Edith Cowan University

About: Edith Cowan University is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Tourism. The organization has 4040 authors who have published 13529 publications receiving 339582 citations. The organization is also known as: Edith Cowan & ECU.

The prevalence and demographic characteristics of consanguineous marriages in Pakistan

Abstract: Consanguineous marriages are strongly preferred in much of West and South Asia This paper examines the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of consanguineous unions in Pakistan using local and national data Information from 1011 ever-married women living in four multi-ethnic and multi-lingual squatter settlements of Karachi, the main commercial centre of the country, are compared with data from the national 1990/91 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS), based on information provided by 6611 women Both sets of results indicate that approximately 60% of marriages were consanguineous, over 80% of which were between first cousins The mean coefficients of inbreeding (F) in the present generation were 00316 and 00331 for the Karachi and PDHS data respectively In both surveys the prevalence of consanguineous unions appeared to be unchanged over the past three to four decades Consanguineous unions were more common among women who were illiterate or had only primary level education, were first or second generation migrants from rural areas of Pakistan or, in the PDHS, lived in rural areas, and whose parents were also consanguineously married

Ecological Engineering by a Mega-Grazer: White Rhino Impacts on a South African Savanna

Abstract: Herbivory can change the structure and spatial heterogeneity of vegetation. We ask whether all species of grazers in a savanna ecosystem can have this effect or whether megaherbivores (>1000 kg) have a ‘special‘ role that cannot be replicated by other species of grazers. We performed a replicated landscape scale experiment that examined the effects of White Rhino on the grass sward, on other species of grazing mammals and on the movement of fire through the landscape. White Rhino maintained short grass (‘lawn‘) patches in mesic areas (750 mm pa) with increases in grass sward height when they were removed. Other species of grazers were unable to maintain short grass communities when White Rhino were removed. In semi-arid areas (600 mm pa) other, smaller grazers were able to maintain short grass communities in the absence of White Rhino and sward height did not increase. White Rhino removals affected fire by increasing fuel loads and fuel continuity. This resulted in larger, less patchy fires. We propose that the White Rhino acts as an influential ecosystem engineer, creating and maintaining short grass swards, which alter habitat for other grazers and change the fire regime. These results indicate the existence of context-dependent facilitation between White Rhino and other grazers in mesic, but not in semi-arid, savannas. Such top down effects on the ecosystem may have been much more widespread before the extinction of large grazers in the Pleistocene.

Interactional input and the incorporation of feedback: An exploration of NS-NNS and NNS-NNS adult and child dyads

Abstract: Given the documented benefits of participation in communicative interaction (e.g., Gass & varonis, 1994; Mackey, 1999), the present study investigated the effects of interlocutor type on the provision and incorporation of feedback in task–based interaction. The interactions of 48 dyads, evenly divided among adults and children, and native speaker–nonnative speaker and nonnative speaker–native speaker, were analyzed to assess the effect of interlocutor on (1) amount of feedback, (2) opportunities for modified output, and (3) immediate incorporation of feedback. In all dyed types, at least 30% of errors resulted in feedback, much of which led to modified output. Analyses also revealed significant differences for amount, nature, and response to feedback according to dyad type.