Mob censorship, which "expresses the will of ordinary citizens to exert power over journalists through discursive violence" is traditionally considered a grassroots phenomenon. However, within ...technically mediated systems, who is behind the mob is sometimes unclear. We therefore ask how the technical affordances of the Internet and telecommunications networks complicate the identification of attackers and their motivations and multiply the forms of retaliation that attackers level against journalists. We conducted 18 semistructured interviews with seven current or former journalists, as well as 11 professionals with experience defending news organizations, including security specialists, press freedom advocates, and newsroom infrastructure support staff. Through a constructivist grounded theory approach and in conversation with Lewis and Westlund's (
2015
) 4A framework, we found that journalists and those defending news organizations do not reliably identify sources and motivations behind attacks, which may be grassroots in nature but may also be instigated by corporate or government actors. Journalists nonetheless infer attribution and motivation from the context surrounding attacks. Systemic issues related to the lack of diversity, ongoing financial constraints, and journalistic norms of engagement, alongside a lack of internal and platform support, exacerbate repercussions from these attacks and harm journalism's role in a democracy.
Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB), a unique group of Gram-negative bacteria utilizing methane as a sole source of carbon and energy, have been proved to be a biological indicator for gas prospecting. ...Field and cultivation-free detection of MOB is important but still challenging in current microbial prospecting of oil and gas (MPOG) system. Herein, SERS was used for the first time to our knowledge to investigate two species of methanotrophs and four closely relevant bacteria that universally coexisted in the upper soil of natural gas. A special but very simple approach was utilized to make silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) sufficiently contact with every single bacterial cell, and highly strong and distinct Raman signals free from any native fluorescence have been obtained, and successfully utilized for distinguishing MOB from other species. A more convincing multi-Raman criterion based on single Raman bands, and further the entire Raman spectrum in combination with statistical analysis (e.g., principal component analysis (PCA)), which were found capable of classifying MOB related bacterial cells in soil with an accuracy of 100%. This study therefore demonstrated sensitive and rapid SERS measurement technique accompanied by complete Raman database of various gas reservoirs related bacteria could aid field exploration of natural gas reservoir.
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•Label-free SERS used for the first time to the microbial prospecting of oil and gas.•A very simple and rapid procedure for making silver nanoparticles sufficiently contact with bacteria was obtained.•Six MOB related bacterial species were successfully discriminated.
Safe environment contact, and high-performance motion control are typically conflicting design goals. Admittance control can improve safety and stability in contact with a stiff environment but ...remains challenging on industrial robots. Typically, high-performance motion control is achieved by low-admittance systems, which can give high transient forces or instability in contact with high-stiffness environments. This article proposes a linear admittance control framework from which a multifunction observer (MOB)-based control scheme that succeeds in directly improving the motion control accuracy by suppressing disturbances, while achieving better loop shaping in the outer-loop admittance control is designed. By using the task space force and position measurement of the robot, combined with linearized position-controlled robot and payload models to design the MOB, the outer-loop controller can render improved interactive dynamics. In addition, a methodology to design the proposed MOB based on the reduced-order model is developed. Furthermore, the bounded-magnitude frequency-domain uncertainty in the linear model is identified at a variety of robot poses. Theoretical evaluations and experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed MOB-based control method, in contact with a very stiff environment and with a 7-kg payload.
Very large floating structures (VLFS) are typically made up of several modules of offshore platforms, such as semi-submersibles, connected by mechanical connectors. The proposed Truss Pontoon Mobile ...Offshore Base (TP-MOB) is a new type of offshore platform based on the truss pontoon semi-submersible design. The design of the connectors is crucial for the functionality of the structure. In this study, the flexible connectors are modeled with a 3D source distribution method and the wave forces are estimated with 3D linear potential theory. The open-source finite element-based numerical model, HYDRAN-XR, is used to analyze the structural responses and connector forces in both regular and irregular wave conditions. The results indicate significant differences in responses between single and multi-module cases, especially in extreme waves. Loads on the connector change greatly for three- and five-module cases, with maximum values at specific wave angles.
•Investigated the Truss Pontoon - MOB using open-source finite-element-based code (HYDRAN-XR tool).•Implemented Rigid Module Flexible Connector (RMFC) for the Truss Pontoon - MOB.•Single and multi-module interactions of Truss Pontoons - MOBs are considered under regular/irregular wave conditions.•Responses and forces acting on the connectors of Truss Pontoon - MOB modules are reported.
Aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) play an important role in reducing methane emissions in nature. Most current researches focus on the natural habitats (e.g., lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, ...paddy fields, etc.). However, methanotrophs and the methane-oxidizing process remain essentially unclear in artificial habitat, such as the urban water cycle systems. Here, high-throughput sequencing and qPCR were used to analyze the community structure and abundance of MOB. Six different systems were selected from Yunyang City, Chongqing, China, including the raw water system (RW), the water supply pipe network system (SP), the wastewater pipe network system (WP), the hospital wastewater treatment system (HP), the municipal wastewater treatment plant system (WT) and the downstream river system (ST) of a wastewater treatment plant. Results clearly showed that the MOB community structure and network interaction patterns of the urban water cycle system were different from those of natural water bodies. Type I MOB was the dominant clade in HP. Methylocysis in Type II was the most abundant genus among the whole urban water cycle system, indicating that this genus had a high adaptability to the environment. Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and concentration significantly affected the MOB communities in the urban water cycle system. The network of MOB in WT was the most complicated, and there were competitive relationships among species in WP. The structure of the network in HP was unstable, and therefore, it was vulnerable to environmental disturbances. Methylocystis (Type II) and Methylomonas (Type I) were the most important keystone species in the entire urban water cycle system. Overall, these findings broaden the understanding of the distribution and interaction patterns of MOB communities in an urban water cycle system and provide valuable clues for ecosystem restoration and environmental management.
