The effect of urban ground covers on arthropods: An experiment

Changes to the ground layer in urban areas are extensive, but the effects on arthropod fauna are poorly understood. We undertook a manipulative experiment to examine the response of arthropods to small-scale variation in ground covers commonly found in urban parks and gardens in Australia. The ground covers tested were bare ground, leaf litter, woodchips and grass, with plot sizes of 3.6 m². Epigeic arthropods were sampled with pitfall traps and Tullgren funnels over 12 months following establishment of the treatments. All epigeic arthropods were sorted to order and the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), beetles (Coleoptera), millipedes (Diplopoda) and slaters (Isopoda: Oniscidea) were examined at lower taxonomic levels. Diverse arthropods rapidly colonised previously cleared plots in all four treatments and were most abundant in grass plots. The diversity of ants and beetles was significantly different in different ground covers and tended to be most diverse in grass plots. Despite the treatments providing very different microclimates, the fauna studied did not show strong selection for a particular cover type overall. The abundance of grass cover in the surrounding area may have led to the grass plots having the greatest abundance of arthropods. These results have important implications for developing effective small-scale conservation efforts for arthropods in anthropogenically modified landscapes, especially for species with poor dispersal abilities.     

From Separate Corners to Dialogue and Action

How can higher education programs engage students in building a shared commons to address inequalities and foster commitment to intergroup collaboration? Intergroup dialogue is one such possibility to provide forums for meaningful engagement among students from diverse backgrounds. Findings from field experiments at nine colleges and universities show that students in intergroup dialogues increased significantly more than counterparts in control groups and social science comparison groups in their critiques of inequality and their commitments to post-college action to redress inequalities. Further, students in intergroup dialogues rated the frequency of the core communication processes more highly than the social science comparison students. The communication processes help account for the greater increase in students’ critiques of inequality and commitment to post-college actions.     

Work-nonwork conflict among MBAs: Sex differences in role stressors and life satisfaction

Predictors of work-nonwork conflict (work role conflict, career salience, age, length of service, number of children living at home) and relationships between work-nonwork conflict and life satisfaction were investigated among 271 MBA students. There were no significant differences in the level of work-nonwork conflict due to sex or marital status, and work role conflict was the best independent predictor of work-nonwork conflict for both women and men. The number of children living at home was unrelated to work-nonwork conflict. Except for single women, work-nonwork conflict was significantly related to life satisfaction.     

Determinants of Charitable Donations to Large U.S. Higher Education,Hospital, and Scientific Research NPOs: New Evidence from Panel Data

We provide improved evidence on effects that fund-raising, government support, and program revenue of U.S. higher education, hospital, and scientific research nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have on donations to those NPOs and provide improved estimates of price elasticities of donations to, and donor demand for output of, those NPOs. Applying econometric tests, we find the best-specified model is two-way fixed effects, which controls for organization-specific and time-specific factors. Results suggest that U.S. higher education, hospital, and scientific research NPOs fund-raise to the point where the marginal fund-raising dollar brings in zero dollars of donations, donor demand for output of hospitals and scientific research NPOs is price inelastic and price elastic, respectively, and results are not sensitive to specification of price.     

Seapower and socioeconomic change

The present essay examines the concepts of path dependence and change of political and economic regimes. Starting from the debate of the influence of the so called military revolution on the emergence of modern states, the neglected aspect of the influence of seapower on socioeconomic change is presented, using a formal model. It is maintained that the choice of seapower by a state leads to a different regime than the choice of land military power, because sustainable seapower necessitates a wide alliance of interests, which brings with it more democratic regimes, develops new more efficient and complex forms of organizations, requires the acquisition and diffusion of new knowledge and expertise, which brings with it institutional change and economic growth. The essay concludes with a short presentation of the United Provinces' (the Dutch Republic) turn to the sea.     

Obesity and urinary incontinence

Obesity is growing at an alarming rate worldwide. It poses a major health problem that in turn places a huge financial burden on health services. Medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus and ischaemic heart disease are commonly associated with obesity, but less well documented is the association between obesity and urinary incontinence. This article reviews the current literature to see whether: (1) obesity predisposes to urinary incontinence; (2) weight loss improves urinary incontinence and (3) obesity affects the surgical outcome. It also covers the surgical and anaesthetic implications of obesity. New minimally invasive surgical techniques make surgical risks acceptable for the obese patient but the anaesthetic risks remain high. Obese patients should not be denied surgery but be made aware of the higher risks. Future research should focus on the impact of obesity on surgical outcomes for continence surgery, particularly on intraoperative and postoperative complication rates as well as long-term cure rates.     

The development of a CAHPS instrument for Nursing Home Residents (NHCAHPS)

We report on a federal initiative to develop a CAHPS (The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey to measure residents' experiences with quality-of-care and quality-of-life in nursing homes (known as NHCAHPS). We focus on how we created and tested questions for inclusion in the instrument and tested a possible cognitive screener to determine which residents could participate in a NHCAHPS interview. The major lessons learned were: (1) In contrast to other CAHPS surveys, ratings were more useful than reports because of the difficulty that residents had with summarizing over time and people; (2) consistent with other CAHPS surveys, the 0 to 10 response scale appeared to work well with nursing home residents for many of the quality-of-care questions; however, a different response scale was needed for many of the quality-of-life items; and (3) in contrast with typical survey methodology and other CAHPS surveys where explicit time reference periods are used, a non-specific present reference period in questions seemed to work best.