Cultural Specific Training in Corruption Reporting for Pacific Island Journalists

Notes that very few journalists have formal training in corruption reporting. Discusses workshops held in 2000 and 2001 on the subject of corruption reporting for Pacific Island journalists. Explains the role of the media as an anti-corruption mechanism and the difficulty journalists face in identifying and sometimes stamping out corruption. Looks at the programs adopted and explains the responses of journalists.

Reliability of moderate-intensity and vigorous physical activity stage of change measures for young adults

Background. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of stage of change (SOC) measures for moderate-intensity and vigorous physical activity in two separate samples of young adults. Staging measures have focused on vigorous exercise, but current public health guidelines emphasize moderate-intensity activity. Method. For college students in the USA (n = 105) and in Australia (n = 123), SOC was assessed separately on two occasions for moderate-intensity activity and for vigorous activity. Test-retest repeatability was determined, using Cohen's kappa coefficient. Results. In both samples, the reliability scores for the moderate-intensity physical activity staging measure were lower than the scores for the vigorous exercise staging measure. Weighted kappa values for the moderate-intensity staging measure were in the fair to good range for both studies (0.50 and 0.45); for the vigorous staging measure kappa values were excellent and fair to good (0.76 and 0.72). Conclusions. There is a need to standardize and improve methods for staging moderate-intensity activity, given that such measures are used in public health interventions targeting HEPA (health-enhancing physical activity). (C) 2003 American Health Foundation and Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

The ethics pyramid: Making ethics unavoidable in the public relations process

To move from the realm of good intent to verifiable practice, ethics needs to be approached in the same way as any other desired outcome of the public relations process: that is, operationalized and evaluated at each stage of a public relations campaign. A pyramid model—the "ethics pyramid" —is useful for incorporating ethical reflection and evaluation processes into the standard structure of a typical public relations plan. Practitioners can use it to integrate and manage ethical intent, means, and ends, by setting ethics objectives, considering the ethics of each campaign tactic, and reporting whether ethical outcomes have been attained.

A self-categorization explanation for the third-person effect

Three studies tested a self-categorization theory explanation for the third-person effect. In Study 1 (N = 49) undergraduate students judged the influence of the National Enquirer, Wall Street Journal, and TV show Friends on themselves, relative to low- and high-status outgroup members, and other undergraduate students. The profile of first- and third-person perceptions was largely consistent with predictions, and the size of the third-person effect decreased as perceived similarity to target others increased-but only for media that were normative for comparison others. Study 2 (N = 49) provided evidence for this process with different media and showed that the profile of first- and third-person perceptions matched closely with perceived norms of media consumption-but not the social desirability of those media. Study 3 (N = 64) showed that the third-person effect for the same media and target other shifts with the frame of reference in which the judgment is made. Taken together, the findings are consistent with self-categorization theory and difficult to reconcile with other explanations.

The Opinion Editorial: teaching physiology outside the box

Improving the public understanding of science is an important challenge for the future professional scientists who are our current undergraduates. In this paper, we present a conceptual model that explores the role of mass media as community gatekeepers of new scientific findings. This model frames the benefits for undergraduate science students to learn about media genres so that they can learn to communicate science more effectively to nonprofessional audiences. Informed by this Media Role model, we then detail a novel writing task for undergraduate physiology students, the Opinion Editorial (Op-Ed), and an accompanying Peer Review. The Op-Ed genre was directly taught to the students by a professional journalist. As an assessment task, students presented a recent, highly technical paper as an Op-Ed. This was assessed by both faculty members and peers using a detailed assessment rubric. Most students were able to replicate the features of Op-Eds and attained high grades on their writing tasks. Survey data from final-year physiology students (n = 230) were collected before and after the implementation of the Op-Ed/Peer Review. These indicated that most students were aware of the importance of scientists to effectively communicate their knowledge to nonprofessional audiences, that the Op-Ed writing task was challenging, and that they believed that their ability to write to nonprofessional audiences was improved after explicit teaching and feedback.

Effects of geological inhomogeneity on high Rayleigh number steady state heat and mass transfer in fluid-saturated porous media heated from below

A parametric study is carried out to investigate how geological inhomogeneity affects the pore-fluid convective flow field, the temperature distribution, and the mass concentration distribution in a fluid-saturated porous medium. The related numerical results have demonstrated that (1) the effects of both medium permeability inhomogeneity and medium thermal conductivity inhomogeneity are significant on the pore-fluid convective flow and the species concentration distribution in the porous medium; (2) the effect of medium thermal conductivity inhomogeneity is dramatic on the temperature distribution in the porous medium, but the effect of medium permeability inhomogeneity on the temperature distribution may be considerable, depending on the Rayleigh number involved in the analysis; (3) if the coupling effect between pore-fluid flow and mass transport is weak, the effect of the Lewis number is negligible on the pore-fluid convective flow and temperature distribution, hut it is significant on the species concentration distribution in the medium.

Finite element modelling of reactive mass transport problems in fluid-saturated porous media

We use the finite element method to solve reactive mass transport problems in fluid-saturated porous media. In particular, we discuss the mathematical expression of the chemical reaction terms involved in the mass transport equations for an isothermal, non-equilibrium chemical reaction. It has turned out that the Arrhenius law in chemistry is a good mathematical expression for such non-equilibrium chemical reactions especially from the computational point of view. Using the finite element method and the Arrhenius law, we investigate the distributions of PH (i.e. the concentration of H+) and the relevant reactive species in a groundwater system. Although the main focus of this study is on the contaminant transport problems in groundwater systems, the related numerical techniques and principles are equally applicable to the orebody formation problems in the geosciences. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Modelling the large deformations in stratified media - the Cosserat continuum approach

Methods employing continuum approximation in describing the deformation of layered materials possess a clear advantage over explicit models, However, the conventional implicit models based on the theory of anisotropic continua suffers from certain difficulties associated with interface slip and internal instabilities. These difficulties can be remedied by considering the bending stiffness of the layers. This implies the introduction of moment (couple) stresses and internal rotations, which leads to a Cosserat-type theory. In the present model, the behaviour of the layered material is assumed to be linearly elastic; the interfaces are assumed to be elastic perfectly plastic. Conditions of slip or no slip at the interfaces are detected by a Coulomb criterion with tension cut off at zero normal stress. The theory is valid for large deformation analysis. The model is incorporated into the finite element program AFENA and validated against analytical solutions of elementary buckling problems in layered medium. A problem associated with buckling of the roof and the floor of a rectangular excavation in jointed rock mass under high horizontal in situ stresses is considered as the main application of the theory. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A numerical study of pore-fluid, thermal and mass flow iu fluid-saturated porous rock basins

We present a numerical methodology for the study of convective pore-fluid, thermal and mass flow in fluid-saturated porous rock basins. lit particular, we investigate the occurrence and distribution pattern of temperature gradient driven convective pore-fluid flow and hydrocarbon transport in the Australian North West Shelf basin. The related numerical results have demonstrated that: (1) The finite element method combined with the progressive asymptotic approach procedure is a useful tool for dealing with temperature gradient driven pore-fluid flow and mass transport in fluid-saturated hydrothermal basins; (2) Convective pore-fluid flow generally becomes focused in more permeable layers, especially when the layers are thick enough to accommodate the appropriate convective cells; (3) Large dislocation of strata has a significant influence off the distribution patterns of convective pore;fluid flow, thermal flow and hydrocarbon transport in the North West Shelf basin; (4) As a direct consequence of the formation of convective pore-fluid cells, the hydrocarbon concentration is highly localized in the range bounded by two major faults in the basin.