Cyborg Activism: Exploring the reconfigurations of democratic subjectivity in Anonymous

This article develops the concept of cyborg activism as novel configuration of democratic subjectivity in the Information Age by exploring the online collectivity Anonymous as a prototype. By fusing elements of human/machine and organic/digital the cyborg disrupts modern logics of binary thinking. Cyborg activism emerges as the reconfiguration of equality/hierarchy, reason/emotion, and nihilism/idealism. Anonymous demonstrates how through the use of contingent and ephemeral digital personae hierarchies in cyborg activism prove more volatile than in face-to-face settings. Emotions appear as an essential part of a politics of passion, which enables pursuing laughter and joy, expressing anger, and experiencing empowerment as part of a reasoned, strategic politics. Anonymous’ political content reconfigures nihilist sentiments, frustration, and political disenchantment on the one hand with idealist world views on the other. This enables the cohabitation and partial integration of a great diversity of political claims rooted in various ideologies

Updating known distribution models for forecasting climate change impact on endangered species

To plan endangered species conservation and to design adequate management programmes, it is necessary to predict their distributional response to climate change, especially under the current situation of rapid change. However, these predictions are customarily done by relating de novo the distribution of the species with climatic conditions with no regard of previously available knowledge about the factors affecting the species distribution. We propose to take advantage of known species distribution models, but proceeding to update them with the variables yielded by climatic models before projecting them to the future. To exemplify our proposal, the availability of suitable habitat across Spain for the endangered Bonelli’s Eagle (Aquila fasciata) was modelled by updating a pre-existing model based on current climate and topography to a combination of different general circulation models and Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. Our results suggested that the main threat for this endangered species would not be climate change, since all forecasting models show that its distribution will be maintained and increased in mainland Spain for all the XXI century. We remark on the importance of linking conservation biology with distribution modelling by updating existing models, frequently available for endangered species, considering all the known factors conditioning the species’ distribution, instead of building new models that are based on climate change variables only.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and FEDER (project CGL2009-11316/BOS

Climate-induced phenology shifts linked to range expansions in species with multiple reproductive cycles per year

Advances in phenology (the annual timing of species’ life-cycles) in response to climate change are generally viewed as bioindicators of climate change, but have not been considered as predictors of range expansions. Here, we show that phenology advances combine with the number of reproductive cycles per year (voltinism) to shape abundance and distribution trends in 130 species of British Lepidoptera, in response to ~0.5 °C spring-temperature warming between 1995 and 2014. Early adult emergence in warm years resulted in increased within- and between-year population growth for species with multiple reproductive cycles per year (n = 39 multivoltine species). By contrast, early emergence had neutral or negative consequences for species with a single annual reproductive cycle (n = 91 univoltine species), depending on habitat specialisation. We conclude that phenology advances facilitate polewards range expansions in species exhibiting plasticity for both phenology and voltinism, but may inhibit expansion by less flexible species

Global health activists' lessons on building social movements for Health for all

The People's Health Movement (PHM) was formed in 2000 and drew inspiration from the Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care's 'Health for All' (1978). Since then PHM has been an active part of a global counter-hegemonic social movement. This study aimed to gain insights on social movement building, drawing on the successes and failures reported by activists over their experiences of working in the Health for All social movement to improve health, justice and equity. Methods: Qualitative research methods were employed in this study to capture complex and historical narratives of individual activists, through semi-structured interviews and subsequent thematic analysis of transcripts. The research design and analysis were informed by social movement theory and literature on health activism as a pathway for social change

Nest predation in Meadow pipits Anthus pratensis nesting in natural conditions

Predation was the most important cause of nest failures in a population of Meadow Pipits Anthus pratensis breeding in a natural fen mire in Biebrza marshes (NE Poland). According to the Mayfield method, in two breeding seasons, predators interrupted 47% of all breeding attempts (95% confidence limits : 36%-55%). Other mortality agents (e .g . desertion of nests, flooding) eliminated another 5% of nests. Predators reduced production of fledglings by about 50% and introduced most of the variability in the number of fledglings produced in a single reproductive bout. There was a significant annual and within-season variation in the probability of nest predation. When seasonal changes in vulnerability were controlled for, the analysis revealed that in all stages of the breeding cycle the nest was equally likely to be depredated . A review of the data on survival of nests in four populations of Meadow Pipits, indicates that even though nest failure rates are similar (around 50%), the species must cope with different agents of mortality. In natural habitats predators pose a greater threat to nests than in habitats strongly modified by human activit

Bio-inspired feature extraction and enhancement of targets moving against visual clutter during closed loop pursuit

We developed a biologically inspired model for detection and pursuit of small targets against complex backgrounds and tested it in a closed-loop flight arena. A winner-takes-all network of local feature detectors based on insect Small Target Motion Detector (STMD) neurons was used to direct the gaze of a camera mimicking the viewpoint of the pursuer in a series of small steps (saccades) whilst fixating the background. The output of a direction-selective network of 2nd order local motion correlators was then used to enhance the relative salience of features in the direction of travel of the winning feature. The combination of saccadic fixation and robust target-ground discrimination provided by the STMD front-end, with an attention-like 2nd order salience enhancement provided very reliable capture of tiny targets even in visually challenging scenarios.Kerry J. Halupka, Steven D. Wiederman, Benjamin S. Cazzolato, David C. O‘Carrol

Discrete implementation of biologically inspired image processing for target detection

In nature, systems which visually process the world around them, in computationally efficient manners, have evolved over millions of years. The brain of an insect, which is smaller than a grain of rice, and with less than a million neurons, can effectively engage in computationally challenging tasks. For example, visually detecting and discriminating small moving objects, which are embedded within a complex optical flow pattern (induced by ego-motion). This task has yet to be perfected by current image processing techniques, though recent research is taking inspiration from nature to do so, in creating biologically inspired models of insect vision. This paper presents the progress made on our previous computational model based on electrophysiological data of a class of cells called Small Target Motion Detection neurons (STMDs). This model was based in the continuous temporal domain with constraints imposed on the inputs to the model. Modifications to the model include re-implementation in the discrete domain, the addition of a more physiologically accurate log-normal filter, the inclusion of a Reichardt Correlator and the creation of the highly controllable virtual world as a front end to the model. Model outputs show that the target detecting characteristics of the previous continuous model are maintained, though in a form which is directly applicable to hardware implementation.Kerry J. Halupka, Steven D. Wiederman, Benjamin S. Cazzolato, David C. O'Carrollhttp://www.issnip.org/~issnip2011

Sound Perfume: Augmenting user's identity using sound and fragrance stimulation

10.1109/ISMAR-AMH.2011.60936632011 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality - Arts, Media, and Humanities, ISMAR-AMH 201199-10