Global biodiversity decline of marine and freshwater fish: A cross-national analysis of economic, demographic, and ecological influences

We test competing hypotheses from political–economic and neo-liberal theories about the effects of economic growth and urbanization on a neglected, but important, indicator of environmental health: aquatic biodiversity. We analyze cross-national data on the number of threatened fish species within national territorial waters using negative binomial regression. We find that, counter to the expectations of neo-liberal theories, economic growth increases the likelihood of fish species becoming threatened within nations. Urbanization, however, appears to have no additional effect. The “environmental Kuznets curve” does not hold for aquatic biodiversity, suggesting that further economic growth in nations is likely to escalate the biodiversity crisis.     

Unravelling the organization

The application of a computer package for drawing cause maps (NETGRAPH) to a cause map originally given by Hall as part of a study of the ‘Saturday Evening Post’ is described. It is shown how the cause map produced by the computer reveals a number of subsystems. The way in which these can be more clearly revealed by manually redrawing the computer cause map is demonstrated. The subsystems thus obtained are shown to be identical to those given by Hall, except in one case where one of Hall's subsystems is split into two. It is suggested that this split is sensible from an organisational analysis standpoint. The organisational system is analysed in terms of a number of insights derived from the computer-produced cause map including its apparent lack of a formal model of the impact of the Magazine's decisions on the environment. Such a model is claimed by Beer to be indispensable, from a systems theory standpoint, to any ‘viable’ organisational system. The conclusions derived from this analysis are similar to those drawn by Hall, though they do extend his analysis in several respects. It is argued that the results show that the package is of potential use in analysing cause maps of organisations.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung

---

Editorial

     

Social shaping of technology in TA and HTA

The social shaping of technology (SST) approach to analysing technological development lends itself to an understanding of the relatively negotiated, heterogeneous, and local character of technologies, politicising the mediated nature of sociotechnical change. Here, conditions of actor engagement lie at the heart of analysing technology in social context—that is, the occasions, strategies, and scope of influence that are afforded different actors, by way of how particular problems come to be defined and resolved. In this paper we examine the framing of a number of concrete technology assessments (TAs) from Denmark, from the realms of general TA and health technology assessment (HTA). Our examination of the TA initiatives is directed towards the relatively open-ended and consequently explorative and qualitative stance that SST takes in characterising the boundaries between the technical and the social. The paper goes on to discuss a possible place of ethical inquiry in TA, based on the understanding of technological development that SST affords. In the reflexive approach to addressing technology’s relation to society, technology no longer maintains a universally reducible character in time or in social space. Through the possibility of analytically and practically opening up for otherwise seemingly locked actor-positions SST gives room for a more differentiated questioning and treatment of ethical issues in which technology may be implicated.     

The identification of emotions from gait information

The present study examined the potential for information provided in a person's style of walking to reveal certain emotions. Ten subjects observed five walkers expressing four different emotions and made emotion identifications as well as judgments about specific gait characteristics. Results revealed that subjects were able to identify sadness, anger, happiness, and pride from gait information at better than chance levels; however, identifications of pride were significantly less accurate than were identifications of sadness and anger. In addition, subjects' acuracy varied across the five walkers. Results also revealed that gait characteristics such as the amount of arm swing, stride length, heavyfootedness, and walking speed differentiated the emotions expressed by walkers.Portions of this paper were presented at the 26th meeting of the New England Psychological Association, Boston, MA, November, 1986.Joann M. Montepare received a Ph.D. in Social-Developmental Psychology from Brandeis University. She is presently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Research On Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley MA, 02181. Her research interests include the development of subjective perceptions of age and the impact of nonverbal information on social stereotypes of age. Sabra Goldstein and Annmarie Clausen hold B.A. degrees in Psychology from Wellesley College. Please address reprint requests to the first author.