Leaving the Big Deal: Consequences and Next Steps

Many libraries are facing difficult fiscal climates with serials inflation, budget cutbacks, and reductions in allocations requiring difficult collection management decisions. Libraries may find their flexibility to plan and react unduly restricted due to being contracted to one or more Big Deals, in which they are obligated to buy large, inflexible title lists from big publishers for a set price. This presentation discusses the experience of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Oregon in leaving Big Deals, provides data on impacts on interlibrary loans, community response, and collection budgets, details the steps required before and after the decision, and describes the benefits that other libraries could achieve by following the example of these two members of the Association of Research Libraries

A SCALE DEVELOPMENT ON NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME IN DAVAO CITY: AN EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS

This paper aimed to develop a multidimensional framework of neighborhood crime in Davao City. The study employed a quantitative, non-experimental research design employing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A researcher-made instrument was utilized which was developed from in-depth interview of 12 selected residents, related literatures, and studies. To determine the validity of items, the researcher employed Content Validity Ratio (CVR) where ten (10) experts reviewed and validated the instrument. Item statements that passed the threshold of 0.80 were selected as part of the survey questionnaire. As a result, 43-item instrument was developed and utilized as data collection tool administered to 300 residents of Davao City as research participants. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis, 29 items remained in the model to compose the four (4) constructs after 17 rotations and iterations, therefore, making them the factors characterizing neighborhood crime in Davao City. Using thematic analysis, the factors were clustered as (1) breakdown of social control, (2) social disorder, (3) social deviance, (4) social disintegration.  Revealed structures of neighborhood crime can be an aid to frame policies and strategies to augment peacekeeping efforts in suppressing crime and other forms of delinquency, to strengthen ties within the community and lastly, to create a safe and secured society.  Article visualizations

THE MODERATING EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP AND QUALITY OF WORK-LIFE AMONG POLICE OFFICERS

The study deals with the moderating effect of organizational environment on the relationship between spiritual leadership and quality of work-life among police officers. The quantitative non-experimental design was used in the study. The respondents of the study were the police non-commission officers, non-uniform personnel, and commission officers. There were 400 respondents were used as study participants. The researcher collected information from Region X police stations with 22 police stations for Bukidnon Provincial Police, Provincial Police Office. The statistical tools used were Mean in order to describe the level of spiritual leadership and organizational environment; Pearson’s r to determine the significance of the relationship between spiritual leadership, quality of the work-life and organizational environment, hierarchical regression analysis, and Hayes Process modgraph were used to establish the significance of the influence between spiritual leadership, quality of the work-life and organizational environment and the modraph Sobel z-test to determine the moderating effect of organizational environment on the relationship of spiritual leadership and quality of work-life. Findings revealed significant relationship between the three variables. Finally, organizational environment was seen to fully moderate the already significant effect of spiritual leadership towards quality of work-life among police personnel. Implications were discussed.JEL: L10; O15  Article visualizations

ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE AND OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AMONG POLICE PERSONNEL

Occupational stress is common among employees, but its effect often is devastating, particularly for those who have hazardous jobs such as police officers. The connection between organizational justice and occupational stress was the focal point of this study, wherein 313 police officers from the Davao City Police Office assigned in various Police Precincts were taken as respondents of the study. Questionnaires were distributed, and the data were treated using Mean, Pearson r, and Multiple Regression as the statistical tools. The result discloses the following: The level of organizational justice among police personnel in Davao City is high; the level of occupational stress among police personnel in Davao City is moderate; a significant relationship exists between organizational justice and occupational stress among police personnel in Davao City; and organizational justice significantly influences occupational stress among police personnel in Davao City. The study's implications concern the total concentration and dedication of police officers in fulfilling their duties, which could be hampered by occupational stress. The latter could be treated with the Philippine National Police Administrators employing intervention programs that could lessen occupational stress if not eliminated, such as reorganization and formulating effective policies that would lessen the pressure from the police personnel.  Article visualizations

