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Islands are among the last regions on Earth settled and transformed by human activities, and they provide replicated model systems for analysis of how people affect ecological functions. By analyzing 27 representative fossil pollen sequences encompassing the past 5000 years from islands globally, we quantified the rates of vegetation compositional change before and after human arrival. After human arrival, rates of turnover accelerate by a median factor of 11, with faster rates on islands colonized in the past 1500 years than for those colonized earlier. This global anthropogenic acceleration in turnover suggests that islands are on trajectories of continuing change. Strategies for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration must acknowledge the long duration of human impacts and the degree to which ecological changes today differ from prehuman dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change has been dubbed a 'gateway belief' to engaging people in sustainable behaviour. We consider the question of how the impact of a consensus communication can be maximised. Firstly, the credibility of the communicator should be maximised. One way of achieving this is to present the opinions of a sample of scientists directly to individuals. The decision-making literature suggests that such a technique will confer an additional advantage over standard descriptions of consensus (e.g. '97% of scientists agree'). In decision-making research, low probabilities tend to be overweighted when probabilities are described, but underweighted when probability information is experienced. Consequently, statements of high consensus may lead to an overweighting of the dissensus, a phenomenon that may be reversed were the consensus to be 'experienced.' We obtain some positive support for our proposal that consensus is best 'experienced' in one of two experiments. We suggest that the lack of stronger positive support could relate to ceiling effects for the topics studied and propose that investigation of effective methods for 'experiencing' the consensus is a fruitful area for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists have made discoveries which have considerable significance for marketing. The author, a sociologist, tells in this article what some of these discoveries are. Specifically, findings significant for marketing have been produced by sociologists in population, collective behavior, motivation, stratification, methodology, research designs, measurement, prediction, human ecology, and the family. Much of this knowledge, of course, remains a potential rather than a realized source of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature suggests that acculturation and integration processes for immigrant youth from East Africa are complicated by family values, interaction styles, and social roles that are in conflict with those of the US host culture. The purpose of this study was to explore first-generation female Ugandan immigrant youth perceptions, beliefs and attitudes toward self-development and identify factors among their social contexts that impact their development and adjustment. This study utilized dimensional analysis, an approach to the generation of grounded theory. Data collection included over 100 h of community participatory observation and 28 interviews in total. Participants included 20 English speaking Ugandan females aged 16-25 years who immigrated to the US after age of eight. Participants' adaptations and adjustments led to an altered developmental path, including their beliefs about gender, ethnic and racial identities, and how they balanced and integrated US culture into their existing understandings and cultural awareness. Conditions that impacted the identity development process include timing of their immigration, the contexts of reception, media, the Ugandan Community, the school social setting, the perceived value of Ugandan cultural maintenance vs. the value of adopting certain American traits, and experiences of prejudice and discrimination vs. new future opportunities. The findings represent an in-depth consideration of the cultural, linguistic, religious, racial, and social attributes of the female Ugandan immigrant youth population and can therefore be seen as an important step in the direction of developing an understanding of the developmental assets and risk/protective factors that characterize this young immigrant population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) 22r questionnaire is a widely used instrument. To estimate the disorder´s impact on quality of life and to gain knowledge about treatment effects, normative values are needed.Methods: Individuals were randomly invited from the general population. 272 individuals (145 females) answered the SRS-22r and EuroQol 5-dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaires and stratified according to sex and age; ≤19 years (n = 61), 20-39 years (n = 66), 40-59 years (n = 84) and ≥60 years (n = 61). The correlation between SRS-22r and EQ-5D were analyzed.Results: There were modest variations in mean SRS-22r scores (ranging between 4.3 and 4.7). EQ-5D followed the same pattern. The correlation between the SRS-22r was 0.62 (p = 0.001) and 0.61 (p < 0.001) for the EQ-5D UK tariff and EQ-5D Swedish tariff, respectively.Conclusion: We provide the first SRS-22r normative data for adolescents and adults overall. We found a good correlation between SRS-22r and EQ-5D in individuals without spinal deformity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is now routinely adopted in many parts of the world. The role assumed by police in CPTED practices has however received limited academic attention. Through an analysis of available documentation and interviews with local government planners from 10 Sydney councils, this article provides a (partial) understanding of the historical and contemporary roles police have played in the development and implementation of CPTED guidelines in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It is argued that the NSW Police Force was a pivotal driver of the introduction of planning guidelines to ensure crime risks are considered when new developments are being planned. However, the ongoing contribution of police appears to have waned, largely due to administrative, practical and operational realities. These findings have relevance for ongoing CPTED practice and the work of specialist policing roles more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) involves the manipulation of the built environment to reduce crime risks. The introduction of theCrime Prevention and the Assessment of Development Applications: Guidelines under Section 79c of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979(S79c Guidelines) stimulated work in this area in New South Wales (NSW) in April 2001. While the S79c Guidelines have never been formally evaluated, a growing body of research projects have been conducted that shed some light on contemporary CPTED practice in NSW. Taken together, the findings arising from this research suggest that there has been an increased acknowledgement of CPTED in planning circles, but there have been numerous implementation challenges. The Guidelines speak little to built environment professionals and provide limited guidance to consent authorities; crime risk assessments are generally undertaken late in the development process; and operational policing issues have in some instances undermined police–council liaison. After reviewing these and other key implementation challenges, a series of recommendations are made to improve CPTED practice in NSW. