Determinants of Unlawful File Sharing: A Scoping Review

We employ a scoping review methodology to consider and assess the existing evidence on the determinants of unlawful file sharing (UFS) transparently and systematically. Based on the evidence, we build a simple conceptual framework to model the psychological decision to engage in UFS, purchase legally or do nothing. We identify social, moral, experiential, technical, legal and financial utility sources of the decision to purchase or to file share. They interact in complex ways. We consider the strength of evidence within these areas and note patterns of results. There is good evidence for influences on UFS within each of the identified determinants, particularly for self-reported measures, with more behavioral research needed. There are also indications that the reasons for UFS differ across media; more studies exploring media other than music are required

Understanding why women seek abortions in the US

BACKGROUND: The current political climate with regards to abortion in the US, along with the economic recession may be affecting women’s reasons for seeking abortion, warranting a new investigation into the reasons why women seek abortion. METHODS: Data for this study were drawn from baseline quantitative and qualitative data from the Turnaway Study, an ongoing, five-year, longitudinal study evaluating the health and socioeconomic consequences of receiving or being denied an abortion in the US. While the study has followed women for over two full years, it relies on the baseline data which were collected from 2008 through the end of 2010. The sample included 954 women from 30 abortion facilities across the US who responded to two open ended questions regarding the reasons why they wanted to terminate their pregnancy approximately one week after seeking an abortion. RESULTS: Women’s reasons for seeking an abortion fell into 11 broad themes. The predominant themes identified as reasons for seeking abortion included financial reasons (40%), timing (36%), partner related reasons (31%), and the need to focus on other children (29%). Most women reported multiple reasons for seeking an abortion crossing over several themes (64%). Using mixed effects multivariate logistic regression analyses, we identified the social and demographic predictors of the predominant themes women gave for seeking an abortion. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings demonstrate that the reasons women seek abortion are complex and interrelated, similar to those found in previous studies. While some women stated only one factor that contributed to their desire to terminate their pregnancies, others pointed to a myriad of factors that, cumulatively, resulted in their seeking abortion. As indicated by the differences we observed among women’s reasons by individual characteristics, women seek abortion for reasons related to their circumstances, including their socioeconomic status, age, health, parity and marital status. It is important that policy makers consider women’s motivations for choosing abortion, as decisions to support or oppose such legislation could have profound effects on the health, socioeconomic outcomes and life trajectories of women facing unwanted pregnancies

Asian water buffalo: domestication, history and genetics

The domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is found on all five continents, with a global population of some 202 million. The livelihoods of more people depend on this species than on any other domestic animal. The two distinct types (river and swamp) descended from different wild Asian water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) populations that diverged some 900 kyr BP and then evolved in separate geographical regions. After domestication in the western region of the Indian subcontinent (ca. 6300 years BP), the river buffalo spread west as far as Egypt, the Balkans and Italy. Conversely, after domestication in the China/ Indochina border region ca. 3000–7000 years BP, swamp buffaloes dispersed through south-east Asia and China as far as the Yangtze River valley. Molecular and morphological evidence indicates that swamp buffalo populations have strong geographic genetic differentiation and a lack of gene flow, but strong phenotypic uniformity. In contrast, river buffalo populations show a weaker phylogeographic structure, but higher phenotypic diversity (i.e. many breeds). The recent availability of a high-quality reference genome and of a medium-density marker panel for genotyping has triggered a number of genome-wide investigations on diversity, evolutionary history, production traits and functional elements. The growing molecular knowledge combined with breeding programmes should pave the way to improvements in production, environmental adaptation and disease resistance in water buffalo populations worldwide