Understanding foraging flexibility in urban vervet monkeys,Chlorocebus pygerythrus,for the benefit of human-wildlife coexistence

Urban Ecosystems - Generalist wildlife species often thrive in urban environments because of increased anthropogenic resources. However, human-wildlife interactions, especially if negative, raise...     

Palm snags are a critical nesting resource for woodpeckers in an urbanized tropical region

Urban Ecosystems - Critical resources for birds nesting in cities can support populations in spite of the challenges imposed by urbanization, and the identification of such resources can shed light...     

Enduring not enjoying? Emotional responses to studying abroad among Danish and Chinese students

ABSTRACT

Students’ emotions during stays abroad have mainly been treated as ”culture shock”, where difficulties are interpreted as universal ”stages” towards ”adaptation”. This paper explores how students from different cultural and educational traditions experience studying abroad differently. The study presents a qualitative study of 18 Danish and Chinese students in Chinese and Danish universities and situates itself within the literature on culture shock, student emotions and study-abroad experiences. The study exposes the students’ complex emotions throughout their studies abroad and explains how these emotions relate to processes of self-formation, professional and academic development, increase or decrease in freedom, and student agency.     

Infant screen exposure links to toddlers' inhibition,but not other EF constructs: A propensity score study

Technology is pervasive in homes of families with young children, despite evidence for negative associations between infant exposure to screen‐based media and cognitive development that has led the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to discourage parents from exposing children under the age of 18 months to any kind of screen time (AAP, 2016). Here, we apply a propensity score matching approach to estimate relations between electronic screen‐based media use in infancy and executive function in early toddlerhood. In an international sample of 416 firstborn infants, parental report of regular exposure to screen‐based media at 4 months predicted poorer performance on a test of inhibition at 14 months, but was unrelated to either cognitive flexibility or working memory at 14 months. Results of this study are therefore consistent with the view that early exposure to screen‐based media adversely affects the development of executive function.     

Putting people into dynamic places: the importance of specific contexts in understanding demographic responses to changes in the natural environment

Population and Environment -     

Left home high and dry-reduced migration in response to repeated droughts in Thailand and Vietnam

Population and Environment - We investigate the extent to which droughts impact migration responses of rural households in Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the role of underlying mechanisms such as...     

Ageing Population: Identifying the Determinants of Ageing in the Least Developed Countries

Population Research and Policy Review - The issue of population ageing is no longer exclusively centred on developed countries. Empirical studies have proven that the rise in the proportion of the...     

Decisions to Outsource Information Systems Functions: Testing a Strategy-Theoretic Discrepancy Model

In recent years, the decision to outsource information systems (IS) functions has become a viable strategic alternative in managing the increasingly complex IS functions. In this study, the IS outsourcing phenomenon is conceptualized as a strategic decision in the organization. Drawing on resource-based theories, resource dependence theories, and other theories of strategic management, a discrepancy model of this decision is developed. Relationships between a number of strategy-theoretic factors and the IS outsourcing decision are hypothesized. These factors include IS resource performance discrepancies manifested in the form of gaps in information quality, IS support quality, IS cost effectiveness and financial performance, as well as the strategic orientation of the firm. Results of the study indicate that, while cost consideration and the firm's financial performance are not associated with the IS outsourcing decision, difficulties in providing good information outputs and IS support services are associated with the decision. Overall, the findings suggest that the current trend toward outsourcing represents a continuing evolution of the IS function as it attempts to fulfill its traditional mission of providing high quality information resource to the firm. When the performance of the delivered resource begins to slip in the current environment of rising expectation and technological complexity, outsourcing may become a strategic response of necessity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for practicing managers and suggestions for future research.     

Disasters,local organizations,and poverty in the USA, 1998 to 2015

Disaster research has drawn attention to how natural hazards transform local organizational dynamics and social inequalities. It has yet to examine how these processes unfold together over time. We begin to fill this gap with a county-level, longitudinal analysis that examines how property damages from natural hazards correlate not only with local shifts in poverty a year later but also counts of for-profit as well as bonding and bridging social capital organizations. Results show that poverty and all organizational types tend to increase with local hazard damages. They also show that poverty tends to increase most where the number of bonding social capital organizations is also increasing. This pattern suggests a Janus-faced dynamic in which bonding, or more inwardly focused, organizations that arise after disaster may end up inadvertently marginalizing those in more dire need.     

Vocational Experiences and Quality of Life of Migrants: Overview and Future Research

Quality of life is a complicated concept that has attracted broad attention from multiple disciplines. This article introduces a set of studies that employ diverse approaches to explore how work, vocational, and career experiences shape quality of life among migrants, and proposes a future agenda to extend this stream of research. Specifically, operationalizing quality of life in different ways, research showcased in this special issue has demonstrated how international and intranational migrants achieve, maintain, and enhance their well-being in different life domains. Reflecting on the literature and the showcased studies, this article proposes that future research should advance the current inquiry by better categorizing vocational experiences, uniquely operationalizing of quality of life in migration contexts, taking a more culturally sensitive perspective, and broadening methodological approaches.