Sparrows in urban complexity: macro and micro-scale habitat use of sympatric sparrows in Guwahati City,India

In recent decades the House Sparrow and Tree Sparrow have suffered considerable declines. To date, little is known about the fine scale habitat selection of sparrows where they occur together. We investigated how sympatric sparrows used macro and microhabitats in the urban environment of Guwahati city. Survey of sparrows was carried out in 572 locations of different urban settings to find out the city scale distribution. We classified urban habitats and collected micro-habitat variables at 45 point count stations during 2013–2015. Urbanization gradient was found to be influential in limiting the abundance of sparrows. House Sparrow was more common within the urbanized areas compared to low settlement densities located far from the urban core. In contrast, Tree Sparrows were more scattered and seldom found in crowded areas. Spatial overlap was comparatively high in the residential areas adjacent to hillocks. At micro scale, House Sparrow had quadratic response to the degree of urbanization. Both the species avoided areas where urbanization reached the peak; specifically, the areas which were completely devoid of natural vegetation and top soil was paved, and in shopping centers with glass facades. Habitat requirements of both the species at local landscape scale seemed to be similar, although, with some overlaps, they occupied different gradients of the urban environment. Since urban landscapes are highly managed, the fundamental tool for enhancing urban sparrow populations would be the protection of mosaic habitat prioritizing suitable design and management of private gardens and allotments.

     

Theories of Governance: South Asian Perspective

The paper attempts to analyze the concepts of power and authority from South Asian perspectives, with primary emphasis on ideas and theories relating to governance models from the perspectives of Hinduism and Islam. The essence and basis of the moral state, according to ancient Indian Hindu philosophy, depends on the triangle of those actions for governance which are undertaken for universal welfare, maintaining and protecting each and everyone in the creation, and securing universal care for all. The Islamic system of governance, which is based on Quran and Sunnah, provides a broader conceptual and moral understanding and includes guidelines for rulers and the ruled. The Islamic perspective emphasizes universalism, the supremacy of Shariah (Islamic law), and the fusion or limited separation of powers. South Asian governance practices appear to reflect values of the two dominant religions of the region.     

The Singular Freedom of Academic Freedom

In this paper, I want to discuss how particular conceptions of academic freedom can overshadow issues of justice for racialized members of the academy. In particular, the question I will explore is how we can begin to think of academic freedom in relation to, and not against, freedom from structural racial discrimination. I will explore this question in relation to presentations made at a conference on academic freedom, and through the examination of a few notable cases (both historical and contemporary) of academic freedom and racism in the classroom as well as in the blogosphere and social media.     

Approximation of the Distribution of the Location Parameter in the Growth Curve Model

Abstract.  In this paper an Edgeworth-type approximation of order O(n ⁻² ) to the density of the estimator of the location parameter in the growth curve model has been derived. The approximation is a mixture of a normal and a Kotz-type distribution, thus being an elliptical distribution. A condition for unimodality of the mixture was found and marginal distribution of a subvector of the mixture distribution was derived. Finally, a small example was given to demonstrate an application of the approximation.     

Screening and brief intervention for alcohol problems in a university student health clinic

The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether a university student health center (SHC) is a feasible location to introduce a campus-based screening and brief intervention (SBI) program for alcohol and (2) to determine whether the patients seen in the SHC differ in terms of the prevalence and severity of alcohol-related problems compared with students reported by emergency department programs. The authors used motivational interview techniques to counsel subjects from a convenience sample of patients waiting for medical treatment in the SHC who had screened positive with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The authors interviewed patients again after 3 months. Seventy-five percent of eligible students participated. Sixty percent screened positive and received an intervention. The authors contacted 66 students (51.2%) again after 3 months. Seventy-five percent of students interviewed again after 3 months reported that SBI was helpful, 92% found the information clear, and 90% thought that the SHC was a good place to learn this information.     

Assessing recall bias and measurement error in high-frequency social data collection for human-environment research

Population and Environment - A major impediment to understanding human-environment interactions is that data on social systems are not collected in a way that is easily comparable to natural...     

