Coming in like a wrecking-ball: are native Eurasian red squirrels displacing invasive Siberian chipmunks? A study from an urban park

Alien squirrels may seriously threaten native species by means of interspecific competition. In our work, we analysed whether the distribution of alien Siberian chipmunks within the Sigurtà Garden urban park (north-eastern Italy) changed after the natural spread of native Eurasian red squirrels in a 20-year period. Distribution of both squirrels was estimated through a citizen-science approach, in the first 10-year after red squirrel arrival 1 (i.e. Decade 1: 1997–2006) and in the second 10-year interval (i.e. Decade 2: 2007–2017). We compared habitat use of both species and we assessed whether a vertical segregation occurred through a dissimilarity index. Woodlands were selected by both species in both decades. Red squirrels also selected tree lines in Decade 1. A vertical segregation was apparent in Decade 1, whereas in Decade 2 both squirrel species were observed on the lowest branches or on the ground, where they are fed by humans. This was also confirmed by the habitat niche-overlap index, which increased in Decade 2. The extent of occurrence of Sciurus vulgaris increased throughout the park, whereas those of Eutamias sibiricus decreased. Differently from what is usually observed with alien squirrels, the spread of the native species appears to be halting and reversing the expansion of the non-native one.     

Loud callings limit human tolerance towards invasive parakeets in urban areas

Biological invasions represent today one of the main cause of the global biodiversity crisis, particularly in urban and suburban areas. Research on this topic have traditionally focused on ecological impacts, with poor regards to the social components. The ring-necked parakeet Psittacula krameri is one of the most successful invaders and it is widely appreciated by the general public, being introduced through the pet trade. In this work we assessed whether long-term introduction, total population size and number of loud flight-calls affected social perception of this species in three populations from Italian cities. We used a visual survey (N?=?414 questionnaires), which has been proven to be successful for testing attitudes on ring-necked parakeets. Tolerance towards this invasive species declined sharply with increasing number of loud calls by this species, thus providing support to the hypothesis of involvement of the ring-necked parakeet in noise pollution. Conversely, total population size and years since the first local introduction were not found out to be important variable determining social attitudes. Awareness on invasive species impacts is mostly obtained only when invasive populations are already affecting native biodiversity and human wellness, thus when management becomes challenging. Thus, at early invasion stages, intervention towards invasive species, particularly if charismatic, are often hampered by social public and animal right movements, especially in urban ecosystems. Educational campaigns on ecological and social impact by invasive alien species in urban ecosystems are therefore strongly recommended to implement effective management actions.

     

Risk of Legionellosis in residential areas around farms irrigating with municipal wastewater

The conservation of freshwater is of both global and national importance, and in the United States, agriculture is one of the largest consumers of this resource. Reduction of the strain farming puts on local surface or groundwater is vital for ensuring resilience in the face of climate change, and one possible option is to irrigate with a combination of freshwater and reclaimed water from municipal wastewater treatment facilities. However, this wastewater can contain pathogens that are harmful to human health, such as Legionella pneumophila, which is a bacterium that can survive aerosolization and airborne transportation and cause severe pneumonia when inhaled. To assess an individual adult's risk of infection with L. pneumophila from a single exposure to agricultural spray irrigation, a quantitative microbial risk assessment was conducted for a scenario of spray irrigation in central Illinois, for the growing seasons in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The assessment found that the mean risk of infection for a single exposure exceeded the safety threshold of 10^–6 infections/exposure up to 1 km from a low-pressure irrigator and up to 2 km from a high-pressure irrigator, although no median risk exceeded the threshold for any distance or irrigator pressure. These findings suggest that spray irrigation with treated municipal wastewater could be a viable option for reducing freshwater consumption in Midwest farming, as long as irrigation on windy days is avoided and close proximity to the active irrigator is limited.     

Getting back in the DeLorean: modernization vs. anti-modernization in contemporary British politics

ABSTRACT

This article highlights a growing clash between mainstream modernizing and populist anti-modernizing forces in the UK. Whilst scholarship on UK party politics has, for the past three decades, focussed on processes of party modernization, little attention has been paid to the countervailing processes of resistance towards modernization. This contrasts with comparative studies, which show that throughout much of Europe modernization processes have worked to produce populist backlashes from anti-modernizing forces seeking to reassert various types of traditional values and practices. Drawing on the comparative literature on modernization, our argument here is that a similar populist backlash against modernization is occurring across the political spectrum in the UK and has been a factor in: the rise of nationalism associated with UKIP and the SNP; the 2016 BREXIT vote and the efforts of both Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Conservative PM Theresa May to distance their parties from the legacies of their modernizing predecessors. Empirically, we show how this increasingly prevalent line of conflict is playing out in the UK, whilst theoretically we argue that a discourse theoretical approach can provide significant advantages over existing approaches for understanding the dynamic interplay between modernizing and anti-modernizing discourses.     

