Homestead greening is widespread amongst the urban poor in three medium-sized South African towns

Trees in urban areas are important sources of ecosystem services and benefits. In most towns the bulk of urban biodiversity, and trees specifically, are found in homestead gardens. But there is only limited understanding of the tree holdings in such gardens, and how they vary within and between towns, especially for developing countries where rapid urbanisation and high poverty influence the use of and reliance on land and local resources. We report on the nature of tree holdings in private gardens of poorer suburbs in three medium-sized towns along a gradient of decreasing mean annual rainfall in northern South Africa. A total of 3 217 trees were enumerated across 450 randomly selected homesteads. Most (90 %) households had at least one tree on their homestead, with an average of 7.7?±?6.1 trees. Most householders had planted the trees themselves. The density of trees declined along the moisture gradient. Within towns, tree density was positively related to garden size, which in turn was related to relative affluence and age of the suburb. Newer and poorer suburbs had the fewest trees per household. Sixty-two tree species were recorded, which were dominated by alien species, especially fruit trees. There was no relationship between the moisture gradient and tree species richness per household, but within towns there was a difference between suburbs, being lowest in the newest suburbs. Numbers of trees and species per household was positively related to age of the household head.     

Value‐enhancing Learning from Industry‐wide Diversification Experience

Diversification is an important strategic decision and a rare event. By definition, when undertaking a new diversification, a firm will not have direct internal experience of the venture. In this regard, external experience of similar diversifications provides a valuable lesson pool for the focal manager. While there are many studies of internal learning in organizational learning literature, research on external learning is still scarce. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for external experiential learning and applies it to a study of the effect of industry experience on diversification value. It reports the novel finding of a cubic relationship between external learning from industry experience and diversification value. This indicates that industry experience matters to the outcomes of strategic decisions, but that the effect of this external experience on learning is conditional upon certain characteristics of the experience: namely, specificity and heterogeneity.     

Consumer Trust in the U.S. Food System: An Examination of the Recreancy Theorem*

Abstract Because consumer opinions to an increasing extent affect the structure and management of the U.S. food system, it is important for social scientists to accurately model consumer trust in this system so they can better understand and anticipate public responses to existing or proposed food‐related regulatory policies and facilitate effective partnership building between food‐system representatives and the public. The recreancy theorem posits that individuals' trust in and support for societal institutions reflects their perceptions of the competence and fiduciary responsibility of institutional actors. This theorem might prove effective at identifying the key determinants of consumers' trust in and support for institutional actors within the U.S. food system, whether these actors be representatives of large‐scale, internationally operated firms or small‐scale, locally operated businesses. We used data from two nationwide samples of adults to test the recreancy theorem for seven to nine pertinent institutional actors each within five areas of the U.S. food system: food safety, nutrition, treatment of workers, environmental protection, and treatment of livestock. The resulting 55 tests of the theorem entailed the estimation of 55 structural equation models to evaluate model fit and the efficacy of perceived competence and fiduciary responsibility in explaining trust and support. The results of analyzing the structural equation models separately and overall indicate support for the recreancy theorem. Based upon our results, we offer suggestions for enhancing public‐private partnership formation within the U.S. food system.     

Dating for Older Women: Experiences and Meanings of Dating in Later Life

Research over the last 20 years has provided an increased understanding of intimate relationships in later life; however, dating in later life remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the meanings of dating for women in later life. In this study, dating was examined through semistructured, in-depth interviews with 14 women ages 64 to 77 who had all dated in later life. Themes that emerged from an interpretative phenomenological analysis included multiple meanings of dating in later life, how dating in later life compared to earlier points in life, and dating in the future.     

Grandparenting in the 21st Century: Issues of Diversity in Grandparent–Grandchild Relationships

Although previous literature has demonstrated the importance of age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in understanding grandparent–grandchild relationships, additional factors contribute to a more complete and nuanced understanding of multigenerational relationships. Thorough understanding of the role of diversity requires examination of the discrete impacts of grandparents' gender, sexual orientation, and physical and/or cognitive limitations on the relationship.This article focuses on these 3 important, yet overlooked, issues of diversity, with a focus on strength-based and empowerment-oriented strategies and their implications for practice, policy, and future research.     

Perceived barriers to walking in the neighborhood environment: a survey of middle-aged and older adults

The authors investigated whether low levels of walking among older adults in the UK were associated with demographic and health characteristics, as well as perceived environmental attributes. Survey data were obtained from self-administered standard questionnaires given to 680 people age 50+ (mean age 64.4 yr) attending nationally led walking schemes. Items concerned with demographic characteristics and perceived barriers to neighborhood walking were analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Citing more than 1 environmental barrier to walking, versus not, was associated with significantly reduced levels of (leisure) walking (MET/hr) in the preceding week (Z = -2.35, p = .019), but physical activity levels overall did not differ significantly (Z = -0.71, p = .48). Citing a health-related barrier to walking significantly adversely affected overall physical activity levels (Z = -2.72, p = .006). The authors concluded that, among older people who favor walking, health problems might more seriously affect overall physical activity levels than perceived environmental barriers.     

The Performance-Governance Relationship: The Effects of Cadbury Compliance on UK Quoted Companies

This paper investigates the extent to which recommendations madeby the Cadbury Committee have affected UK company performance.The Committee recommended that certain internal monitoringmechanisms should be adopted by quoted firms because they weremore effective than others as a means of promoting shareholderinterests. The mechanisms analysed are duality, the number ofoutside directors on the board and the presence of a remunerationcommittee. We analyse the relationship between governancestructures and performance for two years, 1992 and 1995. Usingsamples of 200 companies for each of the years, we find that theproportion of firms adopting the governance structuresrecommended by Cadbury has increased. However there is mixedevidence that the structures are associated with betterperformance. Depending on the choice of dependent variable, thepresence of a remuneration committee has a positive effect onperformance and outside director representation has a negativeeffect. However, there is evidence of a simultaneous relationshipbetween outside director representation and performance, a resultconsistent with additional outside directors being appointedafter a period of poor performance. Complete compliance with themodel of governance proposed by the Cadbury Committee does not,however, appear to be associated with performance which is betterthan that achieved by either partial or non compliance.     

Children navigating rural poverty: Rural children's use of wild resources to counteract food insecurity in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

This paper analyzes the role of natural resources in the lives of rural children experiencing heightened vulnerability to poverty and the impact of HIV/AIDS, a subject that previously has been unexplored. The authors highlight wild-food use by rural children as a regular activity that supplements their domestic diets. Over the course of 18 months in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, the authors used a broad quantitative and qualitative methodology to explore the food acquisition and consumption patterns for 850 children. They found that the quality of children's domestic diets was, on average, 60% lower than the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) guidelines. This occurred in a population where 62% of the children surveyed were supplementing their diets with wild foods; and 30% with over half their diet supplemented in this way. Significantly, dietary diversity increased by 13% when wild food supplementation occurred. Another result was the commercialization of wild foods (observed among 47% of the children), wherein significantly more vulnerable children sold these foods. Considering the heightened nutritional and energy needs of children, combined with the impact of poverty and HIV/AIDS on household food access, wild foods represent the last freely attainable food sources available to them.