Re: [ECOLOG-L] maple sap question
Interesting story...I think the surprising part was supposed to be that small trees can produce large amounts of sap. My brother runs a small sugaring operation in Connecticut and our family collected sap when I was a child. We always knew which direction (up) the sap flowed in, and so do the syrup producers. Some of my best childhood memories are drinking sap ice cold from the bucket, but carrying buckets to the house not so much! -- On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 9:00 PM EST Jorge A. Santiago-Blay wrote: Dear Ecolog-Listers: Basic botany question. All along I have understood that the so-called sap from which maple syrup is manufactured comes products transported in the xylem. Thus, the liquid is harvested as it travels upwards from the roots into the shoot as the plants begins to increase its metabolic demands late winter and early spring. Because their contents are so diluted, they needs to be boiled extensively. The link below seem to suggest that the some people in the maple syrup industry believe that the sap is flowing down (I suppose on the direction of the roots). http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-turn-syrup-making-upside-down Could someone let me know the: 1. anatomical vascular tissue through which the maple sap travels? This link appears to indicate it is sapwood, in other words, xylem, http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm 2. direction of travel? The same site says, roots up, http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm Thus, how can the link below appear to indicate other wise? http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-turn-syrup-making-upside-down Gracias, sincerely, Jorge Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD blaypublishers.com http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/ http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.html
Re: [ECOLOG-L] maple sap question
Jorge, there seems to be ongoing debate about the mechanism generating positive pressure in sugar maple stems. One idea is the osmotic theory, as explained by Tim Howard, which invokes the involvement of living cells and sucrose to generate an osmotic pressure difference between fibers and vessels, which are assumed to be separated by an osmotic barrier (Cirelli et al. 2008). The classical view is that pressure development results from a purely physical mechanism, beginning with compressed gas bubbles that form in tiny air spaces inside branches (Ceseri Stockie 2012) when they freeze. --Seth Cirelli D, Jagels R, Tyree MT (2008) Toward an improved model of maple sap exudation: the location and role of osmotic barriers in sugar maple, butternut and white birch. Tree Physiology 28:1145-1155 Ceseri M, Stockie JM (2012) A mathematical model of sap exudation in maple trees governed by ice melting, gas dissolution and osmosis. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics 73:649 -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Jorge A. Santiago-Blay Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2014 9:00 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] maple sap question Dear Ecolog-Listers: Basic botany question. All along I have understood that the so-called sap from which maple syrup is manufactured comes products transported in the xylem. Thus, the liquid is harvested as it travels upwards from the roots into the shoot as the plants begins to increase its metabolic demands late winter and early spring. Because their contents are so diluted, they needs to be boiled extensively. The link below seem to suggest that the some people in the maple syrup industry believe that the sap is flowing down (I suppose on the direction of the roots). http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-tu rn-syrup-making-upside-down Could someone let me know the: 1. anatomical vascular tissue through which the maple sap travels? This link appears to indicate it is sapwood, in other words, xylem, http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm 2. direction of travel? The same site says, roots up, http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm Thus, how can the link below appear to indicate other wise? http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-tu rn-syrup-making-upside-down Gracias, sincerely, Jorge Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD blaypublishers.com http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/ http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.html
[ECOLOG-L] Honko Mangrove Conservation Calendars
*Order your 2014 Honko Calendar today* *in support of community-based mangrove conservation in SW Madagascar* Still been meaning to buy that calendar for your office, bedroom, kitchen, what-have-you? Honko Mangrove Conservation Education, an NGO working in SW Madagascar to empower coastal communities to sustainably manage their mangrove resources, is still selling 2014 calendars to raise funds for its community and conservation initiatives! The wall calendar features images of the mangrove's unique flora and fauna, as well as moments captured from Honko's diverse community projects, working in close collaboration with the local communities on both mangrove conservation and alternative livelihood development. To order one today, simply click here http://igg.me/at/honko/x/5618416(or follow the link below), click Contribute now, and select the Calendar for a Cause as your perk (be sure to include your shipping address)! http://igg.me/at/honko/x/5618416 Thank you in advance for your support! Best regards, Nina Hamilton *Program Manager* / Honko Mangrove Conservation and Education www.honko.org / +261 (0)32 5404276 / +261 (0)32 7046504
[ECOLOG-L] Endangered Species Monitors Crew Leader - NYC Parks Department
The Urban Park Rangers, a division of the New York City Department of Parks Recreation, is hiring two seasonal Wildlife Monitors and one Crew Leader beginning in late March. If interested, please see the descriptions and contact information below. Please note, housing is not provided. City of New York/Parks Recreation Seasonal Job Vacancy Notice Civil Service Title: City Seasonal Aide Office Title: Wildlife Monitor Urban Park Ranger Salary: $11.11 per hour Duration: March 24, 2014 to August 24, 2014 Work Location: Rockaway Beach, Queens As stewards of nearly 14 percent of New York City’s land, the Department of Parks Recreation builds and maintains clean, safe, and accessible parks citywide and programs those parks with recreational, cultural and educational activities for people of all ages. Through this work, Parks amp; Recreation improves people’s lives, providing outlets for creative expression, opportunities for healthy recreation, and exposure to the restorative beauty of the natural world. POSITION DESCRIPTION Wildlife Monitors (CSAs) will work at the Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area (RBESNA) to monitor and protect endangered species, and provide educational programs and community outreach. The Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area is a section of beach approximately 1 mile long (20 city blocks) and about 1 block wide. The site is home to piping plovers, least and common terns, American oyster catchers, black skimmers, and killdeer, as well as a other migratory birds that use the site as a safe haven. NYC Parks is mandated by federal (Endangered Species Act) and state law to provide protection for the piping plover, a New York State Endangered and Federally Threatened species. Under supervision, Wildlife Monitors may work weekends and holidays during the season and are responsible for site construction and maintenance in addition to their monitoring and protecting duties. $94.25 Processing fee required for finger printing and must pass background check. PREFERRED SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS • A BA/BS or current student in the field of Biology, Conservation, Environmental Education, or other related field. • Experience with MS Office Suite and data collection and processing • Ability to juggle and prioritize multiple tasks and meet deadlines. • Wildlife monitoring experience. • Ability to work outdoors for long periods of time. • Public speaking skills • Ability to plan and lead public educational programs. Send resume and cover letter by mail, fax or email to: Richard Simon, Deputy Director Urban Park Rangers 1234 Fifth Avenue – 1st floor New York, NY 10029 Ph: 212-360-2774 Fax: 212-360-2794 E-mail: ranger.recruitm...@parks.nyc.gov Learn more at www.nyc.gov/parks/rangers. City of New York/Parks Recreation Seasonal Job Vacancy Notice Civil Service Title: City Park Worker Office Title: Wildlife Area Crew Leader Salary: $14.02 per hour Duration: March 23, 2014 to August 30, 2014 Work Location: Rockaway Beach, Queens As stewards of nearly 14 percent of New York City’s land, the Department of Parks Recreation builds and maintains clean, safe, and accessible parks citywide and programs those parks with recreational, cultural and educational activities for people of all ages. Through this work, Parks amp; Recreation improves people’s lives, providing outlets for creative expression, opportunities for healthy recreation, and exposure to the restorative beauty of the natural world. POSITION DESCRIPTION Under the supervision and direction of the Urban Park Rangers, the Wildlife Area Crew Leader will work at the Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area (RBESNA) to assist with the supervision of seasonal staff and interns, perform data entry, report writing, and other administrative tasks. Additional responsibilities may include monitoring and protecting endangered species, providing educational programs, and community outreach. The Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area is a section of beach approximately 1 mile long (20 city blocks) and about 1 block wide. The site is home to piping plovers, least and common terns, American oyster catchers, black skimmers, and killdeer, as well as other migratory birds that use the site as a safe haven. NYC Parks is mandated by federal (Endangered Species Act) and state law to provide protection for the piping plover, a New York State Endangered and Federally Threatened species. Under supervision, Wildlife Area Crew Leader may work weekends and holidays during the season and are responsible for administrative duties, writing reports, data gathering and entering, site construction and maintenance in addition to their monitoring and protecting duties. A $94.25 processing fee required for all new employees. Candidates for this position must possess a valid NYS driver’s license, and pass a background check and drug test PREFERRED SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS • A BA/BS or current student
