle inscribed in a stability subregion delimited by a simple closed curve in the plane of the controller parameters. The center of this circle is declared to be the controller’s least fragile parameters. The obtained theoretical results are applied and compared with some of the most relevant examples found in the literature. This illustrates that the proposed procedure improves previous results found in the literature so far.     

Stimulators and barriers towards social innovations in public libraries: Qualitative research study

Public libraries have a huge potential to be creators and facilitators of social innovation in communities and society. Qualitative research based on interviews with 27 librarians showed that social innovation in libraries can take the form of educational and cultural activities, leisure and networking activities and social support services. The main goal of the research was to find out what factors support and make these innovations difficult in public libraries. A four-layer model of barriers and stimulators for social innovation is presented, which includes structural, local, organizational and personnel levels. The model could serve to inform librarians, their stakeholders and governments about all levels of barriers and stimulators connected to innovation of library services and social re-positioning of public libraries in the future.