How the Euro divides the union: the effect of economic adjustment on support for democracy in Europe

As often pointed out in the literature on the European debt crisis, the policy programme of austerity and internal devaluation imposed on countries in the Eurozone's periphery exhibits a lack of democratic legitimacy. This article analyses the consequences these developments have for democratic support at both the European and national levels. We show that through the policies of economic adjustment, a majority of citizens in crisis countries has become ‘detached’ from their democratic political system. By cutting loose the Eurozone's periphery from the rest of Europe in terms of democratic legitimacy, the Euro has divided the union, instead of uniting it as foreseen by its architects. Our results are based on aggregated Eurobarometer surveys conducted in 28 European Union (EU) member states between 2002 and 2014. We employ quantitative time-series cross-sectional regression analyses. Moreover, we estimate the causal effect of economic adjustment in a comparative case study of four cases using the synthetic control method.

Expanding cities and expanding waistlines: Urban sprawl and its impact on obesity, how the adoption of smart growth statutes can build healthier and more active communities

For decades, American towns and cities have expanded from their established cores into the surrounding rural areas. U.S. population has grown but the land that we use has grown at an even faster pace, and our country has now become a largely suburban nation. Americans moved and continue to move out to the suburbs in search of better lives – for clean and healthy living, for larger homes, and for better resources. In many ways and for many Americans, the suburban lifestyle has been a great success. However, there are some unintended public health consequences of urban sprawl that must be recognized. As most Americans no longer walk or bicycle, increasingly sedentary lifestyles now contribute to greater levels of obesity, diabetes and other associated chronic diseases. This thesis reviewed the impacts of urban sprawl on the public's health specifically, as sprawl relates to decreased physical activity rates and increased obesity rates. The health effects and their connection with sprawl were identified, and available evidence was reviewed. Finally, this thesis described legal and policy solutions for addressing the health effect through improving the design of our built environment and by recommending that governments adopt and implement Smart Growth statutes that incorporate a public health component and require public health involvement. ^

Female pipefish can detect the immune status of their mates

Given the ubiquity of the parasites and their important fitness consequences on mate and offspring condition, selection for the ability to distinguish healthy from parasitized potential mates is a key process to enhance Darwinian fitness. In this study, we experimentally evaluated how the immunological experience of two potential partners influences mate choice, using the sex-role-reversed pipefish Syngnathus typhle. We exposed S. typhle to immune challenges with heat-killed Vibrio bacteria and investigated whether the activation of the immune system determined mate preferences. Our results demonstrate that the immune status of the potential partners influenced female mate preference, such that females that were exposed to an immune challenge became choosy and favored unchallenged males. Males, however, did not show any preferences for female immune status. In this context, we discuss mate choice decisions and behavioral plasticity as a complex result of immune challenge, severity of infection, as well as trans-generational effects.

Spawning and habitat management in salmonid populations at the southern edge of their natural ranges = Reproducción y gestión del hábitat en poblaciones de salmónidos en el extremo meridional de sus distribuciones naturales