[ECOLOG-L] Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the Missouri Botanical Garden
Hi all, The application deadline for the Research Experiences for Undegraduates (REU) program at the Missouri Botanical Garden is March 15th, 2014. Could you please pass along this information to other colleagues, and encourage your students to apply? See attached flyer. Complete info can be found at: http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/reu/reu.shtmlhttps://mbgcas01.mobot.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=bf394547d7c7438faa866115b5e56835URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mobot.org%2fmobot%2fresearch%2freu%2freu.shtml Thanks! Monica. Monica Carlsen, PhD - Plant systematics, ecology and evolution Postdoctoral Researcher | University of Missouri, St. Louis | Muchhala's Lab Research Associate | Missouri Botanical Garden | P.O. Box 299 | St. Louis, Missouri 63166 | (314) 577-0834 | www.monica-carlsen.comhttps://mbgcas01.mobot.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=bf394547d7c7438faa866115b5e56835URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.monica-carlsen.com
[ECOLOG-L] 2014 ESA Annual Meeting: REMINDER! Contributed Oral and Poster Abstracts Due Feb 27
Call for Contributed Oral and Poster Abstracts 99th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America Sacramento, California August 10-15, 2014 http://www.esa.org/sacramento Deadline for Submission: Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time (2:00 PM Pacific) Please note that the submission form will close precisely at the deadline even if you have not completed your submission! Any abstracts sent by email after the deadline will NOT be considered. We invite submissions of abstracts for contributed oral and poster presentations at the 99th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America. The theme for the meeting is From Oceans to Mountains: It's All Ecology. Abstracts related to this theme are highly encouraged, but submissions may address any aspect of ecology and its applications. We also welcome submissions that report interdisciplinary work, address communication with broad audiences, or explore ways of teaching ecology at any level. Each presenter will indicate at the time of abstract submission whether an abstract is intended for a talk or a poster. Abstracts will be placed in thematic sessions based on topics ranked by the submitting author at the time of abstract submission. Contributed oral presentations (talks) are allotted 15 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions. Contributed oral sessions will be scheduled on mornings and afternoons from Monday afternoon through Friday morning. Contributed poster sessions (posters) will be scheduled in the late afternoon from Monday through Thursday. By submitting an abstract, authors are indicating they expect to be available during any of the appropriate time slots. Students planning to present at the meeting who are interested in applying for awards should visit the ESA website for more information: http://www.esa.org/esa/?page_id=227 For more information about abstract guidelines and to begin the submission process, please visit: http://www.esa.org/sacramento. Please note that invited speakers for Symposia, Ignite ESA Sessions, Organized Oral Sessions, and Organized Poster Sessions should submit their abstracts by following the instructions they received by email in January. These abstracts are also due on February 27, 2014 at 5:00 PM EST and should not be submitted through the contributed abstract form.
Re: [ECOLOG-L] maple sap question
Seth, Thank you for the links. I hadn't realized there was ongoing debate, but the Plant Physiology class notes Don Cipollini passed on talked only about the classic view, making me think twice about the model I had described! The papers you provide are quite helpful. Best, Tim Seth Bigelow s...@swbigelow.net 2/24/2014 10:25 AM Jorge, there seems to be ongoing debate about the mechanism generating positive pressure in sugar maple stems. One idea is the osmotic theory, as explained by Tim Howard, which invokes the involvement of living cells and sucrose to generate an osmotic pressure difference between fibers and vessels, which are assumed to be separated by an osmotic barrier (Cirelli et al. 2008). The classical view is that pressure development results from a purely physical mechanism, beginning with compressed gas bubbles that form in tiny air spaces inside branches (Ceseri Stockie 2012) when they freeze. --Seth Cirelli D, Jagels R, Tyree MT (2008) Toward an improved model of maple sap exudation: the location and role of osmotic barriers in sugar maple, butternut and white birch. Tree Physiology 28:1145-1155 Ceseri M, Stockie JM (2012) A mathematical model of sap exudation in maple trees governed by ice melting, gas dissolution and osmosis. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics 73:649 -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Jorge A. Santiago-Blay Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2014 9:00 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] maple sap question Dear Ecolog-Listers: Basic botany question. All along I have understood that the so-called sap from which maple syrup is manufactured comes products transported in the xylem. Thus, the liquid is harvested as it travels upwards from the roots into the shoot as the plants begins to increase its metabolic demands late winter and early spring. Because their contents are so diluted, they needs to be boiled extensively. The link below seem to suggest that the some people in the maple syrup industry believe that the sap is flowing down (I suppose on the direction of the roots). http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-tu rn-syrup-making-upside-down Could someone let me know the: 1. anatomical vascular tissue through which the maple sap travels? This link appears to indicate it is sapwood, in other words, xylem, http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm 2. direction of travel? The same site says, roots up, http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm Thus, how can the link below appear to indicate other wise? http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-tu rn-syrup-making-upside-down Gracias, sincerely, Jorge Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD blaypublishers.com http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/ http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.html
[ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014 The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense. Over the past two years, computer scientist Cyril Labbé of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, has catalogued computer-generated papers that made it into more than 30 published conference proceedings between 2008 and 2013. Sixteen appeared in publications by Springer, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and more than 100 were published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), based in New York. Both publishers, which were privately informed by Labbé, say that they are now removing the papers. Among the works were, for example, a paper published as a proceeding from the 2013 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering, held in Chengdu, China. (The conference website says that all manuscripts are reviewed for merits and contents.) The authors of the paper, entitled 'TIC: a methodology for the construction of e-commerce', write in the abstract that they concentrate our efforts on disproving that spreadsheets can be made knowledge-based, empathic, and compact. (Nature News has attempted to contact the conference organizers and named authors of the paper but received no reply*; however at least some of the names belong to real people. The IEEE has now removed the paper). *Update: One of the named authors, Su Wei at Lanzhou University, replied to Nature News on 25 February. He said that he first learned of the article when conference organizers notified his university in December 2013; and that he does not know why he was a listed co-author on the paper. The matter is being looked into by the related investigators, he said. How to create a nonsense paper Labbé developed a way to automatically detect manuscripts composed by a piece of software called SCIgen, which randomly combines strings of words to produce fake computer-science papers. SCIgen was invented in 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge to prove that conferences would accept meaningless papers - and, as they put it, to maximize amusement (see 'Computer conference welcomes gobbledegook paper'). A related program generates random physics manuscript titles on the satirical website arXiv vs. snarXiv. SCIgen is free to download and use, and it is unclear how many people have done so, or for what purposes. SCIgen's output has occasionally popped up at conferences, when researchers have submitted nonsense papers and then revealed the trick. Labbé does not know why the papers were submitted - or even if the authors were aware of them. Most of the conferences took place in China, and most of the fake papers have authors with Chinese affiliations. Labbé has emailed editors and authors named in many of the papers and related conferences but received scant replies; one editor said that he did not work as a program chair at a particular conference, even though he was named as doing so, and another author claimed his paper was submitted on purpose to test out a conference, but did not respond on follow-up. Nature has not heard anything from a few enquiries. I wasn't aware of the scale of the problem, but I knew it definitely happens. We do get occasional e-mails from good citizens letting us know where SCIgen papers show up, says Jeremy Stribling, who co-wrote SCIgen when he was at MIT and now works at VMware, a software company in Palo Alto, California. The papers are quite easy to spot, says Labbé, who has built a website where users can test whether papers have been created using SCIgen. His detection technique, described in a study1 published in Scientometrics in 2012, involves searching for characteristic vocabulary generated by SCIgen. Shortly before that paper was published, Labbé informed the IEEE of 85 fake papers he had found. Monika Stickel, director of corporate communications at IEEE, says that the publisher took immediate action to remove the papers and refined our processes to prevent papers not meeting our standards from being published in the future. In December 2013, Labbé informed the IEEE of another batch of apparent SCIgen articles he had found. Last week, those were also taken down, but the web pages for the removed articles give no explanation for their absence. Ruth Francis, UK head of communications at Springer, says that the company has contacted editors, and is trying to contact authors, about the issues surrounding
