Elections, Wars, and Protests? A Longitudinal Look at Foreign News on Canadian Television

This study reports on the Canadian data from a recent international content analysis of broadcast news in 18 countries. With a mind to Robert A. Hackett’s longitudinal analysis of foreign news on CBC and CTV in 1989, the current study addresses questions of foreign news prominence, geographic distribution, topic coverage, and variation between networks, noting differences and similarities in the content of foreign news in light of shifting cultural, political, and economic environments; news production processes; and communication technologies. This analysis provides an update to Hackett’s seminal work, painting a picture of the Canadian foreign news landscape two decades later

‘Powers of a squirrel, and also a girl’: Squirrel Girl and alternatives for women in superhero comic-books – an interview with Ryan North

Ryan North is a Canadian author who writes a host of comics, most notably Dinosaur Comics (www. qwantz.com, 2003-present), Adventure Time (2012–2014, winner of both an Eisner and a Harvey Award), The Midas Flesh (2013) and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (R. North and E. Henderson, 2015). North is also the creator of To Be Or Not To Be (2013), a choose-your-own-adventure version of Hamlet funded through Kickstarter, published as a book and also as a computer game. North has recently followed this with Romeo And/Or Juliet (2016)

A study of search intermediary working notes: implications for IR system design

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study investigating working notes created during encoding and external storage (EES) processes, by human search intermediates using a Boolean information retrieval (JR) system. EES processes have been an important area of research in educational contexts where students create and use notes to facilitate learning. In the context of interactive IR, encoding can be conceptualized as the process of creating working notes to help in the understanding and translating a user's information problem into a search strategy suitable for use with an IR system. External storage is the process of using working notes to facilitate interaction with IR systems. Analysis of 221 sets of working notes created by human search intermediaries revealed extensive use of EES processes and the creation of working notes of textual, numerical and graphical entities. Nearly 70% of recorded working notes were textual/numerical entities, nearly 30% were graphical entities and 0.73% were indiscernible. Segmentation devices were also used in 48% of the working notes. The creation of working notes during EES processes was a fundamental element within the mediated, interactive IR process. Implications for the design of IR interfaces to support users' EES processes and further research is discussed

‘Superman believes that a wife’s place is in the home’: Superman’s girl friend, Lois Lane and the representation of women

Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane ran from 1958-1974 and stands as a microcosm of contemporary debates about women and their place in American society. The title itself suggests many of the topics about which women were concerned, or at least were supposed to concern them: the mediation of identity through heterosexual partnership, the pressure to marry, and the simultaneous emphasis placed on individual achievement. Concerns about marriage and Lois’ ability to enter into it routinely provide the sole narrative dynamic for stories and Superman engages in different methods of avoiding the matrimonial schemes devised by Lois or her romantic rival, Lana Lang. Marriage is, however, routinely represented in a popular feature of the comic-book, at least in its early to mid period of publication: the ‘imaginary story’. This device allowed the creative team to explore potentialities that have no impact on the ‘main’ story which exists within continuity. Lois Lane therefore engages with real-world concerns facing women through direct representation and indirectly through consideration of problems with continuity, the system through which superhero comic-book narratives are internally structured

‘Oh c’mon, those stories can’t count in continuity!’ Squirrel Girl and the problem of female power

The history of superheroines is one of tensions, contradictions and difficulties. Squirrel Girl is no stranger to these, and her journey through the last twenty years of Marvel comic books has not been easy. In her debut in Marvel Super-Heroes #8 (S. Ditko and W. Murray, 1992), Squirrel Girl failed to become Iron Man’s sidekick even though she saved him from Doctor Doom. Despite initial success, at least in terms of the narrative, Squirrel Girl disappeared for over ten years. When she reappeared in 2005, Squirrel Girl was in rather less illustrious surroundings – outside continuity. This article tracks the career of Squirrel Girl, focusing on strategies of narrative and visual representation and the relationship of the character to the structuring principle of continuity. Squirrel Girl demonstrates the ability to wield considerable power outside continuity but even here, where the victories of a woman can be easily disavowed thanks to their structural position within the Marvel universe, Squirrel Girl is still problematic. Various strategies of containment are implemented and this article will engage with these, demonstrating continuity and discontinuity in these policies as Squirrel Girl is ultimately drawn into continuity. Through a close critical reading of Squirrel Girl’s appearances, then, this article will provide initial insights into how powerful women are simultaneously promoted and contained by superhero narratives

