Fall panicum is a major annual grass weed in drill-seeded rice production systems on organic soils in Florida. Field studies conducted in 2021 and 2022 aimed to determine the effects of season-long fall panicum interference on rough rice yield on organic soils. The relationship between fall panicum density and percent rough rice yield loss relative to the weed-free control was described using the rectangular hyperbola model. Yield loss increased with increasing fall panicum density. The initial slope parameter (I), representing percent yield loss as density approaches zero, was estimated at 9.7%, indicating that even very low fall panicum densities caused measurable yield reductions. The asymptote parameter (A), representing percent yield loss as density approaches infinity, was estimated at 118%, suggesting that yield loss approaches 100% at very high fall panicum densities within the biological limits of the crop-weed interference. Within the observed density range (1 to 49 plants m−2), yield loss was predicted to increase from approximately 9% to 95%, and 50% yield loss was estimated to occur at 9 plants m−2. Thousand-grain weight declined linearly with increasing fall panicum density, with each additional fall panicum plant per square meter reducing thousand-grain weight by 0.18 g, indicating that fall panicum interference affected grain filling. These results demonstrate that fall panicum is highly competitive with rice and that even low infestations can result in substantial yield loss, showing the importance of timely and effective management in Florida rice organic soil production systems.

Since the late twentieth century, institutional autonomy has become a major issue in the relationship between the government and higher education institutions, with autonomy being presented as a virtuous option that satisfied both government’s regulatory aims and institutional capacities to develop in an increasingly dynamic and complex sector. Due to concerns about the effectiveness of higher education, the development of autonomy was increasingly linked to a market-like logic, with a growing emphasis on competition and efficiency. Thus, what was initially regarded as a path to emancipation of institutions from government’s influence became a mode of relationship that could curtail previous dimensions of autonomy. One of the major regulatory dimensions that helps understand the reversals and nuances of institutional autonomy is funding. Like other regulatory dimensions, recent decades have seen the emergence of new forms of funding that have influenced institutional governance and management. In this text, we analyse these trends in European higher education by mapping changes in governments’ approaches to the sector, specifically the evolution of funding mechanisms and how these highlight a shift in the pendulum between degrees of autonomy and modes of government’s influence in institutions.

The 1891 International Gymnastics Festival, Sweden’s first international sports event and five years before the first modern Olympic Games, was hugely controversial. Many people argued that hosting the festival threatened the survival of Sweden’s own “Ling gymnastics” and even Swedish culture itself. These critics feared that hosting the competition, which would be shaped by outside influence, in turn would disadvantage Ling gymnastics and reduce confidence in a system that Swedes had believed to be the best in the world. The episode illustrates the complications arising from the emergence of international athletic competition and the underlying tension between nationalist and internationalist considerations.

Coinfections of hosts by multiple parasite species and strains are widespread in nature. Theory suggests that these infections have a key influence on the virulence, or harm caused, to hosts. However, it is still unclear whether multiple parasites, which may compete for resources and space, are indeed worse for hosts across the tree of life. To test this hypothesis, we conducted separate meta-analyses based on different expectations derived from virulence in single infections. We included 68 effect sizes from 19 experiments on non-human animal host species and 38 parasite species combinations. We found that coinfections are overall more virulent than the mean degree of harm caused by both parasites in retrospective single infections. That said, the coinfection virulence level is similar to that of the most virulent parasite, and less than the additive virulence of both single infections. These results suggest that the most virulent parasite is the primary driver of virulence in coinfection. This finding has implications for parasite spread in nature and suggests we focus on controlling the more harmful parasites in the first instance, when trying to limit the damage caused by coinfection.