Correction to: Assessing recall bias and measurement error in high-frequency social data collection for human-environment research

Population and Environment - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The name of “Md. Ehsanul Haque Tamal” is now corrected in the author group of this...     

Attitudes of high school students and teachers towards Muslims and Islam in a southeastern Australian community

This study investigated attitudes of Australian high school students and teachers towards Muslims and Islam in two suburban high schools in the Logan/Brisbane area of southeastern Australia. Subjects (N = 156) responded to a questionnaire consisting of 24 survey items. Frequency, percentage distribution, and content analysis were performed. It was found that, generally, more respondents disagree with the negative stereotypes of Muslims as the media tend to present them. A majority of the respondents demonstrated positive attitudes towards Muslims and Islam, and strongly support the idea of multicultural coexistence in Australia. Recommendations are given in light of the research findings.     

Role of the New Media in the Arab Spring

This article examines the role of the new media in the ‘Arab Spring’ in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It argues that although the new media is one of the factors in the social revolution among others such as social and political factors in the region, it nevertheless played a critical role especially in light of the absence of an open media and a civil society. The significance of the globalization of the new media is highlighted as it presents an interesting case of horizontal connectivity in social mobilization as well signaling a new trend in the intersection of new media and conventional media such as television, radio, and mobile phone. One of the contradictions of the present phase of globalization is that the state in many contexts facilitated the promotion of new media due to economic compulsion, inadvertently facing the social and political consequences of the new media.

Este artículo examina el papel de los nuevos medios en ‘la primavera árabe’ en la región del Medio Oriente y Norte de África (MENA, por sus siglas en inglés). Sostiene que aunque los nuevos medios hacen parte de los factores en la revolución social entre otros, como los factores sociales y políticos en la región, aun así, jugaron un papel muy importante especialmente en vista de la ausencia de medios independientes y una sociedad civil. La importancia de la globalización de los nuevos medios se hace resaltar al presentar un interesante cado de conectividad horizontal en la movilización social como también al señalar una nueva intersección de nuevos medios y medios convencionales como la televisión, la radio y el celular. Una de las contradicciones de la fase actual de la globalización es que el estado en muchos contextos, facilitó la promoción de un nuevo medio debido a la compulsión económica, afrontando inadvertidamente las consecuencias sociales y políticas de los nuevos medios.

本文考察发生在西亚北非地区的“阿拉伯之春”中新兴媒体的角色。文章认为尽管新兴媒体同其他政治和社会的因素一样,是该地区发生社会革命的因素之一,但却扮演了至关重要的角色,尤其是在缺乏开放的媒体和公民社会的条件下。由于代表了一种在社会动员中建立水平连通的有趣事例并同时预示着新兴媒体和传统媒体（如电视、电台和移动电话）交叉的新趋势,新兴媒体全球化的重要性被凸显出来。全球化现阶段的矛盾之一就是,在很多不同环境下国家由于经济强制而促进了新兴媒体发展,却正无奈地面对新兴媒体带来的社会和政治后果。     

Place and Child Health: The Interaction of Population Density and Sanitation in Developing Countries

A long literature in demography has debated the importance of place for health, especially children’s health. In this study, we assess whether the importance of dense settlement for infant mortality and child height is moderated by exposure to local sanitation behavior. Is open defecation (i.e., without a toilet or latrine) worse for infant mortality and child height where population density is greater? Is poor sanitation is an important mechanism by which population density influences child health outcomes? We present two complementary analyses using newly assembled data sets, which represent two points in a trade-off between external and internal validity. First, we concentrate on external validity by studying infant mortality and child height in a large, international child-level data set of 172 Demographic and Health Surveys, matched to census population density data for 1,800 subnational regions. Second, we concentrate on internal validity by studying child height in Bangladeshi districts, using a new data set constructed with GIS techniques that allows us to control for fixed effects at a high level of geographic resolution. We find a statistically robust and quantitatively comparable interaction between sanitation and population density with both approaches: open defecation externalities are more important for child health outcomes where people live more closely together.