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: According to the Global Initiative of Asthma, the aim of asthma treatment is to gain and maintain control. In the INTERNATIONAL CROSS-SECTIONAL AND LONGITUDINAL ASSESSMENT ON ASTHMA CONTROL (LIAISON) study, we evaluated the level of asthma control and quality of life (QoL), as well as their determinants and impact in a population consulting specialist settings.Methods: LIAISON is a prospective, multicentre, observational study with a cross-sectional and a 12-month longitudinal phase. Adults with an asthma diagnosis since at least 6 months, receiving the same asthma treatment in the 4 weeks before enrolment were included. Asthma control was assessed with the 6-item Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) and QoL with the MiniAsthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (MiniAQLQ).Results: Overall, 8111 asthmatic patients were enrolled in 12 European countries. Asthma control was suboptimal in 56.5 % of patients and it was associated with poorer asthma-related QoL, higher risk of exacerbations and greater consumption of healthcare resources. Variables associated with suboptimal control were age, gender, obesity, smoking and comorbidities. Major determinants of poor asthma control were seasonal worsening and persisting exposure to allergens/irritants/triggers, followed by treatment-related issues.Conclusions: The cross-sectional phase results confirm that suboptimal control is frequent and has a high individual and economic impact.Trial Registration: The clinicaltrials.gov identifier is NCT01567280 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examines the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and the legal Japanese grade of visual impairment as defined by the Physically Disabled Persons Welfare Act. Methods: Participants of this cross-sectional study were 98 Japanese patients legally classified as visually impaired, from six ophthalmology departments. Vision-related QOL was evaluated using the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25). The short Japanese version of this questionnaire (VFQ-J11) score was calculated from the VFQ-25 results for each participant. Health utility was measured using the EuroQoL Index (EQ-5D). Data were collected for age, gender, vision-disability level, the corrected visual acuity of each eye, and disease type. Results: The mean age was 66.8 years (SD = 17.8). Visual impairment grade was significantly associated with VFQ-J11 score and the composite score developed from the VFQ-25 ( p < 0.001), but not with the health utility score obtained from the EQ-5D. Conclusions: In general, the Japanese legally designated grading system for visual impairment reflects the degree of vision-related QOL, but does not reflect general health utility as determined by the EQ-5D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability transitions go hand in hand with learning. Theories in the realm of sustainability sciences mostly concentrate on diversity and learning outcomes, whereas theories from the educational sciences mostly focus on learning as an interactive process. In this contribution, we aim to benefit from an integration of these perspectives in order to better understand how different interaction patterns contribute to learning. We studied STAP, an innovation initiative of Dutch greenhouse growers. The Dutch greenhouse sector is predominantly focused on production and efficiency, which causes problems for its future viability. STAP aimed to make the sector more market-oriented while at the same time increasing its societal acceptability (societally responsible innovation). To that end, STAP focused on the development of integrated value chains (primary production, sales, trade) that can contribute to a transition towards a societally sensitive greenhouse sector. As action researchers, we collected extensive transcripts of meetings, interviews, and various other documents. We used an open coding strategy to identify different patterns of interaction and the learning outcomes produced by the initiative. We then linked the interaction patterns to the outcomes. Analysis suggests that seemingly negative attack-and-defend patterns of interaction certainly can result in substantial learning results, while seemingly positive synthetic interaction patterns, where participants strive to build on each other, can result in rather bland interaction without substantial outcomes. The results offer an empirical basis to our approach of linking learning interactions to learning outcomes, and it suggests that learning for sustainability can be enhanced by focusing on interaction patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the Special Feature on "Multicriteria assessment of food system sustainability" is on the complex challenges of making and communicating overall assessments of food systems sustainability based on multiple and varied criteria. Four papers concern the choice and development of appropriate tools for making multicriteria sustainability assessments that handle built-in methodological conflicts and trade-offs between different assessment objectives. They underscore the value of linking diverse methods and tools, or nesting and stepping their deployment, to help build resilience and sustainability. They conclude that there is no one tool, one framework, or one indicator set that is appropriate for the different purposes and contexts of sustainability assessment. The process of creating the assessment framework also emerges as important: if the key stakeholders are not given a responsible and full role in the development of any assessment tool, it is less likely to be fit for their purpose and they are unlikely to take ownership or have confidence in it. Six other papers reflect on more fundamental considerations of how assessments are based in different scientific perspectives and on the role of values, motivation, and trust in relation to assessments in the development of more sustainable food systems. They recommend a radical break with the tradition of conducting multicriteria assessment from one hegemonic perspective to considering multiple perspectives. Collectively the contributions to this Special Feature identify three main challenges for improved multicriteria assessment of food system sustainability: (i) how to balance different types of knowledge to avoid that the most well- known, precise, or easiest to measure dimensions of sustainability gets the most weight; (ii) how to expose the values in assessment tools and choices to allow evaluation of how they relate to the ethical principles of sustainable food systems, to societal goals, and to the interests of different stakeholders; and (iii) how to enable communication in such a way that the assessments can effectively contribute