Recent surveys have suggested that over half of UK households own a pet. One important aspect to this ownership is ensuring that access to appropriate veterinary care is available for their pets. To measure the ease of accessibility to such care, three aspects are important, the local demand for veterinary care, the supply of care, and the ease of travel to obtain the care. For the first element, in this study estimates were made of the household pet population for all neighbourhoods in England and Wales (36,672 neighbourhoods each containing approximately 700 households). Information regarding the location and number of veterinarians working in local practices was then used, with vehicle journey times, to provide a measure of accessibility to veterinary care. It was found that the more affluent and rural locations have better accessibility to veterinary care than deprived and urban locations. The detailed geography of the estimates provided by this study enabled the location of potential ‘veterinary deserts’ to be identified. With this knowledge additional provision can be prioritised to such locations with a view to improving the welfare of companion animals. Not only will this improve the accessibility of veterinary care but, through competition, this also has the potential to reduce care costs. Thus, the likelihood of pets receiving the care they need will improve. Whilst this study focuses upon England and Wales, the methodology presented would be equally valid in other settings where appropriate data exist.

Despite a growing literature on niche parties, little is known about whether and how these parties are responsive to policy competition. Drawing upon data on regionalist parties’ programmatic strategies across Western Europe from 1971 to 2009, I find that these niche parties are more ideologically flexible than previously posited when facing governmental policy appeasement. While they do not shift to a more extreme issue position following increases in a region's decentralization level, regionalist parties do broaden their issue agenda. Issue diversification, however, is limited to those parties whose goals are being met; dissatisfied secessionist parties do not expand their issue emphases after decentralization reforms short of independence. Supported by emerging evidence of similar agenda diversification among appeased green and radical right parties, these analyses further our understanding of niche parties as strategic actors and offer new explanations for variation in the effectiveness of mainstream party tactics towards them.

Nonprofit organizations increasingly rely on earned revenue to sustain their mission-driven activities. Previous research examining the effects of earned revenue on other income streams tends to study earned revenue in the aggregate. Using panel data from 12,372 organizations from 2010 to 2015, this analysis applies a framework of revenue embeddedness to link earned revenue activities to mission and analyze the effects of earned revenue activities on donations. Earned revenue activities offering new products or services to existing donors appear to complement individual donations. These findings have theoretical and practical applications related to how nonprofits pursue earned revenue.

Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromised advocacy can be linked to financial, organizational and institutional factors. The article draws on an original survey of 2678 Swedish CSOs. The analyses show that certain levels of funding make CSOs more likely to hold back in their criticism, but also organizational and institutional factors play a role. The results identify the importance of distinguishing between objective and subjective factors related to how dependency is framed. It is the felt needs, experiences and perceptions of CSOs themselves that make hem prone to the strategic choice to hold back criticism of public authorities.

This article focuses on the nexus between the governance of U.S. nonprofit organizations and their ability to secure the resources necessary to effectively execute their missions. Different sources of nonprofit income are associated with alternative stakeholders. Viewing these constituencies as beneficiary groups, we consider how the particular mix of income sources influences the capacity of nonprofits to generate resources, especially if there is competition among stakeholder groups for control of the organization’s policies and practices. We then ask how nonprofit governance might be modified to improve the ability of the organization to generate resources through a regime of economic stakeholder governance.

This article introduces a discussion on defining, measuring, and assessing the quality of democracy. Providing a short overview of the papers of the Symposium, it places them within a broader context of current academic debate on various methodological, theoretical, and policy outreach dimensions of the topic.

This article examines an experiential student workshop focused on state–voluntary sector relationships in the UK, which formed part of a postgraduate voluntary sector studies programme. The different group behaviours observed were instructive in illustrating how students, all working in third sector or related public agencies, perceive and have assimilated demands and practices of the external environment. These insights also highlight the value of experiential learning in higher education both for student reflection and research. The article adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examine some consequences of ideologies and behaviours associated with managerial culture permeating actions in this interactive setting. It combines critical discussion of non-profit organizations with group relations and learning theories, offering a different perspective through which to explore patterns embedded in inter-agency relationships. Consideration of ways that these patterns might be changed to improve the service environment in the voluntary sector has wider implications for research in this field.