‘Breaking’ news: uncovering sense-breaking patterns in social media crisis communication during the 2017 Manchester bombing

ABSTRACT

Individuals, (media-) organisations, and crisis responders who are involved in ad hoc crisis communication steadily deploy social media to contribute to collective sense-making as an endeavour to create meaning in highly uncertain situations. Exerting sense-giving in order to shape others’ conceptions is causally preceded by an initial breakup of existing understanding. This study aims to explore patterns of sense-breaking in social media crisis communication and its impact on collective sense-making and sense-giving. To this end, we conducted a case study of the Manchester bombing in 2017, including a social network analysis of 708,147 Twitter postings and a content analysis of 2006 original tweets. We found individual role types to be initiators of sense-breaking in early crisis stages when uncertainty is at its height. Exerting successive sense-giving becomes more challenging if the collective sense-making has progressed along with the sequence of events. This understanding aims to encourage emergency management organisations to move their sense-giving actions closer to the point in time when sense-breaking occurs.     

卫星激光通信粗跟踪系统复合控制策略

针对卫星激光通信粗跟踪系统的跟踪稳定精度指标要求高的特点,建立了基于永磁同步电机直接驱动的粗跟踪系统模型并进行了跟踪稳定误差分析。在采用传统PID控制策略存在跟踪误差较大、动态性能较差等不足的基础上,提出了一种基于粗跟踪系统的改进型前馈复合控制策略。从理论上分析了前馈复合控制策略提高了粗跟踪系统的动态性能,为降低跟踪稳定误差提供了改善方案。地面实验验证结果表明,与传统控制策略相比,改进型复合控制策略极大地降低了系统的动态跟踪误差,动态跟踪误差由606μrad降低至13μrad(1δ)。进一步的在轨实验也验证了改进型复合控制策略的合理性和先进性,总体指标满足了卫星激光通信终端的极高精度要求。本文所提出的控制策略对其他高性能跟踪伺服系统设计也具有较大的借鉴意义。     

Opportunities and Challenges in Tunneling Nanotubes Research: How Far from Clinical Application?

Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are recognized long membrane nanotubes connecting distance cells. In the last decade, growing evidence has shown that these subcellular structures mediate the specific transfer of cellular materials, pathogens, and electrical signals between cells. As intercellular bridges, they play a unique role in embryonic development, collective cell migration, injured cell recovery, cancer treatment resistance, and pathogen propagation. Although TNTs have been considered as potential drug targets for treatment, there is still a long way to go to translate the research findings into clinical practice. Herein, we emphasize the heterogeneous nature of TNTs by systemically summarizing the current knowledge on their morphology, structure, and biogenesis in different types of cells. Furthermore, we address the communication efficiency and biological outcomes of TNT-dependent transport related to diseases. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of TNTs as an exciting therapeutic approach by focusing on the development of efficient and safe drugs targeting TNTs.     

Optimal filtering and control for wireless networked closed-loop control systems

This article studies the optimal filtering and control for wireless networked control systems (WNCSs). In WNCSs, packets may be lost in both control and feedback channels and user datagram protocol is usually used to improve the performance of the real-time control. Relevant literature indicates that the conventional optimal filtering for such a system cannot be applied in practice due to the complex calculation with Gaussian mixtures. This paper proposes a novel scheme to realize the optimal filtering and the linear quadratic Gaussian control for WNCSs, in which the controlled node performs a local estimation and the remote-control node performs the final estimation and control, and a synchronization of two estimators is guaranteed by a communication mechanism. An optimal filtering algorithm is developed, the stability condition of the filtering error covariance is obtained, optimal finite-horizon and infinite-horizon control are derived, and the stability of the closed-loop control system is proved. Numerical simulations show the validity and feasibility of the theoretical results.     

