Coexisting with coyotes (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis latrans</Emphasis>) in an urban environment

The global spread of urban development and concomitant reduction in wilderness areas can both pressure and entice wild animals to adapt to the urban environment. As wildlife moves into metropolitan areas, however, they come into contact with residents who have become increasingly disconnected from natural environments and have little to no experience in dealing with wild animals. While many large carnivores actively avoid urban areas, North America’s coyote (Canis latrans) has proved remarkably adept at utilizing the highly altered habitat of the modern city. Yet while the coyote’s behavioural adaptations to urban areas have been relatively well researched, fewer studies have focused on human-coyote interactions in cities. Given that human attitudes, fears, knowledge and resulting behaviours often underpin human-wildlife conflicts, the following study investigates and compares the human aspects of coyote conflict in two cities with large populations of both people and coyotes: Chicago and Los Angeles. Data were collected via email surveys sent to residents of Cook and Los Angeles Counties. The survey instrument included questions on residents’ opinions, fears, knowledge, personal experiences with urban coyotes and behaviours affecting them. The general goal of the study was to investigate the potential for human-coyote coexistence in urban environments. The following research revealed great variation in attitudes towards coyotes, with animal lovers being as much a part of the problem as those with a paralyzing fear of wildlife. Consequently, finding acceptable solutions may pose a significant challenge to urban wildlife managers and reconciliation ecologists.     

A Mixed Methods Study of Recently Homeless Youth Efforts to Sustain Housing and Stability

This study examined the process of establishing post homeless lives among 51 recently homeless youth in two major urban centers in Canada. A mixed methods strategy was employed to characterize this process. Quantitatively, a range of mental health, community integration, and quality of life measures were employed four times over the course of 1 year to describe how these indicators of wellbeing shifted in this period. It was found that over the course of 1 year gains were not made in community integration, quality of life and mental health were highly variable, and hope declined significantly. Further, it was found that youth in supported housing arrangements experienced better mental health and community integration. Qualitatively, we identified three major stages in the process of exiting homelessness. These stages included a period of substantial fluctuation and instability, a period of gaining a basic level of stability but being demoralized due to difficulties making progress with life goals, and a period of making some gains with life goals which cultivated a sense of hope. Progress across these stages, which took place in a timeframe considerably longer than 1 year, was characterized by a range of setbacks, individual and systemic challenges, and trauma which were addressed through a persistent effort facilitated by youth resilience and key supports.     

妇女与权力

从性别视角挑战传统人类学的研究始于20世纪70年代,迄今仍然方兴未艾。作者先借回溯历史与分析个案来勾勒性别地位与权力关系,较好地把握了大尺度与小尺度的关系。又借荟萃各种有价值的材料来树立论点:从谋取生活资料(如狩猎/采集)到权力运作(如隐/显、私事/公务),从生物规则到跨文化解读,再到文化象征来探索性别差异的根基,揭示了血缘关系、居住模式、资源分配、财产与阶级关系对于性别分化的作用。最后归纳了人类学各家各派围绕着性别研究在理论方法上的贡献。     

A Church-Based Sampling Design for Research with Latina Immigrant Women

The U.S. is experiencing its highest immigration rate since the 1930s. The largest proportion of immigrants comes from Latin America, and women constitute a large and growing fraction of this group. Although our knowledge of the relationship between migration and women’s health is increasing, research in this area is still needed, particularly in areas experiencing rapid changes in their Latino populations. Yet research is impeded by the absence of an adequate sampling frame: Latina immigrants remain a largely hidden population. This study tests in four North Carolina counties a church-based sampling frame for Latina immigrant women in their reproductive years. In the study area, on an average week, 20% of the Spanish-speaking population attends church (two-thirds are Catholic). Compared against Census data for the study area, the study sample (n = 706) provided a comparable representation of different national origins. New entrants to the U.S. and married women were overrepresented in the church-based sample. The young (under age 30), and women at the lowest and highest extremes of educational attainment were underrepresented in churches. While a church-based sample is not entirely comparable to the Census, churches can provide timely and cost-effective access to a rapidly changing population of new immigrants. Church-based research should be complemented with research in other settings, adjusting sampling weights for overlap between sampling frames.     

To Preannounce or Not: New Product Development in a Competitive Duopoly Market

In this study, we consider the issue of preannouncing or not preannouncing the development of a new product. Our research is motivated by contrasting views in the literature and varying actions observed in practice. We develop and analyze a game theoretic model that examines the effect of a firm's preannouncement of its product development. Our model is based on a durable goods duopoly market with profit‐maximizing firms. The first firm is an innovator who initially begins developing the product; the second firm is an imitator that begins developing a competing product as soon as it becomes aware of the innovator's product. We assume that consumers are rationally expectant and purchase at most one unit of the product when they have maximum positive utility surplus that is determined by the characteristics of the product, the consumer's marginal utility, and the consumer's discounted utility for future expected products. The innovator firm can release information about its product when it begins developing the product or can guard information about its product until it introduces the product into the market. Our analysis and numerical tests show that, under some conditions, the innovator firm can benefit by preannouncing its product and giving the imitator firm additional time to differentiate its product. We discuss these conditions and their implications for new product development efforts.     

The Chomsky-Place Correspondence 1993–1994

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Edited correspondence between Ullin T Place and Noam Chomsky, which occurred in 1993–1994, is presented. The principal topics are (a) deep versus surface...     

Family cap provisions and changes in births and abortions

As part of welfare reform efforts in the 1990s, 23 states implemented family caps, provisions that deny or reduce cash assistance to welfare recipients who have additional births. We use birth and abortion records from 24 states to estimate effects of family caps on birth and abortion rates. We use age, marital status, and completed schooling to identify women at high risk for use of public assistance, and parity (number of previous live births) to identify those most directly affected by the family cap. In family cap states, birth rates fell more and abortion rates rose more among high-risk women with at least one previous live birth compared to similar childless women, consistent with an effect of the family cap. However, this parity-specific pattern of births and abortions also occurred in states that implemented welfare reform with no family cap. Thus, the effects of welfare reform may have differed between mothers and childless women, but there is little evidence of an independent effect of the family cap.