Birds of a neotropical green city: an up-to-date review of the avifauna of the city of Xalapa with additional unpublished records

Although urbanization poses severe threats to biodiversity, some wildlife groups manage to thrive within urban areas. Among wildlife, birds are a highly diverse, charismatic and well-known group, establishing complex communities in human settlements around the world, making them suitable bioindicators. However, it is often difficult to have historical species lists that allow understanding current urban ecology trends. In this paper, we compile the available bird records, including unpublished information, for one of the best studied and well vegetated urban areas in México: the city of Xalapa. We gathered records for 329 species, representing ~30 % of the national avifauna in this medium-sized neotropical city. This important avian diversity in the city of Xalapa is mostly due to its environmental heterogeneity, underlining the relevance of its location, and the nature of its surroundings. The information provided in this paper will not only provide an environmental education baseline and represent a starting point for ornithologists, but will represent a reference document on the birds that have been recorded within the limits of Xalapa in the last three decades.     

Countering essentialism in behavioural social science: the example of 'the vulnerable child' ethnographically examined

After discussing ways in which the concept of vulnerability is applied to children in psychology and sociology. It is argued that many of these may arise from the mistaken concretisation of essentialising concepts which have sometimes thereby become barriers to, rather than facilitators of, sociological understanding. Fieldwork is presented and analysed concerning the interactions of some London children, and their characterisations of themselves and others, in a variety of home, school and other settings. It is suggested that situations in which children are present often do generate 'vulnerability' in all participants not only in the children. In classrooms and elsewhere the attribution and reality of vulnerability moves rapidly between persons as situations develop and change.     

Internet use,political knowledge and youth electoral participation in Australia

Almost since its inception, the internet has been seen as a means of reinvigorating political knowledge and engagement among the young. Early studies showed small but significant effects for internet use and increased political knowledge among the young. Using a large, national election survey conducted in Australia in 2013, this paper examines the role of the internet in shaping political knowledge among the young and, in turn, its effects on electoral participation. The results show that use of the internet during an election campaign significantly increases political knowledge among the young, and that such political knowledge enhances the likelihood of turning out to vote. Overall, the results extend the findings of other studies which have demonstrated the potential of the internet to re-engage young people into the political process.     

Gambling and Problem Gambling Among Young Adolescents in Great Britain

International evidence suggests that problem gambling tends to be 2–4?times higher among adolescents as among adults and this proves to be true of Great Britain according to the latest adolescent prevalence survey. 8,958 British children (11–15) were surveyed in 201 schools during late 2008 and 2009. The questionnaire included a standard screen, DSM-IV-MR-J, to test for problem gambling. Our regression models explore influences of demographic, home and school characteristics on probabilities (both unconditional and conditional on being a gambler) of a child testing positive for problem gambling. More than 20% of children participated in gambling and, of these, nearly 8% tested positive. Age-group prevalence of problem gambling was 1.9%, compared with 0.6–0.9% in the most recent official adult surveys. Boys were much more likely than girls to gamble and to exhibit symptoms of problem gambling if they did. Generally, home characteristics, particularly parental attitude and example, dominated school characteristics in accounting for risks. Unanticipated findings included significantly elevated probabilities of problem gambling among Asian children and among children who live in a home without siblings. Child income was also a potent predictor of gambling and problem gambling.     

UNSCRIPTED DRAMA: SOCCER AUDIENCE RESPONSE TO SUSPENSE,SURPRISE, AND SHOCK

By modeling minute-by-minute television audience figures from English Premier League soccer matches, with close to 50,000 minute-observations, we show that demand is partly driven by suspense and surprise. We also identify an additional relevant factor of appeal to audiences, namely shock, which refers to the difference between pre-match and current game outcome probabilities. Suspense, surprise, and shock remain significant in the presence of a traditional measure of outcome uncertainty. (JEL C23, D12, L82, L83, Z20)     

City of Quartz

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the production of Indian ethnicity in the United States through a close reading of the Cultural Festival of India, an event that took place over four weeks in 1991 in Edison, New Jersey. The festival, organized by the Gujarati Hindu sect, Bochasanwasi Swaminarayan Sanstha, presented an extravagant and general vision of ‘India’ for Indian as well as non-Indian Americans through arts performances, shopping displays, food stands and cultural exhibits. The Cultural Festival of India can be seen as an occasion for a new type of ‘imagined community’, or as an instance of diasporic nationalism, that is, produced by immigrant Indians intent on projecting a positive image of themselves, and is steeped in romantic notions of the home country.

