The damaging effects of human activities on marine ecosystems suggest that a major shift is required in the way marine resources and systems are viewed and used by individuals. Identifying how to engage society in this shift is an ongoing debate. This includes strengthening the positive connections between society and the sea. Currently, the major focus of research in this area is on coastal ar...

Although previous works have discussed the benefits of precolonial centralization for development in Africa, the findings and the mechanisms provided do not explain the heterogeneity in development outcomes of formerly centralized states. Using new survey data from Nigeria, I find a significant negative effect of precolonial centralization on access to certain public services for centralized re...

Because the quantity, quality, and heterogeneity of resources should affect the diversity of consumers, plant productivity, plant composition, and plant diversity may influence the diversity of trophic levels higher up the food chain (‘‘bottom-up’’ control of diversity). Increasing plant productivity may increase herbivore diversity by: increasing the abundance of rare resources (‘‘resource rar...

Bio-demographic diversity which refers to age and gender of members in a team, has been frequently identified to influence team innovation directly. As the theories expanded, biodemographic diversity was suggested to influence team innovation via psychosocial trait and interaction process. This study examines those suggestions, in which psychosocial trait and interaction process were operationa...

Given the frequent mutation of antigenic features, the constancy of genetic and antigenic diversity of influenza within a subtype is surprising. While the emergence of new strains and antigenic features is commonly attributed to selection by the human immune system, the mechanism that ensures the extinction of older strains remains controversial. To replicate this dynamics of replacement curren...

A monograph-length analysis of biodiversity from two senior philosophers of biology reflects two things: the problematic complexity of the concept, and the interesting theoretical and methodological issues the sciences studying and endeavouring to protect it raise. The concept’s significance is common currency within environmental ethics, but biodiversity has only recently garnered broader phil...

BACKGROUND Recent changes to regulatory guidance in the US and Europe have complicated oversight of secondary research by rendering most uses of de-identified data exempt from human subjects oversight. To identify the implications of such guidelines for harms to participants and communities, this paper explores the secondary uses of one de-identified DNA sample collection with limited oversight...

The diversity of a community that cannot be fully counted must be inferred. The two preeminent inference methods are the MaxEnt method, which uses information in the form of constraints and Bayes’ rule which uses information in the form of data. It has been shown that these two methods are special cases of the method of Maximum (relative) Entropy (ME). We demonstrate how this method can be used...

The removal and eventual disposal of adsorbed and absorbed gasses from solid or semi-porous surfaces requires the detachment and diffusion of the gasses. To facilitate the process, the method described here uses the heretofore undescribed product Air Depleted Water (ADW), although the process can be applied to other liquids. By removing the dissolved air gasses, a maximum concentration gradient...

This paper reviews historical, philosophical and socio-cultural information as a means of explaining why saltbush in Australia has declined. That decline coincided with introduced hard hoofed animals overgrazing native pastures and was compounded by land clearing. Over time, losing ecosystem diversity degraded vegetation, soil and water resources; subsequently, watertables rose. A benefit of sa...