[ECOLOG-L] Primate Behavior Field Course in Costa Rica: summer 2014
Primate Behavior Field Course in Costa Rica Educational Organization: Tree Field Studies Date Posted: 2014-02-25 Program Description: This month-long course is designed to teach undergraduate and graduate students the basic skills necessary to study primate behavior in the wild. Throughout this course you will learn techniques in ecological and behavioral data collection and complete an independent study on one of three primate species native to the area (Ateles geoffroyi, the black handed spider monkey; Cebus capucinus, the white-faced capuchin; Alouatta palliata, the mantled howler monkey).While our course cost may be a bit higher than some similar field courses we take pride in the fact that our students have the advantage of doing work in two forests, help educate local needy high school students, and take a few fun field trips and help educate local students. This course will take place at two field sites. The first three weeks will be held at El Zota Biological Station, an inland tropical wet forest site comprised of primary, secondary and regenerating forest. The last week will be held at Tortuguero, a fragmented coastal lowland tropical forest comprised of riverine, palm and secondary forest areas surrounded by the the canals of Rio Tortuguero and the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, we believe the generosity of the Costa Rican people should be rewarded for allowing us to work and visit their country; therefore a portion of the course fee will cover the high school fees of local Costa Rican students. Our hope is that this connection will foster a relationship between the field school and local students, encouraging them to work towards conservation in their own community. Finally, we take a number of fun side trips in Costa Rica; which are hugely popular and a lot of fun. We have taken students to visit cloud forests and coffee/chocolate plantations, white water rafting, zip-lining, sea-turtle watching, and snorkeling. Space is limited so contact us soon! Entrance Qualifications: * Completion of the Tree Field Studies Application (available on the Tree Field Studies website), * Currently registered in or graduate from a college or university, * GPA (for at least the past or current semester) of at least 3.0 - (accommodations can be made for those with lower GPA's. But, such accommodations are made on a case-by-case basis. Contact Tree Field Studies directly for clarification, * Signed Tree Field Studies Medical Release Form (available on the Tree Field Studies website), * Signed Tree Field Studies Liability Form (available on the Tree Field Studies website), * 2 Reference Letters Tuition / Fees: $2895 US dollars Support (scholarships, travel): none Start + End Dates: June 17th - July 17th 2014 Application Deadline: EARLY ADMISSION: 3/15/14; REGULAR ADMISSION: 4/1/14; LATE ADMISSION: 4/15/14 Comments: Admission preference is given to those registering by 4/1/14. However, we will apply serious consideration to applications coming in between 4/1 and 4/15. In addition, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team members about applying - even if your intent to apply is past any of our due dates. We will consider any application past our due dates on a case-by-case basis. Contact Information: Dr. Lorna Joachimmailto:lfjoac...@comcast.net P.O. Box 1252 Corrales, NM 87048 USA Website: http://treefieldstudies.wix.com/treefieldstudies E-Mail Address: lfjoac...@comcast.netmailto:lfjoac...@comcast.net
Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
This is what happens when two things are paired together. 1) impact ratings driving science instead of the other way around 2) lacking control over cheating in college/grad school. I have been shocked at the large amount of cheating that goes on, and that is ignored, even in professional schools. Here is a nice link for anyone who does online grading automatically... http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1347802-Cheating-on-an-online-test/page2 On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:18 PM, David Duffy ddu...@hawaii.edu wrote: Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014 The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense. Over the past two years, computer scientist Cyril Labbé of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, has catalogued computer-generated papers that made it into more than 30 published conference proceedings between 2008 and 2013. Sixteen appeared in publications by Springer, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and more than 100 were published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), based in New York. Both publishers, which were privately informed by Labbé, say that they are now removing the papers. Among the works were, for example, a paper published as a proceeding from the 2013 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering, held in Chengdu, China. (The conference website says that all manuscripts are reviewed for merits and contents.) The authors of the paper, entitled 'TIC: a methodology for the construction of e-commerce', write in the abstract that they concentrate our efforts on disproving that spreadsheets can be made knowledge-based, empathic, and compact. (Nature News has attempted to contact the conference organizers and named authors of the paper but received no reply*; however at least some of the names belong to real people. The IEEE has now removed the paper). *Update: One of the named authors, Su Wei at Lanzhou University, replied to Nature News on 25 February. He said that he first learned of the article when conference organizers notified his university in December 2013; and that he does not know why he was a listed co-author on the paper. The matter is being looked into by the related investigators, he said. How to create a nonsense paper Labbé developed a way to automatically detect manuscripts composed by a piece of software called SCIgen, which randomly combines strings of words to produce fake computer-science papers. SCIgen was invented in 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge to prove that conferences would accept meaningless papers - and, as they put it, to maximize amusement (see 'Computer conference welcomes gobbledegook paper'). A related program generates random physics manuscript titles on the satirical website arXiv vs. snarXiv. SCIgen is free to download and use, and it is unclear how many people have done so, or for what purposes. SCIgen's output has occasionally popped up at conferences, when researchers have submitted nonsense papers and then revealed the trick. Labbé does not know why the papers were submitted - or even if the authors were aware of them. Most of the conferences took place in China, and most of the fake papers have authors with Chinese affiliations. Labbé has emailed editors and authors named in many of the papers and related conferences but received scant replies; one editor said that he did not work as a program chair at a particular conference, even though he was named as doing so, and another author claimed his paper was submitted on purpose to test out a conference, but did not respond on follow-up. Nature has not heard anything from a few enquiries. I wasn't aware of the scale of the problem, but I knew it definitely happens. We do get occasional e-mails from good citizens letting us know where SCIgen papers show up, says Jeremy Stribling, who co-wrote SCIgen when he was at MIT and now works at VMware, a software company in Palo Alto, California. The papers are quite easy to spot, says Labbé, who has built a website where users can test whether papers have been created using SCIgen. His detection technique, described in a study1 published in Scientometrics in 2012, involves searching for characteristic vocabulary generated by SCIgen. Shortly before that paper was published, Labbé informed the IEEE of 85 fake papers he had found. Monika Stickel, director of
[ECOLOG-L] Integrating ecological science with urban planning at ESA meeting
Integrating ecological science with urban planning -- a demonstration project for Sacramento's American River Parkway at ESA's 99th annual meeting, August 10-15. Come join us and plan to participate in the week-long interactive demonstration of how ecologists working with urban planners, flood system managers and landscape architects can move cities toward sustainability goals.The beautiful American River flowing through Sacramento connects the city with natural ecosystems, supports important fish and wildlife habitat and migration corridors, and provides vital pollinator habitat.Using landscape design as scientific experiments, ESA members will install field sites along the river and miniature displays at the Convention Center to engage ESA in a week-long series of activities and thought-provoking discussions about putting ecology to work providing valuable services.Schedule to follow. We gratefully acknowledge support from the American River Parkway Foundation, Sacramento County Regional Parks, the Landscape Architecture Foundation, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, Yale University, and AECOM. -- ___ Jill S. Baron, Co-Director jill.ba...@colostate.edu John Wesley Powell Center for Earth System Analysis and Synthesis US Geological Surveyjill_ba...@usgs.gov Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory ph 970-491-1968 Colorado State University fx 970-491-1965 Fort Collins CO 80523-1499 cell 970-217-8949 http://powellcenter.usgs.gov ___ You come to nature with your theories, and she knocks them all flat -- Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
[ECOLOG-L] Ecology REU / Internship in Iceland Summer 2014 : DEADLINE MARCH 2