to the development of more sustainable food systems by facilitating a mutual learning process between researchers and stakeholders. The wider question of how to get from assessment to transformation goes across all three challenges. We strongly recommend future research on the strengths, weaknesses, and complementarities of taking a values-based rather than a performance- based approach to promoting the resilience and sustainability of coupled ecological, economic, and social systems for ensuring food security and agroecosystem health in the coming millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activities developed within an eco-efficiency project in mineral industries located in the largest area for marble extraction in Portugal, in Alentejo region, in the Estremoz – Borba and Vila Viçosa anticline are presented in this paper. The project was designed to apply the sustainability concept in seven companies of marble extraction and transformation. The adopted strategy used new cleaner production models together with sustainable value (SV) improvement, leading to the rationalization of the industrial process, the involvement of economic agents and the orientation of the management of production processes towards eco-efficiency. The challenge was to have the mineral industry managing efficiently the resources on which the business depends, according to sustainability principles. Different opportunities for improvement, related to the minimization of materials, water and energy use, were identified in the companies. Some proposals mainly related to social improvement and small and medium-sized enterprise competitiveness benefits were also selected and discussed. This approach allows the integration of sustainability at company's and region's levels by combining in the entrepreneurial activity the creation of wealth together with the environment protection and the achieving of social benefits.Highlights: The involvement of different stakeholders in the project (Eco-efficiency in Portuguese companies of marble sector) was positive in the discussion and search of solutions for companies. It is possible to involve marble extraction and processing companies in eco-efficiency improvement towards sustainability. Companies from the marble sector improved environmental and social performance and reduced the costs of their production processes by applying SV methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Analyses of ecological regime shifts primarily focus on abrupt, long-term and significant changes that trigger fundamental reorganisation in ecosystem structure and function. There remains limited empirical work on the relationship between regime shifts and social inequities, power imbalances, and social and environmental injustices. Inadequate attention to this social context restricts our ability to predict and avert impending regime shifts, or to effectively navigate where thresholds have been crossed. In this paper, we offer an initial empirical assessment of politics and power in two coastal lagoons in India and Vietnam experiencing abrupt change. We adopt a realist view of power to: (1) assess the social relations structuring human-environment interactions in both lagoons; (2) characterise the dominant framings and narratives that influence if and how regime shifts are understood; (3) consider who wins and loses if and when regime shifts and other forms of rapid environmental change take place; and (4) reflect on the implications of power and politics for the governance of regime shifts in linked human-ocean settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global biomes are increasingly threatened by human activities, understanding of macroscale patterns and processes is pressingly needed for effective management and policy making. Macrosystems ecology, which studies multiscale ecological patterns and processes, has gained growing interest in the research community. However, as a relatively new field in ecology, research in macrosystems ecology is facing various challenges. In this special issue, we highlight the following two latest exciting developments in this thriving field: (1) novel tools and methods and (2) new understandings on macroscale patterns and processes. While we believe that the contributions featured in this issue provide promising advancements in macrosystems ecology, we also see multiple challenges for future research including (1) multidisciplinary approaches for long-term and multiscale studies and (2) scaling local patterns and processes to broader scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arriving at shared mental models among multiple stakeholder groups can be crucial for successful management of contested social-ecological systems (SES). Academia can help by first eliciting stakeholders' initial, often tacit, beliefs about a SES, and representing them in useful ways. We demonstrate a new recombination of techniques for this purpose, focusing specifically on tacit beliefs about food webs. Our approach combines freelisting and sorting techniques, salience analysis, and ultimately network analysis, to produce accessible visualizations of aggregate mental models that can then be used to facilitate discussion or generate further hypotheses about cognitive drivers of conflict. The case study we draw upon to demonstrate this technique is Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. There, an immanent upsurge in the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) population, which competes with humans for shellfish, has produced tension among government managers, and both First Nations and non-First Nations residents. Our approach helps explain this tension by visually highlighting which trophic relationships appear most cognitively salient among the lay public. We also include speculative representations of models held by managers, and pairs of contrasting demographic subgroups, to further demonstrate potential uses of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-20th century, the Pyrenean pastoral social-ecological system (SES) has undergone socioeconomic and demographic transformations leading to changes in grazing practices and a decline in the livestock industry. Land abandonment has contributed to an ecological transition from herbaceous vegetation cover to shrublands and forests, leading to a loss of ecosystem services, including biodiversity and forage. I interviewed 27 stockmen (ganaderos) in two valleys of the central Pyrenees to document their traditional ecological knowledge and observations of environmental, social, economic, and cultural changes in the valleys. I used poetic analysis, a qualitative data analysis approach, to illustrate and analyze one ganadero's experience of social-ecological change. First, I created seven poems based on an interview transcript with this ganadero. Second, I analyzed the poetry I created, to see what new insights and understanding about system dynamics and the lived experience of SES change emerged from analysis of the transcript re-presented as poetry. Third, I compared key themes that emerged from this analysis with findings across the other 26 interviews. Fourth, I read the poems and presented the associated analysis to multiple