Pitfalls of Immigrant Inclusion into the European Welfare State

This paper's main purpose is to gauge immigrants' demand for social assistance and services and identify the key barriers to social and labor market inclusion of immigrants in the European Union. The data from an online primary survey of experts from organizations working on immigrant integration in the EU is analyzed using simple comparative statistical methods; the robustness of the results is tested by means of Logit and ordered Logit statistical models. We find that the general public in Europe has rather negative attitudes towards immigrants. Although the business community views immigrants somewhat less negatively, barriers to immigrant labor market inclusion identified include language and human capital gaps, a lack of recognition of foreign qualifications, discrimination, intransparent labor markets and institutional barriers such as legal restrictions for foreign citizens. Exclusion from higher education, housing and the services of the financial sector aggravate these barriers. Changes in the areas of salaried employment, education, social insurance, mobility and attitudes are seen as most desired by members of ethnic minorities. The current economic downturn is believed to have increased the importance of active inclusion policies, especially in the areas of employment and education. These results appear to be robust with respect to a number of characteristics of respondents and their organizations.ethnic minorities, migration, labor market integration, economic crisis, enlarged European Union, welfare state

Entre el paradigma plurilingüe y las ideologías monolingües en el sistema de educación público multilingüe de Suiza

[EN] This paper discusses contradictions in discourses and practices in connection with plurilingualism in the public education system of multilingual Switzerland. First, a historical review presents under what conditions the plurilingual paradigm has found its way into Swiss curricula. Second, some examples are taken from L2 course books to illustrate how curricular ideas have been translated into practical material. Third, it is shown what contradictory ideologies persist despite these efforts to incorporate plurilingual ideas into teaching practice. This is done on the basis of a recent case, which was about banning all languages but the official (German) during recess times at a primary school. The analysis reveals what kind of normative monolingual discourses remain strong. Shedding light on these contradictions allows the illustration of tensions between the plurilingual paradigm and monolingual norms, with which the educational context is confronted.[ES] Este artículo discute las contradicciones respecto al plurilingüismo de los discursos y las prácticas en el sistema educativo público de la Suiza multilingüe. En primer lugar, un repaso histórico presenta las condiciones bajo las cuales el paradigma plurilingüe ha encontrado su lugar en los currículos suizos. En segundo lugar, a partir de algunos ejemplos escogidos de libros de texto de L2 se ilustra la manera como las ideas curriculares se han materializado. En tercer lugar, se muestran las contradicciones que persisten a pesar de los esfuerzos para incorporar ideas plurilingües a la práctica docente. Se parte de un caso reciente que tuvo que ver con la prohibición de todas las lenguas excepto la oficial (el alemán) durante los periodos de recreo en la escuela primaria. El análisis revela qué tipo de discursos normativos monolingües permanecen. El hecho de sacar a la luz estas contradicciones permite ilustrar las tensiones entre el paradigma plurilingüe y las normas monolingües con las que se confronta el contexto educacional.Zimmermann, M.; Häfliger, A. (2019). Between the plurilingual paradigm and monolingual ideologies in the compulsory education system of multilingual Switzerland. Lenguaje y Textos. (49):55-66. https://doi.org/10.4995/lyt.2019.11455SWORD556649BERTHELE, R. (2016). Demography vs. Legitimacy: Current issues in Swiss language policy. In M. P. RONAN (Ed.), Perspectives on English in Switzerland (pp. 27-51). Lausanne: Institut de Linguistique et des Sciences du Langage.BLONDIN, C., CANDELIER, M., EDELENBOS, P., JOHNSTONE, R., KUBANECK, A., and TAESCHNER, T. (1998). Fremdsprachen für die Kinder Europas. Ergebnisse und Empfehlungen der Forschung. Berlin: Cornelsen.BOND, M. (2012). The Council of Europe: Structure, History and Issues in European Politics. New York: Routledge.CANDELIER, M., CAMILLIERI-GRIMA, A., CASTELLOTTI, V., DE PIETRO, J.-F., LÖRINCZ, I., MEISSNER, F.-J., SCHRÖDERSURA, A., and NOGUEROL, A. (2007). FREPA. Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures. Strasbourg: Council of Europe and Graz: ECML.COUNCIL OF EUROPE (2001). Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge, U.K: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.DEL PERCIO, A. (2013). Capitalizing on national diversity. Modern Ideologies of Multilingual Switzerland and the Regimentation of the Nation's Promotion under Late Capitalism. Unpublizierte Dissertation. Hochschule St. Gallen: St. Gallen.DUCHÊNE, A., and DEL PERCIO, A. (2014). Economic Capitalization on Linguistic Diversity: Swiss Multilingualism as a National Profit? In UNGER, J. KRYZANOWSKI, M., & WODAK, R. (Eds). Multilingual Encounters in Europe's Institutional Spaces. New York: Bloomsburry, 75-10.FINKBEINER, C. (1998). Lehrplan - Lehrwerk - Stoffverteilungsplan - Unterricht. In J.-P. Timm (Ed.), Englisch lernen und lehren - Didaktik des Englischunterrichts (S. 36-44). Berlin: Cornelsen Verlag.GARTON-SPRENGER, J., and PROWSE, P. (2011). New inspiration. Macmillan Education.KONFERENZ DER INNERSCHWEIZER ERZIEHUNGSDIREKTOREN (1987). Lehrplan Französisch Realschule. Luzern: Zentralschweizer Beratungsdienst für Schulfragen ZBS.LEHRPLANGRUPPE ENGLISCH DER BILDUNGSREGION ZENTRALSCHWEIZ (2004). Lehrplan Englisch - Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Zug. Bildungsplanung Zentralschweiz.LOBO, M. J., SUBIRÀ, P., and SALABERRI, S. (2001-). Here comes super bus. Macmillan Education.LÖTSCHER, G., LINDAUER, T., and SENN, W. (2012). Die Sprachstarken 4. Klett und Balmer.LÜDI, G. (2007). The Swiss model of plurilingual communication. In J. D. Thije, & L. Zeevaert (Eds.), Receptive multilingualism: Linguistic analyses, language policies and didactic concepts (pp. 159-178). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hsm.6.10ludLÜDI, G. (2018). Das Gesamtsprachenkonzept von 1998 - 20 Jahre danach. Babylonia, 3, 14-20.MEYER, M. (2018). "Je früher desto besser?" - Zur Neuroplastizität des Spracherwerbs, Babylonia, 3, 74-79.OELKERS, J. (2004). Lehrmittel als Rückgrat des Unterrichts. Vortrag vom 15.09.2004 in Zürich. Retrieved from http://www.paed-work.unizh.ch/ap/downloads/oelkers/Vortraege/148_LehrmittelVortragII.pdfPROJEKT PASSEPARTOUT (Hrsg.). (2009) [2015]. Lehrplan Französisch und Englisch. Passepartout.SCHÄR, U. (2007). Source books rather than course books - Die Bildungsreform im Fremdsprachenunterricht und die neue Rolle für die Lehrmittel. Beiträge zur Lehrerbildung, 25(2), 255-267.SCHWEIZERISCHE KONFERENZ DER KANTONALEN ERZIEHUNGSDIREKTOREN (1998). Gesamtsprachenkonzept. Retrieved from https://edudoc.ch/record/25519/files/19990826GSKd.pdf Last access: June 2019.SIEBER, P. (2006). Funktionale Mehrsprachigkeit statt perfekte Zweisprachigkeit. NZZ. Retrieved from https://www.nzz.ch/articleE7KWZ-1.40885 Last access: June 2019

