Functions and roles of social media in media transformation in China: A case study of “@CCTV NEWS”

Social media has transformed how traditional media is used and viewed in China. Many traditional media companies are utilizing social media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo (Micro Blog), and Cellphone-Applications to expand their influence. But how has social media contributed to the transformation process of traditional mainstream media in China? Did they push the reform in both deep level and superficial level? We attempts to find the answers by taking CCTV (China’s state media) as the subject of research and explore the social factors that facilitated China’s traditional media’s transformation process, the traditional media’s achievements, as well as the challenges during this period.The paper consists of six parts. In the first part, we had a literature review, and elaborated on terms included in this paper. In the second part, we gave an general introduction to different development periods of CCTV station, CCTV News programs and CCTV’s social media transformation. In the third part, we analyzed the factors that encouraged CCTV to take the strategy of transformation, which are also urging other mainstream media companies in China to take the same steps. In the fourth part, we looked into the achievements the media companies made during the transformation period. Afterwards, the deficiencies and limitations in the transformation process are also analyzed. Finally, we drew conclusions that in the process of transformation, social media plays an important role in superficial reform while attaining very limited achievements in the fundamental level. There is still a long way to go in order to accomplish the all-round integration with new media.The thesis utilizes in-depth interviews, content analysis and literature review as methods of research. It is worth mentioning that this paper is based on first-hand data retrieved from the New Media Department of CCTV News Center.     

Examining the roles of social media and alternative media in social movement participation: A study of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement

During the recent wave of pro-democracy movement across the world, new media technologies play a vital role in mobilizing participants. Much scholarly attention has been paid to the role of social media in empowering grassroots movements, but the rise of alternative media was somehow ignored. This study examines the impacts of social media and alternative media on social movement participation. The data came from a survey of 769 students from eight public universities in Hong Kong at the height of the Umbrella Movement. The findings revealed that acquisition of political information from social media and alternative media is associated with social movement participation through different mechanisms. Specifically, social media serve as an echo chamber where people are motivated to participate by perceiving a homogeneous opinion climate and forming a pro-protest attitude. In contrast, alternative media serve as an attitude intensifier to facilitate social movement participation.     

Does social media use really make people politically polarized? Direct and indirect effects of social media use on political polarization in South Korea

To help inform the debate over whether social media is related to political polarization, we investigated the effects of social media use on changes in political view using panel data collected in South Korea (N?=?6411) between 2012 and 2016. We found that, although there were no direct effects of social media use, social media indirectly contributed to polarization through increased political engagement. Those who actively used social network sites were more likely to engage in political processes, which led them to develop more extreme political attitudes over time than those who did not use social network sites. In particular, we observed a clear trend toward a more liberal direction among both politically neutral users and moderately liberal users. In this study, we highlight the role of social media in activating political participation, which eventually pushes the users toward the ideological poles. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Do social media literacy skills help in combating fake news spread? Modelling the moderating role of social media literacy skills in the relationship between rational choice factors and fake news sharing behaviour

This study modelled the rational factors that predict fake news sharing behaviour. It also tested the moderating role of social media literacy skills. The focus was on social media users in Nigeria. An online survey was conducted to gather the responses from participants across Nigerian geopolitical zones. Structural equation modelling (SEM) Smart PLS 3.6 was used to analyse the data. We found that information sharing, the news finds me perception, trust in social media and status-seeking lead to fake news sharing among social media users in Nigeria. Specifically, trust in social media and status-seeking had a greater effect on fake news sharing behaviour. We also found that social media literacy skills significantly moderate the relationship between information sharing, status-seeking, the news finds me perception, trust in social media and fake news sharing in such a way that the effects/relationships are stronger among those with low social media literacy skills. This outcome contributes to theory and practice which was highlighted in the concluding aspect of this study.     