audiences, to gauge their impact and effectiveness in communicating research findings. Finally, I synthesized across the themes raised in the seven poems. Poetic analysis revealed emotional and cultural dimensions of change, especially the importance of occupational and place identity, in the experience of the ganadero. The transcript re-presented as poetry portrayed the ganadero as an agent in creating and maintaining a cultural landscape and as both an adaptor and resister to SES change. Poetic analysis also uncovered telling contradictions, adaptive capacities, and barriers to adaptation in this SES that went unappreciated with conventional qualitative analysis approaches. This exploratory study illustrates the potential of poetry as a method of data analysis and communication in SES research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant benefits can arise from collaborative forms of governance that foster self-organization and flexibility. Likewise, governance systems that fit with the extent and complexity of the system under management are considered essential to our ability to solve environmental problems. However, from an empirical perspective the fundamental question of whether self-organized (bottomup) collaborative forms of governance are able to accomplish adequate fit is unresolved. We used new theory and methodological approaches underpinned by interdisciplinary network analysis to address this gap by investigating three governance challenges that relate to the problem of fit: shared management of ecological resources, management of interconnected ecological resources, and crossscale management. We first identified a set of social-ecological network configurations that represent the hypothesized ways in which collaborative arrangements can contribute to addressing these challenges. Using social and ecological data from a large-scale biodiversity conservation initiative in Australia, we empirically determined how well the observed patterns of stakeholder interactions reflect these network configurations. We found that stakeholders collaborate to manage individual parcels of native vegetation, but not for the management of interconnected parcels. In addition, our data show that the collaborative arrangements enable management across different scales (local, regional, supraregional). Our study provides empirical support for the ability of collaborative forms of governance to address the problem of fit, but also suggests that in some cases the establishment of bottom-up collaborative arrangements would likely benefit from specific guidance to facilitate the establishment of collaborations that better align with the ways ecological resources are interconnected across the landscape. In our case study region, this would improve the capacity of stakeholders to detect both the intended and unintended off-site impacts of management actions. Our approach offers an avenue for empirical evaluations of collaborative governance so that preconditions for effectiveness of environmental programs can be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several examples of community-based natural resource management in Latin American social-ecological systems exist in which communities control the management of common-pool resources. Understanding community perceptions of the performance of these systems is essential to involve communities in sustainable management strategies. In this analysis of three areas in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina, we analyzed the local perceptions of the social and environmental challenges faced by these social-ecological systems and how these challenges and drivers affect their resilience. To do this, we combined prospective structural analysis to unravel stakeholders' perceptions of each system's functioning along with network analysis to assess resilience. We identified external variables as the most influential variables in the Colombian and Argentine cases. In the Mexican case, larger influence is exerted by internal variables, particularly those linked to the governance system. The case study analysis revealed that the community-based natural resource management approach needs external support and recognition to work effectively. In the Argentine and Colombian cases, megaprojects were perceived as controllers with medium or strong influence but low dependence. The use of ancestral knowledge (Colombia), the history of land use (Mexico), and the history of the artisanal fishery (Argentina) were all perceived as common challenges to community-based natural resource management. In terms of social-ecological resilience, framed within the three-dimensional model of the adaptive cycle, all three social-ecological systems were considered to be highly connected and resilient but with different degrees of capacity or cumulative potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory scenario planning (PSP) is an increasingly popular tool in place-based environmental research for evaluating alternative futures of social-ecological systems. Although a range of guidelines on PSP methods are available in the scientific and grey literature, there is a need to reflect on existing practices and their appropriate application for different objectives and contexts at the local scale, as well as on their potential perceived outcomes. We contribute to theoretical and empirical frameworks by analyzing how and why researchers assess social-ecological systems using place-based PSP, hence facilitating the appropriate uptake of such scenario tools in the future. We analyzed 23 PSP case studies conducted by the authors in a wide range of social-ecological settings by exploring seven aspects: (1) the context; (2) the original motivations and objectives; (3) the methodological approach; (4) the process; (5) the content of the scenarios; (6) the outputs of the research; and (7) the monitoring and evaluation of the PSP process. This was complemented by a reflection on strengths and weaknesses of using PSP for the place-based social-ecological research. We conclude that the application of PSP, particularly when tailored to shared objectives between local people and researchers, has enriched environmental management and scientific research through building common understanding and fostering learning about future planning of social-ecological systems. However, PSP still requires greater systematic monitoring and evaluation to assess its impact on the promotion of collective action for transitions to sustainability and the adaptation to global environmental change and its challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population viability analysis is an important tool to assess the extinction risk in small populations of highly specialized primates. The blue-eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons) is critically endangered with a restricted range in the north-western dry deciduous forest of Madagascar, where habitat fragmentation and loss of forest connectivity threaten its survival. We performed a population viability analysis (PVA) of this lemur in Ankarafa Forest in the Sahamalaza Peninsula National Park, north-western Madagascar, to determine the demographic parameters most influential for