Support for diversity initiatives in organisations: An intergroup perspective

Despite institutional commitment to diversity initiatives (e.g., affirmative action), employees often harbour negative attitudes towards such initiatives and their beneficiaries. Dispositional variables (e.g., neo-sexism), have often been implicated in these negative reactions. We reason that more immediate group-based beliefs (e.g., subjective beliefs about the intergroup context), also shape attitudinal and behavioural reactions and that individual and group-based beliefs are rationalised through appeals to justice and fairness concerns. In this study using early career academics we examined the role of individual differences and socio-structural beliefs (about the stability, legitimacy and permeability of the intergroup situation), to feelings of relative deprivation, perceived justice and attitudes towards gender equity initiatives. Results provided support for the role of group-based beliefs and for the mediating role of justice concerns.

Applying qualitative reasoning to finance

Qualitative reasoning has traditionally been applied in the domain of physical systems, where there are well established and understood laws governing the behaviour of each `component' in the system. Such application has shown that it is possible to produce models which can be used for explaining and predicting the behaviour of physical phenomena and also trouble-shooting. The principles underlying the theory ensure that the models are robust and exhibit consistent behaviour under all conditions. This research examines the validity of applying the theory in the financial domain where such laws may not exist or if they do, may not be universally applicable. In particular, it investigates how far these principles and techniques may be applied in the construction of financial analysis models. Because of the inherent differences in the nature of these two domains, it is argued that a different qualitative value system ought to be employed. The dissertation enlarges on the constraints this places on model descriptions and the effect it may have on the power and usefulness of the resulting models. It also describes the implementation of a system that investigates the implications of applying this theory by way of testing it on situations drawn from both text-books and published financial information.

Real-time detection, tracking, and monitoring of automatically discovered events in social media

We introduce ReDites, a system for realtime event detection, tracking, monitoring and visualisation. It is designed to assist Information Analysts in understanding and exploring complex events as they unfold in the world. Events are automatically detected from the Twitter stream. Then those that are categorised as being security-relevant are tracked, geolocated, summarised and visualised for the end-user. Furthermore, the system tracks changes in emotions over events, signalling possible flashpoints or abatement. We demonstrate the capabilities of ReDites using an extended use case from the September 2013 Westgate shooting incident. Through an evaluation of system latencies, we also show that enriched events are made available for users to explore within seconds of that event occurring.

3D Laser Scanning for Digital Preservation and Dissemination of Cultural Heritage Main scanned objects - Four Temples of Different Religions in Sofia

The project demonstrates the use of modern technologies for preservation and presentation of the cultural and historical heritage. The idea is a database of cultural and historical heritage sites to be created applying three dimensional laser scanning technology and a combination of geodetic and photogrammetric methods and shooting techniques. For the purposes of carrying out this project, we have focused on some heritage sites in the central part of Sofia. We decided to include these particular buildings because of the fact that there is hardly another city in the world where within a radius of 400 m are located four temples of different religions - Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic. In the recent years, preservation of cultural heritage has been increasingly linked to objectives of sustainable development. Today, it has become clear that cultural heritage is also an economic resource that should be used for further economic development (through compulsory preservation of its authentic cultural values). There has been a more active public debate on the role of cultural heritage, regarding the following topics: improving the quality of life through development of cultural tourism, leading to an increase of the employment rate, constantly improving the business climate, etc. Cultural heritage preservation is becoming one of the priority objectives of the urban development policy. The focus has been shifted to new ways of preservation, mainly combinations of sophisticated technological solutions and their application for the purposes of preservation and dissemination of the cultural heritage.

