Gendered images of international research collaboration

Joan Acker's theory on gendered organizations offers important tools for understanding subtler forms of inequalities and gendered practices in the workplace. According to Acker, invisible mechanisms in organizations such as the symbolic and material/structural aspects of organizations reproduce gendered inequalities. My application of Acker's theory demonstrates how imagery itself assigns value to collaborative practices in gender stereotypical ways. In an institutional context that devalues international research collaboration among faculty, gendered images of exploiter, patronizing helper, partner, or friend ultimately serve to construct glass fences ‐ obstacles to international collaborative engagement ‐ particularly for women. The reflection and potential recreation of gendered inequalities among academics simultaneously reconstructs inequalities between the U.S. and abroad, as institutional reward structures attach gendered symbolic and material values that (re)shape (international) collaborations themselves. Together, these processes construct the gendered organization of global science and academia.     

Negative situation appraisal and mental well-being among refugees in Germany: Serial mediation by religious coping and sense of coherence

It has been widely demonstrated that pre- and post-migration experiences can be highly traumatic for refugees. The purpose of this study was to assess the mediating effects of religious coping and sense of coherence on the association of negative dysfunctional situation appraisal and mental well-being among refugees. Paper surveys were completed by 600 people representing various refugee groups (mostly from Mashreq Countries) in German Bavaria, aged 18–65. Mediation analysis revealed that negative religious coping and sense of coherence singly and serially mediated the relationship between negative dysfunctional situation appraisal and well-being, whereas positive religious coping did not have statistically significant relationships with these variables. The data obtained suggest that the negative religious coping style and sense of coherence are two important targets for future experimental studies, and interventions on them may bring the synergistic effect on improving mental well-being in refugees.     

Woodland fragments in urban landscapes are important bat areas: an example of the endangered Bechstein’s bat Myotis bechsteinii

Urban Ecosystems - Urban areas are increasing globally causing fragmentation and loss of habitats for many forest dwelling species. At the same time new habitats are created, which may be exploited...     

Bayesian Network Model with Application to Smart Power Semiconductor Lifetime Data

In this article, Bayesian networks are used to model semiconductor lifetime data obtained from a cyclic stress test system. The data of interest are a mixture of log‐normal distributions, representing two dominant physical failure mechanisms. Moreover, the data can be censored due to limited test resources. For a better understanding of the complex lifetime behavior, interactions between test settings, geometric designs, material properties, and physical parameters of the semiconductor device are modeled by a Bayesian network. Statistical toolboxes in MATLAB® have been extended and applied to find the best structure of the Bayesian network and to perform parameter learning. Due to censored observations Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations are employed to determine the posterior distributions. For model selection the automatic relevance determination (ARD) algorithm and goodness‐of‐fit criteria such as marginal likelihoods, Bayes factors, posterior predictive density distributions, and sum of squared errors of prediction (SSEP) are applied and evaluated. The results indicate that the application of Bayesian networks to semiconductor reliability provides useful information about the interactions between the significant covariates and serves as a reliable alternative to currently applied methods.     

“Reactive Ethnicity” or “Assimilation”? Statements,Arguments, and First Empirical Evidence for Labor Migrants in Germany

In this article, we scrutinize the often stated assumption that labor migrants in Germany turn away from integration and reaffirm their ethnicity by examining their identificational, cognitive, and social assimilation processes. Using data from the German Socio‐economic Panel, we present trend analyses of different hostland‐ and homeland‐related indicators for the past fifteen years. Results are presented separately for first‐ and second‐generation migrants from Turkey, the EU, and the former Yugoslavia. While not all assimilation‐related indicators change a great deal over time, they show at least a substantial difference between the first and the second generation. With regard to the homeland‐related indicators, the results by no means suggest that Turkish migrants try to compensate for their comparatively disadvantaged social status by revitalizing ethnic cultural habits or homeland‐oriented identifications.     

Dating after late-life spousal loss: Does it compromise relationships with adult children?

In Widowhood in an American City (1973), Helena Lopata observed that widows struggle with new romantic relationships because their children often are resentful toward these new partners. Since the publication of Lopata's classic work, however, few studies have explored empirically the ways that widow(er)'s dating affects their relationships with children. We use prospective data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples study (CLOC) to explore: (1) the impact of bereaved spouses' dating on positive and negative aspects of parent–child relationships six and 18 months postloss; (2) the extent to which these associations are explained by preloss characteristics; and (3) the factors that moderate the association between widow(er) dating and parent–child relations. Multivariate analyses show that widowers who are interested in dating six months postloss report low levels of support and high levels of conflict with their children, yet widows report enhanced relationship quality. This pattern reflects the fact that men who are interested in dating do form new relationships, whereas women's interests are not translated into actual dating. Widowers' dating six months postloss compromises parent–child closeness among those with a history of strained parent–child relations, yet enhances closeness among those with historically good relationships. Dating takes a harsher toll on parent–daughter compared to parent–son relationships. Overall, dating threatens parent–child relationships in specific cases, yet it may also strengthen widow(er) s' parent–child bonds. We discuss the implications for the well-being of older widow(er)s and adult children.     

Joint Persistence of Transformation Products in Chemicals Assessment: Case Studies and Uncertainty Analysis

The joint persistence (JP) quantifies the environmental persistence of a parent compound and a selection of relevant transformation products. Here, the importance as well as the uncertainty of the JP in comparison to the persistence of the parent compound alone (primary persistence, PP) are investigated. To demonstrate the effect of transformation products on the environmental persistence of organic chemicals, three case studies of parent compounds (nonylphenol ethoxylates, perchloroethylene, atrazine) and transformation products are investigated in detail with a multimedia fate model. Comparison of the PP and JP values shows that transformation products can significantly increase the persistence. In addition to the point estimates of PP and JP, the associated uncertainties are investigated. For each of the case studies, the chemical-specific input parameters of all compounds are varied and the corresponding variance of the PP and JP is determined by Monte Carlo simulations. Interestingly, the higher number of input parameters required for the JP does not necessarily increase the uncertainty of the JP as compared to that of the PP alone. An exact mathematical expression specifying the contribution of each transformation product to the JP is given. When transformation products are grouped in different generations, it becomes discernible that the first generation increases the JP most; the later generations are of decreasing importance. Finally, the effect of incomplete knowledge of the transformation products and their properties on the JP results is discussed. For reliable JP estimates, knowledge of the first generation transformation products and their degradation rate constants is required.     

An ordered choice model of promotion rules

This paper continues an important but short line of research investigating non-pecuniary outcomes of collective bargaining. These outcomes define the rules governing the employment relationship. The determinants of one of the most important of these rules — the one that governs the intrafirm allocation of labor — are analyzed. Specifically, micro-level data are used to estimate the determinants of promotion rules in major collective bargaining agreements in U.S. manufacturing. A multinomial choice model is estimated once these rules have been ordered along the joint dimension of increasing weight attached to seniority across a broadening seniority unit. The evidence suggests that contracts involving small, capital-intensive firms, whose technologies value specific training, in single-employer bargaining units, that contain an increasing proportion of men, are most likely to exhibit promotion rules that heavily weight company-wide seniority. This paper has greatly benefited from the comments of Cynthia Gramm, Wallace Hendricks, Jan Ondrich, Michael Wasylenko, and the participants in workshops at The Metropolitan Studies Program, Syracuse University, and at The New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, and from an anonymous referee. Excellent research assistance was provided by Sally Wallace. The usual disclaimer applies.