19,531 research outputs found

    Intergenerational family constellations in contemporary Europe

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    Demographic research has drawn attention to the multiple ways in which changes in mortality and childbearing have produced major shifts in intergenerational family structures. The aim of this article is to contribute to this body of research by analysing the data from the Generations and Gender Surveys for nine European countries. In the study, data pertaining to the availability of ascending (parents and grandparents) and descending kin (children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren) of the respondent are combined to shed light on the family structures in which indviduals are embedded at various stages of their lives. The findings provide new insights into the ways in which the past and present diversity of demographic regimes comes together into specific patterns of intergenerational family constellations across Europe. This convergence may yield family constellations of very similar ñ€Ɠheightñ€ in countries with sharply contrasting demographic histories. The results also indicate that certain demographic scenarios may halt or temporarily reverse the trend towards the further vertical extension of family constellations.comparative studies, Europe, intergenerational family constellations, kin networks

    Historical family systems and the great European divide: the invention of the Slavic East

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    In 1940, almost two years into World War II, the book, “Agrarverfassung und Bevölkerung in Litauen und Weißrussland”(Agrarian constitution and population in Lithuania and Belarus), was published. The habilitation thesis of the young German historian Werner Conze, the book was an extensive study of premodern family patterns of the peasant serf population in Lithuania from the 16th to the 18th centuries. In an approach that was innovative for its time, Conze used a type of historical source which, up to that point, had not yet received a lot of interest, namely, quantitative data derived from original inventory lists of historic estates. The analysis of the data led Conze to detect a difference between West and East. The comparison emphasised the cultural divide between the Germans and the Slavs to the East by postulating smaller family sizes throughout the western or German-influenced part of historic Lithuania, and larger families with more complex structures throughout the Slavic parts of the country. Thus, Conze also suggested that population growth in the Lithuanian west had been restrained, while the Lithuanian east had experienced abundant population growth. Conze’s scientific insights remain present in today’s historical-demographic literature, and have become an essential building block of any argument in support of the validity and persistence of East-West differentials in family systems in East-Central Europe. Because of this study’s continued importance, it may prove useful to re-examine “Agrarverfassung und Bevölkerung,” looking at its auctorial and ideological context, its methodological procedures, and its empirical content. Our critical assessment of some of Conze’s basic assumptions reveals serious shortcomings in his analysis, which resulted from his tendency to make unwarranted inferences from non-representative and circumstantial evidence, and from his underlying motivation to search for German-Slavic differences. We will discuss the extent to which the pervading notion of the East-West divide in historical East-Central Europe must be revised in response to these shortcomings. By uncovering the inadequacies of Conze’s contribution, we hope to pave the way for a truly scientific understanding of familial characteristics of Eastern Europe, and to end the perpetuation of certain stereotypes of Slavic populations.Belarus, Germany, Lithuania, demographers, family forms, historical demography

    The countryside in urbanized Flanders: towards a flexible definition for a dynamic policy

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    The countryside, the rural area, the open space, 
 many definitions are used for rural Flanders. Everyone makes its own interpretation of the countryside, considering it as a place for living, working or recreating. The countryside is more than just a geographical area: it is an aggregate of physical, social, economic and cultural functions, strongly interrelated with each other. According to international and European definitions of rural areas there would be almost no rural area in Flanders. These international definitions are all developed to be used for analysis and policy within their specific context. They are not really applicable to Flanders because of the historical specificity of its spatial structure. Flanders is characterized by a giant urbanization pressure on its countryside while internationally rural depopulation is a point of interest. To date, for every single rural policy initiative – like the implementation of the European Rural Development Policy – Flanders used a specifically adapted definition, based on existing data or previously made delineations. To overcome this oversupply of definitions and delineations, the Flemish government funded a research project to obtain a clear and flexible definition of the Flemish countryside and a dynamic method to support Flemish rural policy aims. First, an analysis of the currently used definitions of the countryside in Flanders was made. It is clear that, depending on the perspective or the policy context, another definition of the countryside comes into view. The comparative study showed that, according to the used criteria, the area percentage of Flanders that is rural, varies between 9 and 93 per cent. Second, dynamic sets of criteria were developed, facilitating a flexible definition of the countryside, according to the policy aims concerned. This research part was focused on 6 policy themes, like ‘construction, maintenance and management of local (transport) infrastructures’ and ‘provision of (minimum) services (education, culture, health care, 
)’. For each theme a dynamic set of criteria or indicators was constructed. These indicators make it possible to show where a policy theme manifests itself and/or where policy interventions are possible or needed. In this way every set of criteria makes up a new definition of rural Flanders. This method is dynamic; new data or insights can easily be incorporated and new criteria sets can be developed if other policy aims come into view. The developed method can contribute to a more region-oriented and theme-specific rural policy and funding mechanism

