Housing’s Economic and Social Impacts, April 2007

Housing is an investment in Iowa’s communities and people. This report investigates the following questions: What impact does affordable housing have • on neighborhoods? • on local and state economies? • on expanding and stabilizing Iowa’s labor force? • on meeting social, individual and community needs?

Policy attitudes, ideological values and social representations

This article reviews research on policy attitudes and ideological values from the perspective of social representations theory. In the first part of the paper, key features of lay political thinking are presented, its pragmatic imperative, its focus on communication and the social functions of shared knowledge. Objectification transforms abstract and group-neutral ideological values into concrete and socially useful knowledge, in particular stereotypes of value-conforming and value-violating groups. Such shared understandings of intergroup relations provide citizens with common reference knowledge which provides the cognitive and cultural basis of policy attitudes. Social representations theory further suggests that lay knowledge reflects the social context in which it has been elaborated (anchoring), an aspect which allows conceptualising aggregate-level differences in policy attitudes. In the second part of the paper, a model of lay conceptions of social order is outlined which organises four shared conceptions of social order, along with the stereotype-based thinking associated with each conception: Moral order, Free Market, Social diversity and Structural inequality. We conclude by arguing that policy attitudes are symbolic devices expressed to justify or to challenge existing social arrangements.

The Middle East in the American quest for world order : ideas of power, economics, and social development in United States foreign policy, 1953-1961

Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere

The evolution of recent research on Catalan literature through the production of PhD theses: a bibliometric and social network analysis

Introduction. This paper studies the situation of research on Catalan literature between 1976 and 2003 by carrying out a bibliometric and social network analysis of PhD theses defended in Spain. It has a dual aim: to present interesting results for the discipline and to demonstrate the methodological efficacy of scientometric tools in the humanities, a field in which they are often neglected due to the difficulty of gathering data. Method. The analysis was performed on 151 records obtained from the TESEO database of PhD theses. The quantitative estimates include the use of the UCINET and Pajek software packages. Authority control was performed on the records. Analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample and the distribution of responses to each question. Sex differences on key questions were analysed using the Chi-squared test. Results. The value of the figures obtained is demonstrated. The information obtained on the topic and the periods studied in the theses, and on the actors involved (doctoral students, thesis supervisors and members of defence committees), provide important insights into the mechanisms of humanities disciplines. The main research tendencies of Catalan literature are identified. It is observed that the composition of members of the thesis defence committees follows Lotka's Law. Conclusions. Bibliometric analysis and social network analysis may be especially useful in the humanities and in other fields which are lacking in scientometric data in comparison with the experimental sciences.

Gene by environment interaction: effects of a single-gene and social-environment on reproductive phenotypes of fire ant queens

1. The gene Pgm-3 (or a closely linked gene) influences the phenotype and reproductive success of queens in multiple-queen (polygynous) colonies but not single-queen (monogynous) colonies of the Fire Ant Solenopsis invicta. 2. We investigated the mechanisms of differential phenotypic expression of Pgm-3 in these alternate social forms. Mature winged queens with the homozygous genotype Pgm-3(a/a) averaged 26% heavier than queens with the genotypes Pgm-3(a/b) and Pgm 3(b/b) in the polygynous form. Heterozygotes were slightly heavier (2%) than Pgm-3(b/b) queens in this form, demonstrating that the allele Pgm-3(a) is not completely recessive in its effects on weight. 3. There was no significant difference in weight among queens of the three Pgm-3 genotypes in the monogynous form, with the mean weight of monogynous queens slightly greater than that of polygynous Pgm-3(a/a) queens. Differences in weight between queens of the two social forms and among queens of the three genotypes in the polygynous form are not evident at the pupal stage and thus appear to develop during sexual maturation of the adults. This suggests that some component of the social environment of polygynous colonies inhibits weight gains during queen maturation and that Pgm-(3a/a) queens are relatively less sensitive to this factor. 4. To test whether the high cumulative queen pheromone level characteristic of polygynous colonies is the factor responsible for the differential queen maturation, we compared phenotypes of winged queens reared in split colonies in which pheromone levels were manipulated by adjusting queen number. Queens produced in colony fragments made monogynous were heavier than those produced in polygynous fragments, a finding consistent with the hypothesis that pheromone level affects the reproductive development of queens. However, genotype-specific differences in weights of queens were similar between the two treatments, suggesting that pheromone level was not the key factor of the social environment responsible for the gene-environment interaction. 5. To test whether limited food availability to winged queens associated with the high brood/worker ratios in polygynous colonies is the factor responsible for this interaction, similar split-colony experiments were performed. Elevated brood/worker ratios decreased the weight of winged queens but there was no evidence that this treatment intensified differential weight gains among queens with different Pgm-3 genotypes. Manipulation of the amount of food provided to colonies had no effect on queen weight. 6. The combined data indicate that cumulative pheromone level and brood/worker ratio are two of the factors responsible for the differences in reproductive phenotypes between monogynous and polygynous winged queens but that these factors are not directly responsible for inducing the phenotypic effects of Pgm-3 in polygynous colonies.

