Citizens’ attitudes towards mega-events: a new framework

This research note critiques and develops the conceptual foundations of research that seeks to establish citizen’s attitudes towards mega-events. We argue that there needs to be a better appreciation of the relative influences of personal versus collective costs and benefits, as well as more understanding of the willingness of residents to trade short term impacts for those that occur over the longer term. For example, attitudes may be underpinned by willingness to trade temporary inconveniences (e.g. disruption) for lasting gains (urban regeneration) or to exchange short term benefits (event atmosphere) for long term costs (ongoing financial liabilities)

Beyond the Glamour: Resident Perceptions of Olympic Legacies and Volunteering Intentions

This study examines factors that influence residents’ volunteering behaviours post-completion of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It posits that residents’ interactions with the event over time and their perceptions of event legacies are likely to exert influence on volunteering. Data were collected in two phases between January 2013 and April 2016 amongst residents living in the borough of Weymouth and Portland. The borough is in the county of Dorset in the South West of England, and was the host destination for the sailing events of the 2012 Games. Our findings revealed that residents’ intention to volunteer post-Games declined from 2013 and 2016. Actual volunteering experience, perceived event legacy, commitment to the community, age and length of residence were found to contribute significantly to future volunteering intentions. While the results provide insights for those seeking to develop event legacy strategies to both recruit volunteers and to better leverage volunteering opportunities, it also cautions the claim of positive volunteering legacy made by the 2012 Games

Purifying selection in corvids is less efficient on islands

Funding was provided by the European Research Council (ERCStG-336536 FuncSpecGen to J.B.W.W.), the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet (621-2013-4510 to J.B.W.W.), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (to J.B.W.W.), the Lawski foundation (to V.E.K. and J.B.W.W.), the German Research Foundation (KU 3402/1-1 to V.E.K.), the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/G023913/2 to C.R.), and the New Zealand Marsden Fund (to G.R.H.).Theory predicts that deleterious mutations accumulate more readily in small populations. As a consequence, mutation load is expected to be elevated in species where life-history strategies and geographic or historical contingencies reduce the number of reproducing individuals. Yet, few studies have empirically tested this prediction using genome-wide data in a comparative framework. We collected whole-genome sequencing data for 147 individuals across seven crow species (Corvus spp.). For each species, we estimated the distribution of fitness effects of deleterious mutations and compared it with proxies of the effective population size Ne. Island species with comparatively smaller geographic range sizes had a significantly increased mutation load. These results support the view that small populations have an elevated risk of mutational meltdown, which may contribute to the higher extinction rates observed in island species.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Multiphase smoothed-particle hydrodynamics and the intracluster medium

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