Pressure, compromise and overwork: How Australian regional journalists gain job satisfaction through community service

In a time of enormous change in the Australian news media industry – with outlet closures, redesign of company business models, rationalization of staff and shifts in medium uptake – this article explores journalists’ exposure to and perceptions of work pressures in their jobs. It explores the relationship of these experiences with the journalists’ job satisfaction. The study reports that journalists find the industry difficult and demanding, with time pressures, ethical compromise and overwork being their main concerns. However, the study also found that journalists still derive satisfaction from a profession they perceive as meaningful through informing their communities about matters that affect their decision making and how they live. This passion for community service alongside the notion of holding authority to account result in a sense of overarching job satisfaction. This article presents part of a study that investigated the experience of journalists in remote and regional media organizations in Queensland and New South Wales through survey and interviews.

Falling Apart and Coming Together: How Public Perceptions of Leadership Change in Response to Natural Disasters vs. Health Crises

Responding to disruptions and crises are challenges public leaders face as they strive to lead responsibly for the good of the community. The last two years have been especially challenging for public leaders and institutions. In Australia, the federal government battled natural disasters (bushfires) and COVID-19 within the span of only a few months, beginning in late 2019. These events provided the opportunity for a natural experiment to explore public perceptions of leadership in times of crises, with both a natural disaster and health crisis in quick succession. In this study, we develop, validate, and test a scale of perceptions of leadership for the greater good, the Australian Leadership Index, throughout different crisis contexts. We hypothesize and find support for the drivers of perceptions of public leadership and shifts in these perceptions as a function of the bushfire disaster response, a negative shift, and the initial COVID-19 response, a positive shift. Comparisons of the crisis periods against a period of relative stability are made. We discuss the implications of differential media coverage, how the crises were managed, and the resulting public perceptions of leadership for the greater good.

Derived blockchain architecture for security-conscious data dissemination in edge-envisioned Internet of Drones ecosystem

Internet of Drones (IoD) facilitates the autonomous operations of drones into every application (warfare, surveillance, photography, etc) across the world. The transmission of data (to and fro) related to these applications occur between the drones and the other infrastructure over wireless channels that must abide to the stringent latency restrictions. However, relaying this data to the core cloud infrastructure may lead to a higher round trip delay. Thus, we utilize the cloud close to the ground, i.e., edge computing to realize an edge-envisioned IoD ecosystem. However, as this data is relayed over an open communication channel, it is often prone to different types of attacks due to it wider attack surface. Thus, we need to find a robust solution that can maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of the data while providing desired services. Blockchain technology is capable to handle these challenges owing to the distributed ledger that store the data immutably. However, the conventional block architecture pose several challenges because of limited computational capabilities of drones. As the size of blockchain increases, the data flow also increases and so does the associated challenges. Hence, to overcome these challenges, in this work, we have proposed a derived blockchain architecture that decouples the data part (or block ledger) from the block header and shifts it to off-chain storage. In our approach, the registration of a new drone is performed to enable legitimate access control thus ensuring identity management and traceability. Further, the interactions happen in the form of transactions of the blockchain. We propose a lightweight consensus mechanism based on the stochastic selection followed by a transaction signing process to ensure that each drone is in control of its block. The proposed scheme also handles the expanding storage requirements with the help of data compression using a shrinking block mechanism. Lastly, the problem of additional delay anticipated due to drone mobility is handled using a multi-level caching mechanism. The proposed work has been validated in a simulated Gazebo environment and the results are promising in terms of different metrics. We have also provided numerical validations in context of complexity, communication overheads and computation costs.

Increasing instability of a rocky intertidal meta-ecosystem

Climate change threatens to destabilize ecological communities, potentially moving them from persistently occupied “basins of attraction” to different states. Increasing variation in key ecological processes can signal impending state shifts in ecosystems. In a rocky intertidal meta-ecosystem consisting of three distinct regions spread across 260 km of the Oregon coast, we show that annually cleared sites are characterized by communities that exhibit signs of increasing destabilization (loss of resilience) over the past decade despite persistent community states. In all cases, recovery rates slowed and became more variable over time. The conditions underlying these shifts appear to be external to the system, with thermal disruptions (e.g., marine heat waves, El Niño–Southern Oscillation) and shifts in ocean currents (e.g., upwelling) being the likely proximate drivers. Although this iconic ecosystem has long appeared resistant to stress, the evidence suggests that subtle destabilization has occurred over at least the last decade.