Las poblaciones de salmónidos en la Península Ibérica (trucha común, Salmo trutta; y salmón atlántico, Salmo salar) se encuentran cerca del límite meridional de sus distribuciones naturales, y por tanto tienen una gran importancia para la conservación de estas especies. En la presente Tesis se han investigado algunos aspectos de la reproducción y de la gestión del hábitat, con el objeto de mejorar el conocimiento acerca de estas poblaciones meridionales de salmónidos. Se ha estudiado la reproducción de la trucha común en el río Castril (Andalucía, sur de España), donde se ha observado que la freza ocurre desde diciembre hasta abril con el máximo de actividad en febrero. Este hecho representa uno de los periodos reproductivos más tardíos y con mayor duración de toda la distribución natural de la especie. Además, actualmente se sabe que el resto de poblaciones andaluzas tienen periodos de reproducción similares (retrasados y extendidos). Análisis en la escala de la distribución natural de la trucha común, han mostrado que la latitud explica parcialmente tanto la fecha media de reproducción (R2 = 62.8%) como la duración del periodo de freza (R2 = 24.4%) mediante relaciones negativas: a menor latitud, la freza ocurre más tarde y durante más tiempo. Es verosímil que un periodo de freza largo suponga una ventaja para la supervivencia de las poblaciones de trucha en hábitats impredecibles, y por tanto se ha propuesto la siguiente hipótesis, que deberá ser comprobada en el futuro: la duración de la freza es mayor en hábitats impredecibles que en aquellos más predecibles. La elevada tasa de solapamiento de frezaderos observada en el río Castril no se explica únicamente por una excesiva densidad de reproductores. Las hembras de trucha eligieron lugares específicos para construir sus frezaderos en vez de dispersarse aleatoriamente dentro del hábitat adecuado para la freza que tenían disponible. Estas observaciones sugieren que las hembras tienen algún tipo de preferencia por solapar sus frezaderos. Además, en ríos calizos como el Castril, las gravas pueden ser muy cohesivas y difíciles de excavar, por lo que el solapamiento de frezaderos puede suponer una ventaja para la hembra, porque la excavación en sustratos que han sido previamente removidos por frezas anteriores requerirá menos gasto de energía que en sustratos con gravas cohesivas que no han sido alteradas. Por tanto, se ha propuesto la siguiente hipótesis, que deberá ser comprobada en el futuro: las hembras tienen una mayor preferencia por solapar sus frezaderos en ríos con sustratos cohesivos que en ríos con sustratos de gravas sueltas. En el marco de la gestión del hábitat, se han empleado dos enfoques diferentes para la evaluación del hábitat físico, con el objeto de cuantificar los cambios potenciales en la disponibilidad de hábitat, antes de la implementación real de determinadas medidas sobre el hábitat. En primer lugar, se ha evaluado el hábitat físico del salmón atlántico en el río Pas (Cantabria, norte de España), en la escala del microhábitat, empleando la metodología IFIM junto con un modelo hidráulico bidimensional (River2D). Se han simulado una serie de acciones de mejora del hábitat y se han cuantificado los cambios en el hábitat bajo estas acciones. Los resultados mostraron un aumento muy pequeño en la disponibilidad de hábitat, por lo que no sería efectivo implementar estas acciones en este tramo fluvial. En segundo lugar, se ha evaluado el hábitat físico de la trucha común en el río Tajuña (Guadalajara, centro de España), en la escala del mesohábitat, empleando la metodología MesoHABSIM. Actualmente, el río Tajuña está alterado por los usos agrícolas de sus riberas, y por tanto se ha diseñado una restauración para mitigar estos impactos y para llevar al río a un estado más natural. Se ha cuantificado la disponibilidad de hábitat tras la restauración planteada, y los resultados han permitido identificar los tramos en los que la restauración resultaría más eficaz. ABSTRACT Salmonid populations in the Iberian Peninsula (brown trout, Salmo trutta; and Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar) are close to the southern limit of their natural ranges, and therefore they are of great importance for the conservation of the species. In the present dissertation, some aspects of spawning and habitat management have been investigated, in order to improve the knowledge on these southern salmonid populations. Brown trout spawning have been studied in the river Castril (Andalusia, southern Spain), and it has been observed that spawning occurs from December until April with the maximum activity in February. This finding represents one of the most belated and protracted spawning periods within the natural range of the species. Furthermore, it is now known that the rest of Andalusian populations show similar (belated and extended) spawning periods. Broad-scale analyses throughout the brown trout natural range showed that latitude partly explained both spawning mean time (R2 = 62.8%) and spawning duration (R2 = 24.4%) by negative relationships: the lower the latitude, the later the spawning time and the longer the spawning period. It is plausible that a long spawning period would be an advantage for survival of trout populations in unpredictable habitats, and thus the following hypothesis has been proposed, which is yet to be tested: spawning duration is longer in unpredictable than in predictable habitats. High rate of redd superimposition observed in the river Castril was not only caused by high density of spawners. Trout females chose specific sites for redd construction instead of randomly dispersing over the suitable spawning habitat. These observations suggest that female spawners have some kind of preference for superimposing redds. Moreover, in limestone streams such as Castril, unused gravels can be very cohesive and hard to dig, and thus redd superimposition may be an advantage for female, because digging may require less energy expenditure in already used redd sites than in cohesive and embedded unused sites. Hence, the following hypothesis has been proposed, which is yet to be tested: females have a higher preference for superimposing redds in streambeds with cohesive and embedded substrates than in rivers with loose gravels. Within the topic of habitat management, two different approaches have been used for physical habitat assessment, in order to quantify the potential change in habitat availability, prior to the actual implementation of proposed habitat measures. Firstly, physical habitat for Atlantic salmon in the river Pas (Cantabria, northern Spain) has been assessed at the microhabitat scale, using the IFIM approach along with a two dimensional hydraulic model (River2D). Proposed habitat enhancement actions have been simulated and potential habitat change has been quantified. Results showed a very small increasing in habitat availability and therefore it is not worth to implement these measures in this stream reach. Secondly, physical habitat for brown trout in the river Tajuña (Guadalajara, central Spain) has been assessed at the mesohabitat scale, using the MesoHABSIM approach. The river Tajuña is currently impacted by surrounding agricultural uses, and thus restoration was designed to mitigate these impacts and to drive the river to a more natural state. Habitat availability after the planned restoration has been quantified, and the results have permitted to identify in which sites the restoration will be more effective.

