Dog-park soils: Concentration and distribution of urine-borne constituents

Off-leash dog parks are very popular locations that allow pets to freely exercise and eliminate wastes in a controlled environment. Although dog park rules require that solid waste be removed by the pet’s owner, urine-borne constituents in dog-park soils have received little attention. This study focused on the soils within two small-dog, off-leash dog parks in Fargo, North Dakota (USA) with the objective to better understand the concentration and distribution of extractable NH₄-N, NO₃-N, PO₄, soluble salts, and pH values in surface soils (0–10 cm) within these two dog parks. Concentrations of soil variables varied widely within each park and were distributed as both gradient and ‘hot-spots.’ The geospatial model types for each soil parameter were more dependent on park than on the constituents themselves. Flow accumulation was correlated with both nitrate-N and P but due to the lack of topography at these parks the flow accumulation was not helpful in describing most of the soil constituents. The results from this project indicate that location of parks, daily/annual use of parks, flow accumulation, and location of park entries may all influence the concentration and distribution of urine-borne constituents.     

Community Readiness Assessment: The Scoring Process Revisited

The Community Readiness Model is an innovative and widely embraced approach to determining a community's stage of readiness to address a particular community issue and match that stage with an appropriate intervention. The current study used this approach in five communities experiencing cancer health disparities. In each community, leaders were interviewed and their qualitative data scored to determine the community's stage of readiness. Two methods of triangulation, investigator and interdisciplinary, were used to increase the scoring process's rigor. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the consensus portion of the scoring process, these meetings were content analyzed. The results have important implications for scoring team composition, provide insight into consensus reaching strategies, and offer recommendations for addressing potential challenges.     

House edge: hold percentage and the cost of EGM gambling

Price in commercial gambling is effectively the house edge of the game. For electronic gaming machines (EGMs), house edge is the hold percentage. The paper tracks changes in hold percentage for club and hotel EGM gambling in Australia. We use real gambling turnover and revenue data to show that hold generally falls over time, save for the State of Victoria between 1993 and 2009. In Victoria, hold fell during the roll-out phase of the sector, before rising steadily. We examine local level data, finding that hold varied considerably by gaming operator across the period, before converging. The unique owner/operator corporate duopoly that existed in Victoria is posed as a potential explanation for aggregate price changes. We then calculate estimates of the monetary value of changes in hold percentage. We find increased hold can lead to substantial monetary redistributions of gamblers' stakes toward the house and away from gamblers. Policy options to protect gamblers from the unfairness of undetectable price rises are discussed, including the possibility of a more tightly regulated hold percentage, a tax on windfall profits derived from raising hold, and tying game identities to particular hold percentages.     

A Longitudinal Study of Website Accessibility: Have Social Work Education Websites Become More Accessible?

This study (N = 45 schools) sought to determine the accessibility of baccalaureate social work program websites in 2003 and 2008 using Priority 1 checkpoints from the World Wide Web Consortium 1.0 guidelines. Paired t-test results indicate that the mean accessibility scores of five of the nine items (plus the website accessibility scale as a whole) was statistically higher after five years. However, 75.6% of programs still had one or more Priority 1 accessibility barriers in 2008 and thus did not meet the lowest W3C accessibility guidelines. This highlights the need for more education about barriers to accessibility and methods for making websites more accessible.     

Understanding outsourcing contexts through information asymmetry and capability fit

Outsourcing is a strategic activity that has long been central to operations management research and practice. Yet, there are still many outsourcing management challenges that remain. In this article, we explore two of the outsourcing challenges that motivated this special issue and are central to the 10 articles included. To do this, we develop a theoretical model that examines how variations in capability fit and information asymmetry combine to present firms with four different outsourcing contexts. We then explain how each of the articles included in this special issue relate to our theoretical model and explore several avenues for future research.     

Do Giving Circles Democratize Philanthropy? Donor Identity and Giving to Historically Marginalized Groups

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This research focuses on understanding how giving circle (GC) member identities are associated with the identities of...     

Examination of the neural substrates activated in memories of experiences with resonant and dissonant leaders

Given the relevance of leadership in organizational life, we designed an exploratory study to assess the neural mechanisms involved in memories of interactions with resonant and dissonant leaders (a follower-centric study). Subjects in advanced professional roles were asked about previous incidents with both types of leaders, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were then conducted with cues developed from these recollections. Recalling experiences with resonant leaders activated neural areas such as the bilateral insula, right inferior parietal lobe, and left superior temporal gyrus; regions associated with the mirror neuron system, default mode or social network, and positive affect. Recalling experiences with dissonant leaders negatively activated the right anterior cingulate cortex and activated the right inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral posterior region of the inferior frontal gyrus, and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus/insula; regions associated with the mirror neuron system and related to avoidance, narrowed attention, decreased compassion, and negative emotions.     

The case for small area microdata

Summary.  Census data are available in aggregate form for local areas and, through the samples of anonymized records (SARs), as samples of microdata for households and individuals. In 1991 there were two SAR files: a household file and an individual file. These have a high degree of detail on the census variables but little geographical detail, a situation that will be exacerbated for the 2001 SAR owing to the loss of district level geography on the individual SAR. The paper puts forward the case for an additional sample of microdata, also drawn from the census, that has much greater geographical detail. Small area microdata (SAM) are individual level records with local area identifiers and, to maintain confidentiality, reduced detail on the census variables. Population data from seven local authorities, including rural and urban areas, are used to define prototype samples of SAM. The rationale for SAM is given, with examples that demonstrate the role of local area information in the analysis of census data. Since there is a trade-off between the extent of local detail and the extent of detail on variables that can be made available, the confidentiality risk of SAM is assessed empirically. An indicative specification of the SAM is given, having taken into account the results of the confidentiality analysis.     

Fundraising in the new philanthropy environment: The benefits and challenges of working with giving circles

This article reports on an exploratory study to understand the impact of the new philanthropy on funding recipients by asking nonprofit professionals about their experiences working with giving circles. Giving circles are growing in number across the United States. They are attractive to new philanthropy donors who pool their resources and then decide together where to give them away. They also frequently include social, educational, and volunteer engagement components. Giving circles seem to be an important source of new and expanded resources for nonprofit organizations, but there are both benefits and challenges to working with giving circles that reveal several problematic tensions for nonprofit funding recipients, the philanthropic relationship, and society more broadly.