Ecological Risk Assessment Framework for Low-Altitude Aircraft Overflights: II. Estimating Effects on Wildlife

An ecological risk assessment framework for aircraft overflights has been developed, with special emphasis on military applications. This article presents the analysis of effects and risk characterization phases; the problem formulation and exposure analysis phases are presented in a companion article. The framework addresses the effects of sound, visual stressors, and collision on the abundance and production of wildlife populations. Profiles of effects, including thresholds, are highlighted for two groups of endpoint species: ungulates (hoofed mammals) and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, walruses). Several factors complicate the analysis of effects for aircraft overflights. Studies of the effects of aircraft overflights previously have not been associated with a quantitative assessment framework; therefore no consistent relations between exposure and population-level response have been developed. Information on behavioral effects of overflights by military aircraft (or component stressors) on most wildlife species is sparse. Moreover, models that relate behavioral changes to abundance or reproduction, and those that relate behavioral or hearing effects thresholds from one population to another are generally not available. The aggregation of sound frequencies, durations, and the view of the aircraft into the single exposure metric of slant distance is not always the best predictor of effects, but effects associated with more specific exposure metrics (e.g., narrow sound spectra) may not be easily determined or added. The weight of evidence and uncertainty analyses of the risk characterization for overflights are also discussed in this article.     

Evolution of Athletic Records: Statistical Effects versus Real Improvements

Athletic records represent the best results in a given discipline, thus improving monotonically with time. As has already been shown, this should not be taken as an indication that the athletes' capabilities keep improving. In other words, a new record is not noteworthy just because it is a new record, instead it is necessary to assess by how much the record has improved. In this paper we derive formulae that can be used to show that athletic records continue to improve with time, even if athletic performance remains constant. We are considering two specific examples, the German championships and the world records in several athletic disciplines. The analysis shows that, for the latter, true improvements occur in 20-50% of the disciplines. The analysis is supplemented by an application of our record estimation approach to the prediction of the maximum body length of humans for a specified size of a population respectively population group from a representative sample.     

The satisfied poor

Positive life satisfaction in poverty represents in well-being research the so called satisfaction-paradox. In poverty studies the state of being satisfied with a life in poverty has been explained by either shiftlessness of the people expressing it or by conscious decision of the individual for a poverty life. This article in contrast develops a constructive explanation to the problem in order to create the possibility for intervention and thus reduction of the social and material costs for society and strain to the poverty stricken individual. A theoretical framework is developed that integrates the theory of learned helplessness (Seligman, 1978), the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1975) and the subjective quality of life models (Campbell, Converse and Rodgers, 1976). The interpretation shows new ways how to avoid the existence of the satisfaction paradox at least in a part of the concerned individuals and hence opens the possibility to increase overall well-being in the society.     

Erfassung von Synergieeffekten von Projekten des Public Social Private Partnership (PSPP)

In this article performance measurements and synergy effects of Public Social Private Partnerships are estimated. After an overview on the literature on different definitions, subject and efficiency of Public Private Partnerships and especially of Public Social Private Partnerships, a methodical approach for measuring performance and synergies is developed. This approach is based on the concept of the Cobb/Douglas production function and it can be interpreted as the standardized Nash solution of cooperative games. The micro theoretical approach is analyzed with regard to its assumptions, implications and consequences and subsequently applied to the PSPP project initiated by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. The empirical analysis is based on a survey among the cooperation partners of the project Anschub.de, in which data on the resources and budgetary contributions of the cooperation partners were collected. By means of the budgetary contributions relative performance measurements and synergy effects respectively can be investigated for the partners.     

Flow and Dissociation: Examination of Mean Levels, Cross-links, and Links to Emotional Well-Being across Sports and Recreational and Pathological Gambling

To examine whether flow (Csikszentmihalyi (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. NY: Harper & Row) and dissociation (Jacobs (1986). Journal of Gambling Behavior, 2, 15-31) are experienced across sports and recreational and pathological gambling, we assessed a sample of 511 college students (256 females and 255 males, M age = 19.54) that was comprised of 14 pathological gamblers, 21 non-addicted gamblers, and 476 athletes. The findings showed that both flow and dissociation lay on a continuum of subjective experiences across activity groups. Specifically, pathological gamblers experienced lower levels of flow than athletes, whereas recreational gamblers lay in between the previous groups in this regard. In contrast, pathological gamblers experienced higher mean levels of dissociation than athletes and recreational gamblers who, in turn, were similar in this regard. A LISREL model showed that flow was positively associated with general emotional well-being, whereas dissociation was negatively associated with well-being.     

A different kind of caregiving support group

1. Support groups are an important and frequent source of help for caregivers of older adults who experience a high degree of physical and emotional stress. However, not every participant feels comfortable speaking in a group setting. 2. Writing is a form of emotional expression that has been shown to produce both physiological and psychological benefits. Use of narrative writing as an adjunct to traditional group therapy methods has not been studied. 3. In this pilot project, use of writing within the support group format provided caregivers with an additional strategy for coping with the stressors of caregiving. Participants' physical and mental health improved significantly after participating in the group. 4. Therapeutic writing can be used independently or in a group to enable emotional expression. Nurses who work with caregivers can help develop interventions that use narrative writing as a method to improve coping.     

Biological Determinism and Symbolic Interaction: Hereditary Streams and Cultural Roads

This article discusses current claims to have demonstrated a biological basis for elements of human behavior. It argues that many of these are seriously flawed by their misunderstandings of the nature of culture and social interaction, which leads to the adoption of an inappropriate realist epistemology. These issues were extensively debated during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when the intellectual and institutional boundaries between the social and biological sciences were more fluid. The arguments of that period about the role of “instinct” in human behavior are important resources for responding to the recent revival of biological determinism. As defined by Blumer and Strauss, however, symbolic interactionism has moved away from its engagement with biology. This article argues for reengagement and for a reappraisal of the historical resources available to sociologists in sifting the “imperialist” claims of biology while acknowledging the importance of embodiment as a constraint on social constructionism.