“Bringing the migrant back in”: mobility,conflict, and social change in contemporary society

Dominant social theories have rarely placed migration at the center of our understanding of society and social change. Classical theories in the Western tradition have been more preoccupied with the impact of economic and political revolutions on social change, stratification and class conflict, and have paid far less attention to other important aspects of society. Contemporary theories have expanded the theoretical gaze to include a much wider set of issues, from racial and gender divisions to warfare and the environment. In an era of globalization, we argue that such a marginalization of the migrant, and the failure to better integrate both internal and external migration into a more nuanced interpretation of social change, is a significant shortcoming. By examining some of the key elements linked to such human movement in Europe, North America and China -- in the light of five recent studies in this field -- we argue that migration is a vital factor in changing the world as we know it and consequently a central concern for social theory. This is a review essay on:Richard Alba and Nancy Foner. Strangers No More: Immigration and the Challenges of Integration in North America and Western Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015.Louis DeSipio and Rodolfo de la Garza. US Immigration in the Twenty-First Century: Making Americans, Remaking America. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2015.Adrian Favell. Immigration, Integration and Mobility: New Agendas in Migration Studies. Colchester: ECPR Press, 2015.Zhongshan Yue. Social Integration of Rural-Urban Migrants in China: Current Status, Determinants and Consequences. Singapore: World Scientific Publishers, 2015.Robyn R Iredale and Fei Guo. Handbook of Chinese Migration: Identity and Wellbeing. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015.     

On morality and chemistry

Cartesian separation and enlightenment have led to a widespread conceptual separation of science and technology. Consequently a certain philosophical tradition holdspure science as a metaphysical striving for irrefutable truth that is morally neutral and only (dirty?) applications as morally accountable. An opposite extreme position holds scientists responsible for everything that is done with their discoveries. Based on an interpretation of science to be a social construct and the observation that moral criteria are the results of social processes the paper demonstrates by the example of synthetic chemistry that science is not an elite end in itself and as such is not free from obligation to moral criteria. The moral responsibility of a scientist, which arises from his professional expertise, is limited to the available knowledge of his discipline. The moral responsibility, which he carries beyond that as responsible acting human, derives from the cultural identity and the normative values under which his action is carried out. This conclusion is illustrated by the examples of DDT, Aspirin and Heroin.     

Interaktion des <Emphasis Type="Italic">als ob</Emphasis>: Privatanleger und Anlageberater

Since the late nineties, stock market investments have become an attractive option for many who want to secure or improve their standard of living, although ?stocks“ are an obscure subject for most of them. They have to rely on investment consultants in banks. Until the stock market crash, there was no reason to complain about the consulting process — shares kept going up in value.But it is remarkable that following the crash, which caused many investors to lose a large amount of money, the relationship between private investors and investment consultants does not seem to have been damaged.In our paper we first show the legal requirements for investment consulting and how these requirements are implemented by banks, and we identify considerable discrepancies between the theoretical and the actual fulfillment of these legal requirements.We then show that it is impossible to meet these requirements in reality because they rely on unrealistic assumptions regarding a consulting process that both adequately covers investment options and addresses the needs of investors. We argue that both sides are more or less satisfied with the situation because they operate on an as if basis: consultant and client talk and behave as if they understood each other.As if the consultant had really informed the client and as if the client had really understood the consultant. This as if which both parties are aware of but which is not openly discussed is the condition of a successful consultancy process and for making the business happen.     

Co-development of Problem Gambling and Depression Symptoms in Emerging Adults: A Parallel-Process Latent Class Growth Model

This study examines whether there are multiple joint trajectories of depression and problem gambling co-development in a sample of emerging adults. Data were from the Manitoba Longitudinal Study of Young Adults (n = 679), which was collected in 4 waves across 5 years (age 18–20 at baseline). Parallel process latent class growth modeling was used to identified 5 joint trajectory classes: low decreasing gambling, low increasing depression (81%); low stable gambling, moderate decreasing depression (9%); low stable gambling, high decreasing depression (5%); low stable gambling, moderate stable depression (3%); moderate stable problem gambling, no depression (2%). There was no evidence of reciprocal growth in problem gambling and depression in any of the joint classes. Multinomial logistic regression analyses of baseline risk and protective factors found that only neuroticism, escape-avoidance coping, and perceived level of family social support were significant predictors of joint trajectory class membership. Consistent with the pathways model framework, we observed that individuals in the problem gambling only class were more likely using gambling as a stable way to cope with negative emotions. Similarly, high levels of neuroticism and low levels of family support were associated with increased odds of being in a class with moderate to high levels of depressive symptoms (but low gambling problems). The results suggest that interventions for problem gambling and/or depression need to focus on promoting more adaptive coping skills among more “at-risk” young adults, and such interventions should be tailored in relation to specific subtypes of comorbid mental illness.     