‘Long Covid’ (post-covid syndrome): Mechanism of occurrence, diagnosis and rehabilitation

The article is devoted to the study of an urgent problem of modern humanity – the fight against a pandemic caused by a new coronavirus infection, namely: the study of the mechanism of development of ‘long Covid’ (post-covid syndrome), a new clinical and laboratory method of its diagnosis, issues of drug and non-drug rehabilitation of patients who have suffered COVID‑19. The paper describes the etiopathogenesis of post-covid syndrome (PS), the distinctive features of which are the defeat of the cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, digestive, immune systems of the body, ENT organs and musculoskeletal system. For the diagnosis of post-covid syndrome, a monochrome nanoparticle analyzer (MAN) has been tested for the first time in the Russian Federation, which allows determining pathophysiological shifts in the homeostasis system. It was found that the MAN method has a sufficiently high diagnostic sensitivity (78%), and shifts in the homeostasis system in post-covid syndrome are statistically significant (p < 0.001). A fundamentally important point of this study is that an algorithm has been developed for noninvasive diagnosis of PS by saliva (oropharyngeal flushes), based on the detection of a high contribution to the scattering of laser radiation in the mid-frequency range of the spectrum on nanoparticles ranging in size from 119 to 121 nm. The article also pays special attention to medicinal and non-medicinal methods of treatment of patients with ‘long Covid’ experiencing the consequences of a new coronavirus infection. It has been established that the best effect is provided by complex treatment combining methods of the traditional European school (drug therapy with the use of cardiovascular drugs, nootropic agents, chondroprotectors, vitamins and mineral complexes, hormones, hepatoprotectors, biostimulants, sedatives and anti-inflammatory drugs and other drugs) and non-drug methods of restorative treatment practiced by Oriental medicine (acupuncture, hirudotherapy, massage, osteopathy, etc.).

A Descriptive Analysis of Non-obligatory Shifts in Three Disney Animated Films Dubbed into Modern Standard Arabic

This qualitative quantitative descriptive-analytical study aimed to describe the non-obligatory shifts employed in three English Disney animated films dubbed into MSA by applying Toury’s (1995/2012) normative model and shifts introduced in the course of his applied case studies. The researcher described and analyzed preliminary, initial and operational norms (non-obligatory shifts) employed on the level of three textual segments: the lexical-semantic, the stylistic, and the prosodic. The researcher compared those shifts with the original choices in the English versions of three selected Disney animated films. In the light of Toury’s theory (1995/2012), the current study investigated the hypothesis that the accepted socio-cultural, ideological, and linguistic norms of the Arabic culture directed the choices of the non-obligatory shifts chosen by the Arabic dubbers of English Disney animations dubbed into MSA. This investigation was conducted in application to three case studies, namely, Tangled (2010), Frozen (2013) and Big Hero 6 (2014). In order to decide the most frequently used shifts in the process of dubbing, the frequency rate of each non-obligatory shift was calculated to determine the highest frequently used shift. The study came to the conclusion that there is a direct relationship between the non-obligatory shifts (operational norms) applied during dubbing on the one hand and the socio-cultural, ideological, and linguistic norms imposed by the target culture on the other hand. Those target culture norms governed not only the operational choices but also the preliminary choices of the three selected Disney animated films dubbed into MSA. Affected by the preliminary and operational norms, Arab dubbers’ tendency towards producing acceptable rather than adequate translations decided the initial norms.