Ecology REU / Internship in Iceland Summer 2014 We are looking for four undergraduates or recent graduates to join our team of interdisciplinary researchers in Northeast Iceland during this coming summer. Broadly, we study the dynamics of Lake Mývatns aquatic insect emergences and their effects on within-lake and around-lake ecosystems and communities. Interns will be expected to assist in both ongoing research at this LTREB (Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology) site and to complete an independent research project. ELIGIBILITY: These internships include both REU and non-REU positions. To be eligible for a NSF-REU, applicants must be non-graduating undergraduate students with US citizenship. SELECTION CRITERIA AND RESPONSIBILITIES: We will consider the ability of a student to conduct a semi- independent research project, live and work with our team under field conditions in rural Iceland, benefit from the experience, and contribute to our ongoing research project. The research focuses on understanding the population dynamics of midges in Mývatn and the role these populations play in the dynamics of the aquatic and surrounding terrestrial food webs. The students will participate with international faculty, post-docs, and graduate students conducting research in Iceland. This includes collecting and processing arthropod, zooplankton, sediment, and plant samples and conducting lab and field experiments. Roughly half the research will be conducted in aquatic systems, and half in terrestrial systems. Relevant skills and experience include previous lab and, especially, field research. Competitive candidates will have a strong work ethic, microscope proficiency, enjoy working outdoors, experience on boats, comfort in operating power tools and small-engine machinery, foreign travel/cross-cultural experiences, strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to work both in a team and independently. APPLICATION COMPONENTS: 1. Cover letter Your cover letter should outline your background and the reasons why you would be a good candidate for this position. Include a discussion of why you want this position and how it relates to your career goals. Also, be specific about experiences and skills you are bringing to the position. Make your case for why you should get the position, highlighting details from your resume or other pertinent information that might not appear on your resume. Please include your citizenship and your current and future educational plans. 2. Resume Submit a current resume that details your education and work experience. Please provide in your resume the names and contact information for at least two references that we can contact to ask specific questions about your background and qualifications for the position. Submit your application as a single pdf (only 1 file), including cover letter and resume. Send your pdf by e-mail to Kyle Webert, Department of Zoology, web...@wisc.edu. Include your surname in the file (e.g., Smith_Iceland_application.pdf). Put 2014 Summer Research in Iceland in the subject line of the email. After initial screening of materials, finalists will be contacted for interviews in mid-March. DEADLINE: For full consideration for summer 2014 internships, please submit your application by March 2, 2014. ADDITIONAL DETAILS: All positions include travel expenses to and from Iceland, food and lodging, and a small stipend (around $1,000 for the summer). Interns are expected to join the research team in Iceland from the first week of June to late August. A critical part of the program is conducting your own research project under our guidance. We also expect the student to take the lead communicating the results of their work. Past summer research interns have completed their projects as senior research theses, or have presented their work at national conferences. We are excited about this research and our 2014 field season! If you have any questions about the position, or our work in general, please dont hesitate to email us. More information about our work and field experience can be found at our blog, http://uwmyvatn.blogspot.com/ Contacts: Kyle Webert (graduate student) - web...@wisc.edu Cristina Herren (graduate student) - cher...@wisc.edu Tony Ives (professor) - ari...@wisc.edu http://www.zoology.wisc.edu/faculty/ive/ive.html Claudio Gratton (professor) - cgrat...@wisc.edu http://gratton.entomology.wisc.edu/category/ecosystem-linkages/
[ECOLOG-L] Fellowship awards 2014 RFP: Crater Lake National Park Science and Learning Center
Background Crater Lake National Park preserves America’s natural and cultural heritage, is a source of public enjoyment and inspiration and provides an outstanding outdoor laboratory and classroom. With more than 74,000ha encompassing 1300m of elevation, the park includes vast mixed conifer forests, aspen glades, alpine meadows, and freshwater streams and springs. Thousands of years of volcanic activity have created a complex landscape of craters, cones, pumice, ash, and pinnacles in addition to the Lake’s caldera. Furthermore, the park sits atop the watersheds of both the Klamath and Rogue River Basins. More than 88Km of hiking trails, in addition to 53Km of the Pacific Crest Trail provide access throughout the park. In 2006 the National Park Service established the Crater Lake Science and Learning Center (SLC) to expand research and educational programs and to promote technology to aid park management. The Center is operated through a partnership between the National Park Service, Oregon Institute of Technology and Southern Oregon University and is funded through an endowment from the Oregon Community Foundation. In 2014 the Crater Lake Science and Learning Center will offer four fellowships to support undergraduate and graduate student investigations. Each fellowship may be funded up to $4,000. Who is eligible? Senior undergraduate or graduate students currently enrolled in a degree-seeking program at a college or university are eligible to apply. Research Fellows must be self-directed individuals whose work will contribute to issues of management concern at Crater Lake National Park. A Fellow must be able to complete the proposed project within one or two years from receipt of the fellowship award. What types of projects will be funded? The objective of the fellowship is to support student research at Crater Lake National Park that can inform and advance the needs of management and decision making at the park in four general areas: aquatic resources, terrestrial resources, social science, and applied technology. Applicants are encouraged to contact the SLC Science Coordinator and/or those individuals listed as contacts under the four areas of research interest listed below. These contacts will answer questions regarding research topics of interest, complexities, and logistical concerns. The “Hot Topics” listed under each general research areas below have been identified by park staff as current priorities. However, project proposals are not limited to these topics. Projects with matching funds or that leverage outside resources will also have high priority. Such matches may be in-kind but must be bona fide and clearly defined in the proposed budget. Collaboration is highly desirable, especially if the partnership can bridge to future projects. The Crater Lake Science and Learning Center will award one student fellowship of up to $4,000 in each of the following areas of interest: •Aquatic Resources Contact: Mark Buktenica, Aquatic Ecologist Phone: 541-594-3077 Email: mark_bukten...@nps.gov Hot Topics: Quantify the effects of nonnative fish on headwater streams Inventory amphibians or aquatic invertebrates Identify amphibian pathogens in park habitats Develop biological tools for assessing aquatic species Quantify life history characteristics of bull trout Characterize discharge of park streams Describe annual thermal regimes of park streams Test assumptions of PIT-tag telemetry in streams Test efficacy of nonnative fish exclusion barriers • Terrestrial Resources Contact: Sean Mohren, Terrestrial Ecologist Phone: 541-594-3074 Email: sean_moh...@nps.gov Hot Topics: General species inventories. Expand on park’s Northern Spotted Owl monitoring Analyze fire effects on wildlife Use repeat photography to examine vegetative change •Social Science Contact: Marsha, McCabe, Chief of Interpretation Phone: 541-594-3091 Email: marsha_mcc...@nps.gov Hot Topics : Effects of changing visitor demographics Visitor use of park and concession facilities Visitor expectations of park and programs Effectiveness of interpretive media Management implications of changing cultural values Management implications of changing technologies •Technological Applications to Natural Resource Management Contact: Chris Wayne, GIS Specialist Phone: 541-594-3076 Email: chris_wa...@nps.gov Hot Topics : Convert CAD drawings of park utilities to GIS database
[ECOLOG-L] Visiting faculty position at Bennington College
Bennington College invites applications for a one-year visiting faculty position in Biology, beginning in the fall 2014. Area of expertise for this sabbatical replacement position is flexible, but we would particularly welcome applications from candidates whose interests bridge the larger areas of ecology/evolution and genetics/microbiology. Examples of appealing specialties include, but are not limited to: population genetics, molecular evolution, soil microbiology, microbial ecology, plant virology and/or immunology, and microbiome ecology/evolution. Teaching responsibilities include two courses per term (four different courses, total), at least two of which should be introductory level. This is an ideal opportunity for scientists interested in developing curriculum and in creative approaches to teaching in small, interactive classes. Interested individuals need not have a completed PhD, but should have college-level teaching experience to offer and build upon. To apply, please upload a *curriculum vitae,* the names and contact information for three references, descriptions of interests and possible courses, and a cover letter indicating interest to: https://bennington.recruiterbox.com/jobs/30480. A full-year replacement is desired, but exceptional candidates available for only one term will be considered. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Bennington College is a small, liberal-arts college with a tradition of innovative approaches to teaching and curriculum. More information about the science program at Bennington may be found at our website, http://science.bennington.edu/. -- Kerry D. Woods Bennington College, Natural Sciences Dir. of Research, Huron Mt. Wildlife Found. www.hmwf.org faculty.bennington.edu/~kwoods kwo...@bennington.edu
[ECOLOG-L] From the Laboratory to the Classroom (Lab2Class): Building Capacity for Math and Science Teaching in DC