Mental health literacy of Latina women in the United States for their school-aged children

Despite known mental health (MH) disparities faced by Latino children relative to children from other minority groups of similar socioeconomic status (SES), little is known about how Latina mothers make MH decisions for their children. The present study examined links between Latina mothers' mental health literacy (MHL), including the recognition of and response to child psychiatric symptoms, and maternal acculturation factors as well as interpersonal violence (IPV) related symptomatology. Participants were 80 Latina mothers from Denver, Colorado and Modesto, California with at least one child between the ages of 8-12 years. Mothers were presented vignettes depicting child internalizing and externalizing disorders as well as interviewed about their help seeking behaviors. Maternal acculturation was not related to identification of disorders, but was related to more symptoms recognized for child internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Acculturation predicted use of formal source of care for child internalizing and externalizing disorder. Women demonstrated a preference for informal source of care, with the exception of IPV-related child symptoms, where women demonstrated a preference for formal source of care. IPV-related symptoms did not moderate the relationship between acculturation and MHL. The relationship between maternal acculturation, IPV related symptomatology and their combined effect on MHL for child psychiatric disorders are discussed.

An Australian Idol of Modernist Consumerism: Minnie Tittell Brune and the Gallery Girls

The Australian career of the young American actor Minnie Tittell Brune exemplifies the complex cultural and economic forces operating on the institution of live theatre at the beginning of the twentieth century. Brune focalizes the contemporary processes which reconstituted the international institution of mass entertainment out of the traditional cultural practices of theatre. The theatrical star is seen as both engaging with and resisting the commodification of her labour power; image and talent resulting from her ambiguous industrial role as magnetic 'star' and as managerial commodity. However, the iconic and affective power of the actor evokes strong attachment from significant sections of the newly heterosocial popular audience, in particular from the gallery girls, the young female audience who idolized Brune as a performative personality enacting social self-realization and glamorous transformation. Through reading Brume's repertoire, her social persona as 'star' and her 'emotional' performative style, it is demonstrated how artistic retro-glamour, religious evangelicalism and discourses of sexuality and femininity serve to manage theatre's move into the mass-entertainment age.

How the west was once: vegetation change in south-west Queensland from 1930 to 1995

Conflicting perceptions of past and present rangeland condition and limited historical data have led to debate regarding the management of vegetation in pastoral landscapes both internationally and in Australia. In light of this controversy we have sought to provide empirical evidence to determine the trajectory of vegetational change in a semi-arid rangeland for a significant portion of the 20th century using a suite of proxy measures. Ambathala Station, approximately 780 km west of Brisbane, in the semi-arid rangelands of south-western Queensland, Australia. We excavated stratified deposits of sheep manure which had accumulated beneath a shearing shed between the years 1930 and 1995. Multi-proxy data, including pollen and leaf cuticle analyses and analysis of historical aerial photography were coupled with a fine resolution radiocarbon chronology to generate a near annual history of vegetation on the property and local area. Aerial photography indicates that minor (< 5%) increases in the density of woody vegetation took place between 1951 and 1994 in two thirds of the study area not subjected to clearing. Areas that were selectively or entirely cleared prior to the 1950s (approximately 16% of the study area) had recovered to almost 60% of their original cover by the 1994 photo period. This slight thickening is only partially evident from pollen and leaf cuticle analyses of sheep faeces. Very little change in vegetation is revealed over the nearly 65 years based on the relative abundances of pollen taxonomic groups. Microhistological examination of sheep faeces provides evidence of dramatic changes in sheep diet. The majority of dietary changes are associated with climatic events of sustained above-average rainfall or persistent drought. Most notable in the dietary analysis is the absence of grass during the first two decades of the record. In contrast to prevailing perceptions and limited research into long-term vegetation change in the semi-arid areas of eastern Australia, the record of vegetation change at the Ambathala shearing shed indicates only a minor increase in woody vegetation cover and no decrease in grass cover on the property over the 65 years of pastoral activity covered by the study. However, there are marked changes in the abundance of grass cuticles in sheep faeces. The appearance and persistence of grass in sheep diets from the late 1940s can be attributed to the effects of periods of high rainfall and possibly some clearing and thinning of vegetation. Lower stock numbers may have allowed grass to persist through later drought years. The relative abundances of major groups of plant pollen have not changed significantly over the past 65 years.