The importance of environmental exposures to physical, mental and social well-being

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" states the WHO. However, the current focus in this important area seems to be on reducing diseases, while less attention is paid on aspects how to increase the well-being of populations. This paper reviews three examples where well-being has drawn attention of the public and policy makers, and compares the policies of two wealthy countries. The first example is noise. Noise can reduce sleep quality and cause physiological, mental, and social effects. In Switzerland, noise receives a lot of attention by the public. Swiss laws are extensive, e.g., they prohibit trucks and planes from traveling at night. In the USA, there is little public attention and no national strategy against environmental noise. The second example is aesthetics and recreation. Many humans seek contact with the beauty of nature. The USA and Switzerland have similar strategies for achieving clear waters, while the protection of scenic views is approached very differently. Lifestyle is the last example. In the USA, the desire for individual freedom is a leading cause for suburban sprawl, a car-dependent sedentary lifestyle resulting in obesity, asthma and loss of community spirit. In Switzerland, a strict land use planning seeks to balance individual and public interests and stresses public transportation, which seems to be a more promising approach. Paying attention to aspects of well-being while developing political strategies might be a promising model to tackle environmental problems. Successful strategies employed so far seem to include the public, local authorities, politicians and scientists in this process, which might have been a key for their success. [Authors]

Un "régime méditerranéen" bon à penser : la lisibilité sociale et médicale des pratiques alimentaires des migrants italiens aux Etats-Unis et en Suisse (20e siècle) = The good "Mediterranean diet" : medical and social readability of food practices among Italian migrants in the United-States and Switzerland (20th century)

[Ressource électronique] : open access journal

Disentangling the link between health and social capital: A comparison of immigrant and native-born populations in Spain

An increasing body of research has pointed to the relevance of social capital in studying a great variety of socio-economic phenomena, ranging from economics growth and development to educational attainment and public health. Conceptually, our paper is framed within the debates about the possible links between health and social capital, on one hand, and within the hypotheses regarding the importance of social and community networks in all stages of the dynamics of international migration, on the other hand. Our primary objective is to explore the ways social relations contribute to health differences between the immigrants and the native-born population of Spain. We also try to reveal differences in the nature of the social networks of foreign-born, as compared to that of the native-born persons. The empirical analysis is based on an individual-level data coming from the 2006 Spanish Health Survey, which contains a representative sample of the immigrant population. To assess the relationship between various health indicators (self-assessed health, chronic conditions and long-term illness) and social capital, controlling for other covariates, we estimate multilevel models separately for the two population groups of interest. In the estimates we distinguish between individual and community-level social capital. While the Health Survey contains information that allows us to define individual social capital measures, the collective indicators come from other official sources. In particular, for the subsample of immigrants, we proxy community-level networks and relationships by variables contained in the Spanish National Survey of Immigrants 2007. The results obtained so far point to the relevance of social capital as a covariate in the health equation, although, the significance varies according to the specific health indicator used. Additionally, and contrary to what is expected, immigrants’ social networks seem to be inferior to those of the native-born population in many aspects; and they also affect immigrant’s health to a lesser extent. Policy implications of the findings are discussed. Keywords: health status, social capital, immigration, Spain

