Executive‐Legislative Relations: Where You Sit Really Does Matter*

Objectives. Do state legislators believe there is a proper balance of power between the governor and the legislature? The research uses both individual and institutional factors to explain the variation in legislators' opinions. Methods. The results of a mail survey sent to all legislators in nine states were used as the basic data source for the study. The dependent variable required the legislators to indicate if a proper balance of power existed. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) was performed. Results. A sizeable majority of legislators (66 percent) thought there was a proper balance of power between the governor and the legislature. HGLM found no discernable role for a number of state‐level characteristics. The analysis did uncover a negative relationship between perceived balance of power and whether the governor had previously served in the legislature. Female legislators were more likely to express a lower level of satisfaction with the balance of power than their male counterparts. The partisan relationship between legislators and governors as well as the majority/minority status of the legislators proved to be most important in explaining legislators' perceptions. Conclusions. Contrary to popular opinion, the relationships between the two branches of government are not inherently contentious. Legislators from the governor's party were most likely to assess the relationship as proper.     

Researching Giving and Volunteering in Australia

The giving of time and money, mainly to private nonprofit organisations is not trivial, but in Australia has been little studied. This article introduces a special issue of the Australian Journal of Social Issues which draws on data collected in the largest study of giving and volunteering conducted in Australia hitherto. It seeks to establish terminological guidelines and reviews past Australian research on giving and volunteering, arguing that there has been a disproportionate interest in volunteering. It seeks to put to rest some common myths about giving and explores whether the increase in giving and volunteering can be attributed to government policy. It concludes by introducing the other papers in the collection.     

Assessing the stability of classification trees using Florida birth data

Using 1998 and 1999 singleton birth data of the State of Florida, we study the stability of classification trees. Tree stability depends on both the learning algorithm and the specific data set. In this study, test samples are used in statistical learning to evaluate both stability and predictive performance. We also use the resampling technique bootstrap, which can be regarded as data self-perturbation, to evaluate the sensitivity of the modeling algorithm with respect to the specific data set. We demonstrate that the selection of the cost function plays an important role in stability. In particular, classifiers with equal misclassification costs and equal priors are less stable compared to those with unequal misclassification costs and equal priors.     

Associations of Bisexual-Specific Minority Stress and Health Among Cisgender and Transgender Adults with Bisexual Orientation

Among sexual minorities, bisexuals are at the greatest risk for poor health due in part to prejudice and stigma. This research examined associations of bisexual-specific minority stress and health among cisgender (non-transgender) and transgender adults with bisexual orientation. Participants were 488 adults (378 cisgender women, 49 cisgender men, 61 transgender individuals), age 18 to 66 years, with bisexual orientation based on identity and/or attractions to multiple genders. Participants completed an online survey. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted with sexual minority stress and bisexual-specific minority stress as the predictors and physical health, measured by the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36), as the outcome. Models controlled for demographic variables. Moderation analyses were conducted to test for gender differences. Greater bisexual-specific minority stress significantly predicted poorer overall physical health (β = ?0.16), greater pain (β = ?0.16), and poorer general health (β = ?0.25) above and beyond the effects of sexual minority stress. Gender moderated the association between bisexual-specific minority stress and health, such that bisexual-specific minority stress predicted overall physical health and role limitations for transgender individuals but not for cisgender women. Addressing bisexual-specific minority stress is necessary to improve the health and well-being of bisexual individuals.     

Hedonic Versus Eudaimonic Conceptions of Well-being: Evidence of Differential Associations With Self-reported Well-being

Sustainable development is a priority area of research in many countries and regions nowadays. This paper illustrates how a multi-stakeholders engagement process can be applied to identify and prioritize the local community’s concerns and issues regarding sustainable development in Hong Kong. Ten priority areas covering a wide range of community’s concerns in relation to the economic growth, societal development and environmental protection have been identified. An index is then constructed based on these priority areas to track the public’s views on the progress of Hong Kong towards a more sustainable city.     

Long range planning for information services

An integrated method for the long range planning of information services is presented. The problems associated with such planning are discussed along with requirements for such planning. The method consists of six stages beginning with understanding the current environment and ending with the criteria evaluations of projects. An intermediate level, strategic information services planning, is proposed to develop a project slate to be activated through an action plan. An approach to implementation is suggested. Two applications are discussed.     

Policy lessons for strengthening nonprofits

Those who develop or influence Australian public policy impacting on the nonprofit sector rarely have adequate empirical research upon which to base their judgments. Giving Australia research evidence relevant to strengthening giving and volunteering is brought together in this article to inform policy options for government, nonprofit and philanthropic entities. It begins with consideration of research findings related to the capacity of those that give or volunteer and the implications these findings have for policy. Three key criteria are developed for assessing policies to strengthening giving and volunteering, behaviours that primarily assist nonprofit organisations – policies that build trust between those that give and the recipients of their gifts, policies that strengthen affiliation and policies that encourage planned giving.     

Flash Flood Awareness in Southwest Virginia

Flash floods are one of the most dangerous weather-related natural disasters in the world. These events develop less than six hours after a rainfall event and create hazardous situations for people and extensive damage to property. It is critical for flash flood conditions to be warned of in a timely manner to minimize impacts. There is currently a knowledge gap between flood experts and the general public about the level of perceived risk that the latter has toward the powerful flood waters and how events should be warned of, which affects the communication capabilities and efficiency of the warning process. Prior research has addressed risk perception of natural disasters, but there is little emphasis on flash floods within flood-prone regions of the United States. This research utilizes an online survey of 300 respondents to determine the current state of flash flood awareness and preparation in southwest Virginia. Analysis of trends involved the use of chi-squared tests (chi2) and simple frequency and percentage calculations. Results reveal that a knowledge base of flash floods does exist, but is not advanced enough for proper awareness. Young adults have a lower understanding and are not as concerned about flood impacts. Increased exposure and perceived risk play a key role in shaping the way a person approaches flash floods. People do monitor flood events, but they are unaware of essential guidance and communication mechanisms. Finally, results suggest that the current method of warning about flash floods is not provided at an appropriate level of detail for effective communication.     

The popularity and virality of political social media: hashtags,mentions, and links predict likes and retweets of 2016 U.S. presidential nominees’ tweets

What political social media messages resonate and get shared? We analyzed the first three months of tweets from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump since winning their respective nominations and found that messages containing #hashtags, @usermentions, or http://www.websitelinks.com decreased likes and retweets. While these features are intended to increase audience exposure, their presence concurrently increases disfluency – the subjective experience of difficulty associated with cognition. These features make the message less visually clear (perceptual disfluency) and require the translation of symbols and text strings into meaning (orthographic disfluency). Features that improved processing fluency (i.e. embedded images) increased interactions. These findings underscore the importance of fluency in brief word-of-mouth transmissions and suggest strategies for social media users seeking to influence the voting public.