Microblogging Temporal Summarization: Filtering Important Twitter Updates for Breaking News

While news stories are an important traditional medium to broadcast and consume news, microblogging has recently emerged as a place where people can dis- cuss, disseminate, collect or report information about news. However, the massive information in the microblogosphere makes it hard for readers to keep up with these real-time updates. This is especially a problem when it comes to breaking news, where people are more eager to know “what is happening”. Therefore, this dis- sertation is intended as an exploratory effort to investigate computational methods to augment human effort when monitoring the development of breaking news on a given topic from a microblog stream by extractively summarizing the updates in a timely manner. More specifically, given an interest in a topic, either entered as a query or presented as an initial news report, a microblog temporal summarization system is proposed to filter microblog posts from a stream with three primary concerns: topical relevance, novelty, and salience. Considering the relatively high arrival rate of microblog streams, a cascade framework consisting of three stages is proposed to progressively reduce quantity of posts. For each step in the cascade, this dissertation studies methods that improve over current baselines. In the relevance filtering stage, query and document expansion techniques are applied to mitigate sparsity and vocabulary mismatch issues. The use of word embedding as a basis for filtering is also explored, using unsupervised and supervised modeling to characterize lexical and semantic similarity. In the novelty filtering stage, several statistical ways of characterizing novelty are investigated and ensemble learning techniques are used to integrate results from these diverse techniques. These results are compared with a baseline clustering approach using both standard and delay-discounted measures. In the salience filtering stage, because of the real-time prediction requirement a method of learning verb phrase usage from past relevant news reports is used in conjunction with some standard measures for characterizing writing quality. Following a Cranfield-like evaluation paradigm, this dissertation includes a se- ries of experiments to evaluate the proposed methods for each step, and for the end- to-end system. New microblog novelty and salience judgments are created, building on existing relevance judgments from the TREC Microblog track. The results point to future research directions at the intersection of social media, computational jour- nalism, information retrieval, automatic summarization, and machine learning.

No right to sext? A critical examination of media and legal debates about teenage girls' sexual agency in the digital age

Advances in digital photography and distribution technologies enable many people to produce and distribute images of their sex acts. When teenagers do this, the photos and videos they create can be legally classified as child pornography since the law makes no exception for youth who create sexually explicit images of themselves. The dominant discussions about teenage girls producing sexually explicit media (including sexting) are profoundly unproductive: (1) they blame teenage girls for creating private images that another person later maliciously distributed and (2) they fail to respect—or even discuss—teenagers’ rights to freedom of expression. Cell phones and the internet make producing and distributing images extremely easy, which provide widely accessible venues for both consensual sexual expression between partners and for sexual harassment. Dominant understandings view sexting as a troubling teenage trend created through the combination of camera phones and adolescent hormones and impulsivity, but this view often conflates consensual sexting between partners with the malicious distribution of a person’s private image as essentially equivalent behaviors. In this project, I ask: What is the role of assumptions about teen girls’ sexual agency in these problematic understandings of sexting that blame victims and deny teenagers’ rights? In contrast to the popular media panic about online predators and the familiar accusation that youth are wasting their leisure time by using digital media, some people champion the internet as a democratic space that offers young people the opportunity to explore identities and develop social and communication skills. Yet, when teen girls’ sexuality enters this conversation, all this debate and discussion narrows to a problematic consensus. The optimists about adolescents and technology fall silent, and the argument that media production is inherently empowering for girls does not seem to apply to a girl who produces a sexually explicit image of herself. Instead, feminist, popular, and legal commentaries assert that she is necessarily a victim: of a “sexualized” mass media, pressure from her male peers, digital technology, her brain structures or hormones, or her own low self-esteem and misplaced desire for attention. Why and how are teenage girls’ sexual choices produced as evidence of their failure or success in achieving Western liberal ideals of self-esteem, resistance, and agency? Since mass media and policy reactions to sexting have so far been overwhelmingly sexist and counter-productive, it is crucial to interrogate the concepts and assumptions that characterize mainstream understandings of sexting. I argue that the common sense that is co-produced by law and mass media underlies the problematic legal and policy responses to sexting. Analyzing a range of nonfiction texts including newspaper articles, talk shows, press releases, public service announcements, websites, legislative debates, and legal documents, I investigate gendered, racialized, age-based, and technologically determinist common sense assumptions about teenage girls’ sexual agency. I examine the consensus and continuities that exist between news, nonfiction mass media, policy, institutions, and law, and describe the limits of their debates. I find that this early 21st century post-feminist girl-power moment not only demands that girls live up to gendered sexual ideals but also insists that actively choosing to follow these norms is the only way to exercise sexual agency. This is the first study to date examining the relationship of conventional wisdom about digital media and teenage girls’ sexuality to both policy and mass media.