Burial-induced deterioration in leather: a FTIR-ATR, DSC, TG/DTG, MHT and SEM study

In this study we used an analytical approach based on complementary techniques that targets all structural levels of collagen in leather to investigate how vegetable-tanned leather deteriorates during soil burial tests. For the first time, a group of deterioration markers specific to molecular, fibrillar and fibrous structure of collagen in leather was associated with the deterioration of buried leather. The application of the second order derivative of FTIR-ATR spectra analysis allowed us to detect loosening of collagen–tannin matrix, de-tanning and gelatin formation based on the behaviour of collagen and tannin spectral components (intensity variation and shifts). Collagen denaturation observed by DSC analysis and its thermo-oxidative behaviour measured by TG/DTG analysis, as well as the altered morphology of collagen (namely melt-like fibres and distorted fibrillar ultrastructure) imaged by SEM confirmed the FTIR-ATR analyis results. These analytical outcomes enabled us to understand the effect of leather hardening/cementing through soil mineral penetration into its fibrous structure and thus correctly interprete the higher-than-expected shrinkage temperatures and intervals determinatd by MHT method. Thus, MHT method proved to be suitable for a quick evaluation method that can direcly support the first conservation decision after excavation. The combination of FTIR-ATR, DSC, TG/DTG and SEM can be particularly useful to provide insights on the deterioration mechanism of archaeological leather and support best decision on its long-term preservation.

Neuronal apoptosis drives remodeling states of microglia and shifts in survival pathway dependence

Microglia serve critical remodeling roles that shape the developing nervous system, responding to the changing neural environment with phagocytosis or soluble factor secretion. Recent single-cell sequencing (scRNAseq) studies have revealed the context-dependent diversity in microglial properties and gene expression, but the cues promoting this diversity are not well defined. Here, we ask how interactions with apoptotic neurons shape microglial state, including lysosomal and lipid metabolism gene expression and independence from Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) for survival. Using early postnatal mouse retina, a CNS region undergoing significant developmental remodeling, we performed scRNAseq on microglia from mice that are wild-type, lack neuronal apoptosis (Bax KO), or are treated with CSF1R inhibitor (PLX3397). We find that interactions with apoptotic neurons drives multiple microglial remodeling states, subsets of which are resistant to CSF1R inhibition. We find that TAM receptor Mer and complement receptor 3 are required for clearance of apoptotic neurons, but that Mer does not drive expression of remodeling genes. We show TAM receptor Axl is negligible for phagocytosis or remodeling gene expression but is consequential for microglial survival in the absence of CSF1R signaling. Thus, interactions with apoptotic neurons shift microglia towards distinct remodeling states and through Axl, alters microglial dependence on survival pathway, CSF1R.

Integrating morphologic and molecular histopathological features through whole slide image registration and deep learning

Background Modern molecular pathology workflows in neuro-oncology heavily rely on the integration of morphologic and immunohistochemical patterns for analysis, classification, and prognostication. However, despite the recent emergence of digital pathology platforms and artificial intelligence-driven computational image analysis tools, automating the integration of histomorphologic information found across these multiple studies is challenged by large files sizes of whole slide images (WSIs) and shifts/rotations in tissue sections introduced during slide preparation. Methods To address this, we develop a workflow that couples different computer vision tools including scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) and deep learning to efficiently align and integrate histopathological information found across multiple independent studies. We highlight the utility and automation potential of this workflow in the molecular subclassification and discovery of previously unappreciated spatial patterns in diffuse gliomas. Results First, we show how a SIFT-driven computer vision workflow was effective at automated WSI alignment in a cohort of 107 randomly selected surgical neuropathology cases (97/107 (91%) showing appropriate matches, AUC = 0.96). This alignment allows our AI-driven diagnostic workflow to not only differentiate different brain tumor types, but also integrate and carry out molecular subclassification of diffuse gliomas using relevant immunohistochemical biomarkers (IDH1-R132H, ATRX). To highlight the discovery potential of this workflow, we also examined spatial distributions of tumors showing heterogenous expression of the proliferation marker MIB1 and Olig2. This analysis helped uncovered an interesting and unappreciated association of Olig2 positive and proliferative areas in some gliomas (r = 0.62). Conclusion This efficient neuropathologist-inspired workflow provides a generalizable approach to help automate a variety of advanced immunohistochemically compatible diagnostic and discovery exercises in surgical neuropathology and neuro-oncology.