Assessing the impact of geometric design intent annotations on parametric model alteration activities

The effective representation and communication of design intent plays a crucial role in CAD model alteration activities. In history-based parametric modeling systems, design intent information is usually expressed implicitly within the model. However, there is evidence that suggests that an explicit representation can increase productivity and quality and facilitate the transferring of design knowledge throughout the different stages of the product lifecycle. In this paper, we assess the effectiveness of 3D annotations as mechanisms for explicit design intent representation and examine their impact in model alteration processes that require a direct interaction with the model's geometry. We present the results of a series of studies aimed at measuring user performance and model quality in two scenarios. First, we hypothesized that annotations are valuable tools to provide design information when inadequate modeling assumptions can be made by designers. Second, we evaluated annotations as tools to communicate design decisions when multiple options are available. In both cases, results show statistically significant benefits of annotated models, suggesting the use of this technique as a valuable approach to improve design intent communication.     

基准信号的低相噪声长距离光纤传输设计

介绍了基准光传输设备的基本组成和原理,指出低相噪长距离光纤传输中的问题所在,并提供了解决问题的方法,即数模混合器件的选择及改进滤波器设计.     

WIDESTARII卫星移动通信方案研究

WIDESTAR II系统为了更好的满足用户需求,在WIDESTAR系统的基础之上对移动终端、基站设备以及核心网节点进行了再次开发,从而实现了更高的传输速率以及与IMS或其他通用IP技术的灵活兼容。本文中,将首先对WIDESTAR II系统进行简要的介绍与分析,然后,对此系统所采用频谱效率提高方法、IP兼容技术以及时延降低策略等卫星移动通信机制进行研究与验证。     

An efficient utilization of intermittent surface–satellite optical links by using mass storage device embedded in satellites

Recently, earth observation system by using satellite network has attracted much attention due to its wide coverage and disaster resistance. Although the system is useful for collecting various data, which have an effect on a natural disaster, ecology and so forth, earth observation satellite hardly send the collected observation data to the ground station. This is because that the earth observation satellite needs to orbit near surface of the earth to get high-precision data, and it limited the time that can be used to send the observed data traffic to the ground station. Additionally, the amount of the observed data drastically increase in these days. Thus, we focus on the data relay satellite using optical communication in this network. By relaying observed data to traffic to the relay satellite, which has geostationary orbit, it is possible to increase the chance of sending data for the observation satellite due to the wide coverage of the relay satellite. In addition, laser light that is used in optical communication in satellite network has high frequency and it can deliver large data compared with radio wave. However, laser light is greatly influenced by atmosphere, and optical link capacity between satellite and ground station drastically changes according to weather condition. Therefore, we propose a new data traffic control method to use the network constructed by satellites which has mass storage device effectively according to the condition of optical downlink between satellite and optical ground station. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated with numerical result.     

Virtual shopping and unconscious persuasion: The priming effects of avatar age and consumers’ age discrimination on purchasing and prosocial behaviors

This study examined how operating elderly or young avatars affected shoppers’ product perceptions and purchasing behaviors. It also investigated how virtual shopping experiences translated into prosocial behavior regarding a nonprofit organization supporting the elderly. Operating elderly avatars influenced shoppers’ product choice and walking speed while shopping compared to operating younger avatars. In addition, operating elderly avatars positively affected participants’ attitudes and willingness to donate to and volunteer for a nonprofit organization supporting the elderly. Statistical interactions between avatar age and a shopper’s ageism on behavioral and persuasion outcomes were also confirmed, and these findings implied an assimilation/contrast effect influenced by a shopper’s preexisting prejudices toward the elderly.     

REST API技术及在移动通信网络管理中的应用

介绍了目前最炙手可热的REST架构风格，该风格顺应Web2.0的兴起，完美的匹配了云计算时代来临的可扩展要求，在各种应用场景中都得到了充分的表现。根据其技术特点，分析了该风格的API在移动通信网络管理中的应用，从网管系统内部、网管系统之间以及网管系统与上层APP应用之间等多方面对是否适用于REST风格以及如何在合适的位置使用REST API进行了分析。