A healthy economy can break your heart

Panel data methods are used to investigate how deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) in the United States vary with macroeconomic conditions. A one-percentage-point reduction in unemployment is predicted to raise CHD mortality by 0.75%, corresponding to almost 3900 additional fatalities. The increase in relative risk is similar across age groups, implying that senior citizens account for most of the extra deaths. Direct evidence is obtained of a role for decreases in medical interventions treating coronary problems. CHD mortality increases rapidly when the economy strengthens but returns to or near its baseline level within five years for most groups.     

Decomposition of tree leaf litter on pavement: implications for urban water quality

Leaf litter may be an important source of nutrients to stormwater and ultimately contribute to eutrophication of surface waters associated with urbanization. Thus, understanding decomposition and nutrient release from leaf litter that falls on impervious surfaces is important for stormwater management. However, few studies have examined leaf litter decomposition in the unique urban environment of the street gutter. We compared decomposition of leaf litter of five street tree species in a parking lot gutter in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. In contrast to our expectations, comparisons with past studies revealed that litter decomposed more rapidly in the gutter than in nearby natural areas. And decomposition rates were as rapid as those measured in other urban settings (forests and streams), with most species losing 80 % of their initial mass after 1 year. Litter of most species had retained more than half of its initial N and P after 1 year. However, in contrast to N, litter P dynamics largely were uncoupled from litter mass dynamics, with litter P increasing and decreasing unpredictably over the year. Short-term (24 h) laboratory studies revealed that litter had the potential to lose a high fraction of its initial P, with high variation among species (from 27 to 88 %), and a smaller fraction of its initial N (<10 %) via leaching. Thus, street tree species may differ in their potential contributions to nutrients that are released during decomposition. Our results suggest that careful selection of street tree species and timely removal of litterfall have significant potential to reduce nutrient fluxes from streets to storm drains, particularly for P.     

That straight talk: Sarah Palin and the sociolinguistics of demonstratives

Drawing on previous analyses of the social meaning of demonstratives and other function words, we argue that the semantics of demonstratives facilitates affective uses that can be characterized as attempts by the speaker to foster a sense of shared perspective and common ground with other discourse participants. We present large‐scale quantitative evidence that this strategy is widely used and communicatively effective. We then conduct a focused case study of the demonstrative use of U.S. politician and public figure Sarah Palin, situated in the wider context of Palin's persona, style, and place in the social landscape. An analysis of television interview data shows that Palin is a distinctive and prolific user of affective demonstratives. Palin's usage highlights the context‐dependence of demonstratives’ social meaning and leads to a deeper understanding of her rhetorical strategies and the polarized reactions they have received.     

State activism and the hidden incentives behind bank acquisitions

A number of studies have shown that, as a result of the ambiguity of US legal mandates, organizations have considerable latitude in how they comply with regulations. In this paper, we address how the different agendas of the federal and state governments increase ambiguities in state-firm relations and how states are interested actors in creating opportunities for firms to navigate the federal legislation. We analyze the institutional forces behind bank acquisitions within and across state lines in order to illuminate the ways that US states take advantage of federal ambiguity and are able to shape corporate practices to their benefit. We specifically examine how patterns of bank acquisitions are shaped by the crucial relationship between the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and a little-understood provision in the federal tax code that is implemented at the state level, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). The relationship is complex because, while the federal government uses the CRA to control bank acquisition activity, states promote use of the LIHTC, through which banks can address federal CRA concerns, and thereby promote bank acquisitions in their jurisdictions. Thus, our findings suggest that the implementation of social legislation at one level in a federal regulatory system undermines the mechanisms of social legislation at another level. We use archival research and in-depth interviews to examine the interaction between these institutional processes and formulate hypotheses that predict the ways in which bank acquisitions are constrained by banks’ CRA ratings and the way states in turn help banks overcome their CRA constraints. Quantitative analyses of all bank acquisitions in the United States from 1990-2000 largely support these hypotheses.     

Social Construction of Ethnic Identity and Conflict: The Cases of the Chechen and the Uighur

This paper examines and compares ethnic identities of the Chechen and the Uighur, and their relations with Russia and China, respectively. The Russian–Chechen relationship, which has seen centuries of intense hatred and intolerance, appears to be entering a period of peace and some acceptance. In contrast, the Chinese–Uighur relationship has been mostly begrudgingly stable for a century, but rising tensions in Xinjiang could spell disaster in the years to come. We argue that identities of the Chechen and the Uighur and their interactions and conflict with Russia and China are consequences of historical legacies and social, religious and political forces. Our research supports scholarly arguments that a strong sense of marginalization endured by Muslims and trauma and anger experienced by Chechen and Uighur Muslims all play major roles in the violence and terrorist behavior conducted by both the Chechen and Uighur.     

Predicting development preferences for fishing sites among diverse anglers

Urban Ecosystems - Shifting demographics among angling communities mean that managers may need different amenities at fishing sites to satisfy new constituents. Anglers approach recreational...     

Social media and policing: A review of recent research

Studies of social media's impact on policing have emerged in several disciplines, including criminology, sociology, and communications. Despite their insight, there is no unified body of knowledge regarding this relationship. In an attempt to synthesize extant work, bring coherence to the field, and orient future scholarship, this article summarizes research on social media's implications for practices and perceptions of order maintenance. It does so by identifying how social media's technical affordances empower and constrain police services. By offering new opportunities for surveillance, risk communication, and impression management, emergent technologies augment the police's control of their public visibility and that of the social world. However, they also provide unprecedented capacities to monitor the police and expose, circulate, and mobilize around perceived injustice, whether brutality, racial profiling, or other forms of indiscretion. Considering these issues promises to enhance knowledge on contemporary directions in social control, organizational communication, inequality, and collective action. Suggestions for future research are also explored.     

Social change,risk, and individualization: young people’s perceptions of a large-scale oil extraction project

Resource extraction has always played an important role in shaping Canada’s economy and identity. Over the past several years, the province of Alberta has led the charge in helping Canada become a petro-state. Fort McMurray in particular has been significantly impacted by the rapid development of the oilsands in northern Alberta. This article explores how young people living at the center of this resource extraction project viewed the impacts that oilsands development had on the environment and the economy. In total, 60 in-depth interviews were conducted with young people aged 15–29. The findings indicate that young people perceived the need to balance environmental risks with economic growth but provided a range of risk justifications (i.e. companies were good environmental managers, oil was a societal necessity, people were hypocrites, and personal experiences) in articulating their understandings. This article utilizes young people’s understandings to argue for a conceptual micro-level counterpart (intravidualization) to Ulrich Beck’s theorizing on individualization and that place must be brought back into theorizing on social change, risk, and youth in contemporary times.     

An approach for finding fully Bayesian optimal designs using normal-based approximations to loss functions

The generation of decision-theoretic Bayesian optimal designs is complicated by the significant computational challenge of minimising an analytically intractable expected loss function over a, potentially, high-dimensional design space. A new general approach for approximately finding Bayesian optimal designs is proposed which uses computationally efficient normal-based approximations to posterior summaries to aid in approximating the expected loss. This new approach is demonstrated on illustrative, yet challenging, examples including hierarchical models for blocked experiments, and experimental aims of parameter estimation and model discrimination. Where possible, the results of the proposed methodology are compared, both in terms of performance and computing time, to results from using computationally more expensive, but potentially more accurate, Monte Carlo approximations. Moreover, the methodology is also applied to problems where the use of Monte Carlo approximations is computationally infeasible.