Wie wirkt Pluralität auf individuelle Religiosität? Eine Konfrontation von Wissenssoziologie und Rational Choice

Interdisziplinär konzipiert, zeigt dieses Buch in historischer und gegenwartsbezogener Perspektive die Komplexität und den Facettenreichtum des religiösen Pluralismus auf, der unsere gesellschaftliche Wirklichkeit zunehmend bestimmt. Die hier dokumentierten religionswissenschaftlichen, soziologischen, rechtlichen und philosophischen Zugänge sind dabei behilflich, sich mit Religion und ihrer weltweit wachsenden gesellschaftlichen Relevanz auseinander zu setzen. Die Beiträge zeigen, wie der Herausforderung des Religionspluralismus im europäischen und außereuropäischen Raum begegnet wird und welche große Bandbreite an Themen hierbei zu Tage tritt.

Freedom of choice of specialist physicians is important to Swiss resident: a cross-sectional study.

QUESTION UNDER STUDY: To assess how important the possibility to choose specialist physicians is for Swiss residents and to determine which variables are associated with this opinion. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used data from the 2007 Swiss population-based health survey and included 13,642 non-institutionalised adults who responded to the telephone and paper questionnaires. The dependent variable included answers to the question "How important is it for you to be able to choose the specialist you would like to visit?" Independent variables included socio-demographics, health and past year healthcare use measures. Crude and adjusted logistic regressions for the importance of being able to choose specialist physicians were performed, accounting for the survey design. RESULTS: 45% of participants found it very important to be able to choose the specialist physician they wanted to visit. The answers "rather important", "rather not important" and "not important" were reported by 28%, 20% and 7% of respondents. Women, individuals in middle/high executive position, those with an ordinary insurance scheme, those reporting ≥2 chronic conditions or poorer subjective health, or those who had had ≥2 outpatient visits in the preceding year were more likely to find this choice very important. CONCLUSIONS: In 2007, almost half of all Swiss residents found it very important to be able to choose his/her specialist physician. The further development of physician networks or other chronic disease management initiatives in Switzerland, towards integrated care, need to pay attention to the freedom of choice of specialist physicians that Swiss residents value. Future surveys should provide information on access and consultations with specialist physicians.

Intra- and intersexual selection and their potential consequences on fitness-relevant traits in several fish species

