How Resource Dependency Can Influence Social Resilience within a Primary Resource Industry*

Abstract Maintaining a healthy balance between human prosperity and environmental integrity is at the core of the principles of Ecological Sustainable Development. Resource‐protection policies are frequently implemented so as to regulate the balance between resource access and use, however, they can inadvertently compromise the ability of resource users to adapt and be resilient. Resource users who are especially dependent on a resource are more seriously compromised. But how do we define and measure resource dependency? And how do we assess its ability to influence social resilience? In this study, a conceptual model of resource dependency is developed in terms of: (i) occupational attachment, (ii) attachment to place, (iii) employability, (iv) family attitude to change, (v) business size, (vi) business approach, (vii) financial situation, (viii) level of specialisation, (ix) time spent harvesting, and (x) interest in and knowledge of the environment. The model of resource dependency and its effect on social resilience are (quantitatively and qualitatively) tested and explored using the commercial fishing industry in North Queensland, Australia. Results show that occupational attachment and employability were important influences as were business size and approach. Results can be used to identify vulnerability to institutional change and guide policy development processes.     

Durkheim and pierce on suicide and economic change

This paper is an attempt to build upon Pierce's important finding, a confirmation of Durkheim, that any form of economic disruption or change increases suicide. In this paper, certain aspects of Pierce's method are criticized. The analysis of an expanded and updated data set, using analytic techniques designed for time-series data, suggests that economic disruption per se is not as relevant to the suicide rate as are economic hardship and economic deterioration or improvement.     

LGBT Health in the Midlands: A Rural/Urban Comparison of Basic Health Indicators

Research into the health and wellbeing of rural lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations is limited. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was used to develop an online survey for LGBT Nebraskans. The 770 participants replied to an array of questions on social determinants of health and basic health outcomes. Only significant differences in having health insurance were found between urban and rural participants. Social determinants of health were explored. Results of this study suggest that regional culture may be more salient to health for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons living in the Midwest than rural or urban residence.     

Rabbits in the fields: Temporal, spatial, and behavioral explanations of dryland crop failure in the Great Basin, 1912–1920

Records of dryland homesteaders in three parts of the Great Basin between 1912 and 1920 show that crop failures were common occurrences, and that failure was more often attributed to jackrabbits than to drought. These records demonstrate that most failures caused by rabbits conformed to well-defined temporal and spatial patterns, but they also make it clear that some losses can be explained only by specific actions taken by the farmers, their families, and neighbors.     

Re-inscribing Gender in New Modes of Medical Expertise: The Investigator-Coordinator Relationship in the Clinical Trials Industry

This article analyses the ways in which research coordinators forge professional identities in the highly gendered organizational context of the clinic. Drawing upon qualitative research on the organization of the clinical trials industry (that is, the private sector, for profit auxiliary companies that support pharmaceutical drug studies), this article explores the relationships between predominantly male physician-investigators and female research coordinators and the constitution of medical expertise in pharmaceutical drug development. One finding is that coordinators actively seek to establish relationships with investigators that mirror traditional doctor-nurse relationships, in which the feminized role is subordinated and devalued. Another finding is that the coordinators do, in fact, have profound research expertise that is frequently greater than that of the investigators. The coordinators develop expertise on pharmaceutical products and diseases through their observations of the patterns that occur in patient-participants' responses to investigational drugs. The article argues, however, that the nature of the relationships between coordinators and investigators renders invisible the coordinators' expertise. In this context, gender acts as a persistent social structure shaping both coordinators' and investigators' perceptions of who can be recognized as having authority and power in the workplace.     

Portfolio assessment in a collaborative program evaluation: the reliability and validity of a family literacy portfolio

Evaluations increasingly use open-ended assessments, such as portfolios, to gather information about program impact. Portfolios, however, present challenges in achieving acceptable levels of reliability and often lack evidence to support validity. This article describes the components of a portfolio assessment system developed in a collaborative evaluation of a family literacy program. Staff of a family literacy program and two evaluators collaborated to develop the assessment and the tools that frame the review of the portfolios. Rubrics, exemplar portfolios, portfolio logs, and lists of ‘look-fors’ were developed to guide raters in the scoring and to improve the reliability of scores and validity of decisions about the program. Inter-rater reliability for the portfolio assessment was 0.79 for holistic scores and 0.74 for analytic scores. With respect to validity, holistic and analytic scores correlated with criterion measures from 0.50 to 0.59, providing initial evidence of a common construct.     

Assessing the Effect of Model Misspecifications on Parameter Estimates in Structural Equation Models

Model misspecifications may have a systematic effect on parameters, causing biases in their estimates. In the application of structural equation models, every interesting model is fallible. When simultaneously evaluating a model, it is of interest to study whether all parameters are affected by a misspecification. This paper provides three procedures for evaluating such an effect: (1) analyzing the path, (2) using a functional relationship, and (3) using a significance test. Analyzing the path is illustrated through a confirmatory factor model. This method is ad hoc but intuitive. A more rigorous approach is built upon the concept of orthogonality of two sets of parameters. When parameter a is orthogonal to parameter b, omitting parameter b will not affect the estimation of parameter a. The functional relationship of two sets of parameters is used to check their orthogonality. The distribution of the difference between estimates based on different models is obtained, which provides a Hausman–like way to check significant parameter differences that are due to biases. Examples illustrate that these procedures can provide valuable information on identifying parameter estimates that are systematically affected by a model misspecification.     

Hate Speech and Constitutional Protection: Priming Values of Equality and Freedom

Freedom of speech and equality are two basic values in American culture that cause a value conflict with regard to hate speech. This study examined the effects of priming of values of freedom of speech and equal protection (equality) on perceptions of and attitudes toward hate speech and value prioritization. Data were collected from 159 college students. Priming of freedom of speech directed participants' attitudes and values toward advocating freedom of speech, whereas priming for equal protection directed attitudes and values toward the harm of hate speech. Participants primed for free speech viewed hate speech (introduced via scenarios) as less harmful and the speaker as less accountable than those primed for the harm of hate speech and a control group.