From the Laboratory to the Classroom (Lab2Class): Building Capacity for Math and Science Teaching in DC Project Overview| Lab2Class seeks to improve the teaching of secondary school science and mathematics in Washington, DC. This goal will be achieved by recruiting STEM professionals with strong backgrounds in science and math to teach in the DC schools. The teaching fellows will be enrolled in a one-year intensive Masters in Teaching program after which they will teach in a DC school for at least four years. Lab2Class is a collaborative project between American University's (AU) School of Education, Teaching, and Health, AU's Departments of Mathematics/Statistics and Environmental Science, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the District of Columbia Public and Public Charter Schools. Lab2Class extends the successful work of the Math for America-DC project by expanding to science education. The program is funded through grants from the National Science Foundation and the Toyota USA Foundation. Lab2Class Fellow Benefits and Commitments| Lab2Class fellows receive a full tuition scholarship for a Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT): Secondary Education in Mathematics or Science (biology, chemistry or physics) at American University. During the 14-month MAT program, fellows also receive a living stipend of $23,500. Fellows commit to teaching in a DC public or public charter school for four years and receive a salary supplement of $10,000 per year for each of the four teaching years. The living stipends and salary supplements are awarded to help fellows transition from their current careers in math and science into the teaching profession. Fellows also receive mentoring support and monthly professional development seminars throughout the five-year Lab2Class program. The Lab2Class program will prepare math and science teachers who have deep content understanding to have the pedagogical skills to be effective teachers. The Lab2Class program is unique for its pedagogical innovations in teaching to traditionally under-prepared urban students. The coursework focuses on providing Fellows with a comprehensive understanding of how to teach their content at the middle and high school level that will lead to deep student understanding and high student achievement. In addition, ongoing mentoring and professional development programs will be provided to challenge and empower fellows to think innovatively about how they teach and effectively use appropriate assessments tools for instructional decision-making. Broader Project Goals| The overarching goal of Lab2lass is to increase the quality of math and science teachers in Washington, DC. In so doing, we will also develop a cadre of teaching professionals who will have the skills to take on leadership roles and engage in more systemic changes to improve STEM education in the District and beyond. An important outcome of this effort, by working with the ethnically, culturally, and socially diverse communities in DC public and public charter schools, will be an increase of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. An aspirational goal of our effort is to serve as a model of strong teacher development in STEM education. Contact Us| Visit our website: http://www.american.edu/cas/seth/grants/lab2class.cfm or contact Julie Sara Boyd, Director of Teacher Education at American University at lab2cl...@american.edu or 202-885-3727. Please let us know if you are interested in the program. Please note that Fellowship recipients must be U.S. citizens or nationals, or permanent resident aliens.
[ECOLOG-L] Acoustic tracking tags in a stream salamander vertebrate
Dear List: We are considering attempting the use of acoustic implanted transmitters in fully aquatic salamanders to automatically track their movements using something like Vemco's or Lotek's systems. These systems are really designed for more open water, as the signal is scattered by rocks and such, and these salamanders will be hiding in cobble and such, so perhaps they aren't ideal. On the other hand, these tags can be picked up in hundreds of meters of open water, whereas our river system is at most 50 meters in width, and the river ranges from less than one to more than four meters in depth. Does anyone have any experience with acoustic tracking in such a system that could lend some advice about the suitability of using these systems? The reason we are considering this over radiotelemetry is that the river is too high and fast much of the year to get into it and track, and experiences too much human traffic to safely put out permanent radiotracking towers (whereas the acoustic receivers can be hidden in the river). Thanks, Steve
[ECOLOG-L] The Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford University
The Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford University The Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford University invites midcareer academic environmental scientists to apply for the 2015 Leopold Leadership Fellowships. The program provides researchers with the skills for translating their knowledge to action, and for catalyzing change to address the world's most pressing sustainability challenges. The program selects up to 20 Fellows annually to participate in two intensive weeklong training sessions a year apart to build and enhance their skills for leading change from local to global scales. The goal is to create a community of engaged scientific leaders who link their knowledge to decision-making about the environment and sustainability. The program seeks candidates in a broad range of disciplines, including biophysical and social sciences and technical, medical, and engineering fields related to the environment and sustainability. More information and application: http://leopoldleadership.stanford.edu/fellowship-information. Deadline: April 28, 2014
Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
I noticed that a couple of journals accounted for a large majority of the reported gibberish papers. Hmmm . Being retired for a bit, I was completely unaware that many institutions and faculty were giving tests by an online method. I can understand the desire to reduce the labor involved in testing, but unsupervised, online tests? There have always been enrollees who cheated. The attitudes expressed by some in the link you provided are beyond bizarre, though they mimic the complaints students have always expressed about courses they did not want to take. Things haven't changed much, just methods. David McNeely Malcolm McCallum malcolm.mccallum.ta...@gmail.com wrote: This is what happens when two things are paired together. 1) impact ratings driving science instead of the other way around 2) lacking control over cheating in college/grad school. I have been shocked at the large amount of cheating that goes on, and that is ignored, even in professional schools. Here is a nice link for anyone who does online grading automatically... http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1347802-Cheating-on-an-online-test/page2 On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:18 PM, David Duffy ddu...@hawaii.edu wrote: Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014 The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense. Over the past two years, computer scientist Cyril Labbé of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, has catalogued computer-generated papers that made it into more than 30 published conference proceedings between 2008 and 2013. Sixteen appeared in publications by Springer, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and more than 100 were published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), based in New York. Both publishers, which were privately informed by Labbé, say that they are now removing the papers. Among the works were, for example, a paper published as a proceeding from the 2013 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering, held in Chengdu, China. (The conference website says that all manuscripts are reviewed for merits and contents.) The authors of the paper, entitled 'TIC: a methodology for the construction of e-commerce', write in the abstract that they concentrate our efforts on disproving that spreadsheets can be made knowledge-based, empathic, and compact. (Nature News has attempted to contact the conference organizers and named authors of the paper but received no reply*; however at least some of the names belong to real people. The IEEE has now removed the paper). *Update: One of the named authors, Su Wei at Lanzhou University, replied to Nature News on 25 February. He said that he first learned of the article when conference organizers notified his university in December 2013; and that he does not know why he was a listed co-author on the paper. The matter is being looked into by the related investigators, he said. How to create a nonsense paper Labbé developed a way to automatically detect manuscripts composed by a piece of software called SCIgen, which randomly combines strings of words to produce fake computer-science papers. SCIgen was invented in 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge to prove that conferences would accept meaningless papers - and, as they put it, to maximize amusement (see 'Computer conference welcomes gobbledegook paper'). A related program generates random physics manuscript titles on the satirical website arXiv vs. snarXiv. SCIgen is free to download and use, and it is unclear how many people have done so, or for what purposes. SCIgen's output has occasionally popped up at conferences, when researchers have submitted nonsense papers and then revealed the trick. Labbé does not know why the papers were submitted - or even if the authors were aware of them. Most of the conferences took place in China, and most of the fake papers have authors with Chinese affiliations. Labbé has emailed editors and authors named in many of the papers and related conferences but received scant replies; one editor said that he did not work as a program chair at a particular conference, even though he was named as doing so, and another author claimed his paper was submitted on purpose to test out a conference, but did not respond on follow-up. Nature has
Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
