Comprehensive Content Analysis Research Articles

Soil Moisture Dynamics and Water Balance of <i>Caragana microphylla</i> and <i>Caragana korshinskii</i> Shrubs in Horqin Sandy Land, China

Based on the soil water balance theory, soil water dynamics and evapotranspiration (ET) of artificial sand-fixing Caragana microphylla and Caragana korshinskii shrubs with three different densities were researched in Horqin sandy land during the growing season. Results showed that mean soil water content of three shrub densities changed with time, different density caused spatial changes of soil water content in the deep soil horizon, but brought little influence on soil water temporal trends. The annual ET/P ratio varied between 83.21% and 99.6% for three shrub densities and the ET was not continually increased along with increase in shrub density. Based on the comprehensive analysis of soil water content, ET, and plant coverage for three shrub densities, the optimum density of C. microphylla and C. korshinskii shrubs (20 years old) in the study area could be about 1000 trees/ha. The findings were helpful for vegetation restoration in Horqin sandy land of China.

Exosomal Proteome Profiling: A Potential Multi-Marker Cellular Phenotyping Tool to Characterize Hypoxia-Induced Radiation Resistance in Breast Cancer.

Radiation and drug resistance are significant challenges in the treatment of locally advanced, recurrent and metastatic breast cancer that contribute to mortality. Clinically, radiotherapy requires oxygen to generate cytotoxic free radicals that cause DNA damage and allow that damage to become fixed in the genome rather than repaired. However, approximately 40% of all breast cancers have hypoxic tumor microenvironments that render cancer cells significantly more resistant to irradiation. Hypoxic stimuli trigger changes in the cell death/survival pathway that lead to increased cellular radiation resistance. As a result, the development of noninvasive strategies to assess tumor hypoxia in breast cancer has recently received considerable attention. Exosomes are secreted nanovesicles that have roles in paracrine signaling during breast tumor progression, including tumor-stromal interactions, activation of proliferative pathways and immunosuppression. The recent development of protocols to isolate and purify exosomes, as well as advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics have facilitated the comprehensive analysis of exosome content and function. Using these tools, studies have demonstrated that the proteome profiles of tumor-derived exosomes are indicative of the oxygenation status of patient tumors. They have also demonstrated that exosome signaling pathways are potentially targetable drivers of hypoxia-dependent intercellular signaling during tumorigenesis. This article provides an overview of how proteomic tools can be effectively used to characterize exosomes and elucidate fundamental signaling pathways and survival mechanisms underlying hypoxia-mediated radiation resistance in breast cancer.

SELLING SCIENCE?

Over the last 20 years science news has been written by dwindling numbers of reporters, with higher workloads, and less time than previously to conduct tasks such as finding, researching, and checking news stories. Simultaneously, a growing science communication sector is developing more power to influence what, and how, such news is reported. This paper examines media coverage of animal–human hybrid embryos in the context of a highly efficient public relations campaign by a coalition of scientists and scientific organisations in the United Kingdom. It draws on the findings of a comprehensive content analysis of UK national press coverage of the issue, and 16 semi-structured interviews with specialist science journalists, key news sources, and press officers on both sides of a polarised media debate. We argue that while science communicators won a convincing media victory, the broad (and unintended) effects of such campaigns highlight concerns about media independence, and the openness and quality of public and scientific debate about controversial science.

Examining Historical (Mis)Representations of Christopher Columbus within Children’s Literature

Effective teaching, while supplemented by best practice methods and assessments, is rooted in accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content. As a foundation for history content, elementary educators rely strongly on textbooks and children’s literature, both fiction and non-fiction. While many researchers have examined the historical accuracy of textbook content, few have rigorously scrutinized the historical accuracy of children’s literature. Those projects that carried out such examination were more descriptive than comprehensive due to significantly smaller data pools. I investigate how children’s non-fiction and fiction books depict and historicize a meaningful and frequently taught history topic: Christopher Columbus’s accomplishments and misdeeds. Results from a comprehensive content analysis indicate that children’s books are engaging curricular supplements with age-appropriate readability yet frequently misrepresent history in eight consequential ways. Demonstrating a substantive disconnect between experts’ understandings of Columbus, these discouraging findings are due to the ways in which authors of children’s books recurrently omit relevant and contentious historical content in order to construct interesting, personalized narratives.

