Social Interaction and Urban Sprawl

Various authors, most notably Putnam (2000), have argued that low-density living reduces social capital and thus social interaction, and this argument has been used to buttress criticisms of urban sprawl. If low densities in fact reduce social interaction, then an externality arises, validating Putnam’s critique. In choosing their own lot sizes, consumers would fail to consider the loss of interaction benefits for their neighbors when lot size is increased. Lot sizes would then be inefficiently large, and cities excessively spread out. The paper tests the premise of this argument (the existence of a positive link between interaction and density) using data from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey. In the empirical work, social interaction measures for individual survey respondents are regressed on census-tract density and a host of household characteristics, using an instrumental-variable approach to control for the potential endogeneity of density.

Social Interaction and Urban Sprawl

Various authors, most notably Putnam (2000), have argued that low-density living reduces social capital and thus social interaction, and this argument has been used to buttress criticisms of urban sprawl. If low densities in fact reduce social interaction, then an externality arises, validating Putnam's critique. The paper tests this premise using data from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey. In the empirical work, social interaction measures for individual survey respondents are regressed on census-tract density and a host of household characteristics, using an instrumental-variable approach to control for the potential endogeneity of density.Urban sprawl; Social capital

Dirac-Brueckner Hartree-Fock Approach: from Infinite Matter to Effective Lagrangians for Finite Systems

One of the open problems in nuclear structure is how to predict properties of finite nuclei from the knowledge of a bare nucleon-nucleon interaction of the meson-exchange type. We point out that a promising starting point consists in Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (DBHF) calculations us- ing realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions like the Bonn potentials, which are able to reproduce satisfactorily the properties of symmetric nuclear matter without the need for 3-body forces, as is necessary in non-relativistic BHF calculations. However, the DBHF formalism is still too com- plicated to be used directly for finite nuclei. We argue that a possible route is to define effective Lagrangians with density-dependent nucleon-meson coupling vertices, which can be used in the Relativistic Hartree (or Relativistic Mean Field (RMF)) or preferrably in the Relativistic Hartree- Fock (RHF) approach. The density-dependence is matched to the nuclear matter DBHF results. We review the present status of nuclear matter DBHF calculations and discuss the various schemes to construct the self-energy, which lead to differences in the predictions. We also discuss how effective Lagrangians have been constructed and are used in actual calculations. We point out that completely consistent calculations in this scheme still have to be performed.Comment: 16 pages, to be published in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, special issue

Indigenous entrepreneurship: Closing the gap on local terms

Within the federal government ‘Closing the Gap’ policy context this paper reports on local entrepreneurial activities by local Yolngu people in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Particular attention is directed to members of the Rirratjingu clan in the town of Yirrkala. We describe how the activities of a local social enterprise offer pathways for the creation of income, employment and social capital within the local community and where the protection of cultural vitality and integrity is axiomatic. The findings point to the need for more flexible policy approaches, to enable the establishment and growth of Indigenous business activities outside the economic mainstream. We echo the calls in the literature for policy support for what has been described as the ‘hybrid economy’, which allows for participation in both economic and cultural activities

Report from solar physics

A discussion of the nature of solar physics is followed by a brief review of recent advances in the field. These advances include: the first direct experimental confirmation of the central role played by thermonuclear processes in stars; the discovery that the 5-minute oscillations of the Sun are a global seismic phenomenon that can be used as a probe of the structure and dynamical behavior of the solar interior; the discovery that the solar magnetic field is subdivided into individual flux tubes with field strength exceeding 1000 gauss. Also covered was a science strategy for pure solar physics. Brief discussions are given of solar-terrestrial physics, solar/stellar relationships, and suggested space missions