population persistence and to assess extinction probabilities. We conducted PVA analyses using different demographic parameters which characterize the species including reproduction, lifespan and population size using the software VORTEX for six scenarios with 100 iterations and simulated over 100 years. The simulations suggested the first extinction within 13 years when the percentage of habitat destruction increased up to 12%. Severe habitat destruction such as fire and logging was the major cause which led to the risk of population extinction. Conservation strategies, in particular measures to reduce habitat destruction, are proposed to ensure the survival of this critically endangered lemur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates human–animal relations in sustainability education. To understand what educational relationships and boundaries are challenged and/or strengthened in education promoting future sustainable societies, we argue that educational theory and practice must move beyond the anthropocentric framework’s sole focus on relationships between humans. Drawing on focus group interviews with teacher instructors at eight Swedish universities, we discuss cases in which sustainability education benefits from being understood as crafted via human–nonhuman relations. By concentrating on human–animal relations, we discuss the political and ethical implications arising from relationships being created in certain ways and not others. The empirical examples illustrate how the relations between teacher instructors and various animals can be a critical starting point for understanding the limitations and possibilities fostered by sustainability education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an important technique to ensure that possible effects of developmental projects have been fully identified and calculated for environment, and also its main purpose is accurate predicting, identifying and analysing the all positive and negative impacts on the natural and human environment. Assessment of the environmental impact requires a method or methods to do it. Due to the lack of sufficient knowledge, potential effects of projects are qualitative for nature, and they cannot be numerical exactly. One way to overcome this problem is using different types of uncertainty on EIA process. The theory of D numbers is a new provision of unreliable information and it is developed version of Dempster- Shafer theory. In this research, an assessment of environmental impact arising from the construction and operation of Ghomeishlou highway has been evaluated using D theory of numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wolf, more than any other animal, profoundly reflects our conflict with our unconscious internal world, and our disavowal of our aggressive nature towards other people and the environment in which we and a host of other species live. Wolves have borne the burden of an intense hatred and misunderstanding that has brought their populations to near extinction. The drama of our relationship to wolves is being played out today in critical ways. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delisted most wolves from the endangered species list, and the outcome of wolf recovery or extinction is once more in a very precarious place. This article reviews some of the psychological and ecological aspects of our relationships with wolves and their place in the natural world, an animal that is brutally assaulted by some and embraced and returned to its natural habitat by others. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Conserving páramo diversity and ecosystem services in the northern Andes is urgent, and understanding factors that control vegetation changes is therefore crucial. Although anthropogenic activities have been common in the Andean highlands for centuries, the role of human influence in shaping páramo vegetation remains unclear. To assess the relative importance of human disturbance associated with cattle farming and cultivation for plant species diversity and composition, we analyzed variables driven by both natural and human impact in the Santurbán páramo, Colombia. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the main gradient in plant species composition is related to the gradient of human impact. Partial CCA showed that the pure effect of the variables driven by human impact on floristic composition is twice the size of the pure effect of the variables driven by natural impact. Forward selection procedure indicated that the impact of human disturbance on floristic composition is determined by the level of accessibility. Vegetation patterns are driven by a complex set of elevation-related environmental factors, and human disturbance plays a primary role. Strict protection should be granted to remote and upper sites of the páramo. Restriction of fire and agriculture along steep slopes may counteract negative effects of human disturbance on plant species diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-thirds of the world's population lives in poverty, a global problem that researchers from a wide variety of disciplines study. Yet there is a fundamental lack of service research pertaining to this huge segment of society, commonly known as the base of the pyramid. This segment offers a rich source of information that could help break new ground in service research, by exploring services in contexts in which its current concepts, models, theories, and generalizations might not apply the same way. This article starts by exploring key contributions in base of the pyramid literature and identifying the main perspectives from which extant knowledge has developed. By revising existing service research priorities to identify useful intersections with base of the pyramid perspectives, this study offers new grounds deriving five research streams that reflect the integration of base of the pyramid research perspectives with service research priorities. Finally, this article details the emerging area of base of the pyramid service research using one of those research priorities, namely, transformative service research, in an effort to specify the relevant objectives, scopes, differences, and similarities and thereby identify common grounds for future service research at the base of the pyramid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The aim of the study was to predict adaptive social functioning in terms of career stability in middle adulthood based on personality and socio-economic variables from childhood/ adolescence and early adulthood. 