Rainfall events drive foraging choices by an urban coloniser

Using a seven-year data set of visitation of an inner city park by the Australian white ibis, we investigated whether rain events were correlated with ibis abundance in the park. The park is associated with high levels of anthropogenic food, but relatively low levels of natural food sources. For all magnitudes of rainfall tested, ibis abundance significantly decreased after a rainfall event, although stronger responses were associated with higher rainfall, with a 46% decline in ibis abundance following rainfall events of ≥60 mm. Average ibis abundance was higher during the dry, non-breeding period than during the breeding period, and variation associated with rainfall was particularly pronounced in the non-breeding period. However, the rainfall response was still evident in both periods. Results suggest that rainfall influences the ibis distribution in urban centres either by decreasing anthropogenic food supplied to the birds, forcing the birds to relocate to forage, or increasing the amount of natural food available elsewhere, or a combination of the two. Increased rainfall intensified the response by ibis, and our results demonstrate the importance of climatic processes on the behaviour of urban birds.     

Chains and networks,territories and scales: towards a relational framework for analysing the global economy

A vast and continually expanding literature on economic globalization continues to generate a miasma of conflicting viewpoints and alternative discourses. This article argues that any understanding of the global economy must be sensitive to four considerations: (a) conceptual categories and labels carry with them the discursive power to shape material processes; (b) multiple scales of analysis must be incorporated in recognition of the contemporary ‘relativization of scale’; (c) no single institutional or organizational locus of analysis should be privileged; and (d) extrapolations from specific case studies and instances must be treated with caution, but this should not preclude the option of discussing the global economy, and power relations within it, as a structural whole. This paper advocates a network methodology as a potential framework to incorporate these concerns. Such a methodology requires us to identify actors in networks, their ongoing relations and the structural outcomes of these relations. Networks thus become the foundational unit of analysis for our understanding of the global economy, rather than individuals, firms or nation states. In presenting this argument we critically examine two examples of network methodology that have been used to provide frameworks for analysing the global economy: global commodity chains and actor‐network theory. We suggest that while they fall short of fulfilling the promise of a network methodology in some respects, they do provide indications of the utility of such a methodology as a basis for understanding the global economy.     

A comparison of male and female dually arrested domestic violence offenders

This research provides information on dually arrested female defendants in domestic violence cases. The data comes from all heterosexual domestic violence cases resulting in a dual arrest from one large mid-South city during a 28-month period. Information on matched pairs of dually arrested male and female defendants (N = 317) came from multiple sources, including official criminal justice records (arrest reports and local criminal histories) as well as victim/offender interviews with both the arrestee and his/her partner. Comparisons were made between males and females in terms of their demographics, criminal histories, prior history of domestic violence (as both victim and offender), and behavior during the instant offense. Analyses revealed that these couples had ample contact, whether as victim or offender, with the criminal justice system. While there were no significant differences in partners' reports of minor and severe physical abuse, criminal justice date indicated that male arrestees demonstrated a significantly higher overall level of severity of violence than their female counterparts. Additionally, male arrestees had a more serious history of intimate partner and extrafamilial violence as well as other indicators of an antisocial lifestyle in comparison to female arrestees. To the extent that females in our cohort demonstrated less overall criminality and engaged in less severe domestic aggression, the idea of equivalency of violence between male and female arrestees must remain questionable.     

The Presence of Memory-Enriched Environments for Cognitively Impaired Nursing Home Residents

Abstract

Enriched living environments that contain a wide array of personal memorabilia and memory-stimulating cues have the potential to support cognitive functioning. The purpose of this ethnographic research was to describe the care environments of older adults with cognitive impairment living in nursing homes (n?=?42), to evaluate the degree to which these environments contained memory-stimulating cues, and to understand the extent to which these environments were cognitively stimulating for older adults with dementia. Results indicated varying levels of enrichment both within and between homes, with nearly a quarter of the residents living in environments that contained no memory-enhancing stimuli.     

股市涨跌预测与量化投资策略:基于时变矩成分分析

利用时变矩成分分析提取高阶矩吸收率,改进基于阈值的高阶矩因子个数选择方法,提出基于元素值的联合矩成分分析权重设定,构造了一种基于股票市场高阶矩相关结构的量化投资策略。研究表明,基于矩成分吸收率的投资策略能够对股市涨跌做出有效预测,对于股市的重大系统风险尤为敏感,在熊市中也有良好表现;基于单因子吸收率、累积三因子吸收率和赫芬达尔吸收率的高阶矩投资策略优于二阶矩吸收率投资策略,而三阶矩单因子吸收率投资策略最优,基于元素值权重的投资策略优于基于元素个数权重的投资策略;量化投资策略具有参数稳健性,且可通过优化高阶矩的时变结构对投资效果进行优化。