Résumé : Les mécanismes de sélection sexuelle, en particulier la compétition entre mâles (sélection inter-sexuelle) et le choix des femelles (sélection intra-sexuelle), peuvent fortement influencer le succès reproducteur d'un individu, c'est-à-dire son nombre de descendants. On observe ainsi que les mâles dominants et les mâles élaborant des caractères sexuels secondaires marqués ont un succès reproducteur élevé. Toutefois, le succès reproducteur ne suffit pas pour garantir une contribution génétique élevée, parce que la fitness dépend également de la performance des descendants (c'est-à-dire de leur survie et de leur propre succès reproducteur). Si cette performance dépend en partie des gènes paternels, les males ont un avantage certain à signaler leur qualité aux femelles afin d'atteindre des taux de reproduction élevé. Ce mécanisme de signalisation est connu sous le nom de 'good genes hypothesis', toutefois très peu d'études ont clairement démontré le lien entre la qualité génétique des individus et la signalisation. De plus, la performance des descendants peut aussi dépendre des effets génétiques de compatibilité entre mâles et femelles ('compatible genes'). C'est-à-dire que certains allèles paternels n'apporteraient un avantage aux descendants qu'en combinaison avec certains allèles maternels. Nous avons déterminé, durant la période de reproduction, le statut de dominance des mâles pour deux espèces de poissons d'eau douce : la truite (Salmo trotta) et le vairon (Phoxinus phoxinus), puis nous avons évalué la relation entre le succès reproducteur et le statut de dominance et/ou la quantité de signalisation des caractères sexuels secondaires. Nous avons également fécondés artificiellement des oeufs de truites et de corégones (Coregonus palaea), en croisant chaque mâle avec chaque femelle (full-factorial breeding design). Ce type de design autorise la quantification précise des effets génétiques et permet de séparer les effets de 'good genes' et de 'compatible genes'. Cela a été fait sous différentes intensités de stress bactérien, ainsi que dans des conditions naturelles, et nous avons pu ainsi tester si certains indicateurs de qualité génétique des mâles ('good genes') étaient liés a) à la dominance et/ou b) à l'expression des caractères sexuels secondaires des mâles comme l'intensité mélanique ou la taille des tubercules sexuels. En outre, nous cherchons à savoir si la survie des descendants est liée à certaines combinaison des gènes du complexe d'histocompatibilité majeur (MHC) et/ou à la parenté génétique des parents, les deux traits étant soupçonnés d'avoir des influences génétique de compatibilité (`compatible genes') à la performance des descendants. Nous avons constaté que la dominance des mâles est directement liée à la taille et au poids des mâles (truites, vairons), mais également aux caractères sexuels secondaires (tubercules). De plus, les mâles vairons dominant ont eu un succès de fécondation plus élevés que les mâles subordonnés. Nous montrons que les truites et corégones mâles diffèrent dans leur qualité génétique, qui a été mesurée avéc la survie embryonnaire, le temps avant l'éclosion et enfin la croissance juvénile. Contrairement aux prédictions, la dominance (ou les traits indicatifs de dominance) n'était liée à la qualité génétique, dans aucun des traitements, et ne fonctionne donc pas comme indicateur de qualité. Par contre, la qualité génétique était liée aux caractères sexuels secondaires, particulièrement par la teinte mélanique chez les truites. Les embryons de truites issus de pères sombres survivaient mieux que ceux issus de pères clairs dans des environnements difficiles, de plus leur croissance était plus élevée lors de leur première année dans des conditions naturelles. La taille des juvéniles lors de leur première année est un trait important lié au succès dans la compétition pour des ressources telles qu'abri ou nourriture. De plus, les femelles truites peuvent augmenter la survie de leurs descendants en choisissant des mâles selon leur type de MHC ou selon leur degré de parenté. En outre, chez les corégones, la morphologie des tubercules sexuels ne semble pas signaler la qualité génétique. Nous avons également remarqué que l'exposition à des pathogènes non-létaux pouvait influencer la performance des alevins à court et long terme, probablement en affaiblissant leur système immunitaire. Cette thèse montre que les mâles diffèrent dans leur qualité génétique et que différents mécanismes de sélection inter- ou intra-sexuelle (par exemple la préférence pour des mâles sombres, pour des génotypes MHC ou pour des couples avec degré de parenté basse) pouvait avoir un effet positif sur la qualité des descendants, bien que cet effet génétique pouvait changer au cours du temps et entre différents environnements. Contrairement à nos attentes, le résultat de la compétition intra-sexuelle (la hiérarchie de dominance entre mâles) n'était pas lié à la qualité génétique individuelle ('good genes'). Dans ce sens, ce travail permet également de contribuer à l'explication du fait que la