CUSTOMER OWNERSHIP AND QUALITY PROVISION IN PUBLIC SERVICES UNDER ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION

The implementation of projects producing external effects is often a source of disagreement and conflict between hosting and nonhosting communities. The article focuses on the impact of participatory ownership on conflict resolution and social welfare in the presence of asymmetric information and imperfect quality monitoring. We show that in such situations the participatory solution may help solve deadlocks that money transfers to a for‐profit operator cannot solve. The analysis highlights three main factors behind this fact. First, a customer‐owned cooperative internalizes, at least partially, the external effects generated by the project. Second, the alignment of cooperative members' preferences with those of the social planner reduces (in some cases eliminates) the distortions caused by information asymmetries. Third, cooperatives require less costly monitoring than their for‐profit counterparts. We also show that cooperatives' productive inefficiency with respect to for‐profits may emerge endogenously as a consequence of a lower pressure to compete on costs for the market. (JEL H23, L33, P13)     

Great Expectations: Voluntary Sports Clubs and Their Role in Delivering National Policy for English Sport

Voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) account for about a quarter of all volunteering in England. The volunteers work in a mutual aid, self-production, self-consumption system whose main purpose is identifying and nurturing high-level performers. But the new HMG/Sport England strategies leading to London 2012 expects volunteers to make a major contribution to sustaining and extending participation. The study utilized six focus group sessions with a total of 36 officials and members of 36 clubs across the six counties of Eastern England to assess whether and to what extent government policy objectives can be delivered through the voluntary sector. The study focused on the perceptions and attitudes of club members about being expected to serve public policy and the current pressures they and their clubs face. The results lead the authors to question the appropriateness, sensitivity, and feasibility of current sport policy, particularly the emphasis on VSCs as policy implementers.     

Those Who are Left Behind: An Estimate of the Number of Family Members of Suicide Victims in Japan

This paper contributes to the literature of suicide studies by presenting procedures and its estimates of the number of family members who lose their loved ones to suicide. Using Japanese aggregate level data, three main findings emerge: first, there are approximately five bereaved family members per suicide; second, in 2006, there were about 90,000 children who had lost a parent to suicide; and third, in 2006, there were about three million living family members who had lost a loved one to suicide. The direct production loss of bereaved family members in 2006 alone is estimated at approximately 197 million USD. These results are valuable in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of suicide prevention programs and in designing appropriate policy instruments.     

Addressing challenges to carrying out intervention programs with youth populations: Successes and strategies

We identify five challenges notoriously faced by researchers conducting youth intervention studies: access to the target population, successful recruitment, ensuring continued attendance, promoting engaged, enthused, and task-focused participation, and efficient data collection. To ensure research quality, we have devised strategies to address these obstacles. Successes and lessons are included from The Compass Project (TCP), a 9-week morality strengthening program designed to facilitate positive attitudinal and behavioral outcomes in young people. Despite four of the five identified challenges being overcome in TCP, the fifth challenge of data collection was insurmountable as many participants failed to complete questionnaire scales. We propose that researchers build on our success by building rapport and trust with participants and youth organizations and building a participant sense of community, and improve upon our design by scrutinizing the format, accessibility, and length of data measures. Ultimately, tests of whether intervention programs can result in positive outcomes in the lives of young people hinge on adequately overcoming the identified challenges. Implementation of the proposed strategies will be instrumental to allow for meaningful and powerful statistical analyses to more accurately gauge the positive impact of intervention programs on young people's lives.     

How do Spanish disability support offices contribute to inclusive education in the university?

This article analyzes the functioning of disability support offices and their contribution to inclusive education in seven Spanish universities from the perspective of staff. Using a qualitative methodology, interviews with office staff were conducted, and data were analyzed through an inductive coding system. The results are organized around five themes: characteristics of disability support offices, staff training, functions performed by different services, barriers and opportunities identified by office staff, and proposals to improve attention given to disabled students. Information gathered leads to the conclusion that the work carried out in disability support offices must receive support from universities, as these offices are a key element for the access and retention of students with disabilities in the university and for the successful completion of their studies.     

“It’s Understandable Enough,Right?” The Natural Accountability of a Mathematics Lesson

A fundamental problem for all educational reform efforts is one of specifying in practical terms just what the reform requires of teachers and students. In addressing it, educational designers have introduced the term “accountability” to characterize something missing in classroom discourse. This term, however, held special significance in the writings of the American sociologist Harold Garfinkel. Livingston applied Garfinkel’s treatment of accountability to understanding the lived-work of doing mathematics, particularly proving work. We examine an 8th-grade student’s presentation during a Japanese geometry lesson as a proof-account. Within it we see elements of both classical and natural accountability placed on display.