University of Western Australia

About: University of Western Australia is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 29613 authors who have published 87405 publications receiving 3064466 citations. The organization is also known as: UWA & University of WA.

NASA Faked the Moon Landing—Therefore, (Climate) Science Is a Hoax An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science

Abstract: Although nearly all domain experts agree that carbon dioxide emissions are altering the world's climate, segments of the public remain unconvinced by the scientific evidence. Internet blogs have become a platform for denial of climate change, and bloggers have taken a prominent role in questioning climate science. We report a survey of climate-blog visitors to identify the variables underlying acceptance and rejection of climate science. Our findings parallel those of previous work and show that endorsement of free-market economics predicted rejection of climate science. Endorsement of free markets also predicted the rejection of other established scientific findings, such as the facts that HIV causes AIDS and that smoking causes lung cancer. We additionally show that, above and beyond endorsement of free markets, endorsement of a cluster of conspiracy theories (e.g., that the Federal Bureau of Investigation killed Martin Luther King, Jr.) predicted rejection of climate science as well as other scientific findings. Our results provide empirical support for previous suggestions that conspiratorial thinking contributes to the rejection of science. Acceptance of science, by contrast, was strongly associated with the perception of a consensus among scientists.

On the Depth and Dynamics of Online Search Behavior

Abstract: This paper examines search across competing e-commerce sites. By analyzing panel data from over 10,000 Internet households and three commodity-like products (books, compact discs (CDs), and air travel services), we show that the amount of online search is actually quite limited. On average, households visit only 1.2 book sites, 1.3 CD sites, and 1.8 travel sites during a typical active month in each category. Using probabilistic models, we characterize search behavior at the individual level in terms of (1) depth of search, (2) dynamics of search, and (3) activity of search.We model an individual's tendency to search as a logarithmic process, finding that shoppers search across very few sites in a given shopping month. We extend the logarithmic model of search to allow for time-varying dynamics that may cause the consumer to evolve and, perhaps, learn to search over time. We find that for two of the three product categories studied, search propensity does not change from month to month. However, in the third product category we find mild evidence of time-varying dynamics, where searchdecreases over time from already low levels. Finally, we model the level of a household's shopping activity and integrate it into our model of search. The results suggest that more-active online shoppers tend also to search across more sites. This consumer characteristic largely drives the dynamics of search that can easily be mistaken as increases from experience at the individual level.

The role of allergy in the development of asthma

Abstract: Recent studies have shown that initial sensitization to airborne environmental allergens occurs typically in early childhood, but subsequent progression to persistent atopic asthma, which may not manifest for several years, is restricted to only a subset of atopics. The key to establishing the link between atopy and asthma lies in the development of persistent inflammation in the airway wall, resulting in structural and functional changes in local tissues which are responsible for the symptoms of the disease. This review summarizes recent findings on the nature of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this process, and addresses the issue of why the intensity and duration of these tissue-damaging responses in the airway wall apparently exceeds the critical threshold required for development of persistent asthma in only a minority of allergy sufferers.