sélection sexuelle, de par sa forte sélection directionnelle, ne conduit pas à la diminution de la variance génétique, mais plutôt à la maintenance du polymorphisme génétique. Summary : Sexual selection mechanisms, especially male-male competition (inteasexual selection) and female mate choice (inteasexual selection), can strongly influence individual mating success, often resulting in dominant males and males with elaborate secondary sexual characters having higher fertilisation success. However, siring a high number of offspring alone does not guarantee high individual fitness, as fitness does also strongly depend on offspring performance (i.e. survival, fecundity). If this superiority in offspring performance depends on paternally inherited genes, the fathers are expected to signal this potential indirect benefit to females in order to attain high mating rates. This mechanism is also known as the 'good genes' hypothesis of sexual selection but until now most studies failed to conclusively show the relation of an individual genetic quality and its potential signalling traits. Further, offspring performance could also depend on compatible gene effects. These are alleles that increase offspring performance only in combination with other specific alleles. We first determined male dominance status from intrasexual competition during mating season for brown trout (Salmo trutta) and European minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus). For minnows we additionally checked if dominance and/or secondary sexual traits were linked to fertilisation success. Further, we artificially fertilised brown trout and alpine whitefish (Coregonus palaea) eggs, following full factorial breeding designs, enabling to properly measure `good gene' and `compatible gene' effects on offspring performance. This was done under different intensities of natural stressors, as well as under natural conditions. This procedure allowed us to test if the obtained male genetic quality measures (good genes effects) were indicated by a) dominance or lay traits linked to dominance and/or by b) secondary sexual characteristics such as melanin-based male skin darkness or breeding tubercles. Further, we investigated if offspring survival was linked to the MHC (major histocompatibility complex) gene combinations and/or to the parental genetic relatedness, as both traits were shown to have 'compatible gene' effects that may influence offspring performance. We found that male dominance in intrasexual competition was positively linked to body size, body weight (brown trout, minnows) but also to elaborate secondary sexual characteristics (breeding tubercles in minnows). Further, dominant minnow males did have an increased fertilisation success compared to subordinate ones. We show that brown trout and whitefish males do usually differ in their genetic quality, which was measured as embryo survival, hatching timing and finally as juvenile growth. Contrary to prediction male dominance or dominance indicating traits do not function as a quality signal as they were not linked to genetic quality. This result was constant when measuring genetic quality under different levels of natural stressors and under natural conditions (brown trout). On the other hand genetic quality seemed to be indicated by secondary sexual characteristics, specifically by melanin-based skin darkness in brown trout as brown trout embryos sired by darker fathers had increased survival rates when raised under harsh conditions and. they grew larger as juveniles after one year of growth in a natural stream, which is an important trait influencing success of juveniles in competition for hidings, food and other resources. Furthermore, brown trout females may increase the survival of their embryos when choosing males according to their MHC genotypes or to the general genetic relatedness between themselves and their potential mates. In whitefish on the other hand breeding tubercle morphology did not seem to signal genetic quality. Eventually, we saw that anon-lethal exposure to pathogens might influence short term and long term offspring performance probably by weakening an exposed individual's immune system. This thesis shows that males usually differ in their genetic quality and that different inter- or intrasexual selection mechanisms (e.g. mate selection favouring dark males, preference for MHC genotype combinations or for unrelated mates) may have strong positive effects on genetically dependent offspring performance but that such genetìc effects can change over time and environments. In contrast to our a priori expectations, the outcome of intrasexual selection, namely male dominance hierarchies, with dominant males often having high fertilisation success, was not linked to individual genetic quality (`good genes'). In this sense the present thesis may also be a helpful contribution to understand why sexual selection does not lead to rapid loss of genetic variation by strong directional selection but could even lead to the maintenance of genetic variation in natural populations.