The effects of landscape modifications on the long-term persistence of animal populations

Background: The effects of landscape modifications on the long-term persistence of wild animal populations is of crucial importance to wildlife managers and conservation biologists, but obtaining experimental evidence using real landscapes is usually impossible. To circumvent this problem we used individual-based models (IBMs) of interacting animals in experimental modifications of a real Danish landscape. The models incorporate as much as possible of the behaviour and ecology of four species with contrasting life-history characteristics: skylark (Alauda arvensis), vole (Microtus agrestis), a ground beetle (Bembidion lampros) and a linyphiid spider (Erigone atra). This allows us to quantify the population implications of experimental modifications of landscape configuration and composition. Methodology/Principal Findings: Starting with a real agricultural landscape, we progressively reduced landscape complexity by (i) homogenizing habitat patch shapes, (ii) randomizing the locations of the patches, and (iii) randomizing the size of the patches. The first two steps increased landscape fragmentation. We assessed the effects of these manipulations on the long-term persistence of animal populations by measuring equilibrium population sizes and time to recovery after disturbance. Patch rearrangement and the presence of corridors had a large effect on the population dynamics of species whose local success depends on the surrounding terrain. Landscape modifications that reduced population sizes increased recovery times in the short-dispersing species, making small populations vulnerable to increasing disturbance. The species that were most strongly affected by large disturbances fluctuated little in population sizes in years when no perturbations took place. Significance: Traditional approaches to the management and conservation of populations use either classical methods of population analysis, which fail to adequately account for the spatial configurations of landscapes, or landscape ecology, which accounts for landscape structure but has difficulty predicting the dynamics of populations living in them. Here we show how realistic and replicable individual-based models can bridge the gap between non-spatial population theory and non-dynamic landscape ecology. A major strength of the approach is its ability to identify population vulnerabilities not detected by standard population viability analyses

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF POLICE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND SERVICE ENGAGEMENT OF NON-COMMISSIONED PERSONNEL: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PERSONAL ETHICS

The purpose of this research study is to determine the service engagement of police personnel as a function of the transformation leadership of commissioned officers and mediated by their personal ethics. The researcher surveyed 348 Police Officers, selected using a stratified technique. Data were gathered using standardized, adapted instruments. Data were analyzed and interpreted using Mean, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, Medgraph using Sobel z-test, and Path-analysis. The study findings revealed as follow: the personal ethics of police personnel, transformational leadership of commissioned officers and service engagement of police personnel obtained a very high level. A significant correlation between the transformational leadership of commissioned officers and the service engagement of police personnel was observed. There is also a significant correlation between the transformational leadership of commissioned officers and the personal ethics of police officers; and, as well as the personal ethics and service engagement of police personnel. The test of mediation revealed that personal ethics partial mediates the relationship between transformational leadership of police commissioned officers and service engagement of personnel: the mediating role of personal ethics.  Article visualizations

Defining management units for cetaceans by combining genetics, morphology, acoustics and satellite tracking

Managing animal units is essential in biological conservation and requires spatial and temporal identification of such units. Since even neighbouring populations often have different conservation status and face different levels of anthropogenic pressure, detailed knowledge of population structure, seasonal range and overlap with animals from neighbouring populations is required to manage each unit separately. Previous studies on genetic structure and morphologic separation suggests three distinct populations of harbour porpoises with limited geographic overlap in the North Sea (NS), the Belt Sea (BS) and the Baltic Proper (BP) region. In this study, we aim to identify a management unit for the BS population of harbour porpoises. We use Argos satellite data and genetics from biopsies of tagged harbour porpoises as well as acoustic data from 40 passive acoustic data loggers to determine management areas with the least overlap between populations and thus the least error when abundance and population status is estimated. Discriminant analysis of the satellite tracking data from the BS and NS populations showed that the best fit of the management unit border during the summer months was an east–west line from Denmark to Sweden at latitude 56.95°N. For the border between BS and BP, satellite tracking data indicate a sharp decline in population density at 13.5°E, with 90% of the locations being west of this line. This was supported by the acoustic data with the average daily detection rate being 27.5 times higher west of 13.5°E as compared to east of 13.5°E. By using this novel multidisciplinary approach, we defined a management unit for the BS harbour porpoise population. We recommend that these boundaries are used for future monitoring efforts of this population under the EU directives. The boundaries may also be used for conservation efforts during the summer months, while seasonal movements of harbour porpoises should be considered during winter