Systemic Issues of Social Housing in England: Identifying Archetypes for a Just Transition towards Sustainability

Social housing is fundamental to accommodate a growing urban population within planetary boundaries. However, political, economic, environmental, and societal pressures jeopardize its provision. This study restructures insights on the challenges faced by the English social housing sector, with the aim to identify leverage points to support a just transition towards sustainability. By extracting variables and interconnections from key sources, we obtain six causal loop diagrams depicting interrelated dynamics of mismanagement and exclusion. Two archetypes illustrate how the push for new construction and regeneration as a remedy to housing shortage and segregation is a temporary symptomatic solution, with debatable benefits on health and the environment. On this basis, we outline leverage points to intervene in the system and propose research paths to validate its structure empirically

GROWTH OF A POPULATION OF Cabralea canjerana IN A NATURAL REGENERATION STAGE IN THE SECONDARY FOREST WITH USE OF THE LIBERATION

This work aimed to verify the influence of the liberation technique on the growth of a young population of Cabralea canjerana, based on this to determine the best size for the plants to be liberated and to verify the differences in growth between emergent and dominate plants. The liberation consisted of the clear cutting of all species different from the species of interest, with 90 trees from the species being liberated and 73 being kept in competition (control). The variables total height and diameter at 10 cm from the soil were previously and annually, for four years after the liberation, measured. At the end of the experiment the crown diameter, crown length and branch insertion height were measured and the trees were classified according the treatment and sociological position (emergent or dominated). The data were submitted to means tests in the statistical package SISVAR. Liberated plants showed a higher increase in diameter or height than not liberated trees. However, the increase gain in diameter and height is higher when realized in plants up to 100 cm high, especially if the plants are able to become emergent. Not liberated emergent trees showed higher branch insertion height in the stem, which in practice shows a higher proportion of stem free from nodes. Thus, it is concluded that the liberation stimulates the growth of young trees of C. canjerana