Library Cartoons: A Literature Review of Library-themed Cartoons, Caricatures, and Comics

To understand differing views of past events, historians, political science scholars, and sociologists have analyzed political and editorial cartoons with themes ranging from elections to fiscal policy to human rights. Yet scant research has been dedicated to cartoons with library themes. The author of this paper examines peer-reviewed literature on the subject of library cartoons, including historical background, analysis of recent themes, and arguments for promoting library-themed cartoons, caricatures, and comics. The author finds a significant gap in the literature on this topic and concludes that information professionals would benefit from a comprehensive content analysis of library-themed cartoons to enhance understanding of the significance of libraries during historic events, assess public perception of libraries, and identify trends over time.

Dimensions of hospital service quality: a critical review

The purpose of this paper is to review the service quality dimensions established in various studies conducted across the world specifically applied to health care. Studies conducted on quality of care selected from literature databases - Ebsco, Emerald Insight, ABI/Inform - was subjected to a comprehensive in-depth content analysis. Service quality has been extensively studied with considerable efforts taken to develop survey instruments for measuring purposes. The number of dimensional structure varies across the studies. Self-administered questionnaire dominates in terms of mode of administration adopted in the studies, with respondents ranging from 18 to 85 years. Target sample size ranged from 84-2,000 respondents in self-administered questionnaires and for mail administration ranged from 300-2,600 respondents. Studies vary in terms of the scores used ranging from four to ten-point scale. A total of 27 of the studies have used EFA, 11 studies have used structural equation modelling and eight studies used gap scores. Cronbach's alpha is the most commonly used measure of scale reliability. There is variation in terms of measuring the content, criteria and construct validation among the studies. The literature offers dimensions used in assessing patient perceived service quality. The review reveals diversity and a plethora of dimensions and methodology to develop the construct discussed. The reported study describes and contrasts a large number of service-quality measurement constructs and highlights the usage of dimensions. The findings are valuable to academics in terms of dimensions and methodology used, approach for analysis; whereas findings are of value to practitioners in terms of the dimensions found in the research and to identify the gap in their setting.

Clinical measures of disease in adult non-CF bronchiectasis correlate with airway microbiota composition

RationaleDespite the potentially important roles for infection in adult non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis disease progression, the bacterial species present in the lower airways of these patients is poorly characterised.ObjectivesTo provide...

Equity valuation models and target price accuracy in Europe: Evidence from equity reports

This study examines whether European investment analysts prefer cash flow based valuation models over accrual based models, how accurate valuation models are and whether the use of cash flow based models (with or without accrual based models) improve forecast accuracy. We conduct a comprehensive content analysis of equity research reports for most of the firms on the components list of the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index. We find that earnings multiples and the discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation models are the two most popular valuation models and the use of accrual based multiple alongside a cash flow based model improves the forecast error and this is in line with the intuition that accruals add value relevant information to cash flows. However, we also find that neither cash flow nor earnings multiples are superior to book value and return on equity (ROE) based models in terms of forecast error. Our results provide support for the use of book value and ROE based models which provide more precise forecasts and this, in turn, supports the use of accounting based models, i.e., a residual income model.

An Exploratory Study on Entry Level HRM Job Opportunities and Their Requirements in Sri Lanka

The objectives of this study are to explore the types, categories and requirements of entry level HRM job opportunities available in Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the objectives, an exploratory study on all the HRM related employment advertisements appeared in the Sunday Observer newspaper for the period of 3 years (2006, 2007 and 2008) was conducted by using comprehensive and systematic content analysis along with descriptive statistics. The results revealed that a few number of entry level options are available in Sri Lanka. These options can be grouped into two broad classifications such as generalized and specialized way of entry options. Sri Lankan organizations have a practice of recruiting young people as Management Trainee (MT) to fill the current or future job vacancies. In connection with entry-level HRM jobs, MT has been identified as one of the main sources of entry options in Sri Lanka. Based on the needed educational qualifications, the MT option is classified into eight categories. In case of MT, a placement process and conditions were identified. From entry level job seekers, organizations expect twenty nine skills and eight types of personal qualities. The implications of these findings are useful to all stakeholders of HRM especially current and potential job seekers, organizations and HRM workforce developers in Sri Lanka. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljhrm.v3i1.5098 Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management Vol.3(1) 2012 pp.58-77