Relationship of mating systems and metabolic rate with cycle length of spermatogenesis and sperm production rate in shrews

SUMMARY : The shrews are among the most ancient of living eutherian mammals. They represent an interesting comparative model because of their extreme divergent species. The two shrew subfamilies, Soricinae and Crocidurinae are characterized by fundamental differences concerning their metabolic rates, litter size, period of gestation and different mating pattern. In this study we established and compared the sperm characteristics in four species of different genera of shrews (Sorex araneus, Neomys fodiens, Crocidura russula and Suncus murinus) in the context of the sperm competition hypothesis. The sperm competition concerns the competition between ejaculates of different males for fertilization of ova of a female within a single estrus period. As expected, a greater relative testis size (indicating the importance of polyandry) was associated with a higher number of cauda epididymal spermatozoa, higher level of circulating testosterone and a higher percentage of progressive sperm motility. In addition, we investigated if the basal metabolic rate (BMR) and relative testis size (RTS) may be correlated with the cycle length of spermatogenesis. In this purpose, we determined and compared the cycle length of spermatogenesis in six species of shrews belonging to two subfamilies: Soiricinae (Sorex araneus, Sorex coronatus, Sorex minutus, Neomys fodiens) and Crocidurinae (Crocidura russula, Sunctes murinus). Our results indicate that sperm competition and metabolic rate may act independently or together reducing cycle length of spermatogenesis and thus increase sperm production. We finally investigated this correlation across 32 mammalian species. After testing the data for phylogenetic independence, our results showed that BMR explained only 21 % of the variation, while the RTS explained 44% of the variation of the cycle length of spermatogenesis. The level of the sperm competition, indicated by RTS, is thus to our knowledge the most important factor influencing the speed of spermatogenesis in mammals. RESUME : Les musaraignes sont parmi les plus anciens mammifères vivants. Grâce à leurs extrêmes divergences, ils sont souvent utilisés comme modèles dans des études comparatives. Les deux sous-familles Soricinae et Crocidurinae sont caractérisées par des différences fondamentales, notamment en termes d'intensité du métabolisme, des stratégies de reproduction et du comportement social. Dans la première partie de cette étude, nous avons établi et comparé certaines "caractéristiques des spermatozoïdes chez quatre espèces de musaraignes appartenant à des genres différents (Sorex araneus, Neomys fodiens, Crocidura russula et Suncus murinus). Les résultats ont été interprétés dans le contexte de la théorie de la compétition spermatique, c'est-à-dire la compétition entre le sperme de deux ou plusieurs mâles pour féconder un maximum d'ovules de la même femelle. Cette compétition spermatique peut amener à certaines adaptations biologiques afin de produire plus de sperme. Comme attendu, une grande taille relative des testicules est associée à un nombre élevé de spermatozoïdes, dont la majorité présente une mobilité progressive. Un taux élévé de testostérone a également été observé. De plus, nous avons étudié l'influence du métabolisme basal ainsi que l'intensité de la compétition spermatique sur la durée du cycle de la spermatogenèse. Dans ce but, nous avons déterminé et comparé les durées de la spermatogenèse chez six espèces de musaraignes appartenant à deux sous-familles : Soricinae (Sorex araneus, Sorex coronatus, Sorex minutus, Neomys fodiens) et Crocidurinae (Crocidura russula, Suncus murinus). Les résultats obtenus indiquent que ces deux facteurs (l'intensité du métabolisme basal et de la compétition spermatique) agissent d'une manière dépendante ou indépendante dans le même sens. La conséquence de ces actions est une diminution de la durée de la spermatogenèse entraînant une augmentation de la production de spermatozoïdes. Nous avons finalement étudié ce phénomène dans l'ensemble des mammifères. Après avoir testé l'indépendance phylogénétique, nos résultats montrent que l'intensité de la compétition spermatique indiquée par le RTS est mieux corrélée avec la régulation de la durée de la spermatogenèse qu'avec l'intensité du métabolisme.

Effective size of two feral domestic cat populations (Felis catus L): effect of the mating system.

A variety of behavioural traits have substantial effects on the gene dynamics and genetic structure of local populations. The mating system is a plastic trait that varies with environmental conditions in the domestic cat (Felis catus) allowing an intraspecific comparison of the impact of this feature on genetic characteristics of the population. To assess the potential effect of the heterogenity of males' contribution to the next generation on variance effective size, we applied the ecological approach of Nunney & Elam (1994) based upon a demographic and behavioural study, and the genetic 'temporal methods' of Waples (1989) and Berthier et al. (2002) using microsatellite markers. The two cat populations studied were nearly closed, similar in size and survival parameters, but differed in their mating system. Immigration appeared extremely restricted in both cases due to environmental and social constraints. As expected, the ratio of effective size to census number (Ne/N) was higher in the promiscuous cat population (harmonic mean = 42%) than in the polygynous one (33%), when Ne was calculated from the ecological method. Only the genetic results based on Waples' estimator were consistent with the ecological results, but failed to evidence an effect of the mating system. Results based on the estimation of Berthier et al. (2002) were extremely variable, with Ne sometimes exceeding census size. Such low reliability in the genetic results should retain attention for conservation purposes.

An ecomorphological analysis of the determinants of mating success

Investigating the factors affecting the strength of sexual selection is important for understanding the evolution of sex-specific morphological and behavioural traits. Traditionally, sexual selection studies focus on male ornaments, although recent evidence indicates that sexual selection mechanisms also target organismal performance. In the present study, we investigated the role of sexually dimorphic morphological and performance traits of the common (viviparous) lizard (Zootoca vivipara, Jacquin 1787) with respect to determining mating behaviour. Using an experimental set-up controlling for size differences, we found that males with longer tails had a higher probability of mating a female. Unexpectedly, males with lower bite forces had an advantage over males with higher bite forces, whereas males with bigger heads copulated for a longer time with the female. This shows that predicting mating success is not straightforward and is sometimes counterintuitive because a longer tail appears to be beneficial, whereas biting harder is not, for male Z. vivipara in a male-female interaction context

Subjective health assessments and active labor market participation of older men: evidence from a semiparametric binary choice model with nonadditive correlated individual-specific effects

We use panel data from the U. S. Health and Retirement Study, 1992-2002, to estimate the effect of self-assessed health limitations on the active labor market participation of older men. Self-assessments of health are likely to be endogenous to labor supply due to justification bias and individual-specific heterogeneity in subjective evaluations. We address both concerns. We propose a semiparametric binary choice procedure that incorporates nonadditive correlated individual-specific effects. Our estimation strategy identifies and estimates the average partial effects of health and functioning on labor market participation. The results indicate that poor health plays a major role in labor market exit decisions.