Uniform trade rules for uncleared markets

We analyze markets in which the price of a traded commodity is such that the supply and the demand are unequal. Under standard assumptions, the agents then have single peaked preferences on their consumption or production choices. For such markets, we propose a class of Uniform trade rules each of which determines the volume of trade as the median of total demand, total supply, and an exogenous constant. Then these rules allocate this volume “uniformly” on either side of the market. We evaluate these “trade rules” on the basis of some standard axioms in the literature. We show that they uniquely satisfy Pareto optimality, strategy proofness, no-envy, and an informational simplicity axiom that we introduce. We also analyze the implications of anonymity, renegotiation proofness, and voluntary trade on this domain.     

Nest predators,but not nest survival,differ between adjacent urban habitats

Growing human populations make it imperative for ecologists to identify strategies to conserve biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes, such as cities. Effects of urbanization on birds are particularly well-studied, but questions remain regarding the best conservation approaches. Debate about the relative utility of focusing conservation efforts on nature reserves versus developed lands has focused largely on comparing species abundance or presence, with few studies addressing underlying behavioral or demographic mechanisms. Here we evaluated differences in avian reproductive success in nature reserves and matrix habitats to test the assumption that nest predation is lower within areas protected from development. Specifically, we investigated 1) whether nest survival differed in replicated pairs of forest parks and residential neighborhoods and 2) whether differences in nest survival were associated with changes in which species most frequently depredated nests. From April–August 2007–2014, we monitored nests of two native birds, American robin (Turdus migratorius) and northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), and video-documented nest predators in paired forest-matrix habitats in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. We found similar rates of nest survival in the two habitats for both robins (Χ²₁?=?0.715, p?=?0.398, n?=?741 nests) and cardinals (Χ²₁?=?0.926, p?=?0.336, n?=?1156 nests), but interactions between predators and prey differed. In particular, domestic cats (Felis catus) were over five times as likely to depredate cardinal nests in matrix habitats versus forest parks (Χ²₁?=?7.24, simulated p?=?0.010; n_forest?=?3, n_matrix?=?7). Our results suggest that at least in some circumstances, nest success of native birds may be equivalent between nature reserves and adjacent residential matrix habitats, and thus residential neighborhoods may contribute positively to bird conservation in urban landscapes.     

Balanced allocation methods for claims problems with indivisibilities

We study claims problems in which a certain amount of indivisible units (of an homogeneous good) has to be distributed among a group of agents, when this amount is not enough to fully satisfy agents’ demands. Our aim is to find solutions fulfilling procedural and fairness properties. To do that, we define the M-down methods, which are the unique robust (composition down and consistency) and fair (balancedness and conditional full compensation) rules. Besides, we also establish the relationship between these M-down methods and the constrained equal awards rule.     

Food in a row: urban trees offer valuable floral resources to pollinating insects

Urbanization affects the availability and diversity of floral resources (pollen and/or nectar) for wild pollinating insects. For example, urban green areas are characterized by an abundance of ornamental plant species. Increasingly, trees are planted to improve the aesthetics of urban streets and parks. These urban trees might offer important floral resources to pollinating insects. To examine the suitability of urban trees as resources for pollinating insects, we investigated the chemical composition of pollen and nectar as well as the amount of nectar produced by the nine major insect-pollinated tree species planted in cities of Western Europe, namely Acer pseudoplatanus, Aesculus carnea, A. hippocastanum, Robinia pseudoacacia, Tilia cordata, T. x euchlora, T. x europaea, T. platyphyllos and T. tomentosa. The analyses revealed that globally the Tilia trees provide pollen with lower contents of polypeptides, amino acids and phytosterols compared with the other species. Urban tree flowers offer abundant nectar with relatively high sugar contents (0.16–1.28 mg/flower); sucrose was the predominant sugar in all nectars. The investigated tree species could therefore be considered in future city plantings.     