An Exploratory Study on the Experience Requirements of Key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka

It has been generally observed that there is a gap in the empirical knowledge with regard to the experience requirements of key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents of experiences in the field of HRM in Sri Lanka. The research questions of this exploratory study are: What are the experiences needed or expected by the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka for key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents? and Is it possible to develop a sort of illustration to understand experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka? Objectives of this study are to explore the experience requirements of key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents; and to develop an illustration of experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the objectives of this research, an exploratory study was conducted by using eight key HRM job related employment advertisements appeared in the Sunday Observer newspaper for the period of 5 years (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). This study was longitudinal in time horizon. The unit of analysis of this study was HRM related job advertisement. The extent of the researchers’ interference in this study was minimal as there had not been any manipulation and control of variables. This study was carried out in a natural (non-contrived) environment where events occurred normally. Mainly by using comprehensive and systematic content analysis along with descriptive statistics, results and findings were generated. The results of the study revealed that the experience requirement is one of the very important requirements in selecting people for key HRM jobs. At the same time it varies from job to job. When considering the experience requirements for the selected key HRM jobs, the findings revealed that mostly a minimum of 5-10 years experience at senior level (as a HR Manager/Head of HR Department) is needed experience for the post of HR Director. A minimum of 5 years experience is needed for the post of Head of HRM, Group HR Manager, HR Manager and Training Manager mostly. For HR Executive, HR Officer and Recruitment Manager a minimum of 2-3 years experience is expected by the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka. With regard to the contents (quality) of experiences, eight (08) key dimensions of experience were identified in addition to the number of years (quantity) such as general experience in HRM field, special experience in specific HRM area/function, scope of experience in HRM field (local or international), sector related experience, management level/position related experience, industry related experience, workforce/organisation size based experience and time preference based experience. Based on identified key dimensions of experiences, a model was developed from this exploratory study in order to provide an understanding about the experience requirements of selected key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka. The implications of these findings are useful to all stakeholders of HRM especially current and potential job seekers, organizations and HRM workforce developers in Sri Lanka. DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljhrm.v3i1.5094">http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljhrm.v3i1.5094</a> Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management Vol.3(1) 2012 pp.1-18

An Exploratory Study on the Personal Qualities/Characteristics expected by the Organisations for Key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka

This study explores a gap in the empirical knowledge with regard to the personal qualities/characteristics expected by the organisations for key HRM jobs in the field of HRM in Sri Lanka. The research questions of this exploratory study were: What are the personal qualities/characteristics needed or expected by the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka for key HRM jobs? And is it possible to develop a sort of illustration to understand personal qualities/characteristics expected for key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka? In order to answer the research questions systematically, an exploratory study was conducted by using eight key HRM job related employment advertisements appeared in the Sunday Observer newspaper for the period of 5 years (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). Time horizon of the study was longitudinal and HRM related job advertisement was the unit of analysis of the study. Comprehensive and systematic content analysis along with descriptive statistics was applied to generate results and findings. The results of the study revealed that the personal qualities/characteristics are one of the very important requirements in selecting people for key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka. At the same time it differs from key job to another key job. When considering the personal qualities for the selected key HRM jobs, the findings revealed that there are 39 personal qualities related to the post of HR Director, 29 personal qualities related to the Group HR Manager, 41 personal qualities related to Head of HRM, 98 personal qualities related to the HR Manager, 81 personal qualities related to the HR Executive, 50 personal qualities related to the HR Officer, 32 personal qualities related to the Training Manager, and 15 personal qualities related to the post of Recruitment Manager. With regard to the personal qualities eleven (11) key dimensions of personal qualities were identified in addition to the number of personal qualities including attitude related, personality related, good character related, team related, professional related, business related, people related, performance related, physical appearance related, leadership traits related and HR/HRM related aspects. The implications of these findings are useful to all stakeholders and professionals of HRM especially in developing good professionalism among current HR professionals in Sri Lanka and prospective personnel who wish to establish a career in HRM. DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljhrm.v3i1.5096">http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljhrm.v3i1.5096</a> Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management Vol.3(1) 2012 pp.32-48

