La reapertura de radiotelevisión valenciana. De la manipulación al servicio público

La próxima reapertura de la radiotelevisión valenciana, teniendo en cuenta el fracaso en la gestión de RTVV durante años, suscita interrogantes sobre cómo se está desarrollando el proceso de creación del nuevo ente público. Cuáles son las medidas que se están llevando a cabo para garantizar la independencia política de la nueva corporación y evitar los errores del pasado. El objetivo de este estudio consiste en comparar los mecanismos y herramientas con los que contaba RTVV y con los que se dotará al nuevo ente, ya que a priori marcarán la diferencia entre ambos. En este sentido, la investigación se fundamenta en el análisis de contenido de la legislación tanto de RTVV como de la futura Corporación Valenciana de Medios de Comunicación, teniendo como referencia el informe de expertos Bases per a la renovació de l’espai comunicatiu valencià i la restitució del servei públic de radiotelevisió. Finalmente, se ha podido concluir que algunas herramientas de autorregulación interna propuestas hoy, ya formaban parte de la antigua RTVV. Estos organismos no cumplieron su cometido debido a la politización de los mismos, que en definitiva fue la principal causa de su declive. No obstante, también existieron carencias en cuanto a regulación externa, y que en esta nueva etapa se están incluyendo para aumentar las garantías de independencia y cumplimiento deontológico profesional.

Saving the Monopsony: Exclusivity, Innovation and Market Power in the Media Sector. Research Papers in Law, 7/2006

From the Introduction. The Media Sector has experienced a technological revolution in the last 15 years. Digital encoding of television signals made possible a more efficient use of the radiospectrum. Digital terrestrial television (hereinafter, “DTT”) allows now for the reception of a significant number of free-to-air channels.1 Moreover, the use of new transmission platforms (hereinafter,“platforms”), namely cable and direct-to-home satellite (hereinafter, “DTH”) paved the way for the arrival in Europe of pay-TV operators, which finance their activities mainly via subscription fees. This changing technological landscape is subject to further evolution in the near future, as incumbent telecommunications operators become increasingly interested in making available broadcasting content2 as part of their broadband offer and 3G mobile handsets can be used for the reception of TV signals....The present paper seeks to ascertain whether the Commission “regulatory approach” towards the exclusive sale of premium content is a sound one, in particular in view of the constant technological evolution outlined above. The assumptions underlying landmark Commission decisions will be compared with recent developments of the media sector in Italy. In the NewsCorp./Telepiù case, decided in 2003, the Commission imposed very strict conditions to allow the merger giving birth to Sky Italia, on the assumption that the operation created a lasting near-monopsony in the different upstream markets for the acquisition of premium intervened against the media conglomerate Mediaset (which controls, inter alia, the main three private free-to-air channels in Italy) for an alleged abuse of dominant position.17 In fact, and contrary to the forecasts made by the Commission, Mediaset was in a position to acquire the broadcasting rights of the main Italian football teams, thereby excluding the incumbent (and near-monopolist) pay-TV operator, Sky Italia. This may go to show that the reality of the sector is more complex and evolves faster than one may infer from the Commission practice, thus putting into question its stance regarding exclusivity. The experience of the evolution of the Italian media sector will be used as the starting point for the evaluation of alternative regulatory options.

Answering the Call of the European Court of Justice in Eurofoods a Proposed Package of Due Process Rights with a View Toward the 2012 Revision of the European Insolvency Regulation. IES WORKING PAPER 3/2011