Use short answer and essay questions. It's more work, but students can't cheat and they (are more likely to) learn the concepts. Steve ... Stephen L. Young, PhD Weed Ecologist University of Nebraska-Lincoln http://ipscourse.unl.edu/iwep Twitter: @NAIPSC -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Malcolm McCallum Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:27 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish This is what happens when two things are paired together. 1) impact ratings driving science instead of the other way around 2) lacking control over cheating in college/grad school. I have been shocked at the large amount of cheating that goes on, and that is ignored, even in professional schools. Here is a nice link for anyone who does online grading automatically... http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1347802-Cheating-on-an-online-test/page2 On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:18 PM, David Duffy ddu...@hawaii.edu wrote: Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014 The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense. Over the past two years, computer scientist Cyril Labbé of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, has catalogued computer-generated papers that made it into more than 30 published conference proceedings between 2008 and 2013. Sixteen appeared in publications by Springer, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and more than 100 were published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), based in New York. Both publishers, which were privately informed by Labbé, say that they are now removing the papers. Among the works were, for example, a paper published as a proceeding from the 2013 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering, held in Chengdu, China. (The conference website says that all manuscripts are reviewed for merits and contents.) The authors of the paper, entitled 'TIC: a methodology for the construction of e-commerce', write in the abstract that they concentrate our efforts on disproving that spreadsheets can be made knowledge-based, empathic, and compact. (Nature News has attempted to contact the conference organizers and named authors of the paper but received no reply*; however at least some of the names belong to real people. The IEEE has now removed the paper). *Update: One of the named authors, Su Wei at Lanzhou University, replied to Nature News on 25 February. He said that he first learned of the article when conference organizers notified his university in December 2013; and that he does not know why he was a listed co-author on the paper. The matter is being looked into by the related investigators, he said. How to create a nonsense paper Labbé developed a way to automatically detect manuscripts composed by a piece of software called SCIgen, which randomly combines strings of words to produce fake computer-science papers. SCIgen was invented in 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge to prove that conferences would accept meaningless papers - and, as they put it, to maximize amusement (see 'Computer conference welcomes gobbledegook paper'). A related program generates random physics manuscript titles on the satirical website arXiv vs. snarXiv. SCIgen is free to download and use, and it is unclear how many people have done so, or for what purposes. SCIgen's output has occasionally popped up at conferences, when researchers have submitted nonsense papers and then revealed the trick. Labbé does not know why the papers were submitted - or even if the authors were aware of them. Most of the conferences took place in China, and most of the fake papers have authors with Chinese affiliations. Labbé has emailed editors and authors named in many of the papers and related conferences but received scant replies; one editor said that he did not work as a program chair at a particular conference, even though he was named as doing so, and another author claimed his paper was submitted on purpose to test out a conference, but did not respond on follow-up. Nature has not heard anything from a few enquiries. I wasn't aware of the scale of the problem, but I knew it definitely happens. We do get occasional e-mails from
Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
The more amazing part when I read the actual paper is that when they checked the arxiv.org papers, NONE were found to be fakes!! I found that crazy. So, we already know that impact factor is a poor predictor of whether or not a paper will be cited. We also know that impact factor is a better predictor of whether a paper will have to be pulled than if it will be cited. AND, now we know that a good chunk of papers are actually fake computer generated junk. Also, this was only in Computer Science, and it was only the papers he could access. So, who knows how many more would have popped up behind the pay window! On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 4:25 PM, mcnee...@cox.net wrote: I noticed that a couple of journals accounted for a large majority of the reported gibberish papers. Hmmm . Being retired for a bit, I was completely unaware that many institutions and faculty were giving tests by an online method. I can understand the desire to reduce the labor involved in testing, but unsupervised, online tests? There have always been enrollees who cheated. The attitudes expressed by some in the link you provided are beyond bizarre, though they mimic the complaints students have always expressed about courses they did not want to take. Things haven't changed much, just methods. David McNeely Malcolm McCallum malcolm.mccallum.ta...@gmail.com wrote: This is what happens when two things are paired together. 1) impact ratings driving science instead of the other way around 2) lacking control over cheating in college/grad school. I have been shocked at the large amount of cheating that goes on, and that is ignored, even in professional schools. Here is a nice link for anyone who does online grading automatically... http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1347802-Cheating-on-an-online-test/page2 On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:18 PM, David Duffy ddu...@hawaii.edu wrote: Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014 The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense. Over the past two years, computer scientist Cyril Labbé of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, has catalogued computer-generated papers that made it into more than 30 published conference proceedings between 2008 and 2013. Sixteen appeared in publications by Springer, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and more than 100 were published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), based in New York. Both publishers, which were privately informed by Labbé, say that they are now removing the papers. Among the works were, for example, a paper published as a proceeding from the 2013 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering, held in Chengdu, China. (The conference website says that all manuscripts are reviewed for merits and contents.) The authors of the paper, entitled 'TIC: a methodology for the construction of e-commerce', write in the abstract that they concentrate our efforts on disproving that spreadsheets can be made knowledge-based, empathic, and compact. (Nature News has attempted to contact the conference organizers and named authors of the paper but received no reply*; however at least some of the names belong to real people. The IEEE has now removed the paper). *Update: One of the named authors, Su Wei at Lanzhou University, replied to Nature News on 25 February. He said that he first learned of the article when conference organizers notified his university in December 2013; and that he does not know why he was a listed co-author on the paper. The matter is being looked into by the related investigators, he said. How to create a nonsense paper Labbé developed a way to automatically detect manuscripts composed by a piece of software called SCIgen, which randomly combines strings of words to produce fake computer-science papers. SCIgen was invented in 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge to prove that conferences would accept meaningless papers - and, as they put it, to maximize amusement (see 'Computer conference welcomes gobbledegook paper'). A related program generates random physics manuscript titles on the satirical website arXiv vs. snarXiv. SCIgen is free to download and use, and it is unclear how many people have done so, or for what purposes. SCIgen's output has occasionally popped up at
Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
Absolutely right! But how do you give essays in a very large class? Grading them is an enormous job. And that's not what TA's are paid for (unless the university provides a grader which I've never come across) J Use short answer and essay questions. It's more work, but students can't cheat and they (are more likely to) learn the concepts. Steve ... Stephen L. Young, PhD Weed Ecologist University of Nebraska-Lincoln http://ipscourse.unl.edu/iwep Twitter: @NAIPSC -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Malcolm McCallum Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:27 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish This is what happens when two things are paired together. 1) impact ratings driving science instead of the other way around 2) lacking control over cheating in college/grad school. I have been shocked at the large amount of cheating that goes on, and that is ignored, even in professional schools. Here is a nice link for anyone who does online grading automatically... http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1347802-Cheating-on-an-online-test/page2 On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:18 PM, David Duffy ddu...