"I'm on it 24/7 at the moment" : A qualitative examination of multi-screen viewing behaviours among UK 10-11 year olds

Background: Screen-viewing has been associated with increased body mass, increased risk of metabolic syndrome and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents. There is a shortage of information about the nature of contemporary screen-viewing amongst children especially given the rapid advances in screen-viewing equipment technology and their widespread availability. Anecdotal evidence suggests that large numbers of children embrace the multi-functionality of current devices to engage in multiple forms of screen-viewing at the same time. In this paper we used qualitative methods to assess the nature and extent of multiple forms of screen-viewing in UK children. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 10-11 year old children (n = 63) who were recruited from five primary schools in Bristol, UK. Topics included the types of screen-viewing in which the participants engaged; whether the participants ever engaged in more than one form of screen-viewing at any time and if so the nature of this multiple viewing; reasons for engaging in multi-screen-viewing; the room within the house where multi-screen-viewing took place and the reasons for selecting that room. All focus groups were transcribed verbatim, anonymised and thematically analysed. Results: Multi-screen viewing was a common behaviour. Although multi-screen viewing often involved watching TV, TV viewing was often the background behaviour with attention focussed towards a laptop, handheld device or smart-phone. There were three main reasons for engaging in multi-screen viewing: 1) tempering impatience that was associated with a programme loading; 2) multi-screen facilitated filtering out unwanted content such as advertisements; and 3) multi-screen viewing was perceived to be enjoyable. Multi-screen viewing occurred either in the child's bedroom or in the main living area of the home. There was considerable variability in the level and timing of viewing and this appeared to be a function of whether the participants attended after-school clubs. Conclusions: UK children regularly engage in two or more forms of screen-viewing at the same time. There are currently no means of assessing multi-screen viewing nor any interventions that specifically focus on reducing multi-screen viewing. To reduce children's overall screen-viewing we need to understand and then develop approaches to reduce multi-screen viewing among children.

Data analysis advances in marine science for fisheries management : supervised classification application

169 p. : il. col.

Advances in Click Chemistry for Single-Chain Nanoparticle Construction

Single-chain polymeric nanoparticles are artificial folded soft nano-objects of ultra-small size which have recently gained prominence in nanoscience and nanotechnology due to their exceptional and sometimes unique properties. This review focuses on the current state of the investigations of click chemistry techniques for highly-efficient single-chain nanoparticle construction. Additionally, recent progress achieved for the use of well-defined single-chain nanoparticles in some promising fields, such as nanomedicine and catalysis, is highlighted.

Advances in Nonlinear Complexity Analysis for Partial Differential Equations

1 p. -- [Editorial Material]

Advances towards behaviour-based indoor robotic exploration

215 p.

How central are clients in sexual networks created by commercial sex?

Sex workers are traditionally considered important vectors of transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STI). The role of clients is commonly overlooked, partially due to the lack of evidence on clients' position in the sexual network created by commercial sex. Contrasting the diffusion importance of sex workers and their clients in the map of their sexual encounters in two Web-mediated communities, we find that from diffusion perspective, clients are as important as sex workers. Their diffusion importance is closely linked to the geography of the sexual encounters: as a result of different movement patterns, travelling clients shorten network distances between distant network neighborhoods and thus facilitate contagion among them more than sex workers, and find themselves more often in the core of the network by which they could contribute to the persistence of STIs in the community. These findings position clients into the set of the key actors and highlight the role of human mobility in the transmission of STIs in commercial sexual networks.

El tratamiento por parte de Naciones Unidas de la violación sexual a mujeres en los conflictos armados: las guerras en los Balcanes

32 p.

Apaf-1 Inhibitors Protect from Unwanted Cell Death in In Vivo Models of Kidney Ischemia and Chemotherapy Induced Ototoxicity

Background: Excessive apoptosis induces unwanted cell death and promotes pathological conditions. Drug discovery efforts aimed at decreasing apoptotic damage initially targeted the inhibition of effector caspases. Although such inhibitors were effective, safety problems led to slow pharmacological development. Therefore, apoptosis inhibition is still considered an unmet medical need. Methodology and Principal Findings: The interaction between Apaf-1 and the inhibitors was confirmed by NMR. Target specificity was evaluated in cellular models by siRNa based approaches. Cell recovery was confirmed by MTT, clonogenicity and flow cytometry assays. The efficiency of the compounds as antiapoptotic agents was tested in cellular and in vivo models of protection upon cisplatin induced ototoxicity in a zebrafish model and from hypoxia and reperfusion kidney damage in a rat model of hot ischemia. Conclusions: Apaf-1 inhibitors decreased Cytc release and apoptosome-mediated activation of procaspase-9 preventing cell and tissue damage in ex vivo experiments and in vivo animal models of apoptotic damage. Our results provide evidence that Apaf-1 pharmacological inhibition has therapeutic potential for the treatment of apoptosis-related diseases.

Biofunctionalization of alginate microcapsules: advances in cell-based drug delivery systems

172 p.

El “círculo victimal” en la victimización sexual infantil

Mediante este estudio nos hemos acercado a la victimización sexual infantil desde el concepto de “círculo víctimal”. Tras una contextualización en la que realizamos una revisión de la bibliografía más relevante desde la óptica adoptada, presentamos nuestro propio trabajo de campo con datos de Gipuzkoa. Se han analizado un total de 51 sentencias, principalmente condenatorias, emitidas tanto por la Audiencia Provincial de Gipuzkoa como por el Juzgado de Menores de San Sebastián –incluyendo en este caso no sólo sentencias sino también expedientes-. El periodo abarcado han sido los años 2004-2014. Dicho análisis nos ha permitido considerar las características del abuso, de la víctima y del agresor, el posible impacto victimal, así como la existencia o no de antecedentes de abusos en la infancia en la vida de los agresores. Los resultados se han contrastado con los estudios teóricos y empíricos de ámbito internacional referentes al “círculo victimal” en el ámbito de los abusos sexuales infantiles, deteniéndonos especialmente en si la víctima fue abusada en la familia o fuera de ella y si se convierte en abusador de su propia familia o de alguien fuera de ella. Adicionalmente, con el objeto de introducir la voz de los propios protagonistas, a través de fuentes secundarias, se han rescatado historiales de agresores de menores con antecedentes de abusos. Asimismo se ha completado el trabajo de campo con entrevistas a expertos.