Participation – In what? Radio,convergence and the corporate logic of audience input through new media in Zambia

Recent literature has pointed to the way in which new media such as the internet and mobile phones have the capacity to enable more participatory and interactive communication, either through user-generated content or through a broader participation of audiences in mainstream media’s content production. This potential is celebrated even more in contexts in which there is deemed to be a lack of political accountability or limited consultation of citizens by government. This article investigates the extent to which new technologies have changed the quality of audience participation in radio content production in Zambia. Engaging with literature on participation in media studies as well as development studies and based on interviews with station managers, producers and presenters of six radio stations in Zambia, the article examines both the opportunities and limits of the use of internet and mobile phones in audience participation. It argues that there is a need to situate these practices within a broader corporate logic in which participation is not merely about adding more voices but also feeds into radio stations’ commercial strategies of increasing revenue and accessing personal data of listeners through SMS and social media.     

Thermal Analysis of InAlAs/InGaAs/InP Mid-infrared QCLs Operating in CW Mode

A simulation method for the thermal analysis of InAlAs/InGaAs/InP mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) based on finite-element method (FEM) is presented. The thermal distribution of the QCLs on substrate-side or epilayer-side mounting forms is simulated and the results are compared. Results show that the epilayer-side mounting form has much better heat dissipation capability than the substrate-side mounting.     

Numerical Explanation of Slow Transients in an AlGaN/GaN HEMT

观察了AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件在短期应力后不同栅偏置下的一组漏极电流瞬态,发现瞬态的时间常数随栅偏压变化很小,据此判断这组瞬态由电子陷阱的释放引起.为了验证这个判断,采用数值仿真手段计算了上述瞬态.分别考虑了在器件中不同空间位置的电子陷阱,分析了应力和瞬态中相应的陷阱行为,对比和解释了仿真曲线与测量结果的异同.基于上述讨论,提出测量的瞬态可能是表面深陷阱和GaN层体陷阱的综合作用的结果.     

Analysis and optimization of distance measurement in MATLAB/SIMULINK model

Based on the basic principle of Time-Of-Flight cameras，a novel MATLAB/SIMULINK model is proposed to measure phase delay of a modulated light signal which represents the distance from camera to object. Subsequently，by discussing influence factors of phase measurement，it is found that the integration time，the sampling time，and the aliasing effect have important effect on improving the accuracy of phase measurement. Interestingly，by analyzing different integration time and sampling time, it is found that the best integration time and sampling time are 0.05 ms and 10 ns，respectively. In this case(i.e.,in absence of the aliasing effect)，the variation range of the distance error is between 1 mm and 11 mm in the interval of one period. Especially，under the consideration of the aliasing effect，the average value of distance error is half of that in absence of the aliasing effect. This improves the accuracy of the distance measurement greatly.     

Study of Multi media Streams Dynamic Rate Control Based on Fuzzy Adaptive PID

1IntroductionAs for multi media transmitted through Internet ,some congestion control methods can adjust sending rateto reduce the packet loss ratio accordingto networkcon-gestion status , and strive to keep the smoothness ofsending rate so as to avoid video jitter[1 ~3]. Congestioncontrol mechanism based on sending rate can achieve“TCP-friendly”by networkfeedbackindication and dy-namic sending rate adjusting[4].Si mple AI MDi mitates action of TCPcongestion con-trol , which leads to sho…     

Features of the diagnostics of metamorphic InAlAs/InGaAs/InAlAs nanoheterostructures by high-resolution X-ray diffraction in the ω-scanning mode

This study is devoted to the search for new possibilities of characterizing crystal-structure features using high-resolution X-ray diffraction. The emphasis is on the scanning mode across the diffraction vector (ω-scanning), since researchers usually pay little attention to this mode, and its capabilities have not yet been completely revealed. For the [011] and [01\(\bar 1\)] directions, the ω-peak half-width and the average tilt angle of the sample surface profile are compared. The diagnostic capabilities of X-ray scattering mapping are also studied. The objects of study are semiconductor nanoheterostructures with an InAlAs/InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well and an In_xAl_1–xAs metamorphic buffer grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on InP and GaAs substrates. Such nanoheterostructures are used to fabricate microwave transistors and monolithic integrated circuits. The objects under study are more completely characterized using the Hall effect, atomic-force microscopy, and low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy at 79 K.     

