Microsoft and the European Union Face Off Over Internet Privacy Concerns

Amidst what appears to be a multi-faceted attack by the European Union on Microsoft, the newest angle is the European Commission\u27s announcement last month that it was considering a formal investigation of Microsoft\u27s .Net Passport data processing system for possible violations of the European Union Data Privacy Directive. This iBrief explores the European Data Privacy Directive and seeks to explain why the European Commission believes .Net Passport may be in violation of its privacy policies and a case for further investigation

DELIBERATION AND REPRESENTATION IN PARTICIPATORY TOOLS FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Tools for participatory decision-making in the public sector have gained attention for a while, where, in particular, wikis have been put forward as an open-ended negotiation between different worldviews and discourses. It might seem that these are the ultimate Habermasian deliberative tools engaging the participants in the collaborative processes of developing consensus. However, in actual fact, neither the processes nor the tools are sophisticated enough. Tools often lack the necessary structure to support more complex reasoning, and if they do they are too complicated to use to enable broad participation. Furthermore, participants mostly lack legitimacy du to unequal representation, as there is a rather limited group that has the means and the motivation to participate. Therefore, in this paper we present a prototype where we have implemented tools for decision support and a statistical tool in a standard, easy-to-use application. The voting feature and pro/con argumentation is integrated in the discussion forum, as an extra formatting feature. The statistical tool, in an adequate context, can be used for understanding how the decisions are taken and how representative the opinion/decision is for the relevant population. It can also be used as a reflective tool, i.e., for making users aware of power qustions in the group of users. What this show is how a standard interface can be improved with integrated tools for structured discussions and representation analysis, without sacrificing usability

Inget problem, problem eller socialt problem? Pojkars utsatthet i hedersstrukturer och det sociala arbetet omkring dem i Malmö.

Author: Karin Hansson Title: No problem, a problem or a social problem? The exposure of boys in honour structures and the social work surrounding them in Malmoe (Translated title) Supervisor: Annika Capelán Assessor: Katarina Jacobsson The purpose of this study was to examine the situation of the boys in honour stuctures. More specifically the aim was to find out how the context of Malmo, with it´s organization of the public authorities and the segregation within the city, as well as the Social Service Act of Sweden, affects the exposure of boys in honour structures. I wanted to understand the invisibility of these boys from this point of intersection. My study was a qualitative study, performed in two steps. I did interviews with representatives from three non-governmental organizations and I also sent questions via e-mail to each one of to the human service agencies that are responsible for child investigations, in Malmo. The main questions of the investigation were; In which ways can the boys in honour structures be exposed? What kind of work is done to help these boys in Malmo? How does the specific context, which is Malmo, affects the exposure of the boys? Can the situation of boys in honour structures receive the title of a social problem? The empirics were analyzed using theories of social constructivism, more presicly theory on how a social problem and the ideal victim are created. My study showed that the human service agencies seemed to have quite a limited experience of exposed boys in honour structures. The exposure of boys in honour structure were a problem, but it had not yet earned the status of a social problem. The non-governmental organizations seemed to play an important part in the process of a establishing a definition because of their experience with the exposed boys. The model of explanation which was common for describing girls’ exposure in honour structure often defines the boys as perpetrators. This seemed to be an aggravatingly circumstance in the process of making a social problem out of the exposure of the boys in honour structures. I argued that it is necessary to include boys as victims in honour structures alongside with the girls

Art as participatory methodology

While Art is often defined in opposition to Science, artistic research is often legitimaced by a positivistic classical scientific paradigm. For example the artist as scientist was highlighted in 2012 year’s Documenta – one of the most important exhibitions of contemporary art. In contrast to this position, I intend to show the fruitfulness in positioning art in a feminist, qualitative-oriented research tradition. An important point here is the definition of an artistic methodology, where art is a reflective process and where artistic work is both means and goal. This includes the use of artistic practices to break the own pre-understanding of a phenomenon. It is the personal motive that determines what is relevant, while this perspective is exposed to critical scrutiny. Based on this, I discuss how art can be described as a participatory methodology, and use a research project in urban planning and information and communication technology as an example. Here, the art project functioned as a creative and critical room that created a greater understanding of the significance of discursive practices and the importance of reviewing the information that is the foundation of how we formulate the research problems. The most significant conclusion is that artistic research in this sense may well be, and probably should, be an important part of a scientific research and is a prerequisite for scientific development

