Sharks - The State of the Science

The biological characteristics of sharks make them particularly vulnerable to overfishing. They grow slowly, become sexually mature relatively late and produce few offspring. This vulnerability is reflected in the large number of shark species that are considered to be threatened or endangered. This review of the current scientific literature on the number of sharks killed per year, the causes of this mortality, the status of shark species worldwide and the impact on ecosystems after large predators are removed provides key points

Characterizing Phishing Threats with Natural Language Processing

Spear phishing is a widespread concern in the modern network security landscape, but there are few metrics that measure the extent to which reconnaissance is performed on phishing targets. Spear phishing emails closely match the expectations of the recipient, based on details of their experiences and interests, making them a popular propagation vector for harmful malware. In this work we use Natural Language Processing techniques to investigate a specific real-world phishing campaign and quantify attributes that indicate a targeted spear phishing attack. Our phishing campaign data sample comprises 596 emails - all containing a web bug and a Curriculum Vitae (CV) PDF attachment - sent to our institution by a foreign IP space. The campaign was found to exclusively target specific demographics within our institution. Performing a semantic similarity analysis between the senders' CV attachments and the recipients' LinkedIn profiles, we conclude with high statistical certainty (p $< 10^{-4}$) that the attachments contain targeted rather than randomly selected material. Latent Semantic Analysis further demonstrates that individuals who were a primary focus of the campaign received CVs that are highly topically clustered. These findings differentiate this campaign from one that leverages random spam.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication by the IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security in September 2015 at Florence, Italy. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

A service evaluation of parent adherence with dysphagia management therapy guidelines: Reports from family carers supporting children with complex needs in Greece

Purpose: Many children with complex needs exhibit eating, drinking and/or swallowing disorders (dysphagia). These children often have associated learning needs, and require assistance from carers for daily tasks such as eating and drinking. The aim of this study was to identify which strategies to manage dysphagia were challenging for family carers, and reasons for any non-adherence. Method: In this service evaluation researchers observed carers during mealtimes, and investigated carer opinions of strategies used to minimise the risks of dysphagia. Eight children with complex needs aged 3.4 - 7.5 years and their primary family caregiver participated. Results: Adherence with speech and language pathologists’ dysphagia recommendations overall was over 50% in all but one case. For specific strategies, the highest adherence was observed for diet modifications of foods (89%), communication during the mealtime (83%), amount of food to present (81%) and the pacing of fluids and foods (81%). Lower levels of adherence were identified in relation to postural management (58%), environmental changes (58%), utensils (56%) and preparatory strategies (49%). Conclusion: Adherence with use of strategies to support mealtimes was over 50% in all but one case. Findings suggest that support is essential in order to promote safe mealtimes, reduce family carers’ stress and increase knowledge, confidence and adherence in implementing dysphagia guidelines in the family home

The cultural evolution of age-at-marriage norms

We present an agent-based model designed to study the cultural evolution of age-at-marriage norms. We review theoretical arguments and empirical evidence on the existence of norms proscribing marriage outside of an acceptable age interval. Using a definition of norms as constraints built in agents, we model the transmission of norms, and of mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of norms. Agents can marry each other only if they share part of the acceptable age interval. We perform several simulation experiments on the evolution across generations. In particular, we study the conditions under which norms persist in the long run, the impact of initial conditions, the role of random mutations, and the impact of social influence. Although the agent-based model we use is highly stylized, it gives important insights on the societal-level dynamics of life-course norms.

Tiburones: El Estado de la ciencia

Debido a sus características biológicas, los tiburones son particularmente vulnerables a la sobrepesca: crecen lento, maduran sexualmente a una edad tardía y producen pocas crías. Por ello, un gran número de sus especies se encuentran o bien amenazados o en peligro de extinción. Una revisión de la literatura científica más reciente sobre la cantidad de tiburones que mueren al año, las causas de su mortalidad y el estado de la especie en todo el mundo arroja los puntos clave

Demographic composition and projections of car use in Austria

Understanding the factors driving demand for transportation in industrialised countries is important in addressing a range of environmental issues. Previous work has identified demographic factors as important influences on demand, in addition to economic factors. While some studies applied a detailed demographic composition to analyse past developments of transportation demand, or estimated parameters based on models that include demographic variables, projections for the future have never accounted for future compositional changes in the population. In this paper, we combine cross-sectional analysis of car use in Austria with detailed household projections to explore the sensitivity of projections of car use to the specific type of demographic disaggregation employed. We find that particular demographic characteristics of households can have important effects on aggregate demand through the combined effect of differences in demand across different types of households, and changes in the future composition of the population by household type. For example, the highest projected car use--an increase of about 20 per cent between 1996 and 2046--is obtained if we apply the value of car use per household to the projected numbers of households. However, if we apply a composition that differentiates households by size, age and sex of the household head, car use is projected to increase by less than 3 per cent during the same time period. These findings suggest that the inclusion of demographic factors in transportation demand modelling should extend beyond their use in historical decompositions and as controls in model parameter estimation to explicit consideration of future demographic changes.

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The Effects of Age Structure on Economic Growth: An Application of Probabilistic Forecasting in India

During recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the explanatory power of demographic variables in economic growth regressions. We estimate a new model of the effects of age structure change on economic growth. We use the new model and recent probabilistic demographic projections for India to derive the uncertainty of predicted economic growth rates caused by the uncertainty in demographic developments.Economic growth, age structure, probabilistic demographic projections, India

Workshop on "Agent-Based Computational Modelling. An Instrument for Analysing Complex Adaptive Systems in Demography, Economics and Environment" at the Vienna Institute of Demography, December 4-6, 2003

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Preference Theory and Low Fertility: A Comparative Perspective

The discussion on the causes of the most recent fertility decline in Europe, and in particular on the emergence of lowest low fertility, emphasises the relevance of cultural factors in addition to economic ones. Being part of such a cultural framework, the heterogeneity of preferences concerning the "career vs. family" dichotomy has been systematised in the "Preference Theory" approach developed by Catherine Hakim. So far, however, this heterogeneity in preferences has been underinvestigated in a comparative framework. This paper makes use of new comparative data from the 2004/05 Round of the European Social Survey to test the links between individual-level preferences and both fertility outcomes and intentions in a variety of social settings. Results confirm a link between work-family lifestyle preferences and realised fertility in a variety of European countries, while they do not support the relevance of lifestyle preferences for fertility intentions.Preference Theory, low and lowest low fertility, Europe, European Social Survey, welfare regime.