Spatial Knowledge and Urban Planning (Editorial)

Urban planning is simultaneously shaped by and creates new (spatial) knowledge. The changes in planning culture that have taken place in the last decades - especially the so-called communicative turn in planning in the 1990s - have brought about an increased attention to a growing range of stakeholders of urban development, their interests, logics, and participation in planning as well as the negotiation processes between these stakeholders. However, while this has also been researched in breadth and depth, only scant attention has been paid to the knowledge (claims) of these stakeholders. In planning practice, knowledge, implicit and explicit, has been a highly relevant topic for quite some time: It is discussed how local knowledge can inform urban planning, how experimental knowledge on urban development can be generated in living labs, and what infrastructures can process "big data" and make it usable for planning, to name a few examples. With the thematic issue on "Spatial Knowledge and Urban Planning" we invited articles aiming at exploring the diverse understandings of (spatial) knowledge, and how knowledge influences planning and how planning itself constitutes processes of knowledge generation. The editorial gives a brief introduction to the general topic. Subsequently, abstracts of all articles illustrate what contents the issue has to offer and the specific contribution of each text is carved out. In the conclusion, common and recurring themes as well as remaining gaps and open questions at the interface of spatial knowledge and urban planning are discussed

The Bush Administration's Decision to Redefine 'Child' as Conception to Age 19 as a way to increase prenatal care: advantages, disadvantages and controversy

The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world and is considered to be a leader in health care technology and cutting edge research. Currently, 14% of the United States national budget goes towards health care expenses. Despite spending $1.4 trillion in 2001 on health care and ranking #1 in health care expenditures, in 1995 the US infant mortality rate ranked 25th among industrialized nations, a statistic believed to be an important measure of a nation's overall health. This ranks the United States behind other industrialized nations with lower per capita health care expenditures. Given the United States' relatively poor infant mortality rates, health care organizations and policy makers in the US have aimed to improve infant mortality rates throughout the United States. Much of the efforts have focused on examining the benefits of prenatal care on infant mortality and infant outcomes, as prenatal care is considered to be an essential part of improving infant mortality rates and maternal and fetal outcomes. Healthy People 2010 published a list of goals for the health of the United States, one of them being to "improve the health and wellbeing of women, infants, children, and families". They have set specific objectives aimed at accomplishing this goal, including a 2010 target infant mortality rate in the United States of 4.5 per 1,000 live births. The United States' comparatively poor Infant Mortality Rate has brought about the discussion of many potential solutions and proposals, all with the goal to improve maternal and fetal outcomes by increasing prenatal care services in the United States. Three proposals aimed at improving prenatal care and infant mortality rates that have garnered recent discussion in newspapers and policy and medical literature. First, the government could increase existing Medicaid coverage to all pregnant uninsured women, regardless in income. Second, states could be granted a federal waiver allowing State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds to be used for prenatal care for women over the age of 18. Finally, SCHIP funds could be used for prenatal care by making fetuses eligible for health insurance, negating the need for a federal waiver. In February 2002, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and the Bush Administration proposed to redefine the word "child" as " conception to age 18" as a way to make fetuses eligible for health insurance under SCHIP and thereby use existing SCHIP funds for prenatal care. This paper looks at the potential advantages, disadvantages and subsequent controversy surrounding this proposal.Master of Public Healt

CT measurements of tracheal diameter and length in normocephalic cats.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to measure the tracheal dimensions of normocephalic cats using CT. METHODS CT images of 15 client-owned normocephalic cats were retrospectively evaluated to measure the length of the feline trachea. Transverse and vertical inner diameters were measured in five different tracheal regions, and the cross-sectional area of the tracheal lumen was calculated for each point of measurement. Descriptive statistics were applied using a two-tailed t-test. RESULTS The mean ± SD length of the trachea was 125.13 ± 14.41 mm. Male cats had significantly larger tracheas than female cats. The transverse diameter first increased by 0.94 mm between the most cranial point of measurement and the middle of the trachea. It then decreased by 1.38 mm between the middle of the trachea and the most caudal point of measurement. The vertical diameter decreased by 1.16 mm between the first point of measurement and the penultimate point, and then increased by 0.06 mm between the penultimate point of measurement and the end of the trachea. The two different diameters resulted in an elliptical trachea shape. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The feline trachea was circular only at its cranial and caudal ends, and elliptical with a dorsoventral flattening along the rest of its length. Vertical and transverse diameters varied along the entire length. Tracheal shape differences should be considered when performing permanent tracheostomy, tracheal anastomosis or stenting in cats