    HIV/AIDS, Security and Conflict: New Realities, New Responses

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    Ten years after the HIV/AIDS epidemic itself was identified as a threat to international peace and security, findings from the three-year AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative (ASCI)(1) present evidence of the mutually reinforcing dynamics linking HIV/AIDS, conflict and security

    Asimetría fluctuante como un indicador de estrés ambiental en pequeños mamíferos

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    La estabilidad del desarrollo de un organismo se refleja en la capacidad que posee de producir una forma “ideal” bajo un conjunto particular de condiciones. Las estructuras bilaterales en organismos con simetrĂ­a bilateral ofrecen una simetrĂ­a precisa sobre la cual se pueden comparar desviaciones. La herramienta mĂĄs utilizada para estimar la estabilidad del desarrollo es la asimetrĂ­a fluctuante, la cual considera las pequeñas desviaciones aleatorias que ocurren entre los lados derecho e izquierdo de rasgos bilaterales, y es la Ășnica asimetrĂ­a adecuada como indicador de estrĂ©s ambiental/genĂ©tico. Resumimos cuatro dĂ©cadas de estudios en donde la asimetrĂ­a fluctuante fue utilizada para evaluar el efecto de estrĂ©s ambiental sobre pequeños mamĂ­feros. Este grupo de especies ha sido ampliamente utilizado en estudios ecolĂłgicos para inferir perturbaciones ambientales debido a sus variadas caracterĂ­sticas. Se seleccionaron 27 artĂ­culos compilados con Google AcadĂ©mico, utilizando “asimetrĂ­a fluctuante” y “pequeños mamĂ­feros” como palabras claves, escritas en inglĂ©s y con objetivos ecolĂłgicos. Centramos nuestro anĂĄlisis en los enfoques utilizados para evaluar la asimetrĂ­a fluctuante (medidas lineales o morfometrĂ­a geomĂ©trica), el factor de estrĂ©s (natural o antropogĂ©nico), la regiĂłn donde se desarrollĂł el estudio, el nĂșmero de rasgos utilizado en los estudios y las fuentes de datos (muestras de pellets de lechuza, colecciones cientĂ­ficas y capturas directa de animales). La revisiĂłn muestra la importancia de incluir la asimetrĂ­a fluctuante en estudios ecolĂłgicos como un indicador biolĂłgico confiable, econĂłmico y rĂĄpido del efecto del estrĂ©s ambiental sobre los mamĂ­feros.The developmental stability of an organism is reflected in its ability to produce an ‘ideal’ form under a particular set of conditions. Bilateral structures in bilaterally symmetrical organisms offer a precise symmetry against which departures may be compared. The tool mostly used to estimate the development stability is fluctuating asymmetry, which considers small random deviations that occur between the left and right sides of a bilateral trait. Fluctuating asymmetry is considered as the only form of asymmetry that can serve as a useful indicator of environmental/genetic stress. We summarized four decades of studies where fluctuating asymmetry was used to assess the effects of environmental stress in small mammals. This group of species has been widely used in ecological studies to infer environmental disturbances because of its wide range of characteristics. We selected 27 articles that were compiled with Google Scholar (Mountain View, CA) using “fluctuating asymmetry” and “small mammals” as key words, written in English and with ecological objectives. We focused our analyses on the approaches used to evaluate fluctuating asymmetry (linear measurements or geometric morphometrics), the stress factor (natural or anthropogenic), the region where the study was developed, the number of traits used in the studies and the data sources, including measures obtained from samples of barn owl pellets, scientific collections and captured animals. The review shows the importance of including fluctuating asymmetry in ecological studies as a reliable, cheap and fast biological indicator of the effect of environmental stress on mammals.Fil: Coda, JosĂ© Antonio. Universidad Nacional de RĂ­o Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, FisicoquĂ­micas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂ­ficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: MartĂ­nez, Juan JosĂ©. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂ­ficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂ­fico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Steinmann, Andrea Rosa. Universidad Nacional de RĂ­o Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, FisicoquĂ­micas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂ­ficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Priotto, Jose Waldemar. Universidad Nacional de RĂ­o Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, FisicoquĂ­micas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂ­ficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Maria Daniela. Universidad Nacional de RĂ­o Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, FisicoquĂ­micas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂ­ficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentin

    Demographic change and regional competitiveness: The effects of immigration and ageing

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    The demographic profile of a region is usually seen as a slowly changing background phenomenon in the analysis of regional competitiveness and regional growth. However, regional demographic change can have a significant impact on regional competitiveness and such change is often more rapid and profound than at the national level. In turn, regional population size, growth, composition and distribution are endogenous to regional economic development. This paper focuses on the impact of population ageing and immigration on aspects of regional competitiveness such as innovation, entrepreneurship and productivity. Immigration and ageing trends have generated huge separate literatures but it is argued here that it is fruitful to consider these trends jointly. Theoretically, there are many channels through which immigration and population ageing can affect regional competitiveness. There is empirical evidence that population ageing reduces regional competitiveness, while immigration – particularly of entrepreneurs and highly skilled workers to metropolitan areas – enhances competitiveness. Much of the available literature is based on smallscale case studies and rigorous econometric research on the impact of demographic change at the regional level is still remarkably rare. Some directions for further research are suggested

    Modeling of Immunosenescence and Risk of Death from Respiratory Infections: Evaluation of the Role of Antigenic Load and Population Heterogeneity

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    It is well known that efficacy of immune functions declines with age. It results in an increase of severity and duration of respiratory infections and also in dramatic growth of risk of death due to these diseases after age 65. The goal of this work is to describe and investigate the mechanism underlying the age pattern of the mortality rate caused by infectious diseases and to determine the cause-specific hazard rate as a function of immune system characteristics. For these purposes we develop a three-compartment model explaining observed risk-of-death. The model incorporates up-to-date knowledge about cellular mechanisms of aging, disease dynamics, population heterogeneity in resistance to infections, and intrinsic aging rate. The results of modeling show that the age-trajectory of mortality caused by respiratory infections may be explained by the value of antigenic load, frequency of infections and the rate of aging of the stem cell population (i.e. the population of T-lymphocyte progenitor cells). The deceleration of infection-induced mortality at advanced age can be explained by selection of individuals with a slower rate of stem cell aging. Parameter estimates derived from fitting mortality data indicate that infection burden was monotonically decreasing during the twentieth century, and changes in total antigenic load were gender-specific: it experienced periodic fluctuations in males and increased approximately two-fold in females

    First union formation in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: patterns across countries and gender

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    This article examines the transformation of first union formation in the Baltic countries between the late 1960s and early 1990s, in the context of societal and family-level gender relations. The analyses employ microdata from the European Family and Fertility Surveys program. Our results on the trends indicate that in Estonia and Latvia the shift from direct marriage to cohabitation started well before the fall of socialist regime. Event-history models provide support for a hypothesised association between union formation and gender system, with Lithuania showing more traditional features in both respect, plausibly embedded in long-standing cultural differences between the countries.Baltic countries, gender system, union formation

    Real geographies and virtual landscapes: exploring the influence on place and space on mortality Lexis surfaces using shaded contour maps

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    This paper describes how shaded contour plots, applied to mortality data from the Human Mortality Database, can be used to compare between nations, and start to tease out some of the ways that place and space matters. A number of shaded contour plots are presented, in order to describe the age, period and cohort effects which are apparent within them. They show variations between different subpopulations within the same nation, over time, and between nations. In illustrating these intra- and international variations in the patterns, we hope to encourage the development of hypotheses about the influence of such factors on mortality rates. We conclude with a brief discussion about how such hypotheses might be developed into statistical models, allowing for more rigourous testing of hypotheses and projection across time, place and space
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