Institutional branding: a content analysis of public service announcements from American universities

American universities receive millions of dollars worth of media exposure every year via Public Service Announcements (PSAs) broadcast during their respective school's athletic competitions. This research explores the message strategies and executional devices used by NCAA FBS (National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision) classification schools during the 2010 football season. This study is the most comprehensive content analysis of this subject matter to date. 115 PSAs were examined, representing 111 of the 120 schools which comprise this tier of American higher education institutions. 51 variables were operationalised and are detailed in this article. These variables include messaging specific to institutional communications, as well as common creative approaches used within television advertising. Findings suggest that there is indeed a ‘sea of sameness’ across these communications and that few schools are creating unique messages. This article continues the theoretical work in this field by refining extant models for communication messages employed by higher education institutions.

Organizational Reputation, Regulatory Talk, and Strategic Silence

To what extent and how do agencies manage their reputations through the strategic use of communication? Under what conditions are regulators inclined to respond to external judgments of their performance, and when are they disposed to keep silent? Based on a comprehensive data set and quantitative content analysis of the Israeli banking regulator’s responses to public expressions of opinion between 1998 and mid-2009, we show how this agency tends to keep silent on issues regarding which it generally enjoys a strong reputation, and on issues that lie outside its distinct jurisdiction, while responding to opinions about core functional areas with regards to which its reputation is weaker and areas wherein its reputation is still evolving. These findings, although based on one institution, are important because they demonstrate how an agency’s assessment of the relative threat to its reputation is implicated in distinct communicative patterns across functional areas. They also demonstrate that words are actions, and, occasionally, so is regulatory silence.

The first ‘Clean’ war? Visually framing civilian casualties in the British Press during the 2003 Iraq invasion

This article examines the visual coverage of civilian casualty incidents in the first month of the Iraq invasion in 2003, drawing on a detailed and comprehensive content and framing analysis of Iraq war photographs printed in seven British national newspapers. The study found that around 7 per cent of all Iraq-related news photographs dealt with the issue of civilian casualties (including journalists and non-Iraqis), across tabloid and ‘quality’ press titles. However, the prominence, treatment and functions of civilian casualty photographs varied greatly among particular newspapers, and not always in a predictable manner considering the papers’ editorial positions on the conflict. The article details the study’s findings on the varying occurrence of casualty-related photographs, and analyses the ways in which such events were pictorially and verbally framed; whether by graphically representing the human cost of the war or, alternatively, by ‘disappearing the dead’ through visual and rhetorical means.

Large-scale discovery of conopeptides and conoproteins in the injectable venom of a fish-hunting cone snail using a combined proteomic and transcriptomic approach

Predatory marine snails of the genus Conus use venom containing a complex mixture of bioactive peptides to subdue their prey. Here we report on a comprehensive analysis of the protein content of injectable venom from Conus consors, an indo-pacific fish-hunting cone snail. By matching MS/MS data against an extensive set of venom gland transcriptomic mRNA sequences, we identified 105 components out of ~400 molecular masses detected in the venom. Among them, we described new conotoxins belonging to the A, M- and O1-superfamilies as well as a novel superfamily of disulphide free conopeptides. A high proportion of the deduced sequences (36%) corresponded to propeptide regions of the A- and M-superfamilies, raising the question of their putative role in injectable venom. Enzymatic digestion of higher molecular mass components allowed the identification of new conkunitzins (~7 kDa) and two proteins in the 25 and 50 kDa molecular mass ranges respectively characterised as actinoporin-like and hyaluronidase-like protein. These results provide the most exhaustive and accurate proteomic overview of an injectable cone snail venom to date, and delineate the major protein families present in the delivered venom. This study demonstrates the feasibility of this analytical approach and paves the way for transcriptomics-assisted strategies in drug discovery.