How the brain blinks:towards a neurocognitive model of the attentional blink

When people monitor a visual stream of rapidly presented stimuli for two targets (T1 and T2), they often miss T2 if it falls into a time window of about half a second after T1 onset—the attentional blink (AB). We provide an overview of recent neuroscientific studies devoted to analyze the neural processes underlying the AB and their temporal dynamics. The available evidence points to an attentional network involving temporal, right-parietal and frontal cortex, and suggests that the components of this neural network interact by means of synchronization and stimulus-induced desynchronization in the beta frequency range. We set up a neurocognitive scenario describing how the AB might emerge and why it depends on the presence of masks and the other event(s) the targets are embedded in. The scenario supports the idea that the AB arises from ‘‘biased competition’’, with the top–down bias being generated by parietal–frontal interactions and the competition taking place between stimulus codes in temporal cortex.

Share.TEC Portal: How the Metadata Repositories of Educational Resources Meet the Users’ Expectations

This is an extended version of an article presented at the Second International Conference on Software, Services and Semantic Technologies, Sofia, Bulgaria, 11–12 September 2010.

“An Ebbing Tide Lowers all Boats” How the great recession of 2008 has affected men and women in Central and Eastern Europe

In this paper we explore the impact of the economic recession of 2008 on gender inequality in the labor force in Central and Eastern European countries. We argue that job and occupational segregation protected women’s employment more than men's in the CEE region as well, but unlike in more developed capitalist economies, women’s level of labor force participation declined and their rates of poverty increased during the crisis years. We also explore gender differences in opinions on the impact of the recession on people’s job satisfaction. For our analysis we use published data from EUROSTAT and our own calculations from EU SILC and ESS 2010.

Soft power as the new norm: How the Chinese-Russian strategic partnership (soft) balances American hegemony in an era of unipolarity

This study explores how great powers not allied with the United States formulate their grand strategies in a unipolar international system. Specifically, it analyzes the strategies China and Russia have developed to deal with U.S. hegemony by examining how Moscow and Beijing have responded to American intervention in Central Asia. The study argues that China and Russia have adopted a soft balancing strategy of to indirectly balance the United States at the regional level. This strategy uses normative capabilities such as soft power, alternative institutions and regionalization to offset the overwhelming material hardware of the hegemon. The theoretical and methodological approach of this dissertation is neoclassical realism. Chinese and Russian balancing efforts against the United States are based on their domestic dynamics as well as systemic constraints. Neoclassical realism provides a bridge between the internal characteristics of states and the environment which those states are situated. Because China and Russia do not have the hardware (military or economic power) to directly challenge the United States, they must resort to their software (soft power and norms) to indirectly counter American preferences and set the agenda to obtain their own interests. Neoclassical realism maintains that soft power is an extension of hard power and a reflection of the internal makeup of states. The dissertation uses the heuristic case study method to demonstrate the efficacy of soft balancing. Such case studies help to facilitate theory construction and are not necessarily the demonstrable final say on how states behave under given contexts. Nevertheless, it finds that China and Russia have increased their soft power to counterbalance the United States in certain regions of the world, Central Asia in particular. The conclusion explains how soft balancing can be integrated into the overall balance-of-power framework to explain Chinese and Russian responses to U.S. hegemony. It also suggests that an analysis of norms and soft power should be integrated into the study of grand strategy, including both foreign policy and military doctrine.

Parents’ Comfort Level: Does it Reflect in the Help They Provide Their Children During Home Learning?