Australian indigenous social enterprise: Measuring performance

Purpose Using an integrated framework for performance management of nonprofit organisations, this paper presents an analysis of the activities of an Indigenous social enterprise in the town of Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The evaluation focuses on the social effectiveness of the organisation and its ability to help generate income and employment and drive social capital creation. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is informed by data derived from ‘yarns’ with social enterprise staff and semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants who were selected using snowball sampling. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically. Findings The analysis reveals that the organisation provides a successful community-based pathway to increasing Indigenous economic participation on local terms at a time of regional economic decline and high levels of Indigenous unemployment nationally. Practical implications The measured effectiveness of Nuwul highlights the need for targeted policy support for Indigenous enterprises and that social entrepreneurship is far more likely to be successful in a supportive government policy environment. a critical need for government-initiated policies to encourage the formation of Indigenous social enterprises that are entrepreneurial and innovative in their solutions to poverty and marginalization. Such policies should not only aid the establishment of Indigenous ventures but also facilitate their long-term growth and sustainability. Originality/value While Indigenous entrepreneurial activities have been found to be effective in addressing Indigenous disadvantage in Australia, little is known about their community impact. The article provides original empirically grounded research on the measurement of Indigenous entrepreneurial activities and their wider community impact. The data show, against the backdrop of mixed results of government efforts to drive Indigenous economic mainstreaming, that the entrepreneurial activities analyzed in this paper are an example of more flexible and culturally appropriate pathways to achieving Indigenous equality in rural and remote regions of Australia

Study of the relationship between solar activity and terrestrial weather

Evidence for some connection between weather and solar related phenomena is presented. Historical data of world wide temperature variations with relationship to change in solar luminosity are examined. Several test methods for estimating the statistical significance of such phenomena are discussed in detail

Indigenous entrepreneurship: Closing the gap on local terms

Australian federal government policy over the last ten years has renewed the focus on closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, targeting chiefly improvements in health and economic participation among Indigenous people. Thus far, however, the results have been mixed, in part because of the endurance of Indigenous socio-economic disadvantage in Australia which cannot be expected to be undone within a matter of years. Failure to deliver better policy outcomes, however, can also be seen as a function of an inflexible policy design, which aims at the mainstreaming of Indigenous communities on non-Indigenous terms, whilst militating against the potential for Indigenous entrepreneurial activities especially in rural and remote regions.Against this policy background, this paper reports on local entrepreneurial activities by local Yolngu clans in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territories (NT). In particular, attention is directed to local for-profit and not-for-profit activities by members of the Gumatj clan south of the regional centre of Nhulunbuy and the Rirratjingu operations in the town Yirrkala respectively. The paper describes how the ventures run by the Gumatj and Rirratjingu clans offer pathways for the creation of income, employment and social capital within the respective local communities whilst also being axiomatic in the protection of cultural vitality and integrity. The findings point to the need for more flexible approaches to policy design and delivery, enabling the establishment and growth of Indigenous business activities outside the economic mainstream targeted by federal government policy. As such, the authors echo calls in the literature for policy support for what has been described as the 'hybrid economy', which allows for participation in both economic and cultural activities both of which are crucial for Indigenous future well-being as they are for any cultural group

Geographic variation in the calling songs and genetics of Bartram's round-winged katydid Amblycorypha bartrami (Tettigoniidae, Phaneropterinae) reveal new species

Previous work on Bartram's round-winged katydid, Amblycorypha bartrami Walker, found inconsistencies in song variation across the species' range. Individuals of purported populations of A. bartrami from sandhills across the southeastern US were collected, recorded, and their genes were sequenced to better understand their population structure and evolution. Significant differences in songs, morphology, and genetics were found among populations from Alabama (AL), Georgia (GA), North Carolina (NC), and South Carolina (SC), and they differed from those of individuals collected from the type locality in Florida (FL). Males from all populations produced songs composed of a series of similar syllables, but they differed in the rates at which syllables were produced as a function of temperature. At temperatures of 25°C, the calling songs of males from populations in northern AL and GA were found to have the highest syllable rates, those from SC had the lowest rates, and those from NC were found to produce songs with doublet syllables at rates that were intermediate between those of males from FL and those of AL and GA. These song differences formed the basis for cluster analyses and principal component analyses, which showed significant clustering and differences in song spectra and morphology among the song morphs. A Bayesian multi-locus, multi-species coalescent analysis found significant divergences from a panmictic population for the song morphs. Populations from GA and AL are closely related to those of A. bartrami in FL, whereas populations from NC and SC are closely related to each other and differ from the other three. Large river systems may have been important in isolating these populations of flightless katydids. Based on the results of our analyses of songs, morphology, and genetics, three new species of round-winged katydids from the southeastern coastal plain and piedmont are described