@hawaii.edu wrote: Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014 The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense. Over the past two years, computer scientist Cyril Labbé of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, has catalogued computer-generated papers that made it into more than 30 published conference proceedings between 2008 and 2013. Sixteen appeared in publications by Springer, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and more than 100 were published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), based in New York. Both publishers, which were privately informed by Labbé, say that they are now removing the papers. Among the works were, for example, a paper published as a proceeding from the 2013 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering, held in Chengdu, China. (The conference website says that all manuscripts are reviewed for merits and contents.) The authors of the paper, entitled 'TIC: a methodology for the construction of e-commerce', write in the abstract that they concentrate our efforts on disproving that spreadsheets can be made knowledge-based, empathic, and compact. (Nature News has attempted to contact the conference organizers and named authors of the paper but received no reply*; however at least some of the names belong to real people. The IEEE has now removed the paper). *Update: One of the named authors, Su Wei at Lanzhou University, replied to Nature News on 25 February. He said that he first learned of the article when conference organizers notified his university in December 2013; and that he does not know why he was a listed co-author on the paper. The matter is being looked into by the related investigators, he said. How to create a nonsense paper Labbé developed a way to automatically detect manuscripts composed by a piece of software called SCIgen, which randomly combines strings of words to produce fake computer-science papers. SCIgen was invented in 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge to prove that conferences would accept meaningless papers - and, as they put it, to maximize amusement (see 'Computer conference welcomes gobbledegook paper'). A related program generates random physics manuscript titles on the satirical website arXiv vs. snarXiv. SCIgen is free to download and use, and it is unclear how many people have done so, or for what purposes. SCIgen's output has occasionally popped up at conferences, when researchers have submitted nonsense papers and then revealed the trick. Labbé does not know why the papers were submitted - or even if the authors were aware of them. Most of the conferences took place in China, and most of the fake papers have authors with Chinese affiliations. Labbé has emailed editors and authors named in many of the papers and related conferences but received scant replies; one editor said that he did not work as a program chair at a particular conference, even though he was named as doing so, and another author claimed his paper was submitted on purpose to test out a conference, but did not respond
[ECOLOG-L] Course Networks tools in Biosciences, Barcelona, July 14-18
Dear colleagues, Registration for the course NETWORK TOOLS IN BIOSCIENCES is now open!. Webpage: http://www.transmittingscience.org/courses/syst-bio/networks/ INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Diego Rasskin-Gutman (Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Spain) and Dr. Borja Esteve-Altava (Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Spain). DATES: July, 14-18, 2014. 34 teaching hours. PLACE: Facilities of the Centre de Restauració i Interpretació de Els Hostalets de Pierola, Els hostalets de Pierola, Barcelona (Spain). Many features and processes of biological systems can be well represented by networks of interacting elements. In the last decades, network analysis has provided new insights into the organization and functioning of complex biological systems such as brain wiring, genetic regulation, or ecological dynamics. A basic knowledge on network modelling and network analysis will provide biologists a better understanding of cutting-edge research in their fields. This course will introduce participants into the analysis of complex biological systems using network models. Students will learn the basics of network analysis: gathering information, building network models, and interpret the outcomes of their analysis. This course combines theoretical introduction and computing practices using the free software environment R. Previous knowledge in R is not required. Participants are encouraged to bring their own data for practicing. Emphasis is placed on offering participants a wide overview of network modelling in biology and the many available software tools to do it. Organized by: Transmitting Science, the Institut Catalá de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont and the Council of Hostalets de Pierola. Please feel free to distribute this information between your colleagues if you consider it appropriate. With best regards Soledad De Esteban Trivigno, PhD. Course Director Transmitting Science http://www.transmittingscience.org/
[ECOLOG-L] summer undergraduate position Toolik Field Station
We are seeking an undergraduate student to fill a summer research assistant position focused on arctic biogeochemistry. The research project addresses coupled hydrology and nutrient cycling of arctic hillslopes and is based out of the Toolik Field Station in northern Alaska. Primary duties will include collecting and processing water samples; assisting with experiments measuring nutrient uptake; maintaining equipment for automated collection of water samples, stream discharge, and chemistry; data entry; and laboratory work. The student will join a collaborative team that includes hydrologists and biogeochemists, and will be expected to work closely with graduate students and PIs in the field. This position will include a combination of field and laboratory work. The student must be enthusiastic and able to work under adverse field conditions, including rain, snow, and mosquitoes. The field work involves off-trail hiking up to 2 km carrying a pack. Strong communication skills are required. Ideal timing of the position is late-May to mid-Aug. Preferred qualifications include experience with ecological research, including field and laboratory components, and demonstrated interest in ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, or high-latitude ecosystems. Prospective students may apply online at: www.uakjobs.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=83727 and should contact Dr. Tamara Harms (tkha...@alaska.edu) stating interest and briefly describing qualifications and experience. Applicant review will begin March 24 and continue until a suitable candidate is identified.
[ECOLOG-L] summer undergraduate position Fairbanks, AK
We are seeking an enthusiastic undergraduate to assist with a project investigating spatial scaling of ecosystem processes in stream networks. Research will be conducted in boreal streams in Interior Alaska, and the student will be based out of Fairbanks. Primary duties will include collection of water, fish, and invertebrate samples; assistance with measures of ecosystem metabolism and nutrient uptake; maintenance of experimental fish exclosures; chemical analyses in the laboratory; and data entry. The student must be willing to work under adverse field conditions, able to haul sampling equipment across uneven terrain, and learn to operate off-road vehicles. The student will work closely with graduate students and PIs, and must have strong communication skills. The ideal period of work is June through early August. Preferred qualifications include experience with ecological field research, demonstrated interest in ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, or stream ecology. Prospective students should contact Dr. Jay Jones (jay.jo...@alaska.edu) with a resume, and brief statement describing interest and qualifications by March 30.
[ECOLOG-L] Job: Energy Coordinator, SE AK
Energy Coordinator General Position Description: The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council seeks a motivated and passionate individual to work on rural energy issues. The Energy Coordinator position is responsible for assisting rural Southeast communities in identifying ways to alleviate high energy costs and reduce their dependency on fossil fuels. The position involves working very closely with local, regional and state partners in developing effective strategies to increase local engagement, provide energy educational opportunities and explore efficiency measures and renewable energy alternatives for heating, electricity and transportation. Responsibilities: * Work within a broader partnership on efforts and demonstration projects that integrate multiple components of community sustainability including affordable energy, economic development, the environment, social well being and cultural values. * Travel extensively to communities to maintain current relationships and build new relationships with tribal partners, schools, utilities, municipalities and boroughs, conservation organizations and other non-governmental organizations. Coordinate with all partners to keep them informed of efforts, programs and opportunities for energy related involvement * Research and help prioritize individual community energy options, work closely with partners and local leaders to offer recommendations on near and long term efforts * Engage multiple stakeholders in community energy planning and visioning * Facilitate community energy meetings and help develop local energy committees * Facilitate, partner on and provide technical support for energy demonstration projects * Work with local campaign staff in compiling updated energy baseline information for community buildings in order to accurately measure the impact of efficiency and renewable energy efforts * Track performance of demonstration projects through on-line and site monitoring, develop reports on performance and lessons learned in order to strengthen future efforts and help guide policy * Work with community and regional partners on developing resource assessments and feasibility studies to prepare for future project level funding * Provide direct support, guidance and training opportunities for community-based program staff in Kake, Hoonah and Wrangell * Conduct outreach to SEACC members and the public through workshops, publications, alerts, blogs, reports and media * Work with SEACC staff and campaign on program development which will include actively reevaluating goals, objectives and strategies based on organizational reflection and community and partner feedback * Assist community partners with the preparation of grant proposals and program budgeting * Participate in local, regional and statewide energy planning meetings and events * Carry out personnel administrative tasks such as communications, reporting and maintain records for convenience of successive members and other staff Desired Qualifications: We are seeking a person who is highly motivated, a quick learner and able to work independently with excellent time management and communication skills. Experience working in rural Alaska communities is preferred. Familiarity with the regional energy framework of Southeast Alaska, as well as knowledge about energy efficiency and/or small scale renewable energy applications is highly desired. The Energy Coordinator position will serve as a technical team member providing guidance and support to staff living in rural communities, and helping to coordinate efforts and share information among communities. Compensation: Annual salary DOE; full health benefits To apply: Email cover letter, resume, writing sample, and references to Todd Bailey at mailto:t...@seacc.orgt...@seacc.org. Please put Energy Coordinator in the title. Deadline: March 1st, 2014.
