Forest ethnography: An approach to study the environmental history and political ecology of urban forests

Urban Ecosystems - A landscape succession paradigm has shaped much of our understanding about the processes of forest emergence and transformation in the United States. Drawing heavily from theory...     

Live together: does culture matter?

Review of Economics of the Household - This paper studies the role of culture in determining the decision to live together (as a married or unmarried couple). To examine this issue, we utilize data...     

A descriptive inquiry into the corporate communication profession in Europe

This paper explores the educational backgrounds, work activities, remuneration and job satisfaction of European communication professionals. Based on factor analysis of a sample of 1410 European communicators, five major work activities are identified: lobbying external constituencies, advising and reviewing policies, positioning the firm in the marketplace, and external and internal facilitation. Using analysis of variance between groups, we argue that some of the more technical work activities are predominantly conducted by female communication professionals, whereas managerial activities are predominantly performed by their male counterparts. As will be shown, while educational background does not differ between genders, salaries as well as job satisfaction do; likewise, there are differences in respect of educational background, salaries, and job satisfaction.     

A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of the Relationships between Depression,Anxiety, and Sexual Problems over Time

Sexual dysfunctions are related to depressive and anxiety disorders, but the nature of these relationships remains unclear. This study examined the relationship among symptoms of these disorders over time by comparing (a) a model that included causal relationships, (b) a model that accounted for change over time with a shared underlying factor (or latent liability) among all the disorders, and (c) a model that conceptualized sexual dysfunctions as unrelated to depressive and anxiety disorders over time. Participants (n = 1,012) completed online self-report measures of sexual dysfunctions and depressive and anxiety disorders across six time points at either weekly or monthly intervals. Models 1 and 2 provided equal best fit for men and women based on data collected four weeks apart, but there were no evident causal relationships in Model 1. Subsequent analyses using data collected one week and six months apart found Model 2 provided robust fit for women, but these data were not examined for men due to inadequate sample sizes. The results are consistent with a shared latent liability of internalizing psychopathology driving the change in these disorders over time, which provides a clear direction for an empirically driven nosology and for future research into transdiagnostic treatments.     

Pushed to Africa: emigration and social change in China

This essay explores the dynamics of recent labour migration from China to Africa through the prism of migrant narratives. Drawing on field research in Ethiopia and China the author links migrants’ motives for, and experiences of, migration to social transformation in China: most notably a shift away from the flurry of optimism and idealism to a mood of careful conformism fuelled by a prevailing yearning for a sense of security and a fear of ‘missing out’ in a competition for resources. Migrants expressed being ‘pushed’ to Africa. Their attitudes stand in relief to the dreams about ‘making it’ that have propelled many Chinese to the West. By examining how these migrants imagine time and space, displacement and emplacement, the author sheds light on the distinct characteristics of Chinese migration to Africa, as well as on the relationship between emigration and social change.     

Clinical Outcomes of Enjoying Sexualization Among Lesbian Women

The Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale (ESS) was given to 150 lesbians in addition to measures of self-objectification, negative eating attitudes, and depression. The ESS was found to have acceptable levels of internal consistency reliability with a lesbian sample. Scores on the ESS were lower in this sample than in previously reported research with heterosexual women. Enjoying sexualization was found to moderate the relationship between body shame and both depressive symptomatology and negative eating attitudes. In contrast to findings from a heterosexual sample, lesbians who enjoyed sexualization had smaller relationships between these negative clinical outcomes and body shame than lesbians who did not. For lesbians, enjoying sexualization may serve a protective function against the negative effects of self-objectification. Findings are discussed in terms of body image and perceptions of ideal beauty among lesbians.     

Globalization and its impact on global managers' decision processes

Globalization of business can have a profound impact on the decision-making processes of managers responsible for making these complex interrelated decisions. This paper explores the global decision-making processes of global managers. The first element examined is the multiple intelligences that global managers need to be able to address the issues associated with global decisions. These eight IQs are considered critical elements in the decision-making capabilities of global managers. Following this discussion, the composition of global groups and their impact on the decision-making process is explored to determine how the composition of the group inhibits/supports the global manager. The next step in the decision-making process discussed in the paper is that of the nature of the task(s). The type of task can have a direct impact on the effectiveness as well as the efficiency of global manager's decision-making. The crux of the issue is that a global orientation to decision-making is poised as being significantly different from decision processes use by managers in a multinational context.