Relation of urbanization to stream fish assemblages and species traits in nine metropolitan areas of the United States

We examined associations of fish assemblages and fish traits with urbanization and selected environmental variables in nine major United States metropolitan areas. The strongest relations between fishes and urbanization occurred in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Boston, Massachusetts; and Portland, Oregon. In these areas, environmental variables with strong associations (r_s ≥ 0.70) with fish assemblages and fish traits tended to have strong associations with urbanization. Relations of urbanization with fish assemblages and fish traits were weaker in Denver, Colorado; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Milwaukee-Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Environmental variables associated with fishes varied among the metropolitan areas. The metropolitan areas with poor relations may have had a limited range of possible response because of previous landscape disturbances. Given the complexities of urban landscapes in different metropolitan areas, our results indicate that caution is warranted when generalizing about biological responses to urbanization.     

Media Representations of Islam in Britain: A Sojourner Perspective

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study in Britain on international Muslim students’ perceptions of media portrayals of Islam. Eighteen international students were interviewed; they came from a range of countries so that a diversity of opinion could be gathered. The paper reveals that participants perceived the representation of Islam in the British media to be negative, being associated with conservatism, economic backwardness and terrorism. Participants criticised the media’s tendency towards the homogenisation of Muslims and of Muslim communities and countries. They also called on media organisations to balance the negative portrait of Islam with positive news stories and to be more responsible in their reporting of terrorism. Interestingly, it could be observed that their direct consumption of UK media was limited, pointing to the possibility that their views were either “discursively” driven or were the product of “passive media consumption”.     

Race-Related Correlates of Young Adults' Subjective Well-Being

We investigated how often young adults worry about race relationsand whether they perceive that white/black relations have beendeteriorating. We also explored the relationships betweenrace-related worry and pessimism, and subjective well-being. This study addressed the distribution of race-related worry andpessimism, and their relationship to subjective well-being innational probability samples of high school seniors completingself-administered questionnaires in 1996 and 1997 (n = 4,514). Nearly one-third of high school seniors often worry about racerelations, and about 20% perceive that contemporary white/blackrelations have been getting at least a little worse. Worryingoften about race relations and perceiving that race relationshave been getting worse were significantly associated withdiminished levels of life satisfaction and happiness. Theresults confirm that race-related worry and pessimism werecommon, and that they impact youth's affective and cognitivestates.     

Blur-generated non-separable space–time models

Statistical space–time modelling has traditionally been concerned with separable covariance functions, meaning that the covariance function is a product of a purely temporal function and a purely spatial function. We draw attention to a physical dispersion model which could model phenomena such as the spread of an air pollutant. We show that this model has a non-separable covariance function. The model is well suited to a wide range of realistic problems which will be poorly fitted by separable models. The model operates successively in time: the spatial field at time t +1 is obtained by 'blurring' the field at time t and adding a spatial random field. The model is first introduced at discrete time steps, and the limit is taken as the length of the time steps goes to 0. This gives a consistent continuous model with parameters that are interpretable in continuous space and independent of sampling intervals. Under certain conditions the blurring must be a Gaussian smoothing kernel. We also show that the model is generated by a stochastic differential equation which has been studied by several researchers previously.     

Curriculum requirements and subsequent civic engagement: is there a difference between ‘forced’ and ‘free’ community service?

Despite figures showing the growth of mandatory community service programmes, there is mixed empirical evidence of their effectiveness. This paper addresses the relationship of mandated community service to one of its purported aims: subsequent volunteerism. It compares current volunteerism among four university student cohorts: those doing no service in secondary school, those volunteering with no requirement, those volunteering both before and after the introduction of a requirement, and those introduced to service through a requirement. The analysis indicates that (1) students who were introduced to service through a mandated programme exhibit current levels of engagement no greater than non‐volunteers; (2) this relationship stems largely from the different service experiences of our four cohorts and relates to the fact that service satisfaction and duration, as well as background variables account for current levels of civic engagement. The findings suggest that mandatory service programmes might well be failing the very population they seek to target, particularly in weaker, less structured programmes.     

Positive youth development in Māori and New Zealand European adolescents through an adventure education programme

Within Aotearoa New Zealand there is growing interest in positive youth development (PYD). A PYD approach provides balance to narratives surrounding outcomes for youth and broadens our views of what we consider beneficial developmental outcomes. In the current study we used sail training as a method to promote PYD in Māori and New Zealand European adolescents. Specifically, 54 Māori and 37 New Zealand European adolescents completed the 7-day youth-development voyage on-board the gaffed rigged schooner, R. Tucker Thompson. We demonstrate that, for both Māori and New Zealand European adolescents, psychological resilience, self-esteem, and positive outlook on life increased from the first day to the last day of the voyage. In addition, we demonstrate that the increases in psychological resilience were driven by the social/collective identity adolescents formed with their group over the course of the voyage.