On the equivalence between progressive taxation and inequality reduction

We establish the precise connections between progressive taxation and inequality reduction, in a setting where the level of tax revenue to be raised is exogenously fixed and tax schemes are balanced. We show that, in contrast with the traditional literature on taxation, the equivalence between inequality reduction and the combination of progressivity and income order preservation does not always hold in this setting. However, we show that, among rules satisfying consistency and, either revenue continuity, or revenue monotonicity, the equivalence remains intact.     

Robust normative comparisons of socially risky situations

In this paper, we theoretically characterize robust empirically implementable normative criteria for evaluating socially risky situations. Socially risky situations are modeled as distributions, among individuals, of lotteries on a finite set of state-contingent pecuniary consequences. Individuals are assumed to have selfish Von Neumann–Morgenstern preferences for these socially risky situations. We provide empirically implementable criteria that coincide with the unanimity, over a reasonably large class of such individual preferences, of anonymous and Pareto-inclusive Von Neuman Morgenstern social rankings of risks. The implementable criteria can be interpreted as sequential expected poverty dominance. An illustration of the usefulness of the criteria for comparing the exposure to unemployment risk of different segments of the French and US workforce is also provided.     

Park pruning prompts a competitive reversal of an exotic tree, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ligustrum lucidum</Emphasis>, in urban forests of Japan

Ligustrum lucidum, a tree native to China has naturalized in Japan where it is often planted in parks and along roads. Naturalized individuals in urban woodlands have uncertain competitiveness against native species, particular in light of the frequent pruning undertaken in these woodlands. We compared fitness-related traits of Ligustrum against two co-occurring native species: a pioneer tree (Mallotus japonicus) and an understory tree (Eurya japonica) under pruned and un-pruned settings. A growth experiments where we assessed the leaf and whole plant characteristics of the 3 species under two environments simulating forest edge and forest interior, and two pruning treatments (with or without) was conducted. Under simulated forest edge without pruning, Ligustrum had lower stem growth and A_max (maximum photosynthetic rate) than Mallotus, suggesting that native species can competitively suppress invasive expansion. With pruning, however, Ligustrum resprouted vigorously in both spring and summer with significantly higher apical growth and total shoots than Mallotus and Eurya in forest edge and interior, respectively. Also, with similar A_max between resprouts of Ligustrum and Mallotus, we see a reversal of competitive advantage in favor of Ligustrum in forest edge. In the forest interior, Ligustrum exhibited shade tolerant properties (i.e., A_max, chlorophyll a/b, and leaf density) similar to Eurya but had more resprout shoots, suggesting that the invader also maintains an advantage under low light. The competitiveness of Ligustrum clearly increased with human disturbance in the form of park pruning. Such management practice can inadvertently enhance the invasiveness of exotic species in urban settings.     

Der Einfluss der Gruppengröße auf die Aktivität von Parteimitgliedern

In this paper, we aim to test Olson’s (The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1965) assumptions of group size effects on free-riding tendencies in political parties. Multilevel analyses of the Deutsche Parteimitgliederstudie (German Party Membership Study) 2009 reveal that for members of the CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, the assumed negative relationship between the number of party members in the district association and their individual level of activity can only be shown for the eastern states of Germany. Moreover, we show that selective incentives are not suitable for reducing the negative impact of a increasing membership figure, while normative incentives are associated with an increasing free-riding tendency with increasing number of members in the western and eastern Bundesländer. Our results only partly support the assumptions on collective action problems and point to a need for further theoretical and empirical research on group size effects and on the role incentives’ play in explaining the activity in political parties.     

Nicht nur Gesundheit! Zusammenhänge zwischen psychischen Belastungen und Mitarbeiterbindung

Aim: Psychological risk assessments at work serve to identify psychological risk factors and their relation to health and well-being outcomes. Objective of the present study is to investigate which work characteristics predict commitment and turnover intentions of employees.Design: Based on the guidelines of the GDA (Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy), a questionnaire was developed that captures psychological risk factors at work. Additionally, people were asked to indicate their commitment and their turnover intentions. Based on the guidelines of the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy we assessed four domains of psychological job demands (job content, work organization, social relationships and environmental demands) as well as affective commitment and turnover intention in a sample of 453 full-time employees. Using hierarchical regression analyses, we tested the predictive power of the psychological demands for the different indicators of employee retention.Results: Work content and social relationships were found to be significant predictors for commitment and turnover intentions, whereas work organisation and work context did not predict the outcomes. A detailed analysis of the single risk factors identified autonomy as the strongest predictor for both commitment and turnover intentions.Limitations: The single predictors are not independent and the cross sectional design does not allow for causality interpretations.Practical implications: Based on the assessment of critical psychological risk factors, it is possible to take individual and structural measures to promote commitment and to reduce turnover intentions.     

