Migration and development in the Caribbean: relating policies and people

Throughout the 20th century, the US has feared that political instability in the Caribbean area could be exploited by adversaries; therefore, the US and the nations of the Caribbean share a compelling interest in the region's development. The dramatic increase in legal and illegal immigration to the US from the Caribbean in the last 2 decades has offered an additional human reason for US interest in the region. This migration has also created a new source of dependence and vulnerability for the region. Curtailment of migration would undoubtedly affect the region, and if the effect were social and political instability, then the US would also share those consequences. The 1984 Conference on Migration and Development in the Caribbean held discussions to 1) enhance the benefits of migration to Caribbean development, 2) identify development strategies, policies, and projects that would reduce pressures that have accelerated the rate of international migration, making it less manageable and more costly, and 3) identify ways to reduce dependence on migration by expanding employment and assisting economies in the region to become more self-reliant. The attitudes of both US and Caribbean participants seemed to reflect a considerable degree of ambivalence on the migration issue. The US views itself as "a nation of immigrants" and yet is troubled by the recent large influx of immigrants, particularly illegal migrants and refugees. While Americans recognize that the "brain" reduces the development capacity of developing countries, the US still needs and benefits from young immigrants trained in the sciences, engineering, and computers. Caribbean participants were also ambivalent about immigration. They consider immigration "a way of life" and a "right," but they also recognize that there are significant developmental costs to some types of migration. While many want the US to keep a wide open door to Caribbean immigrants, they are aware that most Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments are currently closing the door to immigrants even from other CARICOM countries.     

The Slaughtered and the Survivors: Collaboration Between Social Economy Organizations as a Key to Success in Times of Financial Crisis

The objective of this study is to analyze the aspects that allowed a critical part of Social Economy Organizations (SEOs) to survive a recession period, especially participation in collaborative networks. The financial stress of an SEO will depend on the resources and capabilities available to the organization. To analyze the financial stress of Spanish SEOs, we defined a sample of 714 SEOs. Approximately half of these organizations suffered from financial stress in the analyzed period (2009–2012). The results obtained in this study reveal the existence of three factors that distinguish organizations under financial stress: (a) a high dependence on government funding; (b) changes in the relationship between staff and volunteers; and (c) a lack of access to markets. The combination of these three elements results in an unsustainable situation for the organization. The development of a collaborative profile increases the SEO’s probability of surviving the adverse manifestations of its environment.     

A Stochastic Model to Assess the Effect of Meat Inspection Practices on the Contamination of the Pig Carcasses

The objective of meat inspection is to promote animal and public health by preventing, detecting, and controlling hazards originating from animals. With the improvements of sanitary level in pig herds, the hazards profile has shifted and the inspection procedures no longer target major foodborne pathogens (i.e., not risk based). Additionally, carcass manipulations performed when searching for macroscopic lesions can lead to cross‐contamination. We therefore developed a stochastic model to quantitatively describe cross‐contamination when consecutive carcasses are submitted to classic inspection procedures. The microbial hazard used to illustrate the model was Salmonella, the data set was obtained from Brazilian slaughterhouses, and some simplifying assumptions were made. The model predicted that due to cross‐contamination during inspection, the prevalence of contaminated carcass surfaces increased from 1.2% to 95.7%, whereas the mean contamination on contaminated surfaces decreased from 1 logCFU/cm² to ?0.87 logCFU/cm², and the standard deviations decreased from 0.65 to 0.19. These results are explained by the fact that, due to carcass manipulations with hands, knives, and hooks, including the cutting of contaminated lymph nodes, Salmonella is transferred to previously uncontaminated carcasses, but in small quantities. These small quantities can easily go undetected during sampling. Sensitivity analyses gave insight into the model performance and showed that the touching and cutting of lymph nodes during inspection can be an important source of carcass contamination. The model can serve as a tool to support discussions on the modernization of pig carcass inspection.     

Utilization of Mixed Distributions in the Calculation of Polarization: The Case of Spain

Social Indicators Research - This study analyzes the evolution of salary polarization in the Spanish labor market. The paper proposes the use of mixed distributions to examine the consequences of...     

Job-Related Well-Being of Immigrants

Social Indicators Research - Considerable literature exists on the acculturation and adaptation of immigrants. For the most part, studies looked at their psychological and social adaptation to the...     

Displaying Gender: Transgender People's Strategies in Everyday Life

Drawing upon data from in‐depth interviews with transgender people in Portugal and in the United Kingdom, this article critically reflects upon different ways through which transgender people recreate their gender displays, particularly in terms of gender embodiment and aesthetics, in order to navigate their everyday lives. I focus on four strategies of articulating gender displays with one's own gender subjectivities: “blending in,” “masking,” “naturalizing,” and “subverting.” These strategies are not exclusive of one another. They are used differently throughout the participants' own lives in accordance to the social contexts they were in.     

Social Entrepreneur: Same or Different from the Rest?

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - A social business responds to social problems usually ignored by institutions, mobilizing resources and generating...