Invertebrate diversity in newly established mulch habitats in a Midwestern urban landscape

The invertebrate fauna in artificial urban habitats has yet to be systematically investigated. The current field study in central Ohio was undertaken to assess the numbers and types of macroinvertebrates in mulched and unmulched plots during a one-year period. Invertebrates quickly infiltrated the plots with bare soil (control) and any of four types of mulch (shredded hardwood, shredded recycled wood, pine bark mini-nuggets, and pea gravel). One month after establishing the plots, invertebrates were present in numbers comparable to subsequent months. Invertebrates found in the plots were primarily saprophytic taxa: millipedes (32.6%), segmented worms (19.8%), isopods (6.7%), and various beetle families (1.5%). Predatory taxa included centipedes (9.8%), ants (9.7%), carabid beetles and staphylinid beetles (7.3%), and spiders (0.9%). Types of invertebrates were similar in all ground cover types, but numbers of invertebrates differed significantly. Invertebrates were present year-round in mulched plots, and plots with organic mulch harbored significantly more invertebrates than plots mulched with pea gravel. Bare soil always contained the fewest number of invertebrates. There was no significant difference in numbers of invertebrates based on the cardinal side of the building.     

Land grabbing: a preliminary quantification of economic impacts on rural livelihoods

Global demands on agricultural land are increasing due to population growth, dietary changes and the use of biofuels. Their effect on food security is to reduce humans’ ability to cope with the uncertainties of global climate change. In light of the 2008 food crisis, to secure reliable future access to sufficient agricultural land, many nations and corporations have begun purchasing large tracts of land in the global South, a phenomenon deemed “land grabbing” by popular media. Because land investors frequently export crops without providing adequate employment, this represents an effective income loss for local communities. We study 28 countries targeted by large-scale land acquisitions [comprising 87 % of reported cases and 27 million hectares (ha)] and estimate the effects of such investments on local communities’ incomes. We find that this phenomenon can potentially affect the incomes of ~12 million people globally with implications for food security, poverty levels and urbanization. While it is important to note that our study incorporates a number of assumptions and limitations, it provides a much needed initial quantification of the economic impacts of large-scale land acquisitions on rural livelihoods.     

Conflicting or Compatible: Beliefs About Religion and Science Among Emerging Adults in the United States1

A wide‐held assumption is that increased religiousness is associated with stronger perceptions of a conflict between religion and science. This article examines this assumption using four distinct questions asked on the third wave of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Results indicate a variety of viewpoints for constructing the relationship between science and religion, rather than a simple conflict‐compatibility continuum. Further, findings suggest that increased religiousness among emerging adults is associated with a stronger agreement in science and religion’s compatibility, rather than conflict. Incorporating New Age or non‐Western spiritual tradition and a strict adherence to fundamentalist Christian doctrine are associated with complex configurations of beliefs on the relationship between religion and science. Collectively, the findings among emerging adults contradict traditional assumptions about how religious experiences influence beliefs, suggesting that such social factors may influence beliefs and attitudes uniquely at different points in the lifecourse or across generations. More broadly, the findings speak to the ongoing debate about the extent to which differing social experiences may produce consistent or discordant sets of beliefs and values, and in turn how particular configurations may impact strategies of action across a range of life domains.     

Collusion With Persistent Cost Shocks

We consider a dynamic Bertrand game in which prices are publicly observed and each firm receives a privately observed cost shock in each period. Although cost shocks are independent across firms, within a firm costs follow a first‐order Markov process. We analyze the set of collusive equilibria available to firms, emphasizing the best collusive scheme for the firms at the start of the game. In general, there is a trade‐off between productive efficiency, whereby the low‐cost firm serves the market in a given period, and high prices. We show that when costs are perfectly correlated over time within a firm, if the distribution of costs is log‐concave and firms are sufficiently patient, then the optimal collusive scheme entails price rigidity: firms set the same price and share the market equally, regardless of their respective costs. When serial correlation of costs is imperfect, partial productive efficiency is optimal. For the case of two cost types, first‐best collusion is possible if the firms are patient relative to the persistence of cost shocks, but not otherwise. We present numerical examples of first‐best collusive schemes.     

The Pensacola Outpouring: Reviving the press

The Brownsville Revival, also known as the Pensacola Outpouring, is one of the longest-running locally based but internationally impacting movements in modern history purportedly inspired by the Holy Spirit. News coverage of it already has spanned more than fifteen years. This study looks to media literature on framing as well as research on journalistic portrayal of religion in formulating a coding scheme examining North American newspapers’ stories on the Pensacola Outpouring. The work finds mostly positive coverage, with the balance of sources and tones of leads and overall story being favorable toward this movement. Examination identifies one major frame and several secondary ones.     

Research with Deaf People: Issues and Conflicts

The field of sign language research is fraught with problems-prejudice, mistrust, misunderstanding, unmet expectations, identity crises and pervasive mythologies, to name but a few. Some of these problems arise from cultural differences between the (usually hearing) researchers and the people they study. Others stem from a lack of appropriate training and sensitivity on the part of the researcher. Those who investigate aspects of deafness itself (medical, educational or psychological) also face these problems since they, too, need to be in contact with members of the deaf community. Researchers in fields other than deafness may find that they share many of the same problems. As a result of extended study of sign language and the deaf community and the experience of working with deaf associates for 15-20 years, both in the United Kingdom and in the USA, we have begun to understand the tensions felt by both deaf and hearing people when they come together in the research enterprise. This paper is an attempt to open a debate on the issues which have been ignored in the search for results and publications. Failure to deal with these points will undermine the validity of supposedly objective results. The issues concern the power relations between the communities and the roles of the research staff in relation to each other and to their respective communities.     

Route first—Cluster second methods for vehicle routing

In this paper we consider route first—cluster second methods for the vehicle routing problem. Extensions to the basic method both to improve its effectiveness and to enable it to cope with practical constraints are described. Computational results are given for the method applied to standard vehicle routing problems drawn from the literature.     

The various roles of municipal leaders

Municipal officials can take an important role in developing a community-wide after-school system. This chapter examines how mayors and city council members can serve as catalysts for far-reaching efforts that address key challenges.