Effects of physical,virtual reality-based,and brain exercise on physical,cognition, and preference in older persons: a randomized controlled trial

Background

Physical exercise (PE), virtual reality-based exercise (VRE), and brain exercise (BE) can influence physical and cognitive conditions in older persons. However, it is not known which of the three types of exercises provide the best effects on physical and cognitive status, and which exercise is preferred by older persons. This study compared the effects of PE, VRE, and BE on balance, muscle strength, cognition, and fall concern. In addition, exercise effort perception and contentment in older persons was evaluated.

Methods

Eighty-four older persons (n?=?84) were randomly selected for PE, VRE, BE, and control groups. The exercise groups received 8-week training, whereas the control group did not. Balance was assessed by Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Timed Up and Go test (TUG), muscle strength by 5 Times Sit to Stand (5TSTS) and left and right hand grip strength (HGS), cognition by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Timed Up and Go test Cognition (TUG-cog), fall concern by Fall Efficacy Scale International (FES-I), exercise effort perception by Borg category ratio scale (Borg CR-10), and exercise contentment by a questionnaire.

Results

After exercise, PE significantly enhanced TUG and 5TSTS to a greater extent than VRE (TUG; p?=?0.004, 5TSTS; p?=?0.027) and BE (TUG; p?=?0,012, 5TSTS; p?<?0.001). VRE significantly improved MoCA (p?<?0.001) and FES-I (p?=?0.036) compared to PE, and 5TSTS (p?<?0.001) and FES-I (p?=?0.011) were improved relative to BE. MoCA was significantly enhanced by BE compared to PE (p?<?0.001) and both MoCA and TUG-cog were improved compared to VRE (p?=?0.04). PE and VRE significantly (p < 0.001) increased Borg CR-10 in all exercise sessions, whereas BE showed a significant improvement (p?< 0.001) in the first 4 sessions. Participants had a significantly greater satisfaction with BE than controls (p?=?0.006), and enjoyed VRE and BE more than PE (p?< 0.001). Subjects in all exercise groups exhibited benefits compared to the control group (p?< 0.001).

Conclusions

PE provided the best results in physical tests, VRE produced measurable improvements in physical and cognition scores, while BE enhanced cognition ability in older persons. Older persons preferred VRE and BE compared to PE. Both exercises are suggested to older persons to improve physical and cognitive conditions.

     

Atypical feeding of woodpeckers,crows and redstarts on mass-swarming <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hydropsyche pellucidula</Emphasis> caddisflies attracted to glass panes

Artificial shiny dark objects reflecting horizontally polarized light (e.g. asphalt roads, black cars, solar panels) can attract polarotactic aquatic insects in mass. Glass buildings on the riverside also lure swarming caddisflies emerging from the river. These caddisfly swarms are a temporary rich food source for certain bird species, such as white wagtails (Motacilla alba), house sparrows (Passer domesticus), magpies (Pica pica) and great tits (Parus major). We report here about our observation of great spotted woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major), hooded crows (Corvus cornix) and black redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros) feeding atypically on Hydropsyche pellucidula caddisflies swarming at glass buildings placed on the shore of the river Danube in Budapest (Hungary).     

Wer profitiert von alternativen Bildungswegen? Alles eine Frage des Blickwinkels!

Only a few studies have addressed the role of alternative paths in German secondary education. These paths were introduced to reduce social inequalities. However, there is much controversy regarding whether alternative paths actually do reduce inequalities. Schindler most recently discussed in the Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie that this controversy is due in part to different understandings of how empirical studies assess the effect of social origin. This article adopts and critically extends this point by arguing that, from a social inequality point of view, alternative paths can only be understood adequately if research reconstructs the effect of social origin systematically and as holistically as possible. Additionally, we raise the question whether the measure that is traditionally used by educational research to assess social inequalities (Odds Ratios) is really the most adequate one to understand how alternative paths impact on inequalities in educational attainment. Instead we suggest the estimation of Average Marginal Effects.     