Information sharing and social network dynamics : a coevolutionary approach

The capacity to interact socially and share information underlies the success of many animal species, humans included. Researchers of many fields have emphasized the evo¬lutionary significance of how patterns of connections between individuals, or the social networks, and learning abilities affect the information obtained by animal societies. To date, studies have focused on the dynamics either of social networks, or of the spread of information. The present work aims to study them together. We make use of mathematical and computational models to study the dynamics of networks, where social learning and information sharing affect the structure of the population the individuals belong to. The number and strength of the relationships between individuals, in turn, impact the accessibility and the diffusion of the shared information. Moreover, we inves¬tigate how different strategies in the evaluation and choice of interacting partners impact the processes of knowledge acquisition and social structure rearrangement. First, we look at how different evaluations of social interactions affect the availability of the information and the network topology. We compare a first case, where individuals evaluate social exchanges by the amount of information that can be shared by the partner, with a second case, where they evaluate interactions by considering their partners' social status. We show that, even if both strategies take into account the knowledge endowments of the partners, they have very different effects on the system. In particular, we find that the first case generally enables individuals to accumulate higher amounts of information, thanks to the more efficient patterns of social connections they are able to build. Then, we study the effects that homophily, or the tendency to interact with similar partners, has on knowledge accumulation and social structure. We compare the case where individuals who know the same information are more likely to learn socially from each other, to the opposite case, where individuals who know different information are instead more likely to learn socially from each other. We find that it is not trivial to claim which strategy is better than the other. Depending on the possibility of forgetting information, the way new social partners can be chosen, and the population size, we delineate the conditions for which each strategy allows accumulating more information, or in a faster way For these conditions, we also discuss the topological characteristics of the resulting social structure, relating them to the information dynamics outcome. In conclusion, this work paves the road for modeling the joint dynamics of the spread of information among individuals and their social interactions. It also provides a formal framework to study jointly the effects of different strategies in the choice of partners on social structure, and how they favor the accumulation of knowledge in the population. - La capacité d'interagir socialement et de partager des informations est à la base de la réussite de nombreuses espèces animales, y compris les humains. Les chercheurs de nombreux domaines ont souligné l'importance évolutive de la façon dont les modes de connexions entre individus, ou réseaux sociaux et les capacités d'apprentissage affectent les informations obtenues par les sociétés animales. À ce jour, les études se sont concentrées sur la dynamique soit des réseaux sociaux, soit de la diffusion de l'information. Le présent travail a pour but de les étudier ensemble. Nous utilisons des modèles mathématiques et informatiques pour étudier la dynamique des réseaux, où l'apprentissage social et le partage d'information affectent la structure de la population à laquelle les individus appartiennent. Le nombre et la solidité des relations entre les individus ont à leurs tours un impact sur l'accessibilité et la diffusion de l'informa¬tion partagée. Par ailleurs, nous étudions comment les différentes stratégies d'évaluation et de choix des partenaires d'interaction ont une incidence sur les processus d'acquisition des connaissances ainsi que le réarrangement de la structure sociale. Tout d'abord, nous examinons comment des évaluations différentes des interactions sociales influent sur la disponibilité de l'information ainsi que sur la topologie du réseau. Nous comparons un premier cas, où les individus évaluent les échanges sociaux par la quantité d'information qui peut être partagée par le partenaire, avec un second cas, où ils évaluent les interactions en tenant compte du statut social de leurs partenaires. Nous montrons que, même si les deux stratégies prennent en compte le montant de connaissances des partenaires, elles ont des effets très différents sur le système. En particulier, nous constatons que le premier cas permet généralement aux individus d'accumuler de plus grandes quantités d'information, grâce à des modèles de connexions sociales plus efficaces qu'ils sont capables de construire. Ensuite, nous étudions les effets que l'homophilie, ou la tendance à interagir avec des partenaires similaires, a sur l'accumulation des connaissances et la structure sociale. Nous comparons le cas où des personnes qui connaissent les mêmes informations sont plus sus¬ceptibles d'apprendre socialement l'une de l'autre, au cas où les individus qui connaissent des informations différentes sont au contraire plus susceptibles d'apprendre socialement l'un de l'autre. Nous constatons qu'il n'est pas trivial de déterminer quelle stratégie est meilleure que l'autre. En fonction de la possibilité d'oublier l'information, la façon dont les nouveaux partenaires sociaux peuvent être choisis, et la taille de la population, nous déterminons les conditions pour lesquelles chaque stratégie permet d'accumuler plus d'in¬formations, ou d'une manière plus rapide. Pour ces conditions, nous discutons également les caractéristiques topologiques de la structure sociale qui en résulte, les reliant au résultat de la dynamique de l'information. En conclusion, ce travail ouvre la route pour la modélisation de la dynamique conjointe de la diffusion de l'information entre les individus et leurs interactions sociales. Il fournit également un cadre formel pour étudier conjointement les effets de différentes stratégies de choix des partenaires sur la structure sociale et comment elles favorisent l'accumulation de connaissances dans la population.