As Indians in First World countries form larger and more visible populations, they begin to develop elaborate strategies for constructing associative identities. In the United States, the Indian middle class has chosen the terminology and the historical precedents of ‘ethnicity’ to construct itself as a group within the political and cultural landscapes of a ‘multicultural’ nation. The rapidly expanding Indian capitalist economy simultaneously procures foreign investment through connections maintained with these overseas Indians as well as through a new image projected abroad of India as a source of progress. Nationalism, diaspora, culture and identity become confounded both as theoretical categories and as material forces. The Cultural Festival of India illustrates these developments through the reification of Indian ‘culture’, the portrayal of idealized Indian social values and the celebration of technological innovation. Through an examination of the festival, the article explains the continuities in colonial and postcolonial strategies of building national and transnational communities.     

The Impact of Social Work Education: A Personal Construct Reconceptualization

Abstract

Despite educators' and practitioners' assumptions, research on the professional socialization of social work students has generally failed to document an impact of the educational process and has consequently hampered informed debate on the nature, outcome, and processes of social work education. In this paper the impact of social work education on the individual is reconceptualized in terms of Kelly's personal construct theory, which posits the individual in social work education as personally construing the social work systems of meaning. This conceptualization formed the basis of a cross-sectional study of students at the beginning, middle, and end of social work education. The comparison showed that graduating students used a repertoire of more abstract social work constructs. They also showed an understanding of social work and its role in the world consistent with that articulated by the department in which they completed their professional education. However, a disjuncture was noted between the graduates' understanding of social work and its role in the world (social change) and the constructs they used to understand situations encountered by social workers. Possible reasons for this disjuncture are suggested.     

Exploratory Evaluation of a School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program

Internationally, efficacy studies of school-based child sexual abuse prevention programs display a series of methodological shortcomings. Few studies include adolescent participants, recording of disclosures has been inconsistent, and no studies to date have assessed presenter adherence to program protocols or summated the costs of program implementation. A pretest–posttest waitlist control design was used to evaluate the Tweenees program delivered to grade 6 (n?=?88) and grade 7/8 students (n?=?117) compared to a control (n?=?185). Outcome measures included a knowledge/skills questionnaire, systematic coding of disclosures, and video interaction analysis of lessons. Costs were calculated per student, class, and school. Adolescents made small knowledge and skills gains indicating a program ceiling effect. Implementation analysis suggests low levels of adult control facilitated disclosures. Program costs were relatively inexpensive. Recommendations are made for future research.     

A Case Study of Sample Design for Longitudinal Research: Young Lives

This paper presents a case study to illustrate the range of decisions involved in designing a sampling strategy for a complex, longitudinal research study. It is based on experience from the Young Lives project and identifies the approaches used to sample children for longitudinal follow‐up in four less developed countries (LDCs). The rationale for decisions made and the resulting benefits, and limitations, of the approaches adopted are discussed. Of particular importance is the choice of sampling approach to yield useful analysis; specific examples are presented of how this informed the design of the Young Lives sampling strategy.     

Public opinion towards gambling and gambling regulation in Australia

In recent years, public opinion towards gambling has become a more important factor in shaping public policy. Using a national public opinion survey conducted in Australia in 2011, this paper examines public opinion towards gambling in general and towards the government regulation of gambling in particular. Australia is an important case study because of the internationally high prevalence of gambling among the public, combined with a strong regulatory framework. Public opinion is measured by a reduced form of a scale first developed in Britain. The results confirm the generally negative views that the public holds towards gambling, which have been found internationally. In addition, the Australian public is open to the introduction of further restrictions on gambling. Overall, the public views the liberalization of gambling as having moved as far as most citizens find acceptable; to meet public expectations, future policies need to address more adequately the negative social consequences associated with problem gambling.