Disabled students’ experiences of higher education in Sweden,the Czech Republic,and the United States – a comparative institutional analysis

Students with disabilities face obstacles in their encounters with higher education. The aim of this study is to investigate how the institutional context shapes students’ experiences of unequal opportunities in higher education. In comparing disabled students’ experiences from universities in Sweden, the Czech Republic, and the United States, the study makes visible the kind of experiences that students share and how experiences differ between these countries within the global context of higher education. The study has shown that students’ possibilities for equal participation are shaped by the institutional context that is based on medical diagnosis and compensation for an inaccessible education.     

Planktonic algae abundance and diversity are similar in urban stormwater ponds of different geographic locations and natural shallow lakes

Elevated levels of different contaminants are typical to stormwater management ponds. Despite that, a number of works report stormwater ponds serving as habitats for a variety of biota. In this study we aimed to examine phytoplankton communities of urban ponds, as the basis of the aquatic food web, and compare them to those of natural shallow lakes. Stormwater ponds were selected from two distant geographic locations: three in Denmark and three in Canada. As a reference to natural systems, three Danish shallow lakes were sampled. The sampling was carried out in the spring, summer and fall of 2014. The phytoplankton communities in ponds were found to be at least as rich in taxa as natural shallow lakes. Their abundance and biovolume varied highly among the types of water bodies as well as in each pond or lake individually, depending on the sampling month. We did not find any significant differences among ponds and natural shallow lakes at the investigated taxonomic level, despite some distinction observed by multivariate DCA and CCA analyses. Little difference was found between Canadian and Danish ponds as well, even though they are separated by a large geographic distance. This study shows that stormwater ponds are habitats for diverse planktonic algae communities which have some similarities to those of natural shallow lakes. Also, the similarities observed between Danish and Canadian ponds indicate some consistence with the urban homogenization hypothesis, although this should be further looked into by future works examining a larger number and distinct types of ponds.

     

A new preventive intervention for children of substance‐abusing parents: Results of a randomized controlled trial

Children of substance‐abusing parents (COS) are at risk for developing psychosocial problems. We evaluated the effectiveness of the manualized, 9‐session psycho‐educational preventive intervention “TRAMPOLINE” (PE) for 8–12‐year‐old COS compared with a non‐educational “fun and play” group (NE) of equal length delivered by social workers in 27 German counselling centres. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare PE (n = 130) and NE (n = 88) outcomes at baseline, post intervention, and 6‐month follow‐up. Primary outcomes were related to stress and coping; secondary were also examined. Analyses were conducted using baseline‐adjusted repeated measures linear mixed models. Five outcomes revealed improvements both in PE and NE, four of which were more pronounced in PE, and one more pronounced in NE. Small but significant group differences in favour of PE were found in “social isolation” and “addiction‐related knowledge.” Children from both groups reported reduced mental distress, reduced avoidance in coping with family stress, improved self‐perceived autonomy, and a better parent–child relationship. No changes were observed in self‐efficacy, physical stress symptoms, and in other health‐related quality of life aspects. TRAMPOLINE can instill positive changes in COS by reducing mental distress and social isolation.     

The relations of children’s emotion knowledge to their observed social play and reticent/uninvolved behavior in preschool: Moderation by effortful control

Using data from a study of 140 preschool children (39% female), we examined the relations between direct assessments of emotion knowledge and naturalistic observations of behavior during free‐play periods, and tested parent‐ and teacher‐reported effortful control as a moderator of these relations. Basic emotion recognition was unrelated to social play and reticent behavior, whereas situational understanding of emotions (thought to be a relatively sophisticated aspect of emotion knowledge) was negatively related to reticent/uninvolved behavior and marginally positively related to social play. Effortful control significantly moderated these relations, such that situational emotion understanding was more strongly related to reticent/uninvolved behavior and social play at low levels of effortful control, and unrelated to outcomes at high levels of effortful control. These results highlight the unique role of situational understanding in predicting children’s social competence and suggest that emotion knowledge is particularly important for children who struggle with effortful regulation skills.     

Corporate diplomacy and political CSR: Similarities,differences and theoretical implications

The purpose of this study is to systematically review the body of knowledge on corporate diplomacy (CD) and political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) in journals from the fields of public relations, public diplomacy, general management and business ethics. By applying an interdisciplinary approach our study aims to (1) examine what definitions of CD and PCSR exist, (2) explore what theories have been applied to CD and PCSR and, (3) find differences and commonalities between the underlying concepts of CD and PCSR. Building on the results of our review, we redefine each construct and develop a theoretical framework of CD, which integrates PCSR, international public relations and public diplomacy. Our results serve as a foundation for an operationalization of the constructs in order to conduct empirical analyses and contribute to current research on the political role of multinational corporations.     

Prevalence and risk factors of Leptospira infection in urban brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), Vienna,Austria

Urban Ecosystems - Leptospirosis is a worldwide bacterial zoonosis which incidence is expected to increase in conjunction with global change. In urban ecosystems, synanthropic rats are the key...     

Blurring reality with fiction: Exploring the stories of women,madness, and infanticide

Problem

Often, there is a sense of shock and disbelief when a mother murders her child.

The potential of Web sites as a relationship building tool for charitable fundraising NPOs

The Internet and especially the new challenges within Web 2.0 provide organizations with the possibility of encouraging two-way communication and engaging publics in dialogue. Charitable fundraising nonprofit organizations (NPOs) can particularly benefit from the Web's relationship building potential. This study aims to explore the potential of Web sites as an online-communication tool of Swiss NPOs. Via content analysis, the Web sites of 134 Swiss charitable fundraising NPOs were examined in order to point out how those organizations are using the Web to create dialogic relationships with their most important stakeholder groups, which are potential donors and the media. Results indicate that the potential of the Internet for dialogic communication is not used efficiently by most NPOs. Nevertheless, NPOs seem to be acknowledging the importance of engaging publics in dialogue, as most of them replied to information requests from potential donors and the media.¹     

The Perils of Balance Testing in Experimental Design: Messy Analyses of Clean Data

Widespread concern over the credibility of published results has led to scrutiny of statistical practices. We address one aspect of this problem that stems from the use of balance tests in conjunction with experimental data. When random assignment is botched, due either to mistakes in implementation or differential attrition, balance tests can be an important tool in determining whether to treat the data as observational versus experimental. Unfortunately, the use of balance tests has become commonplace in analyses of “clean” data, that is, data for which random assignment can be stipulated. Here, we show that balance tests can destroy the basis on which scientific conclusions are formed, and can lead to erroneous and even fraudulent conclusions. We conclude by advocating that scientists and journal editors resist the use of balance tests in all analyses of clean data. Supplementary materials for this article are available online