83 people have participated in an ongoing longitudinal study started in 1961 (54% women). Personality traits were measured by means of Maudsley Personality Inventory at the age of 16 years. Socio-economic variables included information about parental socio-economic status and the participants' highest education. Career stability was established using Life History Calendar method. We distinguish two adaptive career lines (stable and changeable) and one nonadaptive career line (unstable). We have identified expected but not significant influences of socio-economic status on career stability: stable career is more frequent among people with higher education while unstable career line is more usual among people with lower education. We have found also intergenerational continuity in both dimensions of socio-economic status: education and occupation (parental SES and participant's SES). As the only personality predictor of type of career line we have identified extraversion in adolescence: changeable career is more frequent in extraverts, while unstable career is more frequently seen in introverts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current practices in natural resources consumption are unsustainable and may eventually lead to ecosystem extinction. Sustainable ecosystem management is necessary to ensure that human and ecological needs of the present are satisfied without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. This paper uses a simple mathematical model of an integrated ecological and economic system representing our planet's sectors, including, but not limited to, natural, industrial, housing, and energy production sectors. The aim of the project is to maximize the sustainability of this system, using Fisher information as a statistical measure as a measure of sustainability, and derive socio-economic policies using optimal control techniques. By controlling six policy parameters, we were able to sustain all the ecological mass compartments (which were not sustainable in the consumption increase scenario of the future), thus significantly increasing the lifespan of all the species in the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant historiographical works have been dedicated to the role of nature in many national cultures, but such studies for the process of development of Italian national identity are still rather rare. This article aims to partially fill this gap, attempting to provide insight into the corpus of the so-called 'Risorgimental canon': in other terms, the most influential literary texts of the cultural and political movement aiming to unify the States beneath the borders of the Alps in a single nation, Italy. The 'Risorgimento'- the act of 'rising again' - of Italian national identity. This paper examines patriotic poetry and novels in the context of their contemporary culture as both expressions and performances of the relationship between the environmental approach and national narrative. In particular this essay explores the rhetorical use of the environment in national discourse, through the representation of the imagined geographical identity, the poetry of national landscape and the value attributed to Nature. At this time, while the new national sentiment was being built, local identities continued to persist, and emerged in the canon, striking intellectuals with the great difficulties of mixing together old and new identities. As it inherited a long environmental tradition, relating to Romanticism, and imagined a new political identity, the Risorgimento shaped and institutionalised the general idea of nature in the national discourse about the Bel Paese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a multi-year study of eleven low-performing high schools, Cooper and Davis examine the academic aspirations and motivations of urban African American high school students in California. Situating their discussion within the context of neoliberalism and its manifestation in urban school reform and community cohesion, the authors highlight the ways in which inequitable school reform policies exacerbate existing disparities in success. The authors challenge deficit-oriented perspectives often employed to blame students and families for the well-cited, yet poorly addressed academic achievement gap. Cooper and Davis demonstrate that urban African American high school students are motivated to excel and aspire for excellence and note that families and peer networks play an important role in such dispositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers focusing on parent involvement continue to concentrate their efforts on the relationship between involvement and student performance in isolation of the school context in which involvement occurs. This research outlines an ecology of involvement and how this social context affects parent involvement and student performance. Relying on Bronfrenbrenner's (1979) theory of human ecology, I elaborate a theoretical model for how the social context of the school affects student performance and the parent involvement-student performance intersection. Analysis using the National Longitudinal Study (1988) supports the thesis that student performance and the relationship between parent involvement and student performance are contingent on the ecological context in which they occur. These findings highlight the need to extend investigations of parent-child interactions to include aspects of the various ecological contexts. Furthermore, the findings highlight the need for educators to modify their efforts to improve parent involvement contingent on the various ecological characteristics of the school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this article is to quantify the time-dependent air infiltration rates for two retail stores using a calibrated multi-zone model. The calibration focused on the automatic entrance doors as the flow element with significant infiltration rates. This study examined the application of a modified leakage airflow element for automatic entrance doors to predict physical conditions, including differential pressures and airflow rates across the doors. The results show that the simulation of differential pressures across the entrance doors was consistent with the measured data after the model used the corrected flow coefficient (C) based on an hourly rate of people passing through the doors. The airflow rates through the automatic entrance doors represented 75%–80% of the total air infiltration and accounted for 12%–19% of the total ventilation rates. Furthermore, installing a door vestibule decreased the infiltration airflow rates through the automatic entrance doors by approximately 23%. Overall, the present study proposes and validates a method based on the calibrated multi-zone model to quantify the time-dependent infiltration rates in retail buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many industrial facilities, such as the widely used cooling tower, transfer heat to the atmosphere. The most common cooling media are water and air. The performance of cooling equipment depends upon such factors as flow rate, pressure at the nozzle tip, and the type of nozzle. In this article, round and slot nozzles with air as the cooling medium are studied to verify their cooling effectiveness. The heat transfer characteristics of these nozzles, compared using three different methodologies, are presented. A commercial computational fluid dynamics tool, FLUNET, is employed to model the 3D thermal-fluidic field of each nozzle. A 1D source code is also implemented in FORTRAN to achieve a faster and more reliable solution. Finally, experimental data are used to verify the two computational results. The difference between the results obtained using the FORTRAN code and FLUENT was about 0.07%. The temperatures at the cooling tower exit for the 1D and 3D codes were 431.9°C and 