Positioning urban rivers within urban ecology

Rivers are important components of many urban systems, and research into urban rivers is increasing internationally, both in scope and intensity. As an introduction to a special section on urban rivers, this short article briefly highlights some key trends in urban river research based on a survey of published articles from Web of Knowledge, before summarising the contributions made by the special section papers. In particular, there has been a general increase in work on urban rivers since the 1990s, with a more dramatic increase from 2001. Most published research has concentrated on water quality and its wider environmental implications; ecologically, many studies have focused on autecology, community ecology or river restoration/rehabilitation, with the main emphasis on macroinvertebrates or fish. Geographically, most studies have taken place in North America (mainly the US) and Asia (mainly China). In the large majority of cases research has been on relatively small rivers within urbanised catchments rather than large, heavily urbanised systems within major towns or cities. Given the wide range of topics and studies relating to urban river research, a detailed meta-analysis of the urban river ecology literature would be a useful endeavour. The six papers included in the special section of this issue provide a sample of some of key and emerging themes within recent urban river research, and originate from a session on the understanding and management of urban rivers held at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Meeting in 2010, at Imperial College London.     

Shift Work and Work to Family Fit: Does Schedule Control Matter?

We used the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce to investigate the effects of shift work on individuals. We investigated if shift workers would have poorer work to family fit than workers with regular day schedules or flexible schedules. We also investigated if control of work schedule would moderate the possible negative effects of shift work. Results indicate that shift work is associated with increased work to family conflict, especially for women. In addition, the results indicate that women have greater work to family conflict compared to men when workers have more work schedule control. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

The star-shaped Λ-coalescent and Fleming–Viot process

The star-shaped Λ-coalescent and corresponding Λ-Fleming–Viot process, where the Λ measure has a single atom at unity, are studied in this article. The transition functions and stationary distribution of the Λ-Fleming–Viot process are derived in a two-type model with mutation. The distribution of the number of non-mutant lines back in time in the star-shaped Λ-coalescent is found. Extensions are made to a model with d types, either with parent-independent mutation or general Markov mutation, and an infinitely-many-types model, when d → ∞. An eigenfunction expansion for the transition functions is found, which has polynomial right eigenfunctions and left eigenfunctions described by hyperfunctions. A further star-shaped model with general frequency-dependent change is considered and the stationary distribution in the Fleming–Viot process derived. This model includes a star-shaped Λ-Fleming–Viot process with mutation and selection. In a general Λ-coalescent explicit formulae for the transition functions and stationary distribution, when there is mutation, are unknown. However, in this article, explicit formulae are derived in the star-shaped coalescent.     

‘There is always this feeling of otherness’: exploring the lived experiences of visually impaired immigrant women in Canada

This paper explores the experiences of immigrant women with visual impairment in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) of Canada. Conceptually, the paper draws from feminist disability theory and critical scholarship on blindness to consider the discursive and material processes shaping women’s experiences across different socio-cultural contexts. Empirically, the paper draws from in-depth interviews with seven women. The analysis is organized around three themes. The first explores women’s understandings of visual impairment. The second examines the ways in which women’s experiences of visual impairment are shaped by meanings and attitudes that circulate within their cultural communities, and the extent to which immigration might challenge or reinforce these meanings. The third examines the shifting barriers and opportunities women face with respect to social and economic participation. We close by identifying the conceptual implications of our research.     

Listening to the voices of children: understanding the human rights priorities of children with disability in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea

In developing countries, children with disability lack basic services yet their voices are missing in the development agenda. This article reports on research to investigate the human rights needs and priorities of 89 children with disability aged 5–18 years in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. An accessible and inclusive research method was developed to enable children with diverse disabilities to communicate their own views via visual, audio and tactile means. Data were analysed in relation to the Articles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, identifying a wide range of priority areas including recreation, leisure and cultural life; employment; home and family life; and education. It is proposed that policy and programme responses must take a holistic view of children and their needs, affirming but thinking beyond the importance of education, to address the complexity of the systemic disadvantage faced by children with disability.     

“Facing” leaders: Facial expression and leadership perception

This experimental study investigated the effect of a leader's expression of happy versus nervous emotions on subsequent perceptions of leadership and ratings of traits associated with implicit leadership theories (ILTs). Being fast and universally understood, emotions are ideal stimuli for investigating the dynamic effects of ILTs, which were understood in this study in terms of the constraints that expressed emotions impose on the connectionist networks that activate ILTs. The experimental design contrasted videotaped and still frame presentations of a leadership event; however, this methodological factor had no significant effects and analyses were thus collapsed across this factor. Key findings were that the expression of a happy versus nervous emotion at the end of a problem-solving sequence had multiple effects: happy emotions resulted in higher leadership ratings, higher trait ratings, greater correlations among trait ratings, and greater dependence of trait ratings on leadership perceptions. An exploratory model suggested that leadership impressions mediated the effects of facial emotions on trait ratings. The discussion further links the study findings with interpretations in terms of ILTs and many types of constraints on these cognitive structures. It also suggests ways to integrate these ideas with advances in neuroscience research.     

Testing the Vision: Preschool Settings as Places for Meeting,Bonding and Bridging

The OECD (2006 Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education and Care. OECD Publishing: Paris) envisions early childhood education and care settings as meeting places for diverse social groups; places that build social capital. This vision was assessed in a comparison of three preschools types: full‐fee paying, subsidised‐fee and publicly funded. The social composition within each was examined and the connectedness of the children (n = 472) who attended compared. Publicly funded preschools had more socially diverse populations. The quantity of social connectedness did not differ but children in publicly funded preschools described higher quality social relationships. Not all preschool settings are socially diverse but, where they are, the quality of relationships is highest.