Regulations and Ethical Considerations for Astronomy Education Research II: Resources and Worked Examples

This article discusses the legal and ethical requirements of human subjects research proposals in astronomy education research. We present an overview of the relevant laws, regulations, and guidelines that inform an Institutional Review Board evaluation of proposed research. We also present examples of potential research projects in astronomy education research and discuss their ethical issues

Bacteriological cultures on admission of the burn patient : to do or not to do, that's the question

A

Balancing food and density-dependence in the spatial distribution of an interference-prone forager

Foraging distributions are thought to be density-dependent, because animals not only select for a high availability and quality of resources, but also avoid conspecific interference. Since these processes are confounded, their relative importance in shaping foraging distributions remains poorly understood. Here we aimed to rank the contribution of density-dependent and density-independent effects on the spatio-temporal foraging patterns of eurasian oystercatchers. In our intertidal study area, tides caused continuous variation in oystercatcher density, providing an opportunity to disentangle conspecific interference and density-independent interactions with the food landscape. Spatial distributions were quantified using high-resolution individual tracking of foraging activity and location. In a model environment that included a realistic reconstruction of both the tides and the benthic food, we tested a family of behaviour-based optimality models against these tracking data. Density-independent interactions affected spatial distributions much more strongly than conspecific interference, even in an interference-prone species like oystercatchers. Spatial distributions were governed by avoidance of bill injury costs, selection for high interference-free intake rates and a decreasing availability of benthic bivalve prey after their exposure. These density-independent interactions outweighed interference competition in terms of effect size. We suggest that the bottleneck in our mechanistic understanding of foraging distributions may be primarily the role of density-independent prey attributes unrelated to intake rates, like damage costs in the case of oystercatchers foraging on perilous prey. At a landscape scale, above the finest inter-individual distances, effects of conspecific interaction on spatial distributions may have been overemphasised

(Ill-Legal) Lust is a battle field: HIV risk, socio-sexuality and criminality

This paper examines the criminalisation of HIV infection. HIV transmission offences exist in all Australian states and territories, but the bulk of prosecutions have occurred in Victoria. This paper outlines criminal legal responses to the virus in that state with an overview of the legislation and case law. Victoria has several HIV specific and nonspecific offences which may be applied to situations of HIV infection risk. It is the HIV non-specific offences which have been successfully used to prosecute HIV infection risks. The case law outlines several instances where HIV positive bodies have been charged with offences for placing others at risk of HIV infection. These charges have been applied in several cases regardless of whether the complainants seroconvert. Those charged have been same-sex desiring men or African-born men who engaged in sex with Caucasian women. There are marked differences in the sentences which have been applied to these defendants, which are based on the sexuality of the defendant and complainant. This demonstrates the heterosexist and Eurocentric character of the performance of these laws. These offences do not operate in isolation to sociality, rather this area of law embodies many cultural panics about the Other. HIV transmission offences signal socio-legal panics about sexuality, race/ethnicity and disease, situating certain bodies at greater risk of crimino-legal punishment.This conference has been generously sponsored by the School of Social and Political Sciences and the Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, in collaboration with the School of Law, University of Western Sydne