Blogging for the Sake of the President: The Online Diaries of Russian Governors

Many Western researchers have hailed blogs of politicians as new, interactive and ‘inherently democratic’ tools of political communication. Yet, as this essay illustrates, blogs can be of comparatively even greater appeal to politicians in semi-authoritarian political contexts. In Russia, 29 out of 83 regional leaders (roughly 35%) were keeping a weblog in May 2010. This essay provides a comprehensive content analysis of all governors’ blogs and, subsequently, fleshes out a typology of three characteristic types. It is argued that politicians’ blogs are playing a far greater role in generating legitimacy for the Russian political system than they do in democracies, because the semi-authoritarian Russian system lacks other mechanisms which generate (input) legitimacy in developed democracies, such as highly competitive elections. This work was supported by research fellowships of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation (Cologne, Germany), the Harriman Institute (Columbia University, New York, USA), and the Aleksanteri Institute (University of Helsinki, Finland). I owe thanks to Vlad Strukov for constructive critique of two previous versions of this essay.Supplementary material for this essay can be found in the online version available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ceas20 (Figures S1–S5).

Making sense of cancer news coverage trends: a comparison of three comprehensive content analyses

Cancer stories (N = 5,327) in the top 50 U.S. newspapers were analyzed by a team of four coders and the results were compared with the earliest analyses of this type (from 1977 and 1980). Using cancer incidence rates as a comparison, three cancers were found to be consistently underreported (male Hodgkin’s, and thyroid) and four cancers were found to be consistently overreported (breast, blood/Leukemia, pancreatic, and bone/muscle). In addition, cancer news coverage consistently has focused on treatment rather than on other aspects of the cancer continuum (e.g., prevention), portrayed lifestyle choices (e.g., diet, smoking) as the most common cancer risk factor, and rarely reported incidence or mortality data. Finally, the data were compatible with the idea that personalization bias (e.g., celebrity profiles, event coverage) may explain some news coverage distortions.

Research and Implementation on Control Strategy of Regenerative Braking for Pure Electric Vehicle

This article briefly describes the need for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell electric vehicles, engine test bed. Comprehensive analysis of the main content of the fuel cell electric vehicle drive system bench. Finally, outlines the structure and function of the test bed of the fuel cell drive systems.

A Classification Framework for Design-Build Variants from an Operational Perspective

Design-build (DB) is a generic form of construction procurement, and, rather than simply representing a single system, it has evolved in practice into a variety of forms, each of which is similar to, and yet different from each other. Although the importance of selecting an appropriate DB variant has been widely accepted, difficulties occur in practice due to the multiplicity of terms and concepts used. What is needed is some kind of taxonomy or framework within which the individual variants can be placed and their relative attributes identified and understood. Through a comprehensive literature review and content analysis, this paper establishes a systematic classification framework for DB variants based on their operational attributes. In addition to providing much needed support for decision-making, this classification framework provides client/owners with perspectives to understand and examine different categories of DB variants from an operational perspective.

Issue Emergence, Evolution of Controversy, and Implications for Competitive Framing

Although scholarship on competitive framing acknowledges that framing is a dynamic process in which the early stages may matter most, very little research has focused on the dynamics of issue emergence. In this article, we draw on several literatures to develop theories for how controversy related to new issues will emerge and expand in news coverage. Through a comprehensive content analysis of 101 local newspapers across the fifty U.S. states, we explore the dynamic and evolving process wherein a new issue—the HPV vaccine—emerged into public discourse and a legislative debate over school requirements for vaccination began. We find that coverage of controversy is a function of proximity, driven primarily by events within a state, although external events also influence local coverage. We also find that the legislative discussion in the media did not necessarily start out as controversial, but as the issue evolved, we observe a large increase in the proliferation of both actors taking positions and the types of arguments made to influence debate. The findings yield important insight into issue emergence with implications for how future research might test competing frames to better understand how the presentation of controversy in the mass media affects public opinion.