Relationships between body size, reproductive traits, and food resource in three species of tropical flesh flies

Summary Intra- and inter-specific comparisons in progeny size and clutch size were used to identify possible selection pressures acting on three sympatric species of ovoviviporous flesh flies. Both progeny and clutch sizes increased with body weight of the female parent in all species. There was no evidence for a simple trade-off between the two traits. In one species, the larger the female adult the smaller the relative biomass of larvae per clutch (total weight of larvae/body weight of female parent). Female flies produced similar progeny and clutch sizes over successive batches. Variation in progeny size did not influence either larval survival or duration of larval and pupal development. However, larger first instar larvae tended to form larger pupae in two of the species. The experiments testing the effect of progeny size on pupal weight under limited food conditions suggest a selective advantage for larger progeny size.     

Using feedback,reinforcement and information to reduce energy consumption in households: A field-experiment

The department of Social and Organizational Psychology of Leyden University carried out a research project on the effectiveness of behavior modification strategies in influencing energy use in family households. A field experiment was carried out testing the effects on conservation of four strategies. These strategies were: (1) general information about how to conserve energy in the home, (2) weekly feedback with respect to the magnitude and financial consequences of people's personal energy consumption. (3) weekly feedback with respect to the magnitude and financial consequences of people's personal energy consumption compared with the consumption of people in comparable settings (i.e. same houses), (4) weekly comparative feedback and financial reinforcement for decreases in energy use.The results indicate that individual feedback (strategy 2) and financial reinforcement with comparative feedback (strategy 4) are effective in reducing energy use; that comparative feedback (strategy 3) is effective under certain conditions; and that general information (strategy 1) is not effective. The relation between residents' attitudes and their consumption levels is discussed.     

The field of graduate recruitment: leading financial and consultancy firms and elite class formation

The symbolic value of being recruited by a high status multinational company likely represents an important marker of distinction. For the first time, a unique Destinations of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE) data‐set is used here to model entry to elite multinational company in finance, accountancy and consultancy sectors among graduates of different social origins, universities, degree subjects and with different degree classifications. From a sample of 11,755 graduates working across these three sectors, we examine what predicts entry to 31 leading firms and then examine pay hierarchies among the 3,260 graduates working for these companies using random‐effects models. At first glance, significantly, we find that elite recruits come from a much broader range of universities than might be imagined. However, a closer look at the highest paid graduates within these firms reveals more familiar patterns of social and institutional stratification. We argue that these patterns likely reflect the nature of work undertaken by graduates in these elite firms, with institutional and social origins of graduates differing according to the particular track taken in what are likely to be highly differentiated graduate recruitment schemes.     

From starving artist to entrepreneur. Justificatory pluralism in visual artists' grant proposals

Inspired by French pragmatism and using Bourdieu's notion of “refraction” as an indication of a field's autonomy, we explore in-depth what kinds of justifications visual artists deploy to legitimate their requests for government money. Based on 494 government grant proposals from visual artists between 1965 and 2015 in Belgium, we find six such justifications. The reputational, esthetic, and romantic justifications are grounded in autonomous criteria of worth, such as artistic CVs, the work of art itself, and a compulsive desire to make art. Since the 90s, social, academic, and entrepreneurial justifications bring in heteronomous criteria, or refractions of field-external values. Artistic practices become increasingly legitimized through engagement with social/political issues, academic methods and terminology, and an entrepreneurial spirit. We empirically show how the refraction of governmental logics is multi-faceted, yet always related to or combined with artistic concerns, which we interpret as characteristic for the artistic field's persisting autonomy in the face of heteronomous pressures.     

Mapping the relational construction of people and places

ABSTRACT

A new method is proposed here aimed at eliciting the mechanisms which maintain the relational positioning of people and places within social space. This ‘mapping tool’ is inherently relational by design and involves participants creating visual representations of their geographic imaginaries, encompassing their perceptions and preferences of different localities. This is followed by an interviewing approach wherein participants ‘speak to’ their map, producing ‘thick’ narratives detailing the ties that bind people and places. The method was developed and used as part of a 3-year study into the geographic imaginaries of young people in the UK, involving the collection of 1,000 maps, together with over 200 interviews, across 20 diverse localities. We draw on empirical examples of using the method from this study, including processes of differentiation within the middle classes and the place-based identities of towns, cities and localities.     

LLL-reduction for integer knapsacks

Given a matrix A∈? ^m×n satisfying certain regularity assumptions, a well-known integer programming problem asks to find an integer point in the associated knapsack polytope or determine that no such point exists. We obtain an LLL-based polynomial time algorithm that solves the problem subject to a constraint on the location of the vector b.