Influence of temperature on Auger recombination lifetime in In1?xGaxAs materials

The influence of temperature and Ga composition on Auger recombination lifetime in n-type and p-type In1-xGaxAs materials is investigated through the simulation, assuming the concentrations of electrons and holes are 1017 cm-3 and 1018 cm-3, respectively. The results show that the temperature has little influence on Auger recombination lifetime of In1-xGaxAs materials at x<0.3. However, it has a great impact when x>0.3 and the effect is more obvious at a lower temperature. Moreover, Auger ...     

Network enforcement as denunciation endorsement? A critical study on legal enforcement in social media

Facing the increasing prevalence of hate speech and other personality rights violations on social media, the legislature tries to improve the law enforcement by involving the social media companies. In 2017, the German Bundestag passed a new law, the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), which requires website owners to review the content published on their pages upon it being reported by users and to remove it as soon as possible in the event of a breach of the law. This forces social media operators to establish efficient reporting systems which can create breeding grounds for user denunciation. To get an overview of whether this is really the case, we briefly discuss state surveillance and denunciation and analyse the statistics of content blockings and deletions in five countries (USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia and Turkey). In Germany the number of blockings and deletions of content has risen for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube due to the NetzDG, but it has also been found that the majority of reports were unjustified as they did not lead to any restriction or deletion of the content. When comparing the German numbers with those of the other countries investigated, it becomes apparent that after the introduction of the NetzDG in Germany, more content is being blocked and deleted. Also, a comparison of the various laws regulating online content in these countries was conducted. It was found that not only Germany has tightened the regulation of online content and that other countries are also trying to transform the Internet into a more hate free environment.     

Social media and political partisanship – A subaltern public sphere’s role in democracy

Social media, as a subaltern public sphere (Fraser, 1990), have a democratic function in providing an alternative platform for minorities and marginalized to defy mainstream discourses in the public sphere. However, social media have been found to have an echo chamber effect, which may be detrimental to democracy. They may help to accelerate the ascendancy of a “post-truth” era in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. A study on political polarization, however, showed that selective exposure and avoidance in social media are weak indicators of polarization (Johnson et al., 2017). This study examines the role of social media in democracy and partisan politics. The authors considered that despite the echo chamber effect, social media have a limited part to play in the formation of polarized stances compared with other factors, such as demographics, political orientation, and mass media use. The study tested two main hypotheses: H1: Social media use is associated with political stance that is marginalized in the mainstream media; H2: Political orientation has a stronger relationship than social media use with the stance toward political values and social issues.The results supported both hypotheses. Social media are associated with political stance that is marginalized in the mainstream media. However, when compared with other factors, the relationship between social media and stance becomes less obvious. Although the echo chamber effect may reinforce the original stance, social media do not exhibit a strong relationship with the stance toward political values and social issues. Partisan orientation and use of partisan mass media are found to have stronger links with variations in stance. Social media, however, provide a subaltern public sphere for those excluded from the dominant public sphere, thus extending the public sphere to accommodate multiple opinions and perspectives.     

Performance and Optimization of 10 Gb/s Electroabsorption Modulator in Short Transmission

Transmission performance of electroabsorption modulator in 10 Gb/s transmission systems has been simulated and analyzed under the condition of taking into account the chirp,extinction ratio, transmissivity and rise/fall time.Results show that short transmission distance without EDFA after EAM can be used in future metropolitan area network,but the transmissivity must be carefully considered. The sampling time range and decision level can be optimized to reduce the bit error ratio.     