Tales of urban conservation: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eumaeus</Emphasis> butterflies and their threatened cycad hostplants

Urbanization has caused the local extinction of several butterfly species around the world, while others have managed to thrive in urban areas. Butterflies of the genus Eumaeus are among the most striking and colorful lycaenid butterflies in the Americas, but their neurotoxic hostplants, cycads, are a highly threatened plant group. The main threats for cycads are the loss and modification of their habitats and their removal for ornamental purposes, which in addition to their slow growth rate, make them highly vulnerable. Ornamental cycads are taken from natural habitats to urban areas, where they are playing an important role for Eumaeus reproduction. We here report two cases in which two Eumaeus species (E. childrenae, E. atala) are following and utilizing ornamental cycads to reproduce in urban areas, showing how significant urban areas can be, ecologically speaking. Aside from having enormous potential as flagship species for conservation in urban areas, these butterfly and plant species, and their interactions, shed encouraging light on the idea of putting reconciliation ecology ideas into action.     

Avian haemosporidian parasites in an urban forest and their relationship to bird size and abundance

Urbanization has been identified as a threat to biodiversity due to landscape modifications. Studies of parasite ecology in urbanized areas lagged behind those made on macro organisms. Here we studied infection prevalence of haemosporidian parasites in an avian community of an urban forest from Germany, and its relationship with bird abundance and body mass. We used PCR to amplify a fragment of the mtDNA cyt b gene to determine the infection status of birds, and bird point counts to determine bird relative abundances. The avifauna was dominated by two small sized insectivore passerines (Parus major, Cyanistes caeruleus), representing ~40 % of the total bird records. The highest haemosporidian prevalence was recorded for Turdus philomelos (100 %) and for Fringilla coelebs (75 %). Bird abundance and body mass were positively associated with infection status for two haemosporidian genera: Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon. Infection rate was lower in juveniles compared to adult birds. We recorded a total of 7 Plasmodium, 26 Haemoproteus, and 10 Leucocytozoon lineages. Avian malaria (P. relictum) was detected infecting 5 individuals of P. major, the most abundant species in the community. These results, together with those of previous studies at the same site, suggest that potentially any of the genetic haemosporidian lineages detected in this urban forest can be transmitted across native and pet bird species, and to species of conservation concern housed at aviaries.     

A Tale of Two “Unorganizables”

How should we define “organizability?” I identify here four factors that contribute to a group’s organizability: organizers’ expectations, labor market structures, employers’ actions, and workers’ union sentiments. I briefly discuss how the first three factors correspond with workers’ union sentiments in comparing two divergent occupations: teaching assistants (TAs) and web designers. Workers must choose between conflicting identities in constructing themselves as “organizable” workers. While TAs ultimately framed their identities primarily as employees, web designers still consider themselves unorganizable. I explore similarities and differences between these cases and propose some steps union organizers and web designers could take in unionizing.     

Determining species specific nightly bat activity in sites with varying urban intensity

Time of peak bat activity during the night differs among bat species due to temperature, prey availability, habitat availability, and/or interactions between species. Habitat availability is altered in urban areas, which may affect insect prey availability and interspecies interactions. Our objectives were to use mobile acoustic monitoring to determine when bat species were active in a single night in urban and nonurban sites and if nightly bat activity patterns differed in urban versus nonurban sites. Bat echolocation call sequences were recorded using Anabat acoustic detectors while driving transects through the night at five sites (three “urban” and two “nonurban”) located in the Piedmont region of north-central North Carolina from May through August 2016. Transects were driven three times per night starting 45 min, 180 min, and 300 min after sunset. Recorded echolocation call sequences were analyzed manually using AnalookW and automatically using Bat Call Identification and Echoclass software. Total bat activity was not different between urban and nonurban sites. However, total bat activity was lower later in the night in urban sites, but stayed the same in nonurban sites. Species specifically, there were more Eptesicus fuscus, Lasionycteris noctivagans, and Tadarida brasiliensis call sequences and fewer Lasiurus borealis, Nycticeius humeralis, and Perimyotis subflavus call sequences in urban sites than nonurban sites. There were also fewer E. fuscus, L. noctivagans, and N. humeralis call sequences later in the night in both urban and nonurban sites. Only Lasiurus borealis activity in urban sites later in the night reduced and L. borealis activity in nonurban sites remained at the same. These results suggest that bats in urban areas partition time differently, which is important to consider for urban conservation efforts and planning.