This paper anticipates the 2012 revision of the European Insolvency Regulation, which is the sole Union legislation on the subject of cross border insolvency proceedings. The paper first describes the historical background of the Regulation. The salient point of the historical discussion is that the Regulation is the product of forty years of negotiation and arises from a historical context that is no longer applicable to current economic realities, i.e. it provides for liquidation, not reorganization, it doesn’t deal with cross border groups of companies, and it lacks an effective mechanism for transparency and creditor participation. The paper then reviews the unique hybrid jurisdictional system of concurrent universal and territorial proceedings that the Regulation imposes. It looks at this scheme from a practical viewpoint, i.e. what issues arise with concurrent proceedings in two states, involving the same assets, the same creditors, and the same company. The paper then focuses on a significant issue raised by the European Court of Justice in the Eurofoods case, i.e. the need to comply with fundamental due process principles that, while not articulated in the Regulation, lie at the core of Union law. Specifically, the paper considers the ramifications of the Court’s holding that “a Member State may refuse to recognize insolvency proceedings opened in another Member State where the decision to open the proceedings was taken in flagrant breach of the fundamental right to be heard.” In response to the Court’s direction, this paper proposes a package of due process rights, consisting principally of an accessible, efficient and useful insolvency database, the infrastructure of which already exists, but the content and use of which has not yet been developed. As part of a cohesive three part due process package, the paper also proposes the formation of cross border creditors' committees and the establishment of a European Insolvency Administrator. Finally, on the institutional level, this paper proposes that the revision of the Regulation and the development of the insolvency database not only need to be coordinated, but need to be conceptualized, managed and undertaken, not as the separate efforts of diverse institutions, but as a single, unified endeavor.

Antitrust, Regulation and the Neutrality Trap: A plea for a smart, evidence-based internet policy. CEPS Special Report No. 104/April 2015

When they look at Internet policy, EU policymakers seem mesmerised, if not bewitched, by the word ‘neutrality’. Originally confined to the infrastructure layer, today the neutrality rhetoric is being expanded to multi-sided platforms such as search engines and more generally online intermediaries. Policies for search neutrality and platform neutrality are invoked to pursue a variety of policy objectives, encompassing competition, consumer protection, privacy and media pluralism. This paper analyses this emerging debate and comes to a number of conclusions. First, mandating net neutrality at the infrastructure layer might have some merit, but it certainly would not make the Internet neutral. Second, since most of the objectives initially associated with network neutrality cannot be realistically achieved by such a rule, the case for network neutrality legislation would have to stand on different grounds. Third, the fact that the Internet is not neutral is mostly a good thing for end users, who benefit from intermediaries that provide them with a selection of the over-abundant information available on the Web. Fourth, search neutrality and platform neutrality are fundamentally flawed principles that contradict the economics of the Internet. Fifth, neutrality is a very poor and ineffective recipe for media pluralism, and as such should not be invoked as the basis of future media policy. All these conclusions have important consequences for the debate on the future EU policy for the Digital Single Market.

Too good to be true? A quick assessment of the EC’s new Better Regulation Package. CEPS Special Report No. 108/May 2015

On 19 May 2015, the European Commission published a very comprehensive, ambitious and innovative Better Regulation package, which contains new guidelines on various phases of the policy cycle and various documents setting out the rules and functioning of entirely new consultation platforms and a new body in charge of regulatory scrutiny. This Special Report presents some initial impressions on the content of this remarkable set of new documents, which will shape the way in which EU policies will be prepared, shaped, monitored and evaluated in the years to come.

The regulation of Hox gene expression during animal development

Hox genes encode a family of transcriptional regulators that elicit distinct developmental programmes along the head-to-tail axis of animals. The specific regional functions of individual Hox genes largely reflect their restricted expression patterns, the disruption of which can lead to developmental defects and disease. Here, we examine the spectrum of molecular mechanisms controlling Hox gene expression in model vertebrates and invertebrates and find that a diverse range of mechanisms, including nuclear dynamics, RNA processing, microRNA and translational regulation, all concur to control Hox gene outputs. We propose that this complex multi-tiered regulation might contribute to the robustness of Hox expression during development.

Stricter regulation boosts exports: the case of Maximum Residue Levels in pesticides

Constructing an original panel on Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) in pesticides for 50 countries over 2006-2012, this paper studies the effect of heterogeneity in MRL regulation on bilateral trade. We find evidence of regulatory heterogeneity diminishing trade at the extensive margin when the exporter faces more stringent regulation abroad, suggesting compliance costs in entering the destination market. Significantly, however, we also find strong evidence of regulatory heterogeneity increasing trade at the intensive margin for exports coming from countries that set the strictest standards, alluding to the positive informative effect of such regulation.

Pollen content and radiocarbon ages of profile Delorett, Austria

A pollen profile from the highest known peatbog in the Alps is presented. The peatbog started to grow about 8000 years ago and over the last 5000 years. The influence of man on the vegetation is documented. Before the beginning of the bronze age pasturing started.