The effect of basketball sport aerobics on basketball skill development for fifth-grade students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an experimental teaching method, Sport Aerobics, on the basketball skill acquisition of fifth grade students. This study investigated the differences in the shooting, dribbling, and passing scores of students taught with Sport Aerobics instruction compared to those taught with a traditional method, Practice Style. Sport Aerobics is an instructional method based on a theoretical framework developed by the researcher to enhance skill acquisition. This framework leads to teaching strategies such as using immediate feedback and specific cueing; arranging for students to engage in object free movement; arranging lessons, according to the framework's concept of movement progression, into lessons staged according to skill and sub-skill complexity; and instructing based on whole group organization. Sport Aerobic instructional strategies were designed to facilitate process learning that is recognized as important in today's development learning approach for age related curriculums. In contrast, the traditional Practice Style uses product-oriented strategies. ^ Four classrooms, consisting of seventy-nine fifth grade students from two physical education programs, at different locations, were randomly assigned to two treatments; Sport Aerobics and Practice Style for instruction over a 15 period curriculum. Using the American Alliance Physical Education Recreation & Dance tests, both groups were pretested and posttested for skill achievement of shooting, dribbling, and passing. Pretest and posttest skill score samples were collected and evaluated. ANCOVAs were performed on the posttests adjusted for the pretests to determine whether or not there would be greater achievement of skills with the Sport Aerobics method. Results failed to establish significant scoring differences between the two methods. Based on the literature and study findings a recommendation is made that longer lesson units will assist in the investigation of the effectiveness of both the instructional model and the individual elements that facilitate skill acquisition. ^

The role of dissolved organic matter bioavailability in promoting phytoplankton blooms in Florida Bay

The clear, shallow, oligotrophic waters of Florida Bay are characterized by low phytoplankton biomass, yet periodic cyanobacteria and diatom blooms do occur. We hypothesized that allochthonous dissolved organic matter (DOM) was providing a subsidy to the system in the form of bound nutrients. Water from four bay sites was incubated under natural light and dark conditions with enrichments of either DOM ( > 1 kD, 2×DOM) or inorganic nutrients (N+P). Samples were analyzed for bacterial numbers, bacterial production, phytoplankton biomass, phytoplankton community structure, and production, nutrients, and alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity. The influence of 2×DOM enrichment on phytoplankton biomass developed slowly during the incubations and was relatively small compared to nutrient additions. Inorganic nutrient additions resulted in an ephemeral bloom characterized initially as cyanobacterial and brown algae but which changed to dinoflagellate and/or brown algae by day six. The DIN:TP ratio decreased 10-fold in the N+P treatments as the system progressed towards N limitation. This ratio did not change significantly for 2×DOM treatments. In addition, these experiments indicated that both autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial populations in Florida Bay may fluctuate in their limitation by organic and inorganic nutrient availability. Both N+P and 2×DOM enrichments revealed significant and positive response in bioavailability of dissolved organic carbon (BDOC). Potential BDOC ranged from 1.1 to 35.5%, with the most labile forms occurring in Whipray Basin. BDOC at all sites was stimulated by the 2×DOM addition. Except for Duck Key, BDOC at all sites was also stimulated by the addition of N+P. BDOC was lower in the dry season than in the wet season (5.56% vs. 16.86%). This may be explained by the distinct chemical characteristics of the DOM produced at different times of year. Thus, both the heterotrophic and autotrophic microbial communities in Florida Bay are modulated by bioavailability of DOM. This has ramifications for the fate of DOM from the Everglades inputs, implicating DOM bioavailability as a contributing factor in regulating the onset, persistence, and composition of phytoplankton blooms.

"Do alto da colina" - a província do Rio Grande do Norte, o comércio, os rios Potengi e Jundiaí e o complexo comercial do Guarapes 1850 - 1900

The commercial complex Guarapes was during the second half of the nineteenth century most commercial street of Rio Grande do Norte province. In that time frame, you can see its flourishing as one of the central places of trade in the province in 1850, and its subsequent abandonment in 1900. This thesis aims to investigate, in its first part, the paths that help to understand, as the context of the expansion of global markets in the second half of the nineteenth century enabled the conditions for the emergence of the commercial complex. However, trade relations established in this province through the commercial complex, even participating in this global environment, reserved particular characteristics in their social and trade relations, as if dealing with a peripheral province, we look at the uniqueness of the relationship occurred in this space. In the second part, we seek to understand the importance that the rivers Potengi and Jundiaí had to install the commercial complex Guarapes in the second half of the nineteenth century. As the geographical position in relation to rivers, enabled this space became flow zone and confluence of goods distributed to the various parts of the interior of the province. We also monitor the process that made these rivers leave the role of mobility and transport relations in this space, giving way the railways and roads shooting. In the third part, we seek to understand the commercial complex Guarapes in focus. Analyzing their spatial distribution on the landscape, and how the spatial organization held at the same time traces of the Brazilian patriarchy exposed by Gilberto Freyre, but also "modern" features, due to the increase of a new culture inserted material in the province. We also seek to understand elements of material culture that was the environment of the complex, and how these materials are important sources for understanding this society under study. We treat from the biggest to the smallest fragments without hierarchize them. Understanding that, the study associated the written sources and materials provide a gain in understanding of everyday these people who lived in that area of the complex in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Role of metalliferous mudstones and graphitic shales in the location, genesis, and paleoenvironment

