Spatial interactions in a domestic cat population

The domestic cat (Felis catus) is one of the most popular pets globally, with hundreds or even thousands of individuals per km2 in some areas. Domestic cats with outdoor access have both direct effects on wildlife through predation and indirect effects on wildlife through intimidation that alters prey behavior. Knowledge about space use by outdoor cats is important for understanding and mitigating their ecological impact. Little is known of how intraspecific interactions affect space use in cat populations. Yet, cat tracking studies typically include too few individuals or are spread across study areas that are too large to provide reliable inferences about intraspecific interactions. In this study, I investigated the impact of intraspecific interactions on the combined space use of a cat population using GPS-tracking. This was made possible by the unprecedented high proportion of GPS-tagged cats: 75% of cats (n = 95) living in a 1.1 km2 suburban neighborhood in Southern Norway. I used high-throughput GPS position data and analyzed it with a combination of Brownian Bridge Movement Models and an ecological null-model to assess the role of intraspecific spatial interaction on space use in the study population. I found evidence that cats of both sexes tend to avoid conspecifics. This effect was particularly pronounced for females. Individuals less than 8 years old, regardless of sex, exhibited lower home range overlap with other individuals than older cats. I also detected indication that intraspecific avoidance led to a more widely spread population-level space use than would be expected by chance. In addition, I found that males had larger home ranges than females, and that cats below 8 years had larger home ranges than cats 8 years or older. To my knowledge, this is the first study that explored the population-level manifestation of intraspecific interaction and its consequences for the spatial configuration of a free-ranging pet cat population. From my study, I conclude that age and sex explain the propensity of domestic cats to avoid each other, as well as the variation in home range size of domestic cats. This, in turn, will determine the overall space used by the population. Now, more studies are needed to investigate interactions and their ecological role, as intraspecific interaction is an important mechanism behind density-dependent effects

Assessment of risks related to agricultural use of sewage sludge, pig and cattle slurry

In April 2017, the Organic Business Development Team released a report with 25 recommendations for the Minister of Environment and Food (Det økologiske erhvervsteam 2017). Among these was a recommendation that organic farmers should have opportunities for utilizing nutrients from treated domestic wastewater for nutrient recycling. A prerequisite for future use of nutrients from treated wastewater is, that quality requirements are met and that application can be explained to (and accepted by) consumers. In partial fulfilment of this, the business team identified a need for a scientific overview of the risks of using nutrients from treated municipal wastewater in relation to other authorized fertilizer sources – e.g. conventional animal manures. Thus, it was assumed that a comparative approach to assess potential risk of using sewage sludge and conventional manures, could usefully inform decision makers in the future regulation of organic farming systems. Dependent on the result of the scientific investigation, the Organic Business Development Team foresaw that Denmark could chose to work to expand Annex 1 of the EU Ecology Regulation, to allow the organic farmers to use nutrients from municipal wastewater or other acceptable derived sludge products. Mobilization of support for this should be done by the Ministry of Environment and Food in collaboration with the Organic Farming Industry. Thus, based on available literature, this report aims at creating an overview of the environmental and human risks associated with application of pig and cattle slurry as well as sewage sludge to agricultural soils. The risk evaluation was performed for the following compound groups: Metals, Chlorophenyls, Dioxins, Furans, Halogenated aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons (HAH), Linear alkylbenzenesulfonates (LAS), Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), Poly- and perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS), Phenols, Phosphate-triesters VII, Phthalates, Polychlorinated naphtalenes (PCN), Polychlorinated alkanes (PCA), Triclosan, Triclocarban, Medicines, Estrogens, Antibiotic resistance genes. Additionally the fertilizer potential of the two nutrient sources was characterized and compared

Human Resource Management Systems: A Structured Review of Research Contributions and Open Questions

