The Influence of the Internet on European Journalism

This study investigates how European journalists evaluate the changes that have occurred in their profession since the Internet has been integrated in newsrooms. How do journalists perceive the features and innovations associated with the Internet? What are the principal changes in the profession? Do practitioners believe that the quality of journalism has been raised or lowered? To answer to these research questions, we carried out a survey across 11 European countries–Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden–of 239 journalists, working for 40 of the most‐read print/online news outlets in these countries. The survey shows that the opportunity to use the Internet to reinforce the social functions of journalism has not been fully recognised.     

Hyaluronic acid hydrogels incorporating platelet lysate enhance human pulp cell proliferation and differentiation

The restoration of dentine-pulp complex remains a challenge for dentists; nonetheless, it has been poorly addressed. An ideal system should modulate the host response, as well as enable the recruitment, proliferation and differentiation of relevant progenitor cells. Herein was proposed a photocrosslinkable hydrogel system based on hyaluronic acid (HA) and platelet lysate (PL). PL is a cocktail of growth factors (GFs) and cytokines involved in wound healing orchestration, obtained by the cryogenic processing of platelet concentrates, and was expected to provide the HA hydrogels specific biochemical cues to enhance pulp cells’ recruitment, proliferation and differentiation. Stable HA hydrogels incorporating PL (HAPL) were prepared after photocrosslinking of methacrylated HA (Met-HA) previously dissolved in PL, triggered by the Ultra Violet activated photoinitiator Irgacure 2959. Both the HAPL and plain HA hydrogels were shown to be able to recruit cells from a cell monolayer of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) isolated from permanent teeth. The hDPCs were also seeded directly over the hydrogels (5?×?10⁴ cells/hydrogel) and cultured in osteogenic conditions. Cell metabolism and DNA quantification were higher, in all time-points, for PL supplemented hydrogels (p?<?0,05). Alkaline phosphatase (ALPL) activity and calcium quantification peaks were observed for the HAPL group at 21 days (p?<?0,05). The gene expression for ALPL and COLIA1 was up-regulated at 21 days to HAPL, compared with HA group (p?<?0,05). Within the same time point, the gene expression for RUNX2 did not differ between the groups. Overall, data demonstrated that the HA hydrogels incorporating PL increased the cellular metabolism and stimulate the mineralized matrix deposition by hDPSCs, providing clear evidence of the potential of the proposed system for the repair of damaged pulp/dentin tissue and endodontics regeneration.     

The Mobile Phone: An Identity on the Move

This paper analyses the shifting identity of the mobile phone in the light of research carried out in 1996 on a representative population sample from five major European countries: Italy, UK, France, Germany and Spain. A total of 6609 people were interviewed by means of a telephone survey. The mobile phone emerged as a charismatic technology compared to other mobile technologies (laptop and car phone) and as a leading technology that, in just a few years, has appropriated 11% of total telephone traffic. It has “dragged” its widespread presence and amount of use from the workplace to the domestic sphere, although in Italy, where it has had greatest success, its widespread use has been detached from its use in the workplace. Another emerging result is that the use of the mobile phone is not correlated to strong residential mobility in individuals.     

Mobilities and the network of personal technologies: Refining the understanding of mobility structure

Our ambition here is to refine the various typologies that compose the mobility structure. We aim to complement the work done by Urry and investigate the role played in the structure of mobility by what we call the “network of personal technologies”. Our new model consists of four different levels: macro-mobilities, micro-mobilities, media mobility and disembodied mobilities. By “macro-mobilities,” we refer to the actions which imply consistent physical displacement, such as travels, tours and commuting. By “micro-mobilities,” we mean small-scale displacements, including bodily movements and emotions. With moving media, we refer both to the new mobility provided by the smartphone to the traditionally fixed media and to the penetration of these into public spaces. Finally, “disembodied mobility” designates the transformations that have taken place within the social order as earlier hierarchies of dimensions, values and meanings have been overturned. Hopefully, this new model will enable us to enhance the analysis of mobility structure by taking human beings and their bodies as a point of reference.     

