"Breaking the Silence" Suicide Prevention Media Campaign in Oregon, April 7-14, 2019

Background: Between April 7 and 14, 2019, the "Breaking the Silence" media engagement campaign was launched in Oregon. Aims: We aimed to assess the consistency of media content related to the campaign with media guidelines and the quantitative footprint on Twitter (now X) over time. Method: Media items related to the campaign were analyzed regarding focus and consistency with media guidelines for suicide reporting and compared with other suicide-related reports published in the same time frame, as well as with reporting in Washington, the control region. Tweets related to the campaign were retrieved to assess the social media footprint. Results: There were n = 104 media items in the campaign month, mainly in the campaign week. Items typically used a narrative featuring suicide advocacy or policy/prevention programs. As compared to other items with a similar focus, they scored better on several protective characteristics listed in media recommendations. Stories of coping with adversity, however, were scarce. The social media footprint on Twitter was small. Limitations: Inability to make causal claims about campaign impact. Conclusion: Media items from the Breaking the Silence campaign appeared mainly consistent with media guidelines, but some aspects, such as stories of recovery, were under-represented.

Variations in Nitrogen Accumulation and Use Efficiency in Maize Differentiate with Nitrogen and Phosphorus Rates and Contrasting Fertilizer Placement Methodologies

Balanced nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) rates, coupled with rational fertilization methodology, could promote crop N accumulation, N use efficiency, and yield production, particularly in semi-arid and arid regions. To test these characteristics, a two-year (2018 and 2019) pot experiment was performed by growing summer maize in a rain-proof glass greenhouse under nine combined N (112, 150, and 187 kg ha-1, urea) and P (45, 60, and 75 kg ha-1 calcium superphosphate) rates and three contrasting fertilizer placements. The fertilizers were placed by broadcast on the soil surface (Broadcast), a side band on a 4 cm strip of soil surface within 7 cm from the sowing line (Side band), and a deep band on a 4 cm strip below 7 cm soil depth within 7 cm from the sowing line (Deep band). Results from three maize growth stages (eight-leaf, 45 days after sowing, DAS; tasseling, 60 DAS; and harvest, 115 DAS) showed that leaf, stem, root N accumulation, and total soil N were significantly increased under Deep band than under both Side band and Broadcast at N150P60, N187P60, N150P75, and N187P75, but not at N112P45, N150P45, N187P45, N112P60, and N112P75. Significantly greater leaf, stem, and root N accumulations were also displayed at N150 and N187 than at N112 for the same P60 or P75 under the Deep band at 60 DAS and 115 DAS; while for leaf and stem, N accumulations were greater at P75 and P60 than at P45 for the same N150 under Deep band at 45 DAS, 60 DAS, and 115 DAS. Significantly greater agronomy N use efficiency, partial factor productivity, and N use efficiency were exhibited under the Deep band than under the Side band and Broadcast at N150P75 and N187P75, but at N150P60 and N187P60 for NUE only. In addition, leaf, stem, seed, and root N concentrations positively correlated with their own N accumulations or soil N concentrations at the tasseling and harvest stages. Our results demonstrate that a synchronized N150P60, N187P60, N150P75, or N187P75 fertilization rate with Deep band placement can improve soil N availability and root N uptake, and thereby, increase aboveground N accumulation, N use efficiency, and yield production of maize, which is particularly practical for small-holder farmers globally.

Broadcast Propagation Time in SpaceFibre Networks with Various Types of Spatial Redundancy

Various methods of spatial redundancy can be used in local networks based on the SpaceFibre standard for fault mitigation of network hardware and physical communication channels. Usually, a network developer chooses the method of spatial redundancy according to the number of failures that have to be mitigated, the time required for restoring the normal operation of the network, required overheads and hardware costs. The use of different spatial redundancy mechanisms can cause changes in the structure of the links between network nodes, in case of failure and subsequent mitigation. In turn, this may cause changes in the broadcast transmission paths and the temporal characteristics of their delivery from the source to the receivers. This article focuses on the change in the propagation time of broadcasts in SpaceFibre networks with spatial redundancy. Broadcast propagation rules significantly differ from data-packet propagation rules. Broadcast distribution time is very important for many applications, because broadcasts are generally used to send urgent messages, in particular for time synchronization. Various formal methods have been used to evaluate the propagation characteristics of the broadcast. A method for estimating broadcast propagation time along the shortest routes is proposed. In addition, we provide a formal method to estimate the number of failures, which occurred in the network during the broadcast propagation. This method is based on timed Petri nets; one of its features is the ability to calculate broadcast transmission delays. In addition, as an alternative solution, we propose a method for estimating delays based on time automata theory.