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•Initial exploration of the MOB communities in an urban water cycle system.•Methylocysis has the highest abundance in the entire urban water cycle system.•Methylomonas has a high adaptability to the environment of hospital wastewater.•Network interaction indicates that low-abundance species had an irreplaceable role.
Anti-press sentiment based on negative emotions of disgust and hatred has prevailed in Korea since the mid-2010s. Through in-depth interviews with ten journalists working for Korean news ...organizations, supplemented with an analysis of self-reflective articles, this study investigates how journalists experience this audience hostility and harassment, how they cope with it, and how their practices are influenced by it. The analysis reveals that, combined with the dualistic views of populist politics and the influence of misogynic narratives, journalists who cover topics, such as politics and gender, are more likely to become targets of anti-press violence. Moreover, it shows that anti-press violence induces negative emotions, such as discomfort, anger, lethargy, and fear, among journalists. To cope with these emotions, with little support from their news organizations, journalists tend to pursue emotion-focused coping strategies, such as striving for perfection in the newswork process, building emotional boundaries between the audience and themselves, counter-hating readers, and blaming other journalists. Finally, the paper suggests that anti-press violence in Korea promotes a chilling effect in news organizations that, consequently, may infringe on individual journalists' autonomy and editorial independence.
Erosion of sink rolls by molten zinc is one of the most prominent and persistent problems occurring in hot-dip galvanizing industry. MoB–CoCr as an alternative to WC–12Co for stainless steel ...protective coating resistance to molten zinc was deposited by high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF). Microstructure and mechanical characterization of the coatings were carried out by SEM, XRD and micro-hardness test. Resistance to thermal shock and molten zinc corrosion of the coatings were also conducted. Results showed that MoB–CoCr coating exhibited a better resistance property to thermal shock than that of WC–12Co. At the same time, the corrosion test showed that lifetime of samples with MoB–CoCr coatings in molten zinc appeared to be longer than that of WC coating. The corrosion resistance of MoB–CoCr coating may be ascribed to non-wettability of MoB–CoCr in molten zinc, which can delay the molten zinc penetration into substrates along the micro-cracks of the coating.
•MoB–CoCr as alternative to WC–12Co for stainless steel protective coating was deposited by HVOF.•MoB–CoCr coating exhibited a better resistance property to thermal shock than WC–12Co coating.•Lifetime of MoB–CoCr coatings in molten zinc was also longer than that of WC–12Co coating.•The excellent corrosion resistance of MoB–CoCr coating may be ascribed to non-wettability property of the coating.
This article contributes to our understanding of the notion of mob censorship from the Ugandan context by examining the nature and consequences of harassment targeting women journalists on social ...media. Drawing on research about online harassment and censorship, we link mob violence in physical spaces to harassment encountered on social media from the perspectives of women journalists. We illustrate that the different forms of harassment enabled by online platforms present serious challenges for individual journalists, and the journalism profession. Our findings suggest that online attacks on reporters include comments that denigrate women's bodies, and discredit journalists' reportage. The harassment compels women journalists to engage in online hibernation and censorship.
•Integrating traditional centrality and spectral modularity methods to explore intensive focal structures in social networks.•Applying decomposition optimization method to maximize the individual ...centrality measure and the network modularity value in the network level in complex social networks.•Measuring the influence generated by each focal structure on the individual level and the network level.•Applying the DCFM to measure the power generated by each focal structure.•Applying Newman-Girvan modularity method and depth-first search and linear graph algorithm to validate our results.•Evaluating model performance- apply to different social and real-world networks.•Implementing a toy example as a complexity analysis, and a real-world Twitter network.•Applying different centrality methods (degree, betweenness, closeness, eigenvector) and compare their results.
Social media has influenced socio-political aspects of many societies around the world. It is an effortless way for people to enhance their communication, connect with like-minded people, and share ideas. Online social networks (OSNs) can be used for noble causes by bringing together communities with common shared interests and to promote awareness of various causes. However, there is a dark side to the use of OSNs. OSNs can also be used as a coordination and amplification platform for attacks. For instance, adversaries can increase the impact of an attack by causing panic in an area by promoting attacks using OSNs. Public data can help adversaries to determine the best timing for attacks, scheduling attacks, and then using OSNs to coordinate attacks on networks or physical locations. This convergence of the cyber and physical worlds is known as cybernetics. In this paper, we introduce an integrated method to identify malicious behavior and the actors responsible for propagating this behavior via online social networks. Throughout history we have used surveillance techniques to monitor negative behavior, activities, and information. Quantitative socio-technical methods such as deviant cyber flash mob (DCFM) detection and focal structure analysis (FSA) can provide reconnaissance capabilities that enable cities and governments to look beyond internal data and identify threats based on active events. Groups of powerful hackers can be identified through FSA which is an integrated model that uses a betweenness centrality method at the node-level and spectral modularity at group-level to identify a hidden malicious and powerful focal structure (a subset of the network). Assessment of groups using DCFM methods can help to identify powerful actors and prevent attacks. In this study, we examine multiple data sets integrating the DCFM and FSA models to help cybersecurity experts see a better picture of the threat which will help to plan a better response.