Pharmacological Proprieties of the Ethanol Extract of Muehlenbeckia platyclada (F. Muell.) Meisn. Leaves

Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of the Muehlenbeckia platyclada leaves' ethanol extract were investigated in animal models. The extract (p.o.) reduced the number of abdominal contortions induced by acetic acid by 21.57% (400 mg/kg). After intraplantar injection of formalin, a dose of 400 mg/kg (p.o.) inhibited the time spent paw licking in the first phase (26.43%), while the second phase was inhibited by 10.90 and 36.65% at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. The extract (p.o.) increased the reaction time on a hot plate at a dose of 400 mg/kg (32.68 and 40.30%) after 60 and 90 minutes of treatment, respectively. The paw edema was reduced by extract (p.o.) at doses of 100 (15.46 and 16.67%), 200 (22.68 and 25.64%) and 400 mg/kg (29.50 and 37.33%) after 3 to 4 h of carrageenan application, respectively. Doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg (p.o.), administered 4 h after the carrageenan injection, reduced the exudate volume (11.28, 21.54 and 45.13%), while leukocyte migration was reduced by 21.21 and 29.70% at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. These results indicate that the ethanol extract from M. platyclada may constitute a potential target for the discovery of new molecules with antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities that can be explored for their therapeutic use.     

The New About News: How Print,Online, Free,and Mobile Coconstruct New Audiences in Italy,France, Spain,the UK,and Germany

This paper presents cross‐national research on news readership diversification. We compare written news (print and free newspapers, online and mobile news services) audiences in the 5 most populous and industrialized European countries (Italy, France, Spain, the UK and Germany). Outlining a sociodemographic portrait of these different news users is important in order to understand the changes undergone inside the world of written news. We draw on a telephone survey carried out in 2009, using a representative population sample (N=7,255). The survey considers sociodemographic variables, including a range of social activities and attitudinal variables, television, computer, and mobile phone ownership, and Internet access and use. Findings show a rich, but volatile relationship between written news, audience behaviors, and community participation.     

Calix[n]arenes. IV. Interaction of tert-Butylcalix[n]arenes with Cyclic Amines

p-tert Butylcalix[n]arenes 1 and 2 react with the cyclic amines 3 – 8 , 10 by proton transfer forming so-called „exo-complexes”︁ between the ammonium and phenolate groups. As well endocyclic as exocyclic amino groups are reactive. The nitroxyl radical 9 does not react with 1 or 2 by the proton transfer reaction. These results demonstrate that an interaction between the nitrogen atom of HALS-compounds, esp. compound 10 , with calix[n]arene hydroxylgroups is possible, but an interaction between the corresponding nitroxyl radicals with calix[n]arene hydroxylgroups does not occur.     

Sociological insights on the comparison of writing/reading on paper with writing/reading digitally

The aim of this article is to investigate the impact of digital technologies on writing and reading within an educational rather than business environment. It explores the affordances of writing and reading on paper and those of writing on a keyboard and reading on a screen. The analysis is based on an exploratory study carried out with a class of Masters Students in Multimedia Communication and Technologies of Information at the University of Udine (Italy) who were asked to write an essay on this topic. The methodology applied in this study is qualitative content analysis of the essays produced by the students. The principal results of this study show that reading and writing competencies are changing with the use of digital technologies but that paper and digital interactions are not mutually exclusive. Students are more productive textually with writing than with reading, however, they still see the virtues of writing on paper which they continue to use extensively. It appears that chirographic writing and paper is more multi-sensorial and meta-communicative than using the keyboard or screen. Further research is recommended to explore this complementarities of writing on paper and on screen/keyboard as well as the perceived changes in preferred sources of reading material.     

The mobile phone use in Mainland China: Some insights from an exploratory study in Beijing

China is the primary market for the mobile phone (with almost 700 million of these devices) and one of the world’s leading countries in ICT production. Inside Mainland China, the capital Beijing and the other coastal industrialized towns have been the first to adopt and appropriate the mobile phone. Until now a certain amount of qualitative research has been devoted to the study of ICTs in China. However, quantitative studies are scarce. Here we present the results of a research based on empirical data specifically focused on mobile communication and carried out in Beijing. A structured questionnaire was personally administered to 487 respondents. This study investigates mobile phone use, its implementation in public spaces, attitudes towards its increasing complexity, opinions on its advantages and disadvantages, and its status in comparison to other technologies of information, communication and mass media in the capital of Mainland China. One main result of this study is that a very positive image of the mobile phone among our respondents was accompanied by only two disadvantages: its being a threat to privacy and its presenting the logistical problem that there is no obvious means to carry it. This latter concern should send a strong message to the fashion industry: the diffusion of the mobile phone has worsened the problem of how to wear these “little essential objects”, which up to now still continues to be unresolved.