"Against the backdrop of a long standing research tradition on the topic of HRM systems, several prominent lines of research have been developed that offer central contributions to different aspects, questions and levels of HRM systems. Due to the fact that the established conceptual and empirical approaches to HRM systems differ with respect to their levels of analysis, questions posed and methods used, the field is characterized by more or less heterogeneous contributions and no clear overall structure. However, two central perspectives in the field of HRM systems research can be identified: A content-oriented approach and a process- oriented approach. In order to connect these perspectives, we develop a set of criteria to analyze and compare systematically content-oriented research contributions in HRM systems research in terms of content-oriented as well as process-oriented aspects. On the one hand, we contribute a structured overview and systematic comparison of many different theoretical and conceptual approaches to HRM systems research, thus making it easier to access this dynamic field of research for scholars, practitioners and students. On the other hand, we derive implications for the better foundation and design of empirical studies, and thus we contribute to the fostering of empirical research about HRM systems." (author's abstract)"Vor dem Hintergrund einer langen Forschungstradition zum Thema „Betriebliche Beschäftigungssysteme“ bzw. „HRM systems“ haben sich zahlreiche Forschungsansätze entwickelt, die Erklärungsbeiträge zu verschiedenen Aspekten, Fragen und Ebenen von betrieblichen Beschäftigungssystemen leisten. Da sich die konzeptionellen Ansätze jedoch hinsichtlich der gestellten Forschungsfragen, der angewendeten Methoden sowie der Analyseebenen erheblich unterscheiden, weist das Forschungsfeld einen sehr heterogenen Charakter auf. Dabei können zwei zentrale Forschungsstränge identifiziert werden: Ein inhaltsorientierter und ein prozess-orientierter Ansatz. Der zentrale Beitrag dieses Artikels liegt in einem systematischen Überblick und Vergleich der verschiedenen theoretischen Ansätze zu HRM Systemen, der sowohl Forschern und Praktikern als auch Studenten den Zugang zu diesem dynamischen Forschungsgebiet erleichtern soll. Zu diesem Zweck werden auf Basis eines systematisch entwickelten Kriteriensets zentrale Ansätze sowohl anhand von inhalts- als auch von prozess-orientierten Aspekten analysiert und verglichen. Ferner werden zentrale Implikationen als Ausgangspunkt für eine bessere theoretische Fundierung und Gestaltung zukünftiger empirischer Studien zu HRM Systemen abgeleitet." (Autorenreferat

When cultures clash:Links between perceived cultural distance in values and attitudes towards migrants

Migration elicits mixed reactions from the host‐society. Negative responses towards migrants seem to emerge when migrants are perceived as culturally different. We investigated when and why perceived cultural distance (PCD) is associated with negative migrant attitudes by focussing on differences in cultural values. We expected that PCD in social values (focus on relationships and society) should be more strongly associated with attitudes towards migrants than personal values (individual needs and gains) and should be mediated by symbolic threat. In two quasi‐experimental studies (N = 200, N = 668) with Dutch participants (host‐society), we simultaneously tested effects of respondents’ perception of Dutch values, their perceptions of migrant values (of Moroccan, Syrian, Polish ethnic origin), and PCD between Dutch‐migrant value on attitudes. For all migrant groups, PCD in social values was associated with more negative attitudes, less tolerance, and less policy support regarding migrants; this was mediated by symbolic threat. These links were weaker for personal values

Problem awareness does not predict littering:A field study on littering in the Gambia

Littering is a worldwide problem. Recently, it has become a problem in countries that until now have had much less of some types of trash (e.g., plastics), such as in Africa. Most research on factors influencing littering has been conducted in more industrialized regions and has shown that personal norms and social norms mainly explain why people litter or act in an environmentally unfriendly way. One prominent model, the Norm Activation Model (NAM) postulates and has shown that awareness of consequences (AC), ascription of responsibility (AR), and personal norm (PN) are positively related with behavioral intention (BI) and littering behavior. In this field study we tested the model in the Gambia, West Africa, and offer new insights. We approached 132 people on the street and invited them to a candy tasting to observe their littering behavior of the candy wrapper followed by an interview assessing AC, AR, PN, and BI. Structural equation modeling confirmed an overall fit of the data to the “Western” hypothesized model. However importantly differences emerged, Gambians had a high AC, but this was not related to littering behavior. Moreover, an antilittering PN was low. The results suggest that interventions, which aim to decrease littering, should focus on promoting personal responsibility to strengthen a PN, in this context where trash facilities are not yet overall available. Future research should investigate how developing social norms could also help to keep the streets cleaner

Resolving the cultural loneliness paradox of choice:The role of cultural norms about individual choice regarding relationships in explaining loneliness in four European countries

Do cultural norms that allow individuals to choose their social relationships put them at risk for, or protect them from, loneliness? After all, more freedom to choose whom to relate to may promote that individuals can choose higher-quality relationships (which protects from loneliness), but it may also imply a higher risk of social isolation (which puts at risk for loneliness). We propose that the solution to this cultural loneliness paradox of choice is to distinguish whether more individual choice flows from cultural norms that provide more opportunities for new relationships (as implied by higher relational mobility; higher RMn), or from cultural norms that allow to leave established relationships (as implied by lower relational stability; lower RSn). Specifically, we suggest that more individual choice protects from loneliness when emerging from higher RMn (which allows to establish new higher-quality relationships), but puts at risk for loneliness when emerging from lower RSn (which increases the risk of social isolation by undermining the stability of established relationships). Findings from two cross-sectional survey studies in four European countries (Study 1: Finland, N = 237; Portugal, N = 261; Study 2: Poland, N = 242; Austria, N = 2 41) supported this line of thought: Higher RMn was consistently related to lower loneliness across all samples, and lower RSn was related to higher loneliness in two out of four samples (and either non-significantly related to higher loneliness or unrelated to it in the other two samples). We discuss the importance and implications of differentiating RMn and RSn to resolve the cultural loneliness paradox of choice