The ODD protocol for describing agent-based and other simulation models: A second update to improve clarity, replication, and structural realism

© 2020, University of Surrey. All rights reserved. The Overview, Design concepts and Details (ODD) protocol for describing Individual-and Agent-Based Models (ABMs) is now widely accepted and used to document such models in journal articles. As a standardized document for providing a consistent, logical and readable account of the structure and dynamics of ABMs, some research groups also find it useful as a workflow for model design. Even so, there are still limitations to ODD that obstruct its more widespread adoption. Such limitations are discussed and addressed in this paper: the limited availability of guidance on how to use ODD; the length of ODD documents; limitations of ODD for highly complex models; lack of sufficient details of many ODDs to enable reimplementation without access to the model code; and the lack of provision for sections in the document structure covering model design ratio-nale, the model’s underlying narrative, and the means by which the model’s fitness for purpose is evaluated. We document the steps we have taken to provide better guidance on: structuring complex ODDs and an ODD summary for inclusion in a journal article (with full details in supplementary material; Table 1); using ODD to point readers to relevant sections of the model code; update the document structure to include sections on model rationale and evaluation. We also further advocate the need for standard descriptions of simulation experiments and argue that ODD can in principle be used for any type of simulation model. Thereby ODD would provide a lingua franca for simulation modelling

Nut production in Bertholletia excelsa across a logged forest mosaic: implications for multiple forest use

Although many examples of multiple-use forest management may be found in tropical smallholder systems, few studies provide empirical support for the integration of selective timber harvesting with non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction. Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) is one of the world’s most economically-important NTFP species extracted almost entirely from natural forests across the Amazon Basin. An obligate out-crosser, Brazil nut flowers are pollinated by large-bodied bees, a process resulting in a hard round fruit that takes up to 14 months to mature. As many smallholders turn to the financial security provided by timber, Brazil nut fruits are increasingly being harvested in logged forests. We tested the influence of tree and stand-level covariates (distance to nearest cut stump and local logging intensity) on total nut production at the individual tree level in five recently logged Brazil nut concessions covering about 4000 ha of forest in Madre de Dios, Peru. Our field team accompanied Brazil nut harvesters during the traditional harvest period (January-April 2012 and January-April 2013) in order to collect data on fruit production. Three hundred and ninety-nine (approximately 80%) of the 499 trees included in this study were at least 100 m from the nearest cut stump, suggesting that concessionaires avoid logging near adult Brazil nut trees. Yet even for those trees on the edge of logging gaps, distance to nearest cut stump and local logging intensity did not have a statistically significant influence on Brazil nut production at the applied logging intensities (typically 1–2 timber trees removed per ha). In one concession where at least 4 trees ha-1 were removed, however, the logging intensity covariate resulted in a marginally significant (0.09) P value, highlighting a potential risk for a drop in nut production at higher intensities. While we do not suggest that logging activities should be completely avoided in Brazil nut rich forests, when a buffer zone cannot be observed, low logging intensities should be implemented. The sustainability of this integrated management system will ultimately depend on a complex series of socioeconomic and ecological interactions. Yet we submit that our study provides an important initial step in understanding the compatibility of timber harvesting with a high value NTFP, potentially allowing for diversification of forest use strategies in Amazonian Perù