News telewizyjny jako akt retoryczny

Artykuł przedstawia news telewizyjny jako akt retoryczny. News telewizyjny rozumiany jest jako relacja o wydarzeniu zbudowana zazwyczaj z zapowiedzi i krótkiego kilkuminutowego materiału filmowego (nazywanego czasem felietonem), będącego rezultatem pracy reporter-skiej, wyemitowana w telewizji, zazwyczaj jako jeden z elementów w strukturze magazynu informacyjnego, ale również jako element bloków programowych telewizji informacyjnych. Newsy telewizyjne funkcjonują w mediach jako jeden z elementów działań strategicznych nadawców medialnych nastawionych na określone cele, w tym cele wizerunkowe, polityczne i ekonomiczne. Newsy powstają jako reakcja na konkretne wydarzenia, zaspokajają potrzebę informacji, ale służą też kreowaniu obrazu świata, skupianiu uwagi na pewnych aspektach rze-czywistości, wartościowaniu jej, przekonywaniu o ważności lub nieważności pewnych zda-rzeń. Pełnią funkcje informacyjne, ale też kreacyjne, wzorcotwórcze, stymulacyjne, wartościu-jące, i w końcu estetyczne. Dla osiągnięcia tych celów są odpowiednio konstruowane, z uwzględnieniem specyfiki i potrzeb odbiorcy oraz ethosu nadawcy. W tym sensie są więc ak-tami „retorycznymi”, a więc zamierzonymi, celowymi, będącymi odpowiedzią na określoną sytuację (uwarunkowane są historycznie, społecznie i politycznie) i adresowanymi do określo-nych odbiorców.

Political ideologies and attitudes towards income inequality in the US: a critical discourse analysis of CNN and Fox News opinion articles

The topic of the thesis is media discourse about current state if income inequality in the US, and political ideologies as influences behind the discourse. The data consists of four opinion articles, two from CNN and two from Fox News. The purpose of the study was to examine how media represents income inequality as an issue, and if the attitudes conveyed are concerned or indifferent. Previous studies have indicated that the level of income is often seen as a personal responsibility, and such perspective can be linked with Republican ideology. In contrast, the Democrats typically express more concern about the consequences of inequality. CNN has been previously considered to have a Democratic bias, and Fox News has been considered to have Republican bias, which is one reason why these two news channels were chosen as the sources of the data. The study is a critical discourse analysis, and the methods applied were sociocognitive approach, which analyzes the social and cognitive factors affecting the discourse, and appraisal framework, which was applied to scrutinize the expressed attitudes more closely by identifyind specific linguistic features. The appraisal framework includes studying such features as affect, judgment and appreciation, which offer a more detailed analysis on the attitudes present in the articles. The sociocognitive approach, additionally, offers a way of analyzing a more broad context affecting the articles. The findings were then compared, to see if there are differences between the articles, or between the news sites with alleged bias. The findings showed that CNN, with alleged Democratic bias, had a more symphatetic attitude towards income inequality, whereas Fox News, with more Republican views, showed clearly less concern towards the issue. Moreover, the Fox News articles had such dubious claims that the underlying ideology behind the articles could be even supporting of income inequality, as it allows the rich to pursue all the wealth they can without having to give anything away. The results, thus, suggest that the political ideologies may a significant effect on media discourse, which, in turn, may have a significant effect on the attitudes of the public towards great issues that could require prompt measures.

The presence of three Portuguese TV news channels (RTP3, SIC NOTÍCIAS, and TVI24) on facebook

The growing popularity of social networks, and their impact on the daily lives of consumers, contributed to news organizations marking their presence on different online platforms. In the case of Facebook, a social network that began as a personal space, it has gradually transformed into a content-sharing space (Oeldorf-Hirsch & Sundar, 2015). Nowadays, Facebook is the second most viewed website in Portugal (Alexa, 2016), and therefore, it has become crucial for Portuguese news agencies to be present on this social network. Although television continues to be the main information source in Portugal, social networks, and specifically Facebook, are increasingly important in news consumption by users (ERC, 2015). This new way of news dissemination, as well as the proliferation that these contents reach in social networks, led to news agencies exploiting these new channels, both to attract new audiences, and to redirect users to their own websites (Castillo, El-Haddad, Pfeffer, & Stempeck, 2014). Thus, it is important to understand how, and what kind of content these agencies put on their Facebook channels, as well as the strategies they use to share these same contents. This study aims to understand how the main news channels of Portuguese TV (RTP3, SIC Notícias, and TVI24) manage and use the social network Facebook to share news contents. To this end, the authors collected quantitative data of all posts placed on Facebook between February 8 and February 14 2016. Approximately 1063 posts were collected and analysed from the three Facebook pages. The results indicate that two of the three channels extensively used their Facebook pages to share and target content to their official websites. Regarding the news sources and type of media used, the three Portuguese TV news channels use similar strategies. However, in what concerns the main themes and quantity of messages per day, as well as the level of redundancy of information, the three channels manage their pages differently.

