44 research outputs found
Habitat selection in a changing environment: the relationship between habitat alteration and Scops Owl (Aves: Strigidae) territory occupancy
Abstract The Scops Owl Otus scops (L., 1758) is a species of European concern, which suffered a noticeable decrease in distribution in the last decades, and changes in agricultural practices have been proposed as a major threat for this owl. We studied the habitat preference of the Scops Owl by assessing the habitat occupancy of 401 territories distributed in a large area in northwest Italy, with a special focus on 98 territories located in a high-density area (Monferrato). Habitat characteristics were analyzed with maximum entropy (MAXENT) models that included both vegetational (16 land use categories) and physical features estimated from a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) (altitude, slope, hillshade). In the Monferrato area, a comparison of 2009 landcover was also made with year 1954/55 characteristics obtained from aerial photographs. In the full northwest Italy area, the Scops Owl preferred areas located at middle altitude with intermediate slope. The preferred habitats included riparian areas and pasture-grassland, while woodlands and zones with Robinia pseudoacacia shrublands were avoided. In the Monferrato area, Scops Owl occupancy occurred in sites where the landuse (croplands/vineyard mosaic) had changed little since the mid-1950s. Our study suggests that conservation activity should focus on interventions halting riparian zone transformation and subsidies promoting agricultural practices favouring pastures and grassland
Like trainer, like bot? Inheritance of bias in algorithmic content moderation
The internet has become a central medium through which `networked publics'
express their opinions and engage in debate. Offensive comments and personal
attacks can inhibit participation in these spaces. Automated content moderation
aims to overcome this problem using machine learning classifiers trained on
large corpora of texts manually annotated for offence. While such systems could
help encourage more civil debate, they must navigate inherently normatively
contestable boundaries, and are subject to the idiosyncratic norms of the human
raters who provide the training data. An important objective for platforms
implementing such measures might be to ensure that they are not unduly biased
towards or against particular norms of offence. This paper provides some
exploratory methods by which the normative biases of algorithmic content
moderation systems can be measured, by way of a case study using an existing
dataset of comments labelled for offence. We train classifiers on comments
labelled by different demographic subsets (men and women) to understand how
differences in conceptions of offence between these groups might affect the
performance of the resulting models on various test sets. We conclude by
discussing some of the ethical choices facing the implementers of algorithmic
moderation systems, given various desired levels of diversity of viewpoints
amongst discussion participants.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 9th International Conference on Social
Informatics (SocInfo 2017), Oxford, UK, 13--15 September 2017 (forthcoming in
Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Outer space technopolitics and postcolonial modernity in Kazakhstan
This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this recordThis article examines the role of outer space technopolitics in post-Soviet
Kazakhstan. It explores how outer space, the technological artefact of global
relevance, works as a postcolonial fetish of modernity that is called upon to produce
what it represents, i.e. the reality of a technologically advanced Kazakh nation. The
article shows that in its project of becoming a spacefaring nation the country reiterates
major incentives that have motivated nuclear and space programme development in
the postcolonial context of the Global South. The article explores how collaboration
with Russia allows Kazakhstan to claim its share in the Soviet space legacy rather
than to distance itself from it. It then traces the rise of a new internationalism in the
Kazakhstani space programme outside the post-Soviet context. The article contributes
to the debate on postcolonial techonopolitics and shows how outer space has been
used to enhance the conventional domain of postcolonial national ideologies –
nativism and tradition – with technology and science. Finally, the article depicts how
the growing resistance to the space programme among Kazakh civil society groups
reveals a close association of the environmental agenda with an “eco-nationalism”
permeated by a profoundly anti-imperial and, ultimately, antiauthoritarian political
discourse
Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU
Contains fulltext :
172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access
China as a persuader: CCTV Africa's first steps in the African mediasphere
China, in seeking greater engagement with African audiences, has dramatically boosted its potential to shape narratives in ways that can favour its image or interests abroad. Focusing on CCTV Africa, China's flagship efforts to win hearts and minds on the continent, the article explains how this strategy has been pursued not by directly offering an alternative image of China, but by advancing new ways of looking at Africa. The article offers insights into the innovations and contradictions associated with China's increased presence in African media. It examines how the concept of 'positive reporting' is making inroads in Africa, tapping into the narrative of a 'rising Africa' and challenging the Western conception of the media as watchdogs. The article also highlights how CCTV is adapting to liberal journalistic standards, embracing a more aggressive style of reporting to compete for loyalty in a market which is becoming increasingly crowded. © 2013 iMasa
The socialization of ICTs in ethiopia: Re-shaping technology for nation-building
This paper addresses how state actors in the developing world have influenced technology adoption and favoured the diffusion of certain uses of ICTs while discouraging others. Drawing upon extensive field research and looking at the evolution of ICTs in Ethiopia, it examines how a semi-authoritarian, yet developmentally oriented regime, has actively sought to mediate the - either real or imagined - destabilising aspects of ICTs while embracing them as a tool for nation-building. A constructivist framework as developed in international relations and history of technology is employed to understand how the introduction of the new ICT framework as promoted by international organizations has been mediated both by the results of the socialization of earlier technologies in Ethiopia and by the national project pursued by the local political elite. Copyright © 2009, IGI Global
Virtual enclaves or global networks? The role of Information and Communication Technologies in development cooperation
This article investigates the evolution of the struggle for bridging the digital divide in developing countries. Taking into account tendencies that have been registered in disciplines other than development, such as urban sociology and social psychology, the author demonstrates how a frequent over-estimation of the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has influenced the previsions about their impacts and led to results and phenomena different from the expected ones. ICTs have been perceived more as a black box that can produce the same effects everywhere, independent from pre-existing cultural and socio-economic contexts, than as an open artifact, capable of integrating local needs in their functioning mechanism and being adapted according to different conditions of use. Nevertheless 10 years have passed since the first pioneers launched their projects for reducing the digital gap and new approaches have emerged since then. ICTs are more and more at the heart of the strategies developed by international organizations for providing a better future to new generations and a new consciousness has emerged as a result of the many errors. The article describes some of the new approaches in the fight against the digital divide, explaining how they have a better chance to success and bring digital equity
China as a persuader: CCTV Africa's first steps in the African mediasphere
China, in seeking greater engagement with African audiences, has dramatically boosted its potential to shape narratives in ways that can favour its image or interests abroad. Focusing on CCTV Africa, China's flagship efforts to win hearts and minds on the continent, the article explains how this strategy has been pursued not by directly offering an alternative image of China, but by advancing new ways of looking at Africa. The article offers insights into the innovations and contradictions associated with China's increased presence in African media. It examines how the concept of 'positive reporting' is making inroads in Africa, tapping into the narrative of a 'rising Africa' and challenging the Western conception of the media as watchdogs. The article also highlights how CCTV is adapting to liberal journalistic standards, embracing a more aggressive style of reporting to compete for loyalty in a market which is becoming increasingly crowded. © 2013 iMasa