Utilização do modelo skip-gram para representação distribuída de palavras no projeto Media Cloud Brasil

Existe um problema de representação em processamento de linguagem natural, pois uma vez que o modelo tradicional de bag-of-words representa os documentos e as palavras em uma unica matriz, esta tende a ser completamente esparsa. Para lidar com este problema, surgiram alguns métodos que são capazes de representar as palavras utilizando uma representação distribuída, em um espaço de dimensão menor e mais compacto, inclusive tendo a propriedade de relacionar palavras de forma semântica. Este trabalho tem como objetivo utilizar um conjunto de documentos obtido através do projeto Media Cloud Brasil para aplicar o modelo skip-gram em busca de explorar relações e encontrar padrões que facilitem na compreensão do conteúdo.

Digital Activism: How Social Media Prevalence has Impacted Modern Activism

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Function and Regulation of Cytochrome P450 4V2 and the Implications in Bietti’s Crystalline Dystrophy

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Online Video as a Tool for Planning Education and Engagement: A Content Analysis of U.S. City Planning Departments’ YouTube Channels

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Mediated approaches for influencing physical activity: Update of the evidence on mass media, print, telephone and website delivery of interventions

The aim of this paper is to review evidence published since 1997 on the effectiveness of mass media, print, telephone and website-delivered physical activity (PA) interventions. For mass media, there is consistent evidence for impacts on recall of campaign tag lines and message content and modest evidence of short-term impacts on behaviour in some population subgroups. Print-based delivery of programs can have a modest impact on behaviour; research is needed on supplementary strategies to support print programs. Although there is a strong case for the potential of telephone and Internet delivered interventions, there is as yet little evidence that they can be effective. All of these 'mediated' approaches to PA program delivery are likely to be important elements of future public health interventions. The body of evidence for their effectiveness in changing behaviour is currently modest, however, and it is clear that these approaches have not yet been fully developed and evaluated. Combinations of different media and mutually supportive, integrated strategies are likely to be more effective and need to be developed and evaluated systematically, building on the current research evidence base.

Media guidelines on the reporting of suicide

There is strong evidence for the existence of the Werther effect, or the phenomenon of an observer copying suicidal behavior he or she has seen modelled in the media. As a consequence, a number of countries have developed guidelines that promote responsible reporting of suicide. Using nine such guidelines as examples, this paper demonstrates that they tend to have similar content (emphasizing, for example, that suicide should not be,glamorized or sensationalized and that explicit descriptions should be avoided, and stressing the importance of providing information about help services), but differ in the way in which they have been developed (e.g., the extent to which media professionals have been involved) and implemented (e.g., whether their roll-out has involved a considered dissemination strategy). The paper also reviews the evidence from evaluations of media guidelines, and concludes that it is too limited to determine whether the guidelines have had an impact on the behavior of media professionals or on completed and attempted suicide rates. It makes recommendations for further evaluative work, and suggests that the lessons from well-designed evaluations should be shared.

The relationship between media reporting of suicide and actual suicide in Australia

This study aimed to determine whether media items about suicide were associated with differential increases in actual suicides. Data were available on 4635 suicide-related items appearing in Australian newspapers and on radio and television news and current affairs shows between March 2000 and February 2001. These data were combined with national data on completed suicides occurring during the same period, by a process that involved identifying the date and geographical reach of the media items and determining the number of suicides occurring in the same location in selected weeks pre- and post-item. Regression analyses were conducted to determine whether the likelihood of an increase in post-item suicides could be explained by particular item characteristics. We found that 39% of media items were followed by an increase in mate suicides, and 31% by an increase in female suicides. Media items were more likely to be associated with increases in both male and female suicides if they occurred in the context of multiple other reports on suicide (versus occurring in isolation), if they were broadcast on television (versus other media), and if they were about completed suicide (versus attempted suicide or suicidal ideation). Different item content appeared to be influential for males and females, with an increase in male suicides being associated with items about an individual's experience of suicide and opinion pieces, and an increase in female suicides being associated with items about mass- or murder-suicide. Item prominence and quality were not differentially associated with increases in male or female suicides. Further research on this topic is required, but in the meantime there is a need to remain vigilant about how suicide news is reported. Mental health professionals and suicide experts should collaborate with media professionals to try to balance 'public interest' against the risk of harm. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.