Financial Planning for College: Parental Preparation and Capital Conversion

This study explores the conversion of cultural capital into economic capital, and specifically financial capital in the form of parental financial planning for children’s college education, including reported financial preparations and savings. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002), logistic regression-based analyses of aspects of cultural capital indicated that parental involvement exhibited the most prevalent relationship with financial planning and the amount saved, and that parents’ expectations, but not their aspirations, corresponded to engagement in financial planning. Findings support the conclusion that some parents convert part of their cultural capital to financial capital in preparation for paying for their child’s college education, perhaps representing a typically hidden facet of social class reproduction.     

Individual Pension Plans in Spain: How Expected Change in Future Income and Liquidity Constraints Shape the Behavior of Households

Understanding the motives that underlie Spaniards’ retirement saving decisions is important because many, if not most, future retirees will need to rely on personal savings to maintain a decent standard of living. The governor of the Bank of Spain has stated recently that the current public pension system will not guarantee an adequate pension to the citizens, advising to save now for retirement. In this debate on public pensions, and the complementary role that private pensions might play in Spain, this article has shed light on the decision of Spanish households to engage in individual pension plans and it has identified which factors determine the total amount saved in such retirement plans. Using micro data from the Bank of Spain (Survey of Household Finances 2011), the analysis has revealed that the expectations of lower future income, along with preferences for the financial risk and education, exert an important influence on the likelihood of enrolling in a private pension plan. University education minimizes the myopic behavior of households in the sense of making them more forward-looking and cautious in the face of their future well-being. Additionally using Heckman’s methodology to correct for the problem of selection bias, our results have revealed that liquidity constraints affect negatively the total amount of money saved for retirement.     

What Women Want: Employment Preference and Adjustment Among Mothers

In this study of over 2000 mothers, we considered the alignment between employment preference and status, examining the well-being of mothers who were employed and wanting to work; employed because they need the money; not employed and not wanting work; and not employed but wanting to work. Alignment between employment preference and employment status was significantly associated with well-being, and mothers who stayed at home but wanted work had the most difficulties. Strong associations across multiple outcomes were found for emotional support variables, and costs of childcare was the most common reason for staying home even if employment was desired. Results suggest the importance of women’s self-agency in employment decisions, access to child-care, and emotional support in mothers’ lives.     

Dynamic heterogeneity: a framework to promote ecological integration and hypothesis generation in urban systems

Urban areas are understood to be extraordinarily spatially heterogeneous. Spatial heterogeneity, and its causes, consequences, and changes, are central to ecological science. The social sciences and urban design and planning professions also include spatial heterogeneity as a key concern. However, urban ecology, as a pursuit that integrates across these disciplines, lacks a theoretical framework that synthesizes the diverse and important aspects of heterogeneity. This paper presents the concept of dynamic heterogeneity as a tool to explore how social and ecological heterogeneities interact and how they together act as both an outcome of past interactions and a driver future heterogeneity and system functions. To accomplish this goal, we relate heterogeneity to the fundamental concept of the human ecosystem. The human ecosystem concept identifies key processes that require operationalized models of dynamic heterogeneity in three process realms: the flow of materials, the assembly of urban ecosystem biota, and the locational choices humans make concerning land. We exemplify a specific dynamic model of heterogeneity in each of these realms, and indicate a range of complementary statistical approaches to integrate the drivers and outcomes of dynamic heterogeneity across the three realms. We synthesize a hierarchical framework for a theory of dynamic urban heterogeneity, noting its complementarity to other major urban theories and general model approaches. We hypothesize that human actions and structures amplify the dynamics of heterogeneity in urban systems.     

Potential nitrogen mineralization responses of urban and rural forest soils to elevated temperature in Louisville,KY

Soil nitrogen (N) mineralization is an important process determining terrestrial N availability, and evidence suggests elevated temperatures will enhance N mineralization rates. Along a 40 km urban-rural gradient of chestnut oak forest stands in Louisville, KY, we expected N mineralization rates would be higher in urban than in rural forests in part due to increased temperatures caused by the urban heat island. However, a 12-month field study along this Louisville gradient showed that annual N mineralization rates were lower in urban than in rural stands. Since variation in precipitation inputs and other factors across this land-use gradient may be influencing soil N mineralization rates, we conducted a three-month soil incubation experiment in the lab to determine the extent to which a + 2 °C temperature difference could affect soil N mineralization in urban and rural soils. Across the range of temperatures tested, rural soils mineralized N at twice the rate of urban soils under base (7.86 vs. 3.65 mg N kg^?1 AFDW soil d^?1) and elevated (9.08 vs. 4.76 mg N kg^?1 AFDW soil d^?1) temperatures (p < 0.01). A 2 °C temperature difference, did not significantly alter total inorganic N production in urban (p = 0.272) or rural soils (p = 0.293). The proportion of nitrate produced was lower in the urban (15.1 %) than in the rural soils (72.3 %; p < 0.01). These results suggest that differences in soil organic matter quality and potentially decomposer community composition are the primary explanatory factors for forests along this Louisville gradient.     

