We analyze and compare three separate efforts to code bias in Malaysia's media and find strong empirical evidence of an ongoing and profound progovernment bias in coverage. We also find, however, significant variation in bias between different types of news outlets. While Malay and Anglophone sources tended to be strongly progovernment, Chinese-language and online outlets were far more impartial. We demonstrate that both the general bias and the variation in it are largely the result of two factors: (1) government censorship and (2) ownership structures that link many major outlets to the ruling coalition. These findings provide a detailed view of the struggle for media independence in a less-than-democratic regime and supply insight into media bias across both authoritarian and democratic regimes in Asia, as well as outside it.

We present our analysis of 6 years of ESPaDOnS spectropolarimetry of the magnetic β Cep star ξ1 CMa (B1 III). This high-precision magnetometry is consistent with a rotational period Prot > 40 yr. Absorption line profiles can be reproduced with a non-rotating model. We constrain R⋆, L⋆, and the stellar age via a Baade-Wesselink analysis. Spindown due to angular momentum loss via the magnetosphere predicts an extremely long rotational period if the magnetic dipole Bd > 6 kG, a strength also inferred by the best-fit sinusoids to the longitudinal magnetic field measurements BZ when phased with a 60-year Prot.

Detecting gamma-ray emission from radionuclides hidden within containers is a significant concern to national security and can be accomplished with scintillating materials such as NaI:Tl, LaBr3:Ce crystals. However, the use of these high quality crystals limits the functionality of the detectors due to their high cost and scalability issues. Therefore the development of more durable, more easily manufactured, and more cost effective scintillating materials is desired. The incorporation of nanophosphors or Quantum Dots (QDs) into a polymer matrix to produce a transparent nanocomposite could potentially provide an alternative method to fabricate scintillating detectors. Embedded in a suitable polymer matrix, nanocomposite detectors may be easily made suitably large for portal monitors. Also, preparation of suitable particle sizes and/or compositions permits selection of a photon wavelength that optimally matches the photodetector response curve to increase the number of photons collected per pulse. In this paper a series of LaF3:Ce nanophosphors with varying doping concentrations (1–30mol%Ce) were synthesized using a chemical precipitation method. Photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation characterizations indicated that the highest luminescent intensity was obtained from the 20%Ce doped sample with a peak emission at 325 nm. The refractive indices of the nanoparticles were identified by index matching measurements. Then an index matched epoxy was selected for incorporation of these nanoparticles to prepare transparent nanocomposite scintillators. In addition, colloidal solutions of CdTe QDs with various emitting colors were synthesized and incorporated into a Polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) matrix to make transparent nanocomposites. An initial evaluation of the scintillation behavior of these nanocomposites was evaluated by exposure to gamma rays.

We report recent observations of the sharp-lined magnetic βCep pulsator ξ1 CMa (= HD 46328). The longitudinal magnetic field of this star is detected consistently, but it is not observed to vary significantly, during nearly 5 years of observation. In this poster we evaluate whether the constant longitudinal field is due to intrinsically slow rotation, or rather if the stellar or magnetic geometry is responsible.

We discuss the recent detection of a strong, organized magnetic field in the bright, broad-line B2V star, HD 142184, using the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter on the CFHT as part of the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) survey. We find a rotational period of 0.50833 days, making it the fastest-rotating, non-degenerate magnetic star ever detected. Like the previous rapid-rotation record holder HR 7355 (also discovered by MiMeS: Oksala et al. 2010, Rivinius et al. 2010), this star shows emission line variability that is diagnostic of a structured magnetosphere.

Only 5 Of?p stars have been identified in the Galaxy. Of these, 3 have been studied in detail, and within the past 5 years magnetic fields have been detected in each of them. The observed magnetic and spectral characteristics are indicative of organised magnetic fields, likely of fossil origin, confining their supersonic stellar winds into dense, structured magnetospheres. The systematic detection of magnetic fields in these stars strongly suggests that the Of?p stars represent a general class of magnetic O-type stars.

We report on the detection of a strong, organized magnetic field in the helium-variable early B-type star HR 7355 using spectropolarimetric data obtained with ESPaDOnS on CFHT by the MiMeS large program. We also present results from new V-band differential photometry obtained with the CTIO 0.9m telescope. We investigate the longitudinal field, using a technique called Least-Squares Deconvolution (LSD), and the rotational period of HR 7355. These new observations strongly support the proposal that HR 7355 harbors a structured magnetosphere similar to that in the prototypical helium-strong star, σ Ori E.

I will review our recent analysis of the magnetic properties of the O9IV star HD 57682, using spectropolarimetric observations obtained with ESPaDOnS at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope within the context of the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Large Program. I discuss our most recent determination of the rotational period from longitudinal magnetic field measurements and Hα variability - the latter obtained from over a decade's worth of professional and amateur spectroscopic observations. Lastly, I will report on our investigation of the magnetic field geometry and the effects of the field on the circumstellar environment.

The effect of voter-identification (voter-ID) laws on turnout is a hot-button issue in contemporary American politics. In April of 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Indiana's voter-ID law, the nation's most rigorous, which requires voters to arrive at the polls with a state-issued photo ID containing an expiration date (Crawford v. Marion County 2008). In a famous incident highlighting how Hoosiers were dealing with their state's voter-ID law, representative Julia Carson (D-IN) was initially blocked from voting during Indiana's 2006 primary election for failing to comply with Indiana's voter-identification standard. Carson identified herself with her congressional ID card; since that card did not include an expiration date and therefore did not meet Indiana's voter-identification law, she was turned away at the polls before later being allowed to vote (Goldstein 2006). The rising wave of public, political, and legal debate crested two years later in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling and during the Indiana primaries, with reports of a dozen nuns being denied ballots at the polls due to their lack of appropriate identification (Urbina 2008).