Would Kitty Genovese have been murdered in Second Life? Researching the "bystander effect" using online technologies

The increasing use of online technologies, including &lsquo;virtual worlds&rsquo; such as Second Life, provides sociology with a transformed context within which to ply creative research approaches to ongoing social issues, such as the &lsquo;bystander effect&rsquo;. While the &lsquo;bystander effect&rsquo; was coined following a real-life incident, the concept has been researched primarily through laboratory-based experiments. The relationship between &lsquo;virtual&rsquo; and &lsquo;real&rsquo; world environments and human behaviours are, however, unclear and warrant careful attention and research.In this paper we outline existing literature on the applicability of computer-simulated activity to real world contexts. We consider the potential of Second Life as a research environment in which &lsquo;virtual&rsquo; and &lsquo;real&rsquo; human responses are potentially more blurred than in real-life or a laboratory setting. We describe preliminary research in which unsolicited Second Life participants faced a situation in which they could have intervened. Our findings suggest the existence of a common perception that formal regulators were close at hand, and that this contributed to the hesitation of some people to personally intervene in the fraught situation. In addition to providing another angle on the &lsquo;bystander effect&rsquo;, this research contributes to our understanding of how new technologies might enable us to conduct social research in creative ways.<br /

Human Capital In The Context Of Race, Gender And Geography: How Does It Really Help To Get A Good Job?

Human capital appears to be no longer adequate to explain why some people get good jobs and others get bad jobs. Increasingly, a person\u27s race, gender, class and geographical location seem to be better predictors for the type of jobs people secure. The data that is used to explore the problem comes from a phone survey of Southeastern Michigan conducted during 2002 and 2003. Geographic space definitely affected demographic variables when looking at the makeup of the temporary workforce

Life’s a breach! Ensuring ‘permanence’ in forest carbon sinks under incomplete contract enforcement

As carbon sinks, forests play a critical role in helping to mitigate the growing threat from anthropogenic climate change. Forest carbon offsets transacted between GHG emitters in industrialised countries and sellers in developing countries have emerged as a useful climate policy tool. A model is developed that investigates the role of incentives in forestry carbon sequestration contracts. It considers the optimal design of contracts to ensure landowner participation and hence, permanence in forest carbon sinks in a context of uncertain opportunity costs and incomplete contract enforcement. The optimal contract is driven by the quality of the institutional framework in which the contract is executed, in particular, as it relates to contract enforcement. Stronger institutional frameworks tend to distort the seller’s effort upwards away from the full enforcement outcome. This also leads to greater amounts of carbon sequestered and higher conditional payments made to the seller. Further, where institutions are strong, there is a case for indexing the payment to the carbon market price if permanence is to be ensured. That is, as the carbon price increases, the payment could be raised and vice versa.forest carbon offsets, permanence, contract design, incomplete enforcement

Effects of 8-month vibration plus resistance training on bone density and bone metabolism in postmenopausal women.

Introduction. Whole body vibration has been shown to be osteogenic in animal models; however its application in humans is not clear.Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an eight month program involving vibration plus resistance training on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone metabolism of older postmenopausal women.Results. At baseline, there were no group differences in age, height, weight, calcium intake, strength, BMD, or BMC. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA (group x time) did not detect significant group or time effects for BAP, CTX, or BMD of the total body, spine, left hip (total hip, trochanter, femoral neck), or right trochanter. A significant (p&lt; 0.05) time effect revealed a decrease in right total hip and right femoral neck BMD. A group x time interaction (p&lt; 0.05) was detected at the forearm, with C slightly increasing, VR slightly decreasing, and R remaining the same. Repeated measures ANOVA (group X time) revealed a significant (p&lt; 0.01) main effect and interaction effect for 1RM of the 8 tested exercises. R and VR significantly (p&lt; 0.05) increased 1RM strength in 5 exercises, compared with C. ANOVA determined significant (p&lt; 0.01) group differences in pre-post percent (%) change in strength. VR had significantly (p&lt; 0.05) higher relative strength increases in 5 of the eight exercises, compared with R. Ranges in %change were 42-138% among VR and 23-88% among R.Conclusions. No significant alterations in bone biomarkers, BMD, or BMC were detected. Although there were significant increases muscle strength, no benefits for skeletal health were evident.Methods. Fifty-five women were assigned to a resistance training group (R, n=22), a vibration plus resistance training group (VR, n=21), or a control group (C, n=12). R and VR trained 3 days/week for 8 months on 8 exercises. VR received vibration (30-40Hz, 2-2.8g) in three different positions preceding resistance exercise. Training loads were adjusted every 5 weeks. Daily calcium intake; biochemical markers of bone turnover, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and C-telopeptide of Type I collagen (CTX); and BMD and bone mineral content (BMC) of the spine, dual femur, forearm, and total body (DXA) were measured at baseline and month 8