432.2°C (809.4°F and 810°F), respectively. Four sets of experimental data were compared with the numerical results. The maximum temperature difference between the 1D model and the measurements occurred at an inlet temperature of 450°C (842°F) and at a strip thickness of 2.28 mm. The outlet temperature from the 1D model and measurement was, respectively, 290.1°C and 278.5°C (554.2°F and 533.3°F), differing by approximately 4%. The 1D model generates good temperature predictions compared to measurements from a real cooling tower. This result would be very beneficial for industries that require fast temperature information for stable and steady operation, such as steelworks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pressure loss coefficients were measured for 8 converging-concentric, 15 converging-eccentric, 8 diverging-concentric, and 15 diverging-eccentric flat oval transition fittings. All tests were performed in accordance with ASHRAE Standard 120-2008, Method of Testing to Determine Flow Resistance of HVAC Ducts and Fittings, except (1) the entrance duct length to the test fitting was increased to 12 hydraulic diameters and (2) the fitting loss coefficient was calculated as the slope of the linear regression of pv8 (downstream velocity pressure) versus Δpt,1-2 (zero-length total pressure loss of a test fitting) instead of pv7 (upstream velocity pressure) versus Δpt,1-2. An Excel template file was developed to perform experimental data processing, graphical expression, and uncertainty analysis. Two pressure loss coefficient equations were developed, one for converging and a second for diverging fittings based on the experimental data. The loss coefficient regression equations will be added to the ASHRAE Duct Fitting Database, thus increasing the population of flat oval fittings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zero-length loss coefficients were calculated for controlled bends of 45° and 90° in nonmetallic flexible ducts under fully stretched conditions for dimensionless bend radii ofr/D= 1 andr/D= 1.5. The nominal duct diameters were 203, 305, and 356 mm (8, 12, and 14 in.). A regression analysis was performed on the measured data, and the uncertainties in the pressure loss coefficients were calculated. Correlations of loss coefficient data appropriate for insertion into a duct fitting database are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Environmental stochasticity is an important concept in population dynamics, providing a quantitative model of the extrinsic fluctuations driving population abundances. It is typically formulated as a stochastic perturbation to the maximum reproductive rate, leading to a population variance that scales quadratically with abundance. However, environmental fluctuations may also drive changes in the strength of density dependence. Very few studies have examined the consequences of this alternative model formulation while even fewer have tested which model better describes fluctuations in animal populations. Here we use data from the Global Population Dynamics Database to determine the statistical support for this alternative environmental variance model in 165 animal populations and test whether these models can capture known population-environment interactions in two well-studied ungulates. Our results suggest that variation in the density dependence is common and leads to a higher-order scaling of the population variance. This scaling will often stabilize populations although dynamics may also be destabilized under certain conditions. We conclude that higher-order environmental variation is a potentially ubiquitous and consequential property of animal populations. Our results suggest that extinction risk estimates may often be overestimated when not properly taking into account how environmental fluctuations affect population parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the logic and dynamics of environmental politics when the environment at stake is profoundly socioecological. We investigate the socioecological forests of the coalfields of Appalachian Ohio, where once decimated forests are again widespread. Conceptualizing forests as power-laden relationships among various people, trees, and other nonhumans, we identify multiple distinct forest types that currently exist as both material reality and future vision. Each forest is characterized by antagonistic ideas about ideal species composition, structure, and function and about specific actions and actors deemed necessary and threatening for the forest's persistence. Each forest represents a very different vision for how socioecological relationships should be fostered. We argue, first, that broad acceptance that the environment is fundamentally socioecological does not mark the end of environmentalism. Rather, urges to environmentalism proliferate as people aim to foster the social natures they envision—and do so through interventions that are internal to what the forest is and does. Second, the proliferation of environmentalisms generates new forms of environmental conflict, which manifests over what sorts of social natures can and should exist (i.e., what they should do and for whom) and which interventions are beneficial or harmful to the survival and proliferation of the forest in the future. Ultimately, we demonstrate that socioecological futures are being shaped today through political struggle not over naturalness but over what should be done, by whom, to bring about which social natures, and to the benefit of whom (human and nonhuman). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines how young people in the Indian Himalayas understand, appreciate, and discuss their environment. Building on intensive ethnographic field research in Bemni, Uttarakhand, I point to the changing ways in which young people use the everyday practice of herding to acquire knowledge and engage in playful activity. I emphasize that age and gender shape the capacity for young people to interact creatively with their local environments. I will argue that studies of human/environment relations might usefully combine a focus on the movement of individuals through environments with a focus on the gendered ways in which they move through the life-course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial light at night is an increasing threat for ecological processes. Previous work has highlighted the effects of nighttime light on individuals and on higher levels of biological organization, such as community ecology and ecosystem functioning. Here, we focus on the effects of artificial light at night on social interactions and group dynamics. We discuss 4 main ways of how light pollution is expected to alter social interactions and group dynamics. First, light at night can alter the activity patterns of individuals and this is predicted to affect the social network structure of populations, which in turn affects the transfer of information and diseases. Second, changes in activity patterns and disrupted biological rhythms are expected to reduce behavioral synchrony in social processes such as reproduction, migration, and dispersal. Third, increased light at night is expected to affect the communication between individuals; primarily, it