In recent years the literature on parental involvement and how it affects children during home learning has emphasized the relevance of promoting student achievement through parental involvement. Research points to a strong connection on the positive effects for families, children, and school when schools extend themselves to parents and involve them to support their children’s development and learning (Olsen & Fuller, 2003) Consequently, the purpose of this research is to attempt to investigate if parents’ comfort level with reading reflects the help that they provide their children at home with their home learning. Our goal is to increase parents’ level of efficacy in relation to helping their children with home learning as it relates to the reading benchmarks.

Governmentality gone wild: How the separation of sex workers from 'communities' contributes to violence against sex workers

Sex workers are members of our communities, whether they are local or national communities. In law, mainstream media representations, and research sex workers are positioned as outside of or in opposition to communities. Even within marginalized communities sex workers are excluded when appeals to respectability politics are made. In this thesis I analyze three analytic sites from three areas of social life. The first chapter performs a textual analysis of The Bedford Decision (2013) and the resulting Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (2014) as an examination of law. The second chapter is an analysis of filmic discourse on community, sex workers, and violence in the mainstream film London Road (2015) as an examination of mainstream media. The third chapter draws upon empirical research, i.e. in-depth interviews with three current and former sex workers in Ottawa, Canada and analyzes the transcripts using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to center how sex workers’ understanding of their work, community, and the laws and policies that are supposed govern and protect them. In my preface and conclusion I discuss some of the ethical dilemmas I encountered while conducting this research. My findings suggest that sex workers are being positioned and understood as outside of communities in ways that contribute to violence against sex workers. The implications of this research suggest that people who speak in the name of communities—communities in the sense of local neighborhood communities, activist communities, and national communities—need to recognize that sex workers are part of their communities and be accountable to ensuring they are treated as members. Researchers who conduct research on sex work and sex workers need to be accountable to their participants and the impacts their research may have on laws and policies. Sex workers are an over-researched population yet their voices are largely misappropriated or silenced in popular research and policy debates.

THE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF MOTIVATION FOR AND THE PRINCIPAL’S INFLUENCE ON THEIR ENGAGEMENT IN SELF-DIRECTED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

All teachers participate in self-directed professional development (PD) at some point in their careers; however, the degree to which this participation takes place varies greatly from teacher to teacher and is influenced by the leadership of the school principal. The motivation behind why teachers choose to engage in PD is an important construct. Therefore, there is a need for better understanding of the leader’s role with respect to how and why teachers engage in self-directed professional development. The purpose of the research was to explore the elementary teachers’ motivation for and the school principal’s influence on their engagement in self-directed professional development. Three research questions guided this study: 1. What motivates teachers to engage in self-directed professional development? 2. What are the conditions necessary for promoting teachers’ engagement in self-directed professional development? 3. What are teachers’ perceptions of the principal’s role in supporting, fostering, encouraging, and sustaining the professional development of teachers? A qualitative research approach was adopted for this study. Six elementary teachers from one south-eastern Ontario school board, consisting of three novice and three more experienced teachers, provided their responses to a consistent complement of 14 questions. Their responses were documented via individual interviews, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed. The findings suggested that, coupled with the individual motivating influences, the culture of the school was found to be a conditional dynamic that either stimulated or dissuaded participation in self-directed PD. The school principal provided an additional catalyst or deterrence via relational disposition. When teachers felt their needs for competency, relatedness, and autonomy were satisfied, the conditions necessary to motivate teachers to engage in PD were fulfilled. A principal who personified the tenets of transformational leadership served to facilitate teachers’ inclinations to take on PD. A leadership style that was collaborative and trustful and allowed for personal autonomy was a dominant foundational piece that was critical for participant participation in self-directed PD. Finally, the principals were found to positively impact school climate by partaking in PD alongside teachers and ensuring there was a shared vision of the school so that teachers could tailor PD to parallel school interests.

The Techialoyan Codices and their Number

In this article, it is proposed a brief revision of the number of Techialoyan codices. To do this, the text starts with a definition of the corpus, that it is composed of manuscripts done between the half of the 17th century and beginning of the next. Around these documents there are many doubts and it remains much to do. In this case, we present a review around the lists and catalogues to see the changes of the group through time. Our conclusion is that is necessary recount the corpus, because there are fragmented documents and others are unknowns or copies. Finally, we show our count, that leaves the number less than fifty-six documents catalogued until today.