title: Teaching & learning guide for: Social psychology and media: Critical Consideration

authors: Hodgetts, Darrin

subjects: psychology

abstract: We wrote this paper because we felt there was a need for a more critical examination of the ways that media were considered within social psychology. The article was written to provide an overview of social psychological research on media and to propose new lines of enquiry, particularly into the social practices within which media technologies are embedded. In particular our arguments focus on the ways in which media permeate social life and relationships, and why we should give more attention to the study of media within the practices of everyday living. Media are pervasive in society today. Media are foundational to the symbolic landscape within which people make sense of the world and their place in it. Media also comprise material objects, such as televisions and computers that dominate many domestic realms, as well as more portable devices, such as mobile phones and MP3 players that people take with them when moving through everyday life. Human relations with and through media are complex and evolving, and provide a core focus for social psychology. In the living room of any modern home there are likely to be comfortable chairs, family memorabilia and a range of media technologies ranging from telephones, radios, books and magazines to a television, a DVD player, a digital recorder, iPod, and perhaps a networked computer. These devices are often mobile, and can be moved or relocated around the house, shifting from communal to more personal devices as family members seek privacy to consume their media products or react to different tastes in movie, musical or gaming content. Such practices open up a range of social psychological issues regarding human relations, identity, time and space. The presence of media devices in daily life has invoked concerns about the possible negative effects of exposure to media violence and broader issues around reduced civic participation, as well as more positively focused issues such as the use of media to build and maintain social ties.

text: Teaching & learning guide for: Social psychology and media: Critical Consideration We wrote this paper because we felt there was a need for a more critical examination of the ways that media were considered within social psychology. The article was written to provide an overview of social psychological research on media and to propose new lines of enquiry, particularly into the social practices within which media technologies are embedded. In particular our arguments focus on the ways in which media permeate social life and relationships, and why we should give more attention to the study of media within the practices of everyday living. Media are pervasive in society today. Media are foundational to the symbolic landscape within which people make sense of the world and their place in it. Media also comprise material objects, such as televisions and computers that dominate many domestic realms, as well as more portable devices, such as mobile phones and MP3 players that people take with them when moving through everyday life. Human relations with and through media are complex and evolving, and provide a core focus for social psychology. In the living room of any modern home there are likely to be comfortable chairs, family memorabilia and a range of media technologies ranging from telephones, radios, books and magazines to a television, a DVD player, a digital recorder, iPod, and perhaps a networked computer. These devices are often mobile, and can be moved or relocated around the house, shifting from communal to more personal devices as family members seek privacy to consume their media products or react to different tastes in movie, musical or gaming content. Such practices open up a range of social psychological issues regarding human relations, identity, time and space. The presence of media devices in daily life has invoked concerns about the possible negative effects of exposure to media violence and broader issues around reduced civic participation, as well as more positively focused issues such as the use of media to build and maintain social ties.

year: 2009

title: Development of 2nd Generation Proteinous Bioplastics

authors: van den Berg, Lisa E.

subjects: Bioplastic

abstract: Current environmental and economic concerns surrounding the use of petroleum-based plastics, has led to increased study of renewable natural polymers, such as proteins.  Bloodmeal (BM) is a by-product of the meat industry and large volumes is sold as a low-cost fertilizer or animal feed.  It contains 90 wt% proteins giving it the potential as a renewable precursor for bioplastic production.  The objective of this study was to investigate the use of BM for the production of bioplastics, focusing on the use of chemical additives to facilitate thermoplastic extrusion.
Literature revealed that bioplastics formation from proteins requires denaturation and unfolding using thermal and chemical means, allowing new interactions to form between chains.  Thermoplastic extrusion also requires sufficient chain mobilization, enabling flow through the barrel.  The proteins physiochemical characteristics, plasticizer content and chemical additives will govern its processing behavior, structural and material properties.
Bloodmeal powder was extruded and injection moulded using water, sodium sulfite, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and urea as additives.  The efficiency of these chemical additives was characterized by: 
 	Processability.  Temperatures between 100 and 125  C produced a successful material, above this excessive covalent cross-linking occurred which reduced chain mobilization.  Sodium sulfite was essential, breaking covalent bonding which allowed chain extension.  The plasticizer content also strongly influenced the processability, while water and urea were essential for improved processing.
 	Consolidation, water absorption and solubility.  It was found that SDS's influence on hydrophobic interactions in combination with sodium sulfites cleavage of covalent cross-links resulted in good consolidation, water absorption and solubility.  Increasing sodium sulfite increased water absorption, indicative of cross-link reduction.  However, high sodium sulfite at low water concentration resulted in a degraded material.  The degraded polymer showed an increase in ordered structures, due to the formation of helical conformations of the short peptide chains.
 	Protein conformation.  It was found that BM was already highly denatured, with considerable amounts of β-structures.  Successful processing with required increased chain mobilization through the reduction of inter- and intra-molecular interactions which led to less ordered structures.
 	Mechanical Properties.  Water was shown to be critical for processing, enhancing the action of sodium sulfite, SDS and urea.  During conditioning, water would evaporate, allowing new intermolecular forces between chains, often resulting in a brittle material.  SDS was essential for consolidation, but excessive amounts could restrict formation of new intermolecular forces during conditioning.  The highly plasticized proteins resulted in ductile materials after conditioning.  Lowering the water, sodium sulfite or urea concentration would result in a brittle material after conditioning.  
Successful processability, consolidation, water absorption, solubility, and mechanical properties were achieved using 3 pphbm sodium sulfite, 60 pphbm water, 3 pphbm SDS and 20 pphbm urea.  This optimal material resulted in increased unordered structures shown by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy.  The resulting bioplastic was ductile after conditioning and had a tensile strength of 9.6 MPa and a Young's modulus of 536 MPa, comparable to low-density polyethylene.

text: Development of 2nd Generation Proteinous Bioplastics Current environmental and economic concerns surrounding the use of petroleum-based plastics, has led to increased study of renewable natural polymers, such as proteins.  Bloodmeal (BM) is a by-product of the meat industry and large volumes is sold as a low-cost fertilizer or animal feed.  It contains 90 wt% proteins giving it the potential as a renewable precursor for bioplastic production.  The objective of this study was to investigate the use of BM for the production of bioplastics, focusing on the use of chemical additives to facilitate thermoplastic extrusion.
Literature revealed that bioplastics formation from proteins requires denaturation and unfolding using thermal and chemical means, allowing new interactions to form between chains.  Thermoplastic extrusion also requires sufficient chain mobilization, enabling flow through the barrel.  The proteins physiochemical characteristics, plasticizer content and chemical additives will govern its processing behavior, structural and material properties.
Bloodmeal powder was extruded and injection moulded using water, sodium sulfite, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and urea as additives.  The efficiency of these chemical additives was characterized by: 
 	Processability.  Temperatures between 100 and 125  C produced a successful material, above this excessive covalent cross-linking occurred which reduced chain mobilization.  Sodium sulfite was essential, breaking covalent bonding which allowed chain extension.  The plasticizer content also strongly influenced the processability, while water and urea were essential for improved processing.
 	Consolidation, water absorption and solubility.  It was found that SDS's influence on hydrophobic interactions in combination with sodium sulfites cleavage of covalent cross-links resulted in good consolidation, water absorption and solubility.  Increasing sodium sulfite increased water absorption, indicative of cross-link reduction.  However, high sodium sulfite at low water concentration resulted in a degraded material.  The degraded polymer showed an increase in ordered structures, due to the formation of helical conformations of the short peptide chains.
 	Protein conformation.  It was found that BM was already highly denatured, with considerable amounts of β-structures.  Successful processing with required increased chain mobilization through the reduction of inter- and intra-molecular interactions which led to less ordered structures.
 	Mechanical Properties.  Water was shown to be critical for processing, enhancing the action of sodium sulfite, SDS and urea.  During conditioning, water would evaporate, allowing new intermolecular forces between chains, often resulting in a brittle material.  SDS was essential for consolidation, but excessive amounts could restrict formation of new intermolecular forces during conditioning.  The highly plasticized proteins resulted in ductile materials after conditioning.  Lowering the water, sodium sulfite or urea concentration would result in a brittle material after conditioning.  
Successful processability, consolidation, water absorption, solubility, and mechanical properties were achieved using 3 pphbm sodium sulfite, 60 pphbm water, 3 pphbm SDS and 20 pphbm urea.  This optimal material resulted in increased unordered structures shown by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy.  The resulting bioplastic was ductile after conditioning and had a tensile strength of 9.6 MPa and a Young's modulus of 536 MPa, comparable to low-density polyethylene.

year: 2009

title: Marine inequality, borderization, and the radical potential of kinship

authors: McCormack, Fiona

subjects: Aquaculture

abstract: This article utilizes scholarship on borders to interpret the persistence of inequality in Indigenous seascapes, irrespective of moves to redress colonial wrongs or the growing anthropocenic recognition of human-nature interconnectedness. I examine border politics in the context of Māori claims for marine title and rights and the post-settlement development of aquaculture. Drawing on Harsha Walia’s concept of “border imperialism” and Achille Mbembe’s thesis on “borderization,” the article highlights the endurance of colonial forms alongside their neoliberal transformation into the enclosures and entrapments arising in the context of accelerated marine industrialization. By holding in tension the interconnection between marine environments and kinship, on one hand, and scholarship on borders, on the other, the article suggests that Indigenous Māori kinship, expanding through multiple layers of difference, constitutes a site of resistance that has the potential to refute the logic of borderization.

text: Marine inequality, borderization, and the radical potential of kinship This article utilizes scholarship on borders to interpret the persistence of inequality in Indigenous seascapes, irrespective of moves to redress colonial wrongs or the growing anthropocenic recognition of human-nature interconnectedness. I examine border politics in the context of Māori claims for marine title and rights and the post-settlement development of aquaculture. Drawing on Harsha Walia’s concept of “border imperialism” and Achille Mbembe’s thesis on “borderization,” the article highlights the endurance of colonial forms alongside their neoliberal transformation into the enclosures and entrapments arising in the context of accelerated marine industrialization. By holding in tension the interconnection between marine environments and kinship, on one hand, and scholarship on borders, on the other, the article suggests that Indigenous Māori kinship, expanding through multiple layers of difference, constitutes a site of resistance that has the potential to refute the logic of borderization.

year: 2025