The Cambrian Tally Pond volcanic belt in central Newfoundland contains numerous volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, prospects, and showings that are locally associated with metalliferous mudstones and/or graphitic shales. Deposits in the belt are bimodal felsic-type VMS that are both base metal- (e.g., Duck Pond, Boundary) and precious metal-enriched (e.g., Lemarchant). At the Lemarchant deposit metalliferous mudstones are genetically and spatially associated with mineralization, whereas the relationship of other mudstones and shales to massive sulphide mineralization is more intricate and remains not fully understood. Metalliferous mudstones represent a hiatus in the volcanic activity where the deposition of hydrothermal products dominated over the abiogenic background sedimentation and/or dilution by volcaniclastic-epiclastic material. Lithogeochemical signatures allow one to distinguish between predominantly hydrothermally or detritally (i.e., non-hydrothermal) derived material. Metalliferous mudstones with a significant hydrothermal component, like those at Lemarchant, have elevated Fe/Al and base-metal contents, compared to detrital shales, and shale-normalized negative Ce and positive Eu anomalies, indicative of deposition from high temperature (>250°C) hydrothermal fluids within an oxygenated water column. Mudstones and shales sampled from other locations in the Tally Pond volcanic belt have more variable signatures ranging from hydrothermal (signatures as above) to non-hydrothermal (no positive Eu-anomalies, flat REE patterns), with some that have mixed (hydrothermal and detrital) signatures. Both S and Pb isotopic compositions indicate that proximal sulphides hosted in mudstones immediately associated with massive sulphide mineralization within the Lemarchant deposit contain a higher proportion of sulphur derived from hydrothermal sources and processes, and have more juvenile lead contributions, when compared to sulphides distal (not associated with massive sulphides) from mineralization. Lead and Nd isotopic compositions of both whole rock and minerals in the Lemarchant mudstones indicate involvement of underlying crustal basement during massive sulphide formation and throughout the evolution of the Tally Pond belt. Metalliferous mudstones precipitated early in the massive sulphide depositional history, but also have undergone syn- and post-ore-forming processes and have a larger lateral extent than the mineralization. Using lithogeochemistry, whole rock and in situ stable and radiogenic isotopes it is possible to distinguish prospective vent proximal (immediately associated with massive sulphide mineralization) from less prospective distal (not associated with massive sulphides) depositional environments and to reconstruct the paleotectonic setting on a deposit- to regional-scale for the Lemarchant deposit and other mudstone-associated prospects in the Tally Pond volcanic belt.

Phenological sensitivity to climate across taxa and trophic levels

Peer reviewed

A Machine Learning Analysis of Twitter Sentiment to the Sandy Hook Shootings

Gun related violence is a complex issue and accounts for a large proportion of violent incidents. In the research reported in this paper, we set out to investigate the pro-gun and anti-gun sentiments expressed on a social media platform, namely Twitter, in response to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, USA. Machine learning techniques are applied to classify a data corpus of over 700,000 tweets. The sentiments are captured using a public sentiment score that considers the volume of tweets as well as population. A web-based interactive tool is developed to visualise the sentiments and is available at this http://www.gunsontwitter.com. The key findings from this research are: (i) There are elevated rates of both pro-gun and anti-gun sentiments on the day of the shooting. Surprisingly, the pro-gun sentiment remains high for a number of days following the event but the anti-gun sentiment quickly falls to pre-event levels. (ii) There is a different public response from each state, with the highest pro-gun sentiment not coming from those with highest gun ownership levels but rather from California, Texas and New York.