From its origins in virtual financial transactions, emerging initiatives are seeking to acquire a new identity for blockchain as capable of addressing anxieties over the capacity of digital media to ...permanently and accurately store information. In this article, we explore the ensuing mediation between blockchain enterprises and new professional communities to which they are catering. Drawing on thematic analysis, we analyze how this process is being carried out through the discursive construction of trust, leveraged rhetorically in academic, trade, and news publications to extend an application for financial transactions to cultural institutions. We describe how trust is used not only to mediate the introduction of an application that prioritizes decentralization and cryptography, but is the turf on which traditional institutions are staking a claim as the trustworthy managers of digital records through their use of blockchain. The concept of the archival imaginary—a vision of what archives and blockchain should be and mean that pivots on imagined needs and technological capacities based on the current information ecology, institutional control, and expert systems—offers a way to illuminate this process.
Much has been written about the potential of large-scale digital disclosures, or ‘megaleaks’, to transform journalistic coverage of high-value news. This analysis takes a second look at the ...phenomenon by analyzing three of the best-known megaleaks to date: those disclosed by Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and John Doe, the source of the Panama Papers. To what extent did these large-scale disclosures disrupt the media capture that distorts or limits coverage by an autonomous press? A study of circumstances surrounding these three megaleaks suggests that their main effect was encouraging a culture of collaborative work that favors independence from official sources.
This dissertation examines the way that demands for more control over the collection, processing, and sharing of personal data are being managed by both government and industry leaders with ...strategies that appear to comply with regulations, but that fail to do so. These are “by-design” strategies used by individuals to unilaterally manage their data with automated tools.I take a multimethod approach that combines autoethnography, reverse engineering techniques, and data analysis to assess the implementation of by-design services implemented by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in compliance with current European Union regulations for access and portability. I also employ archival research, discourse analysis, interviews, and participant observation. I argue that self-led, by-design approaches do not answer the demands for more control over personal data. The regulatory and technical resources put in place for individuals to control their data are not effective because they turn over decisions about execution to an industry with no interest in sharing that data or being regulated. If policymakers continue to pursue by-design approaches, they will need to learn how to test the techniques, and the execution of the techniques, provided by industry. They will need to assess the impact on data that is made available. So that results can be evaluated, by-design tools like the ones I assessed must be accompanied by clear and detailed details about design choices and procedures. In this vein, I offer directions for critical scrutiny, including standards and measuring the impact of APIs.I conclude that self-managed, by-design approaches are not the source of the problem. But they are a symptom of the need for critical scrutiny over the execution of tools like the ones offered by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ultimately, I found that portability and access are legally and technically fraught. However, despite the shortcomings of by-design approaches, personal data can be more effectively regulated in Europe than in the United States as the result of current regulations.
To evaluate the association of ultrasound findings and other factors with the decision to terminate trisomy-21-affected pregnancies.
We performed a retrospective analysis of trisomy-21-affected ...pregnancies diagnosed prior to 24 weeks' gestation. Data were collected on maternal age, indications for prenatal diagnosis, gestational age at diagnosis, marital status, race, parity and ultrasound findings. Logistic regression, chi(2), t test and Fishers exact test were used for statistical analysis.
Fifty-nine pregnancies were identified with a termination rate of 72.9%. Termination rates were significantly lower in patients with major (50%) or minor (64%) ultrasound abnormalities than in patients with normal ultrasound exams (92%), p = 0.026 and 0.022, respectively. Patients who chose terminations were older (36.1 vs. 32.3), but this did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.059).
Patients with abnormal ultrasound results were more likely to continue a trisomy 21 pregnancy.
α-Tocopherol is a potent antioxidant that protects cell membranes against oxidative damage. Red blood cell α-tocopherol levels reflect membrane α-tocopherol concentrations, and altered levels may ...suggest membrane damage. The objective of this study was to determine the levels of α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl quinone, the oxidized product of α-tocopherol, in plasma and red blood cells that were obtained from control subjects and patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer.
In this cross-sectional study, 72 women, (32 African American and 40 Hispanic) were recruited. Among these subjects, 37 women had cervical intraepithelial neoplasia; 14 women had cervical cancer, and 21 women were considered control subjects, who had normal Papanicolaou test results. α-Tocopherol and α-tocopheryl quinone levels were determined in red blood cell and plasma by high-pressure liquid chromatography.
Plasma levels of α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl quinone were decreased significantly (
P
=
.012 and
=
.005, respectively, by Kruskal-Wallis test) in study groups compared with the control group; red blood cell levels of α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl quinone were not altered significantly.
The lower α-tocopherol level that was observed in this study is consistent with our previous reports of decreased antioxidant concentrations and increased oxidative stress in women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Unaltered red blood cell α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl quinone levels suggest undamaged cell membrane. Further studies are needed to investigate the potential role of oxidative stress in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.
This dissertation examines the way that demands for more control over the collection, processing, and sharing of personal data are being managed by both government and industry leaders with ...strategies that appear to comply with regulations, but that fail to do so. These are “by-design” strategies used by individuals to unilaterally manage their data with automated tools.
I take a multimethod approach that combines autoethnography, reverse engineering techniques, and data analysis to assess the implementation of by-design services implemented by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in compliance with current European Union regulations for access and portability. I also employ archival research, discourse analysis, interviews, and participant observation.
I argue that self-led, by-design approaches do not answer the demands for more control over personal data. The regulatory and technical resources put in place for individuals to control their data are not effective because they turn over decisions about execution to an industry with no interest in sharing that data or being regulated. If policymakers continue to pursue by-design approaches, they will need to learn how to test the techniques, and the execution of the techniques, provided by industry. They will need to assess the impact on data that is made available. So that results can be evaluated, by-design tools like the ones I assessed must be accompanied by clear and detailed details about design choices and procedures. In this vein, I offer directions for critical scrutiny, including standards and measuring the impact of APIs.
I conclude that self-managed, by-design approaches are not the source of the problem. But they are a symptom of the need for critical scrutiny over the execution of tools like the ones offered by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ultimately, I found that portability and access are legally and technically fraught. However, despite the shortcomings of by-design approaches, personal data can be more effectively regulated in Europe than in the United States as the result of current regulations.
Coral reefs are losing the capacity to sustain their biological functions
. In addition to other well-known stressors, such as climatic change and overfishing
, plastic pollution is an emerging ...threat to coral reefs, spreading throughout reef food webs
, and increasing disease transmission and structural damage to reef organisms
. Although recognized as a global concern
, the distribution and quantity of plastics trapped in the world's coral reefs remains uncertain
. Here we survey 84 shallow and deep coral ecosystems at 25 locations across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian ocean basins for anthropogenic macrodebris (pollution by human-generated objects larger than 5 centimetres, including plastics), performing 1,231 transects. Our results show anthropogenic debris in 77 out of the 84 reefs surveyed, including in some of Earth's most remote and near-pristine reefs, such as in uninhabited central Pacific atolls. Macroplastics represent 88% of the anthropogenic debris, and, like other debris types, peak in deeper reefs (mesophotic zones at 30-150 metres depth), with fishing activities as the main source of plastics in most areas. These findings contrast with the global pattern observed in other nearshore marine ecosystems, where macroplastic densities decrease with depth and are dominated by consumer items
. As the world moves towards a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution
, understanding its distribution and drivers provides key information to help to design the strategies needed to address this ubiquitous threat.