Quality Control: Potomac Riverkeeper v. Wheeler & Standards for Qualitative Citizen Water Quality Data in Virginia

This Article explores the issue of quality of citizen data through the lens of Potomac Riverkeeper v. Wheeler, a recent impaired waters listing case concerning the Shenandoah River in Virginia. Part I of this Article provides a brief overview of citizen science data in regulation and policymaking under the CWA. Part II discusses Potomac Riverkeeper v. Wheeler, examining Virginia’s water quality-related data standards and DEQ’s use (and non-use) of citizen water quality-related data and information in that case. Finally, Part III argues that Virginia should establish clear, reasonable, and specific data quality standards for qualitative citizen data so as to not only ensure DEQ’s valid use of such water quality-related data and information in supporting impaired waters determinations, but also enhance agency transparency in regulatory decision-making. This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction

Monitoring Anuran Populations in Bosque Protector Candelaria: A multi-year comparison of frog populations in an Ecuadorian cloud forest

For many years, amphibian populations around the world have been declining due to climate change, habitat loss or change, and diseases such as Ranavirus or the Chytrid fungus. However, there is still a great lack of information regarding the diversity of frogs, especially in the cloud forests of Ecuador where this study was conducted. This study was conducted in April and May of 2017 in the Ecominga Reserve of Cerro Candelaria in El Placer, Ecuador. The objective was to conduct visual-encounter surveys of several sites in the reserve and compare the results to studies that have been conducted in the reserve every spring since 2014 and the fall of 2016. 248 individuals of 20 species were encountered, including two species which were only encountered through auditory data and one that may represent an undescribed species. This is the same number of individuals observed as in the previous study, however this study added two sites of marshland that were areas of high frog density (115 of the 248 individuals were observed in these sites) and suggests that frogs may be more abundant during the dry season, but would need more data collected during the dry season to support this hypothesis. Data were also collected regarding the type of substrate and height at which each frogs were found, in order to determine a preference overall and within species, as well as to compare with similar results obtained in the fall of 2016. Along with the previous study, this study found that frogs were most commonly encountered on leaves, particularly leaves of shrubs and generally at a height of 0-30cm but suggests that more studies be done to better understand the population of anurans in BPCC. / Por muchos años, poblaciones de anfibios en todas partes del mundo han sido disminuyendo debido al cambio climático, perdida o cambia de hábitat, y enfermedades como Ranavirus o el hongo Chytrid. Sin embargo, todavía falta mucha información de la diversidad de ranas, especialmente en los bosques nublados de Ecuador, donde este estudio fue hecho. Este estudio fue hecho en abril y mayo de 2017 en la Reserva Cerro Candelaria de Ecominga en El Placer, Ecuador. El objetivo fue llevar a cabo un censo de visualización en varios sitios en la reserva y comparar los resultados con estudios hecho en la reserva cada primavera desde 2014 y en el otoño de 2016. Este estudio encontró 248 individuos de 20 especies, incluyendo dos especies los cuales solo fueron encontrado con datos auditivos y otra especie que quizás representa una especie nueva. Este número de individuos es lo mismo que en el estudio anterior, sin embargo este estudio añadió dos sitios de pantano con una densidad alta de ranas (115 de los 248 individuos fueron observado en estos sitios) y sugiere que las ranas pueden ser más abundantes durante la estación seca pero más datas son necesarios de la estación seca para apoyar este hipótesis. También datos fueron colectados en relación con el tipo de sustrato y altura en que cada rana fue encontrado para determinar una preferencia de todos y dentro de una especie y para comparar con resultados similares del estudio del otoño de 2016. Junto con el estudio anterior, este estudio encontró que las ranas fueron encontrados más frecuentemente en hojas, particularmente hojas de arbustos y en una altura 0-30cm pero sugiere que más estudios son realizados en BPCC para entender mejor la población de anuras allí