Adaptive search and information updating in sequential mate choice

Classical treatments of problems of sequential mate choice assume that the distribution of the quality of potential mates is known a priori. This assumption, made for analytical purposes, may seem unrealistic, opposing empirical data as well as evolutionary arguments. Using stochastic dynamic programming, we develop a model that includes the possibility for searching individuals to learn about the distribution and in particular to update mean and variance during the search. In a constant environment, a priori knowledge of the parameter values brings strong benefits in both time needed to make a decision and average value of mate obtained. Knowing the variance yields more benefits than knowing the mean, and benefits increase with variance. However, the costs of learning become progressively lower as more time is available for choice. When parameter values differ between demes and/or searching periods, a strategy relying on fixed a priori information might lead to erroneous decisions, which confers advantages on the learning strategy. However, time for choice plays an important role as well: if a decision must be made rapidly, a fixed strategy may do better even when the fixed image does not coincide with the local parameter values. These results help in delineating the ecological-behavior context in which learning strategies may spread.

Massive nest-box supplementation boosts fecundity, survival and even immigration without altering mating and reproductive behaviour in a rapidly recovered bird population.

Habitat restoration measures may result in artificially high breeding density, for instance when nest-boxes saturate the environment, which can negatively impact species' demography. Potential risks include changes in mating and reproductive behaviour such as increased extra-pair paternity, conspecific brood parasitism, and polygyny. Under particular cicumstances, these mechanisms may disrupt reproduction, with populations dragged into an extinction vortex. With the use of nuclear microsatellite markers, we investigated the occurrence of these potentially negative effects in a recovered population of a rare secondary cavity-nesting farmland bird of Central Europe, the hoopoe (Upupa epops). High intensity farming in the study area has resulted in a total eradication of cavity trees, depriving hoopoes from breeding sites. An intensive nest-box campaign rectified this problem, resulting in a spectacular population recovery within a few years only. There was some concern, however, that the new, high artificially-induced breeding density might alter hoopoe mating and reproductive behaviour. As the species underwent a serious demographic bottleneck in the 1970-1990s, we also used the microsatellite markers to reconstitute the demo-genetic history of the population, looking in particular for signs of genetic erosion. We found i) a low occurrence of extra-pair paternity, polygyny and conspecific brood parasitism, ii) a high level of neutral genetic diversity (mean number of alleles and expected heterozygosity per locus: 13.8 and 83%, respectively) and, iii) evidence for genetic connectivity through recent immigration of individuals from well differentiated populations. The recent increase in breeding density did thus not induce so far any noticeable detrimental changes in mating and reproductive behaviour. The demographic bottleneck undergone by the population in the 1970s-1990s was furthermore not accompanied by any significant drop in neutral genetic diversity. Finally, genetic data converged with a concomitant demographic study to evidence that immigration strongly contributed to local population recovery.

Social Policy Preferences and Party Choice in the 2011 Swiss Elections

To what extent do social policy preferences explain party choice? This question has received little attention over the past years, because the bulk of the literature has argued that electoral choice is increasingly shaped by identity-based attitudes, rather than by preferences for economic-distributive social policies. We argue that in the wake of this debate, the significance of social policy preferences for electoral choice has been underestimated, because most contributions neglect social policy debates that are specific to post-industrial societies. In particular, they merely focus on income redistribution, while neglecting distributive conflicts around social investment. The Selects 2011 data allows investigating this crucial distinction for Switzerland. Our empirical analyses confirm that it is pivotal to take the pluridimensionality of distributive conflicts seriously: when looking at preferences for social investment rather than income redistribution, we find that social policy preferences are significant explanatory factors for the choice of the five major Swiss political parties.