Infants' Processing of Featural and Configural Information in the Upper and Lower Halves of the Face

Three‐ to 4‐month‐old and 6‐ to 7‐month‐old infants were administered an infant version of the Face Dimensions Test that has been used with adults (e.g., Bukach, Le Grand, Kaiser, Bub, & Tanaka, 2008). Infants were familiarized with a photograph of a woman's face and then tested with the familiar face paired with a face differing in the (a) distance separating the eyes (a configural/eyes change), (b) distance between the nose and mouth (configural/mouth change), (c) size of the eyes (featural/eyes change), and (d) size of the mouth (featural/mouth change). Infants were shown to be more sensitive to (a) configural than featural change, and (b) change around the eyes versus the mouth. Implications for the development of face processing are discussed.     

Describing poverty in an ultraperipheral region: The case of the Canary Islands

Based on data from the Survey on Social Conditions in the Canary Islands of the Instituto Canario de Estadística, this study analyzes poverty in Canary households by island of residence, age, employment and the educational level of the main provider. In addition to accepted objective measures, we also estimate poverty using subjective methods, in which the poverty line is defined or obtained by the opinion of household members of their own level of poverty.     

Marriage and separation risks among German cohabiters: Differences between types of cohabiter

We propose a typology of different meanings of cohabitation that combines cohabiters’ intentions to marry with a general attitude toward marriage, using competing risk analyses to examine whether some cohabiters are more prone than others to marry or to separate. Using data (N = 1,258) from four waves of the German Family Panel (PAIRFAM) and a supplementary study (DEMODIFF), we compared eastern and western German cohabiters of the birth cohorts 1971–73 and 1981–83. Western Germans more frequently view cohabitation as a step in the marriage process, whereas eastern Germans more often cohabit as an alternative to marriage. Taking into account marital attitudes reveals that cohabiters without marriage plans differ from those with plans in their relationship careers, and also shows that cohabiters who plan to marry despite holding a less favourable view of marriage are less likely to realize their plans than cohabiters whose intentions and attitudes are more congruent.     

Comparing Subjective and Objective Quality of Life Criteria: A Case Study of Green Space and Public Transport in Vienna,Austria

Social Indicators Research - A future-oriented spatial planning has to face the challenges of integrating ecological, social, and economic aspects of living. This is often seen as a principle to...     

Negotiating the Intersection of Racial Oppression and Heteronormativity

This qualitative study examines the narratives of seven heterosexual, cisgender individuals who identify both as persons of color and as positively disposed toward LGB and transgender-identified persons. Using psycho-discursive qualitative methodology, the authors will present the narrative strategies taken up by these positively disposed cisgender heterosexuals of color as they attempt to position themselves as supportive of LGB and transgender persons while negotiating the discourse of heteronormativity. The three narrative strategies have been titled differentiation, empathy, and coherence. In addition to mapping the three narrative strategies, the authors also explore why informants may choose certain strategies over others and argue that the intersection of social identities must be considered when attempting to understand social oppression. Implications for the human services fields will be discussed.     

Visibility and denial: accounts of sexual violence in race- and gender-specific magazines

Prior research on media representations of race, gender, and sexual violence has established that media emphasize women’s role in preventing their own victimization and omit Black women as victims. This study uses feminist intersectionality to build on prior research by investigating not only how social groups are portrayed, but whether and how the intended audience matters for media representations. Specifically, who are the portrayed victims of sexual violence, and how is fear of sexual violence communicated to different audiences? Content analysis of articles in race- and gender-specific magazines shows two key mechanisms of representation through which racism and sexism work together: visibility and denial. Results show that White women are hypervisible as victims while Black women as victims are relatively invisible compared to Black men’s persecution and Black children’s victimization; men’s magazines deny the importance of sexual violence as a problem, focusing on false accusations and convictions. These narratives go largely unchallenged regardless of the source’s intended audience, demonstrating that portrayals of sexual violence are both gendered and racialized across multiple media sources.     

On the use of quasi-likelihood for estimation in hidden-Markov random fields

This paper illustrates the use of quasi-likelihood methods of inference for hidden Markov random fields. These are simple to use and can be employed under circumstances where only the model form and its covariance structure are specified. In particular they can be used to derive the same estimating equations as the E-M algorithm or change of measure methods, which make full distributional assumptions.     

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.     

Urbanization-related distribution patterns and habitat-use by the marine mesopredator,giant Pacific octopus (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Enteroctopus dofleini</Emphasis>)

Urbanization is a process that heavily alters marine and terrestrial environments, though terrestrial urban ecosystems have been studied far more intensively. Terrestrial studies suggest that urbanization can facilitate mesopredators by enhancing food and shelter resources and reducing predation pressure from apex consumers. This in turn has considerable consequences for ecological communities. We evaluated spatial distribution patterns and habitat-use of the marine mesopredator, giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini), relative to terrestrial urbanization intensity in Puget Sound, Washington, USA. Using field surveys and citizen-contributed data for E. dofleini, we examined whether: (1) Distribution was related to urbanization, (2) Abundance was related to the extent of benthic anthropogenic debris, and (3) Diet differed as a function of urbanization and den cover. Our results suggest that urbanization impacts may differ with depth. Mixed-effects logistic regression model estimates for the probability of occurrence increased with urbanization in deep-water (> 24 m), and decreased with urbanization in shallow water (< 18 m). Accompanying field surveys indicated that E. dofleini abundance was correlated with the number of benthic anthropogenic debris items, and that E. dofleini diets were not affected by urbanization intensity or den cover. Though E. dofleini may be synanthropic within certain urban environments, the mechanisms driving this pattern likely differ from those affecting common urban mesopredators on land, with den provisioning from man-made structures being more important than altered food resources.