Increased consumer fitness following transfer of toxin tolerance to offspring via maternal effects

Adaptations and, counteradaptations are common in coevolving predatorprey systems, but little is known of the role of maternal transfer of adaptive traits in mediating species interactions. Here, we focused on tolerance against cyanobacterial toxins and asked whether this tolerance was an induced defense developed during Daphnia's lifetime, whether it was a trait that is constantly expressed, and whether such tolerance to the toxin can be transferred to the next generation through maternal effects. These questions were addressed by feeding a single clone of Daphnia magna a diet with and without algal toxin and recording changes in fitness (as intrinsic rate of population increase). Analysis of F1, F2, and F3 generations revealed that the increased tolerance to toxic Microcystis was an inducible defense developed during an individual's lifetime, and that this trait could be transferred from mother to offspring. This maternal effect was expressed in several fitness parameters, including shorter time to maturity and first reproduction, and higher numbers of offspring compared to inexperienced individuals. In some circumstances, such maternal effects may increase population production by up to 40% and may help to stabilize material and energy transfer to higher trophic levels

The Importance of Recognition for Equal Representation in Participatory Processes: Lessons from Husby

Despite the ambition to involve people on more equal terms, participation often still means that the audience is involved in clearly demarcated parts of the process and attempts to develop more deliberative democratic processes in urban planning often fail due to unequal representation in the participatory process. While sharing the general idea of the value of participatory processes, we will investigate some problematic features involved and suggest how some of these can be remedied. We employ the concept of recognition to analyse the conditions for public participation in a recent case of urban planning in the Stockholm suburb of Husby. This case is particularly interesting as it clearly demonstrates the impact of globalisation on local participatory processes. The results show the importance of broad recognition for equal representation in participatory processes, and the need for a plurality of public spheres to support long-term participation in the development of the common urban space

Criteria and Decision Support for A Sustainable Choice of Alternative Marine Fuels

To reach the International Maritime Organization, IMO, vision of a 50% greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction by 2050, there is a need for action. Good decision support is needed for decisions on fuel and energy conversion systems due to the complexity. This paper aims to get an overview of the criteria types included in present assessments of future marine fuels, to evaluate these and to highlight the most important criteria. This is done using a literature review of selected scientific articles and reports and the authors’ own insights from assessing marine fuels. There are different views regarding the goal of fuel change, what fuel names to use as well as regarding the criteria to assess, which therefore vary in the literature. Quite a few articles and reports include a comparison of several alternative fuels. To promote a transition to fuels with significant GHG reduction potential, it is crucial to apply a life cycle perspective and to assess fuel options in a multicriteria perspective. The recommended minimum set of criteria to consider when evaluating future marine fuels differ somewhat between fuels that can be used in existing ships and fuels that can be used in new types of propulsion system

Changes in population depth distribution and oxygen stratification are involved in the current low condition of the eastern Baltic Sea cod (Gadus morhua)

During the past 20 years, hypoxic areas have expanded rapidly in the Baltic Sea, which has become one of the largest marine “dead zones” in the world. At the same time, the most important commercial fish population of the region, the eastern Baltic cod, has experienced a drastic reduction in mean body condition, but the processes behind the relation between deoxygenation and condition remain elusive. Here we use extensive long-term monitoring data on cod biology and distribution as well as on hydrological variations to investigate the processes that relate deoxygenation and cod condition during the autumn season. Our results show that the depth distribution of cod has increased during the past 4 decades at the same time of the expansion, and shallowing, of waters with oxygen concentrations detrimental to cod performance. This has resulted in a progressively increasing spatial overlap between the cod population and low-oxygenated waters after the mid-1990s. This spatial overlap and the actual oxygen concentration experienced by cod therein statistically explained a large proportion of the changes in cod condition over the years. These results complement previous analyses on fish otolith microchemistry that also revealed that since the mid-1990s, cod individuals with low condition were exposed to low-oxygen waters during their life. This study helps to shed light on the processes that have led to a decline of the eastern Baltic cod body condition, which can aid the management of this population currently in distress. Further studies should focus on understanding why the cod population has moved to deeper waters in autumn and on analyzing the overlap with low-oxygen waters in other seasons to quantify the potential effects of the variation