An Analysis of Broadcasting Media Using Social Media Engagement in the WNBA

While there has been research into what teams, leagues, and athletes post on social media and the impact of post content on social media engagement, there is limited understanding and empirical research on the impact of broadcasting media on social sport consumption. There are an increasing number of new media through which sport leagues can distribute their content to fans. This research examines the impact of different broadcast platforms on game day engagement with WNBA team Twitter accounts. Using data for the 2016–2018 seasons, results indicate athlete/team quality and performance were positively associated with post engagement, underscoring the importance of the core sport product and potentially indicating that the WNBA is developing a star-driven culture similar to the NBA. In addition, broadcasting on League Pass or local TV (for home teams) and Twitter were associated with lower post engagement suggesting we have more to learn about maximizing online engagement.

Deep learning and the Global Workspace Theory

Recent advances in deep learning have allowed artificial intelligence (AI) to reach near human-level performance in many sensory, perceptual, linguistic, and cognitive tasks. There is a growing need, however, for novel, brain-inspired cognitive architectures. The Global Workspace Theory (GWT) refers to a large-scale system integrating and distributing information among networks of specialized modules to create higher-level forms of cognition and awareness. We argue that the time is ripe to consider explicit implementations of this theory using deep-learning techniques. We propose a roadmap based on unsupervised neural translation between multiple latent spaces (neural networks trained for distinct tasks, on distinct sensory inputs and/or modalities) to create a unique, amodal Global Latent Workspace (GLW). Potential functional advantages of GLW are reviewed, along with neuroscientific implications.

Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Changes in Zolpidem Use Due to Media Broadcasts

Media has become a major source of information on health and plays a role in the decision-making process on health topics. We aimed to evaluate the association between zolpidem use and media broadcasts that reported the suicide risk. We obtained the data of adult outpatients who have been prescribed zolpidem or other hypnotics from the National Patient Sample database (2015–2017). We evaluated the change in zolpidem or other hypnotic prescription trends based on the prescription rate and average daily prescribed dose before and after July 2016, using interrupted time series analysis. A total of 129,787 adult patients had at least one zolpidem prescription in 3 years. The prescription rate of zolpidem after the broadcast decreased significantly by 0.178% (95% confidence interval (CI): −0.214, −0.142), whereas that of other hypnotic users did not differ from that before the broadcast (−0.020%, 95% CI: −0.088, 0.047). However, the trends in the prescription rate before and after the broadcast did not differ for zolpidem and other hypnotics. Broadcasting medication safety through major public media could have an effect on medication use. After broadcasting about the suicide risk of zolpidem, its overall prescription rate decreased immediately, but the trend was not changed.

The Broadcast Approach in Communication Networks

In this paper we review the theoretical and practical principles of the broadcast approach to communication over state-dependent channels and networks in which the transmitters have access to only the probabilistic description of the time-varying states while remaining oblivious to their instantaneous realizations. When the temporal variations are frequent enough, an effective long-term strategy is adapting the transmission strategies to the system’s ergodic behavior. However, when the variations are infrequent, their temporal average can deviate significantly from the channel’s ergodic mode, rendering a lack of instantaneous performance guarantees. To circumvent a lack of short-term guarantees, the broadcast approach provides principles for designing transmission schemes that benefit from both short- and long-term performance guarantees. This paper provides an overview of how to apply the broadcast approach to various channels and network models under various operational constraints.

A Tree Based Broadcast Scheme for (m, k)-firm Real-Time Stream in Wireless Sensor Networks

Recently, various unicast routing protocols have been proposed to deliver measured data from the sensor node to the sink node within the predetermined deadline in wireless sensor networks. In parallel with their approaches, some applications demand the specific service, which is based on broadcast to all nodes within the deadline, the feasible real-time traffic model and improvements in energy efficiency. However, current protocols based on either flooding or one-to-one unicast cannot meet the above requirements entirely. Moreover, as far as the authors know, there is no study for the real-time broadcast protocol to support the application-specific traffic model in WSN yet. Based on the above analysis, in this paper, we propose a new (m, k)-firm-based Real-time Broadcast Protocol (FRBP) by constructing a broadcast tree to satisfy the (m, k)-firm, which is applicable to the real-time model in resource-constrained WSNs. The broadcast tree in FRBP is constructed by the distance-based priority scheme, whereas energy efficiency is improved by selecting as few as nodes on a tree possible. To overcome the unstable network environment, the recovery scheme invokes rapid partial tree reconstruction in order to designate another node as the parent on a tree according to the measured (m, k)-firm real-time condition and local states monitoring. Finally, simulation results are given to demonstrate the superiority of FRBP compared to the existing schemes in terms of average deadline missing ratio, average throughput and energy consumption.