Egg and seed removal at urban and suburban forest edges

Predation rates of natural and artificial bird nests in rural landscapes have been the subject of numerous studies, often in the context of proximity to edge. Similar studies in urban and suburban landscapes are lacking. We carried out a study of egg and seed removal at forest reserve edges in three urban and two suburban forests in and near New York City in 1994-1995. Few significant edge effects were found, but this may have been because of the extraordinarily high rates of egg and seed removal. Daily removal rates were higher in suburban sites (eggs, 86%; seeds, 95%) than in urban sites (eggs, 64%; seeds, 88%). Exposed seeds and eggs suffered higher rates of removal than seeds and eggs covered by leaf litter. Despite statistically significant differences among treatments, all of these rates would be prohibitively high if experienced by ground-nesting birds or large-seeded trees (if removal was associated with predation). A survey of the literature suggests that egg predation rates are prohibitively high in cities and peak in suburban sites (at least in this study), then drop rapidly in ex-urban and rural sites, perhaps because of a similar pattern in the abundance of corvid bird predators. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Perceptions of Structural Injustice and Efficacy: Participation in Low/Moderate/High‐Cost Forms of Collective Action

Prior studies on perceptions of structural disadvantage and injustice, efficacy, and collective action have suffered from two major limitations: (1) they have used single‐country samples, usually of economically advanced countries, and (2) generally theorized and investigated perceptions of structural injustice and efficacy separately. Drawing on value‐expectancy theory, we provide an integrated theory to predict direct and conditional effects of efficacy and perceptions of structural disadvantage and injustice on collective action within countries. To address the limitations of previous research, we use cross‐national data of 29 countries, including economically advanced and less advanced nations, to test how well these hypotheses explain within‐country variation in collective action. We find that internal efficacy is significantly and positively associated with low‐ and moderate‐cost collective action, whereas organizational embeddedness, a proxy for political efficacy, is significantly and positively associated with low‐, moderate‐, and high‐cost collective action. Perceptions of legitimate and unjust structural disadvantage are also positively associated with all types of collective action. Importantly, the positive effects of both types of efficacy on high‐cost collective action are conditional on perceptions of structural injustice. That is, participation in high‐cost collective action is more likely for those who are both efficacious and perceive structural disadvantage as unjust.     

The Diversity Imperative: The Effects of Local Economic Structure and Social Capital on Local Philanthropy

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Philanthropic endeavors are a form of institutionalized collective action that enhances a community’s capacity to...     

Do childcare policies and schedule control enhance variable time workers' work–life balance? A gender analysis across European countries

Variable time work is no longer abnormal in the post-industrial economy and is accelerating due to digitisation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies have revealed a causal relationship between working time variability and work–life balance at the individual level; however, there has been less discussion of the role of the institutional context. This study examines the interplay among childcare policy, schedule control, and its relationship with work–life balance. We conducted a multilevel analysis using the European Working Conditions Survey. The analyses revealed that childcare policy has a U-shaped relationship with work–life balance for female variable time workers without schedule control. In contrast, workers with schedule control and male workers did not have a curvilinear relationship with the outcome. Our analyses imply that sufficient childcare intervention and its interaction with schedule control are necessary to offset the negative effect of childcare services on work–life balance.     

A BAYESIAN HIERARCHICAL MODEL FOR POISSON RATE AND REPORTING-PROBABILITY INFERENCE USING DOUBLE SAMPLING

We analyse a combination of errant count data subject to under‐reported counts and inerrant count data to estimate multiple Poisson rates and reporting probabilities of cervical cancer for four European countries. Our analysis uses a Bayesian hierarchical model. Using a simulation study, we demonstrate the efficacy of our new simultaneous inference method and compare the utility of our method with an empirical Bayes approach developed by Fader and Hardie (J. Appl. Statist., 2000).     

Estimating the Geographic Extent of Part-Time Labor Markets: U.S. Army Reserves*

Local labor market supportability is becoming an increasingly important issue for the United States Army Reserves. As military bases close and Reserve units are consolidated at fewer Reserve centers, the appropriate reassignments of units to Reserve centers require accurate measures of the ability of local labor markets to support such consolidations. A two-stage random effect model is applied to evaluate the geographical extent of the labor market for Army Reserve centers. In the first stage model, a lognormal distribution is used to describe the commuting distance behavior of the Reserve center members. In the second stage model, we estimate the mean of log transformed commute distance as a function of regional characteristics of the Reserve center. An iterative weighted stepwise selection method is used to find a set of characteristics that adequately predict variation of the mean commute distance over Reserve centers. The resulting model is used as inputs to location and market assessment models to assist the marketing decisions of the Army Recruiting Command.     

SOME CONCEPTUAL COMMENTS ON TRUST-RELEVANT DECISION MAKING: A REACTION TO THE BONOMA AND JOHNSTON PAPER

Three conceptual and methodological issues of the preceding paper by Bonoma and Johnston are identified and discussed. A theoretical integration of interpersonal trust and locus of control is made, and some necessary conditions for an interpersonal trust-relevant decision-making situation are pointed out. Implications for the design of future research into trust-relevant decision making are drawn.