Simulation comparison of active queue management algorithms in TCP/IP networks

Active Queue Management techniques are recommended to overcome the performance limitations of TCP congestion control mechanisms over drop-tail networks. The main objective of this paper is to present the comparative analysis of the performance of 10 different queue management policies using the OMNeT++ simulator. The AQMs have many parameters which influence their behavior, so some results concerning the parameters selection are given. The algorithms are tested in terms of average queue size, packet delay and packet loss rate in presence of TCP traffic.     

Study of stress biasing effect observed in C–V characteristics of ITO/PI/TIPS-pentacene/Au diodes by electric field induced optical second harmonic generation

To clarify the capacitance–voltage (C–V  ) characteristics of organic double-layer diodes with a structure of ITO/PI/TIPS-pentacene/Au, time-resolved electric field induced optical second harmonic generation (TR-EFISHG) measurement was employed. The TR-EFISHG measurement probed the change of electric fields in the TIPS-pentacene organic layer, which originates from accumulated charges at the PI/TIPS-pentacene double-layer interface. Consequently, the shift of threshold voltage ΔV_th$\mathrm{\Delta }{V}_{\mathit{th}}$ of the C–V curves caused by stress negative-biasing was well explained, and a potential well model was proposed on the basis of the TR-EFISHG measurement. TR-EFISHG is a very useful way to study the carrier behaviors, in terms of the C–V characteristics.     

Understanding publics’ post-crisis social media engagement behaviors: An examination of antecedents and mediators

This study examines the psychological mechanisms underlying the process that enables publics’ individual differences (e.g., the levels of uncertainty avoidance and social media usage) to give rise to varying post-crisis social media engagement intentions (e.g., information seeking, support seeking, and negative word-of-mouth). The study confirms that this process is serially mediated by perceived threat severity, perceived susceptibility, and negative emotions. These psychological mediators, however, function differently between uncertainty avoidance and social media usage. For uncertainty avoidance, a high arousal negative emotion (e.g., anger, fear) is a more essential step to influence engagement intentions than a low arousal emotion (e.g., shame, guilt). For social media usage, however, the type of aroused negative emotions does not matter. Rather, the relationship social media usage has with information seeking is different from that with support seeking and negative word-of-mouth intentions. Social media usage induces information seeking intentions only through publics’ cognitive appraisals of the situation without the activation of negative emotions, while it induces supporting seeking and negative word-of-mouth intentions through both cognitive appraisals and negative emotion arousals.     

Diffusion barrier performance of Zr–N/Zr bilayered film in Cu/Si contact system

Zr–N/Zr bilayered film as a diffusion barrier between Cu and Si is evaluated. The thermal stability of the diffusion barrier is investigated by annealing the Cu/Zr–N/Zr/Si samples in N₂ for an hour. XRD, SEM and AES results for the above contact systems after annealing at 700 °C show that Cu film has preferential (1 1 1) crystal orientation and no diffraction peaks of Cu₃Si and a Cu–Zr–Si ternary compound are observed for all Cu/Zr–N/Zr/Si contact systems. In addition, the atomic distribution of Zr and Si is evident and grows with increasing temperature up to 700 °C, which corresponds to the Zr–Si phase having low contact resistivity. Low contact resistivity and high thermal stability diffusion barrier can be expected by the application of the Zr–N/Zr bilayered film as a diffusion barrier between Cu and Si.     

How does social media change Chinese political culture? The formation of fragmentized public sphere

Social media promotes a broad discussion about the contemporary public sphere in China. Analyzing the relationship between social media and democratic politics in the unique context of China helps us to rethink a metamorphosis of Habermas’s public sphere model. The study supports the idea that the online public sphere more often than not transforms into a fragmentized formation of the multiple tensions between participatory democracy, journalism transformation and governmental authority. It may be difficult, under a single theoretical framework of civil society, to map out the complexities in Chinese social media. The key point is how a fragmentized structure of the public sphere has been integrated in the power game process of achieving consensus. Based on the special Internet policies and political environment in China, the implication of public sphere theory in Chinese social media is reconsidered.