[ECOLOG-L] Results from 3 min survey for Ph.D.s
Dear colleagues, Thank you so much for taking the time last Spring to complete the short Survey on Timeline to Tenure Track. Our objective was to better understand the career transition from PhD to tenure-track academic job and consider this timeline in the context of shifts in science career pathways. Your information helped our analysis immensely! The results of the survey in the context of published statistics on trends in graduate education and the academic workforce are presented in the article Is it Time to Redefine the Alternative Career Path for Ecologists? in the February 2014 issue of the ASLO Bulletin: http://aslo.org/bulletin/ In short, results from the overall analysis allowed us to underscore the diminishing proportion of Ph.D. graduates obtaining academic positions in Life Sciences and Ecology, despite continued increases in the number of degrees conferred in these fields. The survey allowed us to determine that, while the transition from Ph.D. to tenure track occurs within a median of 3 years, variability in this amount of time has increased since the 1970's. Recent graduates therefore have an almost equal chance of spending 1 or 5 years as postdocs or in soft money positions. Our analysis of these trends prompted us to recommend steps that students, advisors, departments, and universities can and should take to increase transparency in career prospects and prepare graduate students for a range of career paths they may choose to pursue following completion of the Ph.D. Thank you again for your time and contribution to this effort. We look forward to continuing to Redefine the Alternative with you going forward! Sincerely, Gretchen Hansen Steven Sadro Melissa Baustian
Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
In my online course, I give them a variety of activities - discussion board, problem sets, quizzes - on a weekly basis, which are low effort grading - Are they getting the concepts? I do not post the answers to anything outright, but incorporate them into my weekly lectures, so that the student who is really paying attention will get the answers. I do other things like have them participate in my webinar series and they all have to do a Final Project. Exams are an even number of multiple choice (cheating is possible), short answer, and 2-3 essay questions (cheating not possible) to make them tell me what they've learned. It is fairly easy to see which student is getting the material and who is not and thus, grading can go more quickly than it may seem. I also remind them weekly about assignments and that I am happy to address any questions. I never let an email question go unanswered for more than a day. This is not a silver bullet answer because there are online courses with 100+ students and grading can be a nightmare, even with a TA. For classes with fewer numbers ( 50), this strategy seems to be working and not taking every waking hour. Steve From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU on behalf of David L. McNeely mcnee...@cox.net Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 8:13 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish Well, TAs CAN be paid to assist with grading. I know that I was expected to grade as a TA, and I have had TAs help with grading. One justification for the low pay that TAs get has always been that part of the job was the learning experience. How can one learn teaching without practicing teaching? Grading is a part of teaching. As a TA in a large introductory course, I was a part of, for want of a better term, grading parties. Each paper was marked by three TAs. The middle score was recorded. Fair? It was one prof's way of coping, and it seemed to work. By the third exam (there were five counting the final) we converged pretty closely on the scores. We used what has been called by educationists a rubric. We called it a model answer. A group of TAs could also use the system used by the Advanced Placement program, which again involves a rubric, but only one person scores a given response. A team leader monitors scores for each grader, and provides feedback to the graders, so that they can know how far from the team mean and median scores their own estimates of central tendency are. I usually only had a single TA or at most two for any course I taught as a faculty member. I worked with them to develop a list of points that should be included in any short answer or essay response. I graded some papers, the TA graded some, and I double checked a sample of his or her work. It worked for us. Of course, if TAs take on grading, and have not been doing so all along, then the grading time has to be factored into their work load. I assume if they are already grading, it has been taken into account. David McNeely Judith S. Weis jw...@andromeda.rutgers.edu wrote: Absolutely right! But how do you give essays in a very large class? Grading them is an enormous job. And that's not what TA's are paid for (unless the university provides a grader which I've never come across) J Use short answer and essay questions. It's more work, but students can't cheat and they (are more likely to) learn the concepts. Steve ... Stephen L. Young, PhD Weed Ecologist University of Nebraska-Lincoln http://ipscourse.unl.edu/iwep Twitter: @NAIPSC -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Malcolm McCallum Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:27 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish This is what happens when two things are paired together. 1) impact ratings driving science instead of the other way around 2) lacking control over cheating in college/grad school. I have been shocked at the large amount of cheating that goes on, and that is ignored, even in professional schools. Here is a nice link for anyone who does online grading automatically... http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1347802-Cheating-on-an-online-test/page2 On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:18 PM, David Duffy ddu...@hawaii.edu wrote: Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014
Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish
I don't think this is a problem with multiple choice. Its a problem with unsupervised test-giving on computerized testing systems. MC is what it is. Years ago a Dr. Anderson at Illinois State was experimenting with a new type of multiple choice exam. He took every term, a bunch of numbers, etc and gave them a 4-5 digit code of numbers (I dont' remember if it was 4-5). Then, he handed the student a packet with every term from the semester in it along with the questions and the answer sheet. As a student, you read the question with a blank, then knowing the answer looked it up in the list which was in alphabetical order. The word or number would have a digit code, and you would block in the code in the answer sheet. This gave ultimately 9 different codes available for answers. I don't know if he used all 99,999 answers, but darn there was a lot. The sheet had 5 columns of 0-9 for each answer. I don't know if this is obvious from the way I am describing it or not. I recall taking the tests a few times where I skimmed the answers because I could not remember the word, then when I saw it, I remembered. However, for the most part, this was much more effective than a standard 4-5 choice mc test. ANyway, there are lots of computerized ways you can autograde a test. :) On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 4:44 PM, Judith S. Weis jw...@andromeda.rutgers.edu wrote: Absolutely right! But how do you give essays in a very large class? Grading them is an enormous job. And that's not what TA's are paid for (unless the university provides a grader which I've never come across) J Use short answer and essay questions. It's more work, but students can't cheat and they (are more likely to) learn the concepts. Steve ... Stephen L. Young, PhD Weed Ecologist University of Nebraska-Lincoln http://ipscourse.unl.edu/iwep Twitter: @NAIPSC -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Malcolm McCallum Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:27 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] fake papers, the h-index, and publish or perish This is what happens when two things are paired together. 1) impact ratings driving science instead of the other way around 2) lacking control over cheating in college/grad school. I have been shocked at the large amount of cheating that goes on, and that is ignored, even in professional schools. Here is a nice link for anyone who does online grading automatically... http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1347802-Cheating-on-an-online-test/page2 On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:18 PM, David Duffy ddu...@hawaii.edu wrote: Labbé says that the latest discovery is merely one symptom of a spamming war started at the heart of science in which researchers feel pressured to rush out papers to publish as much as possible *Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers* Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature.com 24 February 2014 The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense. Over the past two years, computer scientist Cyril Labbé of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, has catalogued computer-generated papers that made it into more than 30 published conference proceedings between 2008 and 2013. Sixteen appeared in publications by Springer, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and more than 100 were published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), based in New York. Both publishers, which were privately informed by Labbé, say that they are now removing the papers. Among the works were, for example, a paper published as a proceeding from the 2013 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering, held in Chengdu, China. (The conference website says that all manuscripts are reviewed for merits and contents.) The authors of the paper, entitled 'TIC: a methodology for the construction of e-commerce', write in the abstract that they concentrate our efforts on disproving that spreadsheets can be made knowledge-based, empathic, and compact. (Nature News has attempted to contact the conference organizers and named authors of the paper but received no reply*; however at least some of the names belong to real people. The IEEE has now removed the paper). *Update: One of the named authors, Su Wei at Lanzhou University, replied to Nature News on 25 February. He said that he first learned of the article when conference organizers notified his university in December 2013; and that he does not know why he was a listed co-author on the paper. The matter is being looked into by the related investigators, he said. How to create a nonsense
