Do Legacy Industrial Sites Produce Legacy Effects in Ethnic and Racial Residential Settlement? Environmental Inequality Formation in Rhode Island’s Industrial Core1

This study advances understanding of environmental inequality by examining its production through the interaction of two ubiquitous and ongoing urban-ecological processes: industrial land-use changes and changing patterns of residential segregation. We employ longitudinal data from the Rhode Island Directory of Manufacturers (1953–2012) and tract-level US Census data measured at four panel-years (1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010) to study the effects of these interactions in Rhode Island’s historical industrial cities of Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls. Spatial patterning analysis and hybrid spatial panel modeling of residential exposure to active and legacy industrial sites in relation to ongoing racial and industrial change reveal two novel findings. First, we find a “legacy effect,” suggesting that the spatial organization of industrial activities prior to the study period has measurable impacts on patterns of residential segregation in later decades. Our results also indicate that over the study period Latinx and African-American residents have become increasingly less likely to bear disproportionate impacts of active manufacturing sites, despite very different spatial patterns of population growth. This is strong evidence that environmental inequality formation is a variable process in which historically distinct pathways can lead to similarly disproportionate exposure to environmental risk.     

Causality in Contemporary American Sociology: An Empirical Assessment and Critique

Using a unique data set of causal usage drawn from research articles published between 2006–2008 in the American Journal of Sociology and American Sociological Review, this article offers an empirical assessment of causality in American sociology. Testing various aspects of what we consider the conventional wisdom on causality in the discipline, we find that (1) “variablistic” or “covering law” models are not the dominant way of making causal claims, (2) research methods affect but do not determine causal usage, and (3) the use of explicit causal language and the concept of “mechanisms” to make causal claims is limited. Instead, we find that metaphors and metaphoric reasoning are fundamental for causal claims‐making in the discipline. On this basis, we define three dominant causal types used in sociology today, which we label the Probabilistic, Initiating and Conditioning types. We theorize this outcome as demonstrating the primary role that cognitive models play in providing inference‐rich metaphors that allow sociologists to map causal relationships on to empirical processes.     

Playing the Recording Once or Twice: Effects on Listening Test Performances

Much debate surrounds the issue of whether allowing candidates to listen to recordings twice is more desirable in language tests than offering just one opportunity. Using regression models, this study investigates, analyses and interconnects both item difficulty and stimulus length in relation to the frequency of stimulus presentation and its effect on test results. The study involved 1,266 eighth-grade learners with perceived A2/B1 level in English as a first foreign language. The final discussion seeks to offer explanations for the results that clearly indicate the advantages of listening once; likewise, potential implications for listening tests and classroom practice are raised.     

Testing the homogeneous marginal utility of income assumption

We develop a test for the hypothesis that every agent from a population of heterogeneous consumers has the same marginal utility of income function. This homogeneous marginal utility of income (HMUI) assumption is often (implicitly) used in applied demand studies because it has nice aggregation properties and facilitates welfare analysis. If the HMUI assumption holds, we can also identify the common marginal utility of income function. We apply our results using a U.S. cross sectional dataset on food consumption.     

Predictors of Longitudinal Growth in Inhibitory Control in Early Childhood

In the current study, we examined latent growth in 731 young children's inhibitory control from the ages of two to four years, and whether demographic characteristics or parenting behaviors were related to initial levels and growth in inhibitory control. As part of an ongoing longitudinal evaluation of the family check‐up, children's inhibitory control was assessed yearly at the ages of two to four years. Inhibitory control was initially low and increased linearly to the age of four years. High levels of harsh parenting and male gender were associated with low initial status in inhibitory control. High levels of parental positive behavior support were associated with faster growth. Extreme family poverty and African‐American ethnicity were also associated with slower growth. The results highlight parenting as a target for early interventions in contexts of high socioeconomic risk.     

Future low fertility prospects in Mongolia? An evaluation of the factors that support having a child

With 2.59 children per woman in 2008, Mongolia appears today as an exception in East Asia where fertility rates are far below the replacement level. Moreover, from its historical nadir of 1.95 children per women in 2005, fertility is on the rise. This paper first presents recent fertility development in Mongolia. Second, based on the experiences of European and East Asian countries, factors contributing to the development of low fertility are discussed in reference to the Mongolian context. Most of these factors are indeed found in Mongolia and could probably contribute to reducing fertility in the future. However, the country also presents cultural-family practices and recently-adopted fertility-family incentives which may support and stabilize fertility rates. These recent fertility-incentives factors and policies adopted by the Government of Mongolia are discussed in the final part from the perspective of equity, efficiency, and efficacy proposed by McDonald (2006b, “An assessment of policies that support having children from the perspectives of equity, efficiency and efficacy”, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2006, Special issue on ‘Postponement of childbearing on Europe’, 213–234). The aim is to determine if these measures are efficient to counterbalance and cancel out the depressing fertility effects.     

Die Digitalisierung von Coaching – Gedanken aus der Perspektive teilnehmender Beobachtung

This article focusses on the influence of digitalization on the performance of coaching services. Five relevant aspects are examined with regard to the opportunities and risks: (1) the coaching market, (2) the coaching process, (3) the communication between coach and client, (4) the coaching methods and tools and (5) the coach himself. The considerations make obvious that the future development of coaching depends not only on further technical innovations, but also on the answers of the professional community to the challenges of digitalization described above.     

The MySocialworker app system – a pilot interview study

An app system was developed in Denmark by caseworkers and clients from three municipalities, a software company, and a University College. The app system enabled young clients to track their wellbeing, positive behaviours, disturbances in their lives, and their experiences of interventions on smartphones. Statutory caseworkers could follow the change in their client’s situation and have an overview of all their clients on a web interface. This article describes the system and the results of a pilot qualitative interview study with six young clients. Clients used the app to reflect on their lives, to set specific personal goals and to remember their goals. The young clients also used the app to monitor changes in how they had been doing overall and as a reminder to keep up specific behaviours that were counterintuitive. The app became an integral part of the young clients’ relationship with their caseworker. The app was a lens that the client and the caseworker used to explore specific aspects of the client’s life. The app itself also became a joint venture, a shared point of interest. The app strengthened the young persons’ relationship with their caseworker, but there was also concern about whether they might become too close.