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With the increase in citizen-generated news, the need to understand how individual predispositions interact with news sources to influence perceptions of news credibility becomes increasingly important. Using a web-based experiment, this study examines the influences individual predispositions toward the media and politics have on perceived credibility of mainstream and citizen journalism. Analyzing data drawn from a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, results indicate that media skepticism and political cynicism interact, such that cynics and skeptics perceive citizen journalism as more credible, while non-cynics and non-skeptics think mainstream journalism is more credible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure and risk assessment of bisphenol A (BPA) was conducted on consumption of canned foods in Korean adults. Sixty-one canned food items with different brands purchased from retail outlets in markets were analyzed for BPA concentration by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with fluorescence detection. Limits of detection (LOD) were 3 μg/kg for solid and 2 μg/kg for liquid foods. BPA was detected from 7 groups of food items, such as tuna (n = 8), fish (n = 11), fruits (n = 9), vegetables (n = 12), meats (n = 13), coffee (n = 5), and tea (n = 3) in the range from not detected (ND) to 136.14 μg/kg. Mean concentrations of BPA were 3.1 μg/kg (ND-21.5 μg/kg) for vegetables, 8.3 μg/kg (ND-14.26) for tea, 8.6 μg/kg (ND-54.56 μg/kg) for fruits, 24.49 μg/kg (ND-98.30 μg/kg) for meats, 39.78 μg/kg (ND-125.25 μg/kg) for fish, 43.7 μg/kg (ND-116.88 μg/kg) for tuna, and 45.51 μg/kg (ND-136.14 μg/kg) for coffee, in the order of magnitude. Based on daily dietary intake of canned food items and concentrations of BPA, human exposure level to BPA was estimated to be 1.509 μg/kg body weight (bw)/d, well below the tolerable daily intake (TDI) or reference dose (RfD) of 50 μg/kg, bw/d set by the European Commission, U.S.EPA, and South Korea, . Therefore, the potential risk for BPA contamination due to consumption of each canned food items was calculated to be (1.509 μg/kg bw/d)/(50 μg/kg bw/d) = 0.03, which is the hazard index [HI = exposure level/(RfD or TDI)]. Evidence indicates that the levels of BPA levels in canned foods are not likely to constitute a safety concern for consumers in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the vertical integration issue of the United States electricity industry. Investigation of the potential technological efficiency loss; Feasibility of degrees of disintegration of the industry structure; Details of separability hypotheses using the Allen-Uzawa elasticity of substitution.