A review of Emma Wilby’s The Visions of Isobel Gowdie: Magic, Witchcraft and Dark Shamanism in Seventeenth-Century Scotland (Sussex University Press, 2010)

<div>This is an annotated data management plan (DMP) template for an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) data management plan.<br></div><div><br></div><div>This document (available in .pdf and .docx formats) was created using the <a href="https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/">DMPonline tool</a>, which provides templates for structuring major research funders' DMPs. The document includes the guidance text provided in the tool, produced by the <a href="http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/DMP-themes.pdf">Digital Curation Centre (DCC)</a>, the <a href="https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/about/standards/researchdata/expectations/">EPSRC</a> and the <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/rdm/dmp">University of Sheffield Library</a>. </div><div><br></div><div>Although the EPSRC does not require that a DMP is submitted as part of a grant application, it still expects one to be in place. A DMP describes how you will collect, organise, manage, store, secure, backup, preserve, and where applicable, share your data. The EPSRC DMP template is organised into seven sections and the resulting DMP is expected to be two or three of pages of A4 in length. </div><div><br></div><div>For further guidance see the <a href="https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/about/standards/researchdata/expectations/">EPSRC expectations concerning management of research data</a> and the DCC webpages on <a href="http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-plans">Data management Plans</a> and <a href="http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/develop-data-plan">How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan</a>. </div

Shape Morphing Using PDE Surfaces

NoA methodology for shape morphing using partial differential equation (PDE) surfaces is presented in this work. The use of the PDE formulation shows how shape morphing can be based on a boundary-value approach by which intermediate shapes can be created. Furthermore, the mathematical properties of the method give rise to several alternatives in which morphing one shape into another can be achieved. Three of these alternatives are presented here. The first one is based on the gradual variation of the weighted sum of the boundary conditions for each surface, the second one consists of varying the Fourier mode for which the PDE is solved whilst the third results from a combination of the first two. Examples showing the efficiency of these methodologies are presented. Thus, it is shown that the PDE based approach for morphing, when combined with a parametric variation of the boundary conditions, is capable of obtaining smooth intermediate surfaces automatically

Crime risks of three-dimensional virtual environments

Three-dimensional virtual environments (3dves) are the new generation of digital multi-user social networking platforms. Their immersive character allows users to create a digital humanised representation or avatar, enabling a degree of virtual interaction not possible through conventional text-based internet technologies. As recent international experience demonstrates, in addition to the conventional range of cybercrimes (including economic fraud, the dissemination of child pornography and copyright violations), the \u27virtual-reality\u27 promoted by 3dves is the source of great speculation and concern over a range of specific and emerging forms of crime and harm to users. This paper provides some examples of the types of harm currently emerging in 3dves and suggests internal regulation by user groups, terms of service, or end-user licensing agreements, possibly linked to real-world criminological principles. This paper also provides some directions for future research aimed at understanding the role of Australian criminal law and the justice system more broadly in this emerging field

Surveillance technology and territorial controls: governance and the ‘lite touch’ of privacy

This paper argues that privacy has limited influence on the use of new and untested surveillance technologies in contemporary Australian law enforcement, in part due to the construction of current privacy laws and oversight principles. Abstract: The considerable growth of surveillance technologies, dataveillance and digital information processing has occurred across many domains, including the night-time economy. We explore a particular technology (ID scanners) and the connections between this form of surveillance and associated database construction with the broader use of new forms of territorial governance. In turn, we argue that privacy, at least in the context of Australia, has limited influence on the use of new and untested surveillance technologies in contemporary law enforcement. In part, this is due to the construction of current Australian privacy laws and oversight principles. We argue this in itself does not solely account for the limitations of privacy regimes, as recent Canadian research demonstrates how privacy regulation generates limited control over the expansion of new crime prevention technologies. However, a more telling problem involves the enactment of new laws allowing police and venue operators to exclude the undesirable from venues, streets and entertainment zones. These developments reflect the broader shift to governing through sub-sovereign territorial controls that seek to leverage many current and emerging surveillance technologies and their normalisation in preventing crime without being encumbered by the niceties of privacy law

Global policing and the case of Kim Dotcom

In early 2012, 76 heavily armed police conducted a raid on a house in Auckland, New Zealand. The targets were Kim Dotcom, a German national with a NZ residency visa, and several colleagues affiliated with Megaupload, an online subscription-based peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing facility. The alleged offences involved facilitating unlawful file sharing and United States federal criminal copyright violations. Following the raid, several court cases provide valuable insights into emerging &lsquo;global policing&rsquo; practices (Bowling and Sheptycki 2012) based on communications between sovereign enforcement agencies. This article uses these cases to explore the growth of &lsquo;extraterritorial&rsquo; police powers that operate &lsquo;across borders&rsquo; (Nadelmann 1993) as part of several broader transformations of global policing in the digital age