SNOPA and the PPA: Do You Know What It Means For You? If SNOPA (Social Networking Online Protection Act) Or PPA (Password Protection Act) Do Not Pass, The Snooping Could Cause You Trouble

This article discusses the importance of passing the Social Networking Online Protection Act and the Password Protection Act to afford vital protection against discrimination in hiring and admission decisions. Existing laws fail to adequately provide protection against discrimination after the advent of social media. Furthermore, failure to provide to provide protection via federal laws will create a disparity in the protection afforded individuals across the United States. Social media has introduced a new world of opportunities for sharing, networking, but it has also created ample opportunities for others to snoop around, discriminate, and base their hiring or admission decisions, in part, on an individual’s online persona. Online personas are subject to searches from a variety of individuals or entities, such as organizations, churches, and potential or previous clients, however, this article focuses on potential employers and educational institutions. The focus is narrow, because the outcomes of these entities’ snooping practices have the greatest potential impact on our livelihood and opportunities for educational or career advancement

Taking On Water: Winters, Necessity And The Riparian East

In the eastern United States, a natural abundance of water has historically satisfied regional water needs. However, rapid population growth and expansive development, as well as changing climate conditions, threaten to deplete and diminish regional water resources. Riparianism, the reigning water rights regime in the American East, is insufficient to address concerns arising from these emerging forces because it assumes sufficient water will be available for all users. Recent interstate disputes, such as Virginia v. Maryland and Florida v. Georgia, highlight a new hydrological reality characterized by not only increased consumption of eastern water resources, but also by increased competition between users. As eastern states seek to secure and protect their water rights, it is imperative that Native American tribes in the East do the same. The Winters doctrine provides a powerful tool for securing and protecting Native American water rights. It also acts as a restraint on state control of water resources. Established in 1908 by the Supreme Court in Winters v. United States, the doctrine is one that tribes in the West have employed since the 1970s. In the East it has yet to be applied. Legal scholars have addressed whether and why Winters applies in the historically water-rich riparian jurisdictions of the eastern United States, and have concluded that nothing bars Winters’s applicability. Yet, Winters is a doctrine of necessity, invoked only when a “fear of leaving an Indian reservation without sufficient water for sustenance and fulfilling its purposes” is present. The East’s natural abundance of water, combined with a water rights regime that guarantees each user a reasonable share of the available water, effectively created a presumption that necessity does not exist. However, this is no longer the case. Although sufficient water has been available for all users in the past, the East’s present—and future—hydrological reality leaves many users dry, including Native American tribes. Riparianism cannot satisfy their needs because it only guarantees users reasonable use of the water instead of a specified amount. This means that, in times of water shortage, tribes may not have enough water to fulfill the purposes of their reservations. Necessity, therefore, can exist in the East. This Article examines the element of necessity in the Winters doctrine, imagining how necessity could arise in the East in a situation that would require a court to apply Winters. This Article begins by explaining the establishment and evolution of the Winters doctrine and federal reserved water rights. Then, it places Winters in context with state water law, briefly describing the prior appropriation and riparianism regimes as well as Winters’s relationship to these regimes. Next, this Article discusses necessity as a critical element for securing federal reserved water rights. Notably, this section identifies two factors—(1) hydrology and climate and (2) inadequate protection of water rights under state water law—analyzed by the United States Supreme Court in its four Winters decisions to determine the doctrine’s applicability. This Article then examines the element of necessity in the West. Finally, this Article briefly explains why Winters applies in the East, and concludes by discussing how tribes in the region could satisfy necessity