The presence of three portuguese TV news channels (RTP3, SIC Notícias, and TVI24) on Facebook

The growing popularity of social networks, and their impact on the daily lives of consumers, contributed to news organizations marking their presence on different online platforms. In the case of Facebook, a social network that began as a personal space, it has gradually transformed into a content-sharing space (Oeldorf-Hirsch & Sundar, 2015). Nowadays, Facebook is the second most viewed website in Portugal (Alexa, 2016), and therefore, it has become crucial for Portuguese news agencies to be present on this social network. Although television continues to be the main information source in Portugal, social networks, and specifically Facebook, are increasingly important in news consumption by users (ERC, 2015). This new way of news dissemination, as well as the proliferation that these contents reach in social networks, led to news agencies exploiting these new channels, both to attract new audiences, and to redirect users to their own websites (Castillo, El-Haddad, Pfeffer, & Stempeck, 2014). Thus, it is important to understand how, and what kind of content these agencies put on their Facebook channels, as well as the strategies they use to share these same contents. This study aims to understand how the main news channels of Portuguese TV (RTP3, SIC Notícias, and TVI24) manage and use the social network Facebook to share news contents. To this end, the authors collected quantitative data of all posts placed on Facebook between February 8 and February 14 2016. Approximately 1063 posts were collected and analysed from the three Facebook pages. The results indicate that two of the three channels extensively used their Facebook pages to share and target content to their official websites. Regarding the news sources and type of media used, the three Portuguese TV news channels use similar strategies. However, in what concerns the main thematic and quantity of messages per day, as well as the level of redundancy of information, the three channels operate their pages differently.

Commenting, sharing and tweeting news : Measuring online news participation

Social plugins for sharing news through Facebook and Twitter have become increasingly salient features on news sites. Together with the user comment feature, social plugins are the most common way for users to contribute. The wide use of multiple features has opened new areas to comprehensively study users’ participatory practices. However, how do these opportunities to participate vary between the participatory spaces that news sites affiliated with local, national broadsheet and tabloid news constitute? How are these opportunities appropriated by users in terms of participatory practices such as commenting and sharing news through Facebook and Twitter? In addition, what differences are there between news sites in these respects? To answer these questions, a quantitative content analysis has been conducted on 3,444 articles from nine Swedish online newspapers. Local newspapers are more likely to allow users to comment on articles than are national newspapers. Tweeting news is appropriated only on news sites affiliated with evening tabloids and national morning newspapers. Sharing news through Facebook is 20 times more common than tweeting news or commenting. The majority of news items do not attract any user interaction.

Media Gótico: O Crime e seu Duplo Ficcional na Literatura, TV e Cinema

Crime possesses a dual nature deriving from its portrayal in the media leading to duplicity in the act of witnessing crime which by showing reality inevitably transforms it into a different kind of reality. The direct relationship with the Gothic genre is very naturally justified by real crime seeming to replicate fictional crime and vice versa, thus originating various forms of the lack of distinction between reality itself and fictional reality, or between truth and falsehood, which many writers and artists associated with Gothic aesthetics have always relied on, and numerous examples of this can be found in the works of Edgar Poe, Patricia Highsmith, Chuck Palahniuk and many others. While real crime may take the Gothic novel as its prototype, it turns out that nowadays television has taken on this role. Examples of this phenomenon are the recent symptoms of obsessive dependence on TV series such as C.S.I., Criminal Minds, The X Files, The Following and Dexter, showing a tendency for television series to replace Gothic novels, thus revealing a perverse attraction for witnessing violence through the same means that transmit the daily news featuring violent events in different scenarios of war all over the world.

Rilevamento automatico delle fake news: rassegna dello stato dell'arte

Negli ultimi tempi la questione su come arginare il problema della diffusione delle fake news è diventata predominante sia nel dibattito pubblico che politico; in quanto miliardi di terabyte di foto, testi, video, informazioni si muovono quotidianamente attraverso le piattaforme social persuadendo in maniera più o meno efficace ciascun utente. Questo è tutto amplificato dal fatto che il mondo dell'informazione sia radicalmente cambiato col passare del tempo, in risposta alla crescita del fabbisogno informativo, dando maggiore importanza al numero di click piuttosto che all'attendibilità dell'informazione stessa. Nel contesto appena descritto i social media e la rete in generale hanno un ruolo molto importante in quanto tutti hanno diritto di parola al di là di meriti o conoscenze personali. Quello che conta davvero non è l’aderenza ai fatti, quanto la conformità con ciò a cui si crede e con la propria visione del mondo. L'uso e il significato del termine fake news si è evoluto nel tempo. Sebbene originariamente fosse utilizzato per fare riferimento a informazioni false e spesso clamorose diffuse sotto le spoglie di notizie, il termine si è evoluto ed è diventato sinonimo di diffusione di informazioni false che possono differenziarsi in base ai mezzi utilizzati per la falsificazione o in base all'intento per il quale sono state diffuse. L'obiettivo di questa tesi è quello di introdurre una rassegna delle metodologie atte a identificare e classifcare le fake news. Molti esperti hanno studiato modi per analizzare manualmente l'autenticità delle notizie; tuttavia, come valutarla in modo efficace è ancora una questione aperta. Nello specifico, la tesi fornisce anche un contributo per limitare la diffusione delle fake news sui social network, in quanto queste potrebbero influenzare o alterare l'opinione pubblica, contribuendo ad alimentare teorie complottistiche.

An Efficient Protocol For The Generation Of Monocyte Derived Dendritic Cells Using Serum-free Media For Clinical Applications In Post Remission Aml Patients.

Protocols for the generation of dendritic cells (DCs) using serum as a supplementation of culture media leads to reactions due to animal proteins and disease transmissions. Several types of serum-free media (SFM), based on good manufacture practices (GMP), have recently been used and seem to be a viable option. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of the differentiation, maturation, and function of DCs from Acute Myeloid Leukemia patients (AML), generated in SFM and medium supplemented with autologous serum (AS). DCs were analyzed by phenotype characteristics, viability, and functionality. The results showed the possibility of generating viable DCs in all the conditions tested. In patients, the X-VIVO 15 medium was more efficient than the other media tested in the generation of DCs producing IL-12p70 (p=0.05). Moreover, the presence of AS led to a significant increase of IL-10 by DCs as compared with CellGro (p=0.05) and X-Vivo15 (p=0.05) media, both in patients and donors. We concluded that SFM was efficient in the production of DCs for immunotherapy in AML patients. However, the use of AS appears to interfere with the functional capacity of the generated DCs.

Esporte e midia : interfaces e significados dos conteudos esportivos atribuidos pelos anlunos

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Crescimento fisico e desempenho motor em crianças de 6 a 12 anos decondição socio-economica media da area urbana da provincia de Arequipa-Peru

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física

Influence of surface sealant on the translucency of composite resin: effect of immersion time and immersion media

This study evaluated the effect of surface sealant on the translucency of composite resin immersed in different solutions. The study involved the following materials: Charisma, Fortify and coffee, Coca-Cola®, tea and artificial saliva as solutions. Sixty-four specimens (n = 8) were manufactured and immersed in artificial saliva at 37 ± 1 °C. Samples were immersed in the solutions for three times a day and re-immersed in artificial saliva until the translucency readings. The measurements were carried out at nine times: T1 - 24 hours after specimen preparation, T2 - 24 hours after immersion in the solutions, T3 - 48 hours and T4 to T9 - 7, 14, 21, 30, 60 and 90 days, respectively, after immersion. The translucency values were measured using a JOUAN device. The results were subjected to ANOVA and Tukey's test at 5%. The surface sealant was not able to protect the composite resin against staining, the coffee showed the strongest staining action, followed by tea and regarding immersion time, a significant alteration was noted in the translucency of composite resin after 21 days.

Composite resin color stability: influence of light sources and immersion media

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the influence of light sources and immersion media on the color stability of a nanofilled composite resin. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Conventional halogen, high-power-density halogen and high-power-density light-emitting diode (LED) units were used. There were 4 immersion media: coffee, tea, Coke® and artificial saliva. A total of 180 specimens (10 mm x 2 mm) were prepared, immersed in artificial saliva for 24 h at 37±1ºC, and had their initial color measured with a spectrophotometer according to the CIELab system. Then, the specimens were immersed in the 4 media during 60 days. Data from the color change and luminosity were collected and subjected to statistical analysis by the Kruskall-Wallis test (p<0.05). For immersion time, the data were subjected to two-way ANOVA test and Fisher's test (p<0.05). RESULTS: High-power-density LED (ΔE=1.91) promoted similar color stability of the composite resin to that of the tested halogen curing units (Jet Lite 4000 plus - ΔE=2.05; XL 3000 - ΔE=2.28). Coffee (ΔE=8.40; ΔL=-5.21) showed the highest influence on color stability of the studied composite resin. CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in color stability regardless of the light sources, and coffee was the immersion medium that promoted the highest color changes on the tested composite resin.