will increase the opportunities for visual social information transfer. Last, artificial nighttime light is expected to lower social competence, with subsequent negative effects on aggressive interactions and group coordination. Throughout the article, we propose testable hypotheses and identify suitable study species, and we hope that this article inspires future research on the effects of bright nights on social interactions and group dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The aim of the study was to develop an ecologically valid synthesis of the evidence underpinning interventions for children with speech, language, and communication needs ( SLCN), integrating a range of different data sources. Method Three sources of information were integrated: the Cochrane Review of interventions for children with primary speech and language delays/disorder; current practice from an online survey of 534 speech and language therapists and other professionals working with children with SLCN; and parent reports of preferred outcomes. Evidence was ranked as strong, moderate, or indicative. Results Of the 58 interventions identified, three (5%) were found to have a strong level of evidence, 32 (56%) had moderate evidence, and 23 (39%) had indicative evidence. Five were universal interventions, the remainder targeted and universal. The integrated findings were then turned into an online interactive database, which is moderated and updated at regular intervals. Interpretation There are a number of interventions that have a moderate or strong level of evidence underpinning them but they tend not to be those used by practitioners who often favour well-established familiar programmes even if they have only indicative evidence. There is a degree of complementarity between professional and parent views about outcomes, albeit with different emphases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How wildlife is defined, and who gets to define it, has broad implications for how cultures interact with the landscape and with each other. Few wildlife species are as ambiguous, or as contested, as the Australian dingo. At any one moment, the dingo is dually constructed as both pest and protected species, feral and native, friendly and ferocious. These competing discourses speak to, and about, the social groups who purport them. And nowhere else are these debates more heavily contested than on the tourist destination of Fraser Island. This ethnographic research probes how ever-evolving heterogeneous discourses about the dingo relate to eco-social tensions specifically between tourists, residents, Aborigines, and conservation authority on Fraser Island. As these groups construct identities based upon negotiations of ethnicity, nationalism, and indigeneity, they invoke multivocal significations of the dingo as symbol, helping negotiate difficult social debates. Dingoes act as mediators of eco-social relations by speaking directly to themes of nation, native, and natural--a triangulation in the imagination of Australian identity that often unequally serves the interests of certain social groups. By unpacking how wildlife identities and their associated forms of ecological management are constructed, this work aims to aid policy makers in designing more appropriate wildlife management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological communities including tropical rainforest are rapidly changing under various disturbances caused by increasing human activities. Recently in Cambodia, illegal logging and clear-felling for agriculture have been increasing. Here, we study the effects of logging, mortality and recruitment of plot trees on phylogenetic community structure in 32 plots in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Each plot was 0.25 ha; 28 plots were established in primary evergreen forests and four were established in secondary dry deciduous forests. Measurements were made in 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2010, and logging, recruitment and mortality of each tree were recorded. We estimated phylogeny using rbcL and matK gene sequences and quantified phylogenetic a and b diversity. Within communities, logging decreased phylogenetic diversity, and increased overall phylogenetic clustering and terminal phylogenetic evenness. Between communities, logging increased phylogenetic similarity between evergreen and deciduous plots. On the other hand, recruitment had opposite effects both within and between communities. The observed patterns can be explained by environmental homogenization under logging. Logging is biased to particular species and larger diameter at breast height, and forest patrol has been effective in decreasing logging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children's pro-ecological behaviors are usually registered using scales based on the idea of a simple connection between attitudes and behaviors. However, this relationship seems to be more complicated. The Children's Ecological Behavior (CEB) Scale has been proposed as an alternative. Based on the Rasch model, it considers the different efforts needed to conduct a series of behaviors. This paper presents an improved adaptation of the CEB to Spanish population. Method: We back-translated the CEB into Spanish, increased the number of behaviors and collected data from 6- to 12-year-olds, using a game format procedure. Results:The scale can detect differences in the effort needed to perform various behaviors. Children's pro-ecological attitudes and behaviors are positively related. No relationship was found between parents' and children's proecological attitudes and behaviors. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the CEB scale emerges as a reliable tool to measure children's proecological behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social construction of human-environment relations is a central concern of an emerging tradition of research on place, which extends the so-called “discursive turn” in social psychology. This research highlights the primary role of everyday linguistic practices in the production of place meanings, challenging the prevailing tendency among environmental psychologists to treat place meanings mainly as an expression of individual cognitions. By the same token, in this article we argue that research on human-environment relations also has the potential to enrich the field of discursive psychology, tempting discursive researchers to move beyond their customary focus on verbal and written texts. Specifically, we propose an analytic framework that transcends the dualism between the material and discursive dimensions of human-environment relations. In order to develop this argument, we outline the novel concept ofplace-assemblageand illustrate its utility by conducting an analysis of a recent conflict over a public space in Barcelona. This analysis shows how discursive constructions of the development of this public space over time were inextricably entwined with other kinds of material and embodied practices—practices through which place meanings were actively performed, reproduced and contested. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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