Getting closure: The role of urban forest canopy density in moderating summer surface temperatures in a large city

With a growing number of people living in urban areas, city residents are more frequently exposed to stresses related to the built environment including elevated summer surface temperatures contributing to the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This study examines the role of urban tree density in moderating surface temperature variation in a densely populated city (Toronto, Canada). By applying parallel aspatial (OLS) and spatial regression (GWR) approaches with satellite derived data describing tree canopy density and surface temperature, one dimension of tree canopy quality (i.e., canopy density) is shown to contribute directly to a reduction in the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect at a local scale. Though the model fit differed between the two regression approaches, both exhibited moderately strong explanatory power and demonstrated that observed surface temperature decreases in locations with increasing high-density and closed tree canopy. Study findings provide an empirical basis to recommend that municipal urban forest strategies embrace canopy quality metrics, such as increasing the density of existing urban forest stands, as a part of tree planting objectives seeking to effectively deliver temperature moderation as a valuable ecosystem service.     

Elevated phosphorus: dynamics during four years of green roof development

Green roofs are emerging engineered ecosystems that provide multiple benefits, but many are constructed with nutrient-rich substrate and have been found to leach out high levels of phosphorus (P) in runoff. It is unclear, however, how long green roofs act as sources of P or what mechanisms are responsible for these net losses. We measured P concentrations in runoff water over 4 years from a 1–5 year old extensive green roof in Cincinnati, OH, USA, produced a model to predict runoff P levels into the future, and validated predictions using runoff from 2 nearby extensive green roofs. P concentrations in runoff from the focal green roof were on par with heavily fertilized agroecosystems and displayed strong seasonal dynamics and a rapid decline over the 4-year study. Runoff measurements and changes in substrate P content over a 2-year period were used to estimate a mass balance for green roof P. P loss from the substrate was substantial (4.55 ± 2.3 g P/m²/yr), but only a small portion of the loss was attributable to leaching of P in runoff (0.19–0.65 g P/m²/yr). Missing P may be attributed to a combination of plant uptake and altered P form and binding strength, but further research is needed to precisely identify the mechanisms of P depletion. Our results also suggest that these and similar extensive green roofs are likely to act as environmentally significant sources of P for 10 or more years following roof installation, highlighting the need for reductions in initial substrate P content.     

Critical Discourse,Applied Inquiry and Public Health Action with Urban Middle School Students: Lessons Learned Engaging Youth in Critical Service-Learning

The Nuestro Futuro Saludable partnership designed a critical service-learning intervention focused on health equity and action. The 10-week afterschool intervention was implemented in a Boston middle school. Youths who took part in the intervention were knowledgeable about the social determinants of health in their communities, as well as to the barriers to health. Our findings indicate that engaging young people in a meaningful way will be critical if health improvement efforts are to be realized. We found that a critical service-learning framework that incorporates elements of applied inquiry and critical pedagogy was effective as a health intervention and provided opportunities for action.     

Legitimate concerns about industry involvement in gambling research: response to Delfabbro and King (2017)

This paper provides a response to the commentary by Delfabbro and King (2017), which describes major criticisms of articles situated in a ‘political economy’ conceptual framework. The current paper argues that these criticisms obfuscate legitimate concerns about industry involvement in gambling research, and disregard important evidence about activities of hazardous-consumption industries which provide grounds for strong concern about commercial practices of the gambling industry. Although many aspects of the commentary by Delfabbro and King (2017) are contentious, the current paper summarizes conceptual and empirical literature which supports concern about (a) agency and collaboration in practices of the gambling industry, which make assertions of equivalence with a conspiracy theory both inappropriate and misleading, and (b) the role of research on problem gambling behaviours and pathologies in supporting agendas that may undermine public health. This indicates the need for the scientific community to take seriously its role in improving awareness of the hazards of commercial involvement in gambling research, and thus helping researchers to make informed decisions about these risks and their own manner of engagement with the gambling industry.