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Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) or local ecological knowledge (LEK) has only recently gained traction as "legitimate" science in Western academic discourse. Such approaches to inclusivity continue to face institutional, sociocultural, and equity barriers to being fully accepted in academic discourse in comparison to Western-based frameworks. Postcolonial studies have attempted to rectify this Western-domination in characterizing diverse forms of bird--human relationships. However, the integration of multiple cosmologies (worldviews) and ontologies (realities) in research or management creates challenges that we discuss. We elucidate commonalities and antithetical positions between Western-derived bird knowledge and management with that of TEK or LEK in both local and global contexts. We combine ecological/ornithological studies with key terms, theories, and methods from the social sciences to integrate the approaches and facilitate understanding. For example, we follow a "theory synthesis" approach in this conceptual paper to question epistemological and ontological assumptions of bird knowledge and how we acquire it to question, "how do we move from a decolonial approach (discussions and acknowledgement) to decolonization (action)?" This paper is a product of ongoing discourse among global researchers of an academic ethno-ornithology research lab based in the United Kingdom, who partner with global collaborators. The 3 case studies draw from ongoing research in Southeast Asia, South America, and decolonializing policy efforts in New Zealand. We analyzed these case studies using a postcolonial theoretical lens to provide insights into how Western scientists can embrace TEK and LEK and actively work to decolonize ethno-ornithology and ornithology in theory and practice. Further, we discuss perceived core tenets to equity and inclusion in community-based TEK and LEK conservation projects from the Global South. Diversity, equity, inclusivity, and justice in bird--human relations and knowledge were identified as targets for systemic change within the academic institutions of Western scientists. By recognizing, discussing, and embracing non-Western cosmologies and ontologies, non-Indigenous scientists can help influence the decolonization of ethno-ornithology, ornithology, and bird--human relations through respectful, participatory, equitable, culturally considerate, and "non-extractive" community-based initiatives in partnership with local groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community work and empowerment are contested concepts that have been co-opted for political purposes. With the rising focus in welfare provision for older adults in light of the ageing population worldwide, there is a need to understand the current forms of empowerment in community work with older adults. This review plugs the research gap by reviewing studies of community work with older adults in the social work field. An electronic search of studies published between 2009 and 2019 on three major databases for social science research was conducted. Eleven papers were included in the review and compared through a coding frame. The conceptualization of empowerment, the theoretical framework, approach to community intervention and the nature of the intervention was examined. Most of the reviewed interventions involved social planning where the participation of older adults was enlisted to address a problem identified by professionals, but there was little theoretical overlap in the studies. The findings underscore gaps present in the theoretical understanding of empowerment and how the well-being of older adults is advanced through community work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent study published in The Lancet predicts a remarkable drop in population numbers following a peak that will be reached by 2064. A unique feature of the upcoming population drop is that it will be almost exclusively caused by decreased reproduction, rather than factors that increase rates of mortality. The reasons for decreased reproduction are also unique, as, unlike previous centuries, limited reproduction today is hardly due to a shortage in resources. In other words, the predicted population drop is almost exclusively due to changes in reproductive behavior and reproductive physiology. Today, global changes in reproductive behavior are mostly explained by social sciences in a framework of demographic transition hypotheses, while changes in reproductive physiology are usually attributed to effects of endocrine-disrupting pollutants. This review outlines a complementary/alternative hypothesis, which connects reproductive trends with population densities. Numerous wildlife and experimental studies of a broad range of animal species have demonstrated that reproductive behavior and reproductive physiology are negatively controlled via endocrine and neural signaling in response to increasing population densities. The causal chain of this control system, although not fully understood, includes suppression of every level of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal cascade by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, activated in response to increasing stress of social interactions. This paper discusses evidence in support of a hypothesis that current trends in reproductive physiology and behavior may be partly explained by increasing population densities. Better understanding of the causal chain involved in reproduction suppression by population density–related factors may help in developing interventions to treat infertility and other reproductive conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in the 2010s, researchers in the experimental social sciences rapidly began to adopt increasingly open and reproducible scientific practices. These practices include publicly sharing deidentified data when possible, sharing analytical code, and preregistering study protocols. Empirical evidence from the social sciences suggests such practices are feasible, can improve analytical reproducibility, and can reduce selective reporting. In academic epidemiology, adoption of open-science practices has been slower than in the social sciences (with some notable exceptions, such as registering clinical trials). Epidemiologic studies are often large, complex, conceived after data have already been collected, and difficult to replicate directly by collecting new data. These characteristics make it especially important to ensure their integrity and analytical reproducibility. Open-science practices can also pay immediate dividends to researchers' own work by clarifying scientific reasoning and encouraging well-documented, organized workflows. We consider how established epidemiologists and early-career researchers alike can help midwife a culture of open science in epidemiology through their research practices, mentorship, and editorial activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparency has often been hailed as a golden tool to bolster citizens' trust in government and improve public governance. However, there is a considerable disparity in theoretical reasoning and empirical findings. Through a meta-analysis of 49 studies with 436 effect sizes, this study provides novel perspectives for understanding the effect of transparency on citizens' trust in government. To test these mechanisms, we draw on various social science theories such as agency theory, deliberative democracy theory, procedural justice theory, a disappointment effect view, and a misinformation/information overload view. The meta-analysis indicates that the overall effect of transparency on trust is positive and significant, with an average effect size being 0.13 points. The meta-regression results further show that the impact of transparency on trust is negatively moderated by computer-mediated transparency and decision-making transparency, and it varies in a non-linear pattern with the level and the color of transparency. The findings from this article advance the theoretical development of the contextual conditions under which transparency may or may not lead to more trust in government. They also suggest helpful strategies for governments to foster a trusting relationship with their citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies gender bias in early-stage academic evaluations in Italy and investigates whether this bias depends on various types of authorship in collaborative work across three academic fields: humanities, economics, and social sciences. We test our hypotheses via a factorial survey (vignette) experiment on a sample from the entire population of associate and full professors employed at Italian public universities in 2019. This is one of the few experiments conducted with university professors to consider hiring propensities in academia. Contrary to our general expectations, we do not find gender bias in relation to co-authorship in our general population of interest. However, the results provide some evidence that when the evaluator is a man, highly collaborative women academics in Italy receive less favourable evaluations of their qualifications compared to male colleagues with identical credentials. This gender bias is found in economics, a field where the conventions of co-authorship allow for greater uncertainty about individual contributions to a joint publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Swiss Job Market Monitor (SJMM) is a data collection of job ads for a national labour market from 1950 onwards. It is a prime example for demonstrating how to turn digital data into a high-quality social science data set. It is also exemplary for combining digital data with historically grown job ads data to provide a comparable time series covering the past 70 years. Paying close attention to sampling procedures, coverage, and key variables, the Data Brief shows how the SJMM profits from opportunities offered by computational social science and computational linguistics to navigate a wholly new set of challenges involved in creating such a data set. It closes with a discussion of new research opportunities this data set is opening for investigating the labour market as a core institution of modern society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Birth of the Mexican Problem is a historian's version of a postcolonial analysis. I use the narrative history and research materials of one of the earliest think tanks in U.S. history to show how and why Mexico was made legible to U.S. audiences. Not just a response to early twentieth-century Mexican migration, the so-called Mexican problem was also deeply tied to U.S. capitalists' economic interests in Mexico. I argue for the centrality of ties between big business, academics, and government in constructing ideas about Mexico and Mexican transnational labor. The story begins with an oilman named Edward Doheny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, collaboration has flourished in the public administration and policy fields as a rational means to solve complex issues and improve public service performance. Through a meta-analysis of 26 studies with 251 effect sizes, this investigation provides novel perspectives for understanding the effects of different collaborative partnerships on performance. To test these mechanisms, we applied various social science theories, such as institutional theory, resource dependence theory, a resource-based view, and transaction cost theories. Our findings indicate that the overall effect of collaborative performance is positive and significant. Moreover, meta-regression results show that public–public collaboration results in better performance than public–nonprofit or public–business collaboration, while involving all three entity types in collaborative efforts yields similar outcomes to public–public collaboration. Several implications of these findings are outlined for researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars continue to debate the relationship of academic international relations to policy. One of the most straightforward ways to discern whether policymakers find IR scholarship relevant to their work is to ask them. We analyzed an elite survey of US policy practitioners to better understand the conditions under which practitioners use academic knowledge in their work. We surveyed officials across three different policy areas: international development, national security, and trade. We also employed multiple survey experiments in an effort to causally identify the impact of academic consensus on the views of policy officials and to estimate the relative utility of different kinds of research outputs. We found that policymakers frequently engage with academic ideas, find an array of research outputs and approaches useful, and that scholarly findings can shift their views. Key obstacles to using academic knowledge include practitioners' lack of time as well as academic work being too abstract and not timely, but not that it is overly quantitative. Additionally, we documented important differences between national security officials and their counterparts who work in the areas of development and trade. We suggest that this variation is rooted in the nature of the different policy areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the apparent disruption of legal scholarship wrought by leximetrics—variable-oriented, predictive methods. We view the skepticism surrounding leximetrics as healthy, in that it focuses attention on some central inferential challenges relevant to most empirical methods. Scholarly anxiety may be a natural by-product of this disruption, as scholars navigate the rise and fall in popularity of various ideas and approaches. Some of this anxiety is related to a perceived hierarchy of methodological approaches in social science. Nonetheless, we are hopeful that broadminded, ecumenical tastes will prevail. One likely future for legal scholars is similar to that of political science, whose practitioners have largely embraced methodological pluralism, and maintained the value of case-oriented research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After showing discipline's centrality in Kant's pedagogy, I briefly highlight Montessori's alternative and then turn to three fundamental differences between Kant and Montessori that partly explain their divergent accounts. My goal is not to assess whether Kant or Montessori gets the role of discipline 'right', but to highlight broader stakes of their disagreement and ways deeper features of Kant's psychology and moral theory ground his emphasis on discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on role of Comparative Law in the Social Sciences. Topics include serving as a scholarly forum for the field of comparative legal studies and providing researchers with a broad understanding of the utility of comparative studies; and judicialization of politics, the commodification of legal entitlements, or the juridification of social spheres.