Automatically assembling a full census of an academic field

The composition of the scientific workforce shapes the direction of scientific research, directly through the selection of questions to investigate, and indirectly through its influence on the training of future scientists. In most fields, however, complete census information is difficult to obtain, complicating efforts to study workforce dynamics and the effects of policy. This is particularly true in computer science, which lacks a single, all-encompassing directory or professional organization. A full census of computer science would serve many purposes, not the least of which is a better understanding of the trends and causes of unequal representation in computing. Previous academic census efforts have relied on narrow or biased samples, or on professional society membership rolls. A full census can be constructed directly from online departmental faculty directories, but doing so by hand is prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. Here, we introduce a topical web crawler for automating the collection of faculty information from web-based department rosters, and demonstrate the resulting system on the 205 PhD-granting computer science departments in the U.S. and Canada. This method constructs a complete census of the field within a few minutes, and achieves over 99% precision and recall. We conclude by comparing the resulting 2017 census to a hand-curated 2011 census to quantify turnover and retention in computer science, in general and for female faculty in particular, demonstrating the types of analysis made possible by automated census construction.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Environmental Changes and the Dynamics of Musical Identity

Musical tastes reflect our unique values and experiences, our relationships with others, and the places where we live. But as each of these things changes, do our tastes also change to reflect the present, or remain fixed, reflecting our past? Here, we investigate how where a person lives shapes their musical preferences, using geographic relocation to construct quasi-natural experiments that measure short- and long-term effects. Analyzing comprehensive data on over 16 million users on Spotify, we show that relocation within the United States has only a small impact on individuals' tastes, which remain more similar to those of their past environments. We then show that the age gap between a person and the music they consume indicates that adolescence, and likely their environment during these years, shapes their lifelong musical tastes. Our results demonstrate the robustness of individuals' musical identity, and shed new light on the development of preferences.Comment: Accepted to be published at ICWSM'1

Prestige drives epistemic inequality in the diffusion of scientific ideas

The spread of ideas in the scientific community is often viewed as a competition, in which good ideas spread further because of greater intrinsic fitness, and publication venue and citation counts correlate with importance and impact. However, relatively little is known about how structural factors influence the spread of ideas, and specifically how where an idea originates might influence how it spreads. Here, we investigate the role of faculty hiring networks, which embody the set of researcher transitions from doctoral to faculty institutions, in shaping the spread of ideas in computer science, and the importance of where in the network an idea originates. We consider comprehensive data on the hiring events of 5032 faculty at all 205 Ph.D.-granting departments of computer science in the U.S. and Canada, and on the timing and titles of 200,476 associated publications. Analyzing five popular research topics, we show empirically that faculty hiring can and does facilitate the spread of ideas in science. Having established such a mechanism, we then analyze its potential consequences using epidemic models to simulate the generic spread of research ideas and quantify the impact of where an idea originates on its longterm diffusion across the network. We find that research from prestigious institutions spreads more quickly and completely than work of similar quality originating from less prestigious institutions. Our analyses establish the theoretical trade-offs between university prestige and the quality of ideas necessary for efficient circulation. Our results establish faculty hiring as an underlying mechanism that drives the persistent epistemic advantage observed for elite institutions, and provide a theoretical lower bound for the impact of structural inequality in shaping the spread of ideas in science.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Religious interbeing : Buddhist pluralism and Thich Nhat Hanh

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorders are characterized by both social and non-social im-pairments, namely a triadic core of deficits in the social, communication and behavioural do-mains along with some strengths in perceptual functioning and the manifestation of “islets of abilities”. The weak central coherence account provides an explanatory model for the islets of perceptual competence and the tendency for detail and local processing in individuals with autism, as well as for some of the non-triadic features. A local processing bias, with inability to extract the gestalt, does therefore seem to be present in autistic individuals. Objectives: In this paper, we aim to review scientific evidence in favor of the weak central coherence in the visual processing domain and the position of this account in recent autism investigation in re-lation with other relevant theories. Scope of the discussion: Considerable evidence supporting weak central coherence account has been gathered by psychophysical, behavioral, clinical, electrophysiological and imaging studies; although findings are not consensual. We discuss the interpretation of these findings and methodological limitations that might contribute to diverging results. Additionally, we argue about the inadequacy of a single etiological model to explain autism in the light of current studies. Conclusion: An outstanding question remains: can a global perceptual deficit be identified in autism or can just a matter of a distinct cogni-tive style be invoked? Further research is needed to clarify the specificity and universality of weak central coherence in autism, as well as the underlying neurobiological mechanisms

Midcareer Women Leaving Information Technology: An Examination of the Phenomenon

Midcareer women are leaving the information technology (IT) career field at a much higher rate than are men. This attrition has contributed to a decreasing percentage of women in the IT field, hindering the creativity, innovation, and productivity that can result from a diverse workforce. This phenomenological study addressed a gap in the current research by examining the lived experience of women who have left the IT field. The conceptual frameworks of the study included Rhodes and Doering\u27s integrated career change model based on traditional turnover theory, a model of gender and power in careers by Ragins and Sundstrom, and a career commitment model from Fu that accommodates the unique occupational culture of IT. The research questions explored the experiences, thoughts, and feelings that led these women to leave the IT profession after gaining years of experience. Participants were interviewed using a researcher-designed interview instrument and data were analyzed using a priori codes derived from the conceptual framework and literature review to guide analysis, assisted by software designed for this purpose. The main themes emerging from this study included: negative aspects of the IT culture and organizational climate, challenges of work/life balance, and gender bias and discrimination. The social change implications of knowledge gained through this study include positive changes in the experience of midcareer women in IT, improved retention of midcareer women in IT in corporations and government, and the increased productivity and innovation that is possible with a fully staffed and more diverse workforce