Africa through Chinese eyes: new frames or the same old lens? African news in English from China Central Television, compared with the BBC

[No abstract as this is a book chapter: the following represents the first 2 paragraphs.] The screen fills with close-ups of smiling African faces against a black-and-orange background: the carefree child, the gap-toothed man with smoke curling from his pipe. The faces retreat into an outline of a map of Africa as the saccharine background music dissolves into birdsong. The silhouette of an acacia tree appears. This is not the much-derided Western romantic stereotype of the continent: it is an extract from a promotional trailer on CCTV Africa, the embodiment of China’s “soft power” drive and a spearhead of Chinese state television’s overseas expansion. Yet this image is at variance with the English-language channel’s professed ambitions. The Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, himself declared that “CCTV embraces the vision of seeing Africa from an African perspective and reporting Africa from the viewpoint of Africa”. These contradictory messages prompt fundamental questions about CCTV’s expansion into Africa. Are the channel’s English-language news bulletins aimed at African or Chinese viewers? What kind of Africa – and indeed China – do they represent, and could the framing of African events by CCTV News provide an alternative to the perspective of international rivals? Is CCTV’s main mission in Africa to provide news or to act as mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party and state? This chapter addresses these questions by applying a cross-cultural variant of framing theory to the news content of CCTV’s Africa Live and that of its closest direct competitor, Focus on Africa from BBC World News TV.

Investigating Social Mobility: Cultural Frames and Cultural Frame Switching in First-Generation College Students

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Interactions between Spider Silk and Cells - NIH/3T3 Fibroblasts Seeded on Miniature Weaving Frames

Background: Several materials have been used for tissue engineering purposes, since the ideal matrix depends on the desired tissue. Silk biomaterials have come to focus due to their great mechanical properties. As untreated silkworm silk has been found to be quite immunogenic, an alternative could be spider silk. Not only does it own unique mechanical properties, its biocompatibility has been shown already in vivo. In our study, we used native spider dragline silk which is known as the strongest fibre in nature. Methodology/Principal Findings: Steel frames were originally designed and manufactured and woven with spider silk, harvesting dragline silk directly out of the animal. After sterilization, scaffolds were seeded with fibroblasts to analyse cell proliferation and adhesion. Analysis of cell morphology and actin filament alignment clearly revealed adherence. Proliferation was measured by cell count as well as determination of relative fluorescence each after 1, 2, 3, and 5 days. Cell counts for native spider silk were also compared with those for trypsin-digested spider silk. Spider silk specimens displayed less proliferation than collagen-and fibronectin-coated cover slips, enzymatic treatment reduced adhesion and proliferation rates tendentially though not significantly. Nevertheless, proliferation could be proven with high significance (p<0.01). Conclusion/Significance: Native spider silk does not require any modification to its application as a biomaterial that can rival any artificial material in terms of cell growth promoting properties. We could show adhesion mechanics on intracellular level. Additionally, proliferation kinetics were higher than in enzymatically digested controls, indicating that spider silk does not require modification. Recent findings concerning reduction of cell proliferation after exposure could not be met. As biotechnological production of the hierarchical composition of native spider silk fibres is still a challenge, our study has a pioneer role in researching cellular mechanics on native spider silk fibres.

The conversation on political issues on Twitter: an analysis of the participation and frames in the debate on the 'Wert law' and evictions in Spain

The aim of this study is to determine which social agents are involved in the political debate on Twitter and whether the interpretive hegemony of actors that have traditionally been the most prominent is tempered by the challenge of framing shared with audiences. The relationship between the interpretations expressed and the profiles of participants is analyzed in comparison with the frames used by mainstream media. The chosen methodology combines content analysis and discourse analysis techniques on a sample of 1,504 relevant tweets posted on two political issues –the approval of the education law LOMCE and the evictions caused by the crisis, which have also been studied in the front pages of four leading newspapers in Spain. The results show a correlation between political issue singularities, frames and the type of discussion depending on the participants.

Rapporto tensore su scalare con gravità indotta: analisi dell’approssimazione di slow-roll nei frames di Jordan e Einstein

L’obbiettivo di questa tesi è quello di analizzare le conseguenze della scelta del frame (Jordan o Einstein) nel calcolo delle proprietà degli spettri primordiali generati dall’inflazione ed in particolare dell’osservabile r (rapporto tensore su scalare) al variare del potenziale del campo che genera l’espansione accelerata. Partendo dalla descrizione della teoria dell’inflazione in relatività generale, focalizzando l’attenzione sui motivi che hanno portato all’introduzione di questa teoria, vengono presentate le tecniche di utilizzo comune per lo studio della dinamica omogenea (classica) inflazionaria e di quella disomogenea (quantistica). Una particolare attenzione viene rivolta ai metodi di approssimazione che è necessario adottare per estrarre predizioni analitiche dai modelli inflazionari per poi confrontarle con le osservazioni. Le tecniche introdotte vengono poi applicate ai modelli di inflazione con gravità indotta, ovvero ad una famiglia di modelli con accoppiamento non minimale tra il campo scalare inflatonico e il settore gravitazionale. Si porrà attenzione alle differenze rispetto ai modelli con accoppiamento minimale, e verrà studiata la dinamica in presenza di alcuni potenziali derivanti dalla teoria delle particelle e diffusi in letteratura. Il concetto di “transizione tra il frame di Jordan e il frame di Einstein” viene illustrato e le sue conseguenze nel calcolo approssimato del rapporto tensore su scalare sono discusse. Infine gli schemi di approssimazione proposti vengono analizzati numericamente. Risulterà che per due dei tre potenziali presentati i metodi di approssimazione sono più accurati nel frame di Einstein, mentre per il terzo potenziale i due frames portano a risultati analitici similmente accurati.

A finite-strain solid–shell using local Löwdin frames and least-squares strains

A finite-strain solid–shell element is proposed. It is based on least-squares in-plane assumed strains, assumed natural transverse shear and normal strains. The singular value decomposition (SVD) is used to define local (integration-point) orthogonal frames-of-reference solely from the Jacobian matrix. The complete finite-strain formulation is derived and tested. Assumed strains obtained from least-squares fitting are an alternative to the enhanced-assumed-strain (EAS) formulations and, in contrast with these, the result is an element satisfying the Patch test. There are no additional degrees-of-freedom, as it is the case with the enhanced-assumed-strain case, even by means of static condensation. Least-squares fitting produces invariant finite strain elements which are shear-locking free and amenable to be incorporated in large-scale codes. With that goal, we use automatically generated code produced by AceGen and Mathematica. All benchmarks show excellent results, similar to the best available shell and hybrid solid elements with significantly lower computational cost.

A finite-strain solid–shell using local Löwdin frames and least-squares strains

A finite-strain solid–shell element is proposed. It is based on least-squares in-plane assumed strains, assumed natural transverse shear and normal strains. The singular value decomposition (SVD) is used to define local (integration-point) orthogonal frames-of- reference solely from the Jacobian matrix. The complete finite-strain formulation is derived and tested. Assumed strains obtained from least-squares fitting are an alternative to the enhanced-assumed-strain (EAS) formulations and, in contrast with these, the result is an element satisfying the Patch test. There are no additional degrees-of-freedom, as it is the case with the enhanced- assumed-strain case, even by means of static condensation. Least-squares fitting produces invariant finite strain elements which are shear-locking free and amenable to be incorporated in large-scale codes. With that goal, we use automatically generated code produced by AceGen and Mathematica. All benchmarks show excellent results, similar to the best available shell and hybrid solid elements with significantly lower computational cost.

Experiences in Passively Detecting Session Hijacking Attacks in IEEE 802.11 Networks

Current IEEE 802.11 wireless networks are vulnerable to session hijacking attacks as the existing standards fail to address the lack of authentication of management frames and network card addresses, and rely on loosely coupled state machines. Even the new WLAN security standard - IEEE 802.11i does not address these issues. In our previous work, we proposed two new techniques for improving detection of session hijacking attacks that are passive, computationally inexpensive, reliable, and have minimal impact on network performance. These techniques utilise unspoofable characteristics from the MAC protocol and the physical layer to enhance confidence in the intrusion detection process. This paper extends our earlier work and explores usability, robustness and accuracy of these intrusion detection techniques by applying them to eight distinct test scenarios. A correlation engine has also been introduced to maintain the false positives and false negatives at a manageable level. We also explore the process of selecting optimum thresholds for both detection techniques. For the purposes of our experiments, Snort-Wireless open source wireless intrusion detection system was extended to implement these new techniques and the correlation engine. Absence of any false negatives and low number of false positives in all eight test scenarios successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of the correlation engine and the accuracy of the detection techniques.

Adaptive optical flow for person tracking

Person tracking systems are dependent on being able to locate a person accurately across a series of frames. Optical flow can be used to segment a moving object from a scene, provided the expected velocity of the moving object is known; but successful detection also relies on being able segment the background. A problem with existing optical flow techniques is that they don’t discriminate the foreground from the background, and so often detect motion (and thus the object) in the background. To overcome this problem, we propose a new optical flow technique, that is based upon an adaptive background segmentation technique, which only determines optical flow in regions of motion. This technique has been developed with a view to being used in surveillance systems, and our testing shows that for this application it is more effective than other standard optical flow techniques.

Space frame walls : facilitating positive development

This paper reports on progress in developing new design and measurement concepts, and translating these concepts into practical applications. This research addresses gaps in ‘best practice’ green building, and is aimed ultimately at replacing green buildings with sustainable urban environments. Building on the author’s previously articulated concepts of Design for Eco-services and Positive Development, this research will demonstrate how to eco-retrofit cities so that they reverse the negative impacts of past design and generate net positive ecological impacts, at no extra cost. In contrast to ‘restorative’ design,this means increasing ecological carrying capacity and natural and social capital through built environment design. Some exemplars for facilitating Positive development will be presented in this talk,such as Green Scaffolding for retrofits, and Green Space Walls for new construction. These structures have been designed to grow and change over time, be easily deconstructed, and entail little waste. The frames support mini-ecospheres that provide a wide range of ecosystem services and biodiversity habitats, as well as heating, cooling and ventilating. In combination, the modules serve to improve human and environmental health. Current work is focused on developing a range of such space frame walls, optimised through an innovative marriage of eco-logical design and virtual modelling.

Cultural selection and its influence on perceptions of reputation within organisations

The capacity to identify, interpret, and prioritise environmental issues is critical in the management of corporate reputation. In spite of the significance of these abilities for corporate reputation management, there has been little effort to document and describe internal organizational influences on these capacities. Contrary to this state of affairs in the discipline of public relations, a long history of ethnographic research in cultural anthropology documents how sets of shared environmental perceptions can influence and moderate environmental factors in cultural populations (see for example, Durham, 1991 ). This study explores how cultural “frames of reference” derived from shared values and assumptions among organizational members influence organizational perceptions, and consequently, organizational actions. Specifically, this study explores how a central attribute of organizational culture--the property of cultural selection-- influences perceptions of organizational reputation held by organizational members. Perceptions of reputation among organizational members are obvious drivers to both the nature of and rationale for organizational communication strategies and responses. These perceptions are the result of collective processes that synthesise (with varying degrees of consensus) member conceptualisations, interpretations, and representations of the environmental realities in which their organization operate. To explore how cultural selection influences member perceptions of organizational reputation, this study employs ethnographic research including 20 depth interviews and six months of organizational observation in the focal organization. We argue that while external indicators of organizational reputation are acknowledged by members as significant, the internal action of cultural selection is a far stronger influence on organizational action.

Be careful what you ask for : how inquiry strategy influences readiness mode

Much has been written about affecting change in the workplace, including how to help employees prepare for the process. However, little is known about how participation influences employees' emotions and attitudes at the start of an intervention. By qualitatively analyzing conversations that were triggered by an organizational change effort, we explored how different inquiry strategies influence readiness for change. We examined four inquiry strategies by combining strength or deficit frames with individual or organizational focus. Distinctive conversational patterns emerged within each strategy, which we believe influence peoples' change readiness. In this article we present four readiness modes to describe these patterns and conclude with implications for managers who seek to shape their change efforts more effectively.

Operation and control of a microgrid containing inertial and non-inertial micro sources

In this paper, a new power sharing control method for a microgrid with several distributed generation units is proposed. The presence of both inertial and noninertial sources with different power ratings, maximum power point tracking, and various types of loads pose a great challenge for the power sharing and system stability. The conventional droop control method is modified to achieve the desired power sharing ensuring system stability in a highly resistive network. A transformation matrix is formed to derive equivalent real and reactive power output of the converter and equivalent feedback gain matrix for the modified droop equation. The proposed control strategy, aimed for the prototype microgrid planned at Queensland University of Technology, is validated through extensive simulation results using PSCAD/EMTDC software.

Trouble and autoethnography in assessment genre : a case for postnational design in online internationalized pedagogy

This chapter is interested in the difference between local places with implicit codes and more global spaces with explicit directions, through the case study of the design and conduct of assessment in an online internationalized MBA unit. Online learning is understood to offer new ways of belonging in 'postnational' communities less reliant on locality for their frames of reference. This study reports and analyses firstly a series of troubles which erupted over the international students' desire for more explication of the desired genre for their assessment task. Then it analyses the different, 'autoethnographic' genre structure that emerged when students started to acknowledge the diverse backgrounds within the class.The chapter then offers practical considerations for the design of online internationalized programs.

Eco-retrofitting with building integrated living systems

Building integrated living systems (BILS), such as green roofs and living walls, could mitigate many of the challenges presented by climate change and biodiversity protection. However, few if any such systems have been constructed, and current tools for evaluating them are limited, especially under Australian subtropical conditions. BILS are difficult to assess, because living systems interact with complex, changing and site-specific social and environmental conditions. Our past research in design for eco-services has confirmed the need for better means of assessing the ecological values of BILS - let alone better models for assessing their thermal and hydrological performance. To address this problem, a research project is being developed jointly by researchers at the Central Queensland University (CQ University) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), along with industry collaborators. A mathematical model under development at CQ University will be applied and tested to determine its potential for predicting their complex, dynamic behaviour in different contexts. However, the paper focuses on the work at QUT. The QUT school of design is generating designs for living walls and roofs that provide a range of ecosystem goods and services, or ‘eco-services’, for a variety of micro-climates and functional contexts. The research at QUT aims to develop appropriate designs, virtual prototypes and quantitative methods for assessing the potential multiple benefits of BILS in subtropical climates. It is anticipated that the CQ University model for predicting thermal behaviour of living systems will provide a platform for the integration of ecological criteria and indicators. QUT will also explore means to predict and measure the value of eco-services provided by the systems, which is still largely uncharted territory. This research is ultimately intended to facilitate the eco-retrofitting of cities to increase natural capital and urban resource security - an essential component of sustainability. The talk will present the latest range of multifunctional, eco-productive living walls, roofs and urban space frames and their eco-services.