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Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	60%

Selected Abstracts

Catching fairies and the public representation of biogeography

JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2008
Richard J. Ladle
Abstract Biogeography is a vibrant academic discipline that plays an important role in framing and directing debates on some of the most important environmental issues of our time, such as the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, biotic homogenization and the effectiveness of global conservation policy. Despite this, biogeography suffers from a low public profile and may consequently be poorly understood by the public. Here I review the representation of the term biogeography, and a selection of biogeographers in the public sphere (newspapers, websites, blogs) and the academic sphere (journals and reports) to understand more fully the public perception of the discipline. As anticipated, the survey suggests that the term ,biogeography' has little public currency, and that the public still largely associate the subject area with either eminent Victorians such as A.R. Wallace or modern greats such as E.O. Wilson. I conclude by discussing the potential consequences of the virtual absence of biogeography from public discourse for education and professional biogeographers. [source]

The Taste for Privacy: An Analysis of College Student Privacy Settings in an Online Social Network

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 1 2008
Kevin Lewis
The rapid growth of contemporary social network sites (SNSs) has coincided with an increasing concern over personal privacy. College students and adolescents routinely provide personal information on profiles that can be viewed by large numbers of unknown people and potentially used in harmful ways. SNSs like Facebook and MySpace allow users to control the privacy level of their profile, thus limiting access to this information. In this paper, we take the preference for privacy itself as our unit of analysis, and analyze the factors that are predictive of a student having a private versus public profile. Drawing upon a new social network dataset based on Facebook, we argue that privacy behavior is an upshot of both social influences and personal incentives. Students are more likely to have a private profile if their friends and roommates have them; women are more likely to have private profiles than are men; and having a private profile is associated with a higher level of online activity. Finally, students who have private versus public profiles are characterized by a unique set of cultural preferences,of which the "taste for privacy" may be only a small but integral part. Résumé Le goût pour la vie privée : Une analyse des paramètres de vie privée des étudiants universitaires dans un réseau social en ligne L,expansion rapide des sites de réseaux sociaux (SRS) contemporains a coïncidé avec une croissance de la préoccupation pour la vie privée. Les étudiants universitaires et les adolescents affichent régulièrement des informations personnelles sur des profils qui peuvent être consultés par un très grand nombre d'inconnus, informations qui pourraient potentiellement être utilisées de façon dommageable. Les SRS comme Facebook et MySpace permettent aux usagers de contrôler le niveau de vie privée de leur profil, limitant ainsi l,accès à ces informations. Dans cet article, nous considérons la préférence pour la vie privée comme étant notre unité d'analyse. Nous analysons les facteurs qui peuvent prédire si un étudiant ou une étudiante a un profil privé ou public. À partir d,un nouvel ensemble de données sur les réseaux sociaux basé sur Facebook, nous soutenons que les comportements de protection de la vie privée sont une conséquence d'influences sociales et de motivations personnelles : les étudiants sont plus susceptibles d,avoir un profil privé si leurs amis et leurs colocataires en ont un; les femmes sont plus susceptibles que les hommes d'avoir des profils privés et avoir un profil privé est associéà un niveau plus élevé d,activité en ligne. Finalement, les étudiants qui ont des profils privés plutôt que publics sont caractérisés par un ensemble unique de préférences culturelles,desquelles le « goût pour la vie privée » peut n'être qu'une partie, petite mais intégrante. Abstract Studierende und Privatsphäre: Eine Analyse der Privatsphäre-Einstellungen in einem sozialen Online-Netzwerk Das derzeitig rasante Wachstum sozialer Netzwerke geht einher mit einer steigenden Besorgnis über die Privatsphäre. Studierende und Jugendliche geben routinemäßig persönliche Informationen auf ihren Profilen preis, die von vielen auch unbekannten Personen eingesehen und potentiell missbraucht werden kann. Soziale Netzwerke wie Facebook und MySpace geben ihren Nutzern die Möglichkeit, die Privatsphäre ihrer Profile per Einstellung zu beschränken und damit den Zugang zu diesen Informationen zu kontrollieren. In diesem Artikel nutzen wir die individuelle Präferenz für Privatsphäre als Analyseeinheit und untersuchen die Faktoren, mit denen man vorhersagen kann, ob ein Studierender ein eher privates oder öffentliches Profil hat. Auf Basis eines Facebook-Datensatzes argumentieren wir, dass das Verhalten bezüglich der Privatsphäre-Parameter das Ergebnis sozialer Einflüsse und persönlicher Anreize ist. Studierende haben dann häufiger ein privates Profil, wenn ihre Freunde und Mitbewohner eines haben; Frauen haben häufiger private Profile als Männer; und ein privates Profil geht einher mit stärker ausgeprägter Online-Aktivität. Letztendlich lassen sich Studierende mit einem privaten vs. öffentlichen Profil durch ein einmaliges Set an kulturellen Präferenzen charakterisieren , die Vorlieben bezüglich der Privatheit mögen dabei nur ein kleiner aber wichtiger Teil sein. Resumen El Sabor de la Privacidad: Un Análisis de las Opciones de Privacidad en una Red Social Online de Estudiantes Universitarios de Grado El crecimiento rápido de los sitios de redes sociales (SNSs) ha coincidido con un incremento en la preocupación de la privacidad personal. Estudiantes universitarios de grado y adolescentes proveen en forma rutinaria de información personal en sus perfiles que puede ser vista por un gran número de personas desconocidas y puede ser usada en formas potencialmente dañinas. Los SNSs como Facebook y MySpace permiten a los usuarios ejercer control sobre el nivel de privacidad de sus perfiles, limitando así el acceso a esta información. En este articulo, usamos a la preferencia por la privacidad como nuestra unidad de análisis en sí misma, y analizamos los factores que predicen si un estudiante usa perfiles privados versus públicos. Usando unos datos de una nueva red social en Facebook, argumentamos que el comportamiento de la privacidad es el resultado de influencias sociales e incentivos personales. Los estudiantes tuvieron una tendencia mayor a tener perfiles privados si sus amigos y compañeros de cuarto los tenían; las mujeres más que los hombres tuvieron mayores tendencias hacia los perfiles privados; y el tener un perfil privado fue asociado con un mayor nivel de actividad online. Finalmente, los estudiantes que tenían perfiles privados versus públicos fueron caracterizados por una colección de preferencias culturales,de las cuales el "sabor por la privacidad" puede ser una parte pequeña pero integral. ZhaiYao Yo yak [source]

Implications of spatial variability of fish assemblages for monitoring of Australia's tropical estuaries

AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 3 2010
Marcus Sheaves
Abstract 1. Although often seen as ideal targets for monitoring environmental change because of their high public profile, fish assemblages rarely appear as indicators in monitoring and reporting. 2. Published data were evaluated to develop a simple approach to quantifying the temporal consistency in assemblage structure suitable for routine monitoring and assessment. Data were examined as catch per unit effort (CPUE) and probability of encounter (PoE), and compared using three approaches with the potential to produce simple indices quantifying the patterns of similarity within an estuary over time: species richness, Bray-Curtis Similarities and a new approach, DeltaPoE. Indices derived from published data were then tested against a time series of data from two estuarine lakes with a history of fish kills. 3. Multidimensional scaling based on PoE emphasizes the temporal consistency of fish assemblages within estuaries at least as well as one based on mean CPUE while providing operational advantages. Similarities based on PoE were more sensitive to change from ,natural' assemblage structure than the simpler indices and showed comparable results with Similarities from (log) CPUE data. The one drawback to Similarities is that their complex statistical formulation often makes them less effective vehicles for reporting and communication. Where this is the case the conceptual simplicity of DeltaPoE and its performance relative to Similarities suggests it is a good candidate from which to develop monitoring indices suitable for routine reporting. 4. The performance of each of the indices were considered against the known fish kills. Species richness tracked the observed changes, an expected outcome in this case because a major impact directly removed species. Both indices based on Similarities also tracked the changes faithfully. Of the two, Similarities based on PoE seemed to react more strongly to assemblage changes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Oral medicine in Australia 2000,2010.

AUSTRALIAN DENTAL JOURNAL, Issue 2010
A publications overview
Abstract Specialties within health care are often identified by the public profile provided by members within the private clinical practice arena. This is clearly important but often the real activity of a specialty discipline exists within the training institutions. This is an unseen area for most, both members of the public as well as professional colleagues, as papers reporting developments of all kinds are delivered to highly specific target audiences and publications reporting research are published in journals again targeting specific audiences. Publication in national journals is important and provides a glimpse of research activities and a wealth of clinical material in the form of reviews and case reports directed again to a specific target audience. This paper addresses the profile of oral medicine in